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Client: Red Balloon
Co-Production with CTVC
7 films delivered
Red Balloon support young people who have self-excluded from school because of bullying or other trauma. They provide education and therapy to help children reconnect with society.
The brief was to create seven films for the charity, ranging from a recruitment video to a day in the life of a Red Balloon student. Travelling widely over several weeks, we filmed 14 interviews with staff, students, alumna, parents and professors.
Red Balloon Anniversary Film
Features contributions from staff and alumna. Filmed at the RB Learner Centres.
With limited budget as well as a need to work quickly and unobtrusively, just two crew members were on location. Camera equipment was kept to an absolute minimum, with a single light used for the interviews. The documentary coverage was gathered during the school day with natural light, without direction, as unobtrusively as possible.
What do I say – they are brilliant, moving, powerful, true and accurate, a lovely testimonial, tear jerking and just a wonderful record of what we do, why, how and the outcomes. I am in bits!
Dr Carrie Herbert MBE, Founder and President of Red Balloon
A Parent’s Story
The Story of a Red Balloon Alumna
|
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Associations between Pathogens in the Upper Respiratory Tract of Young Children: Interplay between Viruses and Bacteria
Menno R. Van Den Bergh, Giske Biesbroek, John W. A. Rossen, Wouter A. A. De Steenhuijsen Piters, et al
http://www.mendeley.com/research/associations-between-pathogens-upper-respiratory-tract-young-children-interplay-between-viruses-bact
Is referenced by
CiteULike 318 May 14:14 UTC
CiteULike | Further Information
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Mendeley 15924 Apr 20:12 UTC
{"title"=>"Associations between Pathogens in the Upper Respiratory Tract of Young Children: Interplay between Viruses and Bacteria", "type"=>"journal", "authors"=>[{"first_name"=>"Menno R.", "last_name"=>"van den Bergh", "scopus_author_id"=>"16030098500"}, {"first_name"=>"Giske", "last_name"=>"Biesbroek", "scopus_author_id"=>"55277535800"}, {"first_name"=>"John W A", "last_name"=>"Rossen", "scopus_author_id"=>"7005977394"}, {"first_name"=>"Wouter A A", "last_name"=>"de Steenhuijsen Piters", "scopus_author_id"=>"55385506900"}, {"first_name"=>"Astrid A T M", "last_name"=>"Bosch", "scopus_author_id"=>"55416097200"}, {"first_name"=>"Elske J M", "last_name"=>"van Gils", "scopus_author_id"=>"8878514900"}, {"first_name"=>"Xinhui", "last_name"=>"Wang", "scopus_author_id"=>"54912153600"}, {"first_name"=>"Chantal W B", "last_name"=>"Boonacker", "scopus_author_id"=>"26027749700"}, {"first_name"=>"Reinier H.", "last_name"=>"Veenhoven", "scopus_author_id"=>"17037069900"}, {"first_name"=>"Jacob P.", "last_name"=>"Bruin", "scopus_author_id"=>"8727419100"}, {"first_name"=>"Debby", "last_name"=>"Bogaert", "scopus_author_id"=>"55962909800"}, {"first_name"=>"Elisabeth A M", "last_name"=>"Sanders", "scopus_author_id"=>"7102550106"}], "year"=>2012, "source"=>"PLoS ONE", "identifiers"=>{"scopus"=>"2-s2.0-84867627559", "sgr"=>"84867627559", "issn"=>"19326203", "doi"=>"10.1371/journal.pone.0047711", "pmid"=>"23082199", "isbn"=>"1932-6203", "pui"=>"365880145"}, "id"=>"afa47f3a-8dbf-3de9-89a7-b8471097f8b8", "abstract"=>"BACKGROUND: High rates of potentially pathogenic bacteria and respiratory viruses can be detected in the upper respiratory tract of healthy children. Investigating presence of and associations between these pathogens in healthy individuals is still a rather unexplored field of research, but may have implications for interpreting findings during disease.\n\nMETHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We selected 986 nasopharyngeal samples from 433 6- to 24-month-old healthy children that had participated in a randomized controlled trial. We determined the presence of 20 common respiratory viruses using real-time PCR. Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, Moraxella catarrhalis and Staphylococcus aureus were identified by conventional culture methods. Information on risk factors was obtained by questionnaires. We performed multivariate logistic regression analyses followed by partial correlation analysis to identify the overall pattern of associations. S. pneumoniae colonization was positively associated with the presence of H. influenzae (adjusted odds ratio 1.60, 95% confidence interval 1.18-2.16), M. catarrhalis (1.78, 1.29-2.47), human rhinoviruses (1.63, 1.19-2.22) and enteroviruses (1.97, 1.26-3.10), and negatively associated with S. aureus presence (0.59, 0.35-0.98). H. influenzae was positively associated with human rhinoviruses (1.63, 1.22-2.18) and respiratory syncytial viruses (2.78, 1.06-7.28). M. catarrhalis colonization was positively associated with coronaviruses (1.99, 1.01-3.93) and adenoviruses (3.69, 1.29-10.56), and negatively with S. aureus carriage (0.42, 0.25-0.69). We observed a strong positive association between S. aureus and influenza viruses (4.87, 1.59-14.89). In addition, human rhinoviruses and enteroviruses were positively correlated (2.40, 1.66-3.47), as were enteroviruses and human bocavirus, WU polyomavirus, parainfluenza viruses, and human parechovirus. A negative association was observed between human rhinoviruses and coronaviruses.\n\nCONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our data revealed high viral and bacterial prevalence rates and distinct bacterial-bacterial, viral-bacterial and viral-viral associations in healthy children, hinting towards the complexity and potential dynamics of microbial communities in the upper respiratory tract. This warrants careful consideration when associating microbial presence with specific respiratory diseases.", "link"=>"http://www.mendeley.com/research/associations-between-pathogens-upper-respiratory-tract-young-children-interplay-between-viruses-bact", "reader_count"=>147, "reader_count_by_academic_status"=>{"Unspecified"=>5, "Professor > Associate Professor"=>10, "Student > Doctoral Student"=>8, "Researcher"=>28, "Student > Ph. D. 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PubMed Central28 Jan 17:23 UTC
Scopus 11225 Dec 04:14 UTC
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{"month"=>"10", "year"=>"2012", "pdf_views"=>"126", "xml_views"=>"8", "html_views"=>"524"}
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{"files"=>["https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/296907", "https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/297021"], "description"=>"<div><h3>Background</h3><p>High rates of potentially pathogenic bacteria and respiratory viruses can be detected in the upper respiratory tract of healthy children. Investigating presence of and associations between these pathogens in healthy individuals is still a rather unexplored field of research, but may have implications for interpreting findings during disease.</p> <h3>Methodology/Principal Findings</h3><p>We selected 986 nasopharyngeal samples from 433 6- to 24-month-old healthy children that had participated in a randomized controlled trial. We determined the presence of 20 common respiratory viruses using real-time PCR. <em>Streptococcus pneumoniae</em>, <em>Haemophilus influenzae</em>, <em>Moraxella catarrhalis</em> and <em>Staphylococcus aureus</em> were identified by conventional culture methods. Information on risk factors was obtained by questionnaires. We performed multivariate logistic regression analyses followed by partial correlation analysis to identify the overall pattern of associations. <em>S. pneumoniae</em> colonization was positively associated with the presence of <em>H. influenzae</em> (adjusted odds ratio 1.60, 95% confidence interval 1.18–2.16), <em>M. catarrhalis</em> (1.78, 1.29–2.47), human rhinoviruses (1.63, 1.19–2.22) and enteroviruses (1.97, 1.26–3.10), and negatively associated with <em>S. aureus</em> presence (0.59, 0.35–0.98). <em>H. influenzae</em> was positively associated with human rhinoviruses (1.63, 1.22–2.18) and respiratory syncytial viruses (2.78, 1.06–7.28). <em>M. catarrhalis</em> colonization was positively associated with coronaviruses (1.99, 1.01–3.93) and adenoviruses (3.69, 1.29–10.56), and negatively with <em>S. aureus</em> carriage (0.42, 0.25–0.69). We observed a strong positive association between <em>S. aureus</em> and influenza viruses (4.87, 1.59–14.89). In addition, human rhinoviruses and enteroviruses were positively correlated (2.40, 1.66–3.47), as were enteroviruses and human bocavirus, WU polyomavirus, parainfluenza viruses, and human parechovirus. A negative association was observed between human rhinoviruses and coronaviruses.</p> <h3>Conclusions/Significance</h3><p>Our data revealed high viral and bacterial prevalence rates and distinct bacterial-bacterial, viral-bacterial and viral-viral associations in healthy children, hinting towards the complexity and potential dynamics of microbial communities in the upper respiratory tract. This warrants careful consideration when associating microbial presence with specific respiratory diseases.</p> </div>", "links"=>[], "tags"=>["associations", "pathogens", "respiratory", "tract", "interplay", "viruses"], "article_id"=>118501, "categories"=>["Medicine"], "users"=>["Menno R. van den Bergh", "Giske Biesbroek", "John W. A. Rossen", "Wouter A. A. de Steenhuijsen Piters", "Astrid A. T. M. Bosch", "Elske J. M. van Gils", "Xinhui Wang", "Chantal W. B. Boonacker", "Reinier H. Veenhoven", "Jacob P. Bruin", "Debby Bogaert", "Elisabeth A. M. Sanders"], "doi"=>["https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0047711.s001", "https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0047711.s002"], "stats"=>{"downloads"=>4, "page_views"=>12, "likes"=>0}, "figshare_url"=>"https://figshare.com/articles/Associations_between_Pathogens_in_the_Upper_Respiratory_Tract_of_Young_Children_Interplay_between_Viruses_and_Bacteria/118501", "title"=>"Associations between Pathogens in the Upper Respiratory Tract of Young Children: Interplay between Viruses and Bacteria", "pos_in_sequence"=>0, "defined_type"=>4, "published_date"=>"2012-10-17 02:21:41"}
{"files"=>["https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/557318"], "description"=>"<p>Visualization of the partial correlations between bacteria and viruses (A) and epidemiologic drivers (risk factors) of those interactions (B). The patterns depicted here result from partial correlation network analysis and are visualized by Cytoscape. Bacteria are shown in blue, respiratory viruses in orange and risk factors in grey boxes. The solid lines represent associations with a p-value less than 0.01, the dashed lines represent associations with a p-value between 0.01 and 0.05. Green lines indicate positively correlated variables; red lines indicate negative correlations. The thickness of the line indicates the magnitude of the correlation. Abbreviations: SP, <i>S. pneumoniae</i>; HI, <i>H. influenzae</i>; MC, <i>M. catarrhalis</i>; SA, <i>S. aureus</i>; HRV, human rhinovirus, EV, enterovirus; HBoV, human bocavirus; WUPyV, WU polyomavirus; HCoV, human coronavirus; PIV, parainfluenza virus; HAdV, human adenovirus; IV, influenza virus; HPeV, human parechovirus; RSV, respiratory syncytial virus; AB, antibiotic use within 2 months before sampling; ‘crowding’ was entered into the model as a variable combining the presence of siblings (yes/no) and day care attendance (yes/no); 0 = no siblings and no day care attendance, 1 = siblings present, but not attending day care, or vice versa, and 2 = siblings present and attending day care.</p>", "links"=>[], "tags"=>["pediatrics and child health", "respiratory medicine", "otolaryngology"], "article_id"=>227795, "categories"=>["Medicine"], "users"=>["Menno R. van den Bergh", "Giske Biesbroek", "John W. A. Rossen", "Wouter A. A. de Steenhuijsen Piters", "Astrid A. T. M. Bosch", "Elske J. M. van Gils", "Xinhui Wang", "Chantal W. B. Boonacker", "Reinier H. Veenhoven", "Jacob P. Bruin", "Debby Bogaert", "Elisabeth A. M. Sanders"], "doi"=>"https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0047711.g001", "stats"=>{"downloads"=>0, "page_views"=>4, "likes"=>0}, "figshare_url"=>"https://figshare.com/articles/_Graphical_representation_of_interaction_patterns_/227795", "title"=>"Graphical representation of interaction patterns.", "pos_in_sequence"=>0, "defined_type"=>1, "published_date"=>"2012-10-17 02:09:55"}
{"files"=>["https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/557405"], "description"=>"<p>Abbreviations: SD, standard deviation; NA, not applicable; PCV-7, 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine; URTI, upper respiratory tract infection.</p>a<p>Defined as more than 4 hours per week with at least one child from another family (yes/no).</p>b<p>Defined as use of an antibiotic, orally or intravenously administered with start date within 2 months before sampling date (yes/no). Of those, the prescribed antibiotic was amoxicillin (n = 69), penicillin (n = 1), amoxicillin/clavulanic acid (n = 3), a macrolide (n = 14; claritromycin (n = 8), azitromycin (n = 5), erythromycin (n = 1), a cephalosporin (n = 1, unknown type), and 3 unknowns.</p>c<p>Parent-reported presence of mild symptoms of an upper respiratory tract infection (eg, a runny nose) at the time of sampling (yes/no).</p>d<p>Presence of enteroviruses and human parechovirus was determined in a subgroup of samples (N = 831) due to insufficient amounts of remaining nasopharyngeal swab material or nucleic acids to run these tests. Missing values were imputed by the single imputation procedure in multivariate analysis models in which these viruses were included to retain statistical power.</p>", "links"=>[], "tags"=>["nasopharyngeal", "bacterial", "colonization", "viral", "detection"], "article_id"=>227881, "categories"=>["Medicine"], "users"=>["Menno R. van den Bergh", "Giske Biesbroek", "John W. A. Rossen", "Wouter A. A. de Steenhuijsen Piters", "Astrid A. T. M. Bosch", "Elske J. M. van Gils", "Xinhui Wang", "Chantal W. B. Boonacker", "Reinier H. Veenhoven", "Jacob P. Bruin", "Debby Bogaert", "Elisabeth A. M. Sanders"], "doi"=>"https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0047711.t001", "stats"=>{"downloads"=>1, "page_views"=>5, "likes"=>0}, "figshare_url"=>"https://figshare.com/articles/_Characteristics_of_the_children_nasopharyngeal_bacterial_colonization_and_viral_detection_rates_/227881", "title"=>"Characteristics of the children, nasopharyngeal bacterial colonization and viral detection rates.", "pos_in_sequence"=>0, "defined_type"=>3, "published_date"=>"2012-10-17 02:11:21"}
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Does lifting the combat ban for women make it easier or harder to reintroduce the military draft?
Here's a story explaining the new policy change and why it was done.
In the military, serving in combat positions like the infantry remains crucial to career advancement. Women have long said that by not recognizing their real service, the military has unfairly held them back.
No mention of the draft. When I first saw this story, I assumed it meant that it would be much more difficult, in the future, to bring back the draft. I cannot believe that the people would accept forcing women into combat. But now I'm thinking that removing this barrier makes it easier to restore the draft, because women won't really be forced into combat. With neutrally designed physical tests, no woman will be forced. These tests, keyed to what strong men can do, will exclude all but the most fit and motivated woman.
You don't need discrimination against women to filter out all the non-volunteers. And it will be more acceptable to Americans to force men and women into an institution that renounces any formal, express policy of sex discrimination. A male-only draft would raise objections, and a draft that includes women, but puts them in back up positions should be a problem both for women, because they are subordinated, and to men, because they are, because of their sex, more likely to be put in life-threatening positions.
I've been thinking about this problem quite a bit over the years as I teach the old Supreme Court case Rostker v. Goldberg, which involved a challenge to the requirement, introduced in 1980, that males register for the draft. The draft itself had ended in 1973, but President Carter thought we should be prepared for the possibility of a draft. He wanted to include both women and men, but Congress made it male only, which was challenged as unconstitutional sex discrimination. The fact that only men would be used in combat was the basis for upholding the discrimination:
In light of the combat restrictions, women did not have the same opportunities for promotion as men, and therefore it was not unconstitutional for Congress to distinguish between them.
Tags: employment discrimination, gender difference, Jimmy Carter, law, Supreme Court, the draft, women in the military
Bill Harshaw said...
Though I wish we had a draft--if it was good enough for me, it's good enough for everyone--it's never going to return. The mass army is a victim of technology. We now provide each individual in the services with a lot more equipment than we did in Nam. Look at the Seals in Zero Dark Thirty. The equipment makes them many times more effective and less likely to be killed than troops in previous wars.
So, the goal is not to produce the best armed forces for fighting a war.
The goal is to give something to women... the opportunity to advance at a job. They can't do the job, which you grant. But, it would be discrimination to acknowledge reality.
The legalistic bullshit of the discrimination idiocy strikes again.
I think that you are incapable of seeing the absurdity of this, Althouse.
Larry J said...
That is the bottom line, isn't it? Military readiness becomes subordinate to political correctness, and if men get killed but some women get the opportunity to advance, what's the big deal?
Question asked by someone whose son is at Camp Pendelton working up to deployment to Afghanistan next month. My son is medical, not combat but the question remains.
We're never going to have another draft. Only in the most far-fetched scenarios would we ever need to expand beyond our volunteer capacity. And in those cases by the time we realize we need to expand we'll have already lost.
But now I'm thinking that removing this barrier makes it easier to restore the draft, because women won't really be forced into combat. -- Althouse
Let's get something straight right now. We can't afford to have more people in the military. They make a good wage and that's why there are enough volunteers to fill the ranks.
As someone who was drafted into the Army, let me show you why we were able to have a draft back then. Money, or lack thereof. Here is what I made in 1967:
Wages paid subject to withholding in 1967 = $1622.36
Federal income tax withheld = $141.48
F.I.C.A employee tax withheld = $73.22
In order to have a much bigger Armed Forces, you'd have to reduce everyone's pay to afford it. How would you feel if your son was drafted and made this kind of wage, and your neighbor's son was able to avoid being drafted and secured a job and made good money. Would you accept this? Somehow, I doubt very seriously that you'd allow any of your precisous sons to be drafted. In fact, let me say that you'd do everything in your power so that your precious sons would never go.
I could go on, but I won't.
Two worries:
Women will not be held to the same strength standards as men.
To the extent that this increases the possibility of the draft, this could do substantial harm to our military's effectiveness.
Added: If there was a draft, the military would become less male dominated since half of the conscripts would be women while they make up far less than that now.
Or, as Steve Sailer puts it:
But, so what? It's not like any of this matters in a practical sense. If more co-ed combat degrades American military performance, it's not like the Axis is going to win WWII, it's that a few more brave Americans will get killed in some inconclusive puttering around in Mali or wherever.
This kind of thing is like gay marriage: a symbolic war on the realities of biology.
"I think that you are incapable of seeing the absurdity of this, Althouse."
Please stay on topic: The political feasibility of the draft before and after removal of the discrimination.
Taunting me like that is beside the point. This isn't about me, but about an issue. If you disagree with anything I've said, simply argue that position on the substance. This post isn't about my personal capabilities.
Excuse me, but just what exactly is the topic?
AllenS points out why people will hate seeing their sons (or daughters) drafted.
But here is the dilemma: The Dems do not want to cut anything from entitlements, yet we have global military commitments and we can't keep borrowing at our current rate. Something has to give and screwing young people by drafting them and paying them a pittance is not beyond imagination.
Israel has universal compulsory military service, including women, exempting only the ultra-orthodox religious. Their situation is a bit unusual, however. Living in a tiny country surrounded by sworn enemies, the whole country could become a combat zone at any time. I don't know how thoroughly the integrate women into combat arms units, though. It's one thing to potentially end up in combat if you are in a support unit, but it's something else indeed for combat to be your specific job, the tooth as opposed to the tail.
Women in combat is already occurring as supply lines are stretched thin. Men and women truck supplies are perfect targets for terrorists. Volunteers are motivated, better educated and committed to making the military a career. Draftees are looking at surviving two years and getting out. Women in combat infantry positions should be given the opportunity to prove their capabilities the same as men. The physical rules should be the same for both sexes. Women as snipers, etc. are already in use. I don't see them as Rangers on LRP assignment.
As with reproduction, and really almost any issue today, women have rights without responsibility, and men have responsibility and no rights.
Bart Hall (Kansas, USA) said...
The United States is an air, sea, and space power, not a land power. Not only that, we've never really been good at land power.
The draft is politically untenable not because of women or no-women, but because the only place to slot draftees is the Army. Navy and Air Force are out because we don't need or want -- let alone have the money for -- all the extra ships and planes required.
As we cut defense to deal with deficit and debt (believe me, we will) the only branch that can be cut hard without damaging our national security is ... the Army. Therefore the draft is politically untenable because it is not only financially untenable but militarily useless as well.
In every draft in US history, there have been provisions for those with money and/or connections to avoid it. In the Civil War, you could pay some money and avoid the draft. In other wars, there were college deferments.
Some 3 million kids graduate high school each year. That's far more than the number of people on active duty in the military (< 2 million). Each year, the military brings in around 200,000 recruits, give or take. That's a small percentage of the number of high school graduates. Unless someone is proposing to build the size of the military up to 8-10 million, only a small percentage of high school graduates and drop outs would get drafted each year. Few if any of them would be the sons or daughters of members of Congress or other politically connected parents. There's no way they're going to enact a draft that puts their own children at risk.
Right you are, Larry, about the sons and daughters of Congress. Let me also add, sons and daughters of university professors.
If we are going to gut military spending, why on earth would we need to reinstate the draft?
Althouse, You and the NYT present a number of fallacies in your story line and thinking. Multiple posts to follow. NYT #1:
In November 2012 the American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit challenging the ban on behalf of four service women and the Service Women’s Action Network, a group that works for equality in the military. The A.C.L.U. said that one of the plaintiffs, Maj. Mary Jennings Hegar, an Air National Guard helicopter pilot, was shot down, returned fire and was wounded while on the ground in Afghanistan, but could not seek combat leadership positions because the Defense Department did not officially acknowledge her experience as combat.
Let's be clear, Major Hegar, is in the Air Force (Air National Guard). Women in the USAF can already do all of the jobs except I suppose the SOF Air Strike coordinators that jump in with the SF or SEALs.
She is in the Air Force. Allowing women to be Army Infantry doesn't impact the chance of a pilot to command a squadron already open and full of women. Did she not get some award for being shot down? I doubt gender plays any part of her inability to advance... Look at the USAF Colonel F-15 pilot Inga was selling last night. If you can be an F-15 pilot, your one of the boys...
I think lifting the combat ban will make it much harder for the military to get women to enlist. Therefore, it will reduce the number of job oportunities for among young women and increase their unemployment rate.
The draft will bring back all those fuckers that Reagan kicked out--the dopers that want to sit around all day trippin'. The kind that tell officers to fuck off.
Everything to reduce the ability of our military to fight wars.
Fuck the Left with a steam shovel.
Darrell just brought up a good point. The military has a very strict no drug policy in place, so if you wanted to avoid the draft, potential recruits would just turn to drugs to get out.
Once again, bringing back the draft is an idiotic idea that won't happen.
NYT #2.
Not being Infantryman does not restrict women's chance of advancement except at the very very highest levels. The 4 star generals. Why? In the Army and everywhere else, you compete for promotion against your branch peers. My wife competed for lawyer promotions only against lawyers. Signal officers aginst signal officers. None of them, male or female have the neat Infantry badges. My wife is a contracts attorney. They dont get promoted as far as the line generalist attorney's. Life is cruel. Could a lawyer have a Silver Star in his/her record, sure. Obtained while doing good in a convoy ambush in Iraq. The gender of the lawyer riding from point A to B is not the issue. raw chance and coolness under fire is the decider. Those promotion boards already track and have quotas for women...Yeah, chosing a non-combat field, or not being allowed into one, will most likely cap your career at 2 stars, but the Army has had female 3 and 4 stars. Ultimately all officers except 1 get passed over for Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. stuff happens.
Althouse #1: With neutrally designed physical tests, no woman will be forced. These tests, keyed to what strong me can do, will exclude all but the most fit and motivated woman.
You understand that the Army has two different PT standards now and that the women's max score is the same as the male fail? A unitary standard applied across the board would result in women throughout the Army being in the bottom 10% for all promotions, and most would be fired...
The opening declaration is bullshit. It is not crucial to serve in a combat MOS for career advancement. That is a feminist claim unsupported by reality. And last time I checked Military Service was supposed to be about "service" and not the career desires of the individuals, much less butt-hurt women.
It is also unstated by the feminists that currently females have an advantage over men in the career fields they are allowed to serve in because they don't have to meet the same physical standard that men do.
That the compalint comes from some a careerist woman Officer who never had to work as hard physically as the men is really chutzpah.
When these whiny women demand equal physical requirements is when I will listen to their whining about it not being fair.
"You understand that the Army has two different PT standards now and that the women's max score is the same as the male fail?"
I'm talking about a draft proposal. If women were drafted, and the question were about putting non-volunteers into combat, I believe this standard would be adjusted so that the daughters of America will have zero risk of being sorted into the cannon fodder pile.
Please address the hypothetical. Congress wants a draft and faces the resistance of the young women of America and their moms and dads who simply cannot believe they'd be forced to fight.
I'm saying the formal nondiscrimination policy helps the politics of it when there is the backup of a filtering physical test.
I'm not talking about the physical test that is used today in the all-volunteer setting.
Althouse, you're playing games with the men here.
Abstract hypotheticals are the problem.
Abstract hypotheticals serve your purpose in advancing feminism. Abstract hypotheticals screw men.
I can see why you want to restrict the conversation to the point of view that serves your self-interest.
I don't think it changes anything because women are still exempt from ther draft and this won't be brought up at all by those pushing for combat inclusion.
Nor will the law requiring men to register for the draft in order to be eligible to receive Federal finanical aid for college be changed to force women to do the same thing. Women are to have opportunities and men are to have obligations.
This is about pleasing the selfish feminist careerists in the Officer ranks, not the strength of the Military.
Not only that, we've never really been good at land power.
Are you in a foreign Army?
I suspect that resistance to a draft won't be defined by young woman and her parents. I'm pretty confident most young men would be equally opposed to be forced into service.
What's the physical test for LA firegighters? I think it's if someone films the clusterfuck, womens' groups scream bloody murder.
There is one area where Obama does want to shore up the US military's abilility to fight--US civilians.
On Monday, renowned author and humanitarian Dr. Jim Garrow made a shocking claim about what we can expect to see in Obama’s second term.
Garrow made the following Facebook post:
I have just been informed by a former senior military leader that Obama is using a new “litmus test” in determining who will stay and who must go in his military leaders. Get ready to explode folks. “The new litmus test of leadership in the military is if they will fire on US citizens or not.” Those who will not are being removed.
See Jeff's excellent summary at
http://proteinwisdom.com/?p=46824
Speaking of hypotheticals, under what scenario would we need to resort to forced conscription?
A draft presupposes the need to fight a land war that requires hundreds of thousands or millions of soldiers.
Somebody tell me how this is going to be necessary in the future.
We're in hypothetical Never Never Land here.
“The new litmus test of leadership in the military is if they will fire on US citizens or not.” Those who will not are being removed.
Well the litmus test should be on the individuals who will be doing the firing.
I suspect there are few who will.
Since women are exempt from the draft, there will be no reaction by the women who don't have sons.
Yes, among professional soldiers that want to be there. But what about draftees? Is this where the Dems intend to deploy women in combat?
Bingo. Also, absent a credible threat, it just won't happen. On the other hand, signing women for selective service would be the first step. It's analogous to registering guns. The Government needs to to know something first about the resource it would tap--compliance, morale, etc.
They're exempt. They're not male. They're not female. They're metrosexual.
Draft dodgers (male) play lots of angles to avoid having to serve or avoid becoming Infantry. The Army finds ways to sort through them. In my day, there was:
- the gay route
- play pyscho
- get pregnant (didnt play in the draft, but it did in avoiding assignments)
I don't ever remember any male draftee try to avoid the infantry by whimpering on the ground during PT. In fact it was the reverse. "Fuck up, boy? we'll send you to the infantry"
In a draft situation, either standards would fall, or female shirkers would get recycled in a very stressful environment until they were discharged with negative records, forever...
I suppose the use of hypotheticals is useful in legal training. I am a bit more cynical about hypotheticals. We can debate hypotheticals all day, but at the end of the day hypotheticals may give some insights into what MAY follow, but have limited predictive value in what WILL happen. Just my .02
With respect to the professor's topic re introducing the draft: women possibly serving in combat will have no effect on a decision to reintroduce the draft. Reintroducing the draft isn't going to happen for several reasons: (1) our military has just fine on an all volunteer basis; and (2) paying draftees at the current pay and allowances for the all volunteer force would break the bank.
Althouse #2 Does lifting the combat ban for women make it easier or harder to reintroduce the military draft?"
It won't ever happen. Only Democrats like Rangel talk about ANY draft and only when they are pandering to the young in a GOP administration.
Since we are now going to have full gender opportunity in the Military, there is however, no excuse for women not to serve in equal numbers.
Let's link the franchise (right to vote) to Veterans status (honorable). That way, all the voters can be invested in the common good :)
Take a while to implement, so let's start with adding Vet to the list of quals for Congress :)
Take a while to implement, so let's start with adding Vet to the list of quals for Congress :)"
Sounds like a plan;-)
drill: star ship troopers were mobile infantry. but they could have been cavalry just as well.
Heinlein had some good insights even though he was a naval academy grad
"(As of April, 2012) More than 800 female service members have been wounded in either Afghanistan or Iraq, and at least 139 have died from combat- and non-combat-related incidents. Of these, 110 died as a result of serving in Iraq, however the last thirteen have all died in Afghanistan."
The new Obama administration policy will cause many more women to return from conflict maimed, with limbs missing, or in body bags. This is progress, huh.
It IS progress. Women want full rights, they need to take full responsibilities that go with those rights, including the fighting, bleeding and dieing on the battlefield.
The next step in this true progress is to eliminate the physical requirment double standards, so that it is brought back to being fair for men.
Also, draft laws need to be rewritten so that women wanting Federal money for college have to register to get it. That will be more progress and fairness.
Brew Master said...
The draft is more likely to be removed completely as opposed to making women register for the draft. There is no political will, either by leaders or the public, to return to a forced conscription military. There is also no need to do so as the military is not short on volunteers.
The military knows the quality of a fighting force that is based on conscription so will not push for a draft, and will most likely actively oppose one. Just compare the abilities of the all volunteer force we have in place now with that of Vietnam era soldiers.
The populace is also aware of this discrepancy in quality, as well as the lack of a need for a high volume infantry based military. Wars of the future will no longer be of the variety of the past. The rest of the world has seen the futility of pitting a conventional army against the all volunteer American military. That is why all the conflicts we fight now are of the insurgent variety, against which a large standing infantry force is basicly a hinderance rather than an asset.
Who wants to return to the days of draft dodging, exemption seeking, anti-military protests? Only Democrats, as they probably view this as a way to get more support from the populace. Politicians who actually believe in a strong military (left or right) do not speak about reinstituting a draft, as they know it is counter productive. The only ones that talk about doing so are looking for ways to bring back the glory days of the 60's.
This will make the Islamic extremists respect us! This and fags in the trenches!
The next will be when these women and child-molesters fall short of making elite units---then they can sue for discrimination! Because no matter that they can't hack it, they deserve more free stuff! Grrrl and fag power!
At least the black guys don't bother defending the country. They can't hack the special forces or the more advanced regular units, they just laze-it-up for their term and jet.
And you "righties" think you can be civil with the left. So cute.
Can't wait for the rape reports to leak out---how these little princesses and bull dykes will be captured and raped by laughing wanna-be Osamas, and the left will scramble on how it's all because of the evil Western White Male Patriarchs of America.
Enjoy the decline, fag-lovers!
See, I'm for true equality under the law and not the phony "equality" of female supremacists claming to be feminists, who want special treatment because they are girls.
I rather like the idea of Islamists being humiliated by being shot and captured by women and gays that are superiorly trained and equipped.
Kinda like when the Miltary Governor, Gen Pershing in the P.I. shot all the Islamists and buried them in pigs guts and blood to humiliate them and prevent them from going to Allah and their 72 virgins. Its good psych warfare.
Opening up the draft to women makes it constitutionally more sound, while the low tooth to tail ratio of our armed services means that you5 could draft 50% women and still find non-combat jobs for all of them if you wanted to, so the political drawback of having our precious daughters drafted to serve as cannon-fodder will be ameliorated. We could easily draft both genders, but limit the front-line MOS's to volunteers.
Also, combat deployments in the Navy and Air Force are a lot different than in the infantry.
But you should ask the people who would actually be subject to a draft whether they think it's good idea. It's easily for us old fogies to think it would be great character-building for the youngsters to be drafted, when we have no skin in the game.
Yes of course it's politically feasible to include women in the draft. And IMO if the draft was reinsted, if women weren't drafted there would be a huge outcry .... From MEN about the unfairness of it. Women can and women do jobs that many men in the military do. They have a brain, some even have more braun than small men.
Napoleon said "A man does not have himself killed for a half pence a day nor for a petty distinction, instead you must speak to the soul in order to electrify him."
We are in a great change, something that we do not recognize will be a cause of change but in fact it will. If the premise behind why woman's groups are cheering this change is because of promotional opportunities than so be it, but then the military has become a job like any other. It is a job, that quite frankly I have no desire for either my sons or daughters to do. And why should they? What prey tell are they fighting for, as America ceases to be the principles that America once was, it becomes little more than a football team, a shared affinity for many due to accident of birth and residence. Sorry if dying for the KC Chiefs seems silly to me.
The issue is similar for "marriage" from Petitioner's Brief in Perry: "Concerns that precipitately redefining marriage in the absence of democratic consensus could weaken that institution are heightened by the fact that many of marriage’s most steadfast supporters hold its age- old definition dear, even sacred."
This is true, so very true. If civil marriage != marriage than why get "civilly married." It's utter foolishness. So the state can be more involved in my life? There's is no good basis for it, I can be married in the eyes of the church without needing permission from the state, and the delinking of the two will accelerate the process.
Draft...Candidly as it is structured today, the selective service requirements are plainly unconstitutional, if Republicans are smart (which they are not) they would introduce a bill today to include women for Selective Service. Arguing, that it follows from what has happened that the 1979 limitation is plainly unconstitutional, based upon the change in Pentagon policy.
As a result, this proposal makes the draft practically impossible. Absolutely zero no way, that a son should be asked to die, and not the same absolute requirement of a daughter. If Chivalry is male privilege, then there must be NO Vestige of it.
I agree with Inga...go figure!
I'm also agreeing with Inga.
Very strange.
The fact that only men would be used in combat was the basis for upholding the discrimination:
It's a crap, gutless decision at it's heart. For every combat soldier in the field, there can be anywhere from 2-7 non-combat soldiers and that's just the Army. The Air Force is ridiculously in-the-rear-with-the-gear heavy. Drafting women to fill all of those rolls means they don't have to draft men into them, free up those men to be drafted into combat arms units. There's simply no logic behind it.
I don't know if this has changed, but when I went back to school in 2003/2004 and was involved in debates on this topic, we could never get but one or two die-hard feminist types (regardless of gender) to call for women to have to sign up for selective service.
As I mentioned in the first thread on this issue...having a legal requirement for women...ALL women...to sign up for selective service is the crux of the matter and will give light to the policy-maker's real intent.
Only Oop (um, Inga, She Wolf of the SS) would say it's politically feasible to draft women.
Keep this in mind, however; between imposition of the peacetime draft and Pearl Harbor, unemployment dropped 10 points.
Marshal said...
We're never going to have another draft. Only in the most far-fetched scenarios would we ever need to expand beyond our volunteer capacity.
Japanese attacking our fleet from across the Pacific?
The Moslem horde bringing down skyscrapers in the US?
Never happen.
Also the women that would most like be the ones against the drafting of women, would be conservative women and libertarian women.
The conservative women would say, "oh no not my daughter, she needs to become a mom", the libertarian women would simply say its "tyranny".
Neither of these events would require a draft. One has already ocurred without requiring a draft so i'm not sure what point you think you're making. And if the Japanese attacked our fleet we'd sink every ship in their navy before one single draftee made it through basic traning.
Strelnikov said...
I realize this is just a talking point here but in the real world there will never be a general draft of either sex because there will never be another land based world war requiring that type of fodder. Modern technology prevents that by guaranteeing total destruction long before that point is reached.
One would think the abysmal performance of the largely-conscript Russian Army in Chechnya (fighting the kind of war against the kind of opponent the US faces now and is likely to continue to face) would be People's Exhibit One against ANY draft much less boys-vs-girls.
Inga said...
Women have served well in the US military for decades. There's little debate about that. The debate is putting women in the core combat arms specialties like infantry, armor and artillery. Those jobs require a great deal of strength and endurance. A weak soldier in those jobs gets other soldiers killed. In the majority of military jobs, women can and do perform at an equal level as men. But combat arms is different. It's a bone and soul-crunching experience. I've seen it from both sides. Unless your experience is similar, you just don't know.
Former Army Airborne Infantry (11B2P)
Former Air Force enlisted (communications)
Former Air Force officer (space operations)
If the Moslem horde ever found a way to move several million men to, say, the Rio Grande, it might.
Never say never.
Nobody thought there'd be another levee en masse after Waterloo, either.
Please explain to me how this doesn't make you a bigot?
Modern technology prevents that by guaranteeing total destruction long before that point is reached.
Modern conventional warfare on the scale that would require the draft has never been fought and would eat both men and machines at a terrifying rate. Particularly those superexpensive, hard-to-replace-quickly machines.
If we ever have to tangle with a determined foe that isn't a third-world brushfire conflict, I can see a draft easily. After a good chunk of the high-tech toys are gone, the gee-whiz layer of war will come back down to what it always has been...boots on the ground.
Your modern tech war that lasted any appreciable length of time would devour manpower at a prodigious rate that would need replenishment.
Keep also in mind, everybody though gas would be used in WWII because it was in WWI.
Mass weapons will get the ruling class as well as the peons.
Think about it. We have plenty of cannon fodder, but where will we find our next Moochelle?
Maybe they'll use the transporter so we don't see the buildup.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transporter_(Star_Trek)
Maybe they'll find somebody like Hugo Chavez who will help train them to pass for Hispanics, too.
I think the removal of the combat exclusion will make it marginally more difficult to adopt a draft. I'm assuming that even under the current structure, in extremis, women could be added to the draft for the purpose of fulfilling non-combat roles, which after all is the majority of occupations in the armed services. So most of the opposition would come from the shock of forcing women to submit to something men have always faced as an obligation of citizenship.
However, I'm writing all that mainly to be responsive to Althouse's desire to focus on the question she asked. Now that I have fulfilled that obligation, I want to respond to this sentiment:
This is hardly a unique sentiment so I'm not singling out the commenter. But I just don't get this.
So, WTF?
Read some history. Arrangements that seem settled for eternity, aren't.
I never thought I could be forced to buy insurance as a free citizen in the U.S. I never thought a lot of things would happen, but I know better now.
People my age, anyway (57) happened to have lived in a period in which the Continental U.S. has been 100% secure from war. What unique conditions have arrived, for the first time in recorded history, to make that a permanent feature of the universe?
Besides which, as small and "flat" as the world is today, our security need not be threatened only by territorial invasions.
Constantinople was the seat of an empire for what, 1,000 years? Those walls fell too. But everything happens faster now. I doubt we'll have to wait 100 or even 50 years for a mortal threat.
"It Can't Happen Here" makes as much sense as It Can't Happen Now because, you know, last 50 years of our lives = the rest of history.
Who knew Code Pink was filled with conservative and libertarian women.
Inga, you seem like a nice lady but sometimes you really do say the dumbest things.
"Read some history. Arrangements that seem settled for eternity, aren't.
"It Can't Happen Here" makes as much sense as It Can't Happen Now because, you know, last 50 years of our lives = the rest of history."
Hear, hear! Anyone unwilling to engage in hypotheticals have very closed, unimaginative minds, not the minds of great leaders.
Colonel, I've had some extensive conversations with conservative and libertarian women lately regarding this very issue, think again if you can't see this as a possibility.
Synova said...
"For every combat soldier in the field, there can be anywhere from 2-7 non-combat soldiers and that's just the Army. The Air Force is ridiculously in-the-rear-with-the-gear heavy."
Logically, it can't be necessary to have time in a combat type assignment in order to advance. I think that the discrimination is far more subtle than that (and probably not an issue, much, anymore) and that isn't the job that you do, it's the perception that women aren't "real" soldiers but are playing at it. And the feminists get it wrong because a "real" soldier serves as duty and honor require... which for most of everyone is support. But there is a difference in culture and in inculcating corporate identity if you're a male in a support role or a female in a support role.
It's similar to the difference if you're going through (during peacetime, at least) training as active duty (men) with "weekend warriors" (women). Everyone can be treated the same, but either group approaches the experience with an understanding that either they *are* actually in the military or that they *aren't* at the same level of commitment. And they act like it.
It's a subtle dynamic, and it's got nothing at all to do with what *particular* job a female performs.
It's also likely to have changed greatly, since I was active duty. I would expect it to have changed because female military have been routinely deployed to war zones for the last 12 years.
I've had some extensive conversations with conservative and libertarian women lately regarding this very issue, think again if you can't see this as a possibility.
Did you know any one who voted for Nixon?
I knew that sooner or later Inga would write something that reflects her biases. Liberal women would be loudest nay-sayers by far. The main difference between them and the conservative women is that they'd say "Not my daughter, she needs to go have a career."
Besides which, Inga, liberal women would object to their daughters learning how to handle firearms. Not every liberal is as open-minded as you about her daughter qualifying with a handgun and (gasp!) a true assault rifle.
Says the person who claims those believing we don't need a draft are unpatriotic.
Imaginitive? Maybe.
Nuts? Yes.
Incapable of logic? Absolutely.
I think it is a possibility inasmuch as liberal women would be opposed equally if not moreso. Consider that your most fervent anti war protesters are composed of liberals, its a stretch to argue liberal women would be ok with a draft.
A draft by definition is unpatriotic. If the country can't produce enough willing volunteers then you're probably fighting the wrong war.
Were we fighting the wrong war during WW2 when many men were drafted int service?
IronwoodCO said...
I think you are asking the wrong question at this point. It is not whether or not the draft will be reinstituted, but rather whether women will be required to register with the Selective Service System. For young men that is a requirement and they must comply to participate in federal student aid programs. If combat roles are open to women and the law doesn't change, on its face it seems to make a stronger sex discrimination case.
"With neutrally designed physical tests, no woman will be forced."
True, but meaningless--you can't really think the tests will be allowed to stay neutrally designed when virtually no women can pass?
" If women were drafted, and the question were about putting non-volunteers into combat, I believe this standard would be adjusted so that the daughters of America will have zero risk of being sorted into the cannon fodder pile. "
I can certainly see the forces pushing for this, but what about the opposite reaction from the disparate-impactists? The services are getting away, today with different standards for men vs women, but I just can see them getting away with different standards for draftees vs volunteers.
Trashhauler said...
The hypothetical argument is meaningless. Should we ever need a draft including women, we'll still use discriminators to decide what branch they will be assigned to. It would take nothing more than a station in the physical where the new inductees would be required to perform three chin-ups. It would eliminate 99% of all women for ground combat units. If you don't like that test, choose any of a dozen others you might think of. Alternatively, it's likely they'll just ask the female inductees what they want to do. No reason to ask the males - they aren't women, so aren't eligible for preferred treatment.
http://outsidethewire.com/blog/war/elite-infantry-as-the-military-gets-smaller-it-needs-to-be-more-elite.html
Here's some interesting commentary on women serving. It'd be interesting to read a more comprehensive analysis, but I suspect women serving aren't particularly eager to discuss the difficulties.
I think we would listen to anyone who is a master at a highly technical career field as to what will negatively or positively impact their ability to do their job. Doctor, carpenter, or career special ops soldiers.
I have two of the latter in my family. Both career soldiers how spent at least half of their combined 40 years in the Army in spec ops.
Both of them are thoughtful, intelligent men who can think both creatively and abstractly. Neither of them think politicians opening infantry units to women is a good idea for a myriad of reasons that go beyond whether or not the woman in question can do three chin-ups.
Alternatively, it's likely they'll just ask the female inductees what they want to do. No reason to ask the males - they aren't women, so aren't eligible for preferred treatment.
The assignment stuff is not at the induction station, but rather in day 2 of Basic. just after uniforms and haircuts on day 1 :)
a zillion tests, then a quick interview.
I distinctly remember a question about whether i would enjoy hunting lions in Africa in the test. i was smart, very smart, enough to correlate between hunting lions in Africa and hunting little men in black PJ's (not Glenn)
I answered no :)
I was headed to the Signal School
Still got to hunt little men because they were slow getting my TS clearance :)
McTriumph said...
I believe we should pay slavery reparations to blacks. In the same vein of logic, women should be the only ones serving in combat units for the next 200 years. Social justice, Baby!
I think a pretty good argument can be made that we didn't have to fight Germany. Like Iraq, they didn't attack us ;-)
My point Inga is that a volunteer army should suffice for our needs. If you have to forcibly conscript, you're probably not going to get motivated individuals, particularly today. In the 1940s, different generation and mindset.
I'm curious Inga, for someone who has loudly voiced your opposition for our current conflicts as well as future ones, you seem awfully, if you'll pardon the expression, gung ho, to reinstate the draft.
The two positions sure seem to be opposite.
It makes it much harder. For one thing, it means the current selective service law is now in open violation of the 14th amendment.
Thus, implementing a draft would requiring getting a new conscription law through Congress, and there's no way in hell that's happening.
Neither of them think politicians opening infantry units to women is a good idea for a myriad of reasons that go beyond whether or not the woman in question can do three chin-ups.
Aside from a normal man's instinctual nature to protect females, particularly in violent situations, I have to think that alone would jeopardize combat effectiveness.
It's bad enough we see our sons coming home in bodybags, do we really want to include our daughters? Are feminists so determined to shed away every aspect of female identity that they want them to face the prospect of death or dismemberment?
We were wrong to conscript men to fight in WW2. This doesn't imply we were wrong to fight the war.
Now, you like to conflate "we did it in WW2" with "we HAD to do it to win WW2". I direct your attention to the Japanese-American internment and the naval ban on combat service by black people. "We did it during the war" doesn't imply "we had to do it for the war".
Also, you appear to be ignorant of the fact that the government started drafting people during peacetime, before we entered the war. This alone handily destroys the notion that it was done out of defensive necessity. :)
No Revenant, we discussed this last night, I know that there was a draft BEFORE WW2, so were we a tyranny before WW2?
"Neither of them think politicians opening infantry units to women is a good idea for a myriad of reasons that go beyond whether or not the woman in question can do three chin-ups."
Do the words "irony" or "hyperbole" mean anything to you? Having been in the military (officer and civilian) for 40+ years, I can readily recall the use of more stupid discriminators than chin-ups. In any case, I did say you can pick your own.
No actually I'm not hung ho to reinstate the draft, Colonel. It's a hypothetical that interests me because it brings forth discussion on patriotism, tyranny, equality.
IF ever the need arose for a draft, God forbid, yes I would be in favor, but never guns ho, because that would mean a lot of death and destruction.
A lot of the leftie draft supporters seem to believe that reimplementing a draft would make wars unpopular, and discourage America from fighting in them.
This is because they don't pay attention to history. Nations that use conscription are, and have always been, more inclined to war than those that do not. Once rulers no longer need to worry about recruiting willing soldiers, going to war becomes that much easier.
Well, Inga, you keep asking the same dumb question and I keep explaining what you're getting wrong. You can go back and read the earlier answers if you like. :)
Never could max the pull ups. My nomination for surrogate combat event went out of style in the early 70's.
150 yard 'man' carry.
pick up a man your size, run for 150 yards, for time.
e.g. one man Casevac....
I don't think the draft is necessarily tyranny but I can certainly see how it could lead to it. I don't think opposition to the draft is unpatriotic, on the contrary, in a time of war, the country should have plenty of volunteers among the 300 million populace to serve. If they have to resort to forced conscription, then you have to start questioning the war effort. If the populace doesn't think the cost is worth it, why should they be forced to bear the burden.
WW2 likely didn't need conscription, it certainly didn't if we stayed out of Europe.
so were we a tyranny before WW2?
FDR certainly had tyrant potential in him ;-)
"Colonel" Angus said,
Are feminists so determined to shed away every aspect of female identity that they want them to face the prospect of death or dismemberment?
No "Colonel," some women are just patriotic and want to serve their country.
As a matter of fact, you're behind the times (as you avatar shows)--they already have done and do.
In 1779 "Captain Molly" Corbin became the first woman to receive a military pension, for action in combat at Ft. Washington. She is buried at West Point.
Women have served in every American war, plus several "military actions." 400,000 women served in WWII. Finally, in 1948, women were allowed to attain permanent military status.
In 1998, in the first wave of stikes against Irag in Operation Desert Fox, a woman fighter pilot delivered a payload of missiles in combat.
In 2000, the first woman commanded a Navy warship at sea.
Thirteen Silver Stars have been awarded to women. In 2005, SGT Leigh Ann Hester was the first woman to receive the Silver Star for valor in combat.
FDR certainly had tyrant potential in him
Inga's having trouble distinguishing between "only tyrannies need conscription" and "only tyrannies conscript people".
She's a leftie, though, so difficulty distinguishing between what government does and what we actually NEED government to do kind of goes with the territory. :)
Marshal said,
"...I suspect women serving aren't particularly eager to discuss the difficulties."
You're right, Marshal. They keep their mouths shut and do the job.
CJCS Gen Dempsey has recommended that specialties and units be allowed to apply for an exemption to accepting women in combat roles.
I think that's a mistake. I agree with Rep. Tammy Duckworth: that the military should open up every unit to women and see if they can complete the required training. "If the women can’t meet the standards, they don’t get to graduate from the program.”
You remember Rep. Duckworth: the helo pilot who lost both legs when she and her crew were shot down in Iraq? The only who, when asked if women should serve in combat, refers to her prostheses and says, “Where do you think this happened, a bar fight?”
It seems to me that with the exemption caveat the JCS are protecting that last bit of turf: leadership promotions for women, which they cannot get without combat experience.
As a matter of fact, you're behind the times (as you avatar shows)
That's fine Leslyn. But from what I heard, the push for combat roles seems more for personal advancement in rank than doing ones 'patriotic duty'
We have been at continuous war for 10 YEARS. The reason we don't have a draft to relieve the multiply deployments of our fighting force, including reservists and National Guard, is because it would not be politically expedient.
Similar to having a tax to actually pay for these wars--so politically inexpedient it might actually cause us to stop fighting.
Great read on life in light infantry.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323539804578260132111473150.html?mod=opinion_newsreel
Then perhaps you should spend some time around active duty men and women.
Interesting that you're now insulting the patriotism, honor and duty of our deployed women, when you earlier professed a distaste for body bags. Since women are already coming home in body bags, did you feel the need to switch objections?
I have two brothers that are career Marine Corps
Spare me your patronizing. You claimed combat was because of patriotism. To me they displayed that when they enlisted. Is the supply clerk any less patriotic than the infantryman? The support for women in combat is self serving so quit pretending otherwise. I don't want to see any of our troops in bodybags, I just don't see the need to up the ante for women.
Forgive me for giving a shit about your gender although I confess people like you are making it harder to care.
CJCS Gen Dempsey has recommended that specialties and units be allowed to apply for an exemption to accepting women in combat roles.,
I would suggest Infantry, Field Artillery, Armor, and Air Calvary. I'd let them slide on Air Defense Artillery.
But then we're right back where we started.
Exactly Leslyn. Some of these guys act as if they haven't seen what real women troops are doing in today's military and today's war zone.
BTW Leslyn, my daughter just got back to Camp Pendleton, while she was in Afghanistan she won the Navy Commendation medal and earned the FMF warfare device, so now she is a FMF Corpsman.
"...more for personal advancement in rank...."
It does seem that most of the proponents of women in combat actually want credit for whatever duty they have already performed. And most seem to be officers, who flew aircraft, rode out and back to combat in vehicles, never dug in, never humped up and down hills day after day, and who otherwise were not subjected to the weeks or months-long deployments in forward combat posts without sanitation, privacy, or any period of safety.
Odds are very long that there won't be many female privates volunteering for the nasty work that their female officers can generally avoid.
I give all honor to our women warriors, whatever they do. I'm sure most can kick my 62-year-old butt. But I learned long ago that becoming a casualty takes no particular skill. Being ready to sacrifice their safety says absolutely nothing about how effective they'll be in close killing.
God, let's start again.
I'm sorry, if you haven't been there, don't try and conflate "in combat" with "combat arms"
In theory, everybody in the combat zone is in combat more or less. A rocket attack, an IED, a convoy ambush even kills lawyers if they are unlucky and klutzes.
Lots of women have performed well in combat. SGT Hester, the Silver Star MP, being one out there on the end of the curve, but SGT Hester was NOT in a "combat arm". She is an MP, doing a road platrol from a Hummer with AC. reacting to an attack, driving up and dismounting with weapons only a couple of hundred yards from the attackers. She and another SGT flanked the enemy and killed them.
This is imprtant, at most, she was carrying 20 pounds of load for 20 minutes across flat ground. After the action, she, like Tammy and the helo jocks go back to base for three hots, and a cot with AC.
That is NOT the same as carrying 100 pounds for 20 days, up and down 10,000 ft ridges.
This Panetta thing puts women at the extreme end of the spear. It's nasty out there, brutish
The military doesn't want a draft, the public doesn't want a draft, and there is no rational need for a draft. The only people who want a draft are people dumb enough to think that'll end the war.
Political expediency has nothing to do with it.
PS: the not getting promoted without 'combat experience' is horse crap. My wife was a Full Colonel lawyer competing for promotion with a bunch of lawyers. She never deployed into a combat zone, much less into a combat arm. Officers compete against others in the same branch. The Army prevents a bunch of excess LTC Infantry types from being promoted with their CIBs and Silver Stars to command Logistics Brigades. Commanders of Logistics Brigades are chosen from the best of the female and male combat support Bn Cdrs. No grunts need apply. except of course the females and minorities get an extra bonus look by the board to meet 'goals'
as usual.
If women were drafted, and the question were about putting non-volunteers into combat, I believe this standard would be adjusted so that the daughters of America will have zero risk of being sorted into the cannon fodder pile.
I'm all for it, since there's zero risk of me being sorted into the cannon fodder pile either. I never met a physical test I couldn't fail if I tried hard enough.
The DRILL SGT said,
"...don't try and conflate "in combat" with "combat arms"....In theory, everybody in the combat zone is in combat more or less."
Yes. Everyone in a designated "combat zone" is, for instance, entitled to the tax exemption for serving in a combat zone.
Yes, not the same as "combat arms." To perform such service one has to have the training, be in a designated unit, and perform, at least nominally, "in combat." some are not designated "in combat;" some have it thrust upon them. This is what is happening to many women, first in Iraq, now in Afghanistan. We are not in a traditional front line war, and perhaps (many say probably) never will be again.
Without combat arms training and experience, you will not see, for example, a woman promoted to Commandant of the Marine Corps. Or to the JCS, for that matter. That's the "brass ceiling."
Who's to say they're not capable of such leadership? They need the experience, and if they can perform the tasks of a combat arms unit, let them.
There's some nice pictures of USMC Sgt. Savanna Melandoski on patrol in Helmand province at Getty Images, in the Editorial section, if you're interested in what today's combat zone servicewoman looks like.
Revenant said,
"...there is no rational need for a draft."
There may be if you want to change the culture of unending multiple deployments, combat exhaustion, and resulting problems of reintegrating into home life.
Anyone can experience these problems as the result of a combat zone deployment, but it is a definite problem of multiple deployments.
The spirit indeed is williing, but the flesh is...just human.
i found no images at getty for Savanna Melandoski
leslyn said...
I am pleased to see that you agree this is all about ticket punching for careerist female officers, not for making the army more effective :)
"We are not in a traditional front line war, and perhaps (many say probably) never will be again."
Those who say that are ignoring the very traditional fighting being done by the infantry far from the FOBs. Places like Combat Outposts Keating, Lowell, Restrepo, and countless others. The kind of combat in and around such places is so traditional that, except for airpower, the fighting would be recognisable to the British redcoats who were doing the same thing about 160 years ago.
That's exactly what I said Drill Sgt. and was castigated for questioning their patriotism.
Mary E. Glynn said...
If we ever get hypothetically invade, will there be an all-women guerrilla defense unit? I'm down with that.
(maybe we could all go our own ways, and just check in every few months or so to report on how we're doing...
You can even pay me later, after we win and help eject the enemy from American soil.)
"I got a dog, eats purple flowers...
Aint' got much, but we what we gots ours
We dig snow and rain, even sometimes muck...
Humping the ruck (humping the ruck)..."
This one goes out to you, allen s.
If we ever get hypothetically invadeD, rather...
There's already a solution for that problem: not re-enlisting. Taking the money you would have spent drafting people and using it to hire a smaller number of full-time volunteers would also work.
Without combat arms training and experience, you will not see, for example, a woman promoted to Commandant of the Marine Corps
Obviously I don't; but I don't see why they should be denied the opportunity.
"There may be [reason for a draft] if you want to change the culture of unending multiple deployments, combat exhaustion, and resulting problems of reintegrating into home life."
New recruit or conscriptee... makes no difference. That new warm body can't replace someone with years of experience.
If the problem could be solved by adding people, new recruits could solve it without a draft.
Dear Ann
Congress and the current administration will never allow the Defense Department to actually use gender neutral physical tests for combat. It would weed out too many women, resulting in too many lawsuits and the courts would void the policy in the name of equality of outcome.
I say this because a similar situation arose a couple of decades ago when the San Francisco Fire Department tried to use gender neutral tests for hiring firefighters. Many women couldn't haul the heavy canvas fire hoses up stairs in the required time or handle the department's 35-foot wooden ladders. As a result, the courts ordered the SFFD to adopt lower standards for women and, consequently, a friend of mine suffered a permanent back injury when a 105 pound Asian woman let the ladder fall on him.
Equality of outcome is the name of the game in today's federal courts. They've done it with race and they are about to do it with gender.
MarkD said...
One can argue the standards will be kept. Have you learned nothing from a lifetime of affirmative action? The thumb will be placed on the scale to ensure equality of outcome.
There's my reality based hypothetical.
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Amalgam Database
Dark Claw
Amalgam Comics
Iron Lantern
Spider-Boy
Doctor Strangefate
Terra-X
Bizarnage (Amalgam Universe)
Bane Simpson (Amalgam Universe)
Logan Wayne (Amalgam Universe)
Clark Kent (Amalgam Universe)
William Mar-Vell (Amalgam Universe)
Tatsu Braddock (Amalgam Universe)
Pages with script errors
Rudolph St. Croix (Amalgam Universe)
Amalgam Comics superheroes, Fictional characters who can move at superhuman speeds, Fictional characters with superhuman strength,
United States-themed superheroes
Fictional characters with accelerated healing
Fictional characters with eidetic memory
American comics characters
Fictional soldiers
Fictional World War II veterans
Super-Soldier (alternatively written as SuperSoldier or Super Soldier) is a fictional character created as part of the Amalgam Comics line, a collaboration between industry giants Marvel Comics and DC Comics. Super-Soldier, who debuted in Marvel versus DC #3 (April 1996), is a combination of Marvel's Captain America and DC's Superman.
The character first appeared in the cross-over series Marvel versus DC #3. A collaborative venture by the publishers DC Comics and Marvel, the concept was to create new characters by mixing the characters and characteristics of the separate publishing houses. Super-Soldier starred in two Amalgam titles, Super-Soldier #1 (April 1996) and Super-Soldier: Man of War #1 (June 1997). He also appeared in, or was mentioned in JLX #1 (April 1996), JLX Unleashed #1 (June 1997), Marvel versus DC #4 (May 1996). Super-Soldier's Marvel versus DC appearance were colelcted as part of the Marvel versus DC trade paperback (ISBN 1563892944, 1996), while the Amalgam Universe stories appeared in The Amalgam Age of Comics: The DC Comics Collection (ISBN 1563892952, 1996) and Return to the Amalgam Age of Comics: The DC Comics Collection (ISBN 1563893827, 1997).
As shown in Marvel vs DC #3, Super-Soldier is created when the two universes containing the heroes of DC and Marvel Comics are combined by the Spectre and the Living Tribunal to prevent their annihilation by the Brothers, two infinitely powerful cosmic beings.
Super-Soldier's backstory in this new universe is revealed in his first appearance in Super-Soldier #1. During World War II, government scientists developed a "Super-Soldier formula" based on experiments with cellular samples from an alien corpse. They administer the formula, as well as solar radiation, to a young man named Clark Kent. The mixture of the formula and the radiation give Kent incredible powers and abilities, including super-strength, heat vision, and flight. Reporter Jimmy Olsen, who sneaks into the Super-Soldier program laboratory, makes a deal with the government: he will not tell the world about the project if the government makes him the "official press flak" for the Super-Soldier.
Super-Soldier gains a sidekick for a short time named American Girl and becomes a member of the All-Star Winners Squadron, also known as the All-Star Winners Society[1]. Clark Kent is romantically interested in Lois Lane and dismayed when she marries Lex Luthor, a cold-hearted billionaire. In Super-Soldier: Man of War #1, Super-Soldier, aided by Sgt. Rock and his Howling Commandos, Jimmy Olsen, and Agent Peggy, fight Major Zemo, a member of HYDRA, a Nazi organization, who is secretly working for Lex Luthor, the behind-the-scenes leader of HYDRA and friend of Adolf Hitler himself.
By March 1942, Super-Soldier "had the war all but won nearly single-handedly until the rise of Ultra-Metallo", in the words of Jimmy Olsen. Ultra-Metallo is a massive robot later revealed to be sent by Lex Luthor. Super-Soldier sacrifices himself to take down Ultra-Metallo, the two of them sinking beneath the icy waters, with Jimmy Olsen as one of the few witnesses. Instead of reporting to the world that Super-Soldier was dead, Jimmy Olsen instead reports that Super-Soldier had retired, after declaring the war won by America.
Fifty years after Super-Soldier's battle against Ultra-Metallo, the JLA discover the frozen body of Super-Soldier in JLA #4. After thawing the great hero out, he joins the team and begins working at the Daily Planet as Clark Kent. In Super-Soldier #1, he discovers that Lex Luthor is still alive and well, having injected himself with Green K, a part of the meteorite that landed next to the space rocket so many years before, to greatly lengthen his lifespan, though it turns his skin a hideous shade of green. Lex Luthor, with HYDRA at his side, first kidnapps an aged Jimmy Olsen to give Super-Soldier a message. Jimmy returns, badly beaten, informing Super-Soldier that HYDRA is in Washington, D.C. Super-Soldier heads there, where he discovers that Lex Luthor and HYDRA have revived Ultra-Metallo, who is now powered by Green K itself, which weakens Super-Soldier.
Super-Soldier, discovering that lead protects him from the harmful Green K, used an enormous lead pipe to take down Ultra-Metallo before it can detonate a "K-Bomb" at the White House. Super-Soldier finally exposes Lex Luthor, and Luthor was incarcerated. After taking down Lex Luthor, he fought against the monstrous alien known as Doomnaut. At the end of Super-Soldier #1, Super-Soldier reveals that he is becoming weaker due to the fallout of the K-Bombs that were inside Ultra-Metallo. In the Amalgam Comic Lobo the Duck #1 (June 1997), an alternate future is shown where Super-Soldier, among many other heroes, is dead. As the Amalgam Universe is separated in Marvel versus DC #4, Super-Soldier's current status is unknown.
Initially, the combination of the Super-Soldier formula and exposure to solar energy gives Super-Soldier powers similar to those of Superman, including: super-strength, flight, invulnerability, and heat and x-ray vision. Also because of the Super Soldier serum his powers he shares with Captain America are increased.
Kal-El† - Superpowers benefactor
All-Star Winners Squadron - Teammates
American Belle
Aqua Mariner
Human Lantern
American Girl†
Jimmy Olsen - Chief
Sharon Carter - Colleague
Howlin' Commandos
Little Dum-Dum
JLA West
JLX
Nightcreeper
Judgment League Avengers - Teammates
Angelhawk
Legion of Galactic Guardians 2099
Lois Lane† - Romantic interest
Mademoiselle Peggy
Super-Soldier's eagle - Pet
Wiston Churchill†
Young Commandos
"Brooklyn" Barnes
Doctor Doomsday - Enemy and former ally
Doomnaut
Fin Fang Flame†
Mystallo
Nazis†
Adolf Hitler†
Major Zemo
Thanoseid
Ultra-Metallo†
↑ Super-Soldier: Man of War #1 (June 1997)
Amalgam Chronology Center
The Unofficial Guide to the Amalgam Universe
Who's Who: Handbook of the Amalgam Universe
Retrieved from "https://amalgam.fandom.com/wiki/Super-Soldier?oldid=4693"
Amalgam Comics superheroes
Fictional characters who can move at superhuman speeds
Fictional characters with superhuman strength
More Amalgam Database
1 Dark Claw
2 Iron Lantern
3 Amazon
Amalgam Database is a FANDOM Comics Community.
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The art of the lure
Artists: The art of the lure
Story: Jodi Heckel
Photos: Phil Gioja/do good Consulting
A fire warms the room on the lower level of Kevin McGill’s house, the place he calls his man cave/art studio. The fire heats a bowl of peanuts sitting on top of the stove. A pipe sits on a nearby table as McGill works, winding thread around and around and around a metal spring held in a vise.
Brightly colored deer hair is attached to the spring. And after he applies a layer of glue, McGill adds tinsel — similar to what you might put on your Christmas tree — and some small orange feathers.
His creation will become a lure that eventually will be cast into a lake with the hope of catching a muskie more than 4 feet long.
McGill has combined his two passions in life: art and fishing.
The Bondville man makes and sells bucktail fishing lures. A lifelong painter, he also makes watercolor and oil paintings, mostly landscapes.
McGill has been fishing since he was a child. His grandfather, Elliott McGill, and his father, John McGill Sr., fished on Chautauqua Lake in southwestern New York, where his family hails from. John McGill moved his family to Illinois when Kevin McGill was a boy, but Kevin McGill remembers returning to visit family and fishing with his father and grandfather on Chautauqua Lake.
“(Grandfather Elliott) had a wooden boat with a 40-horse Johnson and a pole that was about the size of a pool cue,” McGill said.
“One day, I’m going to go back and catch my muskie on Chautauqua Lake.”
As an adult, he got to know some fishermen in Central Illinois and helped form the Lake Shelbyville Muskie Club. He also learned to tie bucktail lures from one of the club members.
The large lures are made from hair from a deer tail, dyed different colors. McGill gets his bucktails and other supplies from a Springfield company, Lure Parts Online. He sells his lures through his company, PrymeTyme.
When making a lure, McGill builds it on a flexible spring, held in a vise. He chooses deer hair from his rainbow assortment of bucktails and adds it to the spring. He ties thread around the spring and adds glue.
Next come tinsel and feathers, for color and flash. Then McGill will add another longer layer of bucktail, usually in a darker color such as brown, green or black. Then he’ll wrap the end in a colored thread — bronze, gold or silver — for a little extra flash.
The color is important. Fishermen have their preferences for color, but McGill said the idea is to mimic a certain species of fish, such as shad, bass or bluegill, that muskie like to eat. A popular color combination is called the “firetiger” look: orange, yellow and green.
Once the lures are wet, they form a tapered shape, similar to a fish, as they run through the water.
“For muskie fishing, bucktails are like spinner baits for bass. You can cast all day long. They’re not really heavy. They’re designed for speed and flash and sound,” McGill said.
“Because the deer hair is so porous, in the water, if you are reeling and you stop, it fluctuates a little bit. It pulsates,” he added.
To complete one of his lures, McGill slides it onto a wire and adds a lead weight in the middle, or sometimes at one of the ends, then adds a second bucktail. The weight determines how fast the lure sinks after it is cast, and how it falls, whether evenly or head or tail first. The aim here, too, is to mimic a fish of prey.
Finally, McGill adds several beads, for more flash as they reflect light, and a blade, which can be metallic or chartreuse. The blade — which is oval-shaped and resembles an oversized guitar pick — spins as the lure moves through the water. It not only adds flash, but it also vibrates, and the fish can detect the vibration. The hook goes underneath the back lure.
“The art of tying a fly or bucktail and catching a fish on it, it’s rewarding,” McGill said. “Catching muskie on a lure you’ve made is the best feeling in the world.”
Muskie fishing is a relatively small part of fishing in Illinois, where lakes are stocked with the fish. Many people fish for muskie in the northern states. McGill said his lures can also be used to catch pike, bass and even catfish.
“I fish for everything,” McGill said. “But a muskie is kind of like the 10-point buck to a hunter. He’s the biggest predator in the lake.”
McGill also makes smaller lures, with silicone skirts and a smaller blade, for fishermen who are catching smaller fish than muskie or pike or prefer a different type of lure. He tries to make a different series of lures each year, depending on what fishermen are looking for.
Making lures appeals to McGill’s artistic side as well as his love of catching fish. He enjoys working with the materials he uses in making lures, with their various colors and flash. And he appreciates the craftsmanship in creating the lures.
McGill has had a lifelong love of art. He began painting in high school and he studied fine art at Parkland College and Blackburn College.
He does both watercolor and oil painting. He said his style is characterized by small brushstrokes and, with his watercolors, using a lot of paint relative to the amount of water, “so the paintings are very opaque.”
He has been doing mostly watercolors recently. He often works from photographs he takes while he is out fishing, but “some of these scenes (in the paintings) don’t exist. It’s just where I might want to be.”
He loves being outdoors and he loves trees. He began painting landscapes, then started experimenting with different colors, painting trees in hues of purple or blue.
He also loves painting clouds and keeps trying to capture them to his satisfaction. He likes working with a wash, then covering his painting with a linen cloth and placing his fingers on it to create a texture for the clouds.
While McGill has painted mostly landscapes and hunting scenes recently, some of his earlier oil paintings featured images made using positive and negative spaces. He would use vinyl letters or numbers and place them on paper, then roll paint over them. Sometimes they would get caught on the roller and their images were reproduced across the painting. Or McGill would use the letters or numbers to make another image — a car or a train — on his canvas.
McGill is considering several future projects, including making lures into keychains or cat toys or Christmas angels.
He’ll continue to find inspiration in the serenity of the outdoors.
“When I go fishing, there’s nothing better than being in your own cove, with no other boats,” McGill said. “I love the colors. I love the outdoors, and getting away for a day to fish.”
Not your grandmother’s quilts
Singin’ in the shower
A new showerhead lets you listen to your playlist in the shower.
Story:Jodi Heckel
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January 25, 2018 By Brittani Tuttle Leave a Comment
SeaWorld, OCEARCH join together to protect world’s oceans and marine life
SeaWorld and OCEARCH have joined together in a multi-year partnership to help educate and advocate for ocean conservation.
Today marks the start of a multi-year partnership between SeaWorld Entertainment, Inc. and OCEARCH, a leader in generating scientific data related to studies of keystone marine species, that will make valuable data available for the first time ever in a widely-accessible format. [Read more…]
Filed Under: Animals, SeaWorld Orlando, Slider, Theme Parks Tagged With: animals, data, featured, marine life, oceans, OCEARCH, partnership, science, SeaWorld, Theme Parks
May 26, 2015 By Matt Roseboom 4 Comments
The Rumor Queue: Speculation on Nintendo and Universal’s brilliant new partnership
By Fowl Owlerson
Recently, Nintendo and Universal announced a partnership, which I’ve provided for reference below:
“Nintendo and Universal Parks & Resorts today announced plans to bring the world of Nintendo to life at Universal theme parks – creating spectacular, dedicated experiences based on Nintendo’s wildly popular games, characters and worlds.
The agreement brings two icons of entertainment together and represents a significant partnership for Nintendo as it expands the reach and popularity of its characters and intellectual property.
Universal theme parks offer incredibly popular, innovative themed family entertainment experiences based on compelling stories and characters – using powerful storytelling and innovative technology. Nintendo has created remarkable and imaginative worlds filled with captivating stories and beloved characters. Now, for the first time, those stories and characters will be brought to life in entirely new ways – only at Universal theme parks.
The immersive experiences will include major attractions at Universal’s theme parks and will feature Nintendo’s most famous characters and games. More details will be announced in the future, as the Nintendo and Universal creative teams work to create specific concepts.”
The timing of this announcement intrigues me. The wording of it suggests Universal and Nintendo are still in the brainstorming phase, fleshing out potential concepts.
I suspect this was prematurely announced to circumvent any leaks, as well as appease Nintendo’s shareholders. The company is in a transitional time and needs to pivot due to lackluster sales of the Wii U gaming console.
The company faced a major pitfall with the GameCube console and then recovered gracefully with the Wii console, which introduced an entirely new audience to video games. No longer just a niche hobby, games are moving toward becoming a viable medium to impart stories in an interactive way. They’re not unlike theme park attractions in that they require a unique form of architecture to impart a story and participation from guests to be properly enjoyed.
Another intriguing aspect of the press release is the phrasing, “… — only at Universal theme parks.” This leads me to believe the contract signed stipulates the properties are exclusive to Universal’s parks and resorts.
Nintendo is famous for being extremely vigilant with its properties, often being stringent on who it allows to license its characters from merchandise to other mediums to everything in between.
A translated interview with President of Nintendo Satoru Iwata informed us that Universal designed a Nintendo land prior to approaching them about the partnership.
Seuss Landing was said to have played a major role in securing The Wizarding World of Harry Potter license, and the latter surely helped Universal convince Nintendo that their creative team could properly handle their characters in an engaging and respectful manner.
After this announcement made a thunderous impact all over the web, a cacophony of rumors emerged. Join me as we distill all of these rumors in one convenient place, offer speculation and discuss their viability.
Rumor: Marvel Super Hero Island will be retrofitted with Nintendo properties.
I’ve seen fans and publications alike report that Marvel and Universal Orlando’s contract is set to expire in 2016. This is incorrect. Universal’s contract for use of the Marvel characters in Orlando will continue in perpetuity for as long as Universal wishes. It ending would require Universal’s assent.
Tokyo’s license is said to eventually expire at an undisclosed date whereas Universal Hollywood opted not to renew the license with Marvel in 2007. This is why Disney can use Marvel characters in Disneyland, but none of the characters Universal employs are permitted in Walt Disney World.
It’s important to remember that Universal Orlando can continue utilizing Marvel’s properties for as long a they wish. “Will they?” is the question. Universal recently freshened up their Marvel character meet and greet outfits and spruced up The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man attraction. We heard tell this was in part due to Disney’s lawyers scrutinizing the Marvel contracts and representatives visiting Islands of Adventure to ensure the properties were being “properly” presented.
While it may sound surprising, Disney’s purchase of Marvel for the large sum of four billion dollars was rumored to cause Universal’s higher-ups to discuss contingencies in the event that the license had to be relinquished. Do keep in mind that the licensing of Marvel’s characters was originally due to Universal losing the rights to license Batman, Looney Tunes and several other properties from Time Warner to Six Flags. Islands of Adventure in its opening incarnation was the result of Universal surveying properties and “throwing” together a plan based on what they could acquire. Working in the entertainment industry requires one to adapt and Universal has had to do so in the past.
Is it necessary for Universal to once again pivot? The problem is the antiquity of Marvel Super Hero Island. It’s clearly a relic from a different era in Marvel’s history. As Marvel’s universe and characters continue to evolve, Universal’s Super Hero Island remains static.
So the rumors that Nintendo’s properties will serve as a replacement for Marvel’s characters aren’t unfounded. Dr. Doom’s Fearfall could be retrofitted with Bowser, The Hulk could be painted brown and replaced with Donkey Kong, Spider-Man could be gutted and replaced with the Mario Bros, Marvel’s comic shop could be replaced with a Nintendo merchandise and game store.
The entire land being rebranded is in the realm of possibility. This would first require Universal to sell the rights back to Disney, and ballpark estimates would put such a sale in the millions.
In the interim, Marvel has taken to pivoting its cinematic and comic universes. Disney Imagineering can’t use Captain America, Spider-Man or Iron Man, but it can employ Captain Marvel and the Guardians of the Galaxy.
Rumor: Universal’s New Water Park will feature Nintendo characters.
Based on what I’ve been told by sources and have found on other outlets, Volcano Bay will not incorporate any intellectual properties, but instead be its own entity. If anything, it may incorporate some of its characters such as the Minions from Despicable Me, but in the same vein Disney Imagineering incorporated characters such as Goofy, Mickey and Donald in its water parks.
Rumor: Toon Lagoon will be demolished and replaced with a Nintendo themed land.
Toon Lagoon was the result of Universal improvising and licensing whatever it could manage based on its rapport with other companies and budget. While it’s an area of the park I hold dear due to many afternoons spent watching The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show and reading the comics section of the local paper as an owlet, it’s a relic from another time. This is dispiriting, but as I said, the entertainment biz requires one to be malleable.
Universal at one time was said to have considered replacing Toon Lagoon with a rendition of The Shire from Tolkien’s Middle Earth lore. These rumors have since faded, but the notion of Toon Lagoon being replaced still lingers. Between Marvel Super Hero Island and Toon Lagoon, I see the latter being less appealing to the general public.
Would the land be aquatic in nature? It’s not a caveat to a potential replacement, as Universal has shown it’s not afraid to spend the extra time, effort and money to completely overhaul a space.
Rumor: Kid Zone’s much rumored demolishment and reconstruction will include Nintendo properties.
Based on the rumors that have made the rounds, SpongeBob is still set to invade Kid Zone with a new major attraction and water play area.
From what I’ve had sources disclose, E.T. Adventure and Curious George Goes to Town will remain at Universal for the time being. E.T. is said to be incorporated into the rumored Universal 25th Anniversary Museum and Curious George will remain as it presently stands, although it could be the future site of an expansion.
This means Fievel’s Playland, Woody Woodpecker’s Nuthouse Coaster and A Day in the Park With Barney would be the new hypothetical space of this overhaul.
What if SpongeBob won’t be the only property included in this much needed rebranding of Kid Zone? What if this partnership results in a Nintendo store, character meet and greets, and perhaps an intricately themed game zone for kids?
I’m skeptical of this angle. Given the propitious nature of this license, Universal could push further and build an intricately themed land on par with Seuss Landing and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Islands of Adventure seems like the best fit, but a Nintendo space in Kid Zone is still possible.
Rumor: The Lost Continent will be demolished for a Nintendo themed attraction.
Unlikely. As far as I’ve heard, The Lost Continent will be the future site of a potential third and even fourth phase expansion for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
We’ve previously heard rumors about The Ministry of Magic and a more intricate spell experience being implemented.
I’ve received several tips that should “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” fare well and spawn a new series of films set in the Wizarding World, Universal will implement experiences from it inside a new section of the park that will require The Lost Continent be demolished.
Rumor: Wet ’n Wild will be rebranded with Universal and Nintendo’s properties.
Based on the information I received from a source, Wet ’n Wild won’t continue to be in operation past 2017. Things could change, as they have a propensity to do. Maybe Universal will rebrand Wet ’n Wild with properties in its wheelhouse and/or licensed work, opting to keep Volcano Bay a contemporary, tropical park that stands on its own?
Alternatively, Universal could opt to do something else with the estate, from new offices to a new park to selling the land for a nice sum. The future of the space Wet ’n Wild inhabits is up in the air.
Rumor: CityWalk will get a new establishment related to Nintendo.
One of the first ideas that sprang to mind after this was announced was an intricately themed bar, restaurant and arcade featuring Nintendo games and characters.
Think a mix of Player One on the scale of something like Rising Star, but with a broader appeal for families. It’d be a standout establishment at CityWalk and I’m sure I wouldn’t be the only one elated to see it happen.
As far as location goes, Drew of “Orlando United” posited that NBA City near Islands of Adventure could be the ideal spot for such an establishment. Given the space available to Universal in CityWalk, I’m in agreement with him.
Rumor: Universal will build a brand new Super Nintendo Store and Game Center
I view this as a given. Universal would be foolish not to capitalize on the merchandising opportunities. Not only could they offer exclusive Nintendo merchandise, but they could also host events.
Imagine game launches and special events at this super store. For titles like Pokémon, guests could bring in their handhelds and get exclusive items and monsters.
This might surprise you, but many people of various age groups bring their handhelds to the park. I’ve personally found myself connecting with a seemingly endless number of players via Nintendo’s Street Pass system on the DS.
(Before you ask, yes, I can use a DS. It does have some issues given the feathers, but perhaps Nintendo will fix this in the new new 3DS?)
Rumor: Universal Japan and Hollywood will also be getting Nintendo attractions.
While this wasn’t explicitly stated in the press release, I’d be nonplussed if it didn’t happen. Frankly, a Nintendo themed land seems most likely in Japan. Hollywood, on the other hand, will likely have to settle for one attraction with a gift shop and perhaps a themed restaurant due to the space available.
A reader by the name of Ben at Theme Park Updates on Twitter recently revealed to us that Hollywood’s Soundstages 23, 24, and 25 are the likely future sites of expansion for Diagon Alley and possibly a Nintendo themed area. Indeed, this same rumor has since made the rounds around the web.
It would seem that any future expansion would require the park to cannabilize its soundstages. I can’t think of many alternatives that would be spacious enough for Universal Hollywood’s creative team, as Blues Brothers and Shrek 4-D are the only two that spring to mind.
I expect each Universal park to have its own unique touch on Nintendo’s work based on each resort’s constraints. This is not unlike Disney’s rumored plans for its future Star Wars expansions across multiple resorts.
No matter the direction, this acquisition is brilliant. Nintendo’s vast catalog gives Universal the freedom to explore a panoply of different worlds.
Imagine an interactive puzzle experience based on The Legend of Zelda series. Picture a haunted maze ghost hunting experience based on Luigi’s Mansion. Dream of a mine cart thrill ride based on Donkey Kong and his friends. Imagine soaring through the galaxy with Mario or picture taking in an interactive Pokémon experience. Imagine going on an aquatic adventure with Yoshi.
The brilliance of Nintendo is its versatility and ability to leap across generations and appeal to a new audience. Everyone knows of Mario, he’s iconic. The interactive and often portable experience of Nintendo’s properties allows Universal to offer a potentially more immersive experience for guests.
Even though we’ve a while until anything comes to fruition from this partnership, speculating and imagining all of the possibilities excites me. Features like Skipper Ben’s Top 10 Nintendo Attraction Ideas in Attractions Magazine’s Summer issue reinforce the notion that this partnership is a trove of potentially fantastic concepts.
What would you like to see? The sky is the limit right now.
• Fowl Owlerson, or “Fowly” as he’s affectionately known, has been attending theme parks since he was a spry owlet. When he’s not filtering through the latest murmurings around the industry, he can be found writing, reading and snacking on the occasional rodent. Follow him on Twitter @fowlowlerson for the latest rumors or drop an anonymous letter to him at [email protected] or via Direct Message on Twitter.
Filed Under: The Rumor Queue, Universal Orlando Tagged With: donkey kong, featured, land, legend of zelda, Nintendo, partnership, rumors, super mario, the rumor queue, theme park, Universal, Universal Orlando
May 14, 2015 By Banks Lee Leave a Comment
Attractions – The Show – Gator Spot; Three Musketeers; latest news – May 14, 2015
Hosts Banks Lee and Elisa Goldman bring you this week’s theme park and attraction news. On this week’s episode: [Read more…]
Filed Under: The Attractions Show Tagged With: alligator, America, area, attractions, dinner, featured, Florida, fun, Fun Spot, gator spot, Gatorland, home, I-Drive, International Drive, news, Orlando, partnership, performance, pirate's town, show, the three musketeers, theater, theme park, Travel, Video, voyage
Fun Spot and Gatorland team up for Gator Spot – Now open
Fun Spot America and Gatorland marked the official grand opening of Gator Spot today with a special ribbon “chomping.” Gator Spot is located inside Fun Spot Orlando, off International Drive. [Read more…]
Filed Under: Animals, Fun Spot, Gatorland, International Drive Tagged With: albino, Alligator (Animal), attractions, baby, big, birds, chomping, cutting, Exhibit, featured, Florida, fun, fun spot america, gator, gator spot, Gatorland (Tourist Attraction), habitat, highlights, huge, large, news, officially, open, Orlando, park, partnership, reptiles, ribbon, snakes, theme park, tour, Travel, Video
May 7, 2015 By Matt Roseboom 7 Comments
Super Mario Bros. – The Ride? – Nintendo characters coming to Universal theme parks, plans include major attractions
In a few years you may be riding on a Super Mario roller coaster, or helping Link save Zelda from the evil Ganon in dark ride. Yes, many Nintendo fans dreams are coming true, as Universal has partnered with the famous video game company to create major attractions based on Nintendo characters at Universal Orlando and other Universal theme parks. [Read more…]
Filed Under: Universal Orlando Tagged With: attractions, donkey kong, featured, link, Nintendo, partnership, super mario, theme park, Theme Parks, Universal, Universal Orlando, zelda
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Bookclubs!
Guest Posting Policy
Indentured America: Bibliography
sotd test
State of the Discussion
The 500kth Ordinary Comment
Tag Archives: Principled Pragmatism
Ten Second News
+ Roger Stone Indicted, Arrested
( 12 ) / #Mueller #Roger Stone #Trump
-Roger Stone Indicted, Arrested
/ #Mueller #Roger Stone #Trump
Roger Stone can add an indictment from the Special Counsel’s office to his highly-checkered resume.
Roger Stone has been indicted by a grand jury on charges brought by special counsel Robert Mueller, who alleges that the longtime Donald Trump associate sought stolen emails from WikiLeaks that could damage Trump’s opponents at the direction of “a senior Trump Campaign official.”
The indictment’s wording does not say who on the campaign knew about Stone’s quest, but makes clear it was multiple people. This is the first time prosecutors have alleged they know of additional people close to the President who worked with Stone as he sought out WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
“After the July 22, 2016, release of stolen (Democratic National Committee) emails by Organization 1, a senior Trump Campaign official was directed to contact STONE about any additional releases and what other damaging information Organization 1 had regarding the Clinton Campaign. STONE thereafter told the Trump Campaign about potential future releases of damaging material by Organization 1,” prosecutors wrote.
Stone was arrested by the FBI Friday morning at his home in Florida, his lawyer tells CNN. He was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia on seven counts, including one count of obstruction of an official proceeding, five counts of false statements, and one count of witness tampering.
The special counsel’s office said he will appear before a federal judge in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, at 11 a.m. ET.<
We will see how far Stone’s “I’ll never testify against Donald Trump,” proclamations will go. Also of note, while the indictment details many activities of Stone’s during the campaign, Mueller is only charging offenses that occurred during the investigation. As we have learned, probably best to let this latest blaring headline breathe a bit before making wide-sweeping proclamations of its importance.
Like that’s going to happen.
Please do be so kind as to share this post.
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+ BuzzFeed to Cut 15% of Its Workforce
-BuzzFeed to Cut 15% of Its Workforce
The Wall Street Journal is reporting:
BuzzFeed is planning to lay off about 15% of its workforce, according to people familiar with the situation, as the company seeks to reorient itself in a shifting digital-media landscape.
The cuts could affect around 250 jobs, the people said. The firm, among the most high-profile digital-native publishers, also is looking to realign its resources to invest more in promising areas of the business like content licensing and e-commerce, one of the people said.
(Featured image is a screenshot of Buzzfeed’s front page menu.)
+ Trump’s Transgender Military Ban Remains- For Now
( 5 ) / #LGBTQ #SCOTUS #TransgenderTroops
-Trump’s Transgender Military Ban Remains- For Now
/ #LGBTQ #SCOTUS #TransgenderTroops
The Supreme Court today voted 5-4 to allow the Trump administration’s restrictions on transgender troops to be implemented while the matter is battled out in lower courts. The five conservative justices, Roberts, Alito, Thomas, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh, voted to grant the government’s application to stay a nationwide injunction on the restrictions.
From the Washington Post:
The justices lifted nationwide injunctions that had kept the administration’s policy from being implemented.
It reversed an Obama-administration rule that would have opened the military to transgender men and women, and instead barred those who identify with a gender different from the one assigned at birth and who are seeking to transition.
The court’s five conservatives–Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Jr., Neil M. Gorsuch and Brett M. Kavanaugh–allowed the restrictions to go into effect while the court decides to whether to consider the merits of the case.
The liberal justices–Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan–would have kept the injunctions in place.
The Court also turned down a request by the government to hear the matter on its merits, despite the lower court not having ruled yet. So, while the “ban” will go into effect, the controversy is not dead. The litigation in the lower courts will continue.
The policy, announced on Twitter by President Trump and refined by the defense secretary at the time, Jim Mattis, generally prohibits people identifying with a gender different from their biological sex from military service. It makes exceptions for several hundred transgender people already serving openly and for those willing to serve “in their biological sex.”
Challenges to the policy have had mixed success in the lower courts. Trial judges around the nation issued injunctions blocking it, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco, is expected to rule soon on whether to affirm one of them.
The administration had also asked the justices to immediately hear appeals, an unusual request when an appeals court has not yet ruled. The court turned down those requests.
The Supreme Court’s rules say it will review a federal trial court’s ruling before an appeals court has spoken “only upon a showing that the case is of such imperative public importance as to justify deviation from normal appellate practice and to require immediate determination in this court.”
So, while the “ban” will go into effect, the controversy is not dead; the litigation in the lower courts will continue.
UPDATE: Some reports indicate that one injunction remains in place which prevents the immediate implementation of the ban.
From Mark Joseph Stern, lawyer and writer for Slate:
Here is the injunction that remains in place. The Trump administration may try to argue that it doesn't apply to the current "Mattis policy," but by its own terms, it obviously does. https://t.co/fnNeFbT955 pic.twitter.com/do3kT6Kvmk
— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) January 22, 2019
+ Video: January 21
( 0 ) / #Music
-Video: January 21
/ #Music
I present the best song ever written about the 21st of January.
Phil Pritchett – January 21
Or if you just want to listen to it, the acoustic studio version is good.
+ What Happened To The 15-Hour Workweek?
( 53 ) / #work
-What Happened To The 15-Hour Workweek?
/ #work
We wanted something else more:
Well, one explanation is that there are simply more things to want. A supermarket today has thousands of options, and there will always be more things than we can afford.
Advertising—which appears on billboards, in trains and trams, on our smartphone screens, or cleverly disguised as a blog post—is now impossible to escape from, and it exposes us to a never-ending stream of products we didn’t know we needed.
These are well-known complaints. However, there’s another important and poorly understood reason for want expansion. Keynes thought that once our needs were fulfilled, it wouldn’t make sense to work more. However, it turns out that there is a certain need that requires an infinite supply of money to satisfy: the need for social status.
This ties into my writing on the UBI and why I don’t think it would end work as we know it. People will work so they can live around other people that work. So that their “station” is with those that also work.
If we had a 15-hour work week, how would we differentiate ourselves from the people that are only willing to work 15 hours a week?
+ The Pending Discovery of Alex Jones
( 3 ) / #alex jones #First Amendment #Infowars #Sandy Hook
-The Pending Discovery of Alex Jones
/ #alex jones #First Amendment #Infowars #Sandy Hook
I’m not even going to pretend that this possibility doesn’t warm the cockles of my heart.
ABC News:
A judge in Connecticut has granted the families’ discovery requests, allowing them access to, among other things, Infowars’ internal marketing and financial documents.
The judge has scheduled a hearing next week to decide whether to allow the plaintiffs’ attorneys to depose Jones.
The plaintiffs include the parents of five children who went to the school as well as family members of first-grade teacher Victoria Leigh Soto and Principal Dawn Hochsprung, according to a statement from the plaintiff’s attorneys.
There is still quite a bit of doubt that the lawsuit will be successful, as defamation suits have a high burden to clear for public media figures like Jones. Jones and his attorney are claiming everything done by InfoWars is covered by the First Amendment, and they have plenty of precedent to stand on. Still, the fulcrum point of any civil action as to whether it is going anywhere or not is discovery, and having probing eyes into his operations is something Alex Jones cannot be happy about. Scrutiny and conspiracy is something Alex Jones is more accustom to subjecting others too. We already know, from Jones’ own lawyer in his divorce and custody case, that “he’s playing a character” on air, allegedly, so no surprises like that will be shocking. More interesting to some, however, will be the financials, plus the fact that if Jones is found not to comply it could cause even further legal complications. Laying bare the inner working of the InfoWars grifting machine will make Jones’ detractors happy, and if nothing else should be rather entertaining. Who knows what might come of it. We will see.
+ The First Day of Amendment 4 for Re-enfranchised Voters
( 3 ) / #Amendment 4 #disenfranchised #felons #Florida #Voting rights
-The First Day of Amendment 4 for Re-enfranchised Voters
/ #Amendment 4 #disenfranchised #felons #Florida #Voting rights
Tuesday, 9 January 2019, is the first day that some felons in Florida who previously had their voting rights removed can register to vote again under the effects of Amendment 4. The question is how exactly is that going to work?
For all the uncertainty surrounding the launch of Amendment 4 in Florida, there’s no question that hundreds of thousands of convicted felons previously unable to participate in the state’s elections will be able to register to vote come Tuesday.
It’s what will happen after they register that remains unclear.
Despite assertions from Amendment 4 advocates that the changes to Florida’s Constitution are self-implementing, incoming Gov. Ron DeSantis reiterated his belief Monday that the Legislature must pass a bill to help guide the Division of Elections as it verifies the eligibility of newly registered voters. An estimated 1.2 million people are expected to regain the right to vote Tuesday as the amendment takes effect, and it’s up to the state to verify whether any of those newly registered voters are ineligible due to a disqualifying criminal offense.
For now, in order to ensure that no one is disenfranchised while the state determines how to comply with Amendment 4, the Division of Elections has stopped running new voters through its felony database. That means those who believe their rights have been restored can register to vote and likely begin participating at the very least in local elections.
This being Florida, there are more than a few concerns with implementation:
But it also means that it could be weeks or even months before the state notifies any of those new voters if they’ve been deemed ineligible. And it would potentially compound any controversy should the Legislature take a restrictive interpretation of the amendment.
+ Cyntoia Brown Granted Clemency
( 32 ) / #Cyntoia Brown
-Cyntoia Brown Granted Clemency
/ #Cyntoia Brown
Bill Haslam, Tennessee’s outgoing governor, has granted Cyntoia Brown full clemency.
In 2004, Brown was a 16-year-old living with a man named Garion McGlothen. McGlothen raped and abused Brown; he also forced her into prostitution. It was during this time that she met and then killed Johnny Allen, a man who had raped her. Prosecutors ignored both Brown’s age and the lifetime of abuse she had endured, charging her as an adult and pursuing the maximum possible punishment for her having killed Allen. Prosecutors insisted that Brown had not feared Allen, as she had claimed, and was in fact in no danger. The jury went with the prosecutors, sentencing Brown to life in prison. A Supreme Court decision later clarified that sentencing juveniles to life in prison constituted cruel and unusual punishment, but after an appeal based upon that clarification, Tennessee’s Supreme Court confirmed that Brown would have to serve at least 51 years of her life sentence before she would be eligible for parole.
Brown was the focus of a documentary called Me Facing Life: Cyntoia’s Story and subsequently became a cause for some celebrities, including Rihanna and Kim Kardashian-West. Brown’s case then became a flashpoint in arguments about how the American justice system valued lives, with numerous critics observing that whereas the justice system often bends over backward to excuse away crimes committed by men, it offers no such leniency otherwise. This, then, serves as a step in the right direction.
Brown will be eligible for release on August 7, 2019.
← ITW All TSN →
Ebola, Risk Management, and the Case for Principled Pragmatism
The national conversation we’re having about ebola might help party leaders get the vote out. It might also increase the risk of an outbreak.
by Tod Kelly
Tod Kelly / October 27, 2014 / ( 40 ) / in The League / #CDC #ebola #Ideology Is The Enemy #Principled Pragmatism #Risk Management
The Principled Pragmatic Reader
Last week I got an email from reader Karen, who asked if I would be willing to share some book titles that might help her better know and understand my political philosophy of principled pragmatism. At first I had no idea what to tell her; there really is no such thing as a compendium for…
Tod Kelly / May 29, 2013 / ( 88 ) / in Books / The League / #A History #Birds Without Wings #books #Columbine #doubt #Drive #Huck Finn #Moby Dick #Parliament of Whores #pragmatism #Principled Pragmatism #The Demon Haunted World #The Story of American Freedom #Wolf Hall
Musical Selection
The Firewatcher's Daughter (2015)
Designed by CK MacLeod
Based on "Expound," a Theme by Konstantin Kovshenin
"Steampunk Airship" by Gavin Grant
© 2015 - 20 Ordinary Times
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Nelson Mandela Foundation (NMF), 5 results 5
Various, 1 results 1
Record Group, 14 results 14
Record Group English
ZA COM MR-F
Nelson Mandela has been the subject of numerous documentaries, feature films and news specials. This list is not exhaustive. Any additions or comments would be gratefully received, please reach us via archives@nelsonmandela.org. To see whether the NMF has copies of these films please check the NMF Film & Sound Collection.
Nelson Mandela Foundation (NMF)
Nelson Mandela Foundation Papers
ZA COM NMFP
Reference Collection (Centre of Memory Reading Room)
ZA COM Ref
ZA COM MR-S
The transcriptions contained within this collection encompass all of the roles that Mr Mandela filled both before and during his retirement. This is an ongoing exercise as we continually identify additional speeches made by Mr Mandela. Every speech is verified prior to accessioning.
Nelson Mandela Private Papers
ZA COM NMPP
Nelson Mandela Associated Papers
ZA COM NMAP
Nelson Mandela Gifts Collection
ZA COM NMG
NMF Sound/Video Collection
ZA COM NMFSV
Anti-Apartheid Movement Archives
ZA COM MR-AAO
The international movement of solidarity with the struggle for freedom in South Africa was arguably the biggest social movement the world has seen. Virtually every country in the world has a history of anti-apartheid activity, in diverse forms. In many countries, anti-apartheid activities were linked (formally or informally) with local struggles against oppression of many kinds. Most anti-apartheid movements (AAMs) did not restrict their activities to South Africa, but supported liberation movements in Southern Africa more broadly. Besides individual countries, a range of regional and international organisations added their voices to the struggles against apartheid.
What follows is an overview of some of the extant archival records of this extraordinary history. It is a first step towards a more comprehensive picture; it is at this point but a marker.
Nelson Mandela Office Papers
ZA COM NMOP
Rivonia Trial
MR-RT
The Rivonia Trial, arguably the most significant political trial in South African history, generated a vast archive, ranging from the official court records to media coverage of the trial. This database, and the records audit on which it is built, constitutes a first step towards documenting the archive. The need for the database was determined by the fragmentary and scattered nature of the archive.
Mandela Materials
MR-MM
The archival record relating to the late Mr Nelson Mandela is infinite, fragmentary and scattered, both geographically and institutionally, throughout the world, making it almost impossible to physically locate. The imperative, therefore, is to document this vast resource, facilitate access to it, and promote its preservation and use.
The Mandela Materials Database is a guide to the Mandela archive elsewhere, other than the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory. Both local and international repositories have been surveyed for any material on Mr Mandela to include in the database. The purpose of this database is to point researchers to the relevant repositories holding the actual archival material.
ZA COM MR-B
Hundreds of books have been written about the late Nelson Mandela in many countries and in many languages. Even more books have covered topics with him as a reference. Still more books, in virtually every genre and about most subjects, refer to him, his experiences and his leadership.
Nelson Mandela Tributes
ZA COM MR-T
The Nelson Mandela Tributes Database consists of tributes, and awards bestowed on Nelson Mandela. It includes tributes, awards and honours he received while in prison, after his release, while he was President of South Africa, during his retirement and posthumously.
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The Empire Is Crumbling!
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Is With the New Silk Road
by Helga Zepp-LaRouche
This article will appear in the June 6, 2014 issue of EIR.
[PDF version of this article]
May 30, 2014 —The Earth-shattering successes of opponents of the European Union in the European Parliamentary elections on May 22-25, 2014(in France, Great Britain, Greece, and Ireland), and the considerable success of anti-EU parties in Denmark, Italy, Hungary, Austria, and Poland, signify a turning point: the beginning of the end of the EU empire. Voters held the EU bureaucracy in Brussels accountable for the failed experiment of the European Monetary Union, for the violation of human rights by the Troika's austerity policies in Greece, Italy, Spain, and Portugal, and for the French government's Brussels-inspired austerity program. The subsequent haggling over who will be president of the EU Commission is a sign of the illness that afflicts the EU: the virus of discord is spreading.
In many world capitals, speculation is rife about what the EU's future holds and what effect this revolt will have on the strategic situation overall. And here opinions are divided. For those both inside and outside the EU who believed the Brussels propaganda—that the EU is the guarantor of peace both internally and externally, that it defends Europe's interests against other power blocs, and that therefore it benefits everyone—this election was a cold shower, which will hopefully lead them to a better recognition of reality.
The election was a very positive development, however, for those who have seen the EU, ever since the signing of the Maastricht Treaty in 1992, as a continually expanding empire; along with the eastern expansion of NATO, it has been part of the strategic encirclement of Russia, and has become more and more a monster, representing only the interests of the banks at the expense of the common good, while the gap between rich and poor becomes intolerably wide.
The Strategic Danger
No thinking person can now doubt that there are parallels to the outbreak of World War I, one hundred years ago, in 1914. But because of the thermonuclear arsenals today that could wipe out the human race a dozen times over, and, given the consequences that a civil war in Ukraine could have, the world situation now is much more dangerous. After all, in a third world war, mankind could cease to exist.
Despite the so-called “narratives” being circulated by political think-tanks and the mass media, the danger of war does not emanate from Russian President Vladimir Putin, nor from China. It is exclusively the result of both deliberate decisions and errors on the part of the West: 1) the refusal to include Russia in new alliances after the collapse of the Soviet Union; 2) the broken promises to Russia after the disbanding of the Soviet Union, that NATO would not expand toward Russia's borders; 3) the ultimatum included in the EU Association Agreement for Ukraine, which would have made Russia indefensible and would force Ukraine to split in two, because of the country's internal composition; 4) the policy of regime change at any price, which, along with the long-term Western financing of 2,200 NGOs in Ukraine, unleashed a well-known Nazi Frankenstein monster; and then, 5) the unbelievable audacity of covering up who was actually responsible for the atrocities in Odessa, for example, while preaching democracy and human rights.
The fact is, the people in the nations of Europe do not believe these “narratives.” The last time there was a comparable discrepancy between the official party/media line, and what the people actually thought, was in October 1989 in the German Democratic Republic [East Germany]. The people of Europe experienced world war twice on their territory in the 20th Century, and even if they don't know all the facts and historical background, they recognize the demonization of Putin as war-mongering, and voted against the parties that are promoting it.
A Bankers' Dictatorship
frontnational.com
A rally of the National Front in France, May 1, 2014: “No to Brussels, yes to France.”.
The second main reason for the election result was, of course, what the EU has become, from the Maastricht Treaty to the Lisbon Treaty (2009): a supranational dictatorship in the interest of the banks and speculators. Instead of taking up the historic opportunity presented by the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989—which could have been one of humanity's most shining moments, to establish an order of peace for the 21st Century—the same old geopolitics went into effect which had led to the First World War. Germany was forced, as the price for reunification, to give up its sovereignty over its own currency, the deutschemark; to vote (against its better judgment) for the European Monetary Union; and to allow itself to be squeezed into the corset of the EU's Maastricht Treaty. With the introduction of the euro, the Eurozone and implicitly the entire EU became the regional representation of “globalization”—which was nothing but a synonym for a world empire based on the Anglo-American special relationship.
The EU of the Lisbon Treaty, which the oligarchical circles want to replace as soon as possible with a European Super-State, is nothing more than a new version of the empires that ruled Europe for millennia: the Greek Empire described by Thucydides, which destroyed ancient Greece; the Roman Empire; the Venetian Empire; the Dutch-English Empire; and finally the British Empire, which has by no means disappeared, but continues to exist in the form of globalization.
The Olympian Zeus turned himself into a bull to seduce Europa: an apt image for the EU today.
There is a deeper truth in the legend that Zeus, the human-hating god of Olympus, turned into a bull in order to seduce Europa. If we look at the main conflict of in European history of the last 3,000 years from the standpoint of Greek mythology, we see the clash between the oligarchical system of Zeus and the progressive system of Prometheus, who brought mankind fire and thus scientific and technological progress; or from the point of view of Christianity, the equivalent is the contrast between Satan and the goodness of God. The Europe of the EU today has undoubtedly succumbed to the blandishments of Zeus. And how could the system of globalization be described, if it accepts the death of millions of people? Certainly not as Christian.
The fact is that the EU is a European Empire, and that there is no such thing as a single European people. At least some of the 28 nations that have been brought together under the yoke of the Brussels dictatorship have expressed this. And because the trans-Atlantic financial system is hopelessly bankrupt, and the Troika has nothing to offer except lethal formulas in the interest of the banks and speculators, this oligarchical construct will come to an end in an extremely short time. If Europe's nations are to survive, the imperial character of Europe must be overcome as soon as possible!
The New Silk Road
Fortunately, an alternative is coming together: a grouping of nations that are instead committed to the Promethean principle of development of their populations and cooperation among sovereign republics. China has made its program of a New Silk Road between Asia and Europe a priority, while the May 20 Shanghai agreement between Russia and China, for strategic cooperation and 46 individual accords for fundamental collaboration, including in high-technology areas, has created a new pole, which is also oriented toward India and most other Asian states. Everything will now depend on a group of Eurasian nations coming together as fast as possible in an alliance of sovereign republics, which renounces once and for all the idea of war as a means of conflict resolution, and works together for the common aims of mankind.
The New Silk Road—i.e., the launch of many infrastructure projects on the highest technical level, which is the prerequisite for the development of land-locked regions of the Eurasian continent, but also of Africa—has now been placed on the agenda because of this new alliance between China and Russia. This begins to make a new economic geometry become a reality: long-term development of the real economy and the common good, replacing the old geometry of “let the select few get rich quick.”
Even if supposedly practical politicians have still not fully understood it, the vote in the European elections signifies the end of an era. Humanity has the prospect of a future again.
Translated from German by Susan Welsh
Helga Zepp LaRouche: Instead of WW III: Build a Eurasian Union From Vladivostok to Lisbon
May 8, the Anniversary of End of WWII in Europe
Lisbon Treaty Ratification: A Day of Shame for The German Parliament!
Treaty of Lisbon: This Could Be a Treaty of Death for Nations
There Is Life After the Euro! An Economic Miracle For Southern Europe and the Mediterranean!
"There Is Life After the Euro"—BüSo Party Convention in Frankfurt
There Is No `Greek' Crisis: It's the Euro That Has Failed
Reinstate the Glass-Steagall Banking Act of 1933
German Gen. Kujat: Talk to Russians, Not About Them (EIR)
Asymmetric Response to Sanctions: Russia Debates Dirigist Credit-Creation Plan (EIR)
Putin Speaks on Ukraine, Crimea with Constituents (EIR)
LPAC Videos Complete LaRouches’ Vision of Eurasian Land-Bridge (EIR, 2010)
Civil Rights Solidarity Movement (BüSo)
Transcript: Helga Zepp-LaRouche Diplomatic Luncheon Keynote: There is an Alternative to Extinction War!
Speech by Helga Zepp-LaRouche to Chinese Think-Tank: On the Agenda: Common Aims Of Mankind
Sun Yat Sen: In Defense of Nationalism, the Republic, and the American System of Political Economy
STRATEGY: Helga Zepp-LaRouche on Visit to China Warns Scholars of Imminent Threat of War
Ukraine : N. Vitrenko dénonce un putsch néonazi poussé par l’OTAN (Natalia Vitrenko's webcast, with transcript in French)
Pravy sektor : les néonazis ukrainiens moteur de la révolte (the video of the Ukrainian nazis on the rampage presented during Natalia Vitrenko's webcast)
VIDEO: Beijing Review Interviews Mrs. Zepp-LaRouche on the New Silk Road Project
Physical Economy: The Worldwide Land-Bridge (map)
NEW WEBSITE: FORUM FOR A NEW PARADIGM
About Helga Zepp LaRouche
schiller@schillerinstitute.org
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On April 20, 2018 July 11, 2018 By awordfromjosephineblake
Book Two in the Hands of Fate Series
Melaina Hartley was happy. As the daughter of a wealthy explorer and spice merchant, she lived a perfect life in the small town of Carth, a town in Pennsylvania owned almost exclusively by Mr. Ashwood of Carth industries.
When Melaina’s father falls on hard times, his partner in business, Mr. Ashwood, offers Melaina a unique proposition— accompany his wayward daughter to London and see her safely married to the Duke of Westmire. Only then will he forgive her father’s debts.
But Blanche Ashwood is more than a handful for poor Melaina. On the eve of her introduction as the Duke of Westmire’s fiance, the spice heiress commits a horribly dishonorable act that could bring scandal down on the Duke’s entire household AND land Melaina’s father in debtor’s prison… unless Melaina takes her place.
With her life spinning out of control, Melaina steps into Blanche’s shoes and is introduced to the London society as the Duke of Westmire’s bride-to-be.
Luca Deval is content with his life in the shadows. He has finally found a place in the Cirque De Straniu, a traveling show made up of a band of miscreants and thieves. He is not about to let some far-fetched scheme drive the Cirque into the ground, or end them all up in prison (again.) The Cirque is his family. He has to keep them safe.
So when the leader of the Cirque announces his plans to kidnap the Heiress of Carth and hold her for ransom, Luca plays his part well. It is only his cool head that keeps the people of the Cirque from landing themselves in a whole lot of trouble…
But the so-called Heiress is nothing like he expected her to be, and before Luca realizes what has happened, the woman has enthralled him. Will he be able to let her go when the time comes? Or will the woman that Luca has kidnapped capture his heart instead?
A Breath of Scandal
England, 1888
Melaina clutched at the pain lacing up her side as she stared wide-eyed through the milling crowd standing in the Duke of Westmire’s foyer. She had to be here somewhere. The air seemed to have grown thin as panic grew to a crescendo inside her chest.
Carefully concealed by a frilly potted plant at the top of the stairs, she gazed down into the thronging mass of gentry below. Her heart was pounding as fast as the hooves of the horse that had carried her here, but Miss Blanche Ashwood was nowhere to be seen.
Melaina dabbed a bead of sweat from her damp forehead. Why, oh, why did Blanche have to choose tonight of all nights?
“Any sign of her?” the voice of her new friend and confidant, Lady Agatha Edgewater, echoed down the hall.
Melaina jumped and held a finger to her lips as Agatha approached. Lady Edgewater was dressed in a lavender gown that swished as she walked, making her blue eyes shine in the dim light. Her friend placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder and gave it a little squeeze. “Blanche will turn up,” she whispered. As she drew nearer, her sparkling eyes scanned the thronging floor below. A widowed woman in her mid-thirties, Agatha was well respected amongst London society. She was a pretty woman, with dark hair and pointed cheekbones. At the moment, her thin lips were pursed.
It seemed all of London had turned up to bear witness to the engagement of the beloved Duke of Westmire to the infamous Miss Ashwood, a spice heiress of extreme wealth and prominence in America. Miss Ashwood had traveled to London at her father’s bidding, set to marry Lord Westmire on the twenty-second of November… and Melaina had been dragged along with her. They were staying at Lady Edgewater’s house in town.
Melaina growled low in her throat. “Miss Ashwood is well-aware of what this night could cost me,” she hissed to Agatha. “She knows what it will cost us both if she doesn’t show. How can she—?” she broke off at the creak of a door behind them, and both women turned to look at the footman that was waving frantically to them from the servants’ stair. “Miss Melaina, come quick. We’ve found her.”
Melaina let out a sigh of relief that did little to calm her stuttering pulse. “Where is she?” she breathed, stalking down the hall and following the footman’s head as it bobbed off down the narrow staircase on her left.
“Down here, Miss. She’s… ah— perhaps it will be best if you see for yourself.”
Melaina’s little finger gave an uncomfortable twitch.
“What has she done this time?” whispered Agatha, tailing along in their wake.
Melaina turned back, already half-way down the first flight of steps. “You don’t have to come down, Miss,” she whispered. “It’s not proper.”
The Lady Edgewater let out a tinkling laugh. “Not proper, my foot!” she exclaimed. “I haven’t had this much fun in years.”
Fun. Melaina shook her head. Fun wasn’t precisely what she would call Miss Blanche Ashwood. No, impulsive, inconsiderate, arrogant perhaps. But fun? Not at all.
Melaina hadn’t understood why Mr. Ashwood had been so determined that Melaina should accompany his daughter on her voyage to London. Nor why he had resulted to threats to ensure that the marriage between Blanche and the Duke of Westmire would indeed be a success.
“Blanche is… headstrong,” he had said.
Melaina recalled the smell of cigar smoke and warm leather wafting towards her as Mr. Ashwood rose and circled around behind her chair. She was perched on the edge of her seat in front of his vast mahogany desk. They were home, in Carth Pennsylvania. The thriving town situated on the edge of Lake Erie from which Mr. Ashwood ran his thriving spice empire. Her father was sitting in the chair beside her, tugging at his collar.
“She needs a firm hand. Someone to keep her on the path that I have marked for her.”
Melaina frowned. Miss Ashwood was at least nineteen years old. Surely, she was more than capable of traveling with a single chaperone to England in the early fall.
“I’m afraid I don’t understand,” she said, looking to her father for clarification.
“Your father is indebted to me,” answered Mr. Ashwood curtly. Melaina glanced over her shoulder to see him fingering the spine of a thick ledger on the side table behind them. “A considerable sum, I’m afraid.”
“What?” gasped Melaina, her eyes widening as she took in her father’s ashen complexion. “Is this true?”
Her father cleared his throat, tugged at his collar once more, and nodded.
“If Blanche marries the Duke of Westmire, I have agreed to forgive his debts,” continued Mr. Ashwood, as though Melaina had not made a sound.
“I’m afraid I still don’t understand.”
Mr. Ashwood circled around his desk to face them once more. “My daughter does not wish to marry the Duke,” he stated plainly, folding his hands behind his back. “But this marriage will open up trade routes along the Eastern coast of England. Trade routes currently in the possession of the Duke of Westmire. If I can gain access to those routes…” Mr. Ashwood smiled for the first time, and then his dark eyes focused on hers. “Ensure that my daughter marries the Duke, Miss Hartley, and I will forgive your father’s debts. Fail to do so, and I will have him imprisoned.”
Melaina turned away from Lady Edgewater, trying to ignore the sick feeling enveloping her gut as they made their way through the dark scullery and stepped into the kitchen, which was ablaze with light. The scene that met them halted Melaina mid-step.
There were four people in the room. One of them, Melaina recognized as the Duke’s butler. He was an imposing figure, tall and broad shouldered, with a cap of thinning black hair on his head. The plump, nervous woman wringing her wrinkled hands beside him was the cook. Melaina had been to speak to the woman personally two days before, regarding Blanche’s ‘special’ diet, the one that meant that she was not permitted to consume any alcoholic beverages during tonight’s gala.
The second woman was, thank the Lord above, Blanche Ashwood, who was sitting at the scrub table, her heart-shaped face glowing like the setting sun.
“Melaina!” she exclaimed, springing to her feet the moment she saw her. “Melaina, my dear! Have you heard the happy, happy news?” Blanche ran forward and wrapped her arms around her, squeezing Melaina so tightly that she nearly forgot what it felt like to breathe.
“What—what do you mean? What is this?”
But Melaina had just caught sight of the fourth figure in the room, who had risen from his seat at the table slowly, his face abashed and the back of his neck red. The butler was glaring at him with his arms crossed.
“I refuse to employ a scoundrel such as yourself, Geoffrey. You’ll turn in your livery and be on your way tomorrow before dawn,” he spat. “You’ve brought an unclarified amount of shame on this household with your actions tonight.”
Melaina looked from the young footman to Blanche’s beaming face and back again, fear burrowing deep into her belly. “Blanche,” she whispered, “What have you done?”
The heiress’s face fell slightly as she took in the terror in Melaina’s expression. “I—I fell in love,” she said. “We’re married now.”
Melaina stared at Blanche’s silvery dress and at her wide blue eyes, uncomprehending. “In love,” she repeated. She took a step back, her gaze blurring slightly, so that all she could see was the firelight dancing off Blanche’s blonde hair.
“Yes,” smiled Blanche, taking hold of her hands, “With Geoffrey.”
Melaina’s fingers were so numb that she couldn’t truly feel Blanche’s hands in her own. “With Geoffrey,” she repeated again. “Geoffrey. This man?” she pointed a trembling finger at the red-faced footman standing a few feet away from them. “The Duke’s footman?”
“He’s also his valet,” said Blanche, still smiling. “Come, come. You must meet him.”
“No.” Melaina stood her ground as Blanche tried to tug her forward. “No, I mustn’t meet him.” Her vision cleared, her eyes narrowing to slits. She jerked her head. “You will get an annulment,” she murmured. “No one need ever know. Close the door,” she snapped at Lady Edgewater.
Agatha jumped at being addressed so sharply, but did as she was told, unable to disguise her excitement. What a scandal! The Duke’s bride to be has married his valet!
Every eye in the room was fixed on Melaina, but she only had eyes for her charge, whose joyful expression was sliding away as though she had been doused with icy water.
“We won’t get an annulment,” she stated. “We’re going to travel to India together.”
“India,” scoffed Melaina, her fury only just contained. “India! If you marry the Duke, he’ll take you to travel the world, you daft wagtail!”
Blanche set her stubborn jaw, just as Melaina had seen her do on countless occasions since she’d been tasked with the woman. “I will not be marrying the Duke,” she hissed. “I’m married to Geoffrey, and there is no undoing it, Melaina. No judge will grant us an annulment. Not now.”
Melaina stared at her. “You didn’t…” she whispered. “Blanche Melody Ashwood. Please tell me you didn’t.”
Blanche lifted her chin, a defiant gleam in her eye. “It’s consummated,” she stated boldly. “There is no undoing it, Melaina. It is done.”
A furious cry tore from Melaina’s chest, tearing at her throat. “Do you realize what you’ve done?!” The anguished sound of her voice made every soul in the room tremble.
“My father’s business will be just fine,” mumbled Blanche, lowering her eyes to her toes for the briefest of moments.
“And what of my father?!” Melaina cried. “I told you, Blanche! I trusted you with the truth! You’ve… you’ve betrayed me!” Her chest was tight, her ribs straining against her stays. “Blanche! How could you?”
All at once, the fight left her, and Melaina slumped forward to sink, shaking, into one of the sturdy kitchen chairs.
“I haven’t betrayed you,” whispered Blanche. “I haven’t.”
Melaina refused to meet the woman’s gaze as Blanche dropped to her knees in front of her, her hands coming down atop Melaina’s own.
She stared down at Blanche’s slender fingers. They were thin and tapered and soft. The woman had never worked for anything a day in her life.
“Listen, Laina, darling. Listen, I have a plan.”
Blanche reached up to brush a strand of reddish hair away from Melaina’s tear-filled eyes as Melaina shook her head.
“My father will go to debtor’s prison,” she whispered through quivering lips.
“No,” said Blanche. “No, he won’t. I won’t be marrying the Duke, but you can marry him in my stead.”
Five whole seconds ticked by on the pendulum clock in the corner of the kitchen. The butler was the first to break the silence. “It’s possible,” he said in his gruff voice. “Very possible.”
Melaina’s head snapped up. “What on Earth do you mean?” she growled. “Of course it isn’t possible. The Duke will never accept me as his bride! He’s counting on Miss Ashwood’s dowry! My penniless family has nothing to offer the Duke of Westmire!”
“But…” said Blanche, her jovial smile returning, “mine does.”
Melaina shook her head, trying to clear it.
Blanche continued. “Think about it! The Duke has never met me before. He has no concept of my appearance. None at all, save a small sketch that my father had commissioned for him last year when they began their negotiations.”
“We look nothing alike!” cried Melaina, eyeing the heiress’s blonde hair.
“We’ll just say that the artist was incapable of capturing your likeness,” said Lady Edgewater unexpectedly.
Melaina turned in her seat to glare at her.
“I haven’t even met with my father’s London solicitor yet,” said Blanche. “The only people that know what I look like are in this very room!”
“It’s true. My servants have been mixing the two of you around from the moment you arrived at my home two months ago,” added Lady Edgewater.
“We’ve been planning this night for nearly half a year,” said Blanche. “The Duke’s aunt wished to put off our official meeting until every arrangement was made.”
“Do you suppose he’s rather unfortunate looking?” giggled Melaina helplessly. “Oh, Blanche, I can’t marry the Duke.”
“You’d be a duchess,” murmured Blanche.
“A duchess under your name!” Melaina stressed. “I’m sorry, but this is completely preposterous.”
“Miss Hartley, if I may speak,” the butler stepped forward. “Geoffrey and Miss Ashwood’s behavior will result in the largest scandal English Society has seen since Prinny himself took up with Mrs. Robinson. If you were to marry the Duke under Miss Ashwood’s name, that could all be avoided.” He looked hopeful at the very thought, his eyes shining. It was clear that this man was very proud of the house he served. “The elopement of a potential Duchess would be a disaster,” he finished. “You could save the Westmire home from certain shame.”
Melaina paused, martialing her thoughts, and somehow, the idea began to make sense. “But what about your father?” she hedged. “You can’t possibly think that he won’t visit. I thought he was planning on attending the wedding?”
Blanche shook her head, wiping at her nose, her expression suddenly wooden. “Father sent a missive last Tuesday. He will be traveling to Mexico City in November. He apologized and sent his regrets.” Her chin quivered.
Despite her fury at the situation into which she had been placed, Melaina couldn’t help the twinge of sympathy she felt for Blanche. What must it be like, to have a father whose main concern was never you?
In their months together, Blanche had told Melaina the stories. Stories of the birthdays he had always missed, the Christmas mornings spent with her governess and the household staff… because her mother was gone, you see, and her father couldn’t be bothered with her.
She reached out and took Blanche’s hand, then looked around at every hopeful, excited face in the kitchen. There would be seven people, including herself, in on the secret.
“If I agree to do this,” Melaina peered carefully into each face, making sure each of them met her gaze. “No one must ever know. You must all give me your word. From this moment on, Melaina Hartley does not exist.”
“Hurry! Hurry!” Melaina gave Blanche a shove on her pert backside as the two of them scampered back up the servants’ staircase, closely followed by Lady Edgewater.
At the top of the stairs, the three women separated. “I’ll go down to soothe feathers,” she said. “You’re nearly two hours late. I’ll tell them our carriage was caught up on the ride over.”
“You best tell them it was overturned,” chuckled Melaina. The thrill of what she was about to do was making her giddy. She took hold of Blanche’s arm and they sped off down the hall, looking for an open doorway.
“Thank heavens we’re nearly the same size,” Blanche whispered as they slid into a guest chamber and closed the door. “You couldn’t very well be introduced as the next Duchess of Westmire in that dowdy old rag, now could you?”
Melaina scowled, but otherwise ignored the slight on her dress. She was, indeed, a full-figured girl, as was Blanche. Her hips had often been referred to as “perfect birthing hips” by her auntie.
As she stripped off her pretty red and floral gown, she glanced down at those hips and thought that someday, she could potentially be giving birth to the Duke of Westmire’s children. Would they be considered illegitimate if the Duke ever discovered that he had been fooled? But why should he?
“Help me with the buttons, will you?” asked Blanche, drawing Melaina back down to Earth. She was hopping on the spot, struggling to undo the line of costly, pearl buttons that ran the length of her silver gown.
“You do realize, that you won’t be able to afford a handmaiden after this, don’t you?” chuckled Melaina, setting to work on the pearls at once.
“I won’t need one,” muttered Blanche, a smile in her voice. “I’ll have a husband for such things.”
Melaina sighed. “I’m so angry with you,” she said, finishing with the buttons and helping to tug the long silver sleeves from her friend’s arms. “But I can’t blame you for not wanting a husband foisted upon you against your will…” she sighed again. “You never even gave the Duke a chance. He could be quite nice, you know.”
Blanche snorted. “He rubs along quite well with my father, what do you think that says about his charming personality?”
Melaina giggled. “It must be non-existent.”
“Exactly. Now step into this at once and turn around, I’ll do you up.”
There was a soft knock on the door. “Who is it?!” they both cried in unison.
“It’s just me, you ninnies, settle down,” Lady Edgewater sidled into the room and closed the door behind her.
“Hurry up, they’re waiting for you, Miss Ashwood,” she beamed at Melaina, who gulped audibly.
Blanche was sliding her hips into Melaina’s red dress and fastening the last of the buttons. “Don’t wait for me,” she said. “Go!”
“Is this goodbye then?” Melaina looked up at Blanche, saddened at the thought that she might never see the rambunctious heiress again.
“Oh…” Blanche paused, glancing up and taking hold of Melaina’s arm. “Perhaps not just yet. Come, sit here.”
She pushed Melaina down onto the stool in front of the room’s vanity table and took up a comb. In a matter of seconds, she had Melaina’s reddish brown curls pooled on top of her head. They dangled there, just above her chocolate eyes, and Melaina exhaled them out of her face. She glanced at herself in the mirror, shocked that she couldn’t see the frantic thrum of her heartbeat as it attempted to pound its way out of her chest.
“I’d pinch your cheeks, but they’re red enough as it is. Do try to calm down, won’t you?”
“Great gingersnaps, Blanche Ashwood, how am I supposed to calm down?” Melaina’s voice was high and squeaky.
“Breathe,” suggested Lady Edgewater. “Now come, let’s be off.”
“One more thing,” sighed Blanche, frowning as she bent her head forward and unclasped her necklace. “I hope you don’t mind,” she said. “I took a few of the pieces from my collection, on the off chance we need to sell them. But the rest of them are yours now.”
“M-mine?” Melaina stuttered as Blanche slid a glorious necklace around her throat. “They’re opals,” she said indicating the gems surrounding a pearl cameo in the center, “and here,” she passed Melaina a set of pearl earbobs. “There, now you’re ready.”
She smiled and kissed Melaina on each cheek. “Best of luck to you.”
“And to you,” Melaina whispered. The women hugged. “Stay out of trouble.”
Blanche winked. “You know I cannot promise anything of the sort.”
Melaina left the room on Lady Edgewater’s arm. “We’ll go down together. There’s a footman waiting to announce you on the landing.”
Indeed, there was. Melaina swallowed. Her throat had gone dry. She tried to clear it, but only succeeded in making another soft squeaking noise, like a mouse being trodden on.
“Here we go!” laughed Lady Edgewater, sounding exhilarated, and she tugged Melaina off down the stairs.
The footman caught sight of them. The staff in his hand lifted and fell three times onto the top-most stair with a mundane finality that echoed throughout the entire room. Every eye in the entire place found Melaina and fixed her where she stood.
“Lady Edgewater of Green Haven, and Miss Ashwood, the Heiress of Carth.”
For a moment, Melaina stood there and trembled, staring around at every upturned face. She experienced a momentary, mad desire to flee back up the stairs, but Lady Edgewater took a firm grip on her arm and whispered: “Smile, my dear. You’re about to become the Duchess of Westmire.”
Melaina straightened her back and felt her face split into a brilliant smile. The moment that her feet touched the bottom step, the room erupted with brief, polite applause and then everyone started talking at once.
“Where is he?” Melaina whispered. “The Duke. Where is he?”
“Calm down,” whispered Agatha out of the corner of her mouth. “He’s here.”
Melaina gave a start at the voice that spoke just over her shoulder and turned around so fast that she cricked her neck.
“May I introduce to you, the Duke of Westmire?” said a stoic, paunchy man to her left.
Melaina’s eyes found the Duke’s, and her face flushed a brilliant shade of scarlet.
He wasn’t a particularly tall man. Standing a few feet apart from one another, she could tell that he was only a few inches taller than she, and there was a certain sweetness to his face that she found comforting. He had an angular jawline that was ringed by short, bristling hairs, and his hazel eyes crinkled in the corners as he smiled at her. He was older than she had thought he would be. She would have guessed him at forty and six or seven, but with an unmistakable air of sureness about himself, as though he knew the world would shift beneath his feet to make way for him.
The Duke stepped nearer to her and bowed low over Melaina’s hand. She was abruptly aware of her dress, and how there was a wrinkle in the silken fabric near her left knee. She also noticed that the eyes of the crowd around her were following her every move.
Forgetting herself, she stared at the Duke as he rose, smiling expectantly. Lady Edgewater gave Melaina a discreet nudge with her elbow and she abruptly dropped into a low curtsy.
“My Lord Westmire,” she murmured to the tiled floor. “It is an honor.”
“The honor is mine, Miss Ashwood.”
Melaina thought that her heart might soon explode from the strain of the evening. She straightened. “I must apologize for my inexcusable lateness, my Lord. We were met with difficulties on our arrival.” It felt good to tell at least some portion of the truth to this man. At least her first words to him wouldn’t be an outright lie.
“You were missed,” he said. “I was… rather eager to meet you. I must say,” he was staring at her with heated intensity, and for a moment, Melaina faltered. He must realize… how could he not? “The image your father sent me does not do you justice.”
The breath that she had not realized she was holding escaped her lips in a sigh of relief. She smiled at him and bobbed another small curtsy. “Thank you, my Lord.”
He nodded his head, holding out his arm to her. “Perhaps, we could speak more privately for a moment?”
Melaina blinked, then cast a side-long look at Agatha, who nodded encouragingly. Melaina forced a smile and, feeling as though she were relinquishing a life-ring amidst a turbulent sea, she transferred herself onto the Duke’s arm.
He led her away from the entrance hall, down a narrow hallway, and drew her into a smaller, but still extravagant sitting room. Melaina felt a twinge of unease as he signaled a footman to close the doors behind them.
“Oughtn’t we to have a chaperone, my Lord?”
“Grunnings will do,” said the Duke with a small smile, indicating the austere painting of an elderly gentleman that hung above the mantelpiece. “I must apologize, but I’ve been waiting months to have a look at my future bride and I’m not at all interested in being eavesdropped upon.”
Melaina chuckled, “I would think being eavesdropped upon would be an occupational hazard of being the Duke of Westmire.”
The Duke frowned, releasing her arm to stride over to the sideboard. “Unfortunately, yes,” he growled. “If every one of my peers doesn’t have his ear pressed against the door at this very moment, then I’m a horse’s prominent backside.”
Melaina giggled.
“Would you like a whiskey?” asked the Duke, pouring himself a generous measure.
She coughed. “A whiskey? I think not.”
The Duke looked up at her in surprise. “I’m sorry, I had heard rumors that you liked to partake, however scandalous that may seem.”
He smiled, and his eyes crinkled pleasantly in the corners again.
At his words, Melaina recalled that she was supposed to be impersonating Blanche Ashwood, an heiress notorious for her scandalous behavior and lack of propriety.
“Oh, go on then,” said the Duke, holding out a glass to her.
She took it and, without giving herself a moment to consider, tipped the entire glass into her mouth. The liquid seared at her throat, making her eyes water. She gulped audibly and made a horrid face.
The Duke chuckled and refilled her glass for her. Melaina gazed doubtfully down into the amber liquid and raised it to her lips once more.
But the Duke placed a palm over the rim. “Perhaps, we should take things slowly,” he said, raising an eyebrow. Melaina nodded, thanking her lucky stars that she wasn’t expected to taste the foul liquid for a second time, and followed him to the settee. The Duke waited politely for her to take a seat and then folded himself into one of the cushioned chairs opposite her with all the dignity that befitted his station. He looked so comfortable in his surroundings, that for a moment, Melaina quite wanted to confess that she had absolutely no idea what she was doing.
She swallowed the urge, and looked expectantly at the Duke, waiting for him to speak.
His glass tapped twice against the arm of his chair.
“Your father has informed me of your… reluctance in this arrangement.”
Melaina opened her mouth, and then closed it again. She sat back against the cushions. “Yes,” she said finally, “I have… expressed that view.”
“Done quite a bit more than expressed it, I think,” he chuckled. “I want you to understand that I intend to make good on my word to your father, but I do not want you to feel as though you are being forced into a situation in which you have no say.” He paused as Melaina’s eyebrows flew up. “A shock?” he queried. “I’m sorry to be so straight-forward,” he shrugged, “I like to be clear in my intentions.” He took a tiny sip of the amber fire in his glass. I did it wrong, thought Melaina, watching him swallow with apparent enjoyment. “I just want to request that you give this arrangement a chance. I was quite looking forward to meeting you tonight. I hope that I am not a disappointment to you.”
“Not at all,” said Melaina hurriedly. “Your frankness is much appreciated.” But the Duke did not appear to be listening.
“You are very beautiful,” he said in a rush, as though he had been determined to get the words out before he lost his nerve.
Melaina blushed at his complement. “Thank you,” she whispered. Her hands were folded around the whiskey in her lap. She could think of nothing else to say.
The Duke shifted in his chair, tugging a small box from his pocket. “That reminds me,” he said. “I have something for you. I’ve had it brought from the vaults.”
Melaina raised her eyes to his as he clicked open the box to reveal a magnificent ring. It glistened with emeralds in the firelight. She caught her breath at the sight of it.
“I know you are accustomed to larger jewels,” he murmured, indicating the necklace of pearls and opals around her neck. “But this one has a certain sentimental value to me. You see, it was my grandmother’s.”
Melaina’s eyes filled suddenly with tears. The Duke either didn’t notice or was tactful enough to ignore them as he withdrew the ring and made to slide it onto Melaina’s finger. “As we’re engaged, it seemed only right that you should have it.”
The ring dropped onto her finger with ease and the Duke frowned. “Hmm, seems a bit loose. Strange. I asked your father for your sizing only last month before I took it to the goldsmith.” He patted her hand and Melaina experienced a strange swooping sensation in her stomach. “No matter, perhaps we’ll take a trip into town together tomorrow and have it re-sized. It shouldn’t take long. We could have a look in the shops if you like.”
Melaina’s smile trembled, but she nodded. “That sounds wonderful.”
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4 thoughts on “A Twist of Fortune”
Judy Tucker
Can’t wait. I love your books. This series is awesome.
Dana Wayne
Thank you so much, Dana!
Judi Lundstrom Edwards
I’m so excited for the 2nd book in the series…tomorrow is almost here ! WOOHOO
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Home » $250-$500 » Marcy Steelbody Squat Rack STB-70105
Marcy Steelbody Squat Rack STB-70105
Marcy STB-70105
W:65"
135 lbs 500 lbs
catch bars
pegs 15+ Frame: 10 years
Parts: 2 years
The Marcy Squat Rack STB-70105 is one of the most affordable racks at the moment. One of the reasons for this is its lack of a pull-up bar. It’s a pretty simple, yet functional rack, which offers a decent sturdiness and several adjustment positions for its catch and safety bars. Needless to say, it doesn’t include weight plates of a barbell.
Assembled dimensions: 49.5L x 65W x 66.5H inches (126L x 165W x 167H cm)
Assembled weight: 135 lbs (61.2 kg)
Max. weight capacity:
Catch bars: 500 lbs (226.7 kg)
Plate storage pegs: 100 lbs (45.3 kg) each
Possible exercises: 15+
Warranty: Frame 10 years, Parts 2 years
Frame and parts
The Marcy Squat Rack STB-70105 features a durable steel frame with 3 x 3 inch upright bars. The structure of the frame is reinforced by two short horizontal bars that connect the main upright bars to the shorter storage bars. Also, the upright storage bars are connected to the rear base of the unit via two oblique reinforcement bars. These being said, the machine’s frame has quite a sturdy construction; you can be sure that it won’t wobble or budge as long as the weights don’t exceed the specified 500 lbs (226.7 kg) for the catch bars.
This Marcy squat rack is not extremely large. With the frame fully assembled, it is approx. 49.5″ (126 cm) deep, and 65″ (165 cm) wide. Also, its highest point is approx. 66.5″ (167 cm) above floor level. However, keep in mind that it is made for use with Olympic barbells. Therefore, you should assign a usage area for it of at least 6’0″ (183 cm) deep, and 9’0″ (274 cm) wide, for safe operation and ease of access.
In case you’re wondering, the spacing between the two upright posts is over 55″ (140 cm). This means you will have plenty of room for the correct and unhindered execution of all exercises.
The unit’s upright bars feature 13 adjustment notches. This being said, the unit offers plenty of adjustability for its catch bars and safety bars. Both the catchers and the safety bars are rated for loads up to 500 lbs (226.7 kg).
The rear upright bars are equipped with two weight plate storage pegs each. These pegs are 2″ (5 cm) in diameter, so they’re made for Olympic bars only. They cannot store Standard (1″) plates. A set of four spring collars for securing the plates on these pegs is also included with the rack. Each peg has a weight capacity of 100 lbs (45.3 kg).
The rack’s base does not have any anchor points, nor it has any holes for it. The rack itself is pretty heavy; without any weights loaded on it, it weighs approx. 135 lbs (61.2 kg) which means it offers plenty of stability on its own. However, each end of its base is equipped with a square stabilizer pad made of non-marking rubber.
One last aspect to mention here regards the unit’s paint finish. Its upright posts, and the oblique rear reinforcement bars feature a light gray paint finish, while the base bars, the catch bars, and the safety bars are painted black. These are the only colors available for this unit. The paint finish on all the steel parts is corrosion-resistant and chip-resistant.
Possible Exercises
Single-leg squat
Wide squat
Twisting squat
Romanian deadlift
Barbell semi chin-up
Inverted barbell row
Incline chest press
Decline chest press
Single arm chest press
Wide grip chest press
Close grip chest press
Calf raise
Of course, some of these exercises require additional equipment. For example, you can only perform bench presses if you have a bench, while for calf raises you may need a calf raise block. But nonetheless, the unit offers support for all types of squats and deadlift exercises.
Since it’s a standard rack without too many additions, its assembly is far from being difficult. You’ll basically have to put together its base, then add the upright bars, and finally the reinforcement bars, catchers, safety bars, and plate storage pegs. This shouldn’t take longer than an hour. The included manual provides all the necessary assembly instructions, and a set of Allen wrenches is included. You will also need an adjustable wrench, though.
The only maintenance required for this home gym equipment is a periodic check for loose bolts and parts. In case you find any, you should re-tighten them before any parts sustain damage, or any accidents can happen.
Sturdy rack, 3 x 3 inch upright bars;
Reinforcement bars on each side and at the rear;
Non-marking stabilizer pads;
13 adjustment positions for the catch and safety bars;
Four storage pegs for Olympic bars;
Spring collars for the storage pegs are included;
Over 15 exercises available;
Little maintenance required;
Excellent warranty.
No pull-up bars;
Weight storage pegs don’t fit standard weight plates.
The Marcy Squat Rack STB-70105 is a basic squat rack made for use with Olympic bars. It features a sturdy frame with 13 adjustment positions for the catch bars and safety bars. It offers a safety bar and catch bar capacity of 500 lbs. It also has four storage pegs and a pretty sturdy overall construction. In all, it’s a decent squat rack, available at an affordable price.
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COULD I?
WHAT DO THEY DO?
SOUTH STAFFORDSHIRE
Cllr Saima Ashraf – Barking and Dagenham
Could You Be A Councillor in Reigate & Banstead?
Be A Councillor, Reigate & Banstead Borough Council
About RBBC
Hear from Reigate & Banstead Borough Councillors
What does it involve?
Eligibility quiz
Reigate & Banstead ward boundaries
What matters to you in your local area? Is it providing more things for young people to do, improving services for older people, making the roads safer or ensuring that local businesses can thrive?
Perhaps you are already involved in local affairs and want to take the next step. Or you may be looking for a worthwhile and rewarding way to help your local community.
Reigate & Banstead Borough Council can only be as effective, relevant and vibrant as the people elected to run it. The Council needs councillors who are capable, energetic and engaged. Councillors should be able to stand for what they believe in, be able to make a commitment to local people and show a passion for change.
Decisions made by councillors affect the lives of everyone in the area in countless ways. Representing the borough’s 140,000 residents, understanding the issues and concerns they face and taking action are the most important tasks that any councillor undertakes.
On Thursday 2 May 2019, all 45 Reigate & Banstead Borough Council seats are up for election. This is an opportunity for you to stand as a representative of your local community and become a borough councillor.
We need plenty of talented, high-quality candidates to stand in the election who are willing to work hard and make a difference to their local communities.
No other role gives you a chance to make such a huge difference to the quality of life of people in your local area and influence the way issues are dealt with locally and across Reigate & Banstead.
If you think being a Reigate & Banstead Councillor is for you, read on to test your eligibility to stand and find out more.
Reigate & Banstead Borough Council exists to serve everyone who lives or works in the borough, helping people to be healthy, happy and enjoy a good quality of life. They also help more vulnerable members of our communities who need some extra support.
Some borough council services are very visible to everyone in the borough, but there are many others you may only know about if you come into direct contact with them.
The borough council:
maintains 55 parks and open spaces and 33 children’s play areas
provides refuse and recycling services to every home in the borough, emptying over a million bins and boxes every year
provides three leisure centres, which receive 1.2m visits every year
keeps the streets clean and tidy, removing 1,400 tonnes of litter every year
provides support and advice to local businesses, including grants to help them thrive and grow
plans for development across the borough and handles over 1,600 planning applications every year
delivers town centre improvements and regeneration
supports public health by licencing and regulating over 3,200 bars, restaurants, events, taxis and drivers
supports communities and vulnerable residents, with community development, family support and housing services
In different ways, Reigate & Banstead Borough Council touches the lives of everyone in the borough.
Toby Brampton, Labour Party – previous candidate
“I stood to become a councillor to ensure we had a vibrant local democracy where people truly felt their vote mattered and they had a range of candidates and parties to choose from. I wanted to ensure that a broad range of views were represented in our local democracy and especially that the values of my party were strongly represented, that voters of my party had a candidate to vote for on the day and that those of the other parties felt truly like they were partaking in an active democracy and their vote meant something.
“More than believing in any one politician or party I strongly believe in our democracy itself, while I wanted to represent residents as a councillor following my beliefs and putting the aims and values of my party into action for the benefit of the community I felt that even just by standing as a candidate and campaigning hard along with my party colleagues we could help improve our local democracy and that this itself would have benefits for our local community.”
Cllr Jill Bray, Residents Associations
“I became a councillor because I wanted to protect and improve my local area; no one seemed to be focussed on what was happening locally.
“Being a councillor can be very rewarding – helping people and seeing changes made for the better – but you do need to be persistent to see the job through.”
Cllr Jonathan Essex, Green Party
“I got involved in politics because I wanted to help build better local communities here where I live, whilst still linking to global issues including poverty and climate change. I was working in Bangladesh, where I saw communities living on the frontline of climate change. I realised that their problems were exacerbated by policies of governments in the north, so it was only by moving back that I could help. I’ve served as a councillor in Redhill for eight years on the local council and five years on the county council.
“It has been a great privilege, meeting all sorts of interesting people and being able to help with their projects and try to turn community ideas into reality. I’ve worked on a range of issues: from where houses are planned, recycling to potholes, from improving our cycling and community facilities. It’s also been frustrating at times – as a member of a small opposition party you need patience and diplomacy for different voices to be heard. That’s why I hope more will stand with the Greens to create a stronger voice for residents across all our communities on the Council.”
Cllr Rich Michalowski, Conservative Party
“I stood to become a councillor because I’m interested in the place I live in and the people who live here. It’s that simple!
“There are lots of reasons why people stand as a councillor. I stood because I found myself sitting on the sofa and reading about local issues on my phone. I could have continued to watch from the side-lines or I could get involved. I decided to find out more and get involved!
“Councillors come from a variety of backgrounds. To my mind, they all believe that they can contribute positively to the community by representing residents, working through the issues and making the place we live in better. I’m no different and I would encourage you to do just that. Come and join in.”
Cllr Anna Tarrant, Liberal Democrats
“When I first stood as a candidate in a Borough Election, my 4 children were aged between 1 year and 7 years old, I had a part time job, did some voluntary work and my friends thought I was mad! 11 years later I am asked what motivated me to stand, as we try and encourage others to step forward. There are three parts to my answer.
“First, I was fascinated by what the role would involve and excited about experiencing something new and different. It was also great fun to be part of an election campaign. My next reason was my absolute belief in democracy and my desire to show my children how it works, and that as individuals we can make a difference. I love the political debates we all have at home, as I ask their opinions on some of the issues which come up. Finally, because I have only ever lived in Reigate, I wanted to do something positive for an area I love.”
Our Be a Councillor information events will be held in August and September 2018. Take a look at the ‘events’ page below for more information.
Council meetings are usually held in the evening but can occasionally occur during the day. Follow this link to see a full calendar of council meetings.
You can also view council meetings live through Reigate & Banstead Borough Council’s webcast stream. Find out more >
Key dates in the run up to the May 2019 elections, including nomination deadlines and registration deadlines, will be listed here in early 2019. Find out more >
Councillors are elected to Reigate & Banstead Borough Council to represent the local community, so you must either live or work in the Reigate & Banstead council area. Becoming a councillor is both a rewarding and privileged form of public service. You will be in a position to make a difference to the quality of other people’s daily lives and prospects.
Being an effective councillor requires both commitment and hard work. You will have to balance the needs and interests of residents, the political party you represent (if you have been elected as a member of a party) and the council. These will all make legitimate demands on a councillor’s time, on top of the demands and needs of your personal and professional life.
What are the roles and responsibilities?
The councillor’s role and responsibilities include:
representing local people
working with others, especially within their local wards
talking to the community about what the council is doing
developing strategies and plans
decision making or reviewing decisions.
Many councillors hold regular drop-in surgeries each month and / or attend community meetings. These are a chance for residents to meet you and discuss their problems or concerns. You may also need to spend time visiting constituents in their homes. On top of this you will be dealing with letters, emails and phone calls from constituents.
The council has a Leader and Council system of governance and operates a number of committees. Councillors are often required to attend formal committee meetings that are usually held in the evenings.
Some councillors are also appointed to represent the council on outside organisations such as charities and public bodies.
If you are a member of a political party you will also be expected to attend political group meetings, party training and other events.
Councillors are often invited to lots of other meetings and events in their communities, such as parish council meetings or meetings about community safety and policing.
For more information about the roles and responsibilities and how you would go about carrying out the duties of councillor, please refer to the ‘Be a Reigate & Banstead Borough Councillor learning and development workbook’.
If you have trouble accessing the quiz, please email elearning@local.gov.uk
Before the Election:
Are there any legal requirements to becoming a councillor?
Yes. The legal requirements to stand as a councillor are as follows:
To qualify as a candidate you must be:
Over 18 years of age on the day of nomination;
A United Kingdom, Commonwealth or EU citizen;
You must meet at least one of the following criteria:
be registered as a voter in the council area
have lived in the council area for the past 12 months (though not specifically in the electoral ward that you wish to stand for)
have occupied as owner or tenant of premises or land in the borough council area for the past 12 months
had your main place of work in the borough council area for the past 12 months.
You cannot stand for election if you:
are subject to a bankruptcy restrictions order
have been sentenced to a term of imprisonment of three months or more, during the past five years
work for Reigate and Banstead Borough Council or hold a politically restricted job at any other council
have been disqualified under legislation relating to corrupt or illegal practices.
I’m still not sure about whether I am eligible to be a councillor at the 2019 election. How can I find out?
Test your eligibility or read the Electoral Commission’s guidance. You should seek your own independent legal advice if you’re still not sure.
I would like to be a candidate for a political party. Who should I contact?
For more information about becoming a candidate for a political group you can contact the Group Leader:
Julian Ellacott
Reigate & Banstead Conservative Association
Julian.ellacott@rbca.org.uk
www.rbca.org.uk
Jonathan Essex
East Surrey Green Party
info@eastsurreygp.org.uk
www.eastsurreygp.org.uk
Toby Brampton
Reigate Constituency Labour Party
reigateclp@gmail.com
Anna Tarrant
Reigate Local Party
anna@southeastlibdems.org.uk
www.reigatelibdems.org.uk
Residents Association
Cllr Nick Harrison
Resident Association
nickdharrison@ntlworld.com
www.nork-residents.org.uk
How can I stand for council without joining a political party?
You can stand for council without belonging to a political party. You might find it helpful to read the Electoral Commission’s guidance for independent candidates. Download PDF
Do I need to appoint an election agent?
The election agent is the person responsible for the proper management of your election campaign and for its financial management. If you don’t appoint an election agent you will become your own agent by default. Some political parties will provide an election agent to work on your behalf. You can find out more about the role of an election agent in part 2a and 2b of the Electoral Commission guidance for Candidates and Agents. Find out more >
How do I find out which electoral ward I live in?
You can find out which ward you currently live in by clicking on the link below and using the post code search facility.
However, as the council is undergoing an electoral review, ward boundaries and names are set to change before the May 2019 elections (see section on Reigate & Banstead Ward Boundaries for more info).
After the Election:
Will I get paid to be a borough councillor?
Councillors are not paid a salary but they are entitled to receive a ‘basic allowance’ which is intended to recognise the time devoted to their work on behalf of the people of Reigate & Banstead and in connection with council business.
Each council sets its own rate for members’ allowances, and you can find out more information from our Members’ page
How much time will it take?
How much time you spend on your duties as a councillor is largely up to you and will depend on the particular commitments you take on. The precise amount of time will depend on the roles and commitments each councillor takes on and can vary. On average councillors can spend between 10 to 20 hours per week, but the time spent can increase for members allocated to leading roles, such as Executive Member or Scrutiny Chairs.
You will be expected to attend some council committee meetings, which are mostly held during the evening. As with most things in life, what you get back will depend on how much you put in. But remember, the amount of time you give to it is almost entirely up to you.
Before you consider becoming a councillor you may want to discuss it with your family and friends to make sure they understand what you are taking on. You will need their support as you’ll have to spend some of your spare time on council business.
Will I get time off work?
Yes. By law if you are working, your employer must allow you to take a reasonable amount of time off during working hours to perform your duties as a councillor. The amount of time given will depend on your responsibilities and the effect of your absence on your employer’s business.
You should discuss this with your employer before making the commitment to stand for election.
What support will I receive?
Reigate & Banstead Borough Council is committed to providing councillors with advice and support for all aspects of their role. After an election, all new councillors have the opportunity to attend an induction programme to enable them to meet the key people who will support them in their role and attend events to familiarise them with the work of the council, the expectations of councillors and ways in which they can carry out key tasks.
Councillors are also provided with ongoing learning and development support to broaden their knowledge, skills and confidence. In the first few weeks experienced borough councillors will be available to guide you in getting to know the workings of the borough council and your role within it. You will also be offered a “buddy” – an officer contact within Democratic Services to signpost you round the council for the first couple of months.
What support is available for councillors with special needs?
The Town Hall is DDA compliant and can be accessed by anyone with special needs. A mobile audio loop system is available. Councillors with special needs are encouraged to contact Democratic Services following their election to discuss their personal needs.
How can I find out about training and development?
Please email elreg@reigatebanstead.gov.uk for further information.
Reigate & Banstead Borough Council currently has 51 Councillors representing 19 wards. Find out more >
However, the Local Government Boundary commission for England (LGBCE) is undertaking a ward boundary review, with the new boundaries set to be agreed by Parliament by the beginning of 2019. The 19 wards are due to become 15 and the number of councillors will reduce by six to 45 in the upcoming elections in May 2019.
A consultation on the LGBCE’s draft recommendations on new ward boundaries and names runs until 13th August 2018. You can view to proposed boundaries and more information on the review on the LGBCE’s website here.
If you’d like to find out more about becoming a councillor for the borough of Reigate & Banstead, come along to one of Reigate & Banstead Borough Councils information sessions.
You’ll hear about the work of the council, be able to speak to current councillors and ask any questions you may have.
The events will be held at the Town Hall.
Castlefield Road
RH2 0SH
Tuesday 21st August 2018
12pm-1:30pm
6:30pm-8pm
Wednesday 5th September 2018
To register your interest in our events please click below to register
Reigate & Banstead Borough Council – Electoral Services
elreg@reigate-banstead.gov.uk
www.reigate-banstead.gov.uk
LGA contact
Virginia Ponton
Adviser – Leadership and Localism
Email: virginia.ponton@local.gov.uk
The Electoral Commission (main office)
3 Bunhill Row
London EC1Y 8YZ
pef@electoralcommission.org.uk
www.electoralcommission.org.uk
Political Party contact details
Be a councillor | Stand for What you believe in
A summary publication that outlines the role of a councillor and how the council works, gives perspectives from existing councillors and provides contact details for further information.
Be a councillor guide for disabled people
An interactive workbook, providing a more detailed, practical understanding of the role of a county councillor.
The Electoral Commission Candidate and Agent guidance – a link to all of the current guidance for Candidates and Candidate Agents
Follow us on Twitter… #beacouncillor
"RT @LGAcomms: As we rapidly approach the end of a decade, we have taken a look at some of the amazing work #CouncilsHave done over the past…"
Run your own campaign at your council
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TALENT SPOTTER FOR MPs >
Full terms and conditions apply See our brochure for further details or contact us on 020 7664 3000
Email: beacouncillor@local.gov.uk
© LGA 2019 | Accessibility | Cookies policy | Contact us
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Boxing Bag Stands
How to Select the Right Boxing Coach
Which Boxing Style Suits Me?
7 Benefits of Boxing Bag Workouts
15-Minute Boxing Bag Workout To Tone Your Body
10 Health & Fitness Benefits of Boxing Workouts
Which Boxing Belt Is the Highest?
How To Train Like Heavyweight Boxing Champions
How To Put Together a Home Boxing Gym
Boxing Timers
How to Succeed As a Female Boxer
A Short Guide To Improving Your Boxing Performance
9 Tips For a Full Body Boxing Workout
Was Boxing Ever Segregated?
The Best Boxing Matches of All Time
7 Tips On Cleaning Your Boxing Gloves
What Do Parkinson’s Disease and Boxing Have in Common?
10 Best Boxing Movies of All Time
The 15 Richest Boxers in History
Everlast Boxing Gloves
Can Boxing Gloves Be Washed?
Ringside Boxing Gloves
Title Boxing Gloves
Why Are Boxing Gloves Weighted?
Venum Boxing Gloves
Can You Put Boxing Gloves in the Dryer?
Why Are Boxing Gloves Padded?
How to Clean Venum Boxing Gloves
Venum – The Story of a Brand
Winning Gloves
How Many Professional Boxers Are There?
A Pro Boxer’s Training Regime
How Do Professional Boxers Lose Weight?
Adidas Boxing Shoes
Can I Use Boxing Shoes For Weightlifting?
Can Boxing Shoes Be Used for Running?
Can You Jog In Boxing Shoes?
Can You Wash Boxing Shoes?
Which Boxing Weight Am I?
Top 5 Asian Boxers You Should Know About
Which Boxing Bag to Buy?
How to Wrap Your Hands for Boxing
Can You Use Boxing Gloves for Muay Thai?
How Heavy Can Boxing Gloves Be?
10 Amazing British Boxers
7 African American Boxers Everyone Should Know About
7 Greatest Russian Boxers
How Was Boxing Born?
10 Incredible American Boxers You Should Know About
10 of the Greatest Heavyweight Boxers of All Time
10 Things You Might Not Know About Muhammad Ali
Why Boxing Is Such A Good Workout
Was Boxing Ever Banned?
Can You Use Boxing Gloves for Kickboxing?
How to Prevent Shoulder Injuries in Boxing
Can Boxing Gloves Be Too Big?
What is a Professional Boxer’s Diet?
What Is a Professional Boxer’s Salary?
Why Don’t Professional Boxers Compete in the Olympics?
Why Do Boxers Use Vaseline?
Why Do Some Professional Boxers Not Wear Headgear?
Are Boxing Gloves Allowed on Planes?
How Can Boxing Change Your Life?
How Many Rounds Are In Boxing?
How Much Do Boxing Tickets Cost?
How Many Calories Does Boxing Burn?
When Was Boxing Invented?
What Is the Longest Boxing Match?
How Often Do Boxers Fight?
How Is Boxing Scored?
Diversify Your Exercise Routine with Fitness Boxing
The Greatest Undefeated Boxers of All Time
How to Start a Boxing Club
How to Begin a Boxing Career
Competitive Boxing Isn’t for Everyone
Who Is the Richest Boxer in the World?
Who Has the Longest Undefeated Streak in Boxing?
How to Become a Professional Boxer in the US
The Life Story of Mike Tyson
Rocky Marciano | Everything You Need to Know
All You Need to Know About Joe Frazier
George Foreman | Everything You Need to Know
What You Should Know Before Joining a Boxing Gym
Why Do Boxers Wrap Their Hands?
Last Updated: 19.01.20
It takes more than lightweight gear, a pair of boxing shorts, a high-quality reflex training bag (check out this article), and a reliable boxing bag stand to improve your boxing skills during training sessions. However, with a good dose of discipline and benefit from the advice of a reputed personal trainer, you too can dream of the most prestigious prizes and belts in the boxing industry.
And, speaking of, there isn’t a better time in the history of this sport than today to join competitions and make a name for yourself. In the past few decades, boxing has increased in popularity, attracting young players from around the world, and building up tough competition in all weight categories.
But, ranking boxing belts could prove a confusing job, especially since it seems to be an abundance of titles and prestigious belts anywhere you look. Nowadays, many people question the legitimacy of many belts and trophies, given the number of existing boxing competitions all over the world.
The mirage of boxing belts
If you’re not a professional boxer or don’t have a good agent, it’s easy to be sucked up in the glittery world of boxing belts and take competitions based on their prizes, without knowing the exact importance of winning the belt.
The belt market today seems worn out by the weight of the metals and precious stones thrown into the ring. From opulent gold and rhinestones to diamonds, red velvet, and flashy colors, it seems like everyone is getting their desired belt, for a reasonable price. This weird bazaar of glitz and bling seems more and more like a generic football championship for children where everyone gets a cup just for participating.
So, how can you tell which belt is really important and which ones are mainly made up of attracting additional fans and investors? Let’s look at the ones that really matter for your career.
Most important boxing federations
We should start by saying that there isn’t just one supreme boxing council or association that prepares the most prestigious games and offers a worldwide title and a corresponding belt at the end of the competition.
However, the commonly-held view is that there are just four world titles you should aim for, each awarded by a certain organization: The World Boxing Association (WBA belt), the World Boxing Council (WBC), The International Boxing Federation (IBF), and The World Boxing Organization (WBO).
Apart from that, there are also territorial organizations that hand in important prizes and belts, such as the European Boxing Union.
All of these four major organizations recognize each other as equals so that the titles they are awarding are of similar importance for professional boxers. However, due to the iconic appearance of the WBC belt, it seems to be a little bit ahead of the game as opposed to its belt peers.
Each of these organizations establishes a worldwide champion for each weight limit, except the WBA. The reasons why the WBA decided to handle more than one title for each weight category remain unclear to the most, but the association promised to rectify the confusing situation.
Thus, it is quite common for the WBA to have three different champions listed for one weight – the Super champion, the Regular champion, and the Interim champion.
If you think the situation starts to get confusing, find out that there are other governing bodies that decided to offer world champion titles, including the Universal Boxing Organization (UBO), the International Boxing Organization (IBO) or the World Boxing Federation (WBF).
However, apart from the IBO, the titles and belts provided by the rest of these minor organizations weigh little to nothing for worldwide renowned professional boxers.
The most sought-after titles in today’s boxing
Between the four major boxing organizations, just one or two weight categories “produce” the best boxers in the world. In other words, each boxing organization is known for one-two major weight categories that genuinely provide the best athletes. So, let’s take a look at the most important that are worth mentioning.
The WBO Featherweight Belt
Ranked as the eighth most prestigious belt in the world, the featherweight division of the WBO currently counts for some of the most popular rising stars in the world. From the two-time Olympic champion Vasyl Lomachenko to other stars like Gary Russell Jr. or Evgeny Gradovich, the battle for the supreme belt always guarantees a good show. Each of the boxers claiming the champion title is known for speed, strength or technicality but it seems like new challenges appear every year.
The IBF Welterweight Belt
There has been a great dispute around the importance of this belt since the most popular boxers in this weight category already competed for the other titles provided by the WBA, WBO, and WBC.
You can find some of the most renowned boxers competing in the welterweight weight limit, including Manny Pacquiao and now-retired Floyd Mayweather. Both of them feature an impressive career with titles won for nearly a decade.
On the other hand, the welterweight belt provided by the IBF was considered up until recently to only gather second-tier contestants like Randall Bailey and Isaac Hlatshwayo. However, its prestige increased significantly, and now attracts upcoming stars like Kell Brook, a true champion in the art of KOs.
The undisputed heavyweight belt
With so many great new boxers competing for each weight category, it seems like the “Clash of the Titans” or the fight between the world’s heaviest boxers has been forgotten lately. We have many younger, more vocal boxers competing for the supreme champion title for their weight categories, but what about the biggest ones?
Muhammad Ali, John Sullivan, Jack Johnson, Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis, Floyd Patterson, Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis, Wladimir Klitschko, Vitali Klitschko, Tyson Fury, and Anthony Joshua are but a few of the world champions at the heavy category.
Most of them are considered true legends, with Jack Johnson and Muhammad Ali fighting in dangerous times when racism was peaking in the American society, filling each sports competition with hatred instead of national pride.
Nevertheless, things changed since the 1960s, and the wide array of Afro-American boxing champions are living proof that this sport is all about strength and intelligence, and nothing about race, color or age.
The most sought-after boxing belt in the world remains the IBF’s heavyweight one but competition is hard in the other remaining competitions as well.
Anthony Joshua won his first IBF title in April 2016 and, since, has also become a WBA Super champion in 2017, and WBO champion in 2018. His reign continues but the 2020 competition can still offer surprises.
The ranking in boxing competitions is the very least confusing since we’re not talking about a single world-recognized authority to offer the belts. Nevertheless, if you plan on building a career of your own in the world of professional boxing, you should stay out of the competitions that don’t increase your world ranking and player value too much.
1) What is the most prestigious boxing belt?
2) List of current world boxing champions
3) Ranking the Most Coveted Titles in Boxing Today
4) Understanding Boxing Belt Madness
biggerbetterbeards.org @ All RightS Reserved | Privacy Policy
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Magic’s Beach Grill Gives $3K Donation to Canoe Clubs
July 14, 2019, 8:00 AM HST (Updated July 8, 2019, 6:53 PM)
Left to right: Debbie Trinidad, Terry Trinidad (President of Keauhou Canoe Club), Sadie Seymour (Treasurer, Kai ‘Opua), Mattson Davis (Magics), Jean Thompson (Magics), Thalia Davis (Magics), Doug Dela Cruz (President of Kai ‘Opua Canoe Club). Courtesy photo.
Magic’s Beach Grill has donated nearly $3,000 to the Keauhou and Kai ‘Opua canoe clubs with proceeds from its soft opening earlier this year.
“We appreciate all that the canoe clubs do to promote the spirit and camaraderie of canoe paddling and to also teach our community, both young and old, to appreciate and respect the ocean and our shores,” said Magic’s founder, Mattson Davis. “Hawai‘i’s culture and community are important to us and we will do our part to share it with our diners whenever possible.”
Overlooking Magic Sands Beach, the new restaurant features a “New Hawai‘i” menu focused on fresh ingredients served in a tropical environment with modern décor. In addition, the Beach Shack at Magic Sands offers casual breakfast and grab ‘n go items from take-out window with beach side picnic seating.
Magics Beach Grill is located at 77-6452 Ali’i Drive in Kailua-Kona and open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and for brunch from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sundays.
Thelma Parker Memorial Public & School Library to Close Temporarily
STUDY: Hawai‘i Among Worst States to Start a Business
Shark Sighting Closes Magic Sands, Kahalu‘u
Creating Culinary Magic at New Beach Grill in Kona
Magic Sands Closed After Shark Sighting
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translation from DNA
Post by jannat » Sun Sep 28, 2014 6:27 am
why come proteins need RNA for translation. why cant they translate from DNA itself... All it needs is triplet of codons which can be provided by DNA too??
jonmoulton
Location: Philomath, Oregon, USA
Re: translation from DNA
Post by jonmoulton » Mon Sep 29, 2014 3:03 pm
That's a reasonable idea. I can imagine a ribosome directly binding to DNA to translate the DNA codons directly into protein. We can't really tell why that didn't happen, as much of the early development of life occurred far in the past and left no evidence of the steps in the process; we must infer the process from observing modern biochemistry. However, I can speculate that much of the regulation of gene expression occurs at the RNA level, with variations in the stability of RNA, translational repression by mRNA, inhibition by natural antisense transcripts, etc. Perhaps the RNA intermediate was required in early life to provide a mechanism for regulation of gene expression.
Post by JackBean » Tue Sep 30, 2014 8:16 am
What jonmoulton wrote is true (regulation on RNA level), but further there is amplification of the signal (there can be thousands copies of each mRNA, each giving rise to hundreds of protein molecules), also, during replication of DNA the protein synthesis would have to be shut down and there could be other reasons.
But as said, it's always difficult to answer the Why-questions because there is no intelligence creating this stuff on purpose. It's more like the blind watchmaker trying to repair the watch by random changes and "seeing" (as he's blind) what works. It could be that in the RNA world the proteins were translated directly from the RNA (as nowadays) but when DNA started to work as information carrier, there would have to be too big changes in the ribosome and everything so it couldn't be possible but rather the transcription system evolved (as that's pretty similar to replication).
wildfunguy
Post by wildfunguy » Tue Dec 02, 2014 11:23 pm
Even if that system would be more successful, could we have transitioned to it through gradual mutation and selection, or were we stuck with what we got?
Post by wildfunguy » Wed Dec 03, 2014 12:01 am
Maybe translation enzymes introduce more errors.
Maybe it never evolved because having a mutant ribosome attacking your DNA inevitably kills you.
Post by chance » Wed Sep 09, 2015 5:59 am
Because there is no the Enzyme to directiy translate the DNA into proteins.
http://www.biologicscorp.com/
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Home » News » Boating Industry’s Top 100 to be honored at annual gala
Boating Industry’s Top 100 to be honored at annual gala
By Boating Industry
The 2018 Boating Industry Top 100 will be recognized at a black tie gala on Dec. 12 in Orlando, on the final night of the Marine Dealer Conference & Expo.
Now in it's 14th year, the Boating Industry Top 100 recognizes the best boat dealers in North America.
The Top 100 is produced by Boating Industry magazine and sponsored by the Top 100 Leadership Alliance: Wells Fargo Commercial Distribution Finance, Manheim Specialty Auctions, Volvo Penta, Brunswick Dealer Advantage, the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas and the National Marine Manufacturers Association.
The list recognizes dealerships that are unsurpassed in business operations, professionalism, marketing tactics, customer service and more. The Boating Industry Top 100 has recognized the top dealers in North America every year since 2005.
The entire Top 100 will be revealed for the first time at the gala. Boating Industry will also recognize eight Best in Class Award winners and the Dealer of the Year.
The 2016 and 2017 Dealer of the Year, OneWater Marine Holdings, will be inducted into the Top 100 Hall of Fame at this year's gala.
The Top 100 will be posted on BoatingIndustry.com on Dec. 13, with full coverage in the January issue of Boating Industry.
Attendance at the Top 100 gala is open to Top 100 dealers and sponsors. Non-Top 100 dealers can purchase tickets by emailing Susan Clement at sclement@boatingindustry.com.
2018 Boating Industry Top 100 2018 Top 100 Dealers Boating Industry Top 100 Boating Industry Top 100 Dealers Marine Dealer Conference & Expo OneWater Marine Holdings 2018-09-28
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Vengeance Road
Go zero to 60 in this dangerously sexy novel from number-one New York Times best-selling author Christine Feehan. The Torpedo Ink motorcycle club has its relationships put to the test in this gritty, suspenseful new installment of the series as members seek to build new lives — and find love — in the community of Sea Haven.
Breezy Simmons was born into a ruthless motorcycle club — and now that she’s out, she’s never going to be that girl again. But when her past catches up with her, Breezy must go to Sea Haven to seek out the man who almost destroyed her. The man who chose his club over her and left her feeling used and alone.
As vice president of Torpedo Ink, Steele is ride or die for the brothers with whom he lived through hell. He never thought he’d find something as pure as his feelings for Breezy or that keeping her safe would mean driving her away with cruel words that turned her love for him to ash.
Now, Steele won’t let her walk away twice. He’ll do whatever it takes to make Breezy his woman again — especially when he learns the real reason she came to him for help and that the stakes are higher than he ever could have imagined....
Jim Frangione
Recorded Books
Judgment Road
Shadow Keeper: A Shadow Riders Novel
Shadow Reaper
Bound Together
Covert Game
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Four faculty and staff members receive honors at Ohio University Women’s Achievement Awards Ceremony
College of Business faculty recognized for their dedication and impact
MSA Alumni Q&A: Basil DeVito
Wednesday, March 22 2017 12:00am
Darryle Bajomo (MSA ‘17) spoke with Basil DeVito (MSA ‘78), who was in Athens for a special screening of the 30 for 30 documentary of “This Was the XFL.”
OHIO Sports Administration students tackle Super Bowl LI
Monday, March 20 2017 12:00am
MSA students gain hands-on experience, work behind the scenes at Super Bowl LI in Houston
OHIO Sports Administration is building (and busting) your March Madness bracket
Thursday, March 16 2017 12:00am
See the complete list of the OHIO alumni who are working at NCAA member institutions that will be competing in this year’s #MarchMadness.
#BobcatBlizzard takes over the Convocation Center
Monday, February 27 2017 12:00am
Ohio University MBA/MSA dual-degree students kicked off the inaugural Bobcat Blizzard initiative to raise funds for their program and promote OHIO basketball.
OHIO Sports Ad well-represented at the NCAA Emerging Leaders Seminar
Friday, February 24 2017 12:00am
Learn about the NCAA Emerging Leaders Seminar, a three-day program where students networked with industry professionals, developed leadership skills, and learned about the various professional fields within intercollegiate athletics.
PMSA Alumni Q&A: Jessica Smith ('15)
Tuesday, February 7 2017 12:00am
Katie Foglia (MSA ‘17) caught up with Jessica Smith (PMSA ‘15), who recently accepted the position of Vice President of Sponsorship with the San Jose Earthquakes.
AECOM Center for Sports Administration names Tracy Ellis-Ward recipient of 2017 Distinguished Alumni award
Monday, January 30 2017 12:00am
Ellis-Ward (MSA ‘92) currently serves as the Associate Commissioner for Women’s Basketball at the BIG EAST Conference.
Meet the Professor: Dr. B. David Ridpath
Dr. B. David Ridpath encourages open discussion and challenges students to push past the norms of the sport industry.
Fellowship Recap: Ian Ousley (MSA '18)
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After 5 year search, Pura Vida pulls trigger on location No. 2
Thomas Gounley July 16, 2018 0
After trying to make deals in Boulder and Scottsdale, Arizona, a swanky Cherry Creek gym has chosen to be closer to home for its second location: RiNo.
Pura Vida has signed a letter of intent for 15,000 square feet in the planned World Trade Center Denver development, which is slated to break ground at the intersection of 38th and Walnut streets later this year.
Pura Vida Fitness & Spa has operated in 30,000 square feet at 2955 E. 1st Ave. in Cherry Creek since April 2008.
Pura Vida founder J. Madden said he began looking for “like-minded zip codes” that could support the brand’s second location five years ago. Boulder and Scottsdale were both on the company’s radar, but deal in those markets fell apart.
In RiNo, Pura Vida has agreed to occupy the second floor of the 260,000-square-foot office building. The space will be branded Pura Vida Studio RiNo, and will feature traditional cardio and free-weight zones, as well as dedicated studios for activities such as yoga, meditation and barre.
Madden said there are “plenty of customers out there” that belong to multiple fitness studios, driving to one for yoga and another for indoor cycling, for example.
The strength of Pura Vida, Madden said, is that it has it all.
“There’s all these different modalities, but none of them are centralized,” he said. “None of them are in one location.”
Madden said the average age of Pura Vida members in Cherry Creek is 38, and they pay an average of $175 a month.
Madden said he expects the average age to be lower in RiNo. The two locations are meant to be different concepts, although Madden said he’s still working out exactly how they’ll vary. One thing has been established, however: The RiNo location will not have a spa component.
Pura Vida Studio RiNo has a different set of owners than the Cherry Creek gym; Madden said he is the only common denominator between the two groups.
Pura Vida is the latest tenant to sign on to World Trade Center Denver.
The first phase of the WTC development calls for the construction of two 14-story buildings, one devoted to office space and the second featuring a 40,000-square-foot conference center and 260 hotel rooms.
Denver-based Formativ is developing the project. Alison Nestel-Patt, director of marketing, said site remediation and relocation is expected to begin next month.
The goal is to finish the buildings in the third and fourth quarters of 2020.
Other tenants are:
• Colorado Thought Leaders Forum
• Denver Sister Cities
• Manufacturer’s Edge
• Water Foundry
• Adam James International
• Change Finance
• Formativ
Formativ hired Newmark Knight Frank to help lease the space.
POSTED IN Commercial Real Estate, Fitness/Outdoor Recreation, News, Top News
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December 27, 2012 / 9:43 PM / 7 years ago
CANADA FX DEBT-C$ hits 1-month low, stung by 'fiscal cliff' fear
* C$ weakens to close at C$0.9949 vs US$, or $1.0051
* Reid's pessimism on budget deal sends investors to safety
* Bond prices mostly higher
By Andrea Hopkins
TORONTO, Dec 27 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar ended weaker
after touching a one-month low against its U.S. counterpart on
Thursday, as investors fled to safety after the top Democrat in
the U.S. Senate said the country looked to be headed over the
"fiscal cliff" of tax hikes and spending cuts.
Majority Leader Harry Reid told the Senate in a speech that
"it looks like that is where we're headed."
Commodity-linked currencies like the Canadian dollar tend to
benefit when U.S. budget negotiations run smoothly, but when
there are snags, investor flows go into the highly liquid U.S.
dollar.
"Today it is about the headlines on the fiscal cliff and
risk aversion and the U.S. dollar getting a bit of a safe-haven
bid," said Shaun Osborne, chief currency strategist at TD
Securities.
"We've had some short-end Treasury bills go negative as
people move into safe havens, and I think that is an indicator
of where money is going to flow as the fiscal cliff looms even
larger in the next few days."
The Canadian dollar ended the North American
session at C$0.9949 versus the U.S. dollar, or $1.0051, down
from Monday's North American session close at C$0.9913 versus
the U.S. dollar, or $1.0088.
It hit C$0.9959 earlier in the session, its weakest level
since Nov. 28. The currency pared some of its losses after the
U.S. House of Representatives, in the barest sign of progress,
said it would come back to work this weekend.
North American markets were closed on Dec. 25, and most
Canadian currency traders were away on Wednesday for Boxing Day,
making Thursday the first day of normal trade since markets
closed on Monday, Christmas Eve.
Reid called on the Republicans who control the House of
Representatives to prevent the worst of the fiscal shock by
getting behind a Senate bill to extend existing tax cuts for all
except the wealthiest Americans who earn more than $250,000 a
With the House not in session and the clock ticking toward
the scheduled January start of tax increases and deep, automatic
government spending cuts, Reid offered little hope.
"I don't know time-wise how it can happen now," he said.
TD's Osborne said the Canadian dollar is likely to weaken
toward parity in the "not so distant" future, given the global
worries over U.S. economic growth and its knock-on effect on
Canadian growth should the U.S. fail to reach a budget deal.
"I think we're looking at a return towards the recent
November highs around C$1.0050, (that's) a pretty reasonable
objective over the next week or so," Osborne said.
Canadian government bond prices were mostly higher on the
flight to safety. The benchmark 10-year bond rose 23
Canadian cents to yield 1.793 percent.
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Tag: E10002
J-2X Progress: November 2013 Update
It’s been a few months since we talked about J-2X development progress. So, let me bring you up to date. Here’s the short version:
Testing for engine E10002 is complete
Engine E10003 has been installed in test stand A-2 and has successfully completed its first test (a 50-second calibration test on 6 November)
Engine E10004 is in fabrication
Okay, so that’s it. Any questions?
Oh, alright, I’ll share more.
Engine E10002 is the first J-2X to be tested on both test stand A-2 and on A-1. It saw altitude-simulation testing using the passive diffuser on A-2 and it saw pure sea-level testing on A-1 during which we were able to demonstrate gimballing of the engine. Below is a cool picture from our engineering folks showing a sketch of the engine in the test position on A-2.
The clamshell shown in the sketch effectively wraps around the engine in two pieces and the diffuser comes up and attaches to the bottom of the clamshell. This creates an enclosed space that, while the engine is running, creates the simulated altitude conditions. I’ll show some more pictures of the clamshell when we talk about engine E10003 below. Next is a cool picture of engine E10002, hanging right out in the open, while testing on A-1.
This next table gives a history of the engine E10002 test campaign across both test stands:
So, let’s talk about the three times that we didn’t get to full duration.
The first time, on test A2J022 we had an observer cut. Just like that sounds, there was actually a guy watching a screen of instrumentation output and when he saw something that violated pre-decided rules, he pushed the cut button. We use such a set-up whenever we’re doing something a little unusual. In this case, we were making an effort to reduce the amount of cooling water that is pumped into the diffuser. It was our general rule-of-thumb to “over cool” the diffuser. After all, who cares? It’s a big hunk of facility metal that we wanted to preserve for as long as possible despite the fact that it always gets a beating considering where it sits, i.e., in receiving mode for the plume from a rocket engine. However, one of the objectives for our testing was to get a good thermal mapping of the conditions on the nozzle extension. What we’d found with our E10001 testing was that all of the excess water that we were pumping into the diffuser was splashing up and making our thermal measurements practically pointless. Thus, we had to take the risk of reducing the magnitude of our diffuser cooling water. As I’ve said many times, there are only two reasons to do engine testing: collect data and impress your friends. If our data was getting messed up, then we had to try something else. Eventually, through the engine E10002 test series we were able to sufficiently reduce the diffuser cooling to the point where we obtained exceptionally good thermal data. This first test on which we cut a bit early was our first cautious step in getting comfortable with that direction.
The second early cut was caused by some facility controller programming related to facility instrumentation. Here is a little tidbit of neato information that I’ve probably not shared before about our testing: in the middle of longer runs, we transfer propellant from barges at ground level upwards and into the run tanks on the stand. The run tanks are pretty big, but they’re not big enough to supply all of the propellants needed for really long tests. When I’ve shown pictures of the test stands in the past, you’ve seen the waterways that surround and connect all of the stands. These are used to move, amongst other things, barges of propellant tanks. Liquid oxygen is transferred using pumps and liquid hydrogen, being much lighter, is transferred by pressure. In the picture below, you can see a couple of propellant barges over to the left. This is an older photo of a Space Shuttle Main Engine Test on stand A-2.
Thus, in addition to monitoring the engine firing during a test, you also have to watch to make sure that the propellant transfer is happening properly. The last thing that you want to happen is have your engine run out of propellants in the middle of a hot fire test. On test A2J025, there was an input error in the software that monitors some of the key parameters for propellant transfer. Thus, a limit was tripped that shouldn’t have been tripped and the facility told the engine to shut down. Other than some lost data towards the end of this test (data that was picked up on subsequent testing), no harm was done.
On test A2J027, there was something of an oddball situation. We have redlines on the engine. What that means is that we have specific measurements that we monitor to make sure that the engine is functioning properly. During flight, we have a limited number of key redline measurements and these are monitored by the engine controller. During testing we’ve got lots more redline measurements that we monitor with the facility control system. When we’re on the ground, we tend to be a bit more conservative in terms of protecting the engine. The reason for this is that when we’re flying, the consequences of an erroneous shutdown could mean a loss of mission. Thus, we have different risk/benefit postures in flight versus during ground testing. [Trust me, the realm of redline philosophy is always ripe for epic and/or sophist dissertation. Oh my.] Anyway, with regards to test A2J027, when doing ground testing we shutdown not only when a redline parameter shows that we may have an issue (as happened erroneously on test A2J025) but also if we somehow lose the ability to monitor a particular redline parameter. Thus, we did not shutdown on test A2J027 because we had a problem or because we had a redline parameter indicating that we might have a problem. Rather, we shut down because we disqualified a redline parameter.
On J-2X, wherever we have a critical measurement (meaning that it is a parameter that can control engine operation, including redline shutdown) we have a quad-redundant architecture. In the sketch below, I attempt to illustrate what that actually means.
Thus, we have two actual measurement ports and each port has two independent sets of associated electronics. We are doubly redundant in order to ensure reliability. However, does a man with two watches ever really know what time it is? No, he doesn’t because he cannot independently validate either one. We have a similar situation, but in our case we simply want to make sure that none of the measurement outputs that we are putting into our decision algorithms are completely wacky. So we do channel-to-channel checks and we do port-to-port checks to make sure, at the very least, some level of reasonable consistency. Thus, we cannot know the exact answer in terms of the parameter being measured, but we can decide if one of the measurement devices themselves is functioning improperly. This process is called sensor qualification. On test A2J027, our sensor qualification scheme told us that one port was measuring something significantly different than the other port, different enough that something was probably wrong with at least one of the sensors. That resulted in disqualifying the measurements from one of the two ports. In flight we would have kept going unless or until the remaining port measurements notified us of a true problem, but on the ground, as I discussed, we are more conservative.
When we investigated the apparent issue, what we discovered was that we should have predicted the port-to-port offset. It turns out that due to the engine conditions that we’d dialed up for that particular test, we were running the gas generator at a mixture ratio higher than we’d yet run on the engine. When we went back and examined some component testing that we’d done with the workhorse gas generator couple of years ago, that data suggested that yes indeed, when we head towards higher mixture ratio conditions, our two measurements tend to deviate. This suggests, perhaps, a greater amount of localized “streaking” in the flow at these conditions. Localized effects like this are not uncommon in gas generators or preburners. Because of the particular configuration of the J-2X, with more mixing available downstream of the measurements, the impact due to such variations on the turbine blades is minimized. This too was shown in the component level testing. Thus, the sensors were fine and the engine was fine. It was just out qualification logic that needed reexamination. Sometimes, this is how we learn things.
So that tells you all about those handful of cases where we didn’t quite get what we intended. Overall, however, the engine E10002 test campaign was truly a rousing success. Here are some of the key objectives that were fulfilled:
Conducted 13 engine starts – 10 to primary mode, 3 to secondary mode – including examinations of interface extremes for a number of these starts.
Accumulated 5,201 seconds of hot-fire operation.
Performed six tests of 550 seconds duration or greater.
Conducted eight “bomb” tests to examine the engine for combustion stability characteristics. All tests showed stable operation.
Characterized nozzle extension thermal environments.
Characterized “higher-order cavitation” in the oxidizer turbopump.
Demonstrated gimbal operation (multiple movement patterns, velocities, accelerations) with no issues identified.
Hot on the heels of the success of engine E10002, we have engine E10003 assembled and ready to go. I love this picture below. This is the engine assembly area. We have three engine assembly bays and, on this one special occasion, we happened to have each bay filled. Engine E10001 is all of the way on the left. It is undergoing systematic disassembly and inspection in support of our design verification activities. Engine E10002 had just come back from its successful testing adventure. And engine E10003 is all bundled up and ready to travel out to the stands to begin his adventure. [I’m not sure why this is the case, but E10003 has a male persona in my mind so the possessive pronoun “his” seems to fit best.]
In the picture below you see E10003 being brought into the stand on A2. Note the water of the canals in the background. See the concrete pilings over to the left in the background. Those are where the docks are for the propellant barges that we discussed above.
In the pictures below, you can see E10003 installed into the test position. The picture on the left shows half of the clamshell brought down into place. Compare this picture to the sketch at the beginning of this article. The picture on the right shows what the engine looks like with both halves of the clamshell brought down into position.
So that’s where we stand. Engine E10003 has begun testing in November 2013 and continue on into 2014. As always, I will let you know how things are going and if anything special pops up, you can be sure that we’ll discuss it here at length. After all, there’s not a whole lot that’s more fun than talking about rocket engines.
Author wdgreenePosted on November 15, 2013 Categories Liquid Rocket EnginesTags A-2 test stand, clamshell, E10002, gimballing, sensor qualification3 Comments on J-2X Progress: November 2013 Update
LEO Progress: J-2X to Test Stand A1
“Nothing behind me, everything ahead of me, as is ever so on the road.”
– Jack Kerouac, On the Road
Recently, J-2X development engine 10002 was on the road. If you remember, E10002 went through a six-test series on test stand A2 that began in February and finished up in April. The next planned phase of E10002 testing is on test stand A1. In between these series, the engine was back in the assembly area of NASA Stennis Space Center Building 9101.
This respite between test series allowed for a complete series of inspections of the engine hardware. This is vital piece of the learning process for engine development. The basic truth is that a rocket engine is just darn tough on itself when it fires. The reason that we test and test and test is to make sure that our design can stand up to the recurring brutal conditions. The chance to look for the effects of that testing through detailed inspections away from the test stand is an opportunity to collect a great deal of useful information.
Also, even before the engine arrived at the assembly area, the stub nozzle extension was removed. This was done while the engine was still installed in the test stand. Remember, the testing on test stand A2 was performed with a passive diffuser and so we were able to use an instrumented stub nozzle extension to examine the nozzle thermal environments. On A1, there will be no diffuser. We’ll be firing straight into the ambient Mississippi afternoon and so we’ll not have any nozzle extension attached. The other change made to the engine — this one made while in the assembly area — was that we swapped out the flexible inlet ducts so that we can use our specially instrumented ducts for the gimbal testing on A1. These ducts will provide a great deal of unique data when we gimbal the engine and force the inlet ducts to twist and bend and they are designed to do.
Below is my favorite picture from the recent assembly activities for E10002 back in Building 9101.
“FOE” stands for “foreign object elimination.” I love this picture because it is a demonstration of how dedicated and meticulous are our assembly techs and how much basic integrity they bring to their job every single day. In the rocket engine business we tend to be fanatics about foreign objects (i.e., random debris of unknown origin) hanging around. The reason for this is that if you spend enough time in the business, you will eventually have a story of what happens when trash gets into the engine. The rocket in question might be an amazingly powerful beast pumping out five hundred pounds of propellant per second generating 300,000 pounds of thrust, but all it takes is one bit of junk in the wrong place to destroy the whole thing in fractions of a second.
In the picture above is a small nut that was found in the periphery of the assembly area. Shoot, if this was my garage you’d be lucky to find a clean patch not strewn with various bits of stuff like nuts, bolts, wads of duct tape, old hunks of sandpaper, that lost pair of pliers, a “Huey Lewis and the News” cassette, or, well, who knows what. But the rocket engine assembly area is NOT my garage (thank goodness). When something is found like a stray nut in the picture above, that sets off an investigation. Where did it come from? How did it get loose? What procedure allowed this nut to escape control? This is serious stuff. Yet, just think about how easy it would have been for a tech to see that stray nut, pick it up, and stick it in his pocket. They could have avoided the whole minor investigation thing entirely. But that’s not what they did and that is not what they do. Because they know that if they do not show the necessary integrity and methodical approach to continue to learn and perfect our procedures, then the next stray nut could be lodged where it could do terrible damage.
Here are the techs moving E10002 out of its assembly bay and unpacking it for transport.
And a couple more pictures of the process in Building 9101.
Here’s the engine ready for the road, then being lifted up the side of the test stand, and then sitting in the porch area while sitting on the engine vertical installer. I really enjoy the pictures of the engine trucking about sunny NASA SSC. That picture was the inspiration for including the Jack Kerouac quote at the beginning of the article. It’s bright and shiny and full of so much thrill and promise.
All of this should look reasonably familiar. It is the process that we follow, more or less, whenever we take an engine out to the stand. Getting the engine into and out of A1 is a bit easier since you don’t have to deal with moving the diffuser out of the way, but they’re really quite similar. The slightly different flavor that we’ve got for this testing is the addition of the thrust vector control system. In the picture below you can see where these hang. The engine mounts up with the gimbal bearing to the stout, yellow thrust take-out structure.
The two hydraulic actuators are also attached to the thrust take-out structure but slightly outboard and at 90 degrees apart. These actuators are what will swing the engine around as if we were steering a vehicle. Here, below, is another, closer view of the thrust take-out structure and the actuators.
In the picture below, E10002 is mounted up to the thrust take-out structure. The gimbal bearing is the shiny object towards which the arrow is pointing. If you look over to the right side of the picture, you can see one of the “scissors ducts,” i.e., the flexible propellant inlet ducts.
The next picture shows one of the hydraulic actuators hooked up to the engine. As you can see the tolerances are awfully tight. That’s an important vehicle integration consideration. If this was a vehicle stage rather than a test stand to which we were attaching the engine, the thrust structure and the actuators would be the responsibility of the stage manufacturer. Making sure that the stage and the engine can work together in such close quarters takes a great deal of vigilance between the two teams.
So, you’re probably asking yourself, to what do these actuators connect on the engine? That’s a very good question. It certainly isn’t obvious from the assembly pictures. The actuators connect to the forward manifold of the main combustion chamber (MCC). Below is a computer model of the MCC with the two actuator attachment points shown.
The MCC is really the heart of the whole engine, the sturdy framework stuck right in the middle, so it makes sense that when you want to push the engine around, this is what you’d have to push. This final picture below of the engine completely mounted into the stand. Again, it’s amazing to think about that whole thing being able to move about and not having one component run into another component or the actuators or the stand. It is quite the integration miracle.
Testing for E10002 on test stand A1 will commence in June. So, if all goes well, for the next J-2X update, I’ll be able to link in a video of the engine firing and twisting about.
BTW, NASA is in the process of swapping software used for posting blog articles and comments and such. As part of this process, they have to shut down the capability to accept input comments for a short time, specifically the first two weeks of July 2013. Sorry about that. But after that, it ought to be up and running as normal.
Author wdgreenePosted on June 18, 2013 July 12, 2013 Categories UncategorizedTags E10002, FOE, gimbal bearing, hydraulic actuators, J2-X rocket engine, Main Combustion Chamber, Marshall Space Flight Center, NASA, Stennis Space Center, thrust take-out structure9 Comments on LEO Progress: J-2X to Test Stand A1
Liquid Engines Extra — Introducing LEO
The following picture is a test. Find me amidst the mess…
That’s right. I’m the handsome chap with the snazzy specs. See, I’m just oozing with exactly the vitality that you’d expect from your typical government-trained civil servant! Well, okay, so maybe I’m not exactly Milton Waddams. All personal resemblance and charm aside, I don’t actually have quite that much paper clutter in my office. No. Instead, I just have electronic clutter. Indeed, if someone spent the time to actually print out all the stuff on my computer here at work, then we wouldn’t need a rocket to get beyond the moon. We could just build a staircase from the resulting gargantuan pile of paper.
Why is this the case? It could be that I’m just a data hoarder. Some people hoard clothes (that’s not me). Some people hoard automobiles (that’s not me). Some people hoard books (okay, that is me). And some people hoard data. All data. All of the way back to class notes from Aerodynamics I (AERSP 311, junior year, professor Bill Holl — great teacher, great guy). Yes, okay, so maybe I’m a little guilty of all that. In my defense, however, I will simply say that there’s a lot that goes into making rocket engines and much of it is quite removed from the exciting cutting-metal stuff or the making-smoke-and-fire stuff. And I get to stick my nose into much of it. For this article, I am going to reveal super-duper, deep-and-dark secrets that they won’t even teach you in college. I am going to tell you a little about …
…project management. Yes, it’s true: I am going to invite you into our little piece of office space and I will do so to tell you about how the office has recently evolved. Also, towards the end as a reward, I’ll give you an update of J-2X testing progress to date.
So, let me introduce you to LEO —
No, none of those LEOs. Instead, let me introduce you to the Space Launch System (SLS) Program Liquid Engines Office (LEO). The LEO is responsible for development and delivery of the liquid rocket engines for the core stage and upper stage of the SLS vehicle. For more information about the SLS Program in general, I highly recommend the following site: https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/
(Oh, and I want to say something briefly about the term “liquid engines.” Probably every single person who would bother to read a blog about engines or rockets or space travel in general knows that this is just a shorthand term. No, we are not talking about engines made of liquid — although that would be really cool. “Liquid engines” is a quick and easy way to denote “liquid-propellant rocket engines.” In case I’ve disappointed anyone, I’m sorry. If ever we are able to make an engine out of liquid, I promise to be the first to report it. Probably the most far-out thing that I once heard was the suggestion to make a hybrid rocket motor using solid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. I cannot even imagine what the infrastructure would be to make the use of solid hydrogen plausible, but you never know…)
For the SLS vehicle, the upper-stage engine is the rocket engine so near and dear to our hearts after several years of design and development and fabrication and assembly and test: J-2X. The core-stage engine is the RS-25. No, the RS-25 is not a brand new engine. Rather, it is the generic name for that workhorse of the last thirty years, the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME).
At the end of the Space Shuttle Program, there were fourteen SSMEs that had flown in space on the Shuttle and that still had usable life remaining. I’m not sure that everyone knows this, but rocket engines have limited useful lives. I guess that most things do, but with rocket engines it’s often pretty short. Think of them like cherry blossoms (popular motif in Japanese tattoos): amazingly beautiful and quickly gone too soon. The stresses within an operating rocket engine are tremendous. For example, the J-2X has an official, useful life of only four starts and less than 2,000 seconds of operational run time after the engine has been delivered for use as part of the vehicle. No, the engine doesn’t crumble into dust after that, but based upon our certification strategy and on our analysis of margins, that is the official life for our human-rated launch system. After that point, depending on the proposed usage and risk considerations, and based on the likely reassessment of our margins with the proverbial “sharper pencil,” we can and do routinely talk ourselves into longer active lives for engine hardware. On the test stand, we can test the J-2X upwards of 30 times and for lots of run time, but that is a lower risk situation. Nobody is riding the test stand into space.
Thus, when you come to the end of a program and you have fourteen engines with remaining, usable life, then you’ve got one heck of a residual resource. In addition, there was one SSME assembled and ready to go, but it never made it to the test stand or the vehicle. So it’s brand new. And, on top of that, there were enough leftover pieces and parts lying around of flight-quality hardware to cobble together yet another engine. And, there’s more! (Yes, I feel like the late-night infomercial guy, “and if you call in the next 10 minutes you will get this special gift!”) There are also two development SSMEs. These are not new enough to fly, but they are useful for ground testing and issues resolution. That means that there are a total of sixteen RS-25 flight engines and two RS-25 development engines available to support the SLS Program.
However, before your excitement bubbles over, you have to understand that when you see a sign for “free puppies,” you probably shouldn’t take that whole notion of “free” too literally. As in, well, not at all. Yes, we still have an extraordinary asset in the residual RS-25 engines. No question. But, we have work to do to integrate them into the SLS Program. In a future article, I will discuss the multiple facets of this work. By the way, I cannot claim to be immune from the “free puppies” thing myself. Meet Ruugie –
The Liquid Engines Office (LEO) was formed to manage both the J-2X and the RS-25. This office will also manage other liquid rocket engines used to support the SLS Program as it matures. It was decided from a project management perspective that it would be best to have one office manage both engines. In this way, we can be more efficient by leveraging the expertise across various disciplines and components. For example, do we really need two turbomachinery subsystem managers? No, Gary Genge is our turbomachinery subsystem manager and in that position he can understand and evaluate the relative programmatic and technical risk across all of the various turbomachinery pieces under his purview. If in some utopian future our office responsibilities expands to three or four or eight different engine development or production efforts, we would, in theory, maintain the same structure but provide Gary with the support necessary to effectively manage turbomachinery across so many activities.
So, for LEO we have subsystem managers for Engine Systems (effectively systems engineering and integration), Engine Assembly and Test (also includes asset management, logistics, and operations), Engine System Integration and Hardware, Valves and Actuators, Engine Control Avionics, Turbomachinery, and Combustion Devices. LEO is supported by a Chief Engineer, a Chief Safety and Mission Assurance (S&MA) Officer, Program Planning and Control (i.e., the business office), and Procurement. Plus, of course, we have support from the engineering and S&MA organizations across the many technical disciplines. The structure is really quite similar to how we’ve been managing J-2X for these past several years. We’ve just expanded our responsibilities.
So, that’s LEO and I’ll be talking more about RS-25 and SLS in the future.
Now, while I’ve been off doing my little part to get the foundation of LEO solid, including refreshing and getting into place our prime contracts for both J-2X and RS-25, how has J-2X been doing? Well, in short, J-2X has been just cruising along. E10002 has gone through six tests on NASA Stennis Space Center (SSC) test stand A-2. Below are a series of images showing what an E10002 start looks like if you stood in view of the flame bucket (which I would very strongly advise against, by the way):
First, all you see is the facility water being pumped into the flame bucket. Then you can see the ignition and everything glows orange. Then the whole flame bucket is filled with exhaust. And, finally, the exhaust coming barrelling down the spillway and eventually engulfs the camera. The final step is not shown since there’s nothing to see but solid whitish grayness.
Here are the stats on the six tests:
• Test: A2J022 2/15/2013 35 seconds duration
• Test: A2J023 2/27/2013 550 seconds duration
So the total accumulated time is 2,156 seconds. Tests #22, #25, and #27 all experienced early cuts, but all three were instigated by different flavors of instrumentation or monitoring system issues or oddities. The engine is fine and running well. Some of the key objectives included gathering additional data about the nozzle extension cooling characteristics, additional samples of the turbomachinery design, and main chamber combustion stability trials. Something else that we did for this test series is that we tested a very special fuel turbopump port cover. Here’s a picture of it:
Now, port covers are not something about which one usually says anything at all. What makes this one special is that it was made by using a process known as Selective Laser Melting (SLM). That is a fabrication method that is somewhat analogous to “3-D printing.” A long time ago, I wrote a blog article about a gas generator discharge duct that we made for component-level testing using this technique. This, however, is an engine test and this small, seemingly innocuous, piece of engine hardware may be the humble harbinger of a revolution in rocket engine fabrication. The fact that we systematically stepped through the process of validating this port cover as a piece of hardware for an engine hot fire demonstration paves the way for pursuing other parts in the future, more complex parts, and, hopefully one day, regular production parts as part of a human-rated launch architecture.
E10002 was removed from NASA SSC test stand A-2 on April 30th. It is currently being retrofitted with instrumented inlet ducts and other hardware in preparation for the next phase of testing that will occur on NASA SSC test stand A-1. As you’ll remember, in the past A-1 was used for the PowerPack Assembly testing. Well, the talented and productive folks at NASA SSC remodeled the stand back to the configuration for engine testing. The current plan is to install E10002 into A-1 by mid-May and to perform a series of five to seven tests through probably August. The reason for using A-1 for the next series is because that stand does not have a diffuser. That means that we can gimbal the engine, i.e., twist it around as if we were providing steering for a vehicle. The thrust vector control (TVC) system composed of the hydraulic push-pull actuators that will be performing the gimballing is a component belonging to the stages element of the vehicle. This testing will be providing those folks with data to inform their system design for the SLS Program. See, it’s all win-win when we play nicely together.
And, finally, right on the heels of E10002, the assembly of E10003 will commence in June with scheduled installation into NASA SSC A-2 in September. That’s my report for where things stand. To finish up, I’ll leave you with a purely gratuitous glamor shot of the J-2X. Isn’t she pretty?
Author wdgreenePosted on May 29, 2013 June 19, 2013 Categories UncategorizedTags E10002, flame bucket, J2-X, liquid engine, Liquid Engine Office, Marshall Space Flight Center, powerPack Assembly, RS-25, Selective Laser Melting, space launch system, SSME, Stennis Space Center9 Comments on Liquid Engines Extra — Introducing LEO
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« Last Man Talking
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Snow Makes You Smarter
Thu Oct 21st 2010 by abagond
“Snow Makes You Smarter” is my name for the idea that white people are born with more intelligence than blacks because they come from a long line of people who lived through thousands of unforgiving winters in the cold, cruel north. Unlike blacks, who lived in Africa where you can sit under a tree all day and eat bananas. Or something. The idea goes back to at least Madison Grant in 1916.
Defenders point out all the wonderful inventions of white people and how screwed up Africa is. They point to IQ tests.
IQ and winter temperatures:
I found out that:
IQ = 100 – C
Where IQ is a country’s average IQ and C is the mean January temperate in Celsius at its capital.
I tried it on 35 capital cities where the race of most people has not changed in over 10,000 years. For two-thirds of them I got to within 5 points.
Here, from coldest to hottest (the numbers for each city are: C, 100 – C and IQ):
Beijing -4.6 105 100
Seoul -3.6 104 106
Stockholm -3.5 104 101
Budapest -1.1 101 99
Berlin -0.9 101 102
Oslo -0.4 100 98
Copenhagen -0.4 100 98
Amsterdam 3.1 97 102
London 3.4 97 100
Paris 3.7 96 98
Dublin 4.8 95 93
Istanbul 5.4 95 90
Madrid 5.4 95 99
Jerusalem 8.4 92 94
Baghdad 9.4 91 87
Athens 10.2 90 92
Lisbon 10.5 90 95
Beirut 13.5 87 86
Cairo 13.8 86 83
New Delhi 14.1 86 81
Kampala 22.4 78 73
Khartoum 22.7 77 72
Brazzaville 25.6 74 73
Accra 27.0 73 71
So what is wrong with all this?
Correlation is not cause: The proper way to do this is to see if there is a strong statistical correlation with a large sample. But even that would not prove cause. There might be some third factor at play – like that IQ tests are written by northerners.
IQ tests cannot be trusted:
Black Africa has an average IQ of 70. Contrary to what you see on television, Africa is not some coast-to-coast refugee camp. It cannot be: it supports a billion people.
Civilization started mainly in places with IQs of 90 or less: Peru (90), Mexico (87), Iraq (87), Egypt (83) and India (81). China, at 100, becomes the outlier.
Civilization arose mostly in Places of Very Little Snow, like Egypt, the Middle East, Central America and India.
Eskimos do not rule the world: people live in far crueler places than Oxford, England, like Patagonia, Lapland, Siberia, Darfur and the deserts of Australia. Yet no one who makes this argument expects these people to be particularly bright. Why is that?
Mankind arose in Africa. Time and time again since the 1920s those who believed Snow Makes You Smarter have been proved wrong about different species of early man arising in Europe and Asia. As we now know, none of them arose there – every single successful new species of man arose in Africa instead. For whatever reason, man evolves in Africa and then spreads north, not the other way round.
Like most white racist ideas, “Snow Makes You Smarter” takes the current power imbalance and sees it as the natural order of things – when it is anything but. White people, people from Europe, have been the most advanced part of mankind only twice – now and back in Greek and Roman times. Otherwise they have been middling to backwards.
Egypt, where the average IQ is 83
Wikipedia: IQ and the Wealth of Nations – where I got the IQ numbers from, which in turn come from Richard Lynn. The article notes that the correlation between a country’s average IQ and its average high winter temperature is -0.76 – pretty good! – but skin colour is an even better match at -0.92.
The white inventor argument
posts where this idea appears:
Anti-black racism as a guide to science
Would blacks survive in Finland?
Maria Shriver’s jaw
Are the British human?
I must be a genius because I live in Canada. Oh, I forgot, I would have had to have lived there for tens of thousands of years. But wait, some of my ancestors did. They were indigenous. But according to the HBders, they are, were, still dumb! I guess I’m not to smart after all! Oh shucks!
That reindeer looks like it’s laughing! Does he know something we don’t? I notice he has a big head! With the combination of the cold and a big head he must be a genius! As to the contention that cold makes one smarter, now I have heard everything! What will they come up with next, to prove their ‘superiority’?
on Sat Nov 13th 2010 at 19:36:08 Aiyo
You are killing me with this post LMAO
on Sat Nov 13th 2010 at 20:01:14 Chuck
This is my response on the Steve Sailer thread to King and Vagrant X:
You guys say crap like:
*things evolve faster in warmer climates
*cold climates cause organisms to go dormant or kills them outright
*Africa could have very well been a colder climate in ancestoral times
To Vagrant’s ridiculous claim that cold climates “cause organisms to go dormant or kills them outright”. He prefaces this by saying that he is no biologist which puts him on the same level as me in terms of academic credentials. Yet he still comments on the topic.
Vagrant is unable to grasp that he has bolstered my argument. Yes, cold climates are harsh and they can kill you easier than temperate climates *which is the whole point*. “What doesn’t kill you makes you (or your group) stronger.” Ever heard that saying?
To survive, people who are now more closely related to caucasians and mongoloids had to develop strategies to overcome those harsher conditions. If they didn’t, they would perish. They didn’t perish and passed on their tools to their descendents. One of those tools was a bigger brain, higher cognitive ability, and better visio-spatial skill.
Survival of the fittest shaped humans. That’s pretty widely accepted as the general process of human evolution. What is considered “fit” differed depending on environment. In Africa, the species faced nothing new. By staying at “home base”, the humans who were there weren’t forced to compete for intelligence. Since equitorial Africa was plush with plants and berries (which most ancestoral Africans ate), they didn’t struggle for food or have to come up with novel ways to get food.
The people who migrated out of Africa developed in tandem with other forces. Those groups used language and developed tools and processes to survive. Those tools added an extra shot of juice in to the process. Those peoples’ environment came to include those very same tools and languages which thrusted them *even further* forward in evolutionary terms.
Vagrant X may be correct in saying that warm climates foster newer and more species than other climates. But this doesn’t refute the story of evolution or the story of IQ disparities. Africa got the species there; other places forced it to evolve faster than it otherwise would have.
King, your whole argument is unfounded. There is no reason to believe that Africa has ever been colder than the more polar or temporally polar regions. That defies the laws of nature anyway, the Earth has always been round with an equator that is more exposed to the sun than other parts of the globe. Do you deny that? Regardless, it is the being forced to move portion of the equation that propeled the brains and IQs upward. Groupifying, developing language, encountering novel minerals and landscapes (different from Africa) that allowed those groups to build upon whatever they had already built upon were part of this process.
Individuals today are a microcosm of this very same process. Generally speaking, the less intelligent people are the country bumpkins who’ve remained in their little village for their whole lives (this was much more true before TV and the internet, but the point remains.) It was the people who were lucky enough to build upon their rudimentary knowledge that they learned in that village and added to it all of the worldly experiencecs and knowledge they’d pick up at cultural meccas and through other travels. Through that lifetime the person added novel knowledge that they wouldn’t have learned if they remained that bumpkin in the village in which they were born.
on Sat Nov 13th 2010 at 20:13:14 King
LOL! Love that dopey Reindeer!!!
It’s a looser argument. Most people forget that evolution requires millions of years to make significant changes to any species,
When the human migration out of Africa began, the climate in Europe likely looked like this:
Chuck, you double posted. That comment is also in the Steve Sailer thread.
Africa is the only place on earth that has a clear, proven record of greatly increasing human intelligence.
So it is perfectly fine to accept that Africa greatly increased human intelligence – hell it *made* humans human – but it far-reaching and flat out racist to suggest that development in other locales wouldn’t have propelled us even further?
To me, you seem to truncate the process. You pretend as if evolution mysteriously stopped right after the development of the people in Africa. But it didn’t.
Africa provided a baseline linear pathway for human development and evolution. When some of the groups and individuals “went their own way”, they faced novel environments and were forced to develop new methods of survival. Language was one biggie. Farming was another. Hunting big animals was one too. All of these processes built upon each other and led to higher IQ.
Africa fostered humans’ ancestors and the human race, but it didn’t tinker with them as well as Europe and Asia did. It’s not just the cold climates that caused this – although you must remember that Europe during that time was much colder than it is today. We’ve only come out of the last ice age in the past 20,000 years. It was the cohesion of several inexplicable forces that caused what we, today, call higher innate IQ.
Granted, IQ is a Western concept. We are only talking about IQ because “the victors are telling history” and measuring traits that victors monopolize. *But* that very admission implies that whites do have higher innate IQ.
I know. It is also pertinent to Abagond’s post today.
on Sat Nov 13th 2010 at 20:24:57 leigh204
I must be a genius because I live in Canada.
lol! Girl, I think there’s something to that. I mean, I live in the middle of Canada; one of the coldest provinces…it’s not called Winterpeg, Manitoba for nothing. 😛 Where I’m from, the people should be considered supergeniuses due to the extreme temperatures. 😉
Oh, and I really love that pic of that reindeer! It’s so cute and funny at the same time, it makes me smile. :Di
Abagond, I’m not sure what your policy is, but I’ll post my response from ‘Steve Sailer’. If it’s not allowed, you can simply delete.
@ Chuck
“King, your whole argument is unfounded. There is no reason to believe that Africa has ever been colder than the more polar or temporally polar regions.
STRAW MAN: Don’t be ridiculous… NOBODY said that Africa was colder than the more polar regions, the climates just weren’t necessarily different enough to make your “cold brain” argument.
The entire African continent is not now and never has been on the equator… check your map. There is more non-equatorial land mass in Africa then there is in Europe.
Climates have changed dramatically over the eons. That is why you can now find tropical turtle fossils on Greenland and tropical fish fossils in Antarctica. You have no idea what the relative temperatures were during much of the migratory periods.
You don’t even know the exact positioning of the continents when migration began!!
man, you guys are so hilarious. taking the most naive interpreation of these arguments to imply that if you live in canada or greenland you’re a genius.
while there is a hgher correlation between distance from the equator and IQ, the most salient point is that the novelty of the environment forced these new inhabitants to place more value and mating pressure on intelligence. the smartest of the group became valued which was a change from the status quo in Africa. there was less pressure to select for intelligence in africa because the inhabitants were pretty familiar with their terrain and their niche.
besides building shelter for the winter, there was also the chore of hunting novel animals (the hunting of animals was relatively novel anyway as african ancestors weren’t exactly hunters).
this post is just a simplistic interpretation of the HBD argument.
you insist on ignoring the major thrust of my argument. did not new environments put more pressure on groups of people to develop new “skills” i.e. intelligence to deal with them?
africans existed within africa. by its sheer location as an equitorial or a temperate zone, it likely had a relatively consistent climate. our ancestors developed in tandem with that climate and terrain that they were already familiar with. it was the new territory and climate that sped up the process of evolution as it pertains to intelligence and problem-solving.
on Sat Nov 13th 2010 at 20:43:21 Y
“Yes, cold climates are harsh and they can kill you easier than temperate climates *which is the whole point*. “What doesn’t kill you makes you (or your group) stronger.” Ever heard that saying?
Couldn’t the same be said about the tropics? Afterall there is higher instances of viruses and microorganisms that can kill off the weak, plantlife that is poisonous, large game ect.
This cherry-picking of info is getting to be rediculois. One may die quicker in the tundra because of hypothermia but let’s not forget the tropics have a host of dangers. Exposure to poisonous herbs, dangerous animals, viruses and the so on. Yet no one is making the case that the being indigenous to the tropics makes people smarter. Instead we have people creating pet theories built on cherry-picked data to validate their racism.
*ridiculous*
Y.,
actually you bring up a good point.
the problem is that parasites are problems that aren’t dealt with on a strategic level (at least in the era we are talking about before the advent of medicine). intelligence, which is what we’re discussing, can’t really assuage those problems.
the human body and evolution have other ways of dealing with parasites. humans typically select for more symmetrical faces in partners because that indicates that they are healthier and less prone to getting parasites. supple skin is another thing that is universally selected for much for the same reasons.
I’d like to bring up another point. What we are ultimately arguing about is whether the Western way of life is inherently better than the African way of life. While I wholeheartedly believe that whites have higher IQ, that only goes to show that they operate better in the Western world of their own construction. But the argument that always takes place is that blacks are equally implementable into that Western way of life. So the argument is always on the terms of IQ etc.
Blacks excel at many other things compared to whites. There are tradeoffs to higher IQ in the group aggregate.
Chuck what was the difference in the mean continental temperatures during the human migration from Africa to Europe?
Chuck where exactly were each of the continents, relative to their distance from the equator during each stage of the migration?
Chuck, how are you able to make predictions of the effects of temperature based on relative position to the equator when you don’t know either of these things?
*NOT to mention that excessive cold is not any bigger a factor than is excessive heat, drought, or flood. So even if you could somehow prove that you knew the primeval temperature, it wouldn’t mean anything.
on Sat Nov 13th 2010 at 21:10:06 Jack
That’s not true. The genus Homo has not existed for more than a couple of million years, but about ten different species of Homo have developed. Homo sapiens has not existed for more than a couple hundred thousand years.
As to evolutionary influences on intelligence, I would propose that the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture had a large effect. See this paper for details: http://www.pnas.org/content/104/52/20753.long. The idea that very long periods of time are needed for substantial changes in allele frequencies is a popular myth that has no basis in science.
To the extent that cold climates have enhanced intelligence, the effect must have been stronger in agriculturalists. According to Lynn, modern hunter-gatherers get the lowest IQ scores of all populations studied. The exception to this pattern are the Eskimos with an average score of 91, which is higher than that of agriculturalists from the warmest climates.
on Sat Nov 13th 2010 at 21:22:34 Solution5050
It cracks me up to see white people not only declaring themselves the highest IQ holders, but also them declaring that an actual person’s intelligence can be measured by a TEST. LOL
Actual true human intelligence CANNOT be accurately measured. Far too many factors come into play (and get in the way) to come up with a true assessment.
If looking at technological accomplishments declare IQ levels, then on this present day, the east asians clearly BLOW whites away! And what about the usual white argument about grade scores? Not only east asians and south asians (people of India and its surrounding lands) are out-doing whites GPA-wise, but african immigrants are as well.
As for whites currently being on top… we can all agree. But it’s not from their “amazingly high IQs”. Whites have thrashed their way to the top through the barrel of a gun. Don’t believe me?…… just check out earth human history.
And inventions? There are wayyyyyyy too many notable inventions (past and recent) that whites have plagiarised (stolen) from non-white individuals. So I guess robbers and thieves are just simply “naturally more intelligent”. So on THAT pointed example, the typical white mind SHOULD declare blacks and hispanics as the highest “IQ” holders.
(Hypocrisy is a b*tch)
And so… this IQ test. Think about it….. a MAN or a series of people had to come up with this “test”. Now….. whose intelligence are we using to measure “intelligence”?
That question in itself points out the flawed concept of “IQ”.
on Sat Nov 13th 2010 at 21:27:08 jas0nburns
“The exception to this pattern are the Eskimos with an average score of 91, which is higher than that of agriculturalists from the warmest climates.”
What is this IQ test everyone is taking? Anybody know? How could one devise a test without cultural bias?
Naturally, IQ is not a perfect measure of cognitive ability, but it is the most reliable and powerful variable in social science. If there’s a better metric, I haven’t seen it.
According to most studies, East Asians outscore whites by about 5 IQ points, so I don’t understand what you mean that whites would have the highest IQs.
Whites have thrashed their way to the top through the barrel of a gun. Don’t believe me?…… just check out earth human history.
All peoples that have been dominant at some point in history did it by dominating others militarily.
Name ten inventions that whites have “stolen” from blacks or Hispanics.
on Sat Nov 13th 2010 at 21:40:47 Hathor
According to Chuck, people from
Africa shouldn’t speak or as I see have any capacity for language. I guess we blacks are communicating with ESP.
on Sat Nov 13th 2010 at 21:41:18 BlackNarcissus
This reminds me of explanations pale people give as to why they have pale skin, blond hair and blue eyes. Because of the cold. It caused a “mutation”.
I just look at them and ask, why Inuits don’t have blond hair and blue eyes when they have been in a much colder climate for a longer period of time. I also ask what environmental factors attribute to the turning of ones eyes from a dominant color to blue and ones hair blond? The same traits you see in albinos.
This whole “cold FRONT” (cause Yah knows they’re fronting) is some bullshit in the same pseudo-scientific category as phrenology and drapetomania.
on Sat Nov 13th 2010 at 21:45:23 Olufemi
The country where I spend most of my time right now has quite a few different micro-climates that go from almost arctic to moderate to mediterranean/ sub-tropical. The people that live in the areas that get extremely cold are considered to be not quite the brightest lights. (Unfortunately true.) And those people live there for countless generations. Some can go as far back as the 13th century. Those areas are mostly rural without much intellectual stimulus.
In this country, the most intelligent by Western biased IQ testing actually live in the urban areas which have a generally moderate climate, also in winter, and can get really hot in summer.
On a related note, I recently made a trip to Cameroon, primarily for professional reasons. I’m lucky enough to have family over there where I could stay. Two cousins of mine are successful professionals in Douala. The weather was muggy to say the least. Not too hot, around 25C, but very damp. It rained every day for a few hours. But in daytime, once the sun came through for just an hour or so I felt like I was suffocating. Being used to the low humidity in Europe, I felt like I couldn’t function properly. Everything felt like in slow motion. I just couldn’t concentrate like I normally would. Anyway I’m sure I would have failed any so-called IQ test (Western style, timed under pressure…) quite miserably. My cousin was not much less knocked down by the weather although one might assume that he is used to it, being 100% African.
This is once again just one example which might not directly prove anything, like the tests themselves. Going by common sense though, it’s safe to assume that your momentary mental and physical shape influenced by your environment can have some drastic influence on the result of any “IQ tests” which are systematically questionable anyway.
on Sat Nov 13th 2010 at 21:46:23 Dr. Vagrant X
@Hathor:
Really! That’s awesome! Hold on, I’m going to try to contact you right now!
(This is so cool!)
on Sat Nov 13th 2010 at 21:54:15 peanut
interesting…snow makes you smarter…cute.
Cultural bias is indeed a problem when comparing IQ results from very different cultures. For this reason, I regard Lynn’s global IQ data only as suggestive, not conclusive. Tests administered to different racial groups in the same country are a lot more reliable, and the consensus is that in the US, IQ tests are not biased against any group that speaks English natively (the existence or lack of test bias is an empirical question that can be investigated with statistical methods).
According to most studies, Studies by whom? East Asians outscore whites by about 5 IQ points, so I don’t understand what you mean that whites would have the highest IQs.”
If it’s not perfect, then why do whites use it as the gospel? Easy answer: Because it’s one created test in which whites would tend to score the most in. And once that was realized, white society declared it as the tool for “measuring intelligence”. The IQ test is one good example of the “White man’s FUBU” – “For Us By Us”.
Typical derailment – “If they did it, then us doing it too isnt so bad.” (or) “They were the people of the times!”
Gotcha. Scroll back. I never mentioned “blacks and hispanics”…… YOU did. And you’re asking me to name ten. LOL I noticed that you didn’t ask me to name ONE… or even FIVE… because you’d know that would be too easy. You asked me to name ten because YOU don’t know of ten. And no, I’m not here to take your little “exam”. You (unsurprisingly) not knowing at least ten is YOUR ignorant burden, not mine.
“What doesn’t kill you makes you (or your group) stronger.” Ever heard that saying?
Yes, in the Conan movie.
taking the most naive interpreation of these arguments to imply that if you live in canada or greenland you’re a genius.
We are geniuses! Just ask Yogi Bear!
,em>this post is just a simplistic interpretation of the HBD argument.
That’s because it is simple, simple minded that is!
What trade off? Better athleticism? I must be a mutant as I am athletically challenged! Does shopping count?
While I wholeheartedly believe that whites have higher IQ
Say what? Judging from your posts I wouldn’t have known this!
@Jack: Is this the Richard Lynn you are referring to?
Lynn’s review work on global racial differences in cognitive ability has been cited for misrepresenting the research of other scientists, and has been criticized for unsystematic methodology and distortion.
Many of the data points in Lynn’s book IQ and the Wealth of Nations were not based on residents of the named countries. The datum for Suriname was based on tests given to Surinamese who had emigrated to the Netherlands, and the datum for Ethiopia was based on the IQ scores of a highly selected group that had emigrated to Israel, and, for cultural and historical reasons, was hardly representative of the Ethiopian population. The datum for Mexico was based on a weighted averaging of the results of a study of “Native American and Mestizo children in Southern Mexico” with results of a study of residents of Argentina.[34]
The datum that Lynn and Vanhanen used for the lowest IQ estimate, Equatorial Guinea, was the mean IQ of a group of Spanish children in a home for the developmentally disabled in Spain.[35] Corrections were applied to adjust for differences in IQ cohorts (the “Flynn” effect) on the assumption that the same correction could be applied internationally, without regard to the cultural or economic development level of the country involved. While there appears to be rather little evidence on cohort effect upon IQ across the developing countries, one study in Kenya (Daley, Whaley, Sigman, Espinosa, & Neumann, 2003) shows a substantially larger cohort effect than is reported for developed countries (p.?)[34]
In a critical review of The Bell Curve, psychologist Leon Kamin faulted Lynn for disregarding scientific objectivity, misrepresenting data, and for racism.[36] Kamin argues that the studies of cognitive ability of Africans in Lynn’s meta-analysis cited by Herrnstein and Murray show strong cultural bias. Kamin also reproached Lynn for concocting IQ values from test scores that have no correlation to IQ.[37] Kamin also notes that Lynn excluded a study that found no difference in White and Black performance, and ignored the results of a study which showed Black scores were higher than White scores.[38]
on Sat Nov 13th 2010 at 22:57:32 DunMoch
When anonymity is provided, note that the “scientific consensus” on race and IQ takes a near U-turn:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_IQ_Controversy,_the_Media_and_Public_Policy_%28book%29
I agree with geneticist Bruce Lahn: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v461/n7265/full/461726a.html
“Science is finding evidence of genetic diversity among groups of people as well as among individuals. This discovery should be embraced, not feared, say Bruce T. Lahn and Lanny Ebenstein.
Promoting biological sameness in humans is illogical, even dangerous
To ignore the possibility of group diversity is to do poor science and poor medicine
A robust moral position is one that embraces this diversity as among humanity’s great assets”
Can a mere “social contruct” give aboriginals a brain that is only 80% the size of a European brain?
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6926391?ordinalpos=1&itool=PPMCLayout.PPMCAppController.PPMCArticlePage.PPMCPubmedRA&linkpos=2
The blank slaters are debunked and deluded. The egalitarian emperor has no clothes.
Be prepared for evidence of H. Erectus admixture in Oceanic populations to surface, just like the recent Neanderthal admixture paper showed that non-Africans were part Neanderthal.
As a white dude who has played a lot of Basketball in his youth, I can assure you – Humans are definitely NOT all the same. In a wide variety of attributes. Liberal creationism is not the answer to racism, people.
on Sat Nov 13th 2010 at 23:09:00 Oyan
Another take on this can be found in Michael Bradleys’, text, ‘The Iceman Inheritance’. Some ‘reviews’ suggest that this is reverse arayanism, but it is definitely intriguing.
“Michael Bradley delves back into our glacial past during the last Ice Age in order to find the prehistoric sources of the white race’s aggression, racism and sexism. Relying on the researches of Alexander Marshack, Carleton Coon, Konrad Lorenz, S.L. Washburn, Ralph Solecki and others, Bradley offers a persuasive argument that the white race, the Neanderthal-Caucasoids, are more aggressive than others because of ancient sexual maladaptation. And, in tracing the effects of Caucasian aggression, Bradley offers an uncomfortable and all-too-plausible explanation for the pattern of human history. –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.”
Liberal Biorealism makes a compelling argument for HBD here:
http://liberalbiorealism.wordpress.com/2009/10/07/the-likelihood-of-genetic-group-differences-in-iq-the-black-white-gap-in-iq/
on Sat Nov 13th 2010 at 23:10:36 medium
i don’t believe in no IQ test. it all depends in what kind of environment you live in , your educational studies etc. for example there are people that have go to school and learn different fields out a book and don’t have no common sense.
Studies by tons of people, mostly whites and Asians.
Like I said, whites are not the group with the highest average IQ, so your argument fails in this respect. IQ tests were originally invented by Binet and colleagues in France to investigate variation in intelligence among white French schoolchildren. Psychometrics was created mostly by white people, just like modern science in general. IQ tests are used because they are a reliable and valid tool backed up by tons of research. Of course, you can criticize IQ, or GDP, or the Gini Index, or even, say, relativity and the uncertainty principle, but if you want to be taken seriously, you will have to come up with better arguments than “they were invented by white people”.
It was not “derailment”, but a statement of fact. And I wasn’t claiming that military domination by whites or anybody else is not bad, but rather I was implying that your assertion that Europeans rose to dominance “through the barrel of a gun” is an uninsightful, almost tautological (because political domination over other peoples is almost always achieved through military domination) argument.
For example, the Arabs’ rapid rise to dominance over much of the world in the 7th and 8th centuries was one of the more remarkable occurrences in history. Now, you would probably say that they managed to conquer other peoples simply because they were militarily more powerful. As a proximate explanation, that’s of course true, but what really is interesting are the ideological, organizational, technological, psychological, and other factors that enabled the Arabs to overwhelm their opponents. Similarly, what is interesting about the European conquest of much of the world are the factors that made Europeans so superior over their opponents.
Okay, I read your argument as stating that blacks and Hispanics specifically had been these great unsung inventors, but your argument is in fact that there were no such blacks or Hispanics, right? Who were they then? You said that “There are wayyyyyyy too many notable inventions (past and recent) that whites have plagiarised (stolen) from non-white individuals”, so I thought that it would be extremely easy for you to name just ten, but I was clearly mistaken. I interpret your refusal to mention even one as an admission that you cannot think of any.
How do you even decide if some invention was “stolen”? People all around the world use televisions, cars, computers, airplanes, and other “white inventions”, but are they “stolen” inventions? In any case, your characterization of the history of science and technology in Europe and its offshoots as that of “robbers and thieves” is moronic.
“Africa is not some coast-to-coast refugee camp. It cannot be: it supports a billion people. ”
Just what level of “support” are we talking about? Malthusian?
“There is no reason to suppose it has suddenly stopped. ”
Probably not stopped, but lagged. IQ tests provided by africans show the same discrepencies that IQ tests provided by whites show, as cited in Rushton’s paper here: http://psychology.uwo.ca/faculty/rushtonpdfs/Race_Evolution_Behavior.pdf
Also interesting: The more “culture-neutral” that researchers try to make an IQ test, the larger the racial gaps are in performance!
“i don’t believe in no IQ test. ”
Hard to tell if this is a troll or some ebonics-slangin’ low IQ individual with sour grapes.
Herneith, yes, that’s the same Lynn. He has replied to those and many other criticisms in his subsequent books.
bananas are not native to africa, they eat plantain
Murray and Herrnstein describe Lynn as “a leading scholar of racial and ethnic differences.” Here’s a sample of Lynn’s thinking on such differences: “What is called for here is not genocide, the killing off of the population of incompetent cultures. But we do need to think realistically in terms of the ‘phasing out’ of such peoples…. Evolutionary progress means the extinction of the less competent. To think otherwise is mere sentimentality.” (cited in Newsday, 11/9/94)
Elsewhere Lynn makes clear which “incompetent cultures” need “phasing out”: “Who can doubt that the Caucasoids and the Mongoloids are the only two races that have made any significant contributions to civilization?” (cited in New Republic, 10/31/94)
Phillipe Rushton:
Rushton (who’s gotten more than $770,000 from Pioneer) has transformed the Victorian science of cranial measurement into a sexual fetish–measuring not only head and brain size, but also the size of breasts, buttocks and genitals. “It’s a trade-off: More brain or more penis. You can’t have everything,” he told Rolling Stone’s Adam Miller (10/20/94), explaining his philosophy of evolution.
Rushton was reprimanded by his school, the University of Western Ontario, for accosting people in a local shopping mall and asking them how big their penises were and how far they could ejaculate. “A zoologist doesn’t need permission to study squirrels in his backyard,” he groused (Rolling Stone, 10/20/94).
I agree with geneticist Bruce Lahn
Agree with what? You have to pay to read the full article. Hey are you a shill for that website?
on Sat Nov 13th 2010 at 23:44:32 Dun Moch
“Hey are you a shill for that website?”
“That website” is only one of the premier science journals in the world. They don’t have “shills”. lol
OneSTDV has a great post up on the parallels between conservative and liberal creationism:
http://onestdv.blogspot.com/2009/07/liberals-who-deny-evolution.html
on Sat Nov 13th 2010 at 23:56:41 sam
@dumonk, chuckie:
Get a life, you dumbbells! I come from the real North boys. You guys live in the deep south from my perspective and so did your forefathers, who came from such southern places like England, Scotland and Ireland. Bah! 😀
I laugh at you southern boys since my family roots can be traced way back as long as there are church records from the middle ages and we have always lived in Finland. And since, as you guys have witnessed here, further north and colder the climate equals bigger brains and huge intellect, I declare my self supreme compared to you! 😀
Now, if for any reason you try to make a case against my supreme intellect and supreme humanity in any way, you must admit that your claims are full of reindeershit. You know, we do have reindeers up here. The ones father Christmas uses. And guess what? He lives in Finland too and his real name is Joulupukki. And how I know this? Because I am more intelligent than you southern slouches because I live up here north, just like my father, his father and so on to the beginning of time. 😀
on Sun Nov 14th 2010 at 00:01:59 Kid W/Golden Arms
That argument cracks me up alot in that it shoots itself in the foot…
Since millions of white people in America live in relative prosperity as opposed to the poorer people in America, the “third world” nations on Africa, Central and South America and the Caribbean, then it follows that their children will be much brighter and smarter than the average white Americans children would be given their harsher living conditions should those conditions persist….now that IQ will be relative to the conditions in which it was developed, ie it would respond to the challenges of its environment and evolve as the populations and generations change…as such this evolution would be discounted if the conditions were fostered and held up by a system that wants only certain (controllable,predictable, based on preconcieved notions coated in science) types of intelligences to exist, discounting all others…
on Sun Nov 14th 2010 at 00:09:06 sam
@chuckie and dumbmonk: heres more evidence that living up north makes you much more intelligent and smarter than living in any where below the Artic Circle. And kids, this is for real! This is not something invented in the university toilet 😀
The main guy was found dead later, actually last summer, in Cambodia.
@dun moch: you do know that Albert Einstein struggled in standard school tests? So was he dumb? His weakness at school was mathematics, the bases of IQ tests. He must have been a real dumbass 😀
Granted, if the IQ became higher as a result of tougher living conditions, then it stands to reason that it was not a conscious choice but rather a forced one,circumstantial. These dudes take pride in something proactively that they were not responsible for instead of using all of their supposed greatness to actually do something right here, right now…on top of that they only do it since it runs contrary to the people with “low IQ”, thus defined here in terms of their climatological experience instead of overt racism…
on Sun Nov 14th 2010 at 00:17:39 Dun Moch
Einstein had an IQ of 160. He did not struggle in school, that’s a myth: http://www.andyborne.com/math/downloads/myth-buster-einstein.pdf
Question for those who believe in the theories behind abagonds post:
If IQ can be made higher due to relatively harsh living conditions and a group of people who live in said conditions are smarter than those who do not, doesnt that mean that the IQ of the initial group of people can slip over generations due to easier living conditions? If these same people then tried to create the means by which intelligence was measured, dont their views require the upmost scrutiny due to their easier living conditions, and assumingly slipping generational IQ?
“doesnt that mean that the IQ of the initial group of people can slip over generations due to easier living conditions?”
Yes, and that’s dysgenics for you.
Some have theorized that a sort of eugenic/dysgenic cycle is behind the rise and fall of civilizations.
@ Dun Moch
The “eugenic/dysgenic” cycle reads like garbage, since the cornerstone of foundation “civilization” is being “civil.” They speak in terms of technological advancements, such advancements do not positively or negatively correlate to social advancement.
on Sun Nov 14th 2010 at 01:10:32 zemo
I feel the need to chip in on a few things:
1. “Africa is the only place on earth that has a clear, proven record of greatly increasing human intelligence.” Sorry abagond, this is just not true. Landmass does not influence human intellect. Because…
2. Apart from the extremes, ie tropic regions vs. arctic ones, you find comparable conditions on all of the continents, conditions that change over time. The climate is far too unstable to have a acknowledgeable effect on humans.
3. If intellect was in direct correlation to cold weather, then people living on the mountains should be smarter than those living in the valleys. There are people, for example in Peru, or Tibet, that have lived in high altitudes for generations, enough time to evolve differently in comparison to people from the same climate zone but living in the valleys, IF climate had an influence on something as principal as intellect (hair and skin colour can adapt very quick because only few genes are responsible).
4. If it isn’t “cold=intellect” but “hardship=intellect” then esquimos and people living in deserts (for example the tuareg) would be equally smart and together smarter than anybody else on the planet.
5. Epigenetics. Even IF snow=intellect, the way how we live our lives has a direct influence on our genes. By utilizing the machinery, techniques, etc. of other cultures (and no one would proclaim that black people can’t drive cars or use computers) people from the no-snow-regions would by now have caught up, intellect-wise. Epigenetics have an incredibly high turnover. There are people in villages in the Netherlands that were under occupation during WW2 and whose inhabitants starved a lot, and their descendants even today have an increased probability to develop obesity and diabetes, their bodies still remember the starvation of their forefathers.
So, all in all: I think it would be a good idea if only people that actually understand genetics would comment on the possibly inferior genetics of another race. Because, quite honestly, the chance for bullshit being spread is very, very high.
(Yes, I DO have an idea about genetics. It’s not my primary area of interest, but I DO have a fundated education in evolutionary ecology, thanks go to Nico Michiels).
Just my 2 cents. 🙂
on Sun Nov 14th 2010 at 01:18:32 Solution5050
LOL This is a very interesting thread……. complete with a few stormfront trolls. LOL
Looks like Abagond has struck a nerve.
Who, L Ron Hubbard? This sounds like something up his alley!
“”” since the cornerstone of foundation “civilization” is being “civil.” “””
That’s really just wordplay.
Tell that to the Aztecs/Spartans/Mesopotamians etc
What’s a cornerstone includes is literacy, rule of law, agriculture, and applied math, not necessarily “being civil”. But yes, civilization is thought to have a domesticating effect over a long enough time. The criminal element keeps getting locked up, which takes them out of the breeding pool.
“such advancements do not positively or negatively correlate to social advancement.”
Enjoy your air conditioner much lately?
How about your wheels?
And leave it to Solution5050 to bring the thread to Godwin’s law!
Nice try…. but no.
DOUBLE “NO”. LOL If you only knew.
on Sun Nov 14th 2010 at 02:28:42 Y.
The problems presented by parasites, poison ect have been solved by indigenous populations in the tropics before common era. Im sure you have heard of tribal and herbal medicine usage. There are more that 100 compounds used in mainstream medicines that have similar uses in tribal medicine. Some of the best known pain killers (aspirin, morphine ) are derived from plants that have been used by indigenous populations to cure various aliments for thousands of years.
Many believe tribal medicines are a crock however the study of tribal/herbal medicine has led to many modern day medicinal advances. These tribal populations would have to be mentally novel to use and retain plant knowledge to come up with remedies for such problems.
on Sun Nov 14th 2010 at 02:42:12 Holy
What would you say allowed white people to go from “middling to backwards” to something else?
on Sun Nov 14th 2010 at 02:54:43 jas0nburns
So ironically according to HBD the best way to create a master race would be to breed strong Jews with smart blacks.
on Sun Nov 14th 2010 at 02:58:51 Hathor
Dr. Vagrant X,
I’m going to connect to the Goddess Hathor-Sekhmet and all things ancient and answer the questions posed to Solution5050.
10 things the Northern people borrowed, perhaps not stolen, from the Southern people.
* Bathing
* Using perfume
* Mathematics
* Not getting their drinking water from the latrine – didn’t figure that out until 1800 years after the Romans
* The Arch
* Gunpowder(maybe southern China)
* Stone cutting
* Metal smelting
* Fire – No exactly borrowed but something they had to know before they left Africa or otherwise they would have not survived in the Cold.
Hathor is so old that she forgot number 10.
*Common Sense
on Sun Nov 14th 2010 at 04:35:28 Eurasian Sensation
Ok, so let’s assume, for argument’s sake, that cold does make you smarter.
Why do Native Americans test so low in terms of IQ then? They have been in the Americas no longer than 15,000 years. They descend from the same roots as the Koreans and Chinese – people who lived through the Ice Age of East Asia. The ancestors of Native Americans had to endure even tougher, colder conditions migrating from East Asia to North America. Why then, do Eskimos have average IQ of 90? Why do countries like Peru (90) and Mexico (87) test so low, when they are a mix of Spaniards (99) with Native Americans whose ancestors survived the challenging and chilly trek through Beringia?
Civilisations developed independently in Mexico and the Andes that were far more complex than anything northern Europe developed independently, until the last 1000 years when northern Europeans were able to build on the innovations of Mediterranean people. So why are Native Americans not the smartest of us all?
on Sun Nov 14th 2010 at 10:01:42 zek j evets
This discussion about whether “snow makes you smarter” has been fascinating almost as much as it has been scary.
I’m going to bypass the assumed connection between brain-size and intelligence since that’s been proven to be wrong by scientists for decades now. (FYI intelligence is far more influenced by education level, social class, where you grew up, how you grew up, the socio-political context you grew up in, and of course the very definition of “intelligence” has been questioned for its denotations as being ethnocentric to Western Civilization’s standards and not defining intelligence as it pertains to all cultures.
But like I said, gonna bypass that because I have a much more fun argument to make.)
If cold-climates increase intelligence (as well as various other skills mentioned by Chuck and mothers) then why, as Abagond mentions in his post, do Inuits and native Siberians not have the most advanced and intelligent civilizations by our standards? Why is it that only White “northerners” are intelligent, advanced, and civilized?
And again, as Abagond mentioned (which nobody seems to be talking about, strangely) is that the classical civilizations that most of us learned about in school began in tropical, Mediterranean, and equatorial climates. I’m thinking specifically of the Aztecs, Mayans, Sumerians, Babylonians, Indus Valley, Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and Shang Dynasty (which is the farthest, or one of the farthest, north). Notably, only two of these are European, and only one is really that far north relatively speaking.
Even going further in history, the most advanced civilizations (from our Western perspective) haven’t really been Western civilizations in far northern climates. The only Western civilizations that were very advanced comparatively/overall were the Greeks and Romans.
If you want to go up to the Renaissance-era Europe, which was when Europe regained much of the knowledge it lost in the aftermath of the Roman Empire’s collapse, the most advanced civilizations were STILL not from anywhere in the northern climates. In fact, the Ottoman empire (and also the Byzantines till the Ottoman’s destroyed them) was the most advanced in mathematics, science, and medicine, as well as the largest preserver of written knowledge at the time. (Again, I’m speaking from the Western historical perspective, since that’s where we are in this debate dealing with White people supposedly being smarter because they’re from cold-climates.) So, again, history proves wrong this supposedly scientific theory.
Let’s go back in time now, way way back. Back to the beginning of hominid evolution. Remember Neanderthals? They were among the first of our evolutionary ancestors to leave Africa and migrate into northern climates. Then, they were followed by Cro-Magnon.
Now, according to Chuck and the other HBDers in this debate, cold-climates enabled “people who are now more closely related to caucasians and mongoloids” to develop tools, “One of those tools was a bigger brain, higher cognitive ability, and better visio-spatial skill. “
Yet, as we see in the archaeological record (feel free to chime in here anytime Mira, since my archaeological skill is not as good as yours since you got your degree!) that Cro-Magnon, who had JUST — evolutionary time-scale speaking — left Africa for northern climates basically out-adapted Neanderthals, winning against them in competition for territory, for game, and in basic warfare.
Again, this has been shown in the archaeological record from various grave sites, and burial grounds where Neanderthal bodies have had wounds in them, as well as remains of Cro-Magnon sites in territories that were previously inhabited by Neanderthals. (I’m thinking specifically of the studies done by Dr. William E Banks, but there are others — from Marcellin Boule to now.)
So despite being adapted to cold climates for a longer period of time, Neanderthals were unable to compete or out-survive Cro-Magnons, who had less time to adapt to the colder climates.
It should also be noted that Neanderthals had similar to larger cranial capacity which strongly indicates that they had brains as big, if not bigger, than ours. And in the case of this discussion, that means they had comparable intelligence too!
So, AGAIN, history proves this theory wrong. And it has been proven wrong so many times by so many scientists working in such disparate fields that one has to wonder if this so much about science as it is about racism.
Because the only time in history have northern civilizations been the most advanced, intelligent, dominant, etc etc, has been in the last 300 or so years when Europe began its age of conquest. Yet now, there is evidence that the dominance of Western Civilizations is eroding as countries like China, India, Iran, Israel, and others considered “Third World” begin to catch up in the aftermath of colonialist/post-colonialist era. (This is especially true when you consider the out-sourcing of labor, as well as our US debt that countries like China own.)
Now, while I’m sure those who disagree will attempt to ad-hominem, create fallacies, and cherry-pick my comments to death with their own cherry-picked data and sources, the reality is that science by and large, over a long period of time has shown this idea connecting cold-climate with intelligence — and particularly Chuck’s assertions about brain-size, cognitive abilities, and visio-spatial skills — to be wrong. And this is backed-up by our own history.
So let me reiterate: THIS THEORY IS DEBUNKED, THIS THEORY IS DEBUNKED. RACISTS AT WORK. USE EXTREME CAUTION! =P
on Sun Nov 14th 2010 at 10:26:30 Chuck
zek:
i’ll turn to the whole of your argument sometime tomorrow, but let me first point out that you reiterate one important facet of this entire argument: many groups *but* black people have developed independent civilizations to any great degree. many groups *but* blacks have created inventions and processes that have pushed humans towards their current situation.
what is it about the inhabitants of the “mother land” that they weren’t able to develop any meaningful civilization on their own continent?
also, as i’ve said several times, abagond simplifies the hypothesis of HBDers. nobody claims absolutely that the further toward the poles these groups move the higher their IQ. rather, there is a correlation between latitude and IQ. the correlation probably breaks down at some point. just as height is strongly correlated to basketball prowess, at some point height becomes a disadvantage i.e. over 7′ 5″.
at some point much further up north, people who had to dedicate *all* of their resources towards survival weren’t able to focus on other facets of social and political development. when climate became too much of a focus it would be very difficult to develop those brians to apply any of their power to anything but overcoming cold weather. plus, very few people sought to conquer those territories, thus, those ways of life developed in a sort of vacuum.
it was the admixture of migration plus increasingly urban and political lifestyles plus the need for language, ledgering, and writing plus big game hunting and then farming mixed with a relatively temperate environment that existed north of africa that allowed for these things to occur all at once. in short, more temperate zones that reside outside of africa were prime locales for humans to hone their intelligence. migration was the impetus for all of this. africans didn’t migrate.
Now you’re conflating Blacks and Africans. First you say every race except “blacks” have done the things I mentioned, but then you switch them into Africans.
You do realize Africa is a continent that supports over a billion people right? And that even during hominid evolution had an astounding bio-diversity?
Basically… Nubian civilization, Zulu civilization, Egyptian, etc, they are all African, but not all of them would be considered “Black”, since race didn’t exist as a category until about the 13th century, and not a widespread category until the 17th century.
And since your correlation between latitude and IQ isn’t supported historically, it can only mean that it’s a modern phenomenon if it’s true at all. However, basket-ball isn’t a good metaphor since outliers exist in that category, and because you’re talking about proving a scientific theory.
But it is interesting that you backtrack on the climate issue by saying,
So now cold-climates actually inhibit civilization? I’m all for moderation, but you’re only proving my point and disproving your own that IQ correlates positively with IQ in the historical record.
Why is it that out of all the temperate zones, only Africa didn’t develop higher intelligence? Africa has temperate zones — and in fact, pretty much has every climate possible on Earth. Yet, you say they are lacking in IQ but the rest of the world (especially White, Western Civilization) isn’t? This isn’t scientific Chuck, nor is it even logical. You’re making an entire continent into it’s own outlier when there are myriad examples to Africa’s various civilizations, thus proving the intelligence of the various inhabitants, and thus disproving your theory, especially since those climates where those civilizations developed AREN’T cold climates.
I mean, I don’t even need anything EXCEPT the historical record for this discussion.
However, you did bring up a good point at the end. The “the admixture of migration plus increasingly urban and political lifestyles plus the need for language, ledgering, and writing plus big game hunting and then farming mixed with a relatively temperate environment” is the kind of thinking that’ll help you understand the myriad, complex, and often non-biological causes behind the development of human society, including race.
Feel free to comment further on my thoughts, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to answer them any better than I already have. The evidence has been presented to you a bunch of times by various commenters and Abagond. Nobody is trying to convince you, but nobody is going to be convinced by you either.
***Corrections on my comment. It should say, “but then you switch them into Africans when they migrate.”
And, “disproving your own that IQ correlates positively with cold-climates in the historical record.”
Plus, I think my html-tags messed up. Sorry!
on Sun Nov 14th 2010 at 12:24:13 Mira
Actually, I’ve never heard of “snow makes you smarter” argument… Probably because I live among white people in a place with continental climate. 😀
Also, I don’t buy “average IQ in Africa is 70”. There must be something wrong about it. I believe 70 is almost mental retardation. (I mean, nothing against people with low IQ, they also have a lot to give to the world… But there’s NO WAY average IQ of any group can be within marks of mental retardation). I mean, isn’t this, like the obvious proof something’s wrong with the IQ tests?
Also, Abagond:
Mankind arose in Africa. The north did have Neanderthals and Homo erectus.
I said and I’ll repeat again: Homo erectus appeared in Africa! It was a very important “step” (so to speak) in human evolution, and Homo erectus originated in Africa!
As for Neanderthals, we are not sure. There are people who see them as separate species (Homo Neanderthalenis) that fist appeared in Europe. However, there are experts who see them as a branch of Homo Sapiens (Homo Sapiens Neanderthalensis, as the opposite of our species, Homo Sapiens Sapiens)… And first (Archaic) Homo sapiens originate in- guess where?- Africa.
You should also look up the definition of civilization. It doesn’t mean empire.
on Sun Nov 14th 2010 at 13:31:21 Ella
My old psychology lecturer demonstrated that the IQ test can be ‘beat’ if you practise enough. She practised so many times she scored an IQ over 200. IQ tests are supposed to be reliable, but if one can practise them to get a higher and higher IQ, are they really reliable?
on Sun Nov 14th 2010 at 13:32:45 dav
One of the fallacies that are repeated here and on other blogs is that race didn’t existed until the 17th century.That’s like saying people could fly because Newton hadn’t discovered gravity. It was only beginning with the 17th century that the development of European exploration and reliable world-wide communication network combined with the development of a systematic scientific approach allowed for the level of contact to be elevate enough for a systemic analysis to be conducted. Race had always existed , it was only then that the necessary concepts and conditions were met for it’s definition as a category. Before that contacts were either in the form of invasions or limited trading relations combined with a lack of scientific approach.
Hey people! Take heed. DON’T FEED THE TROLLS!!!
They’re not here to learn…. they’re here to “win”.
on Sun Nov 14th 2010 at 14:50:28 D
First off, in the argument that evolution has favoured whites it seems that the conclusion that whites are more ‘intelligent’ was drawn first and then attempts were made to explain it scientifically. So the key points here are:
1. Whites are more intelligent because the average IQ score of whites is higher.
2. Whites are more intelligent because they had to live in adverse climate, so they had to develop tools to make their lives easier, so they evolved to be more intelligent. Their climate was just ideal for that.
1. Abagond has already said it, IQ tests are not perfect measure of intelligence. There are a lot of factors that influence the outcome of the test, such as the subject’s health, wealth, mood, interest, stress etc. and factors not related to the subject, like the test pattern, test conductor’s neutrality etc.
2. Several people have already pointed the flaw with the argument. Here’s a wiki link that lists many important inventions. In Palolithic era, apart from spear and flute in Germany and boats in Australia the major inventions/advancements were almost all from Africa including cooking (wasn’t there a beauty expert that said Africans didn’t know how to cook?) and mining. From 10000 to 1000 BC, the list is dominated by India(Indus Valley), China, Egypt and the Middle-East(Mesopotamia). Barely any European name is there. Since 1000 BC Greece and Rome starts to appear on the list alongside China and India. From 800 AD to 1200 AD Middle East dominates the list with occasional mention of China and few mentions of Egypt, India and Europe. From 15th century European countries start to appear again and from 17th century they clearly dominate the list. China, Middle East, Egypt and India disappear from the list.
So if the winter temperature of Europe didn’t make a sudden plunge in the 15th century, the ‘snow makes you smarter’ theory fails. Instead, the data seem to correlate better with the main colonising powers of the world at different times. From the seventh century the colonisation of Africa started. From the 12th century Sultani era(also known as Muslim conquest) started in India and in 15th century Mongols invaded China. By the time non-European countries disappear from the list Europe has established its supremacy over the rest of the world.
It is also important to note the nature of the inventions. Indian inventions included toilet, bathroom, drainage, plastic surgery, cataract surgery, early form of chess etc; the kind directly related to the comfort of living because life was easier and secured by the Himalayan belt. Chinese inventions included trebuchet, gunpowder, compass, suspension bridge, rotary fan, paper, printing press, gun; nearly all-encompassing. Egyptian inventions included metal block printing, fountain pen, astrolabic quadrant, hand cannon, explosive gunpowder etc; with an emphasis of the kind of tools used in architecture. Middle Eastern inventions included various lamps, pharmacy(they’re rich in petroleum) etc and various astronomical, optical and medical instruments/chemicals including planetary analog computer, pinhole camera, magnifying lens and inhalation anaesthetic. European inventions included celestial sphere, catapult, anchor, crossbow, rifle etc.(until 17th century), mostly the kind that is used in navigation, voyages and fighting. So it’s not intelligence that won Europeans the wars, it’s the kind of inventions that happened in Europe. Besides with the colonies they also got the advancement that those colonies made which again helped them to conquer another civilization.
If one is to look at the list of scholars of the past few decades he will find plenty of non-white names in it, many of whom are 85-IQ Middle-Easterners and South Asians and 70-IQ blacks, even after all the poverty, lack of opportunity and discrimination. What does that tell you?
oh, here’s the link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_historic_inventions
on Sun Nov 14th 2010 at 15:43:49 Dr. Vagrant X
Hm, I must have missed your connection, ’cause I didn’t get your message through our ESP network (though, somehow, I was able to read your comment despite not even knowing the concept of language because I’m subhuman. Curiouser and curiouser…). Man, I really wish I knew how to speak and write, this ESP stuff is such a pain…
-Sorry for being a little off-topic, lol.
on Sun Nov 14th 2010 at 16:11:07 KM
All the above by D, and the following:
1. Let me ask how people arrived at the ‘IQs’ of races or countries. They might have conducted IQ tests across ‘white’ and ‘non-white’ nations/peoples. Now, many people in the developing nations are totally uneducated and many are also illiterate. How can their intelligence be measured by IQ tests?? In fact, I hope those in support of the ‘snow makes you smart’ theory remember that IQ itself is very stiffly contested as to whether it is an acceptable ‘measure’ of intelligence. For doing well in the IQ tests, a certain level of literacy/education is a must, besides other things, however much the test may claim to be of a nature that does not require any special study of any subject. And if that is a prerequisite for having ‘IQ’ (and supposedly intelligence), then how is intelligence related to race?
There is much debate as to whether there is at all any single way of defining or measuring intelligence.
2. If you look at the present scenario (i.e. from the 19th or 20th century onwards) i.e from the time when the western colonies started disintegrating, the names in the list of inventors once again included ones from middle east, Asia etc. That also supports “D’s” hypothesis correlating colonialism and the apparent* lack of inventors from Non-white or non-European communities. Especially since the latter part of the 20th century, if you look at some of the most groundbreaking technologies like semiconductors and electronics and communications, you will find that there are several non-whites feature in the list of inventors.
Some of the top corporate companies thrived on technology independently or jointly developed by ‘non-whites’ alongwith whites.
3. You will see that I used the word ‘apparent’ lack of non-whites’ names in the list of inventors in the last century or so..that is because there is enough reason to believe that racial discrimination led to many inventors from non-white communities to be completely disregarded and their works denied due recognition. One such example would be the case of Jagadish Chandra Bose from India who hardly got the kind of attention his peers got for works on radio transmission. Others include scientists like S N Bose (quote from a website: “But, international recognition eluded him. It was late in life, 34 years after his significant discovery, that he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society. In fact, on several occasions, he had to take testimonials from famous physicists like Albert Einstein to convince the authorities of the worth of his work.”), Benjamin Banneker, George Washington Carver, Dr. Daniel Hale Williams etc.
http://www.pslweb.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=5115
Surely, had there not been the racial discrimination, it is logical to say that more names of non-whites would have appeared in the list of inventors.
So the very basic assumption that whites are more intelligent than non-whites is wrong and hence there isn’t any point in trying to find out the reasons for something that isn’t even true in the first place….
on Sun Nov 14th 2010 at 17:03:31 Olufemi
The results of the so-called IQ tests the social scientists keep using for making their conclusions are obscure in the first place. Some are even suspected to be obsolete. Then the methodologies to collect the data have been repeatedly debunked by other scientists as inaccurate, incomplete, manipulated or dodged and plain unscientific. Last but not least, all that has ever been disclosed to the public are “results” in the form of coarse, eye-catching numbers. No detailed descriptions as to how the data was collected, how it was analysed, what the calculation methods were etc.
The fallacy a lot of the followers, who are obviously not scientists, run into is to assume that correlation means causation and that something being different gives any grounds to conclusions whether one is superior to the other. Fallacies which are innate to junk science. Ergo, any declarations within the purely scientific realm are pointless. The question would be, even if all of it is true – so what? Where is the scientific value in that for all mankind?
However, a big issue is that these claims are made by people who are not geneticists. The majority of them are not even experts in any field of natural science. Someone mentioned Stephen Hsu who attempts to merely find evidence for an even stronger correlation between intelligence and genetics than currently known. Although the currently known scientific findings suggest that there is a 15-50% chance that genetics alone influence intelligence, it cannot prove any correlation between intelligence and “race”. Especially in light of the fact that the existence of the genetic/biological concept of “race” is at best controversial within the scientific community, at worst invalid. Any claims of undisputed validity of the concept made by political extremists are irrelevant. As long as there is no proof beyond all scientific doubt, the claims are just what they are – disputed theories.
on Sun Nov 14th 2010 at 17:15:54 Boddler
If cold correlates with mental strength, then why do fire mages have higher DPS than ice mages?
I tried, but since I have never taken an IQ test, I didn’t know any better and learned language.
Because the air mages blew them out of the water!
lol. Gotcha.
on Sun Nov 14th 2010 at 21:25:21 Luara Kinney
LMFAO @ The reindeer picture!
on Mon Nov 15th 2010 at 00:59:07 Ames
It’s a ridiculous argument. One could use the same logic to say that the cold makes humans burrow up and not want to move–that’s why white people aren’t the best dancers!
People in more temperate climates could live and move more comfortably, therefore were used to moving for recreation, art and dance. It’s genetic! SMH
on Mon Nov 15th 2010 at 01:45:53 King
“It’s a ridiculous argument”
Of course it is. Not to mention that there were many times, along the way, when Europe was seasonably much warmer than is assumed by HBDers.
http://www2.sunysuffolk.edu/mandias/lia/vikings_during_mwp.html
However, even if it were bitter cold, the overall premise doesn’t make sense, because intelligence is not the natural and inevitable result of fighting cold weather (or any other change in climate or terrain).
Think about it. What does one really have to do to fight the cold?
<b<1) Live in a big cave, all together and huddle around a fire, instead of building your own villages or small cities.
2) Rely on hunting of large animals (red meat) more than on developing large-scale agriculture, because of the long winters.
3) Rely heavily on skinning animal to provide warm clothing, rather than focusing on the intricate weaving and the dying of finer textiles.
SO What’s the verdict? You spend most of your time in a dank, and smokey cave, eating red meat, and covering yourself with animal skins. Geez, I wonder what were the cholesterol levels were on these geniuses?
Adaptation to an inhospitable environment does NOT necessitate a jump in the aggregate rate of intelligence. Sometimes, the only difference is that you have to work a LOT harder (not necessarily smarter) to survive.
Sometimes you have to spend so much effort trying to stay alive, that you have little time for things like… oh, I don’t know… Algebra, or Astronomy, Geometry, or Philosophy. You tend to shift societal importance to things like, who’s the best hunter, and who can scrape skins the fastest—or who has managed to keep their teeth, and not die of scurvy or gout, from lack of eating enough vegetables.
Judging from one of the article on that site the Vikings got of Dodge when the going got tough, that is it got to cold to sustain a regular food source. I guess you could say they were smart in that they knew when to leave!
covering yourself with animal skins
It’s too bad they didn’t have road kill back then! It would have been much easier for them.
“I guess you could say they were smart in that they knew when to leave!”
Lol! Oh no! If they were really smart, they would have stayed and eaten ice cubes and seal blubber, and waited for the cold weather to make their brains bigger!
Like the reindeer in the picture?
Yes, exactly like that dopey reindeer!!
on Mon Nov 15th 2010 at 05:51:39 Chuck
you provided the worst argument i’ve ever read on this topic. you should probably stop trying to make the anti-HBD point because you’re actually making us look good.
you say that those groups that migrated out of africa had to work “harder and not necessarily smarter”. can’t you understand that those two are inextricable from each other. they are a differentiation from the default position that existed in african ancestors. africans worked as they worked – at a static level of intelligence and hard work. they did what they had to do. there was no impetus to “improve” in terms of intelligence b/c they had fully adapted to their environment in the absence of any exogenous large scale force of nature.
groups that exited africa had to work both harder *and* more intelligently to survive. those that survived passed on their “survivor genes” to their descendents. the change of environment led to agriculture and writing and urbanity and philosophy and mathematics, astronomy and physics. none of those existed in africa until non-africans introduced them.
in your arguments you try to pooh-pooh the eugenic properties of novel environments. dealing with more adverse climate conditions, new terrain, and different potential food sources provided that impetus towards eugenic development.
It only seems like that to you, Chuck, because you don’t understand the difference between the concepts of “harder” vs. “smarter.”
The two are NOT inextricably linked, and anyone who is not struggling to prove the unprovable can clearly see that.
Doing something differently under new circumstances may not demand any more intelligence than doing it as you had been under the previous circumstances. In fact, sometimes, the new circumstances even mean that you must begin doing things in a way that is less challenging to your intellect than before.
“NEW” does not always translate to “more INTELLECTUALLY challenging,” sometimes it’s just more physically challenging, sometimes it just means that it takes more time to do things it took less time to do before. You are building a false equivalency.
How much intelligence does it take to sleep in a hole? I mean, scrambling into the caves, where your children roll around in the reek with the dogs, covering yourself with ill-fitting animal skins against the cold. This is no great accomplishment. There were no major contributions from the colder climes of the North. Their tribes emerged late, at the edges of the great mediterranean empires as crude savages, dirty nomads with clumsy and inaccurate weapons. They brought no inventions with them to speak of, no innovations of war, no complex languages, no great cultures equal to those of the Egyptians, Persians, Greeks, or Romans.
It’s quite clear that the cold weather did nothing for them.
“survivor genes”
HAHAHAHAhahahaha!!
on Mon Nov 15th 2010 at 08:26:29 sam
@ king:
You sure you have not visited Finland? That sounds a lot like this country. Well, we did not have caves, but we had a whole lotta woods, from here to Pacific actually, so we build houses from logs and worked our arses off just to survive.
Like one scientist wrote in his piece of European History, besides some nomadic tribes roamin in the northern wilderness, the only people who seemed to move in on this area above the natural limits of human life were the finns. They were the only people who tried, with varying success, to grow anything so far up north. And with that hard work we survived, had a few biblical hungers etc. but we survived.
One russian scientist even stated that the finns were the original people who lived along side the continental ice cap during the last ice age! Wow! And therefore we must be the most genius nation in the whole World! 😀
on Mon Nov 15th 2010 at 09:02:05 zek j evets
While I can appreciate your HBD-bashing, it seems a bad idea to turn around and suddenly make the same mistake by supposing that just because colder-climate nations weren’t the most advanced civilizations during the early centuries of our history that somehow There were no major contributions from the colder climes of the North. Their tribes emerged late, at the edges of the great mediterranean empires as crude savages, dirty nomads with clumsy and inaccurate weapons.
This to me is a generalization that is as much ethnocentric as Chuck’s own theories. Calling any people “savages” is insulting, and hearkens back to scientific racism in the late 19th/early 20th century, especially Louis Henry Morgan’s attempt to categorize various cultures’ stages of civilization. (Probably one of the most offensive thing I’ve had to read in my anthropology courses.)
In defense of Northern cultures, some of the earliest examples of cave art, sculpture, and group hunting techniques were developed there. And some of the earliest examples of burial practices (which strongly indicate the evidence of religion) were also found among these groups.
This issue isn’t all that black/white, except for the IQ to cold-climate theory. That part is definitely pretty simplistic.
However, in the course of disproving Chuck, you’re making the same mistakes he does.
on Mon Nov 15th 2010 at 11:48:04 Hathor
Why is it the some folk have to take the high road and others don’t?
I just saw yesterday on a travel show, cave paintings in India that were as old as the European ones, although burial and art have more to do with culture than intelligence. I do believe some hominids buried their dead before they were technically homo sapien.
@ zek
No offense meant to Northerners, because clearly, their time DID come. If you look at the world today, the Northern barbarians have done pretty well for themselves. But their success came (like most peoples in history) from building on the knowledge and accomplishments of other civilization that came before them, not because they were particularly impressive when they first emerged on the world stage.
The original state of the Vandals, Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Franks, and Vikings, makes their eventual ascent all the more surprising and impressive. But it was not cold weather and “bigger brains”that brought the North to their turn at the top, but prolonged contact with the Romans and remnants of other civilization.
In fact, when the focus of history turned to Europe after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, we see it fall into the Dark Ages for centuries before it began to emerged as a new and significant power.
on Mon Nov 15th 2010 at 14:39:53 Kwamla
This formating needs fixing Abagand
Before I can comment!
Oops, I forgot to address my use of the word “savages.”
I did use that word BECAUSE it is offensive.
It is a word that was coined by the northern barbarians later in their history, and applied exclusively to darker-skinned peoples in less developed lands and cultures. This has often lead White people to believe that their never WERE any “White savages.”
This, of course, was not the case. The problem is that White people have almost never heard that term applied to themselves or to their own forefathers.
However, when I use the word, to describe the northern barbarians, at the edges of the Roman Empire, it does not carry the same connotation because it is not meant to say that the northerners were GENETICALLY inferior. They were just living in areas poor in usable resources and isolated from the main engines of human technology and cumulative knowledge.
That is the difference between my position and Chuck’s. I don’t think that the “savages” are some genetically backward class of human being, Chuck does.
I must admit to finding it difficult to comprehend the extent of the arrogance and ignorance that compels certain people like Chuck to keep on making statements like this:
I say this because someone like Chuck actually believes – from his postings – that he is a fairly “knowledgeable” individual. Probably someone with a high IQ!!!
So I would imagine that he would probably be aware of a common philosophical logic proposition first associated with “Karl Popper” in the “The Logic of Scientific Discovery”. It goes like this…
Supposing we make a number of observations about swans and conclude because of our “existing” knowledge of swans that they all must be white …
Popper said about this:
No matter how many instances of white swans we may have observed, this does not justify the conclusion that all swans are white.
He showed how it only takes one observation of a “Black swan” to show the invalid and error inducting conclusion: “..All swans are white”
But this is precisely what Chuck has set out to do with his insistence that: “philosophy and mathematics, astronomy and physics. none of those existed in africa until non-africans introduced them.
So For Example…”Robert Temple and the Sirius Mystery”
I have always known about this connection. A West African tribe called the Dogon who believed their ancestors originated from the star system of Sirius. And that civilization on this planet was started by these ET’s.
In 1976 an astronomer – Robert Temple published a book about this Sirius connection. The information was …heavily suppressed and Robert Temple was ridiculed and threated by “unofficial” government sources. Since that time a lot of this information has been corroborated from other sources as he confirms in these interviews.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5bqcs_sirius-mystery-pt-1-robert-temple_tech
Now it may be possible to dismiss or ridicule this “ET” connection but it cannot explain how so called “primitive tribes” in Africa had detailed astronomical knowledge WAY BEFORE any white Europeans or Westerners with their enhanced “survivor genes” and “bigger brains” were able to discover this.
They knew about the existence of star systems such as Sirius A , B and C. None of these are observable without the assistance of astronomical telescope. This knowledge also allowed the astronomer Robert Temple to predict the discover of the two stars “B” and “C” before they were known to the present then astronomical community.
Now this type of information is not difficult to find and research on the Internet. Its also the reason why Karl Popper also concluded:
If we are uncritical we shall always find what we want: we shall look for, and find, confirmations, and we shall look away from, and not see, whatever might be dangerous to our pet theories
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Karl_Popper
Which is precisely what I see happening here with some of the theories espoused in this thread.
To Kwamla’s point, you might also have a look into the mathematics of African fractal design.
Here’s a TED talk on the subject.
on Mon Nov 15th 2010 at 17:33:54 Hannu
I’d like to point out that the size of the brain is not as important as the convolution of the brain. Women, in general, have smaller brains that men, but nobody in their right mind is going to say that women are less intelligent than men.
But maybe I should just go outside and take a roll in the snow to increase my intelligence (yes, we already have some). I’ll be right back and post something smarter!
YES!. This is an excellent presentation on the origin of common mathematical fractals present in organisational patterns found exclusively in Africa communities.
Thanks for this King I was unaware of this origin of fractal mathematics connection.
These mathematical shapes existed for God knows how many thousands of years rooted in the structures of African villages before Western mathematicians had even heard of them!!!
Indeed when Western science did discover these patterns, as the researcher says, they initially just dismissed them as “useless and insignificant”.
Probably more arrogance and ignorance again…
@hannu: way to go my countryman! Forst to the sauna and then to the snow! we have both: extreme heat and extreme cold! How this figures in these theories??
Tomorrow, sam, we will conquer the world with our superior intellect and giant pe…um…brains, I said brains! Mu-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!
“Hunnu the Barbarian” sounds very good! You can make a movie about your conquests.
Sorry Sam, but “Sam the Barbarian” isn’t quite as convincing.
LOL! Sam can be Samwise Gamgi!
LOL! The hobbit barbarian?
Your half-a**ed!
Make sure you get out of the sauna and into the snow first!
This is the gist of these blacks have never invented anything arguments, isn’t it? When they come across anything complex, they dismiss it as they were not ‘invented’ by whites. It puts a dent in their white superior IQ theories should they have to delve any further. They can carry on with their delusions.
“Barbarian” originally meant people who didn’t speak greek, as defined, unsurprisingly, by Greek. Nothing more, nothing less.
So I suppose Cimmerians didn’t speak greek, by Crom!
@hannu: I think it is time to evoke the acient gods of the finns and shout Perkele Jumalauta, (Percunas God Help literal translation), and roll in the snow few more times before we embark to our supreme northern whiteness conquer of the world! And after we have beaten our back shining red with the vasta/vihta in the sauna, drink few more kuupallista of mead, way we go.
This, of course, is possible because we are superior and white. Actually we are very white since today there was no sun at all, only three hours of rainy grey twilight. And during this time of year we maintain our whiteness because of no sun light at all!
And King, sam is only my christian name, not my true finnish name, whihc shall be revealed only to my fellow finns, whose intellect can devulge such names. Ynjevi. 😀
on Mon Nov 15th 2010 at 22:45:49 Hannu Lipponen
LOL! Perrrrrrrkele! Or perkunas!
Hmm, why don’t we invite some hot black women to add some contrast to the extreme whiteness and paleness of these northern latitudes!
ps. Mulla on muuten synttärit tänään, siksi mä postaan tänne lonkeropäissäni näin paljon. Hehe!
Ynjevi!! You’re right…
I’m afraid that my ancestors were far too warm for me to be able to pronounce it, much less, understand it.
You good Finns must be left unto yourselves, with your impossible language—too full of consonants and diacritical markings 🙂
LOL! Well, to tell the truth, I don’t really get that “Ynjevi” either!
By Ukko, the finnish god of thunder, “Ynjevi” shall not be uttered by mortal tongues! (Excluding Stan Lee, the first and foremost expert of nordic deities)!
I have a confession to make folks. I am really from Mars! Here’s my picture:
Here’s a picture of my hubby Tars Tarkas, four arms and all:
It’s a cold as f*ck here! Hence the large brains. By the way, my husband is 10,00 years old and he still dresses the same as when I met him 8,000 years ago. What’s up with that?
Ha! Ever thought why Dejah Thoris has tits, even though she hatches eggs?
Barsoom rules!
(ps. I like the direction this conversation is taking…)
The bosom of Mars nurtures only the coldest of warriors…
…from Earth! White man didn’t save just Earth, he had to save Mars as well with his superior intellect and cold reasoning, brrrr….
ps. Tars Tarkas is the coolest mofo of sci-fi EVER!
“I have a confession to make folks. I am really from Mars!”
Excellent, then perhaps you speak Finnish. Or the even more indiscernible language of HBD. (see Chuck for lessons)
Our green brothers!
(Hmmm… suppose they have these really FINE green sistahs as well…I wonder what they could do with those four arms…)
just kidding, KIDDING!
ps. I design humor postcards for living, hence my lame attempts at humor…
on Tue Nov 16th 2010 at 00:24:45 Herneith
I’ll say! Mines got four!
Tars Tarkas is the coolest mofo of sci-fi EVER
He leaves the toilet seat up which pi**es me off, otherwise he’s not that bad a husband.
Excellent, then perhaps you speak Finnish.
Nope. Martian is across between Italian and Conkinese.
As for the HDBers, they remind me of these folk:
http://www.erblist.com/abg/whitemen.html
Not very nice folk!
LOL-LOL-LOL!
Never bothered to check ANY of the “facts” of those HDBers, because I had my BS-meter calibrated just last week!
Besides, an unknown government source has affirmed me that HDBers are not from Mars but from URanus!
What the hell is Conkinese? Inquisitive minds must know!
on Tue Nov 16th 2010 at 03:20:19 Uncle Milton
To King:
It’s a looser argument. Most people forget that evolution requires millions of years to make significant changes to any species..
Well first, one should probably define evolutionary changes in terms of generations and not years… bacteria for example reproduce at a much faster rate than humans. One can induce marked changes in a strain of bacteria in less than a year.
As an example of Phenotypic change in humans is that pale skinned white people basically didn’t exist until around 5,500 years ago. The adaption was a response to dietary change (forced by population pressures..) going from a diet heavy in fish and meat to more grains. Fish and meat supplied vitamin D (a deficiency of vitamin leads to a marked rise in miscarriages…. and rickets which hinders formation of a pelvis large enough to give birth) so that when the Northern diet changed the lighter skinned people survived and the darker skinned (probably light Southern Italians..) effectively did not pass on their genes.
(Where some people still retain darker skin, such as with the Inuit in the Arctic, the people obtain significant amounts of Vitamin D from eating fish and sea mammal blubber…)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1210056/White-Europeans-evolved-5-500-years-ago-food-habits-changed.html
To Eurasian Sensation and zek j evets:
The HBD argument (basically that’s what the cold weather argument is…note I am not endorsing it) is that a combination of cold weather and a dense population are required for increased intelligence. (Dense enough to move away from hunting and gathering…)
HBD certainly has it’s racist proponents and skirts very closely to what could be called racist science but they generally acknowledge that some of the smartest groups of people in the world are not white. Parsis and Brahmins in India and the Chinese, Koreans, and Japanese in Northeast Asia rank higher in average intelligence to HBDers than Gentile whites.
on Tue Nov 16th 2010 at 03:39:13 King
Good point. And a very interesting article, thanks. I’ll keep that theory under advisement.
“HBD certainly has it’s racist proponents and skirts very closely to what could be called racist science but they generally acknowledge that some of the smartest groups of people in the world are not white”
White supremacy is not required for racism to exist.
True….albeit HBDers generally put whites near the top of the heap. Just not the very top.
As an example of Phenotypic change in humans is that pale skinned white people basically didn’t exist until around 5,500 years ago.
I should clarify that this is hypothesized but probably would require more evidence.
Yes, that is how i understood it. Evolution is a pretty big word, that covers a lot of ideas. I’d have to think about wether or not I believe this is “evolution” or not.
I mean, as you get older, your body goes through some dramatic changes. Is that evolution?
If you exercise and lift weights religiously, you will look very different than humans who do not. Is that evolution?
If you don’t get certain vitamins or minerals, or direct sunlight, this will also change your appearance. Is that evolution?
Not saying it is or isn’t, just thinking that physiological change, even across a large group may or may not be seen as an evolutionary change, per se.
on Tue Nov 16th 2010 at 06:17:19 Sagat
There are some weird ideas being bounced around in this thread. I didn’t read every single post so I may be repeating something that was already said, but I just want to add my thoughts on the cold climate hypothesis.
This idea is largely misunderstood. That’s why whenever this concept is brought up, we get someone asking the question, “Why aren’t Inuit the smartest people on earth?” or some other variation of that.
Cold climates do not create intelligence. Cold climate is simply a selective pressure. If you had a group of 1000 people and they moved up north and the harsh weather winnowed away most of the group, leaving only the smartest alive to propagate, they aren’t going to be any smarter than they already were. Sure the average intelligence of the group will be higher, because those on the lower end don’t exist anymore to bring down the mean, but they aren’t going to turn into super geniuses.
The brain is a complex organ and there are numerous genes that affect the brain’s structure. We don’t even know all the genes that are involved in brain function. Some may increase brain size. Some may increase the number of neural connections. Some may affect glucose metabolism. They all work in tandem to allow us the ability to move, think and operate. And unless a mutation or a recombination of genes occurs that changes brain function, then the brain stays the same.
It’s most likely that mutations that changed the human brain came from areas where there were large populations. That’s because the increase in numbers creates more opportunities for new mutations. In early human prehistory, those that lived in cold climates had sparse populations. Warm climates with abundant food were the most likely regions for increases in intelligence.
Mesopotamia, the Nile Valley, the Indus Valley and other similar areas would be statistically the most favorable areas for new mutations. That doesn’t mean that a mutation couldn’t originate from a northern population. It’s just less likely. So when some point out that Egypt and Babylon were advanced civilizations that existed in warm climates, it’s really a silly point. Of course they were. But does that mean they had high average intelligence? That’s really the question that should be asked. What were the pressures that would remove deleterious gene combinations from the gene pool of those populations?
That’s where the cold climate hypothesis comes in. It simply suggests that a group moved into colder areas with individuals that already possessed higher intelligence and the harsh climate killed off those not suited for a lifestyle that required long term planning and higher visual-spatial skills. It just about changing averages.
on Tue Nov 16th 2010 at 07:54:53 Eurasian Sensation
@ Sagat:
I am curious. As you are a person of Thai ancestry who is a believer in HBD ideas, how does the average IQ of Thailand (91) sit with you?
Does it not rankle you at all that according to HBD theory, your people are genetically below par in the IQ department?
And does it not strike you as odd that despite their genetic closeness to the Chinese, Thais are about 10 IQ points below the Chinese?
I ask because it kinda strikes me as odd that you believe what you believe.
@ Sagat
All things being equal ANY existential crisis achieves the same result, meaning that cold temps are no more helpful to winnowing populations than extremely warm and arid ones.
Secondly, it is incorrect to assume that those who survive in crisis always have higher I.Q.s. It may turn out to be those with better blood circulation, or those who can haul more wood, or hunt more meat. Because intelligence (as much as we idolize it) is not always the primary factor in survival.
Years ago I used to be bothered by the idea that Thais had a lower IQ than northern Asians. But the facts are the facts and I dealt with it. The IQ numbers come from the Thai government themselves and not some outside group, so it’s not as if I could point the finger at others.
Even though Thais don’t have the highest IQ, I still love Thai people and have never been ashamed of being Thai(though I consider myself American first and foremost). My brother isn’t so bright, but never in my life has his intelligence been a factor in my feelings for him. This is the way I feel about most everybody. I speak about HBD as a matter of fact. Not because I have a beef with others or am looking to tear somebody down. It’s not about what I want to believe, but what I see as being true.
As to your question about the discrepancies in IQ between Thais and Chinese, I don’t find it odd at all. The difference is about the same as between Greeks and Germans. It is what it is.
I was only speaking in regards to the cold climate hypothesis. Of course cold weather is not the only selective pressure on a population and higher intelligence is not the only adaptation to every pressure. The traits that get passed on are those that are beneficial for survival. It may be higher intelligence or any other trait. Maybe a freak mutation could’ve made humans furry and they’d survive the cold that way. Evolution is random.
It’s not biological evolution which is what the topic is about…biological evolution requires reproduction.
Certainly the word evolve has other uses in English.
http://www.biology-online.org/dictionary/Evolution
“The change in genetic composition of a population over successive generations, which may be caused by natural selection, inbreeding, hybridization, or mutation.”
Wikipedia’s definition (since I am lazy..)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution
“Evolution (also known as biological, genetic or organic evolution) is the change in the inherited traits of a population of organisms through successive generations. This change results from interactions between processes that introduce variation into a population, and other processes that remove it. As a result, variants with particular traits become more, or less, common. A trait is a particular characteristic—anatomical, biochemical or behavioural—that is the result of gene–environment interaction.”
on Tue Nov 16th 2010 at 09:14:40 sam
@hannu: arvasin!! 😀
@herneith: 😀
king: 😀
Seriously, we had to take IQ tests in the army (mandatory national service) and since nobody wanted stay longer than they had to, everybody tried to fix the results as low as possible without getting caught in the act. Higher the score, more surely you ended up in the officers training and three more months service. So…
Well, lets just say that the officer in charge the tests was not amused by the results and we got some extra activities out doors as a result. But he told us that now we had to live with the results for the rest of our lives, so I assume somewhere in some archive there are number of IQ tests that prove that at least one group on finnish conscripts were a amazingly dumb :-D.
I also know a person, who now runs his own hi tech company and is internationally recognized computer security expert, and he never graduated from high school. He was also sent to some tests because his poor performance at school and the IQ tests revealed lower than average intellect. He was also absent from school so much that the authorities were considering to send him to the “special” school for “special” children. 😀
Well, since he was in trouble all the time, they gave him his papers and kicked him out and the principal even told him, that in twenty years he’ll be either dead or in nut house. Thirty years later he is much more richer and successfull than any of his old school mates or the principal. The reason: he was more interested in computers than school as a kid and could not care less about the school or IQ tests. Lesson here is: don’t read too much on these tests :-D.
When ever somebody is trying to construct some kind of value system based on race or qualities based on race, that is racism. You can hide behind some pseudo science such as HBD, but in the end of the day that is what you are: a racist. The only purpose of these things is to construct some kind of racial system, this race is more intelligent than this, and for what? That is the real question.
Tha nazis had their own theories on it, but nobody takes them too seriously today. After all the real aryans are iranians and some north western indians, pakistanis etc., not some six two tall blonde fancy looking male models from Klaufenberg Bavaria. This HBD is same kind of horse manure.
on Tue Nov 16th 2010 at 11:00:36 Chuck
Africa and its warm and arid climate were the default position. As Sagat said, the cold weather hypothesis is wildly misunderstood. The most important impetus was moving out of Africa. Everything else cascaded from that.
Africans had no impetus for their brains to evolve as they had their environment “figured out”. Call this the “Mario Bros. Theory of Human Evolution” if you like. They didn’t, or rather their genes didn’t, need to develop new strategies in order to get by.
“I was only speaking in regards to the cold climate hypothesis. Of course cold weather is not the only selective pressure on a population and higher intelligence is not the only adaptation to every pressure. The traits that get passed on are those that are beneficial for survival. It may be higher intelligence or any other trait.”
Exactly. It is important not to conflate survival to intelligence because in many scenarios dumb people who have other adaptive advantages do survive. THEREFORE, The assumption that the applied selective pressures of cold temperature always result in heightened INTELLIGENCE, is cherry picking the particular survival trait that you desire. It may be as simply as strong dumb people who are hairier.
Africans had no impetus for their brains to evolve as they had their environment “figured out”.
So then, because your forefathers live on a large continent, that means that they have FIGURED OUT the entire environment before you were born?
1) They figured out the massive desserts,
2) They figured out the teeming population of large predators, that were still a challenge thousands of years later.
3) They figured out all the agricultural challenges
4) They figured out jungle survival
5) Mountain Survival
6) Disease control and treatment
7) Typhoons, volcanoes, floods, wildfires
Yes, NONE of these things exerted the slightest pressure that forced Africans to evolve. Since they were born on the African continent, they were naturally immune to all of those challenges, because Africans do not grow more intelligent by solving African problems. -they were already “figured out.”
Only people who moved into a colder climate with far fewer large predators, and with less varied climate regions were challenged to evolve.
Seriously, my concern is not with these HBD ‘theories’, per se. After all opinions are like a**holes, everyone’s got one. My concerns is what these HBD adherents, propose to do with these theories. This sounds like Eugenics to me. For example, how would it effect public policy etc? As history shows, such views can lead to genocide.
I’m more or the mind that false theories should be challenged at their source of false assumption. Without an operational theory upon which to base their biases, it becomes more difficult to take ANY meaningful action.
People like Chuck and Sailer must be kept at the lunatic fringe, where they belong. Of course, they will always have some deluded adherents, but so long as their theories are exposed to the obvious and simple truth, they will not get far with them.
As for the intent of the HBDers, it doesn’t really matter. The fact is that no matter what they intend… their false science will result in further racial prejudice and unfair stereotypes, rationalizations, and categorization.
“I also know a person, who now runs his own hi tech company and is internationally recognized computer security expert, and he never graduated from high school. He was also sent to some tests because his poor performance at school and the IQ tests revealed lower than average intellect. He was also absent from school so much that the authorities were considering to send him to the “special” school for “special” children.”
Great points, Sam! …or whatever your real name is 🙂 Yrvilindikin!??
Yeah, I don’t get that people don’t seem to understand how complex and idea intelligence is.
Dictionary.com defines prejudice as follows:
“The capacity for learning, reasoning, understanding, and similar forms of mental activity; aptitude in grasping truths, relationships, facts, meanings, etc.”
But consider that it doesn’t mention:
1) How long it takes you to grasp any given truth – which is often seen as a major part of being smart.
2) The kind of concepts that you are most adept at comprehending, because most people specialize in this regard.
3) The overall variety and scope of diversity of concepts that you comprehend.
4) The effective application of knowledge, once acquired.
5) The ability to communicate concepts to others in a way that they can most easily understand them.
All of these things are also applicable to our valuation of overall intelligence, but ALL of them are certainly not always tested for.
Add to that the fact that tenacity and self-motivation is a very BIG part of applied intelligence. If a person is good at solving Rubik’s Cubes and playing Three-Dimensional Chess, but is a lazy bones, who prefers to live in his mother’s basement, jobless, eating Pop Tarts and Top Ramen, is that really an “intelligent person?” And if so, by who’s standards?
The basic point is that intelligence is notoriously difficult to quantify. It’s an extremely complicated idea, that is near impossible to assess based on any given test.
on Tue Nov 16th 2010 at 17:49:40 Blanc2
Interesting post. I had never heard any of this. IQ measures something. In my experience what it measures doesn’t seem to have much to do with common sense or the kind of “human” skills that are a necessary part of any successful society. For example, I’ve been involved at various times, in a busines context, with a few MENSA members. In know this because they seem to always want to remind you that they are MENSA members. Mostly I’ve found them to be misanthropic at least, and often obessissve to the point of being sociopathic — certainly not the kind of individuals, in general, that one wants to have to rely on in a social or family setting.
what do you think people could possibly do with belief in HBD in this democracy with this much white guilt roaming around?
as for me (and I think Sailer), i just want to eradicate the egalitarian goals and ideals that we the people use to gauge black achievement. the achievement gap is *partly* a function of lower IQ. throwing money after educational achievement for blacks continues to prove ineffective.
“the achievement gap is *partly* a function of lower IQ. throwing money after educational achievement for blacks continues to prove ineffective.”
So, there’s your answer, Hernieth:
Stop wasting so much money on trying to educate Black people, because it’s just throwing money down the drain.
Yeah, it is expected to hear something like that from somebody who is “not a racist”.
So I thought, I just wanted to clarify their operational goals instead of just them pontificating on their beliefs.
what do you think people could possibly do with belief in HBD in this democracy with this much white guilt roaming around
What white guilt? There isn’t much. Those whites, who are introspective, when it comes to racism, are few and far between. I can count on my fingers those that I have come across. What do you propose they do with these inferior IQ people in regards to public policy?
Just as I thought! A racist hiding under the cloak of pseudo-science!
certainly not the kind of individuals, in general, that one wants to have to rely on in a social or family setting.
on Tue Nov 16th 2010 at 19:12:31 theobsidianfiles
Hang on, Herneith.
Is it “racist” to simply disagree with the way taxpayer monies are being spent wrt education? I mean, let’s say for the sake of argument that Black folk are indeed, on average, less intelligent than Whites or Asians – should we then continue to spend large amounts of taxpayer money on inner city schools, knowing that the majority of the kids there are not able to achieve parity with their White and Asian peers?
What are we to say of the fact that, as the late John Ogbu noted, even the children of the solidly Black middle and upper middle classes, tend to score lower on tests than do lower class and poorer Whites and Asians? do we just ignore his findings and accuse anyone who suggests cognitive differences between the races a “racist” a priori?
See, this is where folks on the Left – and from what I’ve been gathering based on your comments here and your blog, I would say you’re definitely on that side of the political aisle – has to come to grips with its own biases. I don’t think it does the HBD debate any good for the Left not to honestly grapple with these questions, and indeed may only serve to ngin up support for the HBD side.
Now, I agree with you, when you want to know what point the HBDers are trying to make; like you, I too want to know and explore the actual public policy changes they would support and want to see passed. I agree with you that Eugenics, which is what the HBDers most definitely support, would fail, as it has always failed. In every nation its been tried, including Singapore, it has failed miserably – and, as I’ve noted before on another thread here at Abagond’s, the HBDers either never gave much thought to, or they have deliberately refused to take up how they intend to increase the number of Smart White People, and in order to do that, you have to convince White Women with Options, to forego attending prestigious unis, have high prestige and high paying careers, not live in places like NYC, and agree to have babies, at say 21 or so, with Jeremey the STEM Guy. Uh, good luck with that, because so long as we live in a free society, there is no way in hell you’re going to be able to make such an option attractive to many young ladies.
“Is it “racist” to simply disagree with the way taxpayer monies are being spent wrt education? I mean, let’s say for the sake of argument that Black folk are indeed, on average, less intelligent than Whites or Asians – should we then continue to spend large amounts of taxpayer money on inner city schools, knowing that…”
You see, Hernieth, this is what I was trying to tell you above. As long as these dullards think that they have some kind of workable “scientific” theory… no matter how many times it has been utterly disproved above, in this very thread… there will always be people who argue about the allocation of resources, based on those spurious arguments.
Black Americans are not even 13% of the U.S. population. Even at that, they are dreadfully underrepresented in the Advanced Academy based on their population size.
How much tax money do you think is really “wasted” on Black people’s education, as a percentage of the total annual education budget? Not very much, comparatively, I assure you.
It’s not really about “wasting money,” the money spent on Black education would be a minor earmark tagged onto the back end of an insignificant farm bill. The money is insignificant when compared to the whole. The real problem is hate.
on Tue Nov 16th 2010 at 19:41:13 Dr. Vagrant X
The real problem is hate.
Cosigned.
on Tue Nov 16th 2010 at 21:05:50 zek j evets
I have to agree with you King. The money being spent on public education in this country is paltry compared to Social Security, Defense, and paying interest on the national debt. (By the way, shout out to my man Dubya for adding some extra billions to it for us!)
So even if Chuck and/or Obsidian want to say that using taxpayer money to fund education for Black people in America is a waste, then what about the wasted money trying to stabilize countries like Iraq and Afghanistan with our military? Wouldn’t that be a waste of money on people who (for the sake of argument) are less intelligent because of their race?
See you can tell how racist these views really are by the lack of consistency in their views when it comes to dealing with reality. Sure, less money to Black kids in school in America, but keep the cash-flow going for bombs blowing up Brown kids in the Middle East. While these aren’t necessarily the views of Chuck or Obsidian, that questions like these aren’t discussed in tandem with their beliefs is very telling to me.
When it comes to public policy, HBD’s scientific racism is going to fail as much as slavery (and attempts to justify it) failed. Pardon the dramatics, but would anyone expect members of any race to accept decisions influenced by racism? (No matter how “scientific” its conclusions are based on.) We’d have another civil war. No doubt.
Also, this issue is not a fight between Left or Right. Indeed, Conservatives condemn HBDers like Steve Sailer as much as the Left does. It’s sad that American politics always comes down to a choice between Right or Left, because people’s political views are so much more complex than that. But when it comes to race, I’d like to see more bi-partisanship and less showmanship by Democrats or Republicans (especially the Republicans these days, oy vey) trying to win talking-points with talking-heads full of empty words.
on Tue Nov 16th 2010 at 21:34:01 Y.
I agree with King
I understand the need to grant HBD its premise for the sake of argument and get a sense of where they want to go in terms of public policy and the real world applications of HBD. However, Im having a hard time granting that premise because the foundation for it is faulty to begin with.
Its a huge leap to give the benefit of the doubt to a concept as tenacious as HBD.
Also, I have another question for so-called HBDers.
How do you guys reconcile the cold-climate hypothesis with alternative evolutionary hypotheses such as the Multiple Regional Hypotheses(another evolutionary theory I have heard HBDers through around)?
To Zek:
I have to agree with you King. The money being spent on public education in this country is paltry compared to Social Security, Defense, and paying interest on the national debt.
School districts had total expenditures of approximately $562.3 billion in 2006–07, including about $476.8 billion in current expenditures for public elementary and secondary education. Of the remaining expenditures, $62.9 billion was spent on capital outlay, $14.7 billion on interest payments on debt, and $7.8 billion on other programs (programs such as community services and adult education, which are not a part of public elementary and secondary education).
http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=66
$562 billion per year is not paltry (and is $100 billion less than US defense expenditures at a time when the US is fighting two wars…) Adjusted for inflation, US defense expenditures in (pre wars) 2000 were $100 billion less than the money for public education spent at the primary and secondary levels. (This does not cover college or trade schools…)
How that money is being spent and if it it being spent properly (on people of any race..) is another debate.
I totally agree.
Notice that the problem is not wasting money on educating ALL “dumb people” in America, of every race. They don’t want to weed out ALL of the academically challenged people—they want to focus instead on a single race. Black people.
Ask yourself why no other race was mentioned?
This is the pathology of HBD—It’s the same old Klan of Ku Kluxers, this time pulling their hoods over their lab coats. All of this rubbish science about how cold weather is better for evolution than hot/dry weather etc. is just a facade. And who are the true targets of all of this? who are the wastrels? Who are the phantom menace?
That is what HBD really is.
aw, little girl is too cute
No she’s not, she’s a tax burden!!!
Zek,
Well, I’m glad you didn’t lump me in with those who are actually arguing the case I questioned Hereneith about; I wasn’t in agreement with it, just asking her some probing questions.
See, I don’t think its necessarily “racist” to ask whether public monies are being used in a responsible fashion wrt the public education system, particularly in inner city school areas where Black folks are the majority. Nor do I think it necessarily fair to interject the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan into said conversation. I think both issues can stand or fall on their own merits or the lack thereof; emotional appeals one to another aren’t necessary, and plays right into the hands of those who are fervent HBDers.
My position on the matter is simple: so what if Black folks, in aggregate, are less intelligent than Whites? Now what – do we deny them basic civil liberties? Do we circumvent the Constitution under the grounds that Blacks are more prone toward violence and criminal behavior? Let’s say we do away with Affirmative Action once and for all – on what grounds are we to assume that high quality, individual Blacks would indeed be given a fair shake?
And indeed, as I think it was King rightly noted above, what are we to do with the millions of Dumb White People – or, are they simply not as bad a concern as putatively Dumb Black ones? And then there’s the elephant in the middle of the room – how do we increase the number of Smart White People – a measure that would require somehow getting White Women with Options, to not only forego prestigious lifestyles and educations, but to mate at early ages (early 20s at least) with Jeremy the STEM Guy. Please notice how the HBDers never seem to get around to this when they speak of “Eugenics”.
See, this is where I want to engage the HBDers – I’m willing to grant them carte blanche on their theories, even concedet that they have some good points (like the fact that inner cities spend ridiculous amounts of money per pupil in the public schools with precious little to show for it) – but I want to get at them on the public policy level. Because, in engaging them in such a conversation, it reveals that they really do want to use HBD to change or otherwise influence public policy, and in exactly what way. I want to show everyone just how exactly UN-American the HBDers truly are; because at their core, they do not uphold American ideals or beliefs. They indeed, believe in Monarchy, instead of a divine rule of kings, theirs is the “Scientific” rule of the Cognitive Elites.
Those who’ve known me for some time will know well my views on HBD, and more importantly my views on those who are its biggest promulgators. I give them no quarter.
No King, not even close!
See, she’s a tax burden with low IQ who’s unattractive and has no hope of getting a White man so she better stop complaining and man-up like Black men because her hair needs a relaxer like Liberals need to stop whining about social services and more about the terrorists taking over Amurka through that Mosque pretending to be a cultural center that the little girl was going on a field-trip to until protesters thought her scarf was a burqa and told her to go back to Africa/The Middle East because illegal immigrants are taking our jobs for $5.45 an hour picking fruit that the little girl would eat for lunch, except her family ran out of food-stamps in the recession/job-less recovery and we don’t need to spend more money on lazy people in high-crime inner-city neighborhoods when obviously Steve Sailer should be president and give Black people moral guidance from his White marble peak of Whiteness where the little girl could look up at him and say, “Mommy, why is that White man on the roof again?”
And the mom would say, “Because he’s crazy baby. Now eat your vegetables.”
At least, that’s what I get when I read through some of the comments here ; )
on Wed Nov 17th 2010 at 00:14:53 Sagat
I think some of you try to divert from having an honest discussion about human differences when you throw out accusations of racism. The cry of “racism!” is really a shaming tactic meant to silence debate. It really only works on those that feel ashamed of their beliefs. For me, at least, it amounts to calling someone a big meanie.
I also think the assertions that human biological differences is somehow a pseudo-science are funny. What really is a pseudo-science is blank slatism. The ideas of blank slaters only work if you assume that somehow human beings are immune from basic rules of biology. People like Jared Diamond peddle junk science and because of ideological reasons, some people eat it up. Gun Germs and Steel has some good ideas but the man lays out his politicized motivations for the book in the first chapter. He even states plainly that he believes Papuans are smarter than Europeans. If he said the opposite, most of you would dismiss his writings outright.
I see this claim made a lot. “You all just hate Black people!” Some do. That’s no fault of science. That some would use information about human differences to belittle Blacks doesn’t make the information false. I’ll be honest and say that probably a good portion of those that discuss human differences have at least some racial animosity towards Blacks, but that doesn’t mean everyone does and as I said, that doesn’t make the facts any less true.
There are human differences. Since we’re not all clones, it’s to be expected that populations vary in frequency of traits. It’s statistically impossible that all groups around the world are exactly the same in every way. Even from town to town, averages will vary. Take 100 people and then tell them to split into two random groups and you’ll find the averages for height, weight, intelligence and various other qualities will not be equal between the two groups. There always has and there will always be variation within groups and between groups. This is not a shocking or crazy idea. It’s basic science.
on Wed Nov 17th 2010 at 00:15:06 King
zek… you’re bringin’ me down, man.
on Wed Nov 17th 2010 at 00:31:33 theobsidianfiles
Hi Sagat,
Alright then, I’m willing to engage you in an honest discussion and debate about the *public policy* implications of HBD. Shall we begin?
If you don’t mind, please layout what you, and/or those on the HBD side, would like to see changed along public policy lines, as a direct result of HBD?
You have the floor…
“My position on the matter is simple: so what if Black folks, in aggregate, are less intelligent than Whites? Now what – do we deny them basic civil liberties? Do we circumvent the Constitution under the grounds that Blacks are more prone toward violence and criminal behavior?”
Again, that’s a big concession to make when ALL of the evidence is pointing in the exact opposite direction.
Both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution are based on the ideas that all men were created equal. If you accept that Some humans were born as intellectual inferiors, then why not amend the Constitution? Your “rights” are supposed upon your equal standing with all other men. When you are willing to concede that equality, then prepare yourself to surrender your “rights” as well.
But, as I said… why even consider that when it’s OBVIOUS that HBD is for dummies.
I actually started writing a post about that on my blog. It should be up tomorrow. Please check back then and we’ll have a discussion about it. Your questions about public polices were actually the catalyst for me taking it up, so I want to discuss it with you.
We can talk about it more here too, if you feel this is a more neutral ground. I just cracked open a bottle, so I’ll be off the rest of the night. See ya then.
Well obsidian, discuss if you will, but everywhere that I look HBD is in an almost constant state of being disproved.
http://www.businessinsider.com/gladwell-steven-pinker-got-his-data-from-a-racist-2009-11
But by all means, have at it.
With all due respect, I find your approach to be somewhat counterproductive, although I certainly understand where its coming from. Bugt you have to do a better job of reigning in your emotions here.
Autistic people, for example, clearly are not “equal” to people who aren’t so; but they suffer no reductions in their basic rights as American citizens. We can apply the same reasoning here to the HBD debate/question. Even if it could be proven, beyond a shadow of a doubt that Blacks on average were less intelligent than Whites or Asians, it still wouldn’t change the fact that Blacks are American citizens, and as such must be accorded the same rights and freedoms as their putatively cognitive betters. The HBDers want to change public policy, much of which would really hinge on changing the fundaments of our society and the ideals on which it is based.
Btw, have you ever read any of Pinker’s work, and/or seen him speak/give interviews? I have, and have found him quite interesting.
on Wed Nov 17th 2010 at 04:05:29 chic noir
obsidian Autistic people, for example, clearly are not “equal” to people who aren’t so;
Yup, we are superior.
on Wed Nov 17th 2010 at 10:08:51 sam
@ sagat: I find it extremely funny, as a white northern heterosexual male, that you are saying this:
“I think some of you try to divert from having an honest discussion about human differences when you throw out accusations of racism. The cry of “racism!” is really a shaming tactic meant to silence debate. It really only works on those that feel ashamed of their beliefs.”
I have no idea how high your score in IQ tests was, I never took one after the army ones which we blew, but somehow it does not give too bright impression of you when you complain that nasty derailers are shouting RACISM when you just want to discuss about racial differences. See, sagat, that is racisist. 😀
Yeap. If and when you have an idea that humanbeings are divided into different spieces, races, you are a racist. Because, from the biological point of view, there is only one human spieces in this world. Shockin, isn’t it? But alas, it is true. You and the black guy (with lover IQ than what you have :-D) are more similar than anything else in this planet.
All these different races are not biological. You have practically similar biology in your body as the most scary lookin aborginal you can find. I know, it can really ruin your day to realize this, but hey, I did not create this humanbeing. Blame God! Why he did so lowsy job that he made us one? I have no idea, but it really spoils all this race jibberish for real. From the science point of view that is. 😀
I find it ridicilous that here we have guys, educated I guess, who are trying to find something that would explain their racism for the better. I prefer good ole KKK style racists who just say “I hate everybody” and don’t make any excuses at all. At least they are honest.
Guys who try to find “scientific proof” for their racist beliefs are sorry bunch of whiners who are too scared to say who they are and try to find a pacifier for their nagging thoughts. At least thats what I think, but hey, I am way below the average in the IQ tests so I might be wrong here! 😀
on Wed Nov 17th 2010 at 10:53:38 Kwamla
@King and theobsidianfiles
I find it amazing you guys don’t seem to pick up on how united you both are in your MAIN view points !!!:
theobsidianfiles
Even if it could be proven, beyond a shadow of a doubt that Blacks on average were less intelligent than Whites or Asians, it still wouldn’t change the fact that Blacks are American citizens, and as such must be accorded the same rights and freedoms as their putatively cognitive betters.
Could it be any more obvious?
As I’ve said before. Both approaches each of you take towards challenging the HBDers are valid. And neither approach needs to invalidate the others. From my perspective they are actually complimentary.
I don’t read any of these HBDers arguing for your main view points.
A common indication as SAM points out that they are arguing from a less than egalitarian point of view.
So far example SAGAT will make a statement like:
Take 100 people and then tell them to split into two random groups and you’ll find the averages for height, weight, intelligence and various other qualities will not be equal between the two groups. There always has and there will always be variation within groups and between groups. This is not a shocking or crazy idea. It’s basic science.
Of course its “…basic science” we all know and agree that “intelligence” can be measured in the same non-problematic way as height and weight.
See and I haven’t even called this a mean argument!!!
If and when you have an idea that humanbeings are divided into different spieces, races, you are a racist. Because, from the biological point of view, there is only one human spieces in this world.
Species and race are not the same thing. If that’s the basis for your argument then you’ve failed. You can call me a racist for acknowledging that race exists. Doesn’t bother me. Practically everyone in the world knows there’s different races. Since this thread is about race, then it must be a racist too, huh?
…as a white northern heterosexual male
What’s this? Did you label yourself by race? Racist. 🙂
Kwamla says:
Yes, I’m not an egalitarian. It’s no secret.
Ok. I should’ve used the word IQ. Since the definition of intelligence seems to be subjective and cannot be agreed upon, of course we can’t measure it in any way that would satisfy the conflicting views of what intelligence actually is. It’s much like the idea of beauty. Intelligence is in the eye of the beholder.
@ Kwamla,
My statement:
“Both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution are based on the ideas that all men were created equal. If you accept that Some humans were born as intellectual inferiors, then why not amend the Constitution?
Was, in actually, in response to obsidian’s statements above along the same vein.
I really don’t object to his getting to the root of the policy goals of HBD, I just wish he could do it without blanket acceptance of their claims. The problem seems to be (and O. can correct me if I’m wrong) that he has read or listened to a lot of HBD stuff himself, and has not the wherewithal to refute it. He doesn’t understand WHY it is wrong, and because of his own inability to challenge their viewpoint, he retreats into Chamberlainesque acceptance and negotiation.
Obsidian himself (as I read him) is a Black HBD believer who now hopes that the U.S. Constitution will still protect his inferiority (or that of his race) from the consequences to his beliefs.
“Species and race are not the same thing. If that’s the basis for your argument then you’ve failed. You can call me a racist for acknowledging that race exists.”
What then is the biological definition of race?
You can call me a racist for acknowledging that race exists.”
If the shoe fits, wear it. Why didn’t you just come out and say so?
on Wed Nov 17th 2010 at 17:37:25 Hannu L
I think raci…HBDers like to confuse/blur the sociological concept of race with the biological one. The latter cannot be scientifically proved. I’m a 100% layman but I understand that no (real) biologist or anthropologist approves the concept of “race” as it is understood by HBDers.
King says,
Race is just a subdivision of a species. It’s synonymous with sub-species, though we never really say race when talking about animals.
From a medical dictionary:
a : a category in biological classification that ranks immediately below a species and designates a population of a particular geographical region genetically distinguishable from other such populations of the same species and capable of interbreeding successfully with them where its range overlaps theirs
b: a named subdivision (as a race or variety) of a species
By that definition, humans meet the criteria to be partitioned into different races. We know that human populations cluster into geographical regions genetically. We’ve longed known that humans are morphologically different along a continuum across geographic regions.
Yes, I know that humans are lumped into one subspecies, homo sapien sapiens, but this clearly goes against the very definition of subspecies. There’s long been a debate about this among taxonomists with disagreements about where to draw the lines as some groups, like Somalis for example, don’t fit neatly into the broader categories of race, but according to the definition, this is to be expected. Much of this has to do with giving special exception to humans with regards to biological standards. I call this homo-centrism, because let’s face it: despite our disagreements, in the end we’re all specists.
Thank you Sagat for taking the trouble.
Please site which medical dictionary you are quoting from, where it was published, the edition, and copyright date, if you please.
Let’s treat this as research, so that we can easily verify and identify any presented sources.
Hannu L says:
I think raci…HBDers like to confuse/blur the sociological concept of race with the biological one. The latter cannot be scientifically proved. I’m a 100% layman but I understand that no (real) biologist or anthropologist approves the concept of “race” as it is understood by HBDers.</i
That's not true. There's about a 50/50 split among anthropologists and biologists regarding the concept of race. Most have move towards using the term, population groups, because it's not as loaded of a term. There's no question that groups from around the world have different biological features. It's really just semantics at this point. Maybe in the future, you'll call us populationists as a derogatory term.
Hm. I’m sort of cautious about your 50/50 statement. Often people with your kind of agenda count in non-reliable scientist with a similar agenda.
But, yes of course there are apparent physical differences. I don’t believe that eye- or skin color affect people’s intelligence. Only if you are able to prove that their brain is decidedly different, I think you have a case.
I’m not sure if you’re being facetious, but it’s from Merriam-Webster’s Medical Dictionary, © 2007 Merriam-Webster, Inc. I took that from dictionary.com, which cited that as its source.
Merriam-Webster’s Medical Dictionary. Merriam-Webster, Inc. 17 Nov. 2010. .
What do you suppose my agenda is? Just wondering.
Of course, I’m not being facetious. Why would you suspect that? Surely this isn’t the first time you’ve been asked for a source?
When you’re using a source, it’s just handy to know where it came from. When you’re not arguing to a specific source then, of course, there’s no need.
Another question, in trying to understand your position on race. Can you name any races, or define a specific race?
@Sagat
To me it makes no difference whether you use the word “IQ” or “intelligence”. (It is noteworthy how you would use them interchangeably though!!!)
“IQ” is no more scientific or biological in occurrence than “Race” is. Both are socially and culturally constructed.
An illusion perpetuated using these terms is that the differences between the diverse varieties of ethnic groups is some how greatly reflected in human genetic make up or DNA.
However, from a scientific point of view the “differences” we observer between people accounts for less than 0.1/% of that DNA.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_genetic_variation
Its questionable intelligence (or level of IQ) – in my view – to be focusing on that 0.1% rather than an acceptance and supportability of the 99.9% commonality between peoples.
When I speak about Black people or White people, I’m just using shorthand to speak about generally understood ideas of physical differences. Hannu is right in that I do often conflate biological concepts and sociological concepts of race. I’m aware that I do it and I do it out of convenience for the conversation.
Just to be clear. There is no such thing as a Black or White race. When I say Black, I’m generally referring to those of West African descent. There’s a lot of diversity in Africa and I don’t consider Mbuti pygmies or San Bushmen to be the same race as West Africans, because I think they’re distinct peoples. In genetic population clusters, they are more closely related to each other than they are to northeast Asians, but they’re different enough that I think they should be recognized as so. Though my position can be argued as simply a differences in semantics as well.
But that’s the problem right there! I’ve heard of italian/spanish men who have complained that when coming to Finland they were seen/treated like black people! Granted, that was more like a decade ago, but if not even Europeans who (by god’s grace), are überfantastic, white rulers of the earth, cannot decide amongst themselves what is white, what is not!!!! It is an extremely sliding scale.
And I’ve also heard that Finns are considered to be a “mongrel race” by hardcore german “aryans”. LOL! I don’t even care…
on Wed Nov 17th 2010 at 19:14:15 Chuck
Nah, that’s not it.
It’s just that black people are the largest cohort identified by a commonality: blackness.
Blacks themselves focus on the plight of black education and seek remedies that only apply to blacks. Case in point – one of many – is a recent study which was also reported on by CNN which explored the education gap between blacks and whites. The success or failure of education was analyzed solely based upon the level of the gap. In fact, in school districts where blacks overtook whites in terms of graduation rates, the problem was considered “fixed” and the results celebrated. The community organizers who are active on this front don’t care about education. They care about group politics.
So if they are going to vie for tax money to fix this problem of low black educational achievement, you’re damn right I’m going to view this issue through that dichotomous lens. If black community organizers and black academics are going to say, “look, look, we have a problem with *black* kids’ education that needs to be addressed”, I and other HBDers are going to step in and add some perspective to the issue.
The problem may not be money or racism. The problem could be endogenous.
Its questionable intelligence (or level of IQ)– in my view – to be focusing on that 0.1% rather than an acceptance and supportability of the 99.9% commonality between peoples.
LOL! 😆 “You’re a big dummy because of what you think!” Love that argument. It always comes after,”You’re a racist!” Same bag of tricks. Next you’ll call me an evil nazi.
Men and women are also 99.9 percent alike. So why would anyone examine or be interested in the their differences? Anyone that talks about those differences must be mouth breathing sexists! Tampons are a tool of the oppressor! We are all the same. 🙂
on Wed Nov 17th 2010 at 20:09:23 zek j evets
If black community organizers and black academics are going to say, “look, look, we have a problem with *black* kids’ education that needs to be addressed”, I and other HBDers are going to step in and add some perspective to the issue.
And what perspective would that be? Racism?? C’mon now…
Group politics is nothing new. And to take it as some kind of slight is to ignore the long history and continuing efforts of White group politics in our country, as well as how we are all complicit in it. Just look at the Tea Party.
But that doesn’t shouldn’t stop helping kids who aren’t getting an education to get one, no matter what group they’re from.
(However, I do agree that White men in this country have lots of issues that get ignored by the media, by politics, by our culture due to White men’s history as being the oppressor not the oppressed. And I’d support groups like MRA’s and the False Rape Society, and male abuse shelters, and lobbyists against prison rape, prostate cancer, etc., to address issues that affect men, white, black, or whatever.)
As for the biological/sociological issues about race. Let me say definitively: race as a biological category DOES NOT exist. It does exist sociologically, culturally, politically, psychologically, etc. But biologically it DOES NOT! Sorry, but it just doesn’t. It really doesn’t. No matter how many times HBDers try to say so, it does’t. No matter what arguments you can come up with, science has proven time and again that race in homo-sapiens does not exist biologically.
http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/sciences/lifescience/humanraces/biologyrace/biologyrace.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_%28classification_of_human_beings%29
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/biology/b103/f00/web2/ramon2.html
http://academic.udayton.edu/race/01race/race.htm
I mean, I could keep going down the line of just what I find on Google, but that’d be a waste of time. Every major scientific study in the past half-century has shown that race is not a biological, nor a genetic category, not even a sub-sub-species.
So if the HBDers want to keep that single issue on the table, then I’m gonna have to ask a la Forrest Gump…
Are you stupid or something?
Excellent Sagat. You are already smarter than Chuck.
Chuck… oh Chuck… chucalucka… (sigh)
How can people be identified by a commonality called “Blackness?”
What exactly is “Blackness” and how is it defined?
Why don’t you listen to what Sagat was saying above?
“When I say Black, I’m generally referring to those of West African descent. There’s a lot of diversity in Africa and I don’t consider Mbuti pygmies or San Bushmen to be the same race as West Africans, because I think they’re distinct peoples. In genetic population clusters, they are more closely related to each other than they are to northeast Asians…”
BTW Sagat, this part is not necessarily true.
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2010/02/18/genomes-of-desmond-tutu-bushmen-show-africas-huge-genetic-diversity/
Africans may be further apart from each other genetically, than they even are from other non-black ethnicities — there are no guarantees on that front.
I was wondering the same thing myself. What is it that you’re after? Segregation/separation/juxtaposition/justification? For what reasons? I can only assume, but I hope you yourself honestly tell us what you’re after, what kind of satisfaction this kind of approach offers to you?
I believe some people are unable to grasp humankind without labeling them and putting them in boxes. That there must be some kind of biological or divine taxonomic order of things, instead of “chaos”.
Hannu says:
I’ve heard of italian/spanish men who have complained that when coming to Finland they were seen/treated like black people! Granted, that was more like a decade ago, but if not even Europeans who (by god’s grace), are überfantastic, white rulers of the earth, cannot decide amongst themselves what is white, what is not!!!! It is an extremely sliding scale.
The same goes for East Asians as well. Thais are often lumped in with northeast Asians but don’t say that to a Japanese unless you want an earful about Japanese superiority to Thais.
You’re right about the sliding scale thing. All humans are related to one another and there is just varying degrees of separation between groups. That’s really were the arguments come in about labeling, because no one can decide on dividing lines. And there really are no dividing lines, just a continuum of relatedness.
That doesn’t mean that we should ignore differences between groups. They exist, just like the spectrum of colors exist. I understand why many feel uncomfortable talking about our differences, considering history, but I don’t think pretending we are all alike is being honest.
But, but…EXACTLY! If there’s a sliding scale, not just in Europe but everywhere on this planet, who’s gonna draw the line???? And where???
It just keeps on sliding and sliding…it’s just like evolution: there is no INTERMEDIATERY “race” or human “species” to be found in the human genome. It’s still mixing and evolving.
And, umm, I’m all about mixing my SUPERIOR NORDIC genes with…um-who ever comes along. Sigh. 😉 Preferably with black sistah’s with EXTREME blackess! 😉
And, umm, I’m all about mixing my SUPERIOR NORDIC genes with…um-who ever comes along.
Superior? What? I thought you were a Finnish mongrel? 😆
There’s many disagreements about species classifications. Does that mean that species doesn’t exist either? All labels are just constructs. It’s just humans’ way of understanding the world around them.
I had a friend that used to argue with me that colors were just a social construct. He’d tell me that I only saw the color yellow because I was raised to think that way. He’d tried to convince me that yellow might actually be blue and I was just conditioned to believe that it wasn’t. I responded that Japanese have a different culture and they saw yellow too. And then he’d say, “Yellow is not a Japanese word. So they see whatever color their word for it is.” We’d argue about this for hours. These conversations here remind a lot of that. 🙂
This kind of conversation always reminds of a book I read a while ago, namely “The Master Plan. Himmler’s scholars and the Holocaust” by Heather Pringle.
You probably have heard of the “Ahnenerbe”, Himmler’s “brain”child, a special branch of the SS, that was devoted in searching evidence of the existence of the Aryan race, who he thought was the predecessor of ALL high cultures on this planet (Indian Jones featured exactly these guys). So finally, because aryans couldn’t have evolved from any lesser races, he thought that aryans simply must’ve descended from heavens above!!! Leap of faith, indeed!
He also thought that Thor’s hammer, Mjöllnir, was some kind of electro-magnetic weapon (FOR REAL!!). But that’s actually a very good sci-fi premise, hmmm…
Superior? What? I thought you were a Finnish mongrel?
But I am!!! LOL!!
I gather that you understand that I don’t care either way.
@Hannu:
‘May the white ape take us all’!
Thuvia, Maid of Mars!
zek, king, and all who question the biological foundations of race:
peep this.
http://infoproc.blogspot.com/2010/08/connect-dots.html
http://infoproc.blogspot.com/search?q=fst
The term “race” conceptualizes the idea of people who are closely genetically related. There is grey area at the margins, but there is a giant middle black or white area where people of those groups have genetic maps more similar to each other than people of those other groups.
If you look at those maps on the links I provided, you’ll see that sub-saharan africans are clustered together in terms of genotopic principal component analysis. “Black race” is a sociological construction to give a name to something that has a biological root.
And this whole idea that Africans are more genetically diverse among each other does not overturn the argument for higher IQ among non-blacks. People of African descent could still be diverse among themselves but still not have experienced the novel environments that forged higher IQ in those groups that migrated out of Africa.
So as I said above: black activists and liberal politians are using “black” success as a litmus test for the success of social programs and the eradication of racism. Those people don’t even try to differentiate between black individuals; they are forcing us to observe group outcomes. Therefore, this becomes a group discussion. And if it is a group discussion, reviewing scientific research of *group* characteristics is not a racist endeavor.
LOL! I sometimes feel that earth is like Barsoom: lacking of oxygen, making thinking harder for some people…
…more oxygen/air factories! And I want to be the yeddak of yeddaks! The City of Helium überalles!
Oh no, not Steve Hsu… the Physicist (sigh)
Steven Hsu is not a geneticist, he is not a biologist, he is not even in the life sciences at all. He does not speak to the majority opinions within the field of genetics.
My Dad majored in physics, it doesn’t mean that he is qualified to hypothesize on genetics.
I wouldn’t ask an astronaut to theorize on marine biology just because I figured he was “smart”… that’s why we have *specialties.*
@king: yeah, I wanna know more on this:
All these finnish metal heads are wearing black! WTF is this? Is this blackness? And what about Black Sabbath? That band is blackness, isn’t it? I mean, they call themselves BLACK Sabbath!!
And hey, AC/DC has an whole album called Back in BLACK!!! Goddammit! Is there no end to this blackness??!! Theres even a movie called Pitch Black!!!!
Holy hooligan! I have black sweaters on! Am I into this blackness thing or what? I have even black socks on!! Darn, it must be the blackness!
Finnish rockshow band Sleepy Sleepers had a tour called Elvis is Black. Was that this friggin blackness?? Damnit!!
How many times do I have to post the same information before you will actually read it?
African people are NOT “closely related” genetically!!!
AFRICAN PEOPLES ARE NOT GENETICALLY THE SAME!!!
This is a genetic map of Africa.
http://scienceblogs.com/geneticfuture/2009/04/massive_study_of_african_genet
You see, it turns out that Africa is the most genetically diverse place in the world and has extreme hyper genetic diversity.
But how genetically different are Africans peoples from one another? Genetics researcher Stephan Schuster conducted a survey that sequenced the genome of five people native to the region of southern Africa, including anti-apartheid activist Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The other four subjects were Bushmen, one named Gubi who had his entire genome sequenced.
“Gubi is the first person from an African minority population to be fully sequenced, and comparing him to the other three men from the region shows as much genetic separation as you’d expect to find between European and Asian peoples. Says Schuster: “This is despite the fact that they sometimes live within walking distance of one another”
So, basically between Bushmen and Bantu, you can find more genetic variation that you can find between say… Han Chinese and Frenchmen. Blacks are not one massive genetic race, who is somehow genetically advantaged or disadvantaged in the same way. In reality, they are quite a few, genetically different dark-skinned races.
Article here:
That’s interesting about the Bushmen. I always thought Africa was a fascinating place with it’s variety of phenotypes. I’ve never read that claim about there being more distance between two Bushmen than there is between a European and an Asian. I’m not familiar with that blog or its author so I’m hesitant to put much stock in that. I’d like to see another source. The population clusters produced from the Human Genome Project show all sub-Saharan Africans grouping together.
I think what gets lost on some with these genetic studies is that often times SNPs are used to compare relatedness, but most of these SNPs are on the non-coding region of the DNA. I think what really matters is the coding region since that’s what determines our physical features. Africans are bound to have much more genetic diversity because they build up “noise” on the non-coding region of their DNA because they come from much older populations. I’ve read elsewhere that their genetic diversity is overblown because of the focus on non-coding SNPs.
Sagat, the “blog” is the official blog of “Discover Magazine”
…yes, THAT Discover Magazine. It is one of the most respected wide circulation science periodicals in the world.
Website here:
http://discovermagazine.com/
But if you wish to google “African Genetic Diversity”, you will discover that it is a BROADLY accepted fact, by the vast majority of geneticists worldwide.
Again, these are geneticists, not Physicists (Steve Hsu) not Marketing majors (Steve Sailer) Do you really think that the majority of GENETICISTS are misreading Single Nucleotide Polymorphism and reporting it to be true genetic variation, because I think that if anyone would know better it would be the geneticists, not the layman bloggers, don’t you?
on Thu Nov 18th 2010 at 00:46:26 Sagat
That’s not Discover Magazine’s official blog. It says on the site, that it’s simply a news aggregator blog called 80beats. There are many discovermagazine blogs. I normally read Razib Khan’s Gene Expression blog which is also a discovermagazine blog.
From the link that 80beats took the story from:
Tishkoff cautions against reading too much into the sequence data at this early stage. “You really need to have population-level information,” she says. “If I see a variant in just one person, I don’t know how prominent it’s going to be in the rest of the population.”
So basically that claim that there’s the same amount of distance between two Bushmen than there is between a European and an Asian is inconclusive at this point. But it also states this:
To date, none of the large human genome projects has focused on minority populations.
So that would explain why the cluster maps so far have shown sub-Saharan Africans grouping together.
And I never said that geneticists are misreading SNPs. SNPs on the non-coding region are often included in population cluster comparisons. This is a fact. Looking at SNPs on the non-coding region is useful because they can show relatedness between populations. SNPs are just a change in the genome. Naturally, Africa has the most amounts of SNPs because humans have lived there far longer than anywhere else in the world and have built up more mutations. What I said, is that I consider the coding region to be more important.
Don’t get persnickety with me.
on Thu Nov 18th 2010 at 00:54:12 King
“That’s not Discover Magazine’s official blog. It says on the site, that it’s simply a news aggregator blog called 80beats”
oops! you’re right, that was my bad!
I’ll get more persnickety later.
Sagat, you wouldn’t by chance, happen to be a AAAS member would you?
https://pubs.aaas.org/membership/new_member_setup.asp
Is that a promise? 🙂
No. Why? Are you recommending it?
I prefer to tell people to not get to snarky. The fact that you use the word persnickety illustrates your lack of testosterone! But wait, you don’t have much do you according to these theories? I guess that’s the trade off isn’t it.
I used that word because I was joking with him. And if my testosterone level is so low, then why are all up on my nuts?
on Thu Nov 18th 2010 at 03:47:53 Chuck
The Steve Hsu piece links to a research piece from the journal Science. They are part of AAAS that you asked Sagat about. That journal produced the model for human genotype that you dismiss. I’m curious to hear your point about AAAS then.
The genotype map shows that “black people” are people with black skin who happened to be closely genetically related to other similar people whom we also call “black people”. I’m not really sure why this concept is so hard for you to grasp.
It’s funny how you automatically disregard any diseenting study or dissenting opinion. Steve Hsu being a physicist means that he at least has more credential than you. You aren’t a scientist (or don’t seem to be one). Physicists are supremely intelligent, and it is feasible that their ability to operate through the scientific method would help them formulate plausible theories or adopt plausible positions in other fields of study. And again, Steve Hsu the physicist has his opinion. You are combating it with your opinion as a…what are you? I’m not sure. You place the burden of proof on HBDers although I’m not sure why.
Why not, it beats washing windows.
on Thu Nov 18th 2010 at 05:12:04 zek j evets
Steve Hsu again?? Haha, oy vey. No matter how many times you disprove something, someone always bring it back up like it’s true.
At this point in the discussion I’ll have to excuse myself because now HBDers have done jumped the shark by making pseudo-scientists into experts and astrophysicists into biologists/geneticists!
This reminds me of Samuel George Morton… and How Stephen Jay Gould whooped his butt in The Mismeasure of Man. Scientific racism is being touted as actual science, when it’s not. Facts are being touted as facts, when they are not. It’s sad to see, but thankfully very few are persuaded by HBD or even know it exists. (I didn’t know until Chuck commented once on my blog.)
I leave the rest of the discussion to ya’ll.
so you’re going to ignore Hsu’s piece and the scientific research underlying the model i linked to?
how about looking at it first just so you know the basis on which the HBD argument is made.
I just clicked through the link to Steve Hsu’s site, which you and Zek condemned Chuck for posting, and found that it was just simply a graphic that he had taken from Razib Kahn’s Gene Expression site. And the funny thing is, this scatter chart that Steve Hsu posted was created by Razib using data from where? The same study that you posted up above.
What Steve Hsu linked to:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/2010/08/genetic-variation-within-africa-and-the-world/#more-5802
What you posted:
They’re two articles about the exact same genetic study. Talk about irony! 😆
on Thu Nov 18th 2010 at 06:01:00 Dr. Vagrant X
@Chuck-
I won’t bother re-posting my previous response to you, but if you want you can check the Sailer post. Anyway,-
Steve Hsu being a physicist means that he at least has more credential than you. You aren’t a scientist (or don’t seem to be one). Physicists are supremely intelligent, and it is feasible that their ability to operate through the scientific method would help them formulate plausible theories or adopt plausible positions in other fields of study. And again, Steve Hsu the physicist has his opinion. You are combating it with your opinion as a…what are you? I’m not sure. You place the burden of proof on HBDers although I’m not sure why.
Facepalm x Infinity.
First of all, you’ve committed at least two logical fallacies. 1. Poisoning the Well: King’s and my academic credentials have little to no impact on the evidence presented. If we are presenting facts or theories that have been tested thoroughly with predictable results, the evidence stands despite our positions/standing. 2. HBDers start of from a stand point that is in and of itself a logical fallacy; Burden of Proof or Appeal to Ignorance. While it is the belief among HBDers that snow/adverse weather conditions develop intelligence, there is little to any physical/empirical proof of this Of course you can bring up IQ tests and other systems for measuring intelligence based principally within cultural/societal norms, but you have still yet to prove your thesis/hypothesis. Where is the physical proof, the exact gene, etc. that supports your hypothesis. What HBDers have proposed in theory with far less empirical/physical backing than the Theory of Evolution and the popular understanding of the variance in the human race (or relatively lack thereof). The burden of proof, Chuck, is on the HBDers, not the rest of the scientific community who have substantial and extensive amounts of empirical/physical data to support their position.
Further, Steve Hsu is, as you just admitted, a physicist. Comparing physics to biology as though they draw from anything more than the scientific method is a flawed argument. Yes, Steve Hsu probably took some elementary to intermediate biology classes during undergrad., but that no more makes him an authority on genetics than an Earth Scientist/Geologist. I wouldn’t trust a guy with a Geology degree, even a PhD, to perform a heart transplant, would you? I mean, granted, they both had to take some chemistry and biology courses in undergrad., but somehow I’d prefer the MD over the PhD. So, more on point, why would I give any real consideration to a physicist as it concerns human evolution and genetics? He knows little to anything about that, as he specialized in physics (e.g.-he did not study for a MS or PhD in biology simultaneously, did he?).
Steve Hsu, for all his use of the scientific method, is more than likely a scientific layman when it comes to the specifics of genetics and evolution. Therefore, he’s only in a slightly better position than King to suggest theories for as to why there are “gaps” in “intelligence” levels. However, by your logic, as an anthropologist and someone who has taken a few science courses I learned to use the scientific method as well. Should I start making suggestions to NASA on how to make the next rocket/satellite/etc.?
Dr. Vagrant X:
I linked to Steve Hsu’s site which provided a model that linked to *real* genetic scientists studies which show that race is not a social construct.
I didn’t link directly to the study itself because you must buy a subscription to view it. I figured that model is pretty damning to your case so I linked to it.
But King and Zek refuse to accept that model into the body of evidence because it came from Hsu’s site. At which point I have to bring up that Hsu, being a reputable scientist, may know a little bit more about quality science than you or King or Zek. While Hsu may not be a geneticist, he at least has the scientific background to understand when science is poorly executed. He didn’t find such a problem with the model I linked to.
But the discussion really has nothing to do with Hsu because he didn’t create that model, he merely commented on it because he happens to accept the fall-out from what such a model implies. Which is why he is an HBDer.
So, please, begin by refuting the model I linked to. After seeing that model how can you argue that people don’t naturally fall into genetically distinguishable cohorts?
Wait, so now three of you are attacking Chuck by dismissing Steve Hsu, but clearly none of you even bothered to click the link, because if you did you would’ve seen that it’s nothing more than a graphic and a link to a genetic study.
But, but..a physicist couldn’t possibly possess the power of linkage!
on Thu Nov 18th 2010 at 07:45:10 sam
@chuck, sagat:
Are you for real guys? There is only one race of humans on this planet, no matter what you say or do or link up or quote. I know it is depressing that those black dudes are your closest cousins biologically, but they really are. 😀
I know it is hard to be racist. I have couple neighbours who are. But they at least admit it openly and do not dance around acting like their racism is based on anything other than hating people who look different enough. Why it is so important to you that you find some kind of “scientific” explanation for your racism?
Why do you want to convince others that there are separate races of humans? And why do you try to convince black guys on this blog that for some reason they are lower than you are? That is really hilarious! 😀
But really guys, why this is so important to you that you go on for days and weeks and months with this same ole old? Looks like you are trying to convince yourselves most of all, because nobody here is convinced on your race theories which, from the biological point of view, are load of mumbo jumbo. 😀
So are you just trying to convince yourself that for some very funny reason you are better just because of your genes? How it is in real life? You guys get the chicks? You beat everybody in athletics? You all wealthy? Successfull?
I mean, you guys must be, since you are genetically superior compared to all black guys here. I bet you guys have more money and success than Will Smith ja P Diddy put together, not to mention that lazy Jay Z guy and his girl Beyoncé. I mean, that is what you guys are saying, right? You are white and genetically you are more intelligent and superior compared to any nig.. sorry, lower races, right?
So put it out sagat and chuck! Show us how much more you are succesfull than those nig.. sorry, lower spieces!
Lets see your credentials, your unbelievable succesfull careers, millions in the bank and mansions on the hill! C’mon guys! I want to see the proof that you are genetically superior to these nig… sorry, lower spieces!
Let us see your superiority in action! Open our eyes with the one undisputed fact that white men like yourselves are superior to those damned nig.. sorry, lower races!
Your lives must proove your theory beyond any theoretical debate! It is really so simple. And you, as an examples of the superior white beings, can show us the light easily by providing us those undisputable facts from your own superior succesfull lives. Right? 😀
Sam: Are you for real guys?
Chuck: Nope. I guess the discussion is over then, huh…oh wait…
sam: There is only one race of humans on this planet, no matter what you say or do or link up or quote. I know it is depressing that those black dudes are your closest cousins biologically, but they really are.
Chuck: No. There is only one species called “humans”. There are various sub-species or something akin to that among humans.
Sam: I know it is hard to be racist. I have couple neighbours who are.
Chuck: So then how would you know?
Sam: But they at least admit it openly and do not dance around acting like their racism is based on anything other than hating people who look different enough. Why it is so important to you that you find some kind of “scientific” explanation for your racism?
Chuck: First, I’m more interested in truth than diversity qua diversity. I’ll address it as an academic argument just for fun. Why not?
And I have absolutely no hatred for black people. The only reason I’m here today is because black man (my step grandfather) adopted my father and his siblings and brought them to America from England (he married my grandmother who had strewn my dad and his sibs into various orphanages and foster homes).
So you mislabel my stance and my intentions. I think that black people – on average – have lower innate IQ than whites. Irish people of Celtic descent have lower IQ than Irish people of East Baltic descent, but I don’t “hate” Celtic people. I just recognize them for what they are and don’t try to sugar coat it for fun or to make everyone happy. In fact, if anything, the only thing I do hate is the pressure to accept these assertions against my true beliefs. If I said this stuff out loud to even a handful of people I’d lose friends or have a brick thrown at my head.
Sam: Why do you want to convince others that there are separate races of humans? And why do you try to convince black guys on this blog that for some reason they are lower than you are? That is really hilarious!
Chuck: Abagond wrote the post, and liberal and progressive activism tacitly supports the argument that IQ is equal and they write legislation with the unreachable goal of parity in educational achievement in mind. Those are two positive statements among many that I think should be met a little bit of truth telling. And I don’t think anyone on this blog is lower than me. Both Menelik Charles and Abagond seem to have high IQ. Possibly even higher than mine.
Sam: But really guys, why this is so important to you that you go on for days and weeks and months with this same ole old? Looks like you are trying to convince yourselves most of all, because nobody here is convinced on your race theories which, from the biological point of view, are load of mumbo jumbo.
Chuck: And it looks like you are crying “uncle”. Say it louder.
Sam:So are you just trying to convince yourself that for some very funny reason you are better just because of your genes? How it is in real life? You guys get the chicks? You beat everybody in athletics? You all wealthy? Successfull?
Chuck: You’re the one who is assuming that higher IQ implies better. Yeah, some WN types and even HBDers believe that high IQ implies moral superiority, but I’ve never implied that. It is an old analogy, but I find it funny that there are so many discussions saying that race realism is racist whenever it addresses the IQ gap. Legislation must be drawn to right the ship, and many community activists are in the business of righting that ship. But there isn’t much talk about making it so that there isn’t any “discrimination” in professional sports. After all, those guys make a lot of money, and it would be really nice for those white guys who could get those jobs via government legislation. But there’s no call for that. Why?
Sam: I mean, you guys must be, since you are genetically superior compared to all black guys here. I bet you guys have more money and success than Will Smith ja P Diddy put together, not to mention that lazy Jay Z guy and his girl Beyoncé. I mean, that is what you guys are saying, right? You are white and genetically you are more intelligent and superior compared to any nig.. sorry, lower races, right?
Chuck: No, Sam. That is what you are saying. Tell me where I said any of that shit. OK then.
Of course you would pick out single examples and make a straw man argument. Standard liberal move.
But if you want to go there, start comparing Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Buffett, the Rockefellers yadda yadda yadda to the top echelon of blacks. How far down the list until you find the wealthiest black person? I believe it is Oprah and then Bob Johnson, CEO of BET. The former made her fortune off the residuals of white guilt. People flocked to her show because she wasn’t militant, but she allowed white people to feel like they were assuaging their past racist ways. Bob Johnson made his money by peddling TV content to black people. He played the race card on his own group and made billions.
So don’t compare me to Jay Z. Jay Z is blacks’ cream of the crop. I’m middle of the road – at best – for whites. Compare me to the middle of the road of blacks and compare credentials.
Sam: Lets see your credentials, your unbelievable succesfull careers, millions in the bank and mansions on the hill! C’mon guys! I want to see the proof that you are genetically superior to these nig… sorry, lower spieces!
Chuck: I don’t toss the word around, and I’ve never called anyone that. I’m not sure why you’re trying to attribute it to me. It seems like you are the one who really wants to say it.
Sam: Let us see your superiority in action! Open our eyes with the one undisputed fact that white men like yourselves are superior to those damned nig.. sorry, lower races!
Your lives must proove your theory beyond any theoretical debate! It is really so simple. And you, as an examples of the superior white beings, can show us the light easily by providing us those undisputable facts from your own superior succesfull lives. Right?
Chuck: I’ve never seen anyone more wrong, actually. You’ve constructed a naïve interpretation of mine and Sagat’s arguments. You’re asking me to look at all of this subjectively, but I’m trying to look at it objectively.
Because if I followed your taunts to their logical conclusion, if I connote high achievement with high IQ, mine and Sagat’s argument would be proven correct. Because, you see, I never said that I am the smartest person alive or smarter than every single black person. I said that white people have higher IQ. And if, as you imply, achievement is directly correlated to IQ, and since white people are obviously more successful than black people, it would follow that whites are, on average, more intelligent than blacks. You’ve proven my whole point by adopting a naïve interpretation of it. Thanks for doing my work for me.
on Thu Nov 18th 2010 at 12:36:33 theobsidianfiles
Well! I see the gang’s all here. A few thoughts:
King – Obviously you don’t know me very well, because frequent readers of my currently down blog can tell you that I’ve written extensively on the HBD issue and some of its biggest promulgators on the internet. I’ve refuted and questioned them up and down the line, and will do so again as the need and interest arises. As for my own views regarding HBD, I don’t have any problem with the fundamental premise – that human beings evolved differently based on geopgraphic location – my beef with HBDers is THEIR spin on what HBD means, and, the fact that most of them want to use their take on it to change extant public policy – which explains why I tend to focus on that side of the debate. Quite frankly, arguing over whether this scholar or that egghead is qualified or not to discuss science and the like makes my eyes glaze over and I suspect it does for the average reader out there, too. The scientific side of the issue is way too esoteric and frankly, borning, for most people to follow with any degree of interest or caring. It’s much more fun to consider the social implications of what the HBDers are proferring.
For example, Chuck Ross, a guy I know reasonably well, considers himself a HBDer much closer to that which Steve Sailer is, since his is a name that is well known in these parts. Now, he knows well my many writings on the topic of HBD, yet, he’s yet to address my public policy questions regarding them, and again, he’s known me longer than the vast majority of people here do. Nor is his avoidance of my questions unusual – just about every HBDer with whom I’ve “battled” either ignores or dodges my questions in this regard. I’ll lay them out again just in case anyone’s missed it in a seperate post coming up.
Zek – what caught my eye about your comments above was your stated support for Men’s Rights, and how you felt there was some legitimacy in the notion that White Men in particular were having a rough go of things of late historically in America. First, I’d like to ask you to please elaborate a bit on the latter? And secondly, I’m just very curious – what did you think of the Chris Brown/Rihanna affair, and how do you relate that to the actions of Mary J. Blige?
Kwama, thanks for the comments.
In closing, for now, I think it’s far more interesting to consider what the HBDers want to do with the country if they were running it. Again, it seems to me that they have some huge holes in their logic and reasoning here, to say nothing of their running up against the Constitution if their plans are to come into fruition.
on Thu Nov 18th 2010 at 13:18:53 Obsidian
OK, so let’s consider a few of the things HBDers want to see happen, although many of them are not often stated explicitly:
1. End Affirmative Action: really, what the HBDers mean here by this term, is to end any forms of preferences or quotas that pertain to Blacks, in education and hiring. The more prestigious and elite the better. The HBD argument goes, that since African Americans are on average less intelligent than Whites, it then follows that the majority of Blacks don’t really belong in the nation’s best schools and getting the cushiest of jobs because they aren’t truly qualified for them.
The problem with this argument is that it turns a blind eye to the decades, if not centuries long practice of good ole fashioned nepotism – those very same prestigious, elite schools and firms engage in blatant nepotism all the time, by seeing to it that the children of the wealthy and well-connected get in and do well. A very prominent example of this was George W. Bush, important for our discussion because the vast majority of HBDers online at least, are at the very least moderately if not stridently to the Right politically. Please note that, for example, while Steve Sailer has railed on and on about Affirmative Action over the years, he has never said anything about GWB getting over on essentially the same things that he takes issue wrt Blacks. Simply put, the HBDers are cool with preferences and quotas, so long as those receiving them are White, and by this I mean, non-Jewish White. Again, note the fact that the single biggest beneficiary of AA has been White Women – no big hew and cry from Sailer et al.
2. Speaking of the above, the next question we have to consider is that of Regression to the Mean: those of you out there of a more scientific bent will know what I mean by that term so no need for me to go rehashing it here. The problem is the HBDers never seem to want to admit that just because one has high IQ and even successfully mates with another person who is the same, thier progeny may not necessarily have the same IQ; indeed, the odds are that they won’t. The Ivy League is chockfull of mediocre kids of very smart people, who never go on to light up the sky with their supposed greatness by birth gifts. Actually, its often the reverse, its just that being among the elite brings with it the ability to cover up otherwise embarrassing factoids about yourself or those close to you. The HBDers never address this, nor do they address the fact the country has millions of Dumb White People – what are we to do wtih them? The current discussion stays mired in racial politics, partly for the reasons Chuck laidout, that there is such a thing as Leftist racial interests, but als because its an intense area of focus for the HBDers among themselves and in their own right. Even their “bible” the Bell Curve, which I’ve discussed at length at my blog, is viewed in a racial lens, when it truth a miniscule portion of the book was devoted to the topic and the authors were discussing the social implications of IQ bifurcation along class lines, primarly among WHITES. but neither side of the debate, seems to care about this little known fact about TBC. And the beat goes on.
3. Wrt the public school debate, how can we honestly say, with a straight face, that what John Ogbu discovered in his research, that the kids of prosperous and solidly middle and upper middle class Blacks consistently scored lower on tests than markedly poorer Whites and Asians, is booty? And, how can we simply turn a blind eye to the fact that school districts like Newark NJ and Washington DC are paying small fortunes to “educate” Black kids, with so little to show for it? Is it racist to merely point this out? Must we engage in diversionary debates about the Iraq War to honestly question if the monies being spent on such supposedly educational efforts are worth it? And, what of the potential evidence that what the HBDers are saying is true, that most Blacks simply aren’t as smart as most Whites or Asians – does that mean that they still shouldn’t be taught to read and write? See, I think emotionalism and deepseated partisan/ideological bias gets in the way of cleareyed questioning of the issues here. And there are, real issues, to confront.
4. Speaking of the Bell Curve, one of its “solutions” was to restrict the ability of single moms to breed on the dole. The book came out circa 1994, and in 1996, then President Bill Clinton, with the aid of a GOP led Congress, passed Welfare Reform, which made TBC’s suggestions along these lines a moot, at best, point. However, among the HBDers, this remains a hot topic – hence constant recourse to “eugenics” selective breeding that is state sponsored and/or enforced. The HBDers say that the problem is that the dumb are outbreeding the smart, and that one way to address this is to find ways to curtail the former’s ability to breed.
But aside from the facts I’ve noted above, what the HBDers never address is the fact that the Smart White People are dwindling in numbers, and they haven’t figured out how to deal with this. Some of them make passing allusions to things like “affordable family formation”, but the real deal is the fact that they haven’t figured out how to convince Smart White Women, to forego the elite university experience, the high prestige career experience, the Sex And The City experience, and be cool with popping out no less than three kids, starting around age 21 or so, with Jeremy the STEM Guy. Because even if they could get the dumb “NAMs” (Non-Asian Minority; a euphemism for Black and Brown/Hispanic people) to breed considerably less than they do, it still wouldn’t address what I’m talking about here. Simply put, there are enough Smart White People to go around. But the HBDers, for whatever reason, simply haven’t addressed this. And, put all that together with the documented fact that no state has ever been successful in getting its so-called better sections, however one may define them, into breeding MORE. They’ve been successful in getting them to breed LESS, but not MORE. No society has been able to pull this off. Not. A. Single. One. History isn’t on the HBDers side here. How do they explain this, and what is it about their plan, assuming they have one or two, that’s markedly different?
5. And I’ve addressed this A LOT on my blog – what are the downsides of being born on the right end of the bell curve? The book, the Bell Curve itself, seems only to address the left end of the curve, but they say nothing about the right end, and the reason is that it is assumed and taken almost as gospel that there IS no downside. And that I find to be fascinating in its hubris. Nature says otherwise.
For example, we know that having too high an IQ is correlated with reduced ability to socialize and empathize with others; it also goes hand in hand with reduced fertility/virilty. Hands up out there, all the ladies reading this who would like to spend their lives with John Nash or Sir Issac Newton? Brilliant Men they may have been, but by all accounts, they were really, really difficult to live with. Then, consider James Watson – his kid is schizoid. See my “regression” comments above. And those are just a few of the downsides that we know of – as any social scientist knows well, we tend to spend an inordinate mount of time and money, poking and prodding the poor and presumably dumb, but very little time doing the same to those who are deemed smart and rich.
6. Michael Levin, in his book on HBD, suggests toward the end, a stepping up of racial profiling on the part of the police, since in his view, it is proven that Blacks, particularly Black Men, have a higher propensity towards violence and violent crime than anyone else in society. Of course this brings up questions of violations of civil liberties. How do the HBDers square these seemingly two irreconcilable notions? Whether we like it or not, its one thing for a cabbie in Big City America to pass on picking up Black Men regardless of age or attire or even time of day for fear of even a sizable minority of them being known for sticking up and even murdering cabbies; its another to have such a view as a matter of public policy and enforced by the police. HBDers don’t explicitly state whether they’re in favor of such measures outside of Levin, nor have they expressed their views with how they can justify it under current American law and customs.
These are just a few of the many questions I have for the HBDers, that always seem to get lost in the shuffle, due to hyperbole and emotionalism on both sides of the aisle, along with arid and boring to tears esoteric discussions over arguing whether this or that is science or not, or whether this or that source is authentic enough, and so forth. We never really drill down to the nuts and bolts, rubber hits the road hard questions that need to be asked of the HBDers, and I think they kind of like that, because they never have to actually put their ideas out there on the line to be scrutinized; they can always claim ideological martyr status for being shouted down as being iconoclasts in the public square, by left leaning blank slatists who are little more than intellectual frauds. I say, let’s have the debate on HBD, on what it would actually mean in public policy terms. Let’s see how the HBDers intend to address the problems of our time, and indeed things they see as problems. So long as we continue to quibble over how many angles can dance on the head of a pin, we’ll never get to those very important questions.
Hopefully, this comment(s) by me will get the conversation – a truly meaningful one in my view – moving in the right direction.
on Thu Nov 18th 2010 at 13:52:07 D
And I was about to write something about your right to your opinion and why people should not try and stifle opinions different to theirs.
You can freely hold your opinions about white people being superior to brown/black people. We all have given our reasons for disagreeing with you, and I particularly liked Olufemi’s post and KM’s link about self-educated black inventors. But no, you want the govt to stop spending in education for blacks. I don’t know whether Abagond will allow this comment to appear, but you’re incredibly racist and bigotted. Have you even noticed the flaws with your argument? Even if for the sake of the argument I assume that blacks are less intelligent than whites, you yourself have admitted that there are black people who fit your definition of ‘intelligent’. So in your dream society, those blacks too will not get equal opportunities while dumb and mediocre white people will enjoy their right to education just because they’re white. That’s fair to you?
And did it happen to cross your mind that by the same logic(?) of yours, the US of A should stop wasting money after educational achievement for whites because Asians prove to be better achievers?
on Thu Nov 18th 2010 at 15:29:49 Kwamla
@Sagat, Chuck etc….
This should be of interest to all HBDers and, of course, others following this debate.
I came across this article in the Washington Post from 2005
Scientists Find A DNA Change That Accounts For White Skin
By Rick Weiss
Scientists said yesterday that they have discovered a tiny genetic mutation that largely explains the first appearance of white skin in humans tens of thousands of years ago, a finding that helps solve one of biology’s most enduring mysteries and illuminates one of humanity’s greatest sources of strife.
The article goes on to say…
…Recent revelations that all people are more than 99.9 percent genetically identical has proved that race has almost no biological validity. Yet geneticists’ claims that race is a phony construct have not rung true to many nonscientists — and understandably so, said Vivian Ota Wang of the National Human Genome Research Institute in Bethesda.
“You may tell people that race isn’t real and doesn’t matter, but they can’t catch a cab,” Ota Wang said. “So unless we take that into account it makes us sound crazy.”
Maybe, perhaps its time as Obsidian suggests:
“… let’s have the debate on HBD, on what it would actually mean in public policy terms. Let’s see how the HBDers intend to address the problems of our time, and indeed things they see as problems…”
I tend to agree.
Why not give up the biological deterministic argument about Race and Intelligence. The scientific evidence is not in your favor. The Political one could be if you can make a strong . And at least it would be a more HONEST approach.
Who cares if you get labeled a “big meanie” from time to time!!!
From the few posts of yours that I’ve read in this thread, I’ve gathered that you’re fairly intelligent, but I also have seen that the issue of human differences is something you have little interest in, which is understandable since, as Obsidian noted, it is an esoteric school of thought. I was going to respond to the article that you posted, but honestly, I think it would just lead to butting heads. If you don’t accept the things that I say, then that’s the way that it is. There’s no reason to argue about it.
I just want you to know that this is a subject that I’ve studied for many years and I spend a lot of time reading and digesting different genetic, forensic and anthropology papers. I also read opposing views to try to get a fuller perspective. I only write what I feel is the truth and my point of views aren’t based on some flimsy understanding of science as many seem to suggest. I realize that I take a minority position; I can accept that.
And where are the calls for spending on white students to come up to par with Asian students? As far as I know, money isn’t demarcated in that way although one constantly hears about efforts to throw good money after black education.
@chuckie: oh man, you really need to get out more often! Celtic irish?? Are you really that dumb?? You do know that there is no race called Celts? If you don’t know that then, boy, you gotta didimau to the history class.
There was cultural sphere which was named celtic much later on. So-called celts did not see themselves as one race nor one people. The whole “race” of “Celts” was invented centuries later. You are truly funny guy, man! 😀
sam:
i’ve debated on the internet long enough to know that if someone nit picks one tiny point of a long comment that means they realize they are defeated. there are ethnic differences between groups in ireland. there are celts, eastern baltics, nordic alpines, dinarics, etc. they have differentiating features and abilities.
Hey sam, is their a specific gene for nonsensian?
If so, I must have inherited it from my ancestors going back tens of thousands of years!
I’m bogged down with a work emergency at the moment, but I’ll be back ASAP.
@ chuck: right, I hear ya 😀
@ herneith: I have no idea. I have a low IQ so I don’t understand so complicated issues 😀
on Fri Nov 19th 2010 at 00:10:44 Boddler
There’s a hilarious sort of ironic recursiveness in watching obviously very intelligent people debate the existence of the measurability of intelligence with obviously very much less intelligent people.
on Fri Nov 19th 2010 at 05:36:27 Mabel
Intellectual superiority from the north is a myth. Take a look at modern medicine, it is still unable to create one medication that has no side effect. Take this pill, but be cautious you may go blind, or paralyzed, this is our current state of medicine. Doctors cannot cure any illness, they can only treat symptoms. The vehicles we drive, pollute the earth. The chlorine in our water is a carcinogen. The food we eat is laden with chemicals. My favourite invention from the north, lets get the roadkill, and left over meat from the kill floor, grind it up and feed it to herbivorous animals, then let us slaughter those animals and feed it back to humans…yep our modern day agri-scientists approved this.
We are being led to believe that more technology is a reflection of our growing intelligence. But be careful, using that cellphone too much may cause brain cancer and don’t put the laptop on your lap, it may kill your sperm..then why the heck is it called a laptop? The state of intelligence if there is any left in the north is glaringly dismal. Yet, the very ppl who are deemed less intelligent seem to be the smart ones among us.
on Fri Nov 19th 2010 at 05:42:51 Chuck
Mabel:
yet people from these modern societies live much longer and healthier lives than most others.
western technology developed vaccinations against many diseases that killed millions of people. yes, many modern drugs have bad side effects. but you only look at the negatives. how about penicillin? the vaccine against polio? treatments for malaria and HIV?
on Fri Nov 19th 2010 at 12:10:20 Kwamla
I suppose what surprises me most is, for someone of your supposed intellect, education and scholarship, you would be content to fixate on one aspect of human difference in isolation to everything else?
Its not that I am not interested or have difficulty in acknowledging such differences between peoples. On the contrary I am all for celebrating our unique human diversity in all its vast manifestations. – Something your own Blog site claims to do..!!!
http://celebratediversity.wordpress.com/
So at least I can see your “hearts” in the right place. The problem you experience, in my view, stems from your ingrained beliefs. But, of course, as posts from people like Chuck and others show: you are not alone…!!!
By all means comment on or challenge that Washington Post article (thats why I put it up in the first place!)
Its meant to challenge or initiate questioning of those ingrained beliefs. Just as this very subject and Blog (Abagands) we’re taking part in.
Let me attempt to offer you a analogy of how I see our respective positions:
We live on a planet we call Earth or Terra (dependent on who you listen to). On this many, many human challenges have taken place; wars, famine, glorious achievements, civilizations ancient and new, cultures, explorations etc.. etc…etc add to the list…
But we are also part of a solar system which has formed around our Sun – often referred to as “Sol”
And it doesn’t stop there… We are also part of a Galaxy we call the “Milky Way” and that in turn is part of a wider star system or constellation…and it goes on and on..incorporating vast Universes…
Now I am not telling you anything you don’t already know here. Thats not my point. My point is one of “context and perspective”
Your pre-occupation with what you truly believe are meaningful differences can be contrasted with the challenges we, as humans, have faced and continue to face on this planet.
Not saying they’re not important? Of course they are!!! And time and effort needs to be devoted to dealing and tackling them. But lets also remember and try to keep things in perspective here.
The Solar system, Star Constellation, Universe represents that 99.9% identifiability of “sameness” amongst human beings. This presents a far bigger and greater perspective to take into account.
I am I saying they’re more important? Well in the context of the bigger picture. Of course they are!!! And time and effort needs to be devoted to recognizing, accepting and acknowledging this.
But lets remember this is not an “either” “Or” argument.
The “Big” or the “little” picture. Its an argument for both because they are both equally important and valid perspectives to have. Again it about applying the right context and perspective here.
Problems can and do arise when you focus exclusively and loose sight of one perspective over the other. Those ingrained beliefs I keep referring to can reek havoc when left unchecked.!!!
So Sagat this is presented to you not to convince you of the fallacy of your ways but simply to offer an alternative point of view and understanding of how we see the same world we believe we perceive.
As an added illustration look at the world view in this post contrasted with the world view in the other. Tell me which for you has the bigger world picture?
on Fri Nov 19th 2010 at 12:34:58 Obsidian
See what I mean? When times comes to pose pointed questions about HBD in public policy terms, they either ignore it or clam up.
Works every time. 😉
on Fri Nov 19th 2010 at 17:18:03 Bob
Don’t try to figure it out. It is what it is. White people are smarter than black people. Good day.
the thing that works every time is the lack of brevity of your comments. plus, you and i have been down this road before. we don’t have to bring our show to Abagond. when’s your blog coming back? what’s the hold up?
on Fri Nov 19th 2010 at 18:57:55 Jamila
Y said:
Disease burden does play a part in the IQ of nations. Nations with high disease burdens tend to have lower IQ’s those with fewer infectious diseases. One of the reasons that the Africans were enslaved in the America’s and other places was that the higher disease burden in Africa made them immune–or atleast more adept at dealing with–European diseases than the native Americans. Physically, Africans were “hardier” than the Europeans who conquered them. I once read a quote that the life expectancy for a European who went to Africa was less than a year (this was before colonialism).
You can read more about disease burden and its effect on IQ here. http://isteve.blogspot.com/search?q=disease+burden
on Mon Nov 29th 2010 at 00:12:48 Cato
No more comments? Common – the debate is far from over. No one has succeeded in convincing anyone else of their views. It was reading fun though – well most of it.
Chuck…where do I start? You seem to think that Africa is one tiny location. Well, it’s not. According to the current evolutionary theory, the Out of Africa migration has been surmised to be from East Africa, very close to the horn. So people…well the early homo sapiens migrated to Asia, Europe and guess what? Other parts of Africa. *gasp!* Are you following me so far. You know – West Africa, Southen Africa…and the last time I check savannah and near desert conditions are very different environments from dense tropical jungles. Woah! They must have needed a major change in hunting techniques. So that essentially throws your migration theory out the window because, again just so you u-n-d-e-r-s-t-a-n-d there was migration within Africa in the early days to places with very different environments.
Moving on – Sagat. Unlike Chuck, you didn’t merely regurgitate your theories. Chuck did even after people pointed out incongruencies like…Why did the more recently evolved, newly migrating Homo Sapiens outbreed the European inhabiting nearnderthals if by virtue of the cold climate, the nearnderthals would have been smarter. You still haven’t answered that Chuck.
Okay, back to Sagat: Your query on the differences among the races and the example of a randomly drawn sample…. No one responded satisfactorily to that, as yet, so I will. And yes, I believe that there are differences among humans, but you see, those differences are among an INDIVIDUAL vein. Because one family, one nuclear family can have a son who’s a cop and another who’s a crook. One family, one nuclear family can have a son whose extremely smart and another who’s a high school dropout. So, let’s take a large family sample, then; men only for illustrative purposes – brothers, nephews, uncles, fathers, and split them into two groups, then compare the two:
You might get a mean height that is statistically different (Uncle Zuok in group B might have been really really tall), a mean weight that is statistically different (Father Wot in group A might have been really really heavy), and a mean difference in IQ (Son XYZ might have been autistic). Do the same experiment, but regroup the large family as one and compare them with a randomly selected but similarly sized family from West Africa (Family B who you’ve also performed the same experiment on). By the way, Family A was Finish. And let’s say that you once again get statistically different means. What would be your conclusion? Here is how it might look:
1) Family A has a higher average height than Family B, but Group A from Family B has a higher average height than Group B from Family A etc etc etc.
A discussion you had with someone earlier has already alluded to this….diversity and shifting lines. Let’s use simple skin color. You can say that Africans are the darkest group of humans. YET you can find darker groups in India than in some parts of Africa. You can say Europeans are the lightest groups of humans. Yet thera are people in parts of Asia that are lighter than Spaniards and Italians. THAT is the danger of generalizing. it’s the same with IQ assuming the tests are given properly without bias. As someone pointed out – putting a nation at an IQ of 70 is ludicrous from a rational point of view since that borders mental retardation – such a nation should not have a single university of higher education. Can you name ONE nation that lacks a university? And Nigeria has a mean IQ of 67? Well, I must be a genius then! Oh wait, no…high school results showed that while I’m really smart, I’m no genius. So to hell with those results. My experience tells me otherwise, and I have lived in a LOT of places.
Overall, to discuss your difference hypothesis, you will need to group people not as races but as different ethnicities. And since one country like Nigeria has over 250 ethnic groups…well, good luck with that. And if you’d like to think that those in West Africa, for example, are more homogeneous and can be grouped as one, think again. Even within Nigeria, if you know what to look for you can discern slight differences in physical appearance and correctly guess what ethnic group certain people identify with (who knows how different their IQs might be. After all apparently minor differences in physical appearance might mean huge differences in intelligence. Who knows? You haven’t done the study yet). And that’s just one country. So good luck with that!
on Mon Nov 29th 2010 at 01:03:30 Mei Ly
@Cato
O_O!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ah, there it is:
http://www.iqleague.com/
One of many websites that have people take their online IQ test and then ranks results by name and country. And take a look at the random distribution of said countries – no Asian countries in the top 10 though – the language barrier maybe? Wow – how different from the test results in that stupid book who stupid people eat up (Hey have the right to call people stupid! I’m smart, remember!)
So if we assume that the people who take this test are in the middle class – hey they can afford to spend valuable time taking an IQ test online – and are therefore likely to be educated. That the fact that they are taking a random IQ test shows that they’re engaged….interesting results start to emerge….after all, the website isn’t trying to prove a point, is it? It’s just having people take tests and ranking them statistically.
on Mon Sep 5th 2011 at 07:18:07 sexmachine
History and everything else disprove the cold winter opinion
on Wed Jan 15th 2014 at 21:20:34 Mr. Green Mario Brother Guy
Actually, your brain works more efficiently in cold weather than hot weather. However, having ancestors that lived in cold regions would not make you smarter.
Efficiently?
But doesn’t the body’s thermo-regulation override outside temperatures under normal conditions?
Mr Green, I questioned your “efficiency” description, because in the very cold weather in cities, it’s not unusual to hear a news story now and again about the poorest of old people who cannot afford adequate, dying from hypothermia.
When it’s very cold brain function can be affected in negative ways,
Apparently, old people in those situations (or anyone in those conditions) become mentally confused and slur their words. When they fall asleep, they die.
*adequate heating
on Thu Jan 16th 2014 at 00:12:34 Mr. Green Mario Brother Guy
Basically, thermoregulation uses more energy during warm weather than cold weather.
on Sun Jan 26th 2014 at 07:52:55 DWornock
Perhaps it is not the snow but adapting to the 25 different environment changes. Going up a mountain in Africa only takes a few generations and so there is only one environment change. Therefore, very little change in I.Q.
However, going north out of Africa averaging 10 miles per generation means moving 200 miles north and a new and different environment with different plants, terrain, animals, and weather every twenty generations. Twenty generations is sufficient for a small genetic change including perhaps a tiny change in I.Q. After 10,000 years people have adapted to 25 different environment with perhaps up to a half point I.Q. increase on average with each change of environment.
@ DWornock
What’s to say that environmental changes were not occurring in Africa itself at the time? http://nabataea.net/sahara.html
Perhaps the Africans were adapting to adapting to “25 environmental changes” of their own, without even having to climb a mountain.
But again, even modern Africa is not just one huge continent-wide climate
Europe is not more varied climatically.
So sorry, but this is just desperately grasping at straws of supposed superiority.
That is an interesting idea. It generally matches Richard Lynn’s numbers for Africa, Europe and Asia but breaks down elsewhere.
The following numbers are rough, but give you the idea:
Lynn’s IQs for native (pre-Columbian) populations:
105 China, Japan
85-90 Middle East, India, SE Asia, Americas
70 Black Africa
60 Australia, Botswana
Which pretty much fit white racist ideas of the past 30 years. Probably too well..
Your model would predict the following (setting northern Europe at 100 and tropical Africa at 70), big differences from Lynn in bold:
140 Americas
100 Europe, Australia
85-90 Middle East, India, SE Asia
60 Bostwana – assuming it is the Ground Zero of human expansion.
Native Americans had to go through more climate zones than anyone else, way more than whites. Not just because they travelled farthest, but also because the Americas run north to south and so have more changes in climate.
To break it down further:
150 Incas, Tierra del Fuego
140 Aztecs, Mayans, Caribbean, Amazon
130 Apaches, Navajos
120 Sioux, Cherokee, Iroquois
110 Mongols, China, Japan, Tasmanians, Siberians, Laplanders, Inuit, Maori, Polynesia
100 northern Europe, Australia
90 Mediterranean, SE Asia
80 Middle East, North Africa
70 tropical Africa
Interesting post, I don’t agree with it but it’s interesting non the less.
I didn’t wish to imply that distance traveled or number of environment changes vs. IQ change is a constant. Nevertheless, you point about the Americas does in my mind invalidate it. Nevertheless, it may have some effect just as cold weather (snow) may have a greater contribution factor on I.Q. changes, than warm weather.
I do believe that when groups are separated, they continue to evolve and over time have greater differences. I also believe that each group, separated from the others, will evolve to better adapt to their specific environments. Random mutations will account for some change in I.Q., just as they account for other changes such as length of nose and body shape.
Therefore, I.Q. difference may mostly be random. And/or in certain environments, in order to adapt, selection for greater I.Q. may be of greater necessity than other environments. However, those broad generalities don’t identify the specific reasons which I should probably leave to other that are far more intelligent than I.
Thank you Kiwi – you saved me the trouble.
dwornock if you had ANY idea of how slow evolution really works (not adaptation mind you!) then you would realize that there has been nowhere near the requisite time needed for ANY significant evolutionary changes to occur between homo sapiens populations.
@George Ryder: I agree with that.
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« US Election Day 2016
Americans »
Wed Nov 9th 2016 by abagond
The Trump Era (2015-2025?) was a bad dream until last night. Now that Donald Trump, a conman and reality TV star, has won the 2016 election for US president, the nightmare of “Make America Great Again” has only begun.
Back in the warm, sunny days of August I said on the alt-right thread:
“If Trump, or someone like him, becomes president, their [alt-right] ideas will become more respectable and widespread. But I think the US has already demographically passed that bend in the river where a White nationalist sort could become president.”
Well, clearly, we have not passed that bend in the river. We are there. Now.
Opinion polls last summer showed that Trump’s racism was turning off more White voters than it gained. As it turns out, many of those Whites were only pretending to be turned off. The election showed their true colours.
The Anti-Obama: If you see President Trump as a White backlash against having a Black president, then this is payback, the price Blacks will pay for a largely symbolic Black presidency. What little good President Obama has done will be wiped away.
“What the hell do you have to lose?” Trump asked Blacks during the campaign. Quite a bit. At the very least, racial profiling, police brutality and especially voter suppression will almost certainly increase for people of colour. Most likely bullying and hate crimes will too.
And it could get worse: When Reagan became president I never imagined the Crack Era. Add to that Trump’s lack of government or military experience, a first among US presidents.
Silver linings: Trying to look on the bright side of this:
Tons of racists have just outed themselves. More will continue to do so. Keep notes.
Hopefully Trump’s victory will:
Prove that elections are are not rigged and that voting matters.
Wake up people to how much racism there still is in US society.
Provide clear-cut enemies to bring together Black people, if not people of colour and anti-racists.
End the Clinton infestation of the Democratic Party.
Strengthen the Sanders-Warren wing of the Democratic Party, bringing it back to being a party that cares more about ordinary people than big banks (the Obama-Clinton wing).
2042: If most White people had any sense they would use this period, before they become a minority in 2042, to strengthen minority rights for everyone. But most White people clearly lack sense: they voted for Trump.
The constitution: I will be happy if Trump just sticks to the constitution and does not become a fascist. That will limit the damage he can do to the US: in two years he could lose control of Congress, as Obama did in 2010 (Vote in 2018!!!). And in four years, eight at most, he will be out.
The handmaidens of racism: Long-term, the most unsettling thing about Trump’s win is the 29% of Latinos and Asians who voted for him. If that number grows, White racist policymaking will continue long after non-Hispanic Whites have become a minority.
Update (November 20th): Another silver lining of the Trump Era is that maybe the White Liberal press will stop turning a blind eye to stuff like drones, mass deportations and weakening human rights.
Sources: Images from the Washington Times, CNN.
White America: a brief history
Trump’s Black outreach
The incomplete list of presumed racists
The Trump Effect on children
“Hitler was democratically elected”
The Black president argument
Voting Rights Act of 1965
My view of the racial future of the US
White Hispanics
on Thu Nov 10th 2016 at 05:19:37 Mary Burrell
The orange orangutan in the toupee is not my president.
9/11&11/9 two days of terror and disaster i see there are anti-Trump protest in several cities don’t know what that’s going to accomplish.
on Thu Nov 10th 2016 at 05:38:29 tankermottind
You were right in predicting the Fourth Enlargement of American Whiteness. Now you are seeing the ugly side. A good number of Latin@ people look white, act white, think white, and are increasingly seen as white by other whites. This also means they vote white, even against mestizo, indigenous, and black Latin@s who are considered their natural allies conventional racial thinking. Many of these people voted for Donald Trump. “Non-Hispanic whites” will increasingly become an irrelevant category, it will just be “whites” again, and the end of white majority will have been postponed another few decades. It’s insidious. They’ll probably do it again at some point, though at this point they’re running out of new ethnic groups to invite into the White Club.
on Thu Nov 10th 2016 at 05:58:36 Benjamin
Trump’s win doesn’t surprise me. Nationalism of varying stripes seems to be on the rise throughout the world.
11/9 /16 Feels like a funeral for America 😭😭😭😭😓
on Thu Nov 10th 2016 at 06:06:47 Dota
If Trump is able to make good on even a few of his promises, Americans as a whole will prosper. Bringing back manufacturing while cutting off immigration will only ensure more work for Americans. 1 manufacturing job supports 3 service sector jobs. Scaling back America’s imperial adventures abroad will also provide the US middle class with a huge tax relief. These are all great policies. Ordinarily, most Americans should cheer, but as we can see from the reactions here, muh feelz > economic prosperity (and common sense).
As more Americans begin to make more money and enjoy a rising standard of living, the cacophony of liberal identity politics and grievance mongering will gradually fade away. As Americans can more easily afford to pay their bills and mortgages, few will care about pampered white women whining about manspreading, or trans-freaks whining about not being pampered for their degeneracy.
History has been made. The Alt right will take you to the promised land of economic prosperity even as you whine, kick, and scream all the way.
Cheers from Canada 🙂
(PS please don’t move here, we’ve got our fair share of whiners and degenerates)
on Thu Nov 10th 2016 at 06:14:58 dorisjean23
I went out and bought 4 years of popcorn so I can sit back and watch this movie.
on Thu Nov 10th 2016 at 06:17:46 abagond
@dorisjean23
It must be nice to be that detached from it.
There are protest in several cities now if Trump had lost the election half the country would be set on fire and there would be a bloodbath.
@Abagond: I would like to recommend Eddie S. Glaube Jr.’s book Democracy In Black How Race Still Enslaves The American Soul. It reminds me of your blog and some of the many discussions we have in regard to race and class etc.,. You should check it out.
on Thu Nov 10th 2016 at 07:00:16 Legion
Tons of racists have not necessarily “outed” themselves. You are making an oversimplification based on your dominant view about the type of society you think you live in. I made some comments in the preceding thread about the error of oversimplifying the electoral result that has borne fruit.
When people are marginalized, alienated, disappointed (in the Obama presidency and the continuing aftermath of the 2008 crash ,as examples of possible disappointments) and scared: they can do and will do things that are unpleasant or extreme. Why do they do this? Survival instinct is one good motivator and causal factor. When you’re trying to survive, are you really going to watch your p’s and q’s about whether you’re becoming racist, appearing racist, appearing sexist, being sexist, etc? Combine trying to survive with having low education levels. You think someone who is underemployed and has low education is also going to magically not be susceptible to racist politicians who promise better days for them personally. Much of Trumps support are lower class, poorly educated people. Depending on context it can be ridiculous, useless and ineffective to label them as racist.
I have been reading and viewing a mix of political and economic commentary to do with the elections. I have also been recalling policies from the past. The election result you guys got CAN NOT be tidily reduced to just “evil racists” who were simply motivated by racism, anymore than those who purport to be feminists want to say HRC lost because the presidency was a “glass ceiling” that “kept her down”. The truth is that people just don’t like her, it has nothing to do with glass ceilings; Senator Warren (or even Michelle Obama) may prove me right on this point, in four years time. And similarly voting for Trump does not necessarily prove racism, it could just demonstrate years of political alienation, economic hardships (dating back to Bill Clinton) and the effects of undereducation and plain old stupidity (which can result from being undereducated and thus lacking the intellectual tools to make sense of a sometimes threatening and always complicated world).
Dota,
manufacturing jobs are never, never, NEVER, coming back to the U.S. Since the 90’s the corporations strove to be transnational entities, in order to hire labour at it’s cheapest rate. They are not going to change this practice now, why would they? Further, if if the jobs were to come back, corporations are determined to automate or robotize any and every job that they can. A guided laser welding a car together will be utilized rather than a person. A self driving heavy rig in the fracking fields will be utilized rather than a person. (these things already happening)
Even if Trump were a champion of the proletariat, which he most certainly is not, the technological times are a changing. Unfortunately, many in Trump’s base don’t know this or do know it and are doing the ostrich thing for a bit.
on Thu Nov 10th 2016 at 07:18:57 angelaroselle
I am disgusted by the election results. I never expected that this racist, sexist and xenophobe would be president of the United States. Deep down, I believe he was elected by many White Americans to repeal any policy President Obama put into place.
on Thu Nov 10th 2016 at 07:24:42 femmebott
The Popular Vote, which is what “We The People” partake in, means nothing. If it did, Hillary Clinton would be President. It’s the Electoral that matters and she was hammered in that area. Vote locally. Choose your senators, representatives and congressmen wisely. Your Presidential vote does not matter. IMO.
on Thu Nov 10th 2016 at 07:49:06 Hark
Trump got fewer votes than Romney did four years ago and fewer still than McCain eight years ago.
Turns out it's not a Trump insurgency, but a Clinton collapse. A graph that cuts straight through today's punditry … pic.twitter.com/x41cyyy2XI
— Jonathan Webber (@jonathanwebber) November 9, 2016
The reason Trump won is because you did not vote for his opponent. Yes, you, the persons who couldn’t vote for Clinton because she was “just as bad” or whatever self-righteous reason you had. Trump is YOUR fault. Thanks. I don’t want to hear any complaining, ever, from anyone who failed to vote for Clinton.
2020 is already lost. Running against Trump will be a fool’s errand and the dems have nobody now. Gonna be a long 8 years.
Thanks again folks. Enjoy it, you earned it! Explain to your latino and Muslim friends and your daughters how you took such a courageous, noble stand against Clinton. How nice for you.
People don’t want to vote for a candidate they can’t stand! The DNC couldn’t stand to run Sanders so they chose to give the candidacy to a candidate whom they know is not liked. The DNC suppressed voter turnout by offering a rotten candidate that no one likes. Good going DNC! 🙂
on Thu Nov 10th 2016 at 08:40:57 biff
I know I haven’t been around much, but I wanted to stop by to thank you for the critical role you have played in helping to get DT elected. You tirelessly worked to stir up black grievances and contributed to racially motivated protests that shocked and scared the nation and resulted in thousands of blacks lives lost (through the Ferguson effect). It’s unfortunate that those lives were needlessly lost (and supremely ironic that people saying “black lives matter” both caused those deaths and steadfastly ignored them, choosing to focus on the vanishingly small possibility of being unarmed and not at fault and being shot by a cop instead), but maybe there is a silver lining in DT’s election.
Trump is going to be facing a lot of headwinds when he takes office, so we need you to keep agitating. The more BLM and other black racist groups can destroy, the more DT will have a mandate to bring back law and order and the more the people will be united against a group that clearly hurts the country, and most tangibly the thousands of lives lost due to the Ferguson effect. So keep up the good work here and thanks again for your efforts!
on Thu Nov 10th 2016 at 09:28:59 Slytherin Admin
At least Trump isn’t brainwashed like all the other puppets that have came into office (except for JFK).
And at least he isn’t a satanist, unlike Hillary, Bush and Obama.
#FuckTheEstablishment
#FuckTheIlluminati
By the way, I’m a Muslim.
You sound like one of them.
As more Americans begin to make more money and enjoy a rising standard of living, the cacophony of liberal identity politics and grievance mongering will gradually fade away.
You read like someone who clings to an identity, white supremacy.
Bringing back manufacturing while cutting off immigration will only ensure more work for Americans.
Who’s going to take the jobs no one else wants? Here in Ontario for example, they ‘import’ seasonal workers for harvesting since they cannot get ‘Canadian. born to do it. I know the pay is low and the work physically demanding but work is work. Even College and University students won’t take summer jobs doing this. Why is this? It is the same in the States except the people opt to stay.
Cheers from Canada, STFU.
So keep up the good work here and thanks again for your efforts!
No biff, thank you for the unrelenting jocularity and hilarity you bring to this space! Were you on vacation?
on Thu Nov 10th 2016 at 13:38:08 v8driver
omg every time i mention i have my own business ppl ask iif i’m hiring, the irony there is that typically construction and hospitality workers are ‘undocumented workers,’ trump’s empire dodged that bullet!
simply lower taxes won’t ‘create jobs’. he has to work with what dubya left us with; ‘classification’ of sandwich making as ‘(final) assembly’ ie manufacturing
on Thu Nov 10th 2016 at 13:50:32 gro jo
Once again, everything is reduced to race? Everybody running was white, when did Hillary become an honorary black woman? Why should anyone be surprised that 29% of Latinos and Asians voted for DT? The real mystery is that so few of them did, Kiwi must have intuited where the wind was about to blow, so he bailed out on you. Even if they had voted like Blacks, would that have been sufficient to turn back the DT tide?
The stupid habit of claiming that Whites are “privileged” and should just part with said privileges isn’t a terribly useful way to look at things.
Can you make a serious argument for the social benefits, for all, of the Obama era?
Even racist old LBJ did more for the common man than the self confessed Reagan admirer.
As for Clinton, you may have wished to overlook her Janus nature of promising one thing in public while promising to the elites that they would come first, in private, Whites, who aren’t afraid to demand and expect to get what they ask for, felt no obligation to hold their noses and vote for someone they didn’t like or trust.
They consider themselves free and act like it. Blacks could learn from such attitude.
HRC won more votes than DT, maybe you should examine the Electoral College system instead of finding racial scapegoats.
DT did have at least a few positives, such as his refusal to continue the wars of the Bush I, Clinton, Bush II, Obama presidencies and a lack of enthusiasm for war with Russia. Maybe it might be more useful to demand he fulfills his pledge to get along with Russia and avoid nuclear conflict.
on Thu Nov 10th 2016 at 13:52:03 Open Minded Observer
I know the recommendation was addressed to Abagond, but your book recommendations have always been great, so I bought it too and just wanted to thank you.
on Thu Nov 10th 2016 at 14:27:40 michaeljonbarker
I think there is a racial component behind a lot of Trump’s support but I also think that there is more going on.
As we we know the wealth gap has increased between the middle.class and.the wealthy and NAFTA is part of the reason for this. The last 20 years has left many Americans behind and whites,.who once had these nice jobs, see Trump as some who they believe can change that.
The DNC didn’t see this in the “rust belt”. Bernie voters there voted for Trump because of trade.
The other aspect of Trump is the anti establishment vote that both the D’s and the R’s were blind too. The Clinton campain preferred to run against Trump (Wikileaks emails) because they thought he would be the easiest opponent to defeat.
The Republicans thought the same way as well and worried that the party would rack up losses down ballot in a Hillary Clinton landslide.
MSNBC gleefully spoke about how the Democrats were going to take back the House and Senate in this imaginary Trump implosion.
The polls were off as soon as they went from tracking registered voters to those who they imagined “likely voters” to be. Polling companies underrepresented rural voters by as much as 12%. and some people polled misled pollsters because they didn’t want to tell pollsters they were supporting Trump.
In Florida we had the DNC and the “Hispanic surge” stratagy not realizing that the voters they were getting to the polls were actually voting for Trump.
Trump got more Hispanic voters the Romney did.
Leftist pied pipers usually lead their suckers down a dead end street and then blame their opponents for placing a wall there. If professional victims actually cared about black people they would rejoice that Trump will stop immigration which would help African Americans who won’t have to compete with illegals for jobs. Higher black employment leads to fewer blacks engaging in their usual shenanigans which would lead to fewer ‘gentle giants’ getting shot. Higher employment for African Americans ought to be celebrated, but not here; for in on this website muh feelz > common sense and sound economic policies.
on Thu Nov 10th 2016 at 15:14:05 Solitaire
@ Dota
If it’s so great, why don’t you move down here? I’m sure you’d easily find someone willing to trade places with you. Give up that free Canadian healthcare and be a real man in America, where you have to stand on your own two feet unlike you cosseted Canadians in your socialist welfare state. Experience for yourself what it’s like to be a brown South Asian Muslim immigrant in Trump’s USA.
Moving to the US is pretty hard (nothing wrong with that) so I doubt that it’s going to happen anytime soon. Immigrating to Canada is much easier since liberal immigration policy is retarded. I’m lucky to be a Canadian but even I wouldn’t want South Asians to be a majority here (look at how India and Pakistan turned out). I enjoy a cushy first world lifestyle thanks to whites and so I’d rather whites continue running things so that I can continue enjoying my cushy lifestyle. Why ruin a good thing?
You couldn’t make it down here. Too used to your cushy easy lifestyle which you just admitted you only enjoy because of the liberal policies of Canada. Yet you despise the liberals who made it possible for you to immigrate to Canada in the first place.
You don’t have what it takes to be an American, much less a successful POC in America. You’d be eaten alive. Keep sucking on the liberal government teat in your socialist paradise.
on Thu Nov 10th 2016 at 15:48:11 sharinalr
Slytherin Admin
If you were Muslim then you would not need to sign off that you were.
@Dota
American won’t get rid of immigrants because they need them. Not to mention if they did then the economy won’t magically increase jobs for blacks.
on Thu Nov 10th 2016 at 16:01:16 Anne
@Abagond, part of Trump’s platform is to ELIMINATE term limits for federal political offices. Uh, can you say dictator Trump?
on Thu Nov 10th 2016 at 16:07:50 Mack Lyons (@DDSSBlog)
So this whole idea of Trump’s impending presidency actually being a good thing for black Americans belies mainstream America’s capacity for screwing over blacks in any available way, shape or form.
If any manufacturing jobs are coming back to the US, for example, they’re going to Walmart polo-wearing white workers in the south and Rust Belt states. In the meantime, nothing will be done to address the ongoing poverty and inequality suffered by black Americans — at least not on the government’s end.
Issues such as police brutality will be status quo ante. In fact, I daresay whites who were paying lip service to Black Lives Matter will finally feel emboldened enough to do what they actually wanted — to openly support the police in its efforts in managing America’s long-standing “negro problem.”
So no, 4 to 8 years of Trump won’t be good for us. But then again, there was never a time when things were made “good” for us by any U.S. government. We still have plenty of lessons to learn and we’re still being hardheaded as hell about learning them.
Nice to see you’ve dragged your hindquarters from out of the wood pile. I figured we’d get an influx of people wanting to lord it over and gloat about Trump’s big win.
How did you feel about having Stephen Harper as your prime minister?
oh dear, I “liked” Biff’s comment by accident. stupid overly sensitive mouse pad! Hrummph!
on Thu Nov 10th 2016 at 16:53:23 Afrofem
So the “people from Peoria” (White Americans and their Asian and Latino flunkies) have spoken—–no screamed Trump!
I just hope they are still chanting “Make America Great Again” when they are crouched in tin shacks, chomping on rat burgers in 2024.
What a great combo: Privileged, Bigoted and Dumb as bags of hammers.
on Thu Nov 10th 2016 at 17:57:32 Linda
I’m sorry for your loss 🙂 you seem really hurt by this
but I know you are truly not shocked that the silent majority,“white America” spoke loud and clear by letting the country and the world know that they are still running sh’t.
Michael Moore said it and I believed him…those are his folks.
they’ve been trying to let you all know since Obama got elected in 2008, that they will not sit idly by and watch non-white people take over the USA — “their country”
the country their ancestor stole, lied, and killed for… are you truly shocked that Trump won?!
Come on now….he told white America it was time to “take their country back” …
that’s all white Americans, regardless of political party, needed to hear to vote Republican this year.
who do you think they were trying to “take the country back” from???
Black and brown American people were supposed to be happy with the crumbs that they were given but nope, they started getting loud & vocal and wanted more
As I said in my discussion on the last post, all of you black American “Obama-bashers” are Judas’s
because you drunk the kool-aide that white American media (and that includes the alt-right) was selling you about how “bad Obama is”
and you truly believed that the black American voters put Obama in office:
white America put Obama in office… white America didn’t like Hillary Clinton
and as the majority population, white Americans, just decided that it was back to business of having white Men run the USA again.
Did you come to gloat?
“I’m sorry for your loss “
That is a Trump talking point. Maybe you are too young to remember the 1980s. I will let Billy Joel give you a refresher course. His song “Allentown” came out in 1982:
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHnJp0oyOxs)
Detroit, Flint, etc, were not trashed by NAFTA. They were trashed by the Japanese.
Vincent Chin was lynched in 1982:
https://abagond.wordpress.com/2011/09/29/vincent-chin/
The term “Rust Belt” became common in 1984.
Meanwhile Reagan was giving the rich huge tax cuts and it has been trickle-up economics ever since for the bottom 80%.
Legion @ Dota,
manufacturing jobs are never, never, NEVER, coming back to the U.S.
Since the 90’s the corporations strove to be transnational entities, in order to hire labour at it’s cheapest rate. They are not going to change this practice now, why would they?
Further, if if the jobs were to come back, corporations are determined to automate or robotize any and every job that they can. A guided laser welding a car together will be utilized rather than a person. A self driving heavy rig in the fracking fields will be utilized rather than a person. (these things already happening)
Legion, I just wanted to high-lite what you wrote because truer words have never been spoken.
I watched with my own two eyes the dismantling of the Berlin Wall and communism in Europe. Corporate America didn’t let 1 day go past before they were already in former communist countries making deals and turning their attention to Russia and China, salivating and drooling to get in.
Most people seemed to forget that it was Corporate America that pushed for NAFTA in the 90s and they begun offshoring because they wanted to make bigger profits… the USA is a capitalist country.
The President cannot force corporations to bring back jobs, he can only make the environment pretty and lush enough to entice them
“cheap labor = more profits, buy low – sell high”
those are the first and most important commandments of any business that wants to be financially successful.
I’ll start to believe Trump can do what he says, when Walmart brings their huge manufacturing plants back to the USA or if Trump himself, moves his manufacturing back from China first.
Walmart already stated that they can try to bring some of the jobs back but it will have more automation than human beings.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-14/wal-mart-s-owls-have-returned-to-america-but-the-jobs-haven-t
So when Wal-Mart announced in 2013 it would spend an extra $250 billion over 10 years on domestically produced goods, it also estimated that the shift would create 250,000 manufacturing jobs.
The return so far is a fraction of that — a cautionary tale for Donald Trump, the presidential candidate who’s made even bigger and bolder pledges to bring factory employment back to the U.S.
“If you bring back a plant you aren’t going to bring back 100 or 200 people, you will want to automate it so it costs less,” said Gregory Daco, head of U.S. macroeconomics at Oxford Economics. “If you do that, there is really no direct benefit for potential employees.”
I am not YET buying the White Liberal media talking point that this was all about, *sniff*, White working-class men, that race had little to do with it.
It seems like apologetic weak sauce to me:
Trump LOST across the board among people of colour, regardless of age, race, education or gender.
Trump WON across the board among Whites, regardless of age, education or gender, – with one exception: college-educated White women, whom Clinton narrowly won (51%). Trump even won White Millennials!
Trump LOST among voters who make less than $50,000 a year, but won among those who made more. A Walmart cashier makes about $18,000 a year.
Source: CNN exit poll:
http://www.cnn.com/election/results/exit-polls
on Thu Nov 10th 2016 at 18:46:30 TheHipHopRecords (@TheHipHopRecord)
on Thu Nov 10th 2016 at 18:50:19 Zoe Jordan
If you are lucky he will make such a complete mess of things that In four years time those poor white folk who feel he is the man who at last is going to listen to them, get them jobs and decent education and health care will realise that the country is in chaos and he hasn’t made true on his promises. The only solution will be change… The way is now being set for good leadership in the future. I hope so.
The fact that so many people have issues with immigrants always surprises me. I don’t know about there but here is all the immigrants were to go on strike the country would literally come to a stand still. I wish they would do it so that all those fascists/racists would really see how the country runs. No public transport, no energy. no hospitals. No emergency care. No shops, no financial services, no education.
on Thu Nov 10th 2016 at 18:57:57 Ben Munday
“Whites, who aren’t afraid to demand and expect to get what they ask for, felt no obligation to hold their noses and vote for someone they didn’t like or trust.
They consider themselves free and act like it. Blacks could learn from such attitude.”-gro jo
Now that phrase would kick start a revolution. Oh, if black people would only learn. I can only hope.
@Open Minded Observer: You are welcome.😊
on Thu Nov 10th 2016 at 19:01:57 Origin
As with everything in America it was about race but I believe Trump’s win wasn’t entirely about race. Part of it was a rejection of the “establishment”, both political and media, that anointed Hillary Clinton as President. Appeal to identity didn’t quite work this time; only about half of white women voted for Hillary Clinton. White people obviously made Obama president, twice, and a lot of those same white people rejected Hillary. Electoral votes that he easily won in 2012, she lost. She’s not a popular figure. She lost the nomination to the newbie, Obama, in 2008 and she might have lost to Bernie in 2016 if everything was above-board. Quite frankly, the democrats miscalculated when they selected Clinton and even connived to make sure she was nominated. So we have President Trump.
http://www.teenvogue.com/story/faithless-electors-hillary-clinton-president-donald-trump-electoral-college-votes
I didn’t read it all yet but, by Jove, that would be a disaster. There was some talk of something similar happening after Trump won the Republican nomination by a majority but without reaching a certain threshold. But can you imagine what the country would be like if that happened? If Clinton lost the election and yet still became President? Yikes. I think I’d just grab some of dorisjean’s popcorn at that point….while boarding a flight to Fiji, or better yet, Antarctica.
on Thu Nov 10th 2016 at 19:33:03 TeddyBearDaddy
From day one, you notice she’s a weak speaker despite a life time of political campaigning and activism. Not a very strong voice compiled with non-protocol scandals. Obama had to go and help her out and he was way more convincing with his last minute speeches but it felt like he was helping out a disabled friend. Not all these working class non-educated whites are racist.. Like some of the browns, yellows, and blacks they wanted change. It’s too bad that change couldn’t have come with Bernie Sanders would probably would have won against Trump.
So, who was the ‘black woman’ running for office? Why didn’t the Trump crowd show up eight or four years ago?
Why is anybody black so butthurt over the defeat of HRC? Has she been that ‘good’ to Blacks? Unlike Blacks, “people from Peoria” know they have rights that must be taken seriously. What did Blacks get from the eight years of Obama? Nothing but lectures about how inadequate they are. Now they will be blamed for all the perceived wrongs of society as usual.
Please explain the role “race” played. Trump got fewer votes than HRC, most of the people in the streets protesting his election are white. What this election confirmed, was the diversity of the USA. What needs to be explained is the defection of a number of Obama voters either to Trump or to the 43.4% who didn’t bother to vote. All this crying over HRC’s loss and looking for scapegoats among Asians and Latinos is useless. Blacks aren’t the ‘natural’ leaders of minorities, other minorities will do what they perceive to be in their best interest, even if that means seeking “honorary white” status, so get over it.
“Part of it was a rejection of the ‘establishment'”
Indeed. I thought when so many Republican politicians turned against Trump that it would hurt his chances of being elected. Now I suspect many voters saw that as a sign he was truly an outsider: “Hey, his own party doesn’t want him to be president! He must really be going to shake things up if all these lousy career politicians are shaking in their boots.”
” on Thu 10 Nov 2016 at 19:03:57
Can you spell white riot? The KKK would be back to being the million strong organization it was in the first decades of the 20th century.
Recently, the candidates that have campaigned on “change” have won. That was Obama’s mantra in 2008: “Change you can believe in”. His 2012 win over Romney was not as convinving as his 2008 victory of Mccain. Now, in addition to being inherently unpopular Clinton was the antithesis of a “change” candidate. Indeed, her campaign message, whether communicated overtly or covertly, was that you needed to elect her to PREVENT Trump’s brand of change. Now suppose you’re hurting economically and don’t want things to continue the same way. You’d probably be more willing to give Trump a chance than to vote for “more of the same”. Historically, incumbent parties have found it more difficult to return to power after two consecutive terms.
Now, *IF* the stupid democratic party had read the tea leaves properly they would absolutely have allowed Sanders to be their nominee. Even though Sanders was a career politician vying for the ruling party’s nomination he WAS seen as a “change” candidate and he was *tremendously* popular. The choice would not have been between “change” and “more of the same” but two different approaches to change. Their decision to pit Trump’s populism against the neoliberal sellout, Hillary Clinton, is what sealed our fate months ago.
on Thu Nov 10th 2016 at 20:04:49 Joe
@DotaCheers from Canada🙂
OK bro, Now start building a wall will you?
Also, this might not be a popular thing to say right now, but it’s got to be said: we are reaping the awful fruits of trigger warnings, Tumblr “SJWs”, and “white privilege” theory in general. I have suspected that something like this might be coming for a while, but I was fooling myself that it couldn’t actually happen.
In other words, a backlash against “political correctness”? People finally fed up of being called “racist,” “misogynistic” and everything else in between? A “take that” against “SJW” culture? I wouldn’t be surprised.
Despite with Trump has said, he doesn’t think like that. Take a closer look at his bio and background, particularly his father. He played on racists emotions to help win the election. But these horrid people (the racist ones) are going to find some great disappointment. There will be no wall. Overall it’s going to be much like after Obama sold out to the establishment. Trump and his family friends come first, they just so happen to run within the same circles as Clinton. The real change, that has been stated time and time again, was Bernie Sanders.
This is twice now in recent years that a Democratic presidential candidate has won the popular vote but lost the electoral college.
Hillary certainly wasn’t as popular as Obama with the electorate, but still more people actually voted for her than for Trump.
Maybe we should have pushed harder to get rid of the electoral college after the fiasco in 2000.
RE last post, typos everywhere: “convincing” and “*over* Mccain”.
@Solitaire.
Exactly, it backfired. Trump was presenting himself as a force for change and an “anti-establishment” figure so rejection by the powerful politicians in his own party only appeared to give him more “cred”. It actually bolstered his brand.
Trump sells a dream masterfully but I don’t think we have to worry that he’ll deliver on most of it if “Trump University”, “The Trump Network” etc. is anything to go on.
Because black Americans are still hoping against hope that the U.S., as a whole, will finally do right by them instead of kicking them further down the hole. Our relationship with white America is the ultimate domestic abuse scenario.
With any luck he’ll get caught early on lining his own pockets like the sleazy crook he is and be impeached before his first term is up.
Alot of rich black males & females have a tight lid on the situation here. They don’t care and even exacerbate the problem. I can drive into Georgetown or Mclean here in the DC area or into a library where they take on some of the same prejudice mindsets. They call themselves democratic liberals and such and such…. It’s okay I’m all used to all of it by now.
Honestly, I understand the feelings of insecurity given the apparent preference racists have for Trump but I’d encourage everyone to try not to personalize this too much. Just as Obama’s presidency didn’t suddenly make America completely racially united I don’t think everything will go absolutely to 5hit under Trump. Furthermore, I don’t think he is genuinely committed to racist policies beyond the typical Republican priorities. He didn’t even really want crazy-pss Pence as running-mate but listened to his advisors who thought that’d make him a more credible Republican candidate. Remember, he’s a bit of a charlatan, and I suspect that the dupes this time are those who voted for him because they expect him to be Hitler (hyperbole). Let’s continue to do what we have to do to improve our situation and use any fear we have as motivation to keep pressing on.
On more anecdote re: sharina’s link. I had stumbled on a youtube video looong before the election that claimed to take an astrological look at Trump. The person claimed Trump has an indomitable spirit, cannot be kept down and will always bounce back from adversities but, because of things he said that will be viewed as outside the bounds of what’s acceptable, the presidency would not be conferred on him (I remember a phrase similar to that was used).
I’d vaguely remembered this after the election and thought to myself, “Well, you’re wrong because Trump is president-elect”. Yet it would be quite a interesting twist if Trump actually didn’t become president after winning the election. I’m not sure how that would work. Would it be Hillary or Pence? I’m more scared of Pence than Trump as I think the former, given his record in Indiana, is more ideologically committed to Republican and “Christian right” policies.
on Thu Nov 10th 2016 at 21:03:57 Fan ...
War Continues Under President Donald Trump
“During his campaign Donald Trump said if elected he will “bomb the shit” out of the Islamic State. He will send troops into Syria and Iraq if the Pentagon agrees. “Unfortunately, it may require boots on the ground to fight the Islamic State,” he writes in Crippled America (2015). “I don’t think it’s necessary to broadcast our strategy. (In fact, one of the most ridiculous policy blunders President Obama has committed was to announce our timetable for withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan.) If military advisers recommend it, we should commit a limited–but sufficient–number of troops to fight on the ground.””
There’s not a nickel worth of difference between the so-called TWO parties. Like a minted coin with two sides to give the appearance of legitimacy the illusion is designed to maintain the status quo by keeping the outside THIRD parties, outside! It’s great theater perpetrated upon the people who serially believe that their vote somehow counts, even while nothing significant ever changes – or remains changed – except the pathetic candidates they parade before us to choose from.
The reality is that they are indeed the super-predators and we are the ones they have brought to heel!
By the way, this is part of the reason for my assessmant of Trump: I notice that he backs away from a lot of his more extreme rhetoric once he’s achieved his goals courtesy of the free media coverage and support from sympathizers. For example, he distanced himself from his history as a birther by saying “Obama was born in the United States, period”, he stepped away from his suggestion of a moratoritum on Muslim immigration after he secured the Republican nomination (much to the chagrin of people like Ann Coulter) and he congratulated Hillary Clinton on her record of service to the nation in his recent victory speech. He’s a businessman. He saw a market for a certain brand of politician and he became it. That doesn’t mean he’s genuinely “it”. That hardly matters though as the people who were attracted to him might very well stick around.
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/trump-may-be-abandoning-birthers-they-re-not-abandoning-him-n649591
“So-called “‘birthers” are OK with Donald Trump abandoning their cause, as long it helps him win the presidency — even if they still believe Obama was born in Kenya and don’t necessarily agree with his claim that Hillary Clinton started their movement. “
I was gonna write something “witty” but this isn’t a good time for jokes.
Basically Trump has spent all his life being Super-awesome McRichguy with little actual responsibility outside of mumbling that he pleads the fifth in court.
Now he’s met and shaken hands with tens of thousands of people and promised them the moon and the sun, which is easy when you don’t think you’re going to win.
Now he’s in the MUTHA-OF-AL “put up or shut ups” situation that anyone’s ever been in.
These people really want their jobs back and they want their money to go farther and their healthcare to be cheaper and the roads to be better and on and on and on.
If he flops at this, he goes down as the worst ever. If he tries to go full authoritarian, he goes down as America’s Hitler for real.
I don’t think he has no idea what the job entails that he ran for. I can only imagine how godawful his State of the Union addresses will be. They’ll be 5 minutes long of basically “everything is tremendous! Believe me!” nonsense.
I’m betting today President Obama was not willing to provide much job training to the Orange Assclown.
But globally I believe this will emboldened the right wing immoral political racist extremist of all countries into thinking this is going to be a trend that they can capitalize politically in their country’s political systems of government, and in public displays of violence towards others without any meaningful retribution.
This, along with thinking they have an ally in the justification of the persecution of others around the world, and in their own back yards.
I think the real story here is 1) general disaffection with the system 2) the power of marketing (image over substance) w.r.t to Trump’s campaign and 3) the deleterious effect of corruption on democracy where the Clintons and the democratic party is concerned.
Racism is a persistent cloud over everything American but it didn’t prevent Obama’s two terms. Clinton was just too distasteful for many who’d voted for the rather young purveyor of change named Barack Obama. In fact, recall that one of the criticisms against Obama was that he was relatively inexperienced. Some people poked fun at the “community organizer”. Yet he won probably BECAUSE of seeming less entrenched in “Washington politics”.
Sorry for repeating myself but the DNC f-ed up badly by selecting a career politician whose essence ran completely contrary to the zeitgeist. People who called them out on this *before* the election were often silenced or shamed but here we are.
Obama talking to the press after meeting with Trump:
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvqgvWx_l8g)
on Thu Nov 10th 2016 at 23:20:18 Brothawolf
This just shows how powerful the need for white supremacy is. You can be a con-artist, racist, misogynistic, narcissistic, sexual predator, and people, mostly white, will still try to find what’s good about you and use that as the definition as who that person is and why he should be understood, respected, loved and even supported. White people are still seen as “basically morally superior” no matter how screwed up they are.
Biff, you may be pleased as punch that your candidate got elected. But guess what? You’re more screwed than you think. And it’s a shame you don’t know it, because your color arousal is so strong you voted against what was best for the nation AND yourself. I hope you’ll be just as happy four years from now. In the meantime, I’ll await your snarky reply denying everything and proving me right.
If white people want to progress – if they want this nation to progress, they need to wake up and stop supporting whiteness. It’s holding them back in the worst ways. Trump is now the ultimate spokesman for whiteness. In the end, it will only do more harm to white people, not to mention everyone else, than they realize. It already started on election night when the Dow Jones plummeted hundreds of points when Trump was leading in the poles. But they’re so lost, they would likely end up blaming Obama, liberals, everything else instead of blaming the monster that is whiteness.
Mack Lyons,
So true. I tend to think of it as like a kid trying to become a part of the cool group in high school. We’ve spent our collective time and energy trying to integrate into a society that clearly hates and fears us, but tolerates us enough to try to use us to their own benefit. We try so hard for America to love and respect us, seemingly more so than we try to love and respect ourselves. We tend to underestimate the traumas that racism has on us since slavery times. We love America as much as it hates us.
Just continuing the postmortem in light of the results, it turns out that there is some evidence that Clinton’s camp WANTED Trump as her rival to play America into electing her. I’ve been trying to track down the actuall emails on Wikileaks and haven’t found them yet but here is an article from the express.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/730459/Julian-Assange-Wikileaks-Hillary-Clinton-Donald-Trump-pied-pipers
Wikileaks email shows Clinton ‘sealed her OWN FATE’ in plot to make Donald Trump her rival
A camp Clinton plot to try to harm the Republican campaign by getting more press coverage for the party’s more conservative candidates was revealed in a email released by Julian Assange’s Wikileaks.
The email from Marissa Astor, and assistant to Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook, to Mr Podesta, and copied to the Democratic National Committee (DNC), suggests the campaign knew Mr Trump was going to run for president, and believed by promoting him into the press, it could ultimately harm the Republicans.
It said: “We need to be elevating the Pied Piper candidates so that they are leaders of the pack and tell the press to them seriously(sic).
“Our hope is that the goal of a potential HRC campaign and the DNC would be one-in-the-same: to make whomever the Republicans nominate unpalatable to a majority of the electorate. “We have outlined three strategies to obtain our goal:
“1) Force all Republican candidates to lock themselves into extreme conservative positions that will hurt them in a general election;
“2) Undermine any credibility/trust Republican presidential candidates have to make inroads to our coalition or independents.”
Under the heading Pied Piper Candidates the memo continued: “There are two ways to approach the strategies mentioned above.
The memo also showed how the Clinton Campaign would go on the attack against Republican candidates personally to “muddy the waters” scandals linked to Mrs Clinton, including the use of her private email server.
So it turns out we have at least TWO WAYS to blame the DNC for President Trump. They UNDERMINED Bernie Sanders’ campaign, who polls showed did better against Trump, and they actually ACTIVELY PROMOTED TRUMP because they thought Hillary would have a better chance against him than other Republican candidates given her baggage.
How can I truly be sad that the extremely corrupt democratic candidate did not win? We had few alternatives, and it was largely BECAUSE of the democratic party. They helped engineer it, with their media handmaidens, to essentially FORCE America to elect Clinton president. Part of me is doing somersaults that it blew up in their faces but the other part wonders, like many of us, about the real wildcard president that we now have as a result. Nonetheless, our no-win situation is the fruit of DNC machinations so they should not have been rewarded. If there is any bright side, they weren’t.
Hope he gets impeached.
I wouldn’t mind but I don’t like his VP either. Yikes. Everything is bad.
on Thu Nov 10th 2016 at 23:56:09 nomad
“I wouldn’t mind but I don’t like his VP either. Yikes”
Yeah it’s better if that doesn’t happen. He’d likely be worse than Trump.
@Origin
“I’m more scared of Pence than Trump as I think the former, given his record in Indiana, is more ideologically committed to Republican and “Christian right” policies.”
Pence and the other Christian Dominionists are scary in the extreme. He will be just a heartbeat away from the presidency after January 2017.
Most of the Republican governors have run their states into the ground. Michigan, Kansas, New Jersey, Florida, Wisconsin and Indiana are all exhibit A for deep tax cuts for the wealthy and deep funding cuts in education and other basic services. While those are trends throughout the country and globally, those states have been racing to the bottom at breakneck speed.
on Fri Nov 11th 2016 at 00:09:27 nomad
Did Crosscheck steal election from Hillary?
It takes Russia TV to cover this. Our MSP mainstreampropaganda won’t cover it.
BREAKING: Election Experts Explain How The Election Was Stolen!
(https://youtu.be/5LF0830IYMU)
on Fri Nov 11th 2016 at 00:12:09 SomeGuy
In a way, I’m glad this happened. The civil rights movements in the 60s really did a lot of harm to African Americans along with all the good it did. It inspired bigots and racists to become more subtle and sophisticated in their oppression. It’s the main reason most Whites today claim that there is no racism in America. Now, with the advent of a new age of honest and open policies about how one “really feels”, I think our opponents will finally do away with the BS obfuscation and denial. This will not only allow African Americans to easily identify our enemies, but will also show the world the true face of the United States.
yeah, I was going to say pence is the scariest thing about the trump administration
on Fri Nov 11th 2016 at 00:16:33 Michael Cooper
Fear of losing what their ancestors stole and killed for definitely woke up White Americans. Trump was the physically manifestation of 45-year-old white silence.
“it’s this sort of stuff, the “SJW” culture going all the way back to Peggy McIntosh, that allowed the Republicans’ Southern Strategy to work.”
Lee Atwater’s Southern Strategy was going full blast throughout the Reagan (Crack Hysteria) and Bush I presidencies (Willie Horton Ads).
Peggy McIntosh wrote her seminal essay about White Privilege in 1989, years after the Southern Strategy pulled millions of White voters away from the Democratic party to the Republican party. The Republican party at present is nothing more than a White Identity party. McIntosh had little to do with that development.
In Florida, the Cubans who voted for Donald Trump identify as ‘White’. They want their ‘Honorary White Club’ membership card as soon as possible.
@nomad
You know, right, that RT is straight-up Putin propaganda?
The Southern Strategy goes back to the 1960s.
better than the American brand. much much better. so you gonna disregard the content on that basis? how bout WikiLeaks. isthat putin propaganda too? RT is an antidote to American propaganda like the kind that led to the well deserved fall of Clinton.
that would explain why you largely disregarded the contents of WikiLeaks and minimalized Clinton’s malfeasance. Assange is an agent of Putin, his revelations negated on that basis.
on Fri Nov 11th 2016 at 02:06:53 Solitaire
Lord of Mirkwood frames it in terms of the Southern Strategy because in his opinion only white southerners (and lately the denizens of Wyoming) are racist.
Not quite sure how Peggy McIntosh fits in with that except LOM is deeply uncomfortable with the concept of white privilege.
“‘White privilege’ rhetoric among the Democrats served to give them ammunition.”
Do you have proof to back up that assertion? Sources to cite?
I sure don’t remember Hillary Clinton continually spouting off “white privilege” rhetoric on the campaign trail.
“…backlash to “political correctness.” However, these two things have undeniable similarities. Both of them have gotten us to this abyss. Both led to the rise of this monster.”
In my opinion, what led to the “rise of this monster” is the White polity swimming in real privilege and feeling threatened by other humans they consider “inferior” demanding respect and human decency.
Reading various websites over the past 24 hours, I have seen a lot of blame and recrimination of everything and everyone involved in the 2016 US election; HRClinton, the media, African American voters and the two political parties. Everyone is supposedly to blame except the masses of predominantly White voters who elevated a person unfit to be county dogcatcher to the presidency of the United States of America. They did so because they reveled in his loud and vulgar racism, which had the effect of polishing their privilege and boosting their egos.
✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪✪
I find these repeated denials of White privilege pretty hilarious and revealing. The people who are most opposed to the reality of White privilege are those people who have experienced some form of hereditary privilege all of their lives. Whether that privilege comes from inherited wealth or skin color, the denials are similarly emphatic.
White privilege is not a guarantee of a good life. White privilege merely stacks the odds of a good life in the favor of people of European heritage——at the expense of non-European people. Neither discomfort nor denial changes that reality.
Sociologist Allan Johnson points out:
“For some whites, the share of benefits is greater or lesser than it is for others, depending on, among other things, the dynamics of social class. But one thing is certain: collectively, the white population of the United States now holds an enormous unearned advantage of wealth and power. And regardless of what kind of people we are as individuals or what we have or have not done ourselves, that advantage cannot be uncoupled from the history of race and racism in this country. The past is more than history. It is also present in structural distributions of wealth and power and cultural ideologies, laws, practices, beliefs, and attitudes whose effect is to justify, defend, and perpetuate the system of white privilege.”
http://www.beyondwhiteness.com/2012/02/19/allan-johnson-where-white-privilege-came-from/
The real fear may be a loss of centrality and control. Every institution in this society is geared to making European descent people feel both “normal” and “superior”. Losing that sense of “specialness” can be jarring. As one writer put it, “The problem with being privileged your whole life is that [after] you have had that privilege for so long, equality starts to look like oppression.”
…in his opinion only white southerners (and lately the denizens of Wyoming) are racist.
That’s a hoot! There are lots of places I have encountered racial bigotry in the North, Midwest and West. I’ve also had Black family, friends and colleagues regale me with tales of racial ugliness from Maine to Colorado, North Carolina to Oregon.
on Fri Nov 11th 2016 at 09:14:28 Origin
I think distilling Trump’s win down to “racism” is too one-sided and I’m not one to let racist America off the hook. It was definitely a factor but the selection of HRC was also a major miscalculation in an era where people clearly wanted to shake things up. This was not a phenomenon unique to republican voters because Bernie Sanders’ movement within the ruling party had built up tremendous momentum before it was killed by the PTB. After that it the establishment candidate was pitted against the one that sold himself as being anti-establishment when people were indicating dissatisfaction with the status quo.
The only thing Clinton had to offer was that she wasn’t Trump. Think, for a moment, how self-centered the slogan, “I’m with her” is. It doesn’t communicate anything about what she’ll be doing. It’s just a declaration that you’ll be voting for her. IIRC another one was “Love Trumps Hate”, which gives more prominence to her opponent by using his name! Meanwhile she had scandals buzzing around her while running for president and Trump was promising to “Make America Great Again”. IMO, the choice of Hillary was the deciding factor. Sanders would have beaten Trump.
on Fri Nov 11th 2016 at 09:28:17 mike3
@Origin: I’m curious: do you think it would have been better had DNC picked Bernie instead?
Yes. He was a similar candidate in some ways, leading a popular movement within his party and early polls had him beating Trump. Obviously we will never know for sure now.
I didn’t read this article before I made my post but I now see that a few people called his result months ago:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/musa-algharbi/the-dnc-is-about-to-coronate-donald-trump_b_9462374.html
The DNC Is About to Coronate Donald Trump
[Closing]
Sanders is dominating the blue states and swing states. Trump is dominating the red states and swing states. The takeaway should be clear: The American people in general, and particularly the states that will decide this election, do not want an establishment candidate. A Trump v. Clinton race could play out much like Ronald Reagan v. Bush Sr., Carter and Mondale: races where people with the “right”
resumes failed to connect with the public — losing handily to a contender who seemed far less qualified or competent, and perhaps even dangerous, but who really “gets“ the times we’re living in and what people are looking for in this moment.
Bernie Sanders can beat Donald Trump, possibly taking the House and Senate with him. Hillary Clinton can do none of these things. Polls be damned: if Hillary Clinton wins the Democratic nomination, Donald Trump will win the presidency. Count on it
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bring-back-bernie-sanders-clinton-might-actually-lose_us_57d66670e4b0273330ac45d0
Bring Back Bernie Sanders. Clinton Might Actually Lose To Trump
If Trump eventually wins the White House, it will be the fault of “progressive” writers and media. The people who defended Clinton at all costs, regardless of the latest controversy, have done this country a disservice. The journalists who focused on removing Bernie Sanders from the race, while at the same time spreading the notion that Trump must be stopped (even if Bernie was cheated), helped create the “Never Hillary” hashtag. When voters are deceived and then told to accept the deception, a Trump presidency is the natural consequence.
Today, however, it’s not too late for Bernie to save the Democratic Party. If Democrats truly want to win, they’ll rally around Bernie Sanders before Election Day. If Hillary Clinton cares about the future of this country, she’ll hand the nomination to Vermont’s Senator.
Many people saw the writing on the wall but you could hardly hear it before the election thanks to all the Clinton sycophancy in the media.
on Fri Nov 11th 2016 at 11:35:49 Joe
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9Bpne9Mv5U)
ha goodman has been right on the mark all along. check out his youtube channel
on Fri Nov 11th 2016 at 12:33:11 Anne
@LOM,
The fact that you can say that some white voters voted for Trump because they were turned off by the discussion of white privilege actually proves the assertion that Trump’s support came from racial issues. Some of the people who voted for him may not actively be racist but they certainly made their decision based race. You’re right the election result was backlash. It was backlash against black people with Mexicans and Middle Eastern people used as cover.
its true that a lot of white people based their vote on race. but a lot of others based their vote on the fact that Hillary was horrible. if it wasn’t for his glaring racism I would have voted for trump over Hillary. white people largely didn’t have that impediment.
A question for biff and the other white supremacists:
What are you going to complain about now?
yes, Bernie would have been the one. but what were white folks going to do? Bernie was denied the right to run because the crooked dnc stole the nomination on behalf of Hillary. and to add insult to injury, he thru his support behind the corruption, so Bernie wasn’t the choice at this point. it was too late to choose Bernie. it was trump or Clinton. the whites who weren’t basing their vote on race held their nose, like we were urged to do for Clinton, and voted for what they saw as the lesser evil. trump.
Speaking of Bernie, I wondered from the beginning why people like abagond and the black caucus didn’t throw their support behind Bernie? He obviously had a movement. But, for some unfathomable reason they insisted on Clinton. In a way, Trump is their fault. They should have rallied people to Bernie, if they thought Stein was a bridge too far. But they didn’t. They wanted crooked Hillary. And they ended up with Trump. The president they deserve.
@ nomad
What are you talking about? I voted for Bernie. I did not endorse Hillary till after the primaries.
on Fri Nov 11th 2016 at 14:00:11 gro jo
That’s because most Cubans are white. The ones who came right after Castro took power were mostly whites like Castro. In 1912, White Cubans carried a pogrom against Black Cubans that made the KKK green with envy ( http://www.historyofcuba.com/history/race/RaceWar1.htm).
Your insinuation that Cubans aren’t ‘really’ white is misplaced.
you did? I missed that. sorry. or forgot.you been such a staunch Hillary supporter ii must have projected backwards. my apologies. but what i said still goes for the caucus.
“the whites who weren’t basing their vote on race held their nose, like we were urged to do for Clinton, and voted for what they saw as the lesser evil. trump.”
That’s pretty much how I see it too. You have people out there who wouldn’t want anyone to know they voted for Trump but felt they had to stop Clinton. That’s part of why her defeat comes as such a shock to some because many Trump voters were not going to his rallies or wearing MAGA hats. But once in private they did what they felt they needed to do to stop an openly corrupt politician from becoming president.
The unpalatable choice was engineered by Hillary Clinton and the DNC both through their promotion of Trump and their suppression of Sanders. They never in a million years thought that sufficient voters would have considered Hillary more rotten than Trump but that’s what happened. They called America’s bluff and America said F you, yes, we’ll elect Trump over you. Perhaps the fact that the electorate can be so surprising will dissuade similar tactics in the near future. I think there is a kind of justice in that and I can deal with it. We’ll just need to remain vigilant with this uncertain president.
Remember, Trump lost the popular vote and his favorability remains low. According to RealClearPolitics his favorable rating isn’t out of the 30s http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/trump_favorableunfavorable-5493.html and Clinton’s has generally been higher. IMO, the result isn’t primarily about racial hate (though there is some of that) but is, to a large extent, about HRC being fiercely disliked for her scandals and obvious ties to special interests. Even then, it was close in terms of vote counts. That’s how bad both are.
[I’ll check out Goodman’s videos]
“collectively, the white population of the United States now holds an enormous unearned advantage of wealth and power. And regardless of what kind of people we are as individuals or what we have or have not done ourselves, that advantage cannot be uncoupled from the history of race and racism in this country.”
“My mother’s father, for example, migrated from Connecticut to Wisconsin where he bought land and started what became a prosperous dairy farm. As it turns out, the land he purchased had been taken from the Ho-Chunk Native American tribe several decades earlier even though the federal government had promised to protect their rights to their ancestral homeland. That promise was honored only until white miners showed an interest in rich deposits of lead on Ho-Chunk land and so the United States reneged and called in the Army to force the Ho-Chunk from their land.
From the Ho-Chunk point of view, my grandfather was in receipt of stolen property, but since whites had the power to make and enforce the law, they could also decide what was stolen and what was not, and so he was allowed to purchase the land without a second thought. He went on to be a successful farmer in the midst of the booming U.S. economy that, as the saying goes, was a rising tide that lifted all boats, including his. For most people of color, however, who were systematically denied the opportunity to own their own ‘boat,’ the rising industrial capitalist tide brought little benefit.
When my grandfather died, the farm was sold and my mother and her four siblings each received a share of the proceeds. And when my parents bought their first house in 1954, they used her modest inheritance for the down payment. They also obtained an affordable mortgage from the Federal Housing Administration set up after World War II to help returning veterans buy their own homes. Being ordinary citizens, they may well have been unaware of the fact that federal regulations and guidelines governing FHA loans overwhelmingly favored whites over people of color, putting them on the receiving end of white privilege in one of the biggest transfers of wealth in U.S. history. Whether they knew it or not, however, the effect is the same.
My parents now had a boat of their own which was lifted by the rising tide of an expanding economy in the 1950s and 1960s, and when my wife and I wanted to buy our first house in the 1980s and didn’t have enough money for the down payment, we borrowed it from my mother.”
All of the above is true. Where I part company with the “privilege” crowd is on labeling these advantages over minorities as privileges because a “privilege”, in my book, cannot be available to the majority. Such “privilege” becomes a “right” since it doesn’t give members of that majority an advantage when they compete among themselves. If Whites eliminated all the minorities, it would be obvious that their privilege would disappear since they all would have had a stab at accumulating wealth as described above. Note that the only thing Johnson claims is the exclusion of people of color from these goodies. IN MY BOOK, THAT’S DISCRIMINATION.
on Fri Nov 11th 2016 at 15:44:22 jefe
Really surprised about the extent of the mischaracterization of Abagond’s support of the candidates by some of the commenters. He made it very clear in quite a few posts and comments that he originally decided to support Bernie Sanders after careful deliberation and was never a staunch supporter of Hillary. At best he was a very reluctant “hold your nose” supporter in the later stages.
I can’t figure out why he’s been adding in Wyoming of late. I think it started when you and he were discussing NoDAP on the open thread. But why just Wyoming? Why not North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Idaho? Some of the worst white supremacist groups are headquartered there. All of those states are known for virulent racism towards Native Americans, not just Wyoming.
And of course as you pointed out, racism is everywhere. Even in a supposed ultra-liberal haven like San Francisco.
i think its just me. i haven’t been around that long
but he was staunch.
on Fri Nov 11th 2016 at 16:03:20 Fan ...
“Really surprised about the extent of the mischaracterization of Abagond’s support of the candidates by some of the commenters.”
Mischaracterization? How?
Abagond’s endorsement began with the words, “I hate Hillary Clinton.” Perhaps it’s just semantics again, but that’s not what I call a staunch supporter.
https://abagond.wordpress.com/2016/07/23/hillary-clinton-for-president/
Let Abagond reiterate his position. I do not want to mischaracterize it either.
re: nomad
but he was staunch
I always found him to be staunch anti-Trump, not staunch pro-Hillary.
Again, I do not want to mischaracterize anyone’s position either, so he should clarify or reiterate or turn it into a full post.
Thanks for the link. I guess Abagond already laid out his position in a full post.
“I do not want to mischaracterize it either.”
Backpeddling now? You’ve brought this up, this surprise… by some of the commenters. Now you want to weasel your way out of your position (of surprise) by handing it off to Abagond to unpack.
This isn’t about what Abagond wrote. This is about your surprise.
Are you a staunch student of Kiwi’s posting methodologies?? 🙂
racism is everywhere
I went to university in Massachusetts and spent school breaks growing up in Alabama, while growing up in DC/MD. This racism stuff is not a North / south thing.
The main difference I found was that people in Alabama were more open and unapologetic about their prejudices and behaviour, and people in Massachusetts were more covert. It would go something like this:
(to a job applicant who is not hired due to some prejudice)
Alabama: We don’t hire your kind here.
Massachusetts: We don’t have any suitable openings now. (but they tell their boss that the applicant was xxxx(some undesired category/label).
And subsequently, employers in both places hire someone else.
Alabama: We don’t want our kids going school with n1663r5.
Massachusetts: We are concerned about our kids going to school with others from a different cultural background and who have different values. (then they whisper that they are black).
In a way, what they do in the North is worse. They obviously know what they are doing is somehow wrong, but they don’t want anyone to know what they think.
No Fan, I just don’t want to put words into Abagond’s mouth.
But solitaire posted the link to his post, and that helps clarify things (as those are his own words). That should demonstrate that he voted for Sanders and was not a staunch Hillary supporter.
” I just don’t want to put words into Abagond’s mouth.”
That’s a cop out, jefe. I’m not asking you to put words in anyone’s mouth. Just to be clear, I’m not lacking any understanding of Abagond’s position.
I’m merely asking you about the “how” of you being surprised … but if you have nothing, then you really got nothing but empty words about “some commenters” as they relate to your stated “surprise.”
So is it ok if I use New Jersey as a stand-in for that vague region people often call “the East”??
Would that be an acceptable answer on one of your history tests?
sorry about skipping some comments before responding but i call ‘staunch’ urging ‘vote for Hillary to prevent hitler. mainly. but also staunch to minimalize all of the corruption being revealed through WikiLeaks, including the revelation that she had stolen the nomination from the candidate that he originally endorsed. that’s pretty staunch.
potatoes potatoes. i guess it depends on where one sits.
“…a “privilege”, in my book, cannot be available to the majority. Such “privilege” becomes a “right” since it doesn’t give members of that majority an advantage when they compete among themselves.[…]
IN MY BOOK, THAT’S DISCRIMINATION.”
In my book, pitting “privilege” against “discrimination” leads to a false dichotomy. I see discrimination as a means—a tool—of people who have privilege to maintain their privilege. That is true not only in racial matters, but also in matters of class and religion. In the context of economic class, discrimination is pretty glaring: exclusive neighborhoods, clubs, schools and leisure spots. All of that exclusivity and discrimination is used to maintain the privileges of the more affluent.
I reject the equation of privilege with rights, especially in the American context. Saying that only the majority have rights is just another way of saying might makes right. Technically all American citizens have inherent rights, whether they are part of the dominant group or not. One promise of the American Experiment is that a person or group of persons did not have to be members of the dominant group to enjoy rights. The majority may rule, but various minority groups enjoy rights (at least on paper).
Various early European colonists flocked to America precisely because they wanted freedom of religion. In many European countries, in the 1600’s and 1700’s, everyone was required to pay compulsory tithes to the state church, whether you belonged to the state church or not. In America, outside of the Puritan experience, there were no compulsory tithes. Any group of citizens was free to form a church, split from an existing church or avoid church altogether.
Even when members of a dominant group compete among themselves, privilege still comes into play. Some person or persons will always have traits that create advantages in their culture. Those advantages in turn can create privilege. So even if, White people woke up tomorrow and there were no “others” and they were all the same economic class, within a few days, the smartest, the strongest and the most wily would carve out advantages for themselves and re-create a hierarchy with a privileged group at the top.
I still remember the first sentence of my Sociology 101 textbook:
All human societies are unequal.
Should have used “find it interesting” instead of “surprised”. Apologize if my words led to any misunderstanding.
“…racism is everywhere. Even in a supposed ultra-liberal haven like San Francisco.”
In a way it is worse in ultra liberal havens for the very reason jefe mentioned in his comment upthread. Racism in those “havens” are covert and very efficient.
Both San Francisco and Seattle have effectively destroyed longstanding Black center city communities through a variety of tactics. During the period of destruction, there was a full court press of media, tax, banking, education and police attacks on those communities.
The destruction was so complete that nearly all of the Black churches have moved to the suburbs. Only those Black elders who owned their homes outright were able to afford to remain in place. Everyone else was ruthlessly pushed out.
I was not a “staunch” Hillary supporter. I was a pro-Bernie, anti-Trump voter. Hillary was the only hope of stopping Trump, so I held my nose and voted for her. I was hardly alone in that.
To me, Sanders was never a serious candidate. I saw his entry in to the Democratic race as a way to energize the left base of the party and lead them into the fold once Sanders conceded to Clinton.
on Fri Nov 11th 2016 at 17:53:13 v8driver
On the exit poll they gave me I said I was voting AGAINST the other candidates, not FOR my candidate. I am staunchly anti-Trump, but not staunchly pro-Hillary. There is a difference.
And I did not ignore WikiLeaks. I did two posts based on them. But for the most part, WikiLeaks confirmed what I have suspected all along, about both her and the DNC. I was not shocked or surprised.
I don’t have the essay in front of me so I’m relying on memory, but wasn’t a good part of McIntosh’s premise that privilege is often invisible to those who have it? I do remember there were a number of examples in her essay that I never thought about before the first time I read it, stuff that I had never before conceptualized as something I was privileged to have as a white person. The privileges are created by systemic discrimination but an individual can benefit from those privileges without realizing it or being an active force in the discrimination: e.g., a white elementary school student can expect most of their teachers to be white like them, which is a privilege, but the student did not personally create or contribute to the discriminatory system that led to that situation.
“Even when members of a dominant group compete among themselves, privilege still comes into play.”
Yes. You forgot my presidential motorcade example? Privilege applies to a minority, not a majority. So you agree with me or am I missing something?
“I reject the equation of privilege with rights, especially in the American context. Saying that only the majority have rights is just another way of saying might makes right. ”
I offered you no such equation. I told you that, white plebeians, are not privileged for the simple fact that they are getting the same deal as the vast majority, who are white like them. When they compete with one another, as they must, since there aren’t enough minorities to compete with them, talk of privilege is nonsense.
Whites conspire to lock out as many minorities in order to create “white solidarity”, otherwise, they’d have to face the fact that not all whites are created equal, but all whites can agree to not push one of their own below a level reserved for the pariahs of the society. In the USA, Blacks are the pariahs. Discrimination is not the same as privilege. If you want, I can accept whites have the “privilege” to discriminate as long as it doesn’t upend class hierarchy. My example of General Colin Powell ordering white redneck soldiers to battle at the peril of losing their lives illustrates that fact. Yes, might does make right, it always has.
I’ll leave you with my favorite ancient Greek quote: “Athenians: Well, then, we Athenians will use no flue words; we will not go out of our way to prove at length that we have a right to rule, because we overthrew the Persians; or that we attack you now because we are suffering any injury at your hands. We should not convince you if we did; nor must you expect to convince us by arguing that, although a colony of the Lacedaemonians, you have taken no part in their expeditions, or that you have never done us any wrong. But you and we should say what we really think, and aim only at what is possible, for we both alike know that into the discussion of human affairs the question of justice only enters where the pressure of necessity is equal, and that the powerful exact what they can, and the weak grant what they must.”. Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian War
easy for me. she killed Gadhafi. i was never going to vote for her.. ill be back when i feel like reading
Then I probably would have asked you WHY/HOW specifically you found “it interesting” “the … mischaracterization,” “by some … commenters.”
I’m not seeking an apology. I’m trying to understand why YOU was surprised or how you (found some commenters alleged mischaracterization …) interesting.
I’m gonna drop this as I see it’s not going anywhere – constructive or informative!
Gro jo was quoting from the Melian Dialogue from Thucydides 5.89.
https://www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/Melian.html
Do all of you New Jersians have this provincial view of the nation, or is it uniquely yours?
I didn’t think you were. That’s my point.
on Fri Nov 11th 2016 at 21:33:08 Legion
@ All of you
I was trying to find the comment but can not. Origin made a comment about having viewed a video by an astrological chartist who said that ultimately Trump would not become president. Origin vaguely recalled the video after Trumps win and realized the chartist was now obviously incorrect; though Origin wondered how a Trump loss could materialize.
I wonder if some of you have seen this yet. It is making the rounds, so to speak. It’s an article on what it means to be a “faithless elector” in the Electoral College. Something I forget about every election cycle is that the final set of voting is actually done by the electors of the electoral college and they have yet to vote; they do so in December, December 12th to be exact. I suspect that the article is circulating as a kind of trial balloon; here is where I first saw it, in The Independent:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-elections/donald-trump-president-electoral-college-faithless-electors-hillary-clinton-mike-pence-a7410636.html
So, it seems the election isn’t quite over.
I have a question for all the Americans on this blog (which is of course the overwhelming number of commenters here):
Would you be in favour of the Electors enacting the faithless option in order to oust Trump? (of course, you might just end up with Pence as President in the end).
It is being said by some that Pence will be the de facto President anyway because Trump is such a disaster on so many levels (he couldn’t even muster the discipline/humility to practice for his debates against Clinton). Even if Trump were not a disaster and an egomaniac, HE IS A TOTALLY UNQUALIFIED NEOPHYTE in the realm of politics and the holding of political office, to that end he’ll be like a dumb kid who’s constantly looking at the classroom work of his peers during the school day. Some of us remember that kid, some of us were that kid (and hopefully grew out of it); we know it doesn’t end well for that kid. (You guys might just get that impeachment some of you are hoping for).
And yes, I am aware that I’m a contender for most parenthetical departures in a single post (so sue me!). 🙂
Now for a different take on Trump from a real African perspective: http://www.herald.co.zw/trump-the-whisper-behind-that-turned-the-gale-in-front/
“Would you be in favour of the Electors enacting the faithless option in order to oust Trump? “
Except the Hillarites are looking to oust Trump AND his VP in order to re-install the Clinton gang!
petition excerpt:
“On December 19, the Electors of the Electoral College will cast their ballots. If they all vote the way their states voted, Donald Trump will win. However, they can vote for Hillary Clinton if they choose. Even in states where that is not allowed, their vote would still be counted, they would simply pay a small fine – which we can be sure Clinton supporters will be glad to pay!
We are calling on the Electors to ignore their states’ votes and cast their ballots for Secretary Clinton.”
Interesting times we’re in!!! What will the Electors do? Can they be swayed by cash or other (gainful) incentives to vote for the unsavory Clinton??
on Sat Nov 12th 2016 at 02:47:09 Origin
That petition seems to be referring to the several states have laws against electors changing their pledge and they seem to be the traditionally bluer states and swing states:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faithless_elector
I wouldn’t mind Trump being ousted but I would rather if it also opened the door for other possibilities beyond HRC or Pence. There would be serious backlash against that decision though. Would make the current anti-Trump protests look like a slumber party.
Just saw this video going over the numbers from the last few elections:
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=as-HI6bueqY)
According to it:
66,862,039 for Obama in 2008
60,966,504 for Romney in 2012
60,007,707 for Clinton in 2016
59,736,883 for Trump in 2016
His argument is that the numbers suggest Clinton was the problem. She got fewer votes than Romney, who lost in 2012, did and 7 million less than Obama did in 2008. This is one of the reasons I’m slow to attribute the result only to racial backlash. That is a part of the story, no doubt, but it was part of the story during Obama’s presidency as well (gun sales famously went up) yet he still won two terms. White people voted for him and it appears a significant number who did, did not vote for Clinton. Black turn out for her was also lower. Even with a bogeyman like Trump looming too many people could not drink their HRC medicine.
on Sat Nov 12th 2016 at 05:02:28 Solitaire
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2016/11/10/racist-graffiti-greets-trump-win-across-usa/93584210/
Sad but I’m not surprised at all. Obama’s win brought it out too but for different reasons. I have no doubt that if Clinton had won it would not have been pretty either; their celebratory racism would have been angry racism instead. A comedian has a saying that “Racism is as American as apple pie” and it’s proven so many times.
Stay safe everyone.
I posted a video comparing the numbers to past elections (which may still be in moderation) but I’ve also seen that there are counties with many votes still to be counted so we’ll see what the final numbers look like.
on Sat Nov 12th 2016 at 10:23:37 Anonymous
Trump had a higher share of the black vote than Romney.
Blacks who didn’t vote or voted Trump, congratulations for giving corrupt policemen a licence to kill. You.
on Sat Nov 12th 2016 at 10:37:28 nomad
Wrap your brains around this. Clinton was the greater evil
Investigative historian Eric Zuesse says these fools were planning war with Russia -these fools Obama and Clinton.
” the neoconservative Barack Obama [demanded] that all of his top military generals support his goal of going to war against Russia…. … the view that Barack Obama holds and that Hillary Clinton holds even more strongly [was]that the war against jihadists must be subordinated to the war against Russia …
— is a totally upside-down view of the priorities”
Worse than that, it’s madness. This is what Americans, thank God, rejected. It’s criminally insane.
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2016/11/salon-gets-away-deceiving-readers.html
I see you’ve discovered my other favorite YouTube channel.
CNN Cameraman: Fake Hillary Rant
(https://youtu.be/QSfS2u-SmoI)
On the other hand ‘the election was stolen. Crosscheck. This time not from Russia TV, because, you know, that’s propaganda.
https://politicalfilm.wordpress.com/2016/11/12/palast-voting-lists-were-purged-again/
on Sat Nov 12th 2016 at 13:03:06 Fan ...
“On the other hand ‘the election was stolen.”
Come on Nomad! Quit torturing these poor folks! You know they don’t believe in vote rigging, tampering, purging, stealing, fixing – no matter what or how much evidence is presented to them.
They’re somehow invested in believing in the election/selection process. They can’t swallow a red pill after ingesting the blue one. 😉
on Sat Nov 12th 2016 at 15:15:48 v8driver
i was handed a hillary (H->) branded ‘postcard’ with the democrat lineup on it as i walked into the polling place. now if there was a $50 bill paperclipped to it… lol
on Sat Nov 12th 2016 at 15:27:03 michaeljonbarker
Abagond said,
“That is a Trump talking point.”
It is also Stien’s and Sanders talking point.
Maybe so. I was a bit skeptical at first but these are the numbers I came up with so I stand corrected.
NAFTA passed in 1993 and the unemployment rate today in Wisconsin is the same rate as it was before NAFTA kicked in and before manufacturing jobs left. It seems the unemployment rate rises and falls depending upon whether the country is in recession or not and not connected to trade agreements. The average household income in Wisconsin in 1993 was 31,766 and today it is 55,425 down a few thousand from 2014. That shows incomes rising and staying on par with the national average. Poverty rates though have increased from 5% mid 1990’s for whites to around 10% today. Still I don’t think you can draw a correlation between poverty rates and trade agreements. So maybe trade agreements are not the bogyman some have made them out to be.
I watched CNN mostly election night and paid attention to John King and his magic map. In regards to the rust belt he would show mostly white counties that went for Obama in the last two elections that flipped to Trump this election.
So the question is why did they flip. I don’t think it is a repudiation of the Obama years as these same people voted for Obama and Obama’s favorability ratings are pretty high. I first thought it was economic interests (free trade being damaging) but now don’t think so. Is Hillary truly distrusted ? I think that is part of it along with whites liking Trumps anti PC rhetoric as well as rural whites thinking their way of life is under attack and hating the elitism of the media and politicians.
I was just as surprised as the outcome as everybody else. So while I still hate Trump I have to admit I did enjoy watching the CNN meltdown as the reality of the Hillary loss set in.
on Sat Nov 12th 2016 at 19:06:15 Mary Burrell
Trump will do nothing for the poor whites from the so called rust belt states, This is the age of technology those who are factory workers and working in agriculture will continue to suffer unless they go to school and train for jobs in technology. Trump has no desire to help these people he only wanted their votes. I don’t think he even wanted the presidency this was all a game to him. I think he’s just as shocked he won the election as we are. He has no idea what to do. I don’t feel he will make it the whole four years, he will probably end up getting impeached.
There is a petition on Change.Org that is calling to do away with the Electoral College and making Hillary the president. I don’t even know how that would work or if it’s even possible.
on Sat Nov 12th 2016 at 22:13:28 jamaicatradingnetwork
As disappointed as I am about Trump’s election as president, I do think that the Democratic party needs to do some serious soul searching. CNN’s John King said that if blacks had voted in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin at the same level as 2012, Hillary would have won the presidency.
on Sun Nov 13th 2016 at 01:03:58 Origin
@jamaicantradingnetwork
Yes, this is the part of the story I hope people don’t miss with their concerns about Trump winning the racist vote. Those people also didn’t vote for Obama. What hurt Clinton more is that people who voted for Obama didn’t vote for her and that includes some minorities and rural/suburban whites.
http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2016/11/21-heartbreaking-things-happened-people-color-one-day-trumps-win/
http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2016/11/professor-predicted-donald-trump-win-also-predicts-will-impeached/
on Sun Nov 13th 2016 at 05:38:23 Legion
That Professor’s work is so intriguing! I first saw him featured in The Washington Post, shortly before the election.
I’ve got my fingers crossed that he’ll be right again.
I just realized something. The Republican Party have an incredible opportunity to destroy The Democrats for ages to come, and . How so?
-By eliminating racist police brutality and murder by cops. And finally prosecuting racist police to the full extent of the law. It would be so unexpected and it would diametrically contrast against Obama’s pathetic performance in this area.
-To invest in schools and infrastructure in black communities across the Union. (leading, perhaps over a two term Trump Presidency, to increased College enrollment for black males and correspondingly, higher graduation rates for black males from High School.)
-End the school to prison pipeline. End for profit prisons.
-End the misnamed war on drugs.
The above measures would destroy Democrat support amongst middle and lower class blacks for generations to come and make them staunch Republicans.
-The drastic corporate tax cuts, I’ve read about (down to 15% corporate tax, I think) will, lead to a bit of a boom, I believe.
-He is planning some massive infrastructure spending. The American economy needs radical fiscal expansion now! And not on the bloody military but in the REAL economy.
Four years or more of surprise prosperity during the Trump years would, well, come as a surprise and then some.
The business community are taking Trump’s economic plans for fiscal expansion and tax cuts seriously, else they would not be, right now as we speak, predicting inflation arising from Trump policies. Predicting inflation means they think he will have areal effect.
on Sun Nov 13th 2016 at 09:09:07 jefe
In just one day, we see it popping up all over the country. But it certainly did not just happen overnight.
This pent-up white male anger was always there. It has only been repressed. I remember the 1970s when vets said stuff like (I went to Vietnam so that you all would not be here). Or when they actively complained about affirmative action saying that a “n1663r” got his job (whether it was because of affirmative action or not).
Now they don’t feel they need to hold back any more.
on Sun Nov 13th 2016 at 22:52:48 Afrofem
”Privilege applies to a minority, not a majority. […] white plebeians, are not privileged for the simple fact that they are getting the same deal as the vast majority, who are white like them”
The White plebeian majority are indeed privileged. They are privileged in relation to non-Euro descent people. The social pyramid that places them at the bottom of White society is purely an intra-group phenomenon. Their lack of privilege vis a vis White patricians has no bearing on how White plebeians are advantaged in relation to non-White people of (any social class) in this pluralistic, multi-ethnic society. White plebeians depend upon largely invisible systems of power and privilege that work against or exclude non-White members of society, no matter their economic or educational status.
A prime example of White plebeian privilege is the treatment of White plebeians who encounter federal, state and local law enforcement agents. White plebeians routinely brandish weapons, shoot at police and commit massacres, all the while braying about their Second Amendment rights. Black people and other non-European individuals are gunned down for holding wallets, cellphones, sandwiches, remote controls or nothing at all. Abagond calls them “Phantom Negro Weapons”.
When White plebeians decide to protest anything they are generally unmolested by law enforcement. In some cases, they have been coddled by law enforcement. That occurs in predominantly Black cities as well as predominantly White cities.
http://blackautonomyfederation.blogspot.com/2014/09/police-counterinsurgency-against.html
”Discrimination is not the same as privilege.”
Agreed. I will repeat that discrimination is a tool of privilege, not its equivalent.
”My example of General Colin Powell ordering white redneck soldiers to battle at the peril of losing their lives illustrates that fact.”
The Powell example proves nothing. Unspoken in that example is the fact that General Powell was himself a tool of an organization that is dominated and led by White patricians. As my army veteran father told me on more than one occasion, “when you are in the Army, you learn to respect the uniform, even if you hate the man in it.” Those “white redneck soldiers” are keenly aware of those dynamics and they are also aware of their own privilege outside of the Army context. In fact, White plebeians globally are aware of their privilege. Their privilege is present whether they sleep on park benches, pound nails at a construction site or clerk in a retail store.
An example of White plebeian privilege (and enduring racism) is the treatment of Oprah Winfrey on two occasions. In 2005, Winfrey was denied entry to a luxury boutique in Paris, France. In 2013, Winfrey was refused a look at an item in Zurich, Switzerland by a White plebeian clerk who told Winfrey that the £24,460 was “too expensive”. The White clerk was supported in her racism by her employer. The White writer of the article also went on to berate Winfrey for seeking to buy an animal skin product.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2387630/Racist-shop-girl-said-I-afford-24-000-handbag-says-billionaire-Oprah-Winfrey.html
”Yes, might does make right, it always has.”
A big fat no on that fallacy. Might has never made right and it never will. Just because a people can do a thing doesn’t mean the thing should be done or is right. What might makes all through history is a gigantic, intergenerational mess.
➽Wars of aggression – not right.
➽Colonization – not right.
➽Genocide – not right.
➽Slavery – not right.
➽Resource theft – not right.
Finally, though I never read Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War ( thanks for the link, Abagond), I was aware of the situation that the people of Melos faced in 416 BCE. Robert Greene author of The 48 Laws of Power used the Melians as an example of what not to do when confronted by a powerful opponent. Greene argued for the tactic of surrender so that you could live to fight another day. The Athenians had the might at that moment in time, but their arguments and actions were not right. They were merely indicative of hubris.
on Mon Nov 14th 2016 at 01:12:04 gro jo
“The Powell example proves nothing. Unspoken in that example is the fact that General Powell was himself a tool of an organization that is dominated and led by White patricians.”
It’s irrelevant that he was a ‘tool of an organization that is dominated and led by White patricians’. Why? Because these ‘White patricians’ skipped over a bunch of whites who could have done his job to pick him. Where was the ‘white privilege’ of these white contenders for the spot? Your ‘white privilege’ theory needs to explain such anomaly. By mentioning your father’s army experience, you confirmed my point but won’t concede having done so.
A big fat no on that fallacy. ”
Fallacy, ok, where’s the evidence for your claim? All that you presented here were your opinions about what right means. I wasn’t talking about right in the sense of being just or fair, but in the sense of prevailing in a given situation. In that context, might is always right. Sorry.
“An example of White plebeian privilege (and enduring racism) is the treatment of Oprah Winfrey on two occasions. In 2005, Winfrey was denied entry to a luxury boutique in Paris, France. In 2013, Winfrey was refused a look at an item in Zurich, Switzerland by a White plebeian clerk who told Winfrey that the £24,460 was “too expensive”. The White clerk was supported in her racism by her employer. The White writer of the article also went on to berate Winfrey for seeking to buy an animal skin product. ”
Ok, how did this clerk benefit from her action? She was an idiot if she worked on commission. Her employer was equally stupid because they alienated a number of rich Blacks. When was being stupid a privilege? I see that you omitted the fact that she got a fulsome apology from the owners of the store in the first incident. Your Oprah story tells me that they failed to recognize that Oprah is a privileged woman due to their racism. I never argued that white people are rational. The history of the persecution of Jews for over a thousand years in Europe would dissuade anybody of such silly notion. The fact remains that the clerk is not the equal of Oprah, any privilege accrues to Oprah. People of African descent have lived privileged lives in racist societies for centuries. A black woman such as the wife of Joseph Bunel, Toussaint Louverture’s representative to the Adams administration, may have been looked down on by whites in 18th century Philadelphia, but that didn’t diminish her status as a woman of means. S. Laraque and his family may have encountered hostile stares as they traveled from their chateau in the french countryside to their Paris villa ,Villa Borghese , formerly owned by Pauline Bonaparte’s husband, Camille Borghese, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It didn’t mean that they were equal to or below their French servants. At the end of the day, they were the paymasters, not the white servants. I suspect that the same situation applies for Oprah, Aliko Dangote, Robert F. Smith or any other wealthy black person at the beginning of the 21st century.
How do you explain the career of jewel thief Doris Payne in light of your claims about ‘white privilege’? Apparently, enough white clerks thought she was rich enough to buy the jewels she stole. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/01/23/america-s-best-jewel-thief-is-an-85-year-old-woman.html
on Mon Nov 14th 2016 at 01:22:47 v8driver
Might may not make right but it eliminates (obviates) the need to argue about it! I forget where i saw this quote:”first among equals, the rest being dead”
“By the way, Gro Jo, “might makes right” is something Hitler believed. Force of arms is never a way to determine moral correctness.”
So did Napoleon Bonaparte, your hero, and anybody else who wielded power. Don’t bore me with your Sunday morning sermonizing.
Where the hell is my reply to Afrofem?
Correction: “that a £24,460 handbag was “too expensive”.”
“that’s small comfort to a non-black person with bullets being pumped through his veins. “
Even less comfort to the usual Black targets of police violence.
The rate of Black people murdered by the State is beyond “unconscionable”, it is criminal.
The point of the Thucydides quote was to show that unless you have power, you don’t get to voice an opinion, since you’ve got nothing to back that opinion with. Why do you think the USA hesitated to get involved militarily in Syria when it had no such qualms about Libya?
The point of the “white privilege” concept was not to argue that Oprah Winfrey is more disadvantaged than a white homeless woman sleeping on a park bench. The point is to compare each with their peers. Oprah Winfrey, for all her fame and wealth, still is subjected to biased and discriminatory treatment compared to her white peers.
That example Afrofem gave of a store clerk refusing to bring an item out from the counter to be examined? That isn’t just something that occurs at Oprah Winfrey’s level. I know a lot of PoC (including my spouse) who’ve had that experience with items under $1000, even as low as $200 (jewelry, watches, designer shoes, camera lenses, musical instruments, etc.). I’ve never once had that happen to me and it’s not even something in the back of my head as a possibility when I ask to examine an item, even when it d*mn well isn’t something I can afford.
Perhaps privilege wasn’t the best word to use for the concept since many people feel it has connotations of wealth and ease. But I can’t think of an equivalent word that wouldn’t also be objected to by white people trying to deny the effects of racism in this society and how they themselves benefit from those effects in ways that non-whites do not.
White privilege is not a guarantee of individual success, it is a systemic and societal competitive edge.
If you focus only on individual stories, you can always find exceptions and outliers. Powell’s ascension had more to do with his proving his mettle (his merit) over a period of years. He didn’t skip over Whites as much as rising like cream in spite of his lack of skin privilege. Likewise the case of jewel thief nonpareil, Doris Payne.
My focus is at the systems level. At that level, individual actions, attitudes and aptitudes are less important than institutional traditions (“this is how we have always done things”) and how one organization interacts with other organizations (“do we really want a Black salesman to represent our firm; what would that say to our prospects and customers?”). Those systems have tangible effects on the lives of millions of ordinary people, benefiting some because of skin color and disadvantaging others for the same reason.
If aggression and competition are a priority for a person or society, then might makes right—-to them. However, if peace and cooperation are a priority, might creates long lasting (and I would argue, unnecessary) pain and suffering that tumble down through centuries and generations. Everyone sees that according to their own personality and history. To me, might and aggression never make right; the consequences are not worth the pain.
That works only when competing against 12% of the population and does nothing for competition taking place between whites. This white privilege should, at least, prevent Whites from falling below the level of Blacks, and prevent blacks from ever rising above the white norm, if it really works. Can you categorically state that it does? If you can, tell me how it does so.
“Powell’s ascension had more to do with his proving his mettle (his merit) over a period of years.” Because he was twice as good as his white competitors? How could you possibly know that? The idea that a black person must be twice as good as others to get ahead is a much loved trope of the black middle class. I doubt its veracity. Your explanation of Powell’s and Payne’s success is no explanation. All you did was repeat that they were able to do what they did because they were good at their crafts, yet, your privilege argument would lead one to expect whites to shut them down way before they accomplished what they did. Could it be that white privilege isn’t as efficient as your argument would lead one to believe?
“My focus is at the systems level. At that level, individual actions, attitudes and aptitudes are less important than institutional traditions (“this is how we have always done things”) and how one organization interacts with other organizations (“do we really want a Black salesman to represent our firm; what would that say to our prospects and customers?”).”
My question to you is: Do you believe that such questions are prevalent in this era? Usually, people who discriminate don’t raise such questions, they simply find other,seemingly plausible reasons to turn down a black prospect.
“If aggression and competition are a priority for a person or society, then might makes right—-to them.” Put that way, you’ll get no argument from me. You only repeated what I said before. Thomas Jefferson might have found slavery to be ‘wrong’ in the abstract but vital for maintaining his lifestyle.
“Really surprised about the extent of the mischaracterization of Abagond’s support of the candidates by some of the commenters. “
I am not surprised. They are dichotomous thinkers: if you think Trump is bad, then you must think Hillary is good. As if real life was like a Hollywood movie with bad guys and good guys. If only life were that simple.
Trump’s new strategic advisor.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/11/why-its-fair-and-necessary-call-trumps-chief-strategist-stephen-bannon-white-nationalist
on Tue Nov 15th 2016 at 09:51:41 Joe
http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/?p=142581
on Tue Nov 15th 2016 at 11:20:15 nomad
JoeJoeJoe
Great interview! Too bad it’s Russia TV. Straight up Putin propaganda. Even though, you know, a lot of people on their are Americans. Like Chris Hedges and Larry King,, Jesse Ventura and lesser known Americans. Still, the people on it have no independent agency and are pawns of Putin. Even if they are Americans. So forget it.
I did notice that here was yet another obviously well informed interviewee that thought Hillary was planning war with Russia. But again, it’s Russia TV. Putin probably made him say that.
on Tue Nov 15th 2016 at 17:30:18 munubantu
Months ago I expressed my predictions of what a Trump era would look like,
https://abagond.wordpress.com/2016/03/19/donald-trump-quotes-about-black-people/#comment-311889
In the months and even years to come I’ll come back to those predictions to see which ones materialized and which ones not.
Right now, even before the new President began to exert his power, something is already clear: racist individuals are increasingly outing themselves in even bolder ways. See for example,
https://www.yahoo.com/news/official-west-virginia-leave-racist-obama-post-132100329.html
This wave will gain more momentum with time and represents a materialization of the prediction,
* Racism will most likely increase and with it some other social fractures of the American society; minorities will find themselves within a more rarefied social environment;
One unknown remains, nevertheless: how will Trump react to such crude expressions of racism by his fans?
At first sight, it would appear that he would be glad to see them doing this but, being the new Father of the nation he will more likely want every of his children to behave properly/orderly and not put the whole Family under a bad light. In fact Trump has already expressed something in that direction. I only hope that the weight of statesmanship will force him to act in this same way further in the future as a President.
Only the future will tell…
on Tue Nov 15th 2016 at 22:54:20 gro jo
Thanks for the laugh. Trump took power to execute a program. What is that program? I suspect it has something to do with destroying the rest of the New Deal and Great Society programs enacted in the 1930s and 1960s. How people talk, racist or not, is secondary.
Ok, why the hell did my comment go in moderation purgatory?
Nothing from you is currently in moderation or the spam filter.
Donald Trump, the era of bad hair days!
I just read an essay about the choices facing everyone during the Trump Era. According to John Feffer, a foreign policy scholar and director of Foreign Policy in Focus, there are two primary factions of the anti-Trump camp: those who will try to engage with the Trump administration to the point of accommodation and those who are prepared for massive resistance to Trump policies.
Feffer makes it clear that he falls in the resistance camp. His position is closest to those “anti-politics” position of dissidents living in the former Soviet bloc. Feffer elaborates:
“It was, as history turned out, the right position. Non-cooperation with the Communist regimes gradually undermined their legitimacy, and they collapsed. […]
We can organize to blunt Trump’s power two years from now. We can mobilize to defeat Trump four years from now. And, more importantly, we can do whatever we can outside the voting booth to throw sand into the gears of the Trump juggernaut.”
http://www.ips-dc.org/case-non-cooperation-trump/
The next four years (or more) will be very ugly in America. We can try to cooperate, try to wait out Trump or we can resist Trump inspired ugliness at every turn.
Update: Another silver lining of the Trump Era is that maybe the White Liberal press will stop turning a blind eye to stuff like drones, mass deportations and weakening human rights.
on Tue Nov 22nd 2016 at 11:42:01 abagond
“Donald Trump probably won’t cancel elections, but he could — and is relatively likely to — oversee a sweeping rollback of voting rights. His administration may not throw journalists in jail, but it could easily step up surveillance of domestic protesters. His appointees may not entrench a permanent oligarchy, but it could still — for millions of people in America — reduce the willingness and ability to participate in public life to zero.
These wouldn’t flout the law; they’d be under color of it and even in concert with it. But they would, nonetheless, be a tragedy for democracy.”
http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/11/21/13664922/trump-normalization-dictator
on Tue Nov 29th 2016 at 21:22:20 Afrofem
I recently read an eye opening article by Masha Gessen in the The New York Review of Books with the title, Autocracy: Rules for Survival. Ms. Gessen lays out six rules for ” surviving in an autocracy and salvaging your sanity and self-respect.”
Rule #1: Believe the autocrat. “He means what he says. Whenever you find yourself thinking, or hear others claiming, that he is exaggerating, that is our innate tendency to reach for a rationalization…humans seem to have evolved to practice denial when confronted publicly with the unacceptable.”
Rule #2: Do not be taken in by small signs of normality. “Panic can be neutralized by falsely reassuring words about how the world as we know it has not ended. It is a fact that the world did not end on November 8 nor at any previous time in history. Yet history has seen many catastrophes, and most of them unfolded over time. That time included periods of relative calm.”
Rule #3: Institutions will not save you. “It took Putin a year to take over the Russian media and four years to dismantle its electoral system; the judiciary collapsed unnoticed. The capture of institutions in Turkey has been carried out even faster, by a man once celebrated as the democrat…”
Rule #4: Be outraged. “…in the face of the impulse to normalize, it is essential to maintain one’s capacity for shock. […] Trump will be able to move fast [and]… he will become accustomed to an unusually high level of political support. He will want to maintain and increase it—his ideal is the totalitarian-level popularity numbers of Vladimir Putin—and the way to achieve that is through [social] mobilization. There will be more wars, abroad and at home.
Rule #5: Don’t make compromises. “…damage cannot be minimized, much less reversed, when mobilization is the goal—but worse, it will be soul-destroying. In an autocracy, politics as the art of the possible is in fact utterly amoral. ”
Rule #6: Remember the future. “Failure to imagine the future may have lost the Democrats this election. They offered no vision of the future to counterbalance Trump’s all-too-familiar white-populist vision of an imaginary past.”
http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2016/11/10/trump-election-autocracy-rules-for-survival/
◎◎◎◎◎◎◎◎◎◎◎◎◎◎◎◎◎◎◎◎◎◎◎◎◎◎◎◎◎◎◎◎◎◎◎◎◎
Masha Gesson’s bio can be found here:
http://www.nytimes.com/column/masha-gessen
Excellent. Thank you.
on Mon Dec 5th 2016 at 05:22:48 jefe
No one seemed to take notice of Trump’s recent telephone call with Taiwan’s Tsai Ying-wen, the first time in some 40 years. It seems that the western press labels it as one of the greatest threats (and the biggest one so far) to international diplomacy, whereas mainland Chinese press chalks it up to ineptitude from Trump and deviousness of the DPP on Taiwan.
I think it is neither.
on Mon Dec 5th 2016 at 11:03:10 munubantu
And it is what, in your opinion?
It seems to signal a very significant change of attitude from US regarding Taiwan and PRChina that it’s likely to take form in a Trump’s Presidency. Maybe a support for an increased self-reliance of Taiwan vis-a-vis the government in Beijing.
Globally, I feel that the new USA administration will lessen tensions in its relations with Russia and, in the same time, increase tensions in its relations to China.
Let’s wait and see.
re: munubantu
I feel that the new USA administration will lessen tensions in its relations with Russia and, in the same time, increase tensions in its relations to China.
Yes, my thinking is along these lines. We have already seen many signs and symbols of this and we will see more in the weeks and months to come.
on Mon Dec 5th 2016 at 18:26:55 TeddyBearDaddy
I don’t think it’s China’s business what Taiwan discusses with Trump. It’s petty garbage. Who cares. Taiwan is a tech island, Nvidia etc.. It should be a free world.
on Mon Dec 5th 2016 at 20:11:33 v8driver
remember when it said taiwan PRC on the instructions
on Fri Dec 9th 2016 at 14:52:17 jefe
This is the only article I found so far in the western press that suggests this policy shift:
Putin calls Trump a smart man and backs him on Taiwan controversy
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/putin-calls-trump-smart-man-backs-him-taiwan-controversy-1594836
You mean Taiwan, ROC, right? I have never seen Taiwan, PRC outside of the PRC itself.
A follow up article in that same online source suggests this also.
Beijing’s cherished ‘One China’ dream is over – Taiwan will no longer be a pariah state
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/beijings-cherished-one-china-dream-over-taiwan-will-no-longer-be-pariah-state-1595263
Of course this article is very op-ed ish and written by one of the exiled 1989 tiananmen Students, so it must be considered to be pure opinion, but it is still good to consider the points. The western liberal press has blasted the whole affair as ineptitude and maybe even the end of the world, but even before I saw these articles, I could not say that.
If Trump’s engagement with Taiwan and his subsequent anti-China tweets solidify into a new policy posture, Beijing will feel compelled to do something, but – accustomed to getting its way – it will find itself in uncharted waters and without a ready plan of action.
China might simultaneously ratchet up tensions with Taiwan and harden its stance against the US geopolitically, but with Trump apparently keen to warm ties with Russia, it will find itself with few allies other than those that are for sale. There is little leverage left to economically hurt Taiwan and a trade war with the US would hurt China as much – if not more – than the latter.
Maybe China has some more cards up its sleeve that will not hurt it economically, and hit the USA in some soft spot, but I can think of a lot of cards that the USA has. Republicans have castigated Obama for years for being soft on China, and maybe Trump is their man. Besides Russia and Pakistan, China has been playing its cards with SE Asia. It seems that Trump is seeking to disrupt this.
China could ban imports from Norway for the Nobel Peace Prize to Liu xiao bo, but it would not do things like that to the USA. It could buy up support from a couple dozen countries like Togo, Senegal, Kenya, Vanuatu and *maybe* Malaysia to impose sanctions? Its card might be North Korea.
on Fri Dec 9th 2016 at 15:46:06 nomad
abagond said
“another silver lining of the Trump Era is that maybe the White Liberal press will stop turning a blind eye to stuff like drones, mass deportations and weakening human rights.”
must be a closet trump supporter
on Fri Dec 9th 2016 at 17:06:20 v8driver
@jefe yes, probably, it’s been a while!
“Trump may end up being more viable in November than I originally thought. This will garner lefties living in contested states more lectures on our solemn duty to block “fascism” by voting for a right-wing fanatic (Hillary Clinton) – for a warmongering enemy of workers and the environment, a friend of Wall Street and “free trade” (the corporate Clinton wing of the Democratic Party defeated efforts to insert opposition to the TPP into the party’s platform), and a genuine threat to launch World War III. When I reject that counsel and Trump wins, if he does, I am not going to take the blame for the ascendancy of the Donald. Sorry. The dismal dollar Dems and their left enablers will have a lot more to answer for on that score.”
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/07/08/dont-blame-me-if-trump-wins/
on Fri Dec 9th 2016 at 17:36:45 Afrofem
A silver lining for Taiwan?
that, BTW, was another episode of Clinton was leading us to war with russia
Just read this no nonsense opinion piece by Charles M. Blow in the New York Times. Titled Trump: Madman of the Year, Blow fans away the smoke and smashes the mirrors surrounding the Pres.-elect.
Choice words:
“Trump is running two post-campaign campaigns: one high and one low, one of frivolity and one of enormous consequence.
One is a campaign of bread and circuses — tweets, rallies, bombast about random issues of the moment, all meant to distract and excite — and the other is the constant assemblage of a cabinet full of fat cats and “mad dog” generals, a virtual aviary of vultures and hawks. […]
I feel like America is being flashed by a giant neuralyzer, à la “Men In Black.” We are in danger of forgetting what has happened and losing sight, in the fog of confusion and concealment, of the profundity of the menace taking shape right before us.”
From the artical Afrofem posted:
“The question hanging in the air, the issue that we must vigilantly monitor, is whether the emerging shoots of egalitarianism in this country will be stomped out by the jackboot of revitalized authoritarianism.”
It’s like watching a wreck that’s about to happen. You know it could be fatal but hope instead that no one gets injured.
Trumps team is made up of some Authortarian figures so the potential for civil liberties and constitutional protections being abused is high. But I keep telling myself that what I’m seeing, though potentially bad, doesn’t necessarily mean it will lead down the path of facisim. I’m in denial.
We will have a better perspective six months from now what a Trump presidency will really mean. He currently is an unknown quality because of his lack of politicale history but who he is surrounding himself with doesn’t look good.
I suspect a lot of people are in denial. Some respond by trying to change the subject. Some lash out in anger and frustration. Some are trying to stay on even keel by reading about how other people in other places and times dealt with similar social collapses; searching for survival clues and means of resistance.
The slow motion plane crash feeling of these times bring to mind of the words of the Methodist minister, Reverend Phil Lawson:
“When you are down and depressed, or hurting or grieving, the most powerful thing you can do to sustain yourself is to get up and go do something for someone else who is hurting.
Freedom isn’t the opposite of slavery… the opposite of slavery is community.
The mistreatment of any part of the community leads to the mistreatment of the entire community. When a community is divided against itself, that community is weakened and subject to the control of others.
On the other hand, welcoming and inclusion of all community members leads to a community made whole —– and possessing genuine freedom.”
That picture is hilarious!
My prediction? Trump will be impeached/asked to step down within the year. Seriously.
on Wed Dec 14th 2016 at 10:54:35 jefe
It is one thing suggesting that the status quo with Taiwan should be re-examined.
It is quite another to use the island republic as a bargaining chip or pawn to get China to make concessions on other things in Trump’s interest. Gee, those are real people who would have to live with whatever the aftermath would be.
on Wed Dec 14th 2016 at 17:54:48 Herneith
http://www.thespoof.com/spoof-news/entertainment-gossip/127236/trump-announces-new-cabinet-appointees-coincidentally-most-are-former-celebrity-apprentice-contestants
on Fri Dec 23rd 2016 at 16:50:49 Afrofem
Just read former Labor Secretary, Robert B. Reich’s article for resisting Trump. Labeled The First 100 Day Resistance Agenda, Reich lists 14 ideas for slowing the Trump train on the tracks.
My favorite: #3 Boycott all Trump products, real estate, hotels, resorts, everything. And then boycott all stores (like Nordstrom) that carry merchandise from Trump family brands.
http://robertreich.org/post/153401540180
This suckers got his finger in a lot of pies!
http://www.trump.com/merchandise/trump-home/
on Fri Jan 27th 2017 at 18:32:33 Solitaire
So, yesterday some white jack@ss walked up to my spouse and asked him when he was going to start building Trump’s wall.
We’re trying to think up a witty comeback for the next time. Any ideas?
It’s going to be a long four years.
Next time a white donkey comes up and ask that question, reply thusly:
“As soon as you get pregnant”. I’m presuming it was a man that said this.
on Sat Jan 28th 2017 at 18:58:00 Solitaire
“I’m presuming it was a man that said this.
Absolutely. Otherwise it would have been a jenny @ss!
on Sat Jan 28th 2017 at 21:39:16 munubantu
Maybe isn’t about they (the Whites) lacking sense but trying they last move to avoid becoming a minority. Some of them surely believe that the cause of changing demographics in the USA relies on wrong politics practiced for many years by both Democrats and Republicans. Eventually, they believe, by changing course on immigration’s rules, they can avoid that fate. And here President Trump fits quite well. He is the new Messiah of White Nationalists.
Unsettling for whom, may I ask? Blacks, maybe?
I copied that paragraph because I would like to initiate a conversation (if Abagond allows me) about Black politics vis-a-vis other racial groups, besides the White majority. I have tried to search this blog and I haven’t yet found a post where the explicit topic was the position of Black Americans in relation to Latinos and Asians, groups with a far larger percent of members with feet in two worlds so to speak. There are many Asians and Latinos who are newcomers. Certainly far more than Blacks.
What do Blacks really want?
Maybe, that the USA demographic make-up changes as the current trends suggest, in order to bring a new situation where the Whites become, once and for all, a minority, like others, and, as such, learn to respect others, this is, become less racist? And in such a case, ‘welcome people from all over the World to the promised land’ where even racism became a thing of the past?
Or is it something else that Blacks have in mind?
This is not a rhetorical question. In other places (countries) people who see themselves as not having yet received their fair share of the cake in their respective societies, are the ones who are the most ardent nationalistic, and even sometimes openly xenophobic. They fear foreigners because, they think, falsely or not, that the arrival of newcomers will make even harder for them to receive their part of the national wealth. One case that happened in my part of the World, quite recently, was the outburst of xenophobia in the Republic of South Africa in 2014. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenophobia_in_South_Africa). What a significant part of the White American population is feeling today appears to follow the same course.
I can’t defend those behaviors but it seems quite common and widespread worldwide.
Therefore my perplexity: why many Black Americans – at least the intellectuals – seem to want more immigration to their country than the White populace? Are they aware that those foreigners once settled and turned American citizens can become themselves racist against Blacks, and therefore, instead of adding to the fight against anti-Black racism, on the contrary, contribute to the aggravation of the social situation of Blacks, in the long run?
What is best for Blacks, really?
This is just a little bit provocation and some food for thought…
on Thu Feb 2nd 2017 at 01:26:38 Afrofem
I suspect you haven’t had any takers on this question because it is very much a “kitchen table” conversation that Black people have with each other. Not a topic we discuss much publicly.
Black intellectuals have a high minded social justice agenda that is welcoming to all people. The rest of the Black population runs the gamut of xenophobe at one extreme to xenophile at the other. For the great middle, feelings about immigrants are contradictory, complex and ambivalent.
What would be best for Black people? Treat all immigrants like White people do: designate them as the “other” and keep them away from us. Fight them tooth and nail to keep them from taking our jobs and appropriating our spaces. Keep economic exploiters out of our neighborhoods. Become insular and highly discriminating toward all outsiders.
Black people can’t seem to do that and more because we are too soft hearted and accepting. Black people don’t want to act like White people because we consider their attitudes and actions despicable; not a positive model to follow.
That may change in the future.
on Wed Feb 8th 2017 at 12:13:55 Fan ...
“Unlike Asians or Latinos, the overwhelming majority of Blacks in America already have their foot in the door. It only makes sense to pull the drawbridge up after themselves to keep their seat next to the White man.”
I see you’re still poking your blood-sucking yet pale face out from under your coffin based home. Are you not getting enough deep living dead sleep??
If you paid as much attention to the research/data as you do to your ever ongoing hysteria against all things Black, you’d be able to rest QUIETLY in peace – and stop making these outlandish and ridiculous accusations that annoys even Buffy!
on Wed Feb 8th 2017 at 12:51:49 resw
Lots of accusations and not a shred of evidence as usual.
And although you, in true racist fashion, think Afrofem is representative of all black people, you don’t even know that he or she is black in the first place.
Abagond once wrote a post about “black sock puppets,” and one of the red flags was:
“Use a name that seems “black” or “African”, like “Trinidad African” or “Naija Girl”.”
So your racist comment was not only based on your own prejudices and hate, but on your faulty assumptions about a possible “black sock puppet.”
on Sun Feb 12th 2017 at 23:19:10 Kartoffel
@ An Scríbhneor Gael-Mheiricéanach
The election of Steinmeier doesn’t say anything as theGerman Ferderal President is not elected directly but by federal members of parliament and state delegates. Also he doesn’t hold political power so they will always pick the least controversial candidate. As you pointed out the real reckoning will be the federal diet election. It is very unlikely that there will be a change in power, but that is exactly the problem. It’s not unplausible to say that germany is where France and Austria were 15 years ago.
on Mon Feb 13th 2017 at 21:01:48 Kartoffel
For the forseeable future they have no chance. Currently they are at 10-15% in the polls (which is very strong for a new party, very few new parties were ever successful in Germany). Proportional voting ensures that any party other CDU/CSU cannot hope of getting into office (on the federal level) without a coalition. And that seems completly impossible with the current leadership in either the AfD or any other party. But 15 years ago Front Natinal seemed to be far from power as well.
For various reasons the situation in Germany is not as dire as in other Western countries, but we certainly have the same gerneral problem: the traditional parties don’t have many differences anymore and even seem to like to govern together (which was rare before). But when left-wingers are kind of ok with the conservative party and vice-versa, who will those vote for who don’t like the status quo? There is pretty much only the far-left Die Linke.
on Tue Feb 14th 2017 at 22:23:57 Kartoffel
That certainly was a factor in the past. There have been many attempts to form parties right to the Christian Democrats, all unsuccessful until now. The open support by fascists has always been the kiss of death for these parties, because then conservative voters left. If it will work for the AfD to attract both conservative and far-right voters is a bit of an open question. They already came close to self-destruction when the (liberal-conservative) original leadership around Bernd Lucke left. Then they were saved by the refugee crisis. Currently the leadership tries to expell a leader of the right party wing because he critized how Germany deals with the Holocaust. Short of open Holocaust denial that is an old idea of the far-right and a red flag for conservative voters.
on Tue Feb 14th 2017 at 23:56:33 Afrofem
Gales of laughter!!!
This is in response to your comment on the Doomsday Clock thread:
https://abagond.wordpress.com/2017/02/10/doomsday-clock/#comment-365361
In order for Trump and his supporters to bring about an autocracy, they will have to subdue the general population. If large swaths of the general population is still resisting Trump six months or a year from now, that resistance will give cover to journalists, comedians, government workers and ordinary citizens to expose and excoriate Trump and the Repubs for their many lies.
Subduing the population generally easy to accomplish. Only time will tell.
P.S. I already don’t trust much of what the NY Times, The Washington Post, NPR or The Atlantic present as news. I think of it as corporate pablum.
I know I still have not given a proper answer to your comment, but in the meantime it has inspired two posts:
https://abagond.wordpress.com/2017/02/17/do-brown-lives-matter/
https://abagond.wordpress.com/2017/02/02/the-cosmopolitan-model-of-us-society/
on Sat Feb 18th 2017 at 09:40:26 munubantu
I know I still have not given a proper answer to your comment, but in the meantime it has inspired two posts
Yes, I noticed and I appreciate your efforts to address the questions I rose.
“I don’t think subduing the general population can happen if the general population is vigilant.”
It will take more than vigilance to face down the unfettered violence and corrosive propaganda the State has at its disposal. That will likely include a mobilization of a civilian corps or paramilitary groups that have achieved success against resistant populations in other countries and in other eras.
I hope you are right, but I’m in “wait and see” mode right now.
on Thu Feb 23rd 2017 at 17:30:53 v8driver
Pope francis can sit down, or kneel, perhaps — no migrants coming to vatican city, i’m pretty sure.
on Wed Mar 1st 2017 at 19:07:08 Afrofem
Just read a review of Trump’s State of the Union address last night on McClatchyDC news site. They praised Trump for behaving normally and presidential.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/white-house/article135661418.html
One commenter on the site had this response:
“Trump sounded presidential because he stayed on script, didn’t insult too many people and resisted tossing his poo at the gallery?!? How low are we going to set the bar for him?”
Laugh out loud funny, but it also makes you think about how long a Black man or woman who behaves like Trump would last in the same situation. My guess is that they would never have gotten within 100 miles of the presidency. Heck, any Black person who acts like Trump would be in prison right now.
White privilege writ large.
Too much hilarity:
r8drhb4nwrwzqpifgvuz.png
Too much hilarity
Hilarity is a fantastic panacea!
I didn’t realize Trump had such large buttocks!
on Thu Apr 27th 2017 at 03:21:04 Yogibreeze
Obama was a disaster. Give this man a faur chance.
on Fri Jun 30th 2017 at 03:08:56 Afrofem
Last month, the Mozilla Blog (the company behind the Firefox browser) published an article about FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s proposal to scrap Net Neutrality for the internet. Pai, an Obama appointee, is a former Verizon lawyer. Trump named him Chairman of the FCC in January.
According to Mozilla Blog writer, Denelle Dixon, Chairman Pai’s proposal would:
“[undo]…years of progress leading up to 2015’s net neutrality protections. The 2015 rules properly place ISPs (Internet Service Providers) under “Title II” of the Communications Act of 1934, and through that well-tested basis of legal authority, prohibit ISPs from engaging in paid prioritization and blocking or throttling of web content, applications and services. These rules ensured a more open, healthy Internet.
Pai’s proposal removes the 2015 protections and re-re-classifies ISPs under “Title I,” which courts already have determined is insufficient for ensuring a truly neutral net. The result: ISPs would be able to once again prioritize, block and throttle with impunity. This means fewer opportunities for startups and entrepreneurs, and a chilling effect on innovation, free expression and choice online.”
https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2017/05/18/one-step-closer-closed-internet/
In addition to ring fencing the internet, earlier this year, Chairman Pai made cuts to a Reagan era phone subsidy program called Lifeline. This program provided low income Americans with a $9.25 a month credit to purchase broadband internet service. Writing for Media Matters for America, Craig Harrington, described the propaganda push to deep six Lifeline:
“In 2012, Fox News began pushing the conspiracy theory that President Obama was using the Lifeline program to distribute free phones in black communities in exchange for votes based on an out-of-context video of a single overzealous Obama supporter. The so-called “Obamaphones” program became such a frequent target on Fox News that Obama brought it up in May 2015 as an example of how Fox’s fearmongering coverage of poverty stokes animosity toward the poor.
During one particularly tone deaf instance, Fox contributor Charles Payne claimed the phone subsidy program was tantamount to “further enslavement of the poor” just weeks after Obama had harangued the network’s over-the-top rhetoric. When the FCC decided to further expand the program in 2016 to keep up with changing technologies — it was established under Reagan to cover landlines, expanded by President Bush to cover cell phones, and expanded under Obama to cover internet services — the pump had already been primed for outrage.”
https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2017/02/03/fcc-decision-reduce-internet-subsidy-low-income-americans-comes-straight-fox-news/215235
A miniscule subsidy of $9.25 per month for broadband and cellphones for low income folks morphs into “vote buying” and “enslavement”. Talk about heated rhetoric!
⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️
Prior to the 2015 FCC reclassification of internet service providers as Title II common carriers, the US public waged a furious campaign with ISP’s and their supporters. Over four million Americans wrote FCC comments, called the FCC and Congress, sent boxloads of petitions and demonstrated in Washington D.C..
With Chairman Pai’s latest move, the American public is back to square one. The 90 day comment period for this rule change is open until mid-August, 2017.
Mozilla Blog has a comment form attached to the article linked above. It is also possible to comment directly to the FCC:
https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/filings/express
on Fri Jun 30th 2017 at 12:22:00 Mack Lyons (@DDSSBlog)
Ajit Pai’s next stop after his FCC gig is the same as nearly every other chairman’s: a cushy consultant’s position within one of the big telcos
The result: ISPs would be able to once again prioritize, block and throttle with impunity. This means fewer opportunities for startups and entrepreneurs, and a chilling effect on innovation, free expression and choice online.
This all boils down to three things:
1) The major telcos (Comcast, Verizon, AT&T) see Hulu, Netflix and other independent on-demand streaming services cutting into their margins for DVR/set-top box cable services. In other words, Comcast, et al. is pulling out all the stops to drag people away from Netflix/Hulu in favor of its own on-demand services, even if that means shaping and throttling network packets clearly identified as being Hulu/Netflix traffic to degrade and interrupt those services.
2) The major telcos would love nothing more than to cut off uppity upstarts like Google Fiber at the knees, because competition means lower profit margins because you actually have to stop resting on your laurels and start investing in infrastructure improvements again. I’ve always thought the telcos missed the days when it could just sit on their old copper telephony infrastructure until the end of time and rake in pure profit from various services.
3) Information isn’t just free, but it’s too free. The whole idea of flooding the Internet with false facts and fake news is just one way of counteracting overliteracy among the lumpenproletariat. The other involves slowing down and shutting down parts of the Internet until it resembles an AOL walled garden again, with only approved channels and subject matter. Seems far-fetched, but stranger things have happened…
“I’ve always thought the telcos missed the days when it could just sit on their old copper telephony infrastructure until the end of time and rake in pure profit from various services.”
Agreed. It is telling that instead of investing in more efficient infrastructure or deploying fiber, etc. throughout rural and inner city America to universalize broadband, the major telcos are purely focused on fighting competition and squashing innovation. They still refuse to change their business models.
That seems to be the way all US business is run these days. They try to achieve monopoly status, push for “deregulation” of their industry and put the milking machine on their preferred customers. If you are not the “target demographic” (affluent urban/suburban), you are kicked to the curb and ignored.
on Fri Jun 30th 2017 at 18:15:45 munubantu
Man, you have a real President in the USA! A tweeting President!
It’s unbelievable!
(https://www.yahoo.com/news/morning-jolt-trump-tweets-attacks-psycho-joe-scarborough-crazy-mika-brzezinski-142043869.html)
(https://www.yahoo.com/news/not-normal-trump-attack-tweets-brzezinski-scarborough-spark-cable-news-outrage-140422466.html)
After 8 years where a Black President – Barack Obama – was harshly criticized both by racist conservatives (not believing yet that their Nation had a Black President => kind a bad dream turned reality!), and a certain Left which demanded or expected much, much more from him, well, after all these years, a true White becomes President (as it should be, after all; are Whites not the majority?) and do you know what:
It seems that God is playing the cynic with His creatures and their beliefs!
This new President is misbehaving… misbehaving… repeatedly!
For dismay of many White citizens! He behaves even worse than the despicable Blacks usually (?) do. Eventually worse than the African savages, who knows?!
The rest of the World is watching in amusement!
Maybe Abagond could consider a dissertation about this…
His entertainment value is a double edged sword. While some Americans are laughing at his toddler antics, others are aware that those same antics can be a distraction from him fulfilling his agenda———-a project that is ongoing.
Better to tune him out and pay attention to what is going on in the background, like the attack on net neutrality orchestrated by his minions.
on Tue Jul 11th 2017 at 00:09:20 Mack Lyons (@DDSSBlog)
I dare say The Donald is America’s first Reality TV president. We Americans do love our guilt-free entertainment, even if we don’t realize the entire house is falling in around us while we’re glued to the screen.
on Tue Jul 11th 2017 at 01:25:46 Mary Burrell
on Thu Aug 3rd 2017 at 22:25:56 munubantu
“I look around and… I see leaks, leaks, leaks everywhere!”
Definitively, President Trump made a mistake when he decided to pick a fight with the press. This mistake can eventually cost him the presidency.
You can’t win a fight with the press. Period.
Even if you are a dedicated tweeter!
They will search, again and again, everything about you and your deeds, past and present, bold and significant or small and irrelevant, to get you!
I’m not even sure that in a such circumstances you can sleep well at night or concentrate in real, important political and social issues.
Look at what they do to make you look bad:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/politics/australia-mexico-transcripts/?utm_term=.62ab07c00ab8
There are no state secrets or even discretion anymore!
And when there is no stinking secrete to unearth, they are busy calling you bad epithets, like, for example bully in chief:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2017/08/03/the-bully-in-chief-is-losing-his-touch/
Frankly, it’s bad.
Remembers me what some people tried to do with Obama when they insisted in doubting his citizenship. Again and again, repeatedly, to exhaustion.
This way the guy in command instead of concentrating himself with important issues of the nation, get his attention continuously diverted to side issues. I would prefer that the critic focused in central issues instead of lateral ones!
on Thu Aug 10th 2017 at 15:52:42 Afrofem
Today in DC: giant inflatable chicken w orange combover mysteriously appears at 1600 Pennsylvania?!? hmm… (photo… twitter.com/i/web/status/8…—
madeline dayton (@DaytonMadeline) August 09, 2017
photo/
Hope this shows up….
on Thu Sep 7th 2017 at 19:31:11 Mr. Keyes
I looked at some of the older posts slamming and denigrating Pres. Obama, calling him sell-out, rented Negro. Okay.
All the older poster were so self-rightous, so full of themselves, because THEY KNEW they were RIGHT about Pres. Obama.
There is now, basically, an avowed racist as President of the US.
He speaks as a racist, and acts as a racist.
There is his counterpart, in North Korea.
Do not be distracted; if there is an exchange, we will be fortunate
if it is not an ELE. For a clear example of the slow death, see the old
movie version of “On The Beach”, with Gergory Peck and Ava Garner.
For a newer, keep-you-awake-at-night version, see “The Morning After”.
If you didn’t vote for Hillary, it means you voted and/or allowed
“On The Beach” to happen. It is the reality of what we are now facing.
Two fools, with fingers over The Button.
A quick death, or a slow, lingering one. . .
Silencio et Veritas
on Wed Dec 13th 2017 at 09:27:24 munubantu
Oh man, oh man…
http://edition.cnn.com/2017/12/12/politics/usa-today-editorial-analysis/index.html
Decency is long deserted the White House…
… and some people are becoming increasingly angry!
on Thu Mar 15th 2018 at 15:47:38 munubantu
Trump has finally decided to do something against the old adversary, Mother Russia.
After much hesitation and even probably against his innermost will he decided to punish Russia.
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/03/15/politics/russia-sanctions-trump-yevgeniy-viktorovich-prigozhin/index.html
Coincidence or not this happens in a time where the reputation of Russia has reached a new low, in some quarters, because they suspect Russia has recently carried out surgical chemical weapons attacks in British soil.
on Tue Apr 3rd 2018 at 10:16:52 munubantu
Uau… so pure and good looking we were (are)!
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/04/02/opinions/white-house-interns-so-white-ben-ghiat/index.html
But, in the meantime, at other latitudes, racist attitudes aren’t tolerated anymore… my bad!
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/03/29/africa/south-african-vicki-momberg-sentencing/index.html
Kudos to that comedienne who roasted Sarah Huckabee-Sanders and the rest of the ghouls in the Trump administration. All of them crying with their hurt feelings. This made my Sunday see the look on Huckabee-Sanders hatchet face. They all got blasted with the truth and couldn’t handle it. It was glorious.
on Wed May 2nd 2018 at 12:50:30 Herneith
I approve the above post, LOL! I watched the segment also and it was indeed hilarious. If you are a public figure and cannot stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. Besides, much of what she said was true.
on Wed May 2nd 2018 at 13:14:07 Mary Burrell
Comedienne Michelle Wolf is the real MVP👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿
on Tue Aug 6th 2019 at 03:36:41 munubantu
Wow, amazing, me hearing the current POTUS condemning unequivocally White Supremacy as source of domestic terrorism in the USA!
That, I was not expecting!
And in doing so he turns himself, eventually (correct me if I am wrong) in the first White President in the USA to openly condemn such thing. History happening…
on Tue Aug 6th 2019 at 05:07:28 Solitaire
He’s not the first:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.history.com/.amp/this-day-in-history/harding-publicly-condemns-lynching
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/aug/21/us-government-ku-klux-klan-charlottesville
Note in the second article that President Grant actually took military action to destroy the first iteration of the KKK.
on Wed Aug 7th 2019 at 03:29:09 abagond
I really do hope Trump is serious, but I am not holding my breath.
Like Nixon going to China, Trump could move the US forward in a good way in regard to racism. But he seems bent on fanning the flames, which will make the country considerably more dangerous as Whites move towards minority status while armed to the teeth.
Even if he did condemn white nationalism and white supremacy he was not being sincere.
on Wed Aug 21st 2019 at 20:18:49 munubantu
After showing disrespect for Muslims, and then Latinos and then Blacks, the current POTUS turned recently his disrespect against Whites!
Yes, against Whites!
Because how else could one interpret this: in a historically unheard of diplomatic misstep he:
1. planned a visit to Denmark:
2. advanced a shameful proposal to that kingdom (=to buy parts of Greenland) and;
3. after the kingdom rebutted his proposal;
4. dropped the planed visit, at least for a while.
This is incredible!
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/08/21/politics/rufus-gifford-donald-trump-denmark-trip-greenland/index.html
If somebody told me this story I definitely would not believe!
He disrespected Whites because he clearly disrespected the Danes (who are mainly Whites) with a proposal like that to them, and he disrespected the USA citizens (who are mainly Whites too) mixing his particular dealings with affairs of the Nation turning the latter dependent of the former.
It’s like me to:
1. plan a visit to a friend;´
2. a few days before the visit I propose him “to allow me to sleep with his wife”;
3. when he rejects angrily my proposal…;
4. I drop the planned visit and tell him that “no big deal, there is no hurry after all and I’ll come later…”
This is incredible! So many missteps in a so short span of time!
on Wed Aug 21st 2019 at 22:41:35 Mary Burrell
His twisted, insane brain thought he could buy Greenland. And he uses the word “nasty “ a lot about people when he can’t get his way.
on Thu Aug 22nd 2019 at 13:45:28 Herneith
I think his mind is disintegrating!
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BuzzMzansi Latest News
Thulani Hlatshwayo turns 30: Interesting career facts on his birthday
a month ago 128 views by Claudio Leng
Bidvest Wits and Bafana Bafana defender Thulani Hlatswayo celebrates his 30th birthday on Wednesday. Briefly.co.za joins in the festivities as we share some interesting facts about the captain.
Thulani Hlatswayo is yet another prominent PSL player to have been born in Soweto.
The talented Bidvest Wits and Bafana Bafana defender turns 30 on Wednesday and Briefly.co.za decided to share some background information.
Although Hlatswayo was born in Soweto, he never turned out for either of Orlando Pirates or Kaizer Chiefs.
READ ALSO: Shop owners generously offer lonely people hugs and pies for Christmas
Having started his youth career at Senaoane Gunners FC, he eventually joined Ajax Cape Town.
In August 2009, Hlatswayo made his senior debut at Ajax in their 2-1 victory over Orlando Pirates in the MTN 8 tournament.
Hlatswayo spent nearly a decade in the Mother City and speculation mounted as to his next destination.
Although links to the Buccaneers surfaced, the centre-back opted to sign for Bidvest Wits at the start of the 2014/ 2015 season.
READ ALSO: Taxi drivers dress in dresses to support campaign against women abuse
Hlatswayo has been a mainstay ever since and was eventually named as club captain.
Hlatswayo boasts a healthy pedigree as he represented Bafana Bafana at youth level, from under-17 all the way up to under-23.
He eventually earned his maiden call-up to the Bafana senior team in 2013 and was named in the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations squad.
Although, Hlatswayo has never tasted silverware, he has reached two cup finals.
With Wits doing well this season and with many league games in hand, many touted them for success.
However, Briefly.co.za previously reported that coach Gavin Hunt is convinced that Kaizer Chiefs already have one hand on the Absa Premiership.
South Africa Latest NewsSA Soccer NewsUniversity of the Witwatersrand - WITS newsSports Latest News
Rain spider
Gwen Ifeson marries Asian heartthrob Long Ting: Causes stir online
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Cryptocurrency Services Platform BitKan Announces Partnership with Bitcoin.com
Reading Time: 2 minutes by Osato Avan-Nomayo on August 13, 2019 Business
BitKan, a cryptocurrency service provider, has struck a strategic partnership with Bitcoin.com. This deal comes as Bitcoin.com is also set to establish a cryptocurrency trading platform.This according to an article from Crowdfund Insider, August 11, 2019.
Full-Spectrum Cryptocurrency Service Operation
BitKan, the China-based crypto data firm, says the move is part of its plans to offer full-spectrum cryptocurrency services to its clients.
Commenting on the decision to collaborate with Bitcoin.com, company CEO Liu Yang, declared:
“We are delighted to establish a closer relationship with Bitcoin.com. This collaboration will expand the partnership between the two parties, bringing more value to users from both teams. Meanwhile, this brings BitKan a step closer to achieving its goal of globalization, after the launch of the aggregated trading platform to complete the cryptocurrency services ecosystem.”
Since the start of the year, the crypto market appears to have taken on a greater significance within the global business and trading arena. Commentators say there is more institutional interest in the asset class than in previous years.
For BitKan, the hope will be that its collaboration with Bitcoin.com will enable efforts to expand its sphere of influence in the crypto market. Part of this expansion is a move towards trading which Bitcoin.com could prove to be a useful partner.
Recently, the website announced plans for an expansion of its own — with the goal of establishing a cryptocurrency trading platform. If successful, Bitcoin.com will join Blockchain.com as one of the popular crypto websites to create a trading platform.
Roger Ver No Longer Bitcoin.com Chief
These developments are also coming at a time when Bitcoin.com appears to have undergone a swift organizational reshuffling. Roger Ver, longtime CEO of the company no longer holds the position with information from the website listing him as ‘Executive Chairman,’
Earlier in August, there were reports on social media that the move might be a precursor to Ver dumping Bitcoin.com. Other commentators suggested that Ver’s relationship with the former hierarchy at the defunct Mt.Gox might be the reason seeing as the company is looking to open a crypto exchange.
Bitcoin.com continues to be a controversial platform in the cryptocurrency space. Some stakeholders have accused the website of misleading people into thinking Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is Bitcoin (BTC).
Before leading the breakaway faction during the Bitcoin hard fork of 2017, Roger Ver was a vocal proponent of Bitcoin.
bitcoin Bitcoin Cash Bitcoin.com BitKan enterprise Roger Ver The PIT
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You are here: Home / Blog / Cell / 7 Key Takeaways from the Living By Numbers Wired Health Conference
7 Key Takeaways from the Living By Numbers Wired Health Conference
October 23, 2012 /2 Comments/in Cell, Fitness, Health, Nutrition, Science, Sports, Technology /by Carol Torgan, Ph.D.
Remember that classic Far Side cartoon where a student sitting in a classroom raises his hand to ask, “Mr. Osborne, may I be excused? My brain is full.”
That’s how I felt after a day and a half of sitting in a room packed with more than 200 thought leaders from across the health ecosystem at the Wired Health conference, Living By Numbers, presented in partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Crazy sharp Wired staff interviewed brilliant pioneers, including RWJF-funded scientists. Here are just a few of the key takeaways.
1. Numbers and Numeracy
“We just aren’t evolved to deal with numbers … we’re not really a numbers animal.” — Kevin Kelly, cofounder, Quantified Self.
In an extremely engaging discussion that included Gary Wolf, cofounder of “QS,” and Thomas Goetz, executive editor of Wired, the cognitive load of numbers and scales (e.g., 1-10) was debated (among many other things). Kicking off a conference called ‘living by numbers’ with these sentiments was the perfect glimpse of the thought-provoking ideas that would follow over the next 24 hours.
We indeed need to rethink health numeracy — along with health literacy. This is supported by, um, numbers from the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS). In response to the question, “In general, I feel uncomfortable with health information that has a lot of numbers and statistics,” 54 percent strongly or somewhat agreed and 44 percent strongly or somewhat disagreed.
How can we best track our health without resorting to numbers? How would you further rework the classic blood test report, The Blood Test Gets a Makeover, done by Wired back in November, 2010?
2. Garbage In, Garbage Out
“It’s very hard to find a brownie at GE.” — Susan Siegel, CEO, GE Healthymagination, in conversation with Steven Levy, senior writer, Wired
If you have low quality, crappy input — whether from the calories and additives you put in your mouth or from the data your sensors generate — if it’s junk, no matter how you slice and dice it, you’ll still get junk as the output.
3. Context and Community
“We want to blow away the idea of a point in time being accurate…” — Alan Greene, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Scanadu, on demystifying the concept that 98.6°F is the normal human body temperature
“One of the things that’s pretty interesting is being able to mix your personal data with general public knowledge about the world.” — Stephen Wolfram, PhD, President and CEO, Wolfram Research, discussing the use of Wolfram Alpha as a nexus with Steven Levy
“We are kind of a human super organism. We humans agglomerate to form something bigger than ourselves.” — Nicholas Christakis, MD, PhD, MPH, Director, Human Nature Laboratory, Harvard University, in a conversation with Clive Thompson on the health impact of social connectedness
Context and connectedness matter. A single data point, whether from a thermometer reading or from a person, doesn’t reveal the story. You need a series of points to create a curve, and you need a population of people to reveal the community narrative. Puzzle pieces combine to create a picture. And once you build the narrative and the context, you can determine whether — or how — you may be able to change the ending to the story.
4. Listening
“If you listen to a patient long enough, they’ll tell you what’s wrong with them.” — John Lumpkin, MD, MPH, Senior Vice President and Director, Health Care Group, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
If you listen to your body long enough, whether through sensors or your senses, you just might find out what’s wrong (and right) with it.
5. Form and Function
“I can’t die here, it’s too ugly.” — Michael Graves, architect and designer, Michael Graves Design Group, conversing with Wired senior editor Adam Rodgers, on one of his many hospital stays
Design matters. A lot. As a result of a severe illness that left Michael Graves paralyzed from the chest down, he spent time in eight hospitals and four rehab centers in what became a series of uninvited patient usability boot camps. Michael Graves thus realized he needed to turn his extensive talents to healthcare. In conjunction with Stryker, he has redesigned a number of furnishings for patient rooms, including the over-the-bed table (shown), the workhorse of patient hospital rooms.
Smart phones, and increasingly, tracking gadgets, are functioning as our on-the-go equivalents of multi-purpose bedside tables. How do we improve their aesthetics and functionality (including their connected apps) to make them more user-centric, especially for patients?
If you aren’t convinced there’s a problem, take a look at this great image that accompanies the recent Wired article, Big data is transforming healthcare. You can just imagine Michael Graves utter, “I can’t wear those, they’re too ugly.”
6. Questions and Answers
“One of the challenges with randomized controlled clinical trials is you might get beautiful answers to the wrong questions.” — Gigi Hirsch, MD, Executive Director, Center for Biomedical Innovation, MIT, in conversation with Adam Rodgers
We need to continually and mindfully assess the key questions to ask, and then ask whether the tools we are using, and the populations we are studying, will, in fact, answer those questions.
“Control the controllables.” — Ashton Eaton, Gold Medalist, Olympic Decathlon; World Record Holder, Decathlon and Heptathlon
Part of the benefit of ‘living by numbers’ is understanding how much of our health we do, in fact, control. And then taking the initiative to make changes that will optimize those numbers and our health. And in understanding, as Ashton Eaton neatly sums up, “where you can gain or lose the most points.”
This is just a small snapshot of the many amazing conversations that took place. Put on a pot of coffee, settle into an easy chair, and watch the brilliant and thought-provoking free video streams of the conference, as well as peruse the #WIREDhealth twitter stream to fill your own brain.
What are your key takeaways?
A huge thank you to Wired, RWJF, and sponsors IBM, MD Anderson Cancer Center, BASF, BodyMedia, IHealth Lab, and 2Morrow Mobile for this amazing conference. As @drsteventucker tweeted, “Given the rate of transformational change, we need the 2nd Annual #WIREDHealth in 6 months!”
What others are saying about the Wired Health Living By Numbers Conference
Wired health: living by numbers – a review of the event, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, Health Populi
Better Data=Better Health: A Conversation with RWJF’s Steve Downs, RWJF
WIRED healthcare conference shows data at work, Mike Miliard, Healthcare IT News
Wired Health: Living by Numbers – a public health perspective, Jodi Sperber, The Pump, John Snow, Inc.
The data explosion, Brian C. Quinn, RWJF
Keeping it real, Susannah Fox
Orwellian Nightmare or Technological Utopia? Wired’s “Living by Numbers” Health Conference, Tony Cartalucci, Activist Post
Self-tracking meets ready-to-wear: Make room in your closet for smart clothes
Track, Share and Compare: The Hot Trend of Self-Tracking
Is your activity tracking gadget accurate? Do you care?
Self-tracking: Checking under the hood
1960′s lab life with the Nobel Prize-winning decipherer of the genetic code
7 Health 2.0 Trends for 2011
Overbed table photo courtesy of Stryker
Chocolate truffle brownies photo courtesy of Katherine at Flickr Creative Commons
Tags: apps, athlete, body, brain, community, context, data, design, Fitness, Health, healthcare, linkedin, numeracy, quantified self, research, resources, Science, self-tracking, sensors, Sports
https://caroltorgan.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/iStock_000019815844Small.jpg 600 800 Carol Torgan, Ph.D. http://caroltorgan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/torgan-logo2-300x137.png Carol Torgan, Ph.D.2012-10-23 12:12:222014-08-27 22:10:547 Key Takeaways from the Living By Numbers Wired Health Conference
Blinded by science? Check out Scitable
Can you hear me now? Gyms, iPods & hearing loss
Choreographing Cells: Dance Dance Evolution
Keeping it real | Susannah Fox
[…] 7 Key Take-aways from Wired Health, by Carol Torgan […]
Battle of the Bands: Jawbone UP vs. 3M Tegaderm Band-Aid
[…] We just aren’t evolved to deal with numbers … we’re not really a numbers animal. — Kevin Kelly, cofounder, Quantified Self, at the Living By Numbers Wired Health Conference […]
Is your activity tracking gadget accurate? Do you care? A Shiny New Activity Tracker: Technology as Talisman?
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Mastering Financial Customer Data at Multinational Scale
Publié le 5 janvier 2020 5 janvier 2020 par hanswillertbleuazurconsultingeu
Your Customer Data…Consolidated or Chaotic?
In an ideal world, you know your customers. You know
who they are,
what business they transact,
who they transact with,
and their relationships.
You use that information to
calculate risk,
prevent fraud,
uncover new business opportunities,
and comply with regulatory requirements.
The problem at most financial institutions is that customer data environments are highly chaotic. Customer data is stored in numerous systems across the company. Most, if not all of which, has evolved over time in siloed environments according to business function. Each system has its
own management team,
technology platform,
data models,
quality issues,
and access policies.
This chaos prevents the firms from fully achieving and maintaining a consolidated view of customers and their activity.
The Cost of Chaos
A chaotic customer data environment can be an expensive problem in a financial institution. Customer changes have to be implemented in multiple systems, with a high likelihood of error or inconsistency because of manual processes. Discrepancies with the data leads to inevitable remediation activities that are widespread, and costly.
Analyzing customer data within one global bank required three months to compile and validate its correctness. The chaos leads to either
prohibitively high time and cost of data preparation or
garbage-in, garbage-out analytics.
The result of customer data chaos is an incredibly high risk profile — operational, regulatory, and reputational.
Eliminating the Chaos 1.0
Many financial services companies attempt to eliminate this chaos and consolidate their customer data.
A common approach is to implement a master data management (MDM) system. Customer data from different source systems is centralized into one place where it can be harmonized. The output is a “golden record,” or master customer record.
A lambda architecture permits data to stream into the centralized store and be processed in realtime so that it is immediately mastered and ready for use. Batch processes run on the centralized store to perform periodic (daily, monthly, quarterly, etc.) calculations on the data.
First-generation MDM systems centralize customer data and unify it by writing ETL scripts and matching rules.
The harmonizing often involves:
Defining a common, master schema in which to store the consolidated data
Writing ETL scripts to transform the data from source formats and schemas into the new common storage format
Defining rule sets to deduplicate, match/cluster, and otherwise cleanse within the central MDM store
There are a number of commercial MDM solutions available that support the deterministic approach outlined above. The initial experience with those MDM systems, integrating the first five or so large systems, is often positive. Scaling MDM to master more and more systems, however, becomes a challenge that grows exponentially, as we’ll explain below.
Rules-based MDM, and the Robustness- Versus-Expandability Trade Off
The rule sets used to harmonize data together are usually driven off of a handful of dependent attributes—name, legal identifiers, location, and so on. Let’s say you use six attributes to stitch together four systems, A and B, and then the same six attributes between A and C, then A and D, B and C, B and D, and C and D. Within that example of 4 systems, you would have twenty four potential attributes that you are aligning. Add a fifth system, it’s 60 attributes; a sixth system, 90 attributes. So the effort to master additional systems grows exponentially. And in most multinational financial institutions, the number of synchronized attributes is not six; it’s commonly 50 to 100.
And maintenance is equally burdensome. There’s no guarantee that your six attributes maintain their validity or veracity over time. If any of these attributes need to be modified, then rules need to be redefined across the systems all over again.
The trade off for many financial institutions is robustness versus expandability. In other words, you can have a large-scale data mastering implementation and have it wildly complex, or you can do something small and have it highly accurate.
This is problematic for most financial institutions, which have very large-scale customer data challenges.
Customer Data Mastering at Scale
In larger financial services companies, especially multinationals, the number of systems in which customer data resides is much larger than the examples above. It is not uncommon to see financial companies with over 100 large systems.
Among those are systems that have been:
Duplicated in many countries to comply with data sovereignty regulations
Acquired via inorganic growth, purchased companies bringing in their own infrastructure for trading, CRM, HR, and back office. Integrating these can take a significant amount of time and cost
When attempting to master a hundred sources containing petabytes of data, all of which have data linking and matching in different ways across a multitude of attributes and systems, you can see that the matching rules required to harmonize your data together gets incredibly complex.
Every incremental source added to the MDM environment can take thousands of rules to be implemented. Within just a mere handful of systems, the complexity gets to a point where it’s unattainable. As that complexity goes up, the cost of maintaining a rules-based approach also scales wildly, requiring more and more data stewards to make sure all the stitching rules remain correct.
Mastering data at scale is one of the riskiest endeavors a business can take. Gartner reports that 85% of MDM projects fail. And MDM budgets of $10M to $20M per year are not uncommon in large multinationals. With such high stakes, making sure that you get the right approach is critical to making sure that this thing is a success.
A New Take on an Old Paradigm
What follows is a reference architecture. The approach daisy chains together three large tool sets, each with appropriate access policies enforced, that are responsible for three separate steps in the mastering process:
Raw Data Zone
Common Data Zone
Mastered Data Zone
Raw Data Zone The first sits on a traditional data lake model—a landing area for raw data. Data is replicated from source systems to the centralized data repository (often built on Hadoop). Data is replicated in real time (perhaps via Kafka) wherever possible so that data is most up to date. For source systems that do not support real-time replication, nightly batch jobs or flat-file ingestion are used.
Common Data Zone Within the Common Data Zone, we take all of the data from the Raw Zone—with the various different objects, in different shapes and sizes, and conform that into outputs that look and feel the same to the system, with the same column headers, data types, and formats.
The toolset in this zone utilizes machine learning models to categorize data that exists within the Raw Data Zone. Machine learning models are trained on what certain attributes look like—what’s a legal entity, or a registered address, or country of incorporation, or legal hierarchy, or any other field. It does so without requiring anyone having to go back to the source system owners to bog them down with questions about that, saving weeks of effort.
This solution builds up a taxonomy and schema for the conformed data as raw data is processed. Unlike early-generation MDM solutions, this substantially reduces data unification time, often by months per source system, because there is:
No need to pre-define a schema to hold conformed data
No need to write ETL to transform the raw data
One multinational bank implementing this reference architecture reported being able to conform the raw data from a 10,000-table system within three days, and without using up source systems experts’ time defining a schema or writing ETL code. In terms of figuring out where relevant data is located in the vast wilderness this solution is very productive and predictable.
Mastered Data Zone In the third zone, the conformed data is mastered, and the outputs of the mastering process are clusters of records that refer to the same real-world entity. Within each cluster, a single, unified golden, master record of the entity is configured. The golden customer record is then distributed to wherever it’s needed:
Regulatory (KYC, AML) compliance systems
Fraud and corruption monitoring
And back to operational systems, to keep data changes clean at the source
As with the Common Zone, machine learning models are used. These models eliminate the need to define hundreds of rules to match and deduplicate data. Tamr’s solution applies a probabilistic model that uses statistical analysis and naive Bayesian modeling to learn from existing relationships between various attributes, and then makes record-matching predictions based on these attribute relationships.
Tamr matching models require training, which usually takes just a few days per source system. Tamr presents a data steward with its predictions, and the steward can either confirm or deny them to help Tamr perfect its matching.
With the probabilistic model, Tamr looks at all of the attributes on which it has been trained, and based on the attribute matching, the solution will indicate a confidence level of a match being accurate. Depending on a configurable confidence level threshold, It will disregard entries that fall below the threshold from further analysis and training.
As you train Tamr and correct it, it becomes more accurate over time. The more data you throw at te solution, the better it gets. Which is a stark contrast to the rules-based MDM approach, where the more data you throw at it, it tends to break because the rules can’t keep up with the level of complexity.
Distribution A messaging bus (e.g., Apache Kafka) is often used to distribute mastered customer data throughout the organization. If a source system wants to pick up the master copy from the platform, it subscribes to that topic on the messaging bus to receive the feed of changes.
Another approach is to pipeline deltas from the MDM platform into target system in batch.
Real-world Results
This data mastering architecture is in production at a number of large financial institutions. Compared with traditional MDM approaches, the model-driven approach provides the following advantages:
70% fewer IT resources required:
Humans in the entity resolution loop are much more productive, focused on a relatively small percentage (~5%) of exceptions that the machine learning algorithms cannot resolve
Eliminates ETL and matching rules development
Reduces manual data synchronization and remediation of customer data across systems
Faster customer data unification:
A global retail bank mastered 35 large IT systems within 6 months—about 4 days per source system
New data is mastered within 24 hours of landing in the Raw Data Zone
A platform for mastering any category of data—customer, product, suppler, and others
Faster, more complete achievement of data-driven business initiatives:
KYC, AML, fraud detection, risk analysis, and others.
Click here to access Tamr’s detailed analysis
Posté dans Non classéTagué AML, Data Analytics, Data Management, Data Quality, Data-Driven, ETL, KYC, Machine Learning, MDM
An Animal Kingdom Of Disruptive Risks -How boards can oversee black swans, gray rhinos, and white elephants
Where was the board? As a corporate director, imagine you find yourself in one of these difficult situations:
Unexpected financial losses mount as your bank faces a sudden collapse during a 1-in-100-year economic crisis.
Customers leave and profits drop year after year as a new technology start-up takes over your No. 1 market position.
Negative headlines and regulatory actions besiege your company following undesirable tweets and other belligerent behavior from the CEO.
These scenarios are not hard to imagine when you consider what unfolded before the boards of Lehman Brothers, Blockbuster, Tesla, and others. In the context of disruptive risks, these events can be referred to as black swans, gray rhinos, and white elephants, respectively. While each has unique characteristics, the commonality is that all of these risks can have a major impact on a company’s profitability, competitive position, and reputation.
In a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) world, boards need to expand their risk governance and oversight to include disruptive risks. This article addresses three fundamental questions:
What are black swans, gray rhinos, and white elephants?
Why are they so complex and difficult to deal with?
How should directors incorporate these disruptive risks as part of their oversight?
Why are companies so ill prepared for disruptive risks? There are three main challenges:
standard enterprise risk management (ERM) programs may not capture them;
they each present unique characteristics and complexities;
and cognitive biases prevent directors and executives from addressing them.
Standard tools used in ERM, including risk assessments and heat maps, are not timely or dynamic enough to capture unconventional and atypical risks. Most risk quantification models—such as earnings volatility and value-at-risk models—measure potential loss within a 95 percent or 99 percent confidence level. Black swan events, on the other hand, may have a much smaller than 0.1 percent chance of happening. Gray rhinos and white elephants are atypical risks that may have no historical precedent or operational playbooks. As such, disruptive risks may not be adequately addressed in standard ERM programs even if they have the potential to destroy the company. The characteristics and complexities of each type of disruptive risk are unique. The key challenge with black swans is prediction. They are outliers that were previously unthinkable. That is not the case with gray rhinos, since they are generally observable trends. With gray rhinos the main culprit is inertia: companies see the megatrends charging at them, but they can’t seem to mitigate the risk or seize the opportunity. The key issue with white elephants is subjectivity. These no-win situations are often highly charged with emotions and conflicts. Doing nothing is usually the easiest choice but leads to the worst possible outcome. While it is imperative to respond to disruptive risks, cognitive biases can lead to systematic errors in decision making. Behavioral economists have identified dozens of biases, but several are especially pertinent in dealing with disruptive risks:
Availability and hindsight bias is the underestimation of risks that we have not experienced and the overestimation of risks that we have. This bias is a key barrier to acknowledging atypical risks until it is too late.
Optimism bias is a tendency to overestimate the likelihood of positive outcomes and to underestimate the likelihood of negative outcomes. This is a general issue for risk management, but it is especially problematic in navigating disruptive risks.
Confirmation bias is the preference for information that is consistent with one’s own beliefs. This behavior prevents us from processing new and contradictory information, or from responding to early signals.
Groupthink or herding occurs when individuals strive for group consensus at the cost of objective assessment of alternative viewpoints. This is related to the sense of safety in being part of a larger group, regardless if their actions are rational or not.
Myopia or short-termism is the tendency to have a narrow view of risks and a focus on short-term results (e.g., quarterly earnings), resulting in a reluctance to invest for the longer term.
Status quo bias is a preference to preserve the current state. This powerful bias creates inertia and stands in the way of appropriate actions.
To overcome cognitive biases, directors must recognize that they exist and consider how they impact decision making. Moreover,
board diversity,
objective data,
and access to independent experts
can counter cognitive biases in the boardroom.
Recommendations for Consideration
How should directors help their organizations navigate disruptive risks? They can start by asking the right questions in the context of the organization’s business model and strategy. The chart below lists 10 questions that directors can ask themselves and management.
In addition, directors should consider the following five recommendations to enhance their risk governance and oversight:
Incorporate disruptive risks into the board agenda. The full board should discuss the potential impact of disruptive risks as part of its review of the organization’s strategy to create sustainable long-term value. Disruptive risks may also appear on the agenda of key committees, including the risk committee’s assessment of enterprise risks, the audit committee’s review of risk disclosures, the compensation committee’s determination of executive incentive plans, and the governance committee’s processes for addressing undesirable executive behavior. The key is to explicitly incorporate disruptive risks into the board’s oversight and scope of work.
Ensure that fundamental ERM practices are effective. Fundamental ERM practices—risk policy and analytics, management strategies, and metrics and reporting—provide the baseline from which disruptive risks can be considered. As an example, the definition of risk appetite can inform discussions of loss tolerance relative to disruptive risks. As an early step, the board should ensure that the overall ERM framework is robust and effective. Otherwise, the organization may fall victim to “managing risk by silo” and miss critical interdependencies between disruptive risks and other enterprise risks.
Consider scenario planning and analysis. Directors should recognize that basic ERM tools may not fully capture disruptive risks. They should consider advocating for, and participating in, scenario planning and analysis. This is akin to tabletop exercises for cyber-risk events, except much broader in scope. Scenario analysis can be a valuable tool to help companies put a spotlight on hidden risks, generate strategic insights on performance drivers, and identify appropriate actions for disruptive trends. The objective is not to predict the future, but to identify the key assumptions and sensitivities in the company’s business model and strategy. In addition to scenario planning, dynamic simulation models and stress-testing exercises should be considered.
Ensure board-level risk metrics and reports are effective. The quality of risk reports is key to the effectiveness of board risk oversight. Standard board risk reports often are comprised of insufficient information: historical loss and event data, qualitative risk assessments, and static heat maps. An effective board risk report should include quantitative analyses of risk impacts to earnings and value, key risk metrics measured against risk appetite, and forwardlooking information on emerging risks. By leveraging scenario planning, the following reporting components can enhance disruptive risk monitoring:
Market intelligence data that provides directors with useful “outside-in” information, including key business and industry developments, consumer and technology trends, competitive actions, and regulatory updates.
Enterprise performance and risk analysis including key performance and risk indicators that quantify the organization’s sensitivities to disruptive risks.
Geo-mapping that highlights global “hot spots” for economic, political, regulatory, and social instability. This can also show company-specific risks such as third-party vendor, supply chain, and cybersecurity issues.
Early-warning indicators that provide general or scenariospecific signals with respect to risk levels, effectiveness of controls, and external drivers.
Action triggers and plans to facilitate timely discussions and decisions in response to disruptive risks.
Strengthen board culture and governance. To effectively oversee disruptive risks, the board must be fit for purpose. This requires creating a board culture that considers nontraditional views, questions key assumptions, and supports continuous improvement. Good governance practices should be in place in the event a white elephant appears. For example, what is the board protocol and playbook if the CEO acts inappropriately? In the United States, the 25th Amendment and impeachment clauses are in place ostensibly to remove a reprehensible president. Does the organization have procedures to remove a reprehensible CEO?
The following chart summarizes the key characteristics, examples, indicators, and strategies for identifying and addressing black swans, gray rhinos, and white elephants. The end goal should be to enhance oversight of disruptive risks and counter the specific challenges that are presented. To mitigate the unpredictability of black swans, the company should develop contingency plans with a focus on preparedness. To overcome inertia and deal with gray rhinos, the company needs to establish organizational processes and incentives to increase agility. To balance subjectivity and confront white elephants, directors should invest in good governance and objective input that will support decisiveness.
The Opportunity for Boards
In a VUCA world, corporate directors must expand their traditional risk oversight beyond well-defined strategic, operational, and financial risks. They must consider atypical risks that are hard to predict, easy to ignore, and difficult to address. While black swans, gray rhinos, and white elephants may sound like exotic events, directors could enhance their recognization of them by reflecting on their own experiences serving on boards.
Given their experiences, directors should provide a leading voice to improve oversight of disruptive risks. They have a comparative advantage in seeing the big picture based on the nature of their work— part time, detached from day-to-day operations, and with experience gained from serving different companies and industries. Directors can add significant value by providing guidance to management and helping them see the forest for the trees. Finally, there is an opportunity side to risk. There are positive and negative black swans. A company can invest in the positive ones and be prepared for the negative ones. For every company that is trampled by a gray rhino, another company is riding it to a higher level of performance. By addressing the white elephant in the boardroom, a company can remediate an unspoken but serious problem. In the current environment, board oversight of disruptive risks represents both a risk management imperative and a strategic business opportunity.
Click here to access NACD’s summary
Posté dans Non classéTagué Black Swans, Cognitive Bias, Disruptive Risks, ERM, Governance, GRC, Grey Rhinos, White Elephants
EIOPA outlines key financial stability risks of the European insurance and pensions sector
The global and European economic outlook has deteriorated in the past months with weakening industrial production and business sentiment and ongoing uncertainties about trade disputes and Brexit. In particular, the “low for long” risk has resurfaced in the EU, as interest rates reached record lows in August 2019 and an increasing number of countries move into negative yield territory for their sovereign bonds even at longer maturities in anticipation of a further round of monetary easing by central banks and a general flight to safety. Bond yields and swap rates have since slightly recovered again, but protracted low interest rates form the key risk for both insurers and pension funds and put pressure on both the capital position and long-term profitability. Large declines in interest rates can also create further incentives for insurers and pension funds to search for yield, which could add to the build-up of vulnerabilities in the financial sector if not properly managed.
Despite the challenging environment, the European insurance sector remains overall well capitalized with a median SCR ratio of 212% as of Q2 2019. However, a slight deterioration could be observed for life insurers in the first half of 2019 and the low interest rate environment is expected to put further pressures on the capital positions of life insurers in the second half of 2019. At the same time, profitability improved in the first half of 2019, mainly due to valuation gains in the equity and bond portfolios of insurers. Nevertheless, the low yield environment is expected to put additional strains on the medium to long term profitability of insurers as higher yielding bonds will have to be replaced by lower yielding bonds, which may make it increasingly difficult for insurers to make investment returns in excess of guaranteed returns issued in the past, which are still prevalent in many countries.
THE EUROPEAN INSURANCE SECTOR
The challenging macroeconomic environment is leading insurance undertakings to further adapt their business models. In order to address the challenges associated with the low yield environment and improve profitability, life insurers are lowering guaranteed rates in traditional products and are increasingly focusing on unit-linked products. On the investment side, insurers are slowly moving towards more alternative investments and illiquid assets, such as unlisted equity, mortgages & loans, infrastructure and property. For non-life insurers, the challenge is mostly focused on managing increasing losses stemming from climate-related risks and cyber events, which may not be adequately reflected in risk models based on historical data, and continued competitive pressures.
Despite the challenging environment, the European insurance sector overall gross written premiums slightly grew by 1.6% on an annual basis in Q2 2019. This growth is particularly driven by the increase in non life GWP (3.7%), in comparison to a slightly decrease in life (-0.5%). This reduction growth rate in life GWP is associated to the slowdown in the economic growth; however this does not seem to have affected the growth of non-life GWP to the same extent. Overall GWP as a percentage of GDP slightly increased from 9% to 11% for the European insurance market, likewise total assets as a share of GDP improved from 70% to 74%. The share of unit-linked business has slightly declined notwithstanding the growth expectations. Even though insurers are increasingly trying to shift towards unit-linked business in the current low yield environment, the total share of unit-linked business in life GWP has slightly decreased from 42% in Q2 2018 to 40% in Q2 2019, likewise the share for the median insurance company declined from 34% in Q2 2018 to 31% in Q2 2019. Considerable differences remain across countries, with some countries still being plagued by low trust due to misselling issues in the past. Overall, the trend towards unit-lead business means that investment risks are increasingly transferred to policyholders with potential reputational risks to the insurance sector in case investment returns turn out lower than anticipated.
The liquid asset ratio slightly deteriorated in the first half of 2019. The median value for liquid asset increased by 1.5% from 63.3% in 2018 Q2 to 64.8% in 2018 Q4, and after slightly decreased to 63.8% in Q2 2019. Furthermore, the distribution moved down (10th percentile reduced in the past year by 6 p.p. to 47.9%). Liquid assets are necessary in order to meet payment obligations when they are due. Furthermore, a potential increase in interest rate yields might directly impact the liquidity needs of insurers due to a significant increase in the lapse rate as policyholders might look for more attractive alternative investments.
Lapse rates in the life business remained stable slightly increased in the first half of 2019. The median value increased from 1.34% in Q2 2018 to 1.38% in Q2 2019. Moreover, a potential sudden reversal of risk premia and abruptly rising yields could trigger an increase in lapse rates and surrender ratios as policyholders might look for more attractive investments. Although several contractual and fiscal implications could limit the impact of lapses and surrenders in some countries, potential lapses by policyholders could add additional strains on insurers’ financial position once yields start increasing.
The return on investment has substantially declined further over 2018. The investment returns have significantly deteriorated for the main investment classes (bonds, equity and collective instruments). The median return on investment decreased to only 0.31% in 2018, compared to 2.83% in 2016 and 1.95% in 2017. In particular the four main investment options (government and corporate bonds, equity instruments and collective investment undertakings) – which approximately account for two-thirds of insurers’ total investment portfolios – have generated considerably lower or even negative returns in 2018. As a consequence, insurers may increasingly look for alternative investments, such as unlisted equities, mortgages and infrastructure to improve investment returns. This potential search for yield behaviour might differ per country and warrants close monitoring by supervisory authorities as insurers may suffer substantial losses on these more illiquid investments when markets turn sour.
Despite the challenging investment climate, overall insurer profitability improved in the first half of 2019. The median return on assets (ROA) increased from 0.24% in Q2 2018 to 0.32% in Q2 2019, whereas the median return on excess of assets over liabilities (used as a proxy of return on equity), increased from 2.8% in Q2 2018 to 4.9 % in Q2 2019. The improvement in overall profitability seems to stem mainly from valuation gains in the investment portolio of insurers driven by a strong rebound in equity prices and declining yields (and hence increasing values of bond holdings) throughout the first half of 2019, while profitability could be further supported by strong underwriting results and insurers’ continued focus on cost optimisation. However, decreased expected profits in future premiums (EPIFP) from 11% in Q1 2019 to 10.3% in Q2 2019 suggest expectations of deteriorating profitability looking ahead. Underwriting profitability remained stable and overall positive in the first half of 2019. The median Gross Combined Ratio for non-life business remained below 100% in the first half of 2019 across all lines of business, indicating that most EEA insurers were able to generate positive underwriting results (excluding profits from investments). However, significant outliers can still be observed across lines of business, in particular for credit and suretyship insurance, indicating that several insurers have experienced substantial underwriting losses in this line of business. Furthermore, concerns of underpricing and underreserving remain in the highly competitive motor insurance markets.
Solvency positions slightly deteriorated in the first half of 2019 and the low interest rate environment is expected to put further pressures on the capital positions in the second half of the year, especially for life insurers. Furthermore, the number of life insurance undertakings with SCR ratios below the 100% threshold increased in comparison with the previous year from 1 in Q2 2018 to 4 in Q2 2019 mainly due to the low interest rate environment, while the number of non-life insurance undertakings with SCR ratios below 100% threshold decreased from 9 in Q2 2018 to 7 in Q2 2019. The median SCR ratio for life insurers is still the highest compared to non-life insurers and composite undertakings. However, the SCR ratio differs substantially among countries.
The impact of the LTG and transitional measures varies considerably across insurers and countries. The long term guarantees (LTG) and transitional measures were introduced in the Solvency II Directive to ensure an appropriate treatment of insurance products that include long-term guarantees and facilitate a smooth transition of the new regime. These measures can have a significant impact on the SCR ratio by allowing insurance undertakings, among others, to apply a premium to the risk free interest rate used for discounting technical provions. The impact of applying these measures is highest in DE and the UK, where the distribution of SCR ratios is signicantly lower without LTG and transitional measures (Figure 2.16). While it is important to take the effect of LTG measures and transitional measures into account when comparing across insurers and countries, the LTG measures do provide a potential financial stability cushion by reducing overall volatility.
On October 15th 2019, EIOPA launched a public consultation on an Opinion that sets out technical advice for the 2020 review of Solvency II. The call for advice comprises 19 separate topics. Broadly speaking, these can be divided into three parts.
The review of the LTG measures, where a number of different options are being consulted on, notably on extrapolation and on the volatility adjustment.
The potential introduction of new regulatory tools in the Solvency II framework, notably on macro-prudential issues, recovery and resolution, and insurance guarantee schemes. These new regulatory tools are considered thoroughly in the consultation.
Revisions to the existing Solvency II framework including in relation to
freedom of services and establishment;
reporting and disclosure;
and the solvency capital requirement.
The main specific considerations and proposals of this consultation are as follows:
Considerations to choose a later starting point for the extrapolation of risk-free interest rates for the euro or to change the extrapolation method to take into account market information beyond the starting point.
Considerations to change the calculation of the volatility adjustment to risk-free interest rates, in particular to address overshooting effects and to reflect the illiquidity of insurance liabilities.
The proposal to increase the calibration of the interest rate risk sub-module in line with empirical evidence, in particular the existence of negative interest rates. The proposal is consistent with the technical advice EIOPA provided on the Solvency Capital Requirement standard formula in 2018.
The proposal to include macro-prudential tools in the Solvency II Directive.
The proposal to establish a minimum harmonised and comprehensive recovery and resolution framework for insurance.
The European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) published on the 4th October 2019 a Joint Opinion on the risks of money laundering and terrorist financing affecting the European Union’s financial sector. In this Joint Opinion, the ESAs identify and analyse current and emerging money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/ TF) risks to which the EU’s financial sector is exposed. In particular, the ESAs have identified that the main cross-cutting risks arise from
the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the EU,
new technologies,
virtual currencies,
legislative divergence and divergent supervisory practices,
weaknesses in internal controls,
terrorist financing and de-risking;
in order to mitigate these risks, the ESAs have proposed a number of potential actions for the Competent Authorities.
Following its advice to the European Commission on the integration of sustainability risks in Solvency II and the Insurance Distribution Directive on April 2019, EIOPA has published on 30th September 2019 an Opinion on Sustainability within Solvency II, which addresses the integration of climate-related risks in Solvency II Pillar I requirements. EIOPA found no current evidence to support a change in the calibration of capital requirements for “green” or “brown” assets. In the opinion, EIOPA calls insurance and reinsurance undertakings to implement measures linked with climate change-related risks, especially in view of a substantial impact to their business strategy; in that respect, the importance of scenario analysis in the undertakings’ risk management is highlighted. To increase the European market and citizens’ resilience to climate change, undertakings are called to consider the impact of their underwriting practices on the environment. EIOPA also supports the development of new insurance products, adjustments in the design and pricing of the products and the engagement with public authorities, as part of the industry’s stewardship activity.
On the 15th July 2019 EIOPA submitted to the European Commission draft amendments to the Implementing technical standards (ITS) on reporting and the ITS on public disclosure. The proposed amendments are mainly intended to reflect the changes in the Solvency II Delegated Regulation by the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/981 and the Commission Delegated Regulation 2018/1221 as regards the calculation of regulatory capital requirements for securitisations and simple, transparent and standardised securitisations held by insurance and reinsurance undertakings. A more detailed review of the reporting and disclosure requirements will be part of the 2020 review of Solvency II.
On 18th June 2019 the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/981 amending the Solvency II Delegated Regulation with respect to the calculation of the SCR for standard formula users was published. The new regulation includes the majority of the changes proposed by EIOPA in its advice to the Commission in February 2018 with the exception of the proposed change regarding interest rate risk. Most of the changes are applicable since July 2019, although changes to the calculation of the loss-absorbing capacity of deferred taxes and non-life and health premium and reserve risk will apply from 1 January 2020.
QUALITATIVE RISK ASSESSMENT
EIOPA conducts twice a year a bottom-up survey among national supervisors to determine the key risks and challenges for the European insurance and pension fund sectors, based on their probability and potential impact.
The EIOPA qualitative Autumn 2019 Survey reveals that low interest rates remain the main risks for both the insurance and pension fund sectors. Equity risks also remain prevalent, ranking as the 3rd and 2nd biggest risk for the insurance and pension funds sectors respectively. The cyber risk category is now rank as the 2nd biggest risk for the insurance sector, as insurers need to adapt their business models to this new type of risk both from an operational risk perspective and an underwriting perspective. Geopolitical risks have become more significant for both markets, along with Macro risks, which continue to be present in the insurance and pension fund sectors, partially due to concerns over protectionism, trade tensions, debt sustainability, sudden increase in risk premia and uncertainty relating to the potential future post-Brexit landscape.
The survey further suggests that all the risks are expected to increase over the coming year. The increased risk of the low for long interest rate environment is in line with the observed market developments, particulary after the ECB’s announcement of renewed monetary easing in September 2019. The significant expected raise of cyber, property, equity, macro and geopolitical risks in the following year is also in line with the observed market developments, indicating increased geopolitical uncertainty, trade tensions, stretched valuations in equity and real estate markets and more frequent and sophisticated cyber attacks which could all potentially affect the financial position of insurers and pension funds. On the other hand, ALM risks and Credit risk for financials are expected to increase in the coming year, while in the last survey in Spring 2019 the expectations were following the opposite direction.
Although cyber risk is ranking as one of the top risks and expected to increase in the following year, many jurisdictions also see cyber-related insurance activities as a growth opportunity. The rapid pace of technological innovation and digitalisation is a challenge for the insurance market and insurers need to be able to adapt their business models to this challenging environment, nonetheless from a profitability perspective, increased digitalisation may offer significant cost-saving and revenue-increasing opportunities for insurance companies. The increase of awareness of cyber-risk and higher vulnerability to cyber threats among undertakings due to the increased adoption of digital technologies could drive a growth in cyber insurance underwriting.
The survey shows the exposure of an sudden correction of the risk premia significantly differs across EU countries. In the event of a sudden correction in the risk premia, insurance undertakings and pension funds with ample exposure to bonds and real estate, could suffer significant asset value variations that could lead to forced asset sales and potentially amplify the original shock to asset prices in less liquid markets. Some juridictions, however, confirm the limited exposure to this risk due to the low holding of fixed income instruments and well diversified portfolios.
The survey further indicates that national authorities expect the increase of investments in alternative asset classes and more illiquid assets. Conversely, holdings of governement bonds are expected to decrease in favour of corporate bonds within the next 12 months. Overall this might indicate potential search for yield behaviour and a shift towards more illiquid assets continues throughout numerous EU jurisdictions. Property investments – through for instance mortgages and infrastructure investment – are also expected to increase in some jurisdictions, for both insurers and pension funds. A potential downturn of real estate markets could therefore also affect the soundness of the insurance and pension fund sectors.
QUANTITATIVE RISK ASSESSMENT EUROPEAN INSURANCE SECTOR
This section further assesses the key risks and vulnerabilities for the European insurance sector identified in this report. A detailed breakdown of the investment portfolio and asset allocation is provided with a focus on specific country exposures and interconnectedness with the banking sector. The chapter also analyses in more detail the implications of the current low yield environment for insurers.
Insurance companies’ investments remain broadly stable, with a slight move towards less liquid investment. Government and corporate bonds continue to make up the majority of the investment portfolio, with only a slight movement towards more non-traditional investment instruments such as unlisted equity and mortgage and loans. Life insurers in particular rely on fixed-income assets, due to the importance of asset-liability matching of their long-term obligations. At the same time, the high shares of fixed-income investments could give rise to significant reinvestment risk in the current low yield environment, in case the maturing fixed-income securities can only be replaced by lower yielding fixed-income securities for the same credit quality.
The overall credit quality of the bond portfolio is broadly satisfactory, although slight changes are observed in 2018. The vast majority of bonds held by European insurers are investment grade, with most rated as CQS1 (AA). However, the share of CQS2 has increased in the first half of 2019, and significant differences can be observed for insurers across countries.
INTERCONNECTEDNESS BETWEEN INSURERS AND BANKS
The overall exposures towards the banking sector remain significant for insurers in certain countries, which could be one potential transmission channel in case of a sudden reassessment of risk premia. The interconnectedness between insurers and banks could intensify contagion across the financial system through common risk exposures. A potential sudden reassessment of risk premia may not only affect insurers directly, but also indirectly through exposures to the banking sector. This is also a potential transmission channel of emerging markets distress, as banks have on average larger exposures to emerging markets when compared to insurers.
Another channel of risk transmission could be through different types of bank instruments bundled together and credited by institutional investors such as insurers and pension funds.
Insurers’ exposures towards banks are heterogeneous across the EU/EEA countries, with different levels of home bias as well. Hence, countries with primary banks exposed to emerging markets or weak banking sectors could be impacted more in case of economic distress. On average, 15.95% of the EU/EEA insurers’ assets are issued by the banking sector through different types of instruments, mostly bank bonds.
Click here to access EIOPA’s Dec 2019 Financial Stability Report
Posté dans Non classéTagué ALM, Cyberinsurance, Cyberrisk, EIOPA, Liquidity Risk, LTG, Market Risk, ORSA, Risk management, SCR, solvency II
Fit for the Future: An Urgent Imperative for Board Leadership
Publié le 16 novembre 2019 16 novembre 2019 par hanswillertbleuazurconsultingeu
It is a truism that the only constant in business is change. But that statement does not remotely do justice to the scale and scope of the multiple changes confronting business in the first half of the twenty-first century:
Rapid and far-reaching advances in technology are reshaping competition and the process of value creation in every business sector.
The struggle to deal with climate change is beginning to transform the economics of extractive industries and others.
Global supply chains are challenged by geopolitical and mercantile conflicts.
Investor scrutiny is more demanding than ever.
Society’s expectations of business are increasing as governments struggle to address mounting challenges—income inequality, threats to data privacy, crumbling infrastructure, global warming, and so forth.
Each of these changes in itself is seismic. But what makes the current epoch uniquely unpredictable and hard to navigate is the fact that these changes are happening concurrently, interacting with and amplifying each other, as illustrated in the figure below. As a result, companies may find it extremely difficult to anticipate the full impact or the second- or third-order effects of these disruptions in the next few years. This is especially true for boards of directors and their leaders, whose job it is to secure the long-term success of their companies. It is a challenge that is not going away any time soon—indeed, all indications are that it will become more acute.
AN EXISTENTIAL THREAT
As last year’s Blue Ribbon Commission report on board oversight of disruptive risks pointed out, these trends
“have the potential to change industry structure or operating conditions,
make existing business models obsolete,
derail growth,
or otherwise pose a fundamental threat [or transformative opportunity] to the long-term strategy of the organization.”
But while the threats are clearly existential, it is far from clear that all companies and their boards are adequately equipped to respond, because many of the big issues facing business are in new or uncharted territories. Technology is one obvious disruptor which is reshaping industries and forcing companies to consider new forms of collaboration that would have been unimaginable a few years ago. For example, the car industry is having to retool its entire production system to meet rising projected demand for electric vehicles while forming partnerships and joint ventures with leading software providers to exploit the emerging markets for autonomous cars. The competitive battleground and source of value creation has shifted rapidly and radically from the vehicles’ hardware to the systems driving it. Another challenge is the complex issue of climate change, where companies are feeling their way toward a response to fundamental market shifts involving international politics, governmental regulation, and investor expectations while considering the economic impact of climate risk. Boards need to bolster their capacity to navigate this labyrinth. A third and rapidly-moving set of challenges is emerging from tectonic shifts in geopolitics and in particular from the rise of great-power rivalry, trade protectionism, and mercantilism—notably in the domain of technology, where the United States and China are engaged in what some see as a new arms race for control over the systems of the future.
Overarching all of these trends is another relatively new pressure: the pressure for companies to articulate and justify their broader purpose, in terms of how they address society’s unmet needs in an era of great social change, activism, and political uncertainty. This is certainly the message from some of the largest institutional investors. As Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, put it in his 2019 CEO letter to portfolio companies, “Companies that fulfill their purpose and responsibilities to stakeholders reap rewards over the long-term. Companies that ignore them stumble and fail. This dynamic is becoming increasingly apparent as the public holds companies to more exacting standards. And it will continue to accelerate as millennials—who today represent 35 percent of the workforce—express new expectations of the companies they work for, buy from, and invest in.”
CREATIVE DESTRUCTION ACCELERATES
One important inference from these trends is that the formula for past success matters even less to companies considering their future. Research conducted in 2018 for the Fortune Future 500 initiative (the public companies with the best long-term growth outlook) shows that for large companies, there is now less correlation than there was before between past and future financial and competitive performance over multiple years. This means that companies can no longer hope to prosper merely by sticking to their historical growth strategies and competitive advantages. Relying on past success can engender complacency—itself an existential threat.
It is certainly true that the process Joseph Schumpeter called “creative destruction” is accelerating, and in consequence corporate lifespans are shrinking. A 2018 Innosight study showed that, based on recent trends, nearly half of the corporate constituents of the S&P 500 could be expected to be replaced over the next 10 years. While companies in the S&P 500 had an average tenure of 33 years in 1964, tenures had narrowed to 24 years by 2016 and are forecasted to shrink to just 12 years by 2027. This accelerating churn is to be seen also among very young firms—for example, five-year survival rates for newly-listed firms have declined by nearly 30 percentile points (dropping from 92 percent to 63 percent) since the 1960s. In a parallel trend, the median CEO tenure for large-cap companies has been shrinking steadily over time—indeed, it dropped by one full year between 2013 and 2017. Median tenure is now five years.
Structural change and industry consolidation are also impacting the nature of competition, creating a “winnertakes-most” dynamic in an increasing number of business sectors. Recent research based on analysis of 5,750 of the world’s largest companies shows just how unevenly the fruits of success are now distributed in terms of economic profit (a measure of a company’s invested capital times its return above its weighted cost of capital). The top 10 percent of these companies captured fully 80 percent of positive economic profit between 1994 and 2016.
All of these implications are brought into sharper focus by the increasing shareholder scrutiny which companies are now under, not only from activist investors but also increasingly from institutional investors who wield their significant influence to demand change. Stephen Murray, the president and CEO of private equity firm CCMP Capital, goes so far as to say, “The whole activist industry exists because public boards are often seen as inadequately equipped to meet shareholder interests.” So the challenges for boards and management teams are stark—probably more so now than at any time since the birth of the modern corporation a little more than a century ago. They mean that some, though by no means all, of these individuals’ accumulated experience in strategy development and execution may be less relevant in the future than in the past. And they suggest that board leaders in particular need to adopt a new mind-set and consider a different modus operandi attuned to the demands of this rapidly-changing environment.
IMPLICATIONS FOR BOARDS
Three years ago, in its Report of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Building the Strategic-Asset Board, NACD first pointed out that a new leadership mandate for boards was emerging, driven by “an operating environment . . . that is characterized by increased complexity and uncertainty and includes new sources of risk and opportunity.” It highlighted the role of the board leader in driving a continuous improvement ethos to ensure that the board remains fit for its purpose. Yet performance expectations for boards continue to rise. In a 2019 NACD survey, 73 percent of directors reported that board leadership is more challenging now than it was three years ago, and 84 percent reported that performance expectations had gone up for all board members. Directors admit that they find it really challenging to keep up with change. In the same NACD survey, 36 percent of directors cited the struggle to stay abreast of the changing speed of business as one of the key impediments to the effectiveness of board leaders. Commissioners for this report echoed that concern and highlighted it as a challenge for the entire board. “Many directors don’t feel comfortable talking about emerging technologies, cybersecurity, and other complex topics,” said one Commissioner. “As a result, they tend to defer to others, which can become an abdication of their responsibility to be active board members.”
In the view of the Commission, this shifting business paradigm has profound and immediate implications for boards, and these implications will intensify dramatically over the next 5 to 10 years. They cover
board engagement with management,
board renewal,
transparency,
and accountability.
Some of these implications are not new—indeed, boards have been grappling with all of them with greater or lesser success for some time. But there is no doubt that all of them have recently become more acute, and now pose an urgent challenge to board leaders.
IMPLICATION 1: Boards must engage more proactively, deeply, and frequently on entirely new and fast-changing drivers of strategy and risk.
IMPLICATION 2: Boards must approach their own renewal through the lens of shifting strategic needs to ensure longterm competitive advantage.
IMPLICATION 3: Boards must adopt a more dynamic operating model and structure.
IMPLICATION 4: Boards must be much more transparent about how they govern.
IMPLICATION 5: Boards must hold themselves more accountable for individual director and collective performance.
SETTING EXPECTATIONS FOR THE NEW BOARD LEADER
The fundamental role of board leadership stays the same: building and maintaining high-performing boards that build long-term value. Here is how NACD has described board leaders and their role in its past Blue Ribbon Commission reports:
Board leaders are the linchpins on many key issues, including the board-CEO relationship, board dynamics and culture, setting the board agenda, information flows between the board and management, and stakeholder relations (especially board-shareholder engagement).
Many NACD principles and positions about what constitutes good board practice are contingent upon having a strong and effective leader in this role. Strong, qualified individuals in this role “[have] the ability to give the board a competitive advantage.”
As seen in the infographic that follows, based on 2019 NACD analysis of S&P 500 chairs and lead directors, board leaders today have extensive tenure on the boards they serve, bringing with them strong institutional memory, and they almost always have past experience in business leadership roles and a proven track record in strategy and execution.
PRIORITY RESPONSIBILITIES FOR BOARD LEADERS OF TODAY
Lead the setting and monitoring of board performance goals that are regularly synchronized with the (shifting) business strategy.
Drive alignment and connectivity. This includes staying connected on material new initiatives and strengthening alignment in how committees and the full board engage on crucial, but now fast-changing, issues such as strategy, risk, disruption, talent, corporate culture, incentives, and technology.
Lead the setting of shared values and expectations for a well-functioning board, including the use of a fully candid board, committee, and individual-director performance evaluation.
Pay continuous attention to (a) what’s working and why, (b) what’s not working and why, and (c) how the board can use this knowledge to improve its effectiveness.
Spend considerable time in one-on-one discussions on key topics with other board members, the CEO, and the management team, with a focus on ensuring openness of discussion and constructive group dynamics.
DESIRED ATTRIBUTES FOR BOARD LEADERS OF TODAY
Fortitude and vigilance to ensure that changes in board processes and practices change behaviors over time
Adaptability—a willingness to recognize a board’s new needs and responsibilities and adjust board practices, processes, agenda setting, and structures accordingly
Superb communication skills, especially with regard to difficult communications, including sensitive messages to the CEO and to fellow directors
Aptitude for relationship building, not just with the board, the CEO, and the senior team, but also with key shareholders, stakeholders, and regulators
Inclusiveness—ensuring that the growing diversity of the boardroom is optimized, and enhancing collaboration that is inclusive of different, unconventional thinking
Humility—placing a high premium on listening and seeking to understand the (contrasting) views of others. The successful board leader presents himself/herself as “last among equals”
STRENGTHENING BOARD ENGAGEMENT
Board leaders will need to orchestrate more meaningful board engagement to help inform strategic choices and to understand the risks being taken in a much more uncertain and fast-changing environment. Earlier, we described the pressures for boards to become more actively engaged with their companies, without falling into the trap of micromanagement or losing the objectivity required to oversee the business. We suggest that this requires collaboration and candid dialogue between boards and management teams about respective roles and responsibilities.
Clarifying where the board would like to seek deeper involvement and why this creates better governance. Examples might be earlier and more in-depth understanding/verification of strategy development and underlying assumptions, preparations for responding to disruption, and plans for major corporate transformations.
Creating a shared picture of the present, and of the future, and of where the industry and the competition are headed, and of what that means for strategy.
Enhancing board focus on innovation and change. Here is another shift made imperative by the speed of business change. Where in the past a board’s typical posture may have been to act as a brake on management’s ambitions, an equally important goal should now be to work with management to ensure that they embrace innovation and can successfully drive change in the organization.
Assessing how well management is maintaining critical alignments among key determinants of performance (e.g., strategy, risk management, innovation, controls, incentives, culture, and talent). This becomes increasingly important as strategies are more frequently being recalibrated.
Establishing a framework for more frequent, focused management communication with the board between formal meetings. This can help streamline the meetings themselves, freeing up time to focus on the most critical strategic matters.
DRIVING STRATEGIC BOARD RENEWAL
In order to deliver more meaningful and deeper engagement on entirely new issues, the board leader and the chair of the nominating and governance committee should thoroughly assess whether the board has the right human capital to fulfill its mandate and deliver ongoing value. One of the key questions will be whether the board’s existing composition is aligned with the challenges likely to face the business in the future sketched out together with the management team, and if not, how it should best be renewed. One useful way of thinking about this task could be a “clean-sheet” approach to board diversity and composition, which NACD first recommended in its Blue Ribbon Commission report on building the strategic-asset board. In particular, nominating and governance committees should consider asking the following questions:
If we were to create a board from scratch today, what would it look like holistically, from the standpoint of skills, leadership styles, and backgrounds? What will we need in three, five, or more years?
Have we sufficiently mapped out our strategy and risks into the future to understand what profiles we need?
How should our board composition represent the characteristics of the company’s current and future customer base as well as its workforce?
If we are anticipating adding one or more new directors in the next couple of years, have we vetted our recruitment profile to ensure criteria are relevant and that they are not unnecessarily restricting access to appropriate candidates (e.g., requiring CEO or prior board experience)?
BUILDING AN INCLUSIVE BOARD CULTURE
Boards already know how to be purposeful in seeking out individuals who bring a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. Now they need to be just as purposeful in creating an environment that enables those diverse voices to be heard. The board leader has a critical role to play in activating diversity in the boardroom by recognizing that the aim is not “hiring for diversity and then managing for assimilation.” The goal of the board leader after bringing in new board members is not assimilation but rather enhancing collaboration that is inclusive of different, unconventional thinking. With higher levels of diversity in the boardroom—whether this is diversity in experience, skills, gender, race, ethnicity, or age—it’s critical for board leaders to create a culture that facilitates constructive and candid interactions between board members and that ensures that each director is heard from on important issues.
FOSTERING CONTINUOUS LEARNING
“Continuous lifelong learning’’ is such an oft-heard phrase that it’s close to becoming a cliché. But it’s nonetheless a worthwhile approach for boards and management teams to adopt—because when the pace of change is accelerating, “the fastest-growing companies and most resilient workers will be those who learn faster than their competition.”
This, too, will function most effectively as a collaborative effort between the board and the management team. It’s the role of management to help educate the board about the future and its impact on strategy. The board leader should help the C-suite understand the board’s expectations for the learning process, the time line, and the board’s information needs. At the same time, the board leader should set the expectation that directors not rely solely on management for all of the information they receive, but rather seek out other external sources proactively to deepen their understanding of the business. The agenda for potential learning is vast and constantly growing. “Some learning opportunities may be specific to individual directors; others may be common to all members of a committee or to the entire board (e.g., raising the board’s collective knowledge about cyber threats). Individual, committee, or board-level learning agendas might include
industry-specific topics;
emerging economic and technology trends;
governance matters;
regulatory developments;
shareholder/stakeholder issues;
and/or team dynamics and decision making.”
Commissioners offered a number of observations about the pursuit of structured board learning:
First, that it is not just a matter for board leaders and committee chairs—it is a collective task for the whole board to stay “constantly curious.” This can be assisted through experiential learning, where the board visits company sites or meets local managers.
Second, there is a constant need to focus collective learning on new technologies—not just the features of emerging technologies but also the reasons why they are so disruptive and how competitors have succeeded in commercializing them.
Third, longer-serving directors will benefit from periodically refreshing their knowledge of the basics—for example, by joining new director orientation in order to understand how management’s presentation of the issues may have changed.
Finally, the learning imperative applies equally to management. To this end, selected executives should be encouraged to take board positions with companies that are not competitors.
BUILDING AGILITY INTO BOARD OPERATIONS AND STRUCTURE
As stated earlier, the dynamic external environment requires boards to be more careful than before about how they allocate their time, but also more flexible in responding to events. The starting point is effective agenda setting for board meetings.
The Commissioners offered a number of specific ideas for enhancing board meeting effectiveness:
First, think holistically about the entire cycle of meetings throughout the year and not just about the agenda for individual meetings. The objective is to ensure the highest return on the time that the board spends together and with management—including what happens outside, around, and in between the actual board meetings.
Second, make a deliberate effort to ensure that board meetings are not predominantly focused on the past and on compliance—on the rear-view mirror, so to speak. Create “white space” time for open conversation and time to delve into identified issues of importance. Foster dialogue and minimize time spent on formal presentations.
Third, take a strategic and almost mathematical approach to time allocation. One Commissioner described how the board tracks how it is spending its time in meetings, then asks board members their opinions about how the board should be spending time, and periodically optimizes the mix.
Fourth, try to maximize one-on-one time with the CEO and the board. It is important to spend time with the CEO without other managers present. An hour and sometimes more at the start of every meeting, and then again at the end, coupled with a CEO/director-only dinner, is an effective way “to get everything that needs airing out on the table.”
Click here to access NACD’s entire report
Posté dans Non classéTagué Board Leader, Board of Directors, Change Agent, Disruption, IT Governance, NACD, Strategy, Transformation
Incumbents and InsurTechs must embrace each other’s unique strengths and work together
New challenges, changing business dynamics have set off a tectonic shift in the insurance industry
Customer expectations are evolving, offers are becoming more innovative, and new players are making their presence known.
Fundamental and significant challenges will require insurers’ immediate and considered attention.
As a result of these changing dynamics, incumbents and InsurTechs agree that collaboration with other industry players is necessary to create an integrated portfolio of offerings.
Insurers must support a platform that serves a broad spectrum of customer needs
The future marketplace will showcase a bouquet of offerings that caters to customers’ financial and non-financial needs.
Insurers need a structured approach to marketplace development that includes proper identification of customer preferences and relevant offerings, evaluation of best-fit partners, and an effective GTM strategy.
Today’s operating model will undergo a fundamental transformation as part of the inevitable path forward.
Experience-led digital offerings and seamless collaboration with ecosystem players will drive marketplace success
Insurers will need to tear down internal silos, seamlessly connect with ecosystem players, and be more inventive.
Our Inventive Insurer profile includes key characteristics:
intelligent insurer,
open insurer,
deep customer,
and product agility.
Incumbent-InsurTech collaboration can shore up competencies in preparation for the future
InsurTechs’ unique capabilities and agility make them ideal partners for incumbents aiming to carve out a substantive role in the new marketplace.
A successful holistic collaboration will focus on long-term benefits.
New ecosystem roles will evolve as the industry transitions toward the marketplace model
Industry players must decide how to successfully and profitably contribute to the new ecosystem based on their most compelling competencies, as well as market needs and the external environment.
There’s no looking back for today’s digitally-empowered consumers
Throughout the past decade, as smart technology tools became mainstream, consumer interaction with the world changed dramatically. Changing lifestyles, behavior, and preferences have created a digital-age paradigm. As smartphones and the internet unlock information and decision power, interconnectivity, personalization, and seamless omnichannel access have become must-haves.
So, what does this mean for insurers?
Policyholders seek new offerings: Traditional insurance policies may not fully meet customers’ changing needs and desire for add-on services, personalization, and flexible offerings. In fact, for nearly half of policyholders, the decision to continue with their insurer is influenced by the availability of these features and benefits, according to the World Insurance Report (WIR) 2019.1
The demand for digital transaction channels is up: The popularity of digital channels is gradually growing. More than half of insurance customers (nearly 52%) interviewed as part of the WIR 2018 placed high importance on the mobile and internet or a website channel for conducting insurance transactions.
Simplicity is the rationale behind genuinely digital products
Digital channels work best when insurers streamline and standardize products and processes so customers easily understand features and benefits and can make direct purchases online with ease. In short, insurers must simplify offerings to create genuinely
digital products.
Easy to understand: Policy details should be redesigned and reformatted for straightforward interpretation so customers can quickly make a buy/ no-buy decision. For example, Berkshire Hathaway’s Insurance Group (BiBerk) launched a comprehensive insurance product for small businesses that combines multiple coverages. Dubbed THREE, the new product is three-pages long and links coverage for workers compensation, liability (including general liability, errors and omissions, and cyber), property, and auto.
Automated processes: Straight-through processing and other ease-of-use tools can simplify underwriting, claims processing, and more across the value chain. Cake Insure, a subsidiary of Colorado-based Pinnacol Assurance, launched in late 2017 with an algorithm that produces a bindable quote in less than a minute and a bound policy in fewer than five minutes for small businesses seeking workers’ compensation insurance. New York-based property and casualty InsurTech Lemonade uses artificial intelligence to automate claims processing. Lemonade showcases a 2016 case in which it crossreferenced a claim against a user’s policy, ran 18 anti-fraud algorithms, approved the claim, and sent wiring instructions to the bank in three seconds to demonstrate ease of use.
Straightforward policy wording: Descriptions of policy coverage and expenses (which ones are payable and which do not qualify) must be explained clearly in everyday language. Similarly, insurance industry players should work together to standardize definitions, exclusions, and processes.
Interactive customer education: Gamification, interactive videos, and social channels are ways to educate customers about risks, their need for coverage, and policy details. Interaction can also improve customer engagement and experience.
The marketplace of the future can holistically focus on customer needs
HomeFlix is a virtual assistant offering renters and homeowners insurance underwritten by Zurich Connect, the digital arm of Zurich Italy, and powered by on-demand digital broker Yolo, a Milan-based InsurTech. In addition to insurance coverage, the policy, introduced in July 2019, offers laundry service – washed and ironed after a few days and paid directly on delivery. Access to concierge maintenance services such as plumbing and electric also is available. Next, HomeFlix plans home delivery, babysitting, and cleaning services.
New York-based Generali Global Assistance (a division of Italy’s Generali Group, which provides travel insurance-related services) strategically partnered with San Francisco-based rideshare company Lyft in late 2017 to improve customer service and contain costs for clientele of its insurance companies and multinational corporations. Later, Lyft
collaborated with CareLinx, a US professional caregiver marketplace that helps find, hire, manage and pay caregivers online, to create CareRides, a door-to-door transportation service for special-needs individuals in 50 US metro areas. Generali Global Assistance also partnered with CareLinx to provide value-added services for existing policyholders in times of need.
The marketplace of the future can offer emerging-risk coverage
Working with Cisco, Apple, and Aon, Allianz launched a comprehensive cyber insurance product for businesses in early 2018. The product includes a solution comprised of cyber-resilience evaluation services from Aon, secure technologies from Cisco and Apple, and options for enhanced cyber insurance coverage from Allianz. The product aims to help a broader range of organizations manage and protect themselves better from cyber risks associated with ransomware and malware-related threats.
The marketplace of the future can deliver simple to understand, easy-access offerings
Berlin-based startup FRIDAY offers innovative, digital automotive insurance with features like kilometeraccurate billing, the option to terminate at month’s end, and paperless administration. The InsurTech’s technologies and partnerships include:
Telematics support from the BMW CarData platform and from TankTaler, which tracks vehicle location as well as data such as battery voltage, mileage, and other statistics
Automotive services through the mobility hub of ATU, a German chain of vehicle repair franchises
Drivy, a peer-to-peer car rental marketplace that enables consumers to lease vehicles from private individuals
Friendsurance, a peer-to-peer InsurTech that pays out a percentage to customers who do not use (or use very little) annual insurance also sells FRIDAY policies
Prudential Singapore and StarHub partnered to create FastTrackTrade (FTT), Singapore’s first digital trade platform for small and midsized business (SMBs) that uses blockchain technology. FTT helps SMBs find business partners and distributors, buy and sell goods, track shipments, receive and make payments, access financing, and buy insurance via a single platform. FinTech startup Cités Gestion developed the pioneering platform with funding from Prudential.
Structure supports success
Insurer success in the future marketplace will rely on a structured approach (see Figure 3).
Understanding customer preferences and conceptualizing product portfolios: Insurers can tap new data sources such as social media channels and use behavioral analytics for better understanding and more accurate estimation of their customer’s preferences and risk profile. With a deeper understanding of customers, they can conceptualize personalized product portfolios for each customer segment.
Recruiting the right partners: Once the product portfolio is finalized, insurers should look for partners that align with their business objectives and strategic vision. Cultural fit, ease of integration of systems, and seamless channels of communication are key success factors.
Structuring the offerings portfolio: Insurers should closely collaborate with partners while assembling their portfolio. A winning product/service mix offers a hyper-personalized one-stop solution for all the needs of the customer.
A compelling go-to-market strategy: Insurers should be able to communicate the value of the marketplace by touting human-centric offerings that customers find simple to understand and easy to access.
Capturing feedback: Through advanced analysis of sales data, direct customer input, social media, etc., insurers can capture feedback about their offerings. The process should be continuous rather than on an ad-hoc basis. More importantly, the input should be immediately acted upon to enhance current products or to conceptualize a new product.
To realize the full potential of the structured approach, four fundamental shifts in the current operating model are critical
For an insurer to realize the full potential of the structured approach and ensuring the successful creation of the marketplace of the future, four fundamental shifts in the current operating model are critical (see Figure 4). The importance of these areas is borne out by the research. For example:
Experience: More than 70% of insurers and InsurTechs said a focus on holistic risk solutions for customers was critical to establishing a future-state insurance marketplace.
Data: More than 70% said advanced data management capabilities are critical.
Partnerships: 90% of InsurTechs said partnerships were critical while 70% of incumbents said the same. Both insurers and InsurTechs have a hearty appetite for collaboration with other sectors, such as healthcare providers and players from the travel, transportation, and hospitality space (see Figure 5).
Shared access: However, an emerging area in which views are evolving is the transition to a shared economy. Here, less than 40% of established insurers and InsurTechs say they consider shared ownership of assets to be critical.
Industry players should understand that the four shifts – focus on experience, data, partnership, and shared access – are interrelated and critical for partnering with other entities to develop bundled offerings. Concentrating on one at the expense of others may stymie the overall efficiency of the marketplace.
Digital maturity does not match aspiration
While insurers realize the importance of these fundamental shifts, there is a significant gap between their expectations and their current digital maturity. Lack of digital maturity is the biggest concern for incumbents. While 68% of insurers said they believe partnerships are critical, only 32% are currently collaborating with ecosystem partners (see Figure 6).
Less than 40% of insurers have a holistic digital transformation strategy and are collaborating with ecosystem players to provide value-added services. Only 11% of insurers say they leverage open architecture, which is critical for working with other industry players.
We call firms prepared to excel in the future marketplace Inventive Insurers because they have strategically updated their product portfolios, operating models, and distribution methods. They have outlined their distinctive capabilities as well as their competency gaps and are ready to deliver end-to-end solutions in the manner customers prefer.
Pragmatic assessment (and subsequent enhancement) of a firm’s digital maturity is critical to connecting with ecosystem players seamlessly. Figure 7 shows the steps companies need to take to establish the marketplace of the future.
1. Prioritize digital agility
The critical first step in the future marketplace journey is boosting digital agility. The more quickly initiatives are implemented, the more quickly firms will enhance their digital maturity and actively participate within a connected ecosystem. Insurers must holistically adopt these critical capabilities to optimize their digital agility and seamlessly connect with partners to develop digitallyintegrated ecosystems (see Figure 8).
Real-time data gathering
Re-engineering complex processes and automating them
2. Build an integrated ecosystem
Seamless collaboration between insurers and their strategic partners is the backbone of a digitally integrated ecosystem. As new players enter the insurance value chain (aggregators, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), one-stop policy management apps, and third parties such as repair stores), incumbents must strengthen their position through strategic partnerships.
Our proposed digitally-integrated ecosystem seamlessly interconnects insurers with customers and partners to enable the efficient flow of information and services (see Figure 9).
In the digitally-integrated ecosystem, customers can access insurers over various channels through extended multi-device, multi-platform, and mobility offerings. Digital integration with partners will play a crucial role as insurers seek to increase their reach and provide customers with convenient and seamless services.
Integration with aggregators and intermediaries offers insurers a choice of distribution channels. As insurers connect with individual customers through devices, real-time data can be captured and used to provide personalized offerings and value-added services.
Insurers will move beyond traditional touchpoints to become their customers’ constant risk control advisory and partner. For that to happen, however, insurers will need to join forces with third-party vendors for efficient claims management and payout, and with OEMs for real-time customer data.
APIs, cloud-based storage, and blockchain can foster insurance ecosystem integration by enabling the seamless and secure transfer of data between diverse systems. A digitally-integrated ecosystem – both within and outside the organization – will support the real-time, personalized services that customers already demand. Digital mastery can benefit top- and bottom lines and propel insurers forward.
Grasping the art of teamwork with close ecosystem players – and relevant offerings based on core capabilities – will lay the groundwork for insurers to partner profitably.
3. Create tomorrow’s marketplace
Firms must develop Inventive Insurer competencies to contribute to the successful development of tomorrow’s marketplace. These competencies include intelligent processes, open platforms, customer centricity, and an innovative mindset among team members ( see Figure 10).
Intelligent insurer. Automation, analytics, and artificial intelligence can prioritize customer experience within all operations.
Process efficiencies can support top-notch service with quick turnaround times.
Analytical competencies help insurers understand customer needs and act swiftly.
Robust digital governance provides monitoring and ensures compliance within today’s dynamic regulatory environment.
Open insurers leverage open platforms to build an ecosystem of partners through seamless collaboration with third parties and enable firms to participate in the value chain of third parties. Insurers with open platforms can access and integrate new data streams to cater to customers’ evolving needs, reaching them in the way they prefer via new distribution channels. Modern platform with open architecture for providing bouquet of offerings also allow firms to take a fail-fast approach to product development and innovate at a faster pace.
Deep customer competencies allow insurers to leverage data and channels for enhancing the customer experience across all touchpoints. Deep customer insights generated using advanced analytics and AI enable insurers to keep the customer at the center of all decisions.
Product agility is crucial for insurers to create new products at a faster pace and gain a competitive edge from an increased speed-to-market. Creative culture and ability to innovate at scale are critical components for achieving product agility. A creative culture
encourages novel thinking from employees and spurs openness to change.
Innovation labs and design thinking can encourage a fresh approach, especially within cultures that are hard-wired with conventional processes and culture.
Leadership support and vision are also critical. While Inventive Insurer status may be an aspirational future state, each firm’s journey is unique. An open platform used as a sandbox is an excellent place to begin developing new competencies and learning how to innovate at scale. Inventive Insurers create digital, experience-led offerings by collaborating seamlessly with other ecosystem players.
Incumbents and InsurTechs will benefit from strategic collaboration
For the most part, the industry sees InsurTech collaboration only as a means to drive growth and transform the customer experience. For example, 84% of insurers and 80% of InsurTechs say they are focusing on “developing new offerings.”
However, when it comes to the critical building blocks for the new insurance marketplace – such as developing holistic technology infrastructure and advanced data management capabilities – there are significant gaps in the expectations of insurers and InsurTechs. For example, fewer than 40% of incumbent insurers want to build holistic technology infrastructure by collaborating with InsurTech firms, while more than 60% of InsurTechs wish to work with insurers to create such a foundation.
What’s more, while data security remains a crucial concern when establishing partnerships with other industries, only around 10% of incumbents and 25% of InsurTechs say they want to focus collaborative efforts on data security.
Industry players should focus on a holistic approach while venturing into an insurer-InsurTech collaboration to prepare for the future and consider tactical plans for quick wins that may offer short-term benefits.
External partners can facilitate incumbent-InsurTech collaboration
After clearly outlining collaboration objectives, insurers must select a partner. The World InsurTech Report 2018 took a deep dive into the InsurTech landscape and offered ways in which incumbents can assess the success potential of short-to-medium term partnerships with InsurTech firms as well as longterm relationship feasibility. Finding a partner that can address technology capability gaps may require specialized third-party support.
Incumbents and InsurTechs can optimize their structured collaborative efforts by keeping four guiding pillars in mind: People, Finance, Business, and Technology (Figure 13).
People (The right individuals in the best-fit positions): Employees are a firm’s most essential assets when it comes to driving innovation, growth, expansion, and fruitful collaboration. Both partnering entities must be flexible and strive for a balance between the hierarchical nature of many traditional insurers and the flat organizational structure favored by InsurTechs.
Finance (Allocate optimal capital, realistically forecast returns): Without a defined investment and revenue model, it may be difficult to articulate a compelling value proposition. Participants need adequate capital to invest in the partnership and a proven revenue generating model to maintain positive cash flow in the not-too-distant future.
Business (Early traction, measurable success): Business traction, a proven business model, customer adoption, and value creation are must-meet goals for any potential collaboration. A new business model should solve the needs and challenges that were difficult to tackle independently. A collaborative partnership should produce a value proposition with quantifiable results.
Technology (Collaboration tools and technologies): Technology tools should be secure and enable frictionless collaboration, as well as scalability. Partner systems should securely integrate with the help of technology. Accessed information must be accurate, timely, and be regulatorily compliant. It should be scalable without affecting current systems.
As the insurance industry advances, new specialist roles are developing. In addition to the traditional integrated business role, new functions include that of Supplier, Aggregator, and Orchestrator. Close collaboration will enable incumbents and InsurTechs to maximize opportunities in each.
These roles are not business-model exclusive but business-case specific. Each ecosystem entity may mix and match positions depending on the business model in play (see Figure 15).
Established insurers and InsurTechs can also play multiple roles within an ecosystem. For example, a firm can act as both supplier and orchestrator. Similarly, one firm may be a supplier in an ecosystem, but be an orchestrator in another ecosystem.
Click here to access Cap Gemini’s entire report
Posté dans Non classéTagué Business Model, Business Partner, Business Process Disruption, Business Technology, Digital Transformation, Innovation, Insurance, InsurTech, Marketplace
Building your data and analytics strategy
Publié le 8 septembre 2019 8 septembre 2019 par hanswillertbleuazurconsultingeu
When it comes to being data-driven, organizations run the gamut with maturity levels. Most believe that data and analytics provide insights. But only one-third of respondents to a TDWI survey said they were truly data-driven, meaning they analyze data to drive decisions and actions.
Successful data-driven businesses foster a collaborative, goal-oriented culture. Leaders believe in data and are governance-oriented. The technology side of the business ensures sound data quality and puts analytics into operation. The data management strategy spans the full analytics life cycle. Data is accessible and usable by multiple people – data engineers and data scientists, business analysts and less-technical business users.
TDWI analyst Fern Halper conducted research of analytics and data professionals across industries and identified the following five best practices for becoming a data-driven organization.
1. Build relationships to support collaboration
If IT and business teams don’t collaborate, the organization can’t operate in a data-driven way – so eliminating barriers between groups is crucial. Achieving this can improve market performance and innovation; but collaboration is challenging. Business decision makers often don’t think IT understands the importance of fast results, and conversely, IT doesn’t think the business understands data management priorities. Office politics come into play.
But having clearly defined roles and responsibilities with shared goals across departments encourages teamwork. These roles should include: IT/architecture, business and others who manage various tasks on the business and IT sides (from business sponsors to DevOps).
2. Make data accessible and trustworthy
Making data accessible – and ensuring its quality – are key to breaking down barriers and becoming data-driven. Whether it’s a data engineer assembling and transforming data for analysis or a data scientist building a model, everyone benefits from trustworthy data that’s unified and built around a common vocabulary.
As organizations analyze new forms of data – text, sensor, image and streaming – they’ll need to do so across multiple platforms like data warehouses, Hadoop, streaming platforms and data lakes. Such systems may reside on-site or in the cloud. TDWI recommends several best practices to help:
Establish a data integration and pipeline environment with tools that provide federated access and join data across sources. It helps to have point-and-click interfaces for building workflows, and tools that support ETL, ELT and advanced specifications like conditional logic or parallel jobs.
Manage, reuse and govern metadata – that is, the data about your data. This includes size, author, database column structure, security and more.
Provide reusable data quality tools with built-in analytics capabilities that can profile data for accuracy, completeness and ambiguity.
3. Provide tools to help the business work with data
From marketing and finance to operations and HR, business teams need self-service tools to speed and simplify data preparation and analytics tasks. Such tools may include built-in, advanced techniques like machine learning, and many work across the analytics life cycle – from data collection and profiling to monitoring analytical models in production.
These “smart” tools feature three capabilities:
Automation helps during model building and model management processes. Data preparation tools often use machine learning and natural language processing to understand semantics and accelerate data matching.
Reusability pulls from what has already been created for data management and analytics. For example, a source-to-target data pipeline workflow can be saved and embedded into an analytics workflow to create a predictive model.
Explainability helps business users understand the output when, for example, they’ve built a predictive model using an automated tool. Tools that explain what they’ve done are ideal for a data-driven company.
4. Consider a cohesive platform that supports collaboration and analytics
As organizations mature analytically, it’s important for their platform to support multiple roles in a common interface with a unified data infrastructure. This strengthens collaboration and makes it easier for people to do their jobs.
For example, a business analyst can use a discussion space to collaborate with a data scientist while building a predictive model, and during testing. The data scientist can use a notebook environment to test and validate the model as it’s versioned and metadata is captured. The data scientist can then notify the DevOps team when the model is ready for production – and they can use the platform’s tools to continually monitor the model.
5. Use modern governance technologies and practices
Governance – that is, rules and policies that prescribe how organizations protect and manage their data and analytics – is critical in learning to trust data and become data-driven. But TDWI research indicates that one-third of organizations don’t govern their data at all. Instead, many focus on security and privacy rules. Their research also indicates that fewer than 20 percent of organizations do any type of analytics governance, which includes vetting and monitoring models in production.
Decisions based on poor data – or models that have degraded – can have a negative effect on the business. As more people across an organization access data and build models, and as new types of data and technologies emerge (big data, cloud, stream mining), data governance practices need to evolve. TDWI recommends three features of governance software that can strengthen your data and analytics governance:
Data catalogs, glossaries and dictionaries. These tools often include sophisticated tagging and automated procedures for building and keeping catalogs up to date – as well as discovering metadata from existing data sets.
Data lineage. Data lineage combined with metadata helps organizations understand where data originated and track how it was changed and transformed.
Model management. Ongoing model tracking is crucial for analytics governance. Many tools automate model monitoring, schedule updates to keep models current and send alerts when a model is degrading.
In the future, organizations may move beyond traditional governance council models to new approaches like agile governance, embedded governance or crowdsourced governance.
But involving both IT and business stakeholders in the decision-making process – including data owners, data stewards and others – will always be key to robust governance at data-driven organizations.
There’s no single blueprint for beginning a data analytics project – never mind ensuring a successful one.
However, the following questions help individuals and organizations frame their data analytics projects in instructive ways. Put differently, think of these questions as more of a guide than a comprehensive how-to list.
1. Is this your organization’s first attempt at a data analytics project?
When it comes to data analytics projects, culture matters. Consider Netflix, Google and Amazon. All things being equal, organizations like these have successfully completed data analytics projects. Even better, they have built analytics into their cultures and become data-driven businesses.
As a result, they will do better than neophytes. Fortunately, first-timers are not destined for failure. They should just temper their expectations.
2. What business problem do you think you’re trying to solve?
This might seem obvious, but plenty of folks fail to ask it before jumping in. Note here how I qualified the first question with “do you think.” Sometimes the root cause of a problem isn’t what we believe it to be; in other words, it’s often not what we at first think.
In any case, you don’t need to solve the entire problem all at once by trying to boil the ocean. In fact, you shouldn’t take this approach. Project methodologies (like agile) allow organizations to take an iterative approach and embrace the power of small batches.
3. What types and sources of data are available to you?
Most if not all organizations store vast amounts of enterprise data. Looking at internal databases and data sources makes sense. Don’t make the mistake of believing, though, that the discussion ends there.
External data sources in the form of open data sets (such as data.gov) continue to proliferate. There are easy methods for retrieving data from the web and getting it back in a usable format – scraping, for example. This tactic can work well in academic environments, but scraping could be a sign of data immaturity for businesses. It’s always best to get your hands on the original data source when possible.
Caveat: Just because the organization stores it doesn’t mean you’ll be able to easily access it. Pernicious internal politics stifle many an analytics endeavor.
4. What types and sources of data are you allowed to use?
With all the hubbub over privacy and security these days, foolish is the soul who fails to ask this question. As some retail executives have learned in recent years, a company can abide by the law completely and still make people feel decidedly icky about the privacy of their purchases. Or, consider a health care organization – it may not technically violate the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), yet it could still raise privacy concerns.
Another example is the GDPR. Adhering to this regulation means that organizations won’t necessarily be able to use personal data they previously could use – at least not in the same way.
5. What is the quality of your organization’s data?
Common mistakes here include assuming your data is complete, accurate and unique (read: nonduplicate). During my consulting career, I could count on one hand the number of times a client handed me a “perfect” data set. While it’s important to cleanse your data, you don’t need pristine data just to get started. As Voltaire said, “Perfect is the enemy of good.”
6. What tools are available to extract, clean, analyze and present the data?
This isn’t the 1990s, so please don’t tell me that your analytic efforts are limited to spreadsheets. Sure, Microsoft Excel works with structured data – if the data set isn’t all that big. Make no mistake, though: Everyone’s favorite spreadsheet program suffers from plenty of limitations, in areas like:
Handling semistructured and unstructured data.
Tracking changes/version control.
Dealing with size restrictions.
Ensuring governance.
Providing security.
For now, suffice it to say that if you’re trying to analyze large, complex data sets, there are many tools well worth exploring. The same holds true for visualization. Never before have we seen such an array of powerful, affordable and user-friendly tools designed to present data in interesting ways.
Caveat 1: While software vendors often ape each other’s features, don’t assume that each application can do everything that the others can.
Caveat 2: With open source software, remember that “free” software could be compared to a “free” puppy. To be direct: Even with open source software, expect to spend some time and effort on training and education.
7. Do your employees possess the right skills to work on the data analytics project?
The database administrator may well be a whiz at SQL. That doesn’t mean, though, that she can easily analyze gigabytes of unstructured data. Many of my students need to learn new programs over the course of the semester, and the same holds true for employees. In fact, organizations often find that they need to:
Provide training for existing employees.
Hire new employees.
Contract consultants.
Post the project on sites such as Kaggle.
Don’t assume that your employees can pick up new applications and frameworks 15 minutes at a time every other week. They can’t.
8. What will be done with the results of your analysis?
A company routinely spent millions of dollars recruiting MBAs at Ivy League schools only to see them leave within two years. Rutgers MBAs, for their part, stayed much longer and performed much better.
Despite my findings, the company continued to press on. It refused to stop going to Harvard, Cornell, etc. because of vanity. In his own words, the head of recruiting just “liked” going to these schools, data be damned.
Food for thought: What will an individual, group, department or organization do with keen new insights from your data analytics projects? Will the result be real action? Or will a report just sit in someone’s inbox?
9. What types of resistance can you expect?
You might think that people always and willingly embrace the results of data-oriented analysis. And you’d be spectacularly wrong.
Case in point: Major League Baseball (MLB) umpires get close ball and strike calls wrong more often than you’d think. Why wouldn’t they want to improve their performance when presented with objective data? It turns out that many don’t. In some cases, human nature makes people want to reject data and analytics that contrast with their world views. Years ago, before the subscription model became wildly popular, some Blockbuster executives didn’t want to believe that more convenient ways to watch movies existed.
Caveat: Ignore the power of internal resistance at your own peril.
10. What are the costs of inaction?
Sure, this is a high-level query and the answers depend on myriad factors.
For instance, a pharma company with years of patent protection will respond differently than a startup with a novel idea and competitors nipping at its heels. Interesting subquestions here include:
Do the data analytics projects merely confirm what we already know?
Do the numbers show anything conclusive?
Could we be capturing false positives and false negatives?
Think about these questions before undertaking data analytics projects Don’t take the queries above as gospel. By and large, though, experience proves that asking these questions frames the problem well and sets the organization up for success – or at least minimizes the chance of a disaster.
Most organizations understand the importance of data governance in concept. But they may not realize all the multifaceted, positive impacts of applying good governance practices to data across the organization. For example, ensuring that your sales and marketing analytics relies on measurably trustworthy customer data can lead to increased revenue and shorter sales cycles. And having a solid governance program to ensure your enterprise data meets regulatory requirements could help you avoid penalties.
Companies that start data governance programs are motivated by a variety of factors, internal and external. Regardless of the reasons, two common themes underlie most data governance activities: the desire for high-quality customer information, and the need to adhere to requirements for protecting and securing that data.
What’s the best way to ensure you have accurate customer data that meets stringent requirements for privacy and security?
For obvious reasons, companies exert significant effort using tools and third-party data sets to enforce the consistency and accuracy of customer data. But there will always be situations in which the managed data set cannot be adequately synchronized and made consistent with “real-world” data. Even strictly defined and enforced internal data policies can’t prevent inaccuracies from creeping into the environment.
Why you should move beyond a conventional approach to data governance?
When it comes to customer data, the most accurate sources for validation are the customers themselves! In essence, every customer owns his or her information, and is the most reliable authority for ensuring its quality, consistency and currency. So why not develop policies and methods that empower the actual owners to be accountable for their data?
Doing this means extending the concept of data governance to the customers and defining data policies that engage them to take an active role in overseeing their own data quality. The starting point for this process fits within the data governance framework – define the policies for customer data validation.
A good template for formulating those policies can be adapted from existing regulations regarding data protection. This approach will assure customers that your organization is serious about protecting their data’s security and integrity, and it will encourage them to actively participate in that effort.
Examples of customer data engagement policies
Data protection defines the levels of protection the organization will use to protect the customer’s data, as well as what responsibilities the organization will assume in the event of a breach. The protection will be enforced in relation to the customer’s selected preferences (which presumes that customers have reviewed and approved their profiles).
Data access control and security define the protocols used to control access to customer data and the criteria for authenticating users and authorizing them for particular uses.
Data use describes the ways the organization will use customer data.
Customer opt-in describes the customers’ options for setting up the ways the organization can use their data.
Customer data review asserts that customers have the right to review their data profiles and to verify the integrity, consistency and currency of their data. The policy also specifies the time frame in which customers are expected to do this.
Customer data update describes how customers can alert the organization to changes in their data profiles. It allows customers to ensure their data’s validity, integrity, consistency and currency.
Right-to-use defines the organization’s right to use the data as described in the data use policy (and based on the customer’s selected profile options). This policy may also set a time frame associated with the right-to-use based on the elapsed time since the customer’s last date of profile verification.
The goal of such policies is to establish an agreement between the customer and the organization that basically says the organization will protect the customer’s data and only use it in ways the customer has authorized – in return for the customer ensuring the data’s accuracy and specifying preferences for its use. This model empowers customers to take ownership of their data profile and assume responsibility for its quality.
Clearly articulating each party’s responsibilities for data stewardship benefits both the organization and the customer by ensuring that customer data is high-quality and properly maintained. Better yet, recognize that the value goes beyond improved revenues or better compliance.
Empowering customers to take control and ownership of their data just might be enough to motivate self-validation.
Click her to access SAS’ detailed analysis
Posté dans Non classéTagué Big Data, Data Analytics, Data Governance, Data Management, Data Science, Data Visualization, Data-Driven, DataOps, DevOps, Open Data
Optimize for both Social and Business Value – Building Resilient Businesses, Industries, and Societies
Publié le 17 août 2019 17 août 2019 par hanswillertbleuazurconsultingeu
Why Is Corporate Capitalism at a Tipping Point?
Stakeholders are beginning to pressure companies and investors to go beyond financial returns and take a more holistic view of their impact on society. This should not surprise us. After all, we have lived through two decades of hyper-transformation, during which rapidly evolving digital technologies, globalization, and massive investment flows have stressed and reshaped every aspect of business and society.
As in previous transformations, the winners created new dimensions of competition and built innovative business models that increased returns for shareholders. Many others found their businesses at risk of being disrupted, with familiar formulas no longer working. To meet the unwavering demands of Wall Street, many companies relentlessly optimized operating models, streamlined and concentrated supply chains, and specialized their assets and teams — leaving them less resilient and less adaptable to shifting markets and trade flows. The resulting waves of corporate restructuring, consolidation, and repositioning have fractured companies’ cultures and undermined their social contracts.
Furthermore, this hyper-transformation cascaded beyond individual companies and created socio-economic dynamics that left many people and communities economically disadvantaged and politically polarized. Combined with the increasing shared anxiety that the earth’s climate is changing faster than the planet can adapt, a global zeitgeist of risk and insecurity has emerged. We will enter the 2020s with more citizens, investors, and leaders convinced that the way business, capital, and government work must change — and change quickly.
We now must rethink the sustainability of the whole system in the face of extreme externalities — or risk losing social and political permission for further progress. The 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) identify the moral and existential threats that we must meet head-on. While some question the SDGs’ breadth and timeline, most agree that, if achieved, they would create a more just, inclusive, and sustainable world.
Goal 17 calls for new engagement by companies and capital in partnership for collective action across the public, social, and private sectors. Five years into the SDG agenda, there is ample evidence that governments, investors, and companies are beginning to exercise their capacity to create much-needed change.
Change Is Underway but Is Hardly Sufficient
Many institutional investors are racing to integrate ESG (environmental, social, and governance) assessments into their decision making, and they are expecting companies to report on how they deliver on those metrics. New efforts promote radical disclosure, like the Bloomberg/Carney TCFD (Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures), which encourages signatories to report on the climate risks of their financial holdings.
New standards initiatives are creating a foundation for nonfinancial performance accounting, and the prospect of widespread “integrated reporting” seems realistic. Companies are investing in “purpose” and defining their contributions to society against material ESG factors and SDG goals. Corporate sustainability and CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) functions, historically on the sidelines, are now being integrated into line business activity, with progressive companies expanding the scope of competition to include differentiation on environmental and societal dimensions. And through industry consortia, many companies are taking collective action on issues that both threaten their right to operate and open up new opportunities for their industries.
Such examples are important early signals that the context for business is changing. However, for all the progress on commitments, agreements, metrics, and policies, there has been little aggregate progress against top-level goals, like
reducing CO2 emissions,
cutting plastics waste,
or narrowing social and economic inequality within nations.
Without demonstrable impact and collective progress, social and political pressure will only build, further threatening the legitimacy of corporate capitalism.
A New Societal Context for Business
Companies will face escalating social activism by investors, stakeholders, social mission organizations, and policymakers on issues of
climate risk,
economic inequality,
and societal well-being.
Governments and local communities will set a higher bar for a company’s right to operate, and in a connected world a company’s local performance will quickly affect its global reputation and trigger social and regulatory consequences. Stakeholders will expect radical transparency on ESG performance.
This will shift investors’ perceptions of a company’s risk and opportunity, skewing capital toward those that deliver both financial returns and positive societal impact. To satisfy a growing demographic of socially minded consumers and businesses, companies will need to demonstrate “good products doing good” and anchor their brands and identity around a credible purpose.
Talent will gravitate toward companies that give employees a line-of-sight to making the world better while also providing a fulfilling career. To win, companies will need to define competition more broadly, adding new dimensions of value through
environmental sustainability,
holistic well-being,
economic inclusion,
and ethical content.
This will require radical business model innovation
to enable circular economies for precious resources;
to provide assets that are shared rather than owned;
to broaden access and inclusion;
and to multiply positive societal impact.
At this critical moment for corporate capitalism, business is more trusted than government, according to the Edelman Trust Barometer. Farsighted corporate leaders will see the opportunity for their industries to
mitigate environmental and societal threats,
catalyze collective action to discover new solutions,
shape wider ecosystems,
and expand trust with stakeholders.
Such actions will be indispensable to strengthen social permission for corporate capitalism before it is further undermined.
CEOs Need an Agenda for Value and the Common Good
We frame the journey to new corporate value and the common good around six imperatives.
It begins with reimagining corporate strategy, then
involves transforming the business model,
reframing performance and scorekeeping,
leading a purpose-filled organization,
practicing corporate statesmanship,
and elevating governance.
While challenging to execute, we argue that this agenda will be essential to create a great company, a great stock, a great impact, and a great legacy.
Reimagine Corporate Strategy
We believe few companies have strategies for this new era of business. The following exhibit illustrates the ambition of such a strategy, which establishes competitive advantage at the intersection of
shareholder value,
corporate longevity,
and societal impact.
The “quality” of the strategy is thus judged by how it delivers both total shareholder returns and total societal impact.
Consequently, it widens the scope of competition to encompass creating rich differentiation and relative advantage in multiple areas of societal value. It embeds “social value” into new business constructs, shared value chains, and reconstructed ecosystems.
It also opens, broadens, and deepens markets to enable access and inclusion. And it expands the scope of business by calling for coalitions for collective action that address existential risks to environmental and societal ecosystems.
This new type of strategy flips leadership’s perspective from “company-out” to “societal needs-in,” by asking how a specific SDG target could be met by extending the company’s capabilities, assets, products, services, and ecosystem—and those of its industry. The following exhibit lists ten questions that strategists should incorporate into their strategy processes to ensure that they embrace the opportunity to create both shareholder returns and societal impact.
However, these new strategies cannot simply be grafted onto existing business models. Business models themselves will need to be transformed. Sustainable business model innovation (S-BMI) takes a much wider perspective than traditional business model innovation by considering
a broader set of stakeholders;
the system dynamics of the socio-environmental context;
longer time horizons for sustaining adaptable advantage;
the limits of business model scale, viability, and resilience;
the cradle-to-grave production and consumption cycle;
and the points of leverage for profitable and sustainable transformation.
Transform Business Models
We can already observe seven topologies for sustainable business model innovation, sometimes in combination, all with the potential to increase both financial returns and societal benefits.
Own the origins. Compete on capturing and differentiating the “social value” of inputs to production processes, products, or services. For example,
pursue cleaner energy,
sustainable practices,
preserved biodiversity,
recycled content,
inclusive and empowering work practices,
minimized waste,
digitized traceability,
fair trade, and so on.
Performance here will require differentially advancing the societal performance of the supplier base and its stewardship of resources, communities, and trade flows. Achieving this may require backward integration to ensure fast and complete upstream transformation and then holding and using these new capabilities for competitive advantage and differentiation.
Own the whole cycle. Compete by creating societal impact through the whole product usage cycle, from creation through end of life. This competitive typology puts a wide aperture on the business and requires systems analysis to uncover business models that offer the richest competitive and financial options. For example,
designing for circularity, recyclability, and waste to value;
creating offerings that enable sharing rather than owning to ensure high utilization of resources and end-of-life value;
constructing infrastructure to facilitate circularity and repurposing;
integrating into other value chains to capture societal value;
educating and enabling consumers to choose whole-cycle propositions on the basis of value to people and planet.
To achieve these ends, expect to reposition operations, reinvent supply chains and distribution networks, pursue new backward or forward integration, acquire business adjacencies, or undertake unconventional strategic partnering.
Expand “social value.” Compete by expanding the value of products or services on six dimensions:
economic gains,
customer well-being,
ethical content,
societal enablement,
and access and inclusion.
Then advocate new standards, increase transparency and traceability, tune marketing and segmentation, engage customers on the product’s wider value and their involvement in bigger change, and seek premium pricing. In business-to-business offerings, help customers integrate the full social value of your products, services, and business model into their own differentiation and ESG ambitions.
Expand the chains. Compete by extending the company’s value chain, layering onto other industries’ value chains to extend the reach of your products and services and the societal impact for both parties, while changing the economics and risks of doing so. For example,
use the reach of a consumer products distribution system to extend payments and financial services to small merchants;
layer one company’s health services onto another company’s physical supply chain to benefit its workers and their families while expanding markets for health services;
or use the byproducts of one company’s operations as feedstock in other companies’ value chains.
Energize the brand. Compete by digitally encoding, promoting, and monetizing the full accumulated social value that is embedded in products and services, along the whole value chain— from origins to customer, from cradle to grave. Use such data to rethink differentiation, the brand experience, customer engagement, pricing for value, ESG reporting, investor engagement, and even potential new businesses. For example,
strengthen the brand with promotions that showcase the business’s performance on the open, clean, green, renewable, and inclusive attributes of its operations;
and increase customer engagement and loyalty by using data on the product’s environmental and societal footprint to empower customers in choosing how their lifestyle affects the planet and its people.
Relocalize and regionalize. Compete by contracting and reconnecting global value chains to bring societal benefits closer to home markets in ways stakeholders value. For example,
build local and regional brands that better express local tastes and values;
source from smaller local producers to minimize logistics emissions and strengthen local economies;
reimagine production networks against total environmental and societal costs;
capture local waste streams as feedstocks for other activities;
or reconstitute jobs for microwork to use local talent.
Build across sectors. Compete by creating models that include the public and social sectors to improve the company’s business and societal proposition, particularly in emerging and rapidly developing economies. For example,
work alongside governmental bilateral aid institutions and NGO development organizations to improve the agricultural capacity of small farmers so they become reliable sources of agricultural inputs to the agro-processing value chain;
partner with global environmental organizations and governments to promote the reuse of ocean plastics as feedstocks to production systems;
partner with governments to strengthen social safety nets and prevent corruption through digitization and electronic payments;
or partner across sectors to restructure recycling systems to enable higher penetration of waste-to-value business models.
Extend this into industry coalitions for collective action that reshape broader rights to operate and generate new opportunities.
All seven types of S-BMI create new sources of differentiation, operating advantage, network dynamics, and societal value — enabling more durable and resilient businesses that benefit shareholders and society. But to assess and improve the performance of these business models and communicate their value, we need to expand today’s scorecards.
Click her to access BCG’s full article
Posté dans Non classéTagué Business Model, Business Process Disruption, ESG, Innovation, Performance, S-BMI, SDG, Shareholder Value, Strategy, Sustainability, TCFD
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From 1931 to 1969, a definitive list of some of the most legendary bikes whose wheels ever graced both highways and backroads.
Read to the end to see who won the title of our readers' favorite!
Jug Junky Vintage Motorcycle Gallery
Photo: Motorcycle Classics
Inducted into AMA's Motorcycle Hall of Fame, this model became the dominant layout for sportbike engines. Known infamously as the 1st "superbike," the cycle was also presented as a feature at the Art of Motorcycles Exhibition and named among Discovery Channel's Greatest Motorbikes Ever. A number of famed cycle enthusiasts claim the C750 as the first bike they ever owned, including Cycle World editor David Edwards.
Photo: Auto Evolution
With an engine output of 46 bhp at 6500 rpm, the Bonneville was proudly launched by Triumph as "The Best Motorcycle in the World." Named to honor Texas racer Johnny Allen of Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats, the design was the last that Edward Turner would ever draft. Though based almost entirely on pure Tiger T110 essence, the named designation of "T120" was intended to suggest much faster speeds - of up to 120mph.
1950 Norton Manx
A desert racer based on Volkswagen's classic Beetle design, the Norton Manx was a British-born cycle that would eventually become a staple in privateer racing environments. Playing a significant role in the development of post-WWII racing, she remained a strong and active presence in the Isle of Man TT races, participating in virtually every single event from 1907 through the 1970s.
1948 Vincent Black Shadow
Often described as the epitome of a classic British motorbike, the Black Shadow was widely renowned as the fastest of her generation. In '48, American racer Rollie Free took the Shadow to set a 150mph world record at Bonneville Salt Flats. She was frequently the primary topic of cycle conversations all over the US, with her primary advertising slogan literally reading
"The Fastest Motorcycle in the World-
This is a Fact not a Slogan."
1943 Harley WLA
Photo: The Liberator
Based on Harley's original WL civilian model, the WLA was designed and produced to US Army specifications during the World War II era. Interestingly, all WLAs produced after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 were suddenly required to be manufactured with a distinct serial number, indicating 1942 production origination. She was utilized largely for military message delivery duties, and soldiers liberating German-occupied Europe on the cycles quickly gained the machine her great pseudonym - The Liberator.
1940 Indian Chief
Photo: Bucks Indian
First produced by Hendee Manufacturing Co., the Indian Chief model introduced at the start of the 1940s was marketed as the "Big Twin" to its older sibling, the smaller and less powerful Scout. With a frame redesign in 1940 that included plunger rear suspension, the Chief was the only preexisting Indian model to be revived and reproduced post-World War II. Though the modern Indian brand is now a subsidiary of Polaris Industries, the Chief's personality and reputation remain the same, often presenting with midcentury vintage aesthetics - including her unmistakable skirted/valanced fenders.
1939 Ariel Square Four
Photo: Classic Motorbikes
The idea for the '39 Ariel Square Four was first born in 1928 by the mind of Edward Turner, designer of the revolutionary 1930s Triumph Speed Twin. The dual-transverse crankshaft idea (attempting to fit four vertical cylindrical engines into a space that had a hard time fitting two) took many manufacturers aback. Turner originally presented the design to BSA, but when they rejected his proposal, Ariel soon swept in to adopt it. Production launched at London's Olympia Show, and in 1939, the Antsey-link plunger rear suspension was patented and presented to the public with a hugely positive response.
Photo: Motorcycle Specs
A sensation when presented at the 1937 Motorcycle Show, the Speed Twin (also designed by the genius Edward Turner) proved itself a beacon of hope for a financially collapsing Triumph brand. The model provided a much more lightweight and narrow bulkload across the crankcase, something many preceeding sketches failed to eliminate. Sadly, the English Triumph factory was bombed and destroyed by German forces in 1941 - along with the entirety of Triumph's designs and technical records. But the Speed Twin then proved itself truly golden- the great Triumph revival is often credited to the Speed Twin's prominent success both before and after World War II.
1936 Harley EL
Photo: Hemmings Daily
Nicknamed "The Knucklehead" due to the "clenched fist" appearance of its rocker arm nuts and pushrod tubes, Harley's 1936 EL took the world by storm with its overhead valve engine.
Yet, its success didn't truly proliferate until nearly a year after its initial launch. Test versions of the EL were kept largely secret, with experimental models test ridden away from busy roads. Fear of potential leaks from the radical new recirculating oil system didn't help the situation, keeping the bike out of HD's 1936 catalog. While "sump oilers" were used in cars and high-end cycles of the time, compacting a process like this into a simple, streamlined look was at first a struggle, but eventually a massive success.
The 1st Harley with a duplex-tube frame and 4-speed gearbox, the EL continues to prove iconic even today.
1931 Royal Enfield Bullet
Photo: Cyber Motorcycle
Our #1 throwback: the incredible 1931 Royal Enfield Bullet. The very first Royal Enfield model to feature the Bullet name, this four-stroke engine was originally imagined as a single, but was eventually reconfigured to V-Twin. Ever since, she has proven herself the ultimate icon, boasting the longest running continuous production record of any cycle to date. The Bullet is still actively manufactured today.
Upon her original test runs at the '48 International Six Days Trial, she stole the spotlight, with multiple riders earning medals that year. With 80+ years of reliable production and sales, we think it's pretty clear that this timeless bike will only continue her legacy in years to come.
Find some of these icons for sale on Cycle Trader today!
Honda CB750 / Royal Enfield Bullet / Ariel Square Four
Triumph Bonneville / 1940 Indian Chief / Vincent Black Shadow
You voted, we counted-
Honda's 1969 CB750 Four is our readers' favorite out of these vintage bikes!
I know nothing about Royal Enfield's, but if the picture of the 1931 Royal Enfield Bullet you have posted in the article is a single as you state in the article, I've never seen a "single" that so closely resembled a V-twin in my life. Better check your picture files because I believe you have attached and associated the wrong picture to the Bullet.
Manuel Duarte said...
I OWNED A HONDA CB750, USE TO RAISE WITH A TRIUMPH BONNEVILLE AND DROVE SOME OF THE OTHERS NBIKE. NICE TO REMEMBER HOW GOOD THESE BICES WHERE.
Ann Lily said...
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Company » Mayo Clinic Licenses Educational Content for iPad
Mayo Clinic Licenses Educational Content for iPad
drchrono introduced the original iPad EHR four years ago. The fully certified EHR, which meets meaningful use stage 1 requirements, is a free product doctors can download onto their iPads, which means that if they are eligible, doctors can get money from the government under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act. On Thursday, the company added another feature to their service portfolio. As a paid upgrade to the EHR, doctors can take digitized patient education material from the Mayo Clinic and pass it along to their patients.
“We licensed Mayo [Clinic’s] content and put it in this format so it would be available to patients all over the world,” Michael Nusimow, CEO and co-founder of drchrono, told DOTmed News.
“This basically replaces the pamphlets you see, which are sometimes provided by pharmaceutical and medical device companies. The Mayo Clinic has a powerful brand and they have trusted content,” he said.
From the patient’s health records, the system can detect what kinds of conditions they have and suggest educational videos and print content from Mayo’s library. In addition, the doctor can curate a list for the patient, and even flag certain items. The patient education material is digitally distributed to the patient through the personal health record platform, which can be viewed through an iPhone, iPad, Android or the Web. The doctor can also see if the patient has read or interacted with the content.
Nusimow considers this the second phase for the drchrono EHR product — engaging more with patients. If the patient’s doctor uses drchrono, they automatically get a free patient account where they can view this content as well as send messages to their doctor, see their clinical notes and pay their medical bills.
With security being a concern, Nusimow tells patients that the technology is already compliant with government regulations; they also work with a third-party consultant to protect patients’ sensitive data.
The health care market research firm Manhattan Research said in a report published last year that nearly 62 percent of polled docs have bought a tablet for professional use. About half of these doctors used the device at point-of-care.
Nusimow said an iPad solves the problem of using technology and interacting with a patient during a visit — something a wall mounted computer console cannot accomplish.
“They are holding it [EHR] like a chart and can make eye contact with patients,” he said.
Currently, drchrono’s free EHR is used by over 41 thousand doctors.
“We are really taking advantage of the tablet revolution,” Daniel Kivatinos, COO and co-founder of drchrono, told DOTmed News. “We started building on the iPad when it came out. And we had exponential growth at that point.”
The rest of the article can be read here.
Tags:iPad, mayo clinic, patients
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Harvey Morrison
Harvey is the owner of the Karting business, “Kartmart”, one of the best CRG Kart dealerships in Australia. Throughout Calan’s karting from the age of 7, Harvey has been a constant figure guiding him every step of the way not only with his driving, but with a wealth of advice about the sport.
Brett Lupton
Brett is the owner of Fastlane Racing, and ran Calan for his very first test sessions in
Formula Ford. Following these, he offered Calan the opportunity to be the driver in the
Driver Development Program for 2015. Under Brett’s guidance, Calan won his first car race meeting in the WA Formula Ford State Championship.
Peter Major
A three time WA Formula Ford State Champion, Peter was Calan’s first driver coach in
Brett Lupton’s driver development program as he first made the transition from karts to cars in Formula Ford racing.
Errol Gilmour
Errol heads up Gilmour racing, a Queensland team which has seven years of Formula 3
experience and has extensive knowledge base and history of success in Formula 3 Racing, including finishing second in the 2004 and 2013 Championship, winning the 2007 F3 National Class and winning the 2011 and 2015 F3 Australian Titles.
Errol has was a huge influence on Calan, guiding him through his first steps into “wings and slicks” racing in Formula 3,
and then backing him after a few test outings in the team F307 by launching him straight into the F311 Championship car for the 2017 Australian F3 Premier Series which he went on to win claiming every Pole Position along the way.
Mick Kouros
Euroformula Open Team Manager at Fortec Motorsport, and with an extensive
background in the industry, Mick Kouros has taken Calan’s racing to a new level. Guiding him through the enormous step of not only competing, but moving to Europe, Mick accepts nothing but the absolute best Calan can give.
In his first season racing in the Euroformula Open, Mick developed Calan into a podium contender by the end of the year, driving him to constantly seek improvements as quickly as he could.
Mick continues to develop Calan in the European off season, and Calan looks forward to working with him into 2019.
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All Poems
(Português)
Poemas Dispersos
⌉|⌈ – Prose
Caliath
Happy Together (1997)
In spirit of support for Hong Kong’s recent and on-going social struggle, I decided to review one Cantonese work that had the vastest artistic influence over myself and my own creative method, and that work is, without an inkling of doubt, Wong Kar Wai’s Happy Together, made in 1997. This film proved to be the deserved consolidation of Wai’s directorial style and, simultaneously, a unique insight into Hong Kong’s LGBTQ+ dynamics as well as the specific emotional axioms of abusive relationships in a profound state of isolation. The film, armed with a minimalist cast of only three actors and an even more parsimonious and unfinished script that weaves itself together by means of image and sound, is a sprawling exploration about the coalescence of masculinity and the tumultuous and abashing treatment of LGBTQ+ communities in certain countries, a mixture that exacerbates a type of emotional mutism and reinforces the role of violence, both emotional and physical, in replacing the lack of communication and expressive clarity that should lie at the heart of any interpersonal relationship.
The relationship between Ho Po-wing, an airy and infantile man whose volatility proves highly obliterative, and Lai Yiu-fai, a depressive and internally unstable individual who finds himself in a perpetual performance of silent self-destruction, serves as the machine-of-war for the film’s dark existence; Ho Po-wing recurrent malediction, «Let’s start over.», made whenever the relationship felt most strenuous, was further engraved by his purchase of a lamp that resembled the Iguazu Falls, which the couple had planned to visit. This lamp acts as the central nervous system of a relatively diaphanous narrative. Both Ho’s infatuation with it and Lai’s attachment to what it represents seems to tether them both to a sense of eventual romantic actuation: as long as the luminous waters of the lamp cascade, so does the blood of the conjoined and corrupting heart of their relationship.
The film then shifts its focus to the exploration of Lai’s convalescence from this deeply abusive relationship, one that left him with the sorrow of survival and confusion thereof, to survive outside and beyond a mechanism of abuse that slowly became his raison-d’être, one that left him felt alone, lost, ashamed, betrayed and obliterated, trapped in a country which wasn’t his own and unable to return.
Wong Kar Wai’s lavishly dim cinematographic aesthetics, after gaining emboss in Chungking Express (1996), are further consolidated in Happy Together; the recurrent chromatic shifts that play upon the levels of narrative magnitude, the derelict and harsh environments reverberated by a sanitised, dry usage of light that appear as a signature of both his thematic emotional acuity and as a replication of Hong Kong’s own neon-spent frigid and synthetic streets, and the instrumentation of visual punctuations, chiefly exemplified by the films opening scene, a sanguine and heaving sexual encounter whose aggressiveness is found in both the actors and the corner-angled, gradually more intimate shots; the aesthetic interludes of the film also serve as vibrant expository conveyors, and such is the case with the bird’s eye shot of Iguazu Falls which is overlaid with a low-saturation filter and backgrounded by Caetano Veloso’s Cucurrucucú paloma, a pensive song about the destructive motions of lovesickness; shots like the kitchen tango scene, or the culmination of Lai’s emotional devastation in the voice recorder scene, are made with a level of artistic direction that, as far as my experience with film goes, has no parallel in how effectively it translates the most profound and vicious elements of emotional abuse in romantic relationships.
With a soundtrack that includes Astor Piazzolla’s Tangos, Frank Zappa’s I Have Been In You, and a cover of Happy Together by The Turtles (which inspired the English name of the film), Wai assures not only that every scene receives and apposite sound, but also that all the themes intertwine seamlessly, something he was already famed for after the release of Chungking Express and its memorable usage of California Dreamin’.
Lastly, I would like to express my support for the Cantonese people; their culture and heritage is not only thronged with beautiful works, it also had a magnificent impact on the cultural productions of today, on and beyond Cinema. One such example is Nicholas Wong’s Crevasse, a guttural poetry collection about growing up LGBTQ+ in Hong Kong that I could not recommend more.
João-Maria
A tick clinging to the bristles of a purple boar. View all posts by João-Maria
Posted on 10th December 2019 11th December 2019 Author João-MariaCategories Directional Texts, Poseidonic ProseTags art, caetano veloso, cantonese, cantonese art, cinema, cinematography, film, frank zappa, happy together, joão-maria, music, nicholas wong, poetry, prose, the turtles, wong kar wai, writing
6 thoughts on “Happy Together (1997)”
Robert Gibson says:
10th December 2019 at 23:55
I’ve never knew that the Cantonese culture brought such a great influence over cinema! I love this post.
João-Maria says:
Indeed it does, Robert. It was once the third highest film industry in the world, after Hollywood and Bollywood, and it still commands great respect. I’m so glad you loved it!
One of my fave movies and my two fave actors.
Leslie Cheung and Tony Leung did an absolutely brilliant job, and it feels like no one else could have played those roles.
I so agreed.
Meepingblog says:
I’m adding this to my watch-list. Thank you so much for the recommendation and the detailed review! 🙂
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ASU Collaboratory to Focus on Connected Environments
Students Rate College Success Tools, WiFi High; Accessibility Efforts Low
Universities in Texas and the UK Protect Networks with Mirage NAC
Two universities, the 29,000-student Texas State University-San Marcos and the 26,000-student University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom, have recently deployed network access control appliances from Mirage Networks to secure portions of their networks.
Texas State implemented the system in its residential network to provide remediation for noncompliant devices and decrease the help desk work load. The university plans to extend deployment to the entire campus in 2009.
"College students bring a wide range of devices into the dorms, posing many threats to the network and creating many IT help desk requests," said Jim Hull, IT assistance center director at Texas State. "However, the Mirage's policy engine allows us to manage traffic of all endpoints and keep them compliant with self-remediation capabilities. This has relieved congestion at our IT help desk and allowed us to keep our residence hall networks running smoothly."
Birmingham selected Mirage's NAC solution to gain control of its growing wireless network, which has 800 access points. Like many academic institutions, the university has seen exponential growth in the demand for wireless services across a multitude of wireless device types. As a result, the university deployed Mirage's agentless NAC solution to address the increasing security risks and lack of visibility associated with activity on its wireless network. The school used the services of Pervasive Networks, a UK-based integrator, to run a proof of concept to identify and analyze its wireless security exposure, which led to the deployment.
"The biggest risk is we don't own student devices and therefore we cannot control the software and services available," said John Turnbull, head of networks for IS. "Within the first few minutes of deploying Mirage we were able to inventory all wireless endpoints and identify both out-of-policy devices and unauthorized endpoint behavior. Gaining the ability to monitor and set thresholds against device compliance and behavior has enabled us to move forward with our long term wireless strategy without jeopardizing our enterprise security."
Both universities purchased Mirage's endpoint control system, which consists of a management server appliance, the M-10; a compliance server appliance, the A-500; and a sensor appliance, the X-2500. The system performs identity-based access control, endpoint compliance checks, threat detection and mitigation, automated policy enforcement, and automated remediation.
The Challenges (and Solutions) of Digital Integration
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California Paramedic Foundation
Part 3: The Modernization of Treatment
Shawn Percival and Josh Krimston
In our first article, we introduced a need for the modernization of paramedicine in California across three key areas—Training, Treatment, and Transport. In our last article, we discussed Training and the important educational advancements needed to bring paramedics within the accepted training standards of similar medical professionals to improve patient outcomes and to advance the industry as a whole. We now look to discuss the important topic of Treatment.
In California, every day we see the impact of societal challenges, such as as homelessness, mental illness, opioid abuse, and infectious disease, to name a few. Political and health care bodies spend an inordinate amount of time and energy looking for innovative approaches to address these areas and reduce suffering in our communities. Paramedics have demonstrated the ability to address these issues, if permitted to fully utilize their skills and provide interventions tailored to community needs. We believe that two tangible solutions can be effectively deployed to help in this regard: the implementation of Community Paramedicine throughout the state of California and the use of paramedic vaccination campaigns.
Community Paramedicine in California
By: Shawn Percival, Community Paramedic
In California, our paramedics and prehospital systems function incredibly well in acute emergencies. The dial of a phone can summon paramedics within minutes, bringing important life-saving knowledge, interventions, and subsequent expedited access to specialty systems of care. However, this classic reactive “treat and transport” approach has not been an effective solution in the management of non-emergent patients facing complex issues. These non-emergent patients comprise a majority of the calls paramedics respond to in our 911 systems.
Paramedicine is now evolving to interact regularly with at-risk populations and better triage patients on 911 calls to improve outcomes, reduce hospitalizations, reduce cost and increase system efficiency in what is called Community Paramedicine (CP). CP is defined as EMS-based strategies that address local public health, health care and public safety needs through evolving problem-solving techniques, community partnerships, and advanced roles or scopes of practice.
In November 2014, the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) approved an application by the California EMS Authority to initialize a Health Workforce Pilot Project (HWPP) to test CP across our state. The programs have proven both safe and effective as shown by the extensive, independent analysis performed by the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF).
Thirteen local CP programs within the pilot are currently addressing healthcare needs such as post-discharge follow-up, frequent EMS use, tuberculosis management, hospice patient management, and alternate destination strategies for patients requiring mental health and sobering centers. Across all of these programs, paramedics leverage the health and public safety skills already used by 911-paramedics on a daily basis and repurpose them, adding techniques such as outreach, navigation, advocacy, primary care and other preventive services.
UCSF’s comprehensive review is available for your analysis. However in the interest of brevity, we have selected key takeaways from that report. Since their inception, the programs have enrolled over 3,000 patients. In post-discharge pilots, patient safety was increased and the programs saw “all-cause” 30-day readmission rates drop in the vast majority of groups, at a cost savings of $1.4 million dollars. Frequent EMS-user pilots saw dramatic success by reducing 911 utilization through the networking of patients to primary care, food and housing resources, mental health services, and substance abuse programming, saving $582,000 on a cohort smaller than 50 patients. In directly observed tuberculosis management, paramedics were able to safely administer treatment with higher compliance than the traditional clinic-based treatment model, missing only 0.05% of treatments in comparison with historic rates of 7%. If these diverse CP programs were taken to scale across the state, the impact and savings would be staggering.
With such demonstrable success, we then look to understand why recent legislative attempts to formalize community paramedicine have been unsuccessful.
The most recent attempt, Assembly Bill 3115, was ultimately vetoed by Governor Jerry Brown, who noted general support for the initiative but major concern with the proposed oversight structure. AB3115 was introduced and supported by labor organizations who sought to control CP at the state level and restructure the EMS commission, thereby gaining labor seats on that body. That bill’s sponsors disregarded the local control structure of the successful pilots and overlooked the important perspective of pilot program leadership in their pursuit of self gain. Labor organizations must be included in the discussion of CP implementation, but their political agenda should not jeopardize the ability of paramedics to provide for the needs of our communities.
The CP pilot program, as a whole, has now served its intended purpose and is reaching its sunset. OSHPD and the CHCF have fortunately extended the pilot program for one more year, after the politically-induced failure of the last legislative attempt. The California Paramedic Foundation fundamentally supports Community Paramedicine in both theory and practice. We believe CP legislation must be modeled on the current pilot programs so that its growth is anchored by ongoing success; a success that is built on control under local EMS agencies and medical directors, accountability to the state EMS Authority, and reporting to the EMS Commission.
Paramedic Delivered Vaccination in California
By: Josh Krimston, Paramedic
Viruses are an ever-present threat to our society. Each year 5% to 20% of Americans will face influenza. This can result in around 200,000 hospitalizations, 80,000 deaths, $10.4 billion in direct medical care costs, and $16.3 billion in lost earnings—in just one flu season. In 2014, the Ebola virus epidemic terrified the world with a 70% mortality rate and secondary international infections. The reality is infectious viral diseases are a continuous threat that must be addressed with pragmatic and proven public health strategies.
Recently, San Diego faced its own epidemic with the 2017 Hepatitis A outbreak. That event saw 578 infections and 20 deaths. The San Diego outbreak was successfully wound down in part through the use of paramedics, who provided vaccinations for tough to reach populations in a larger effort by public health providers and administrators. This approach was a highly successful component of the effort which turned the tide in an epidemic which had been growing out of control with expanding rates of infection and a rising death toll. This event shows the benefit of paramedic-driven vaccination campaigns and demonstrates the importance of their early implementation.
The deadliness of a Hepatitis A outbreak was clearly seen in San Diego, and yet this virus only has a mortality rate of up to 2% in at-risk populations. Other viruses, such as the H7N9 Bird Flu, have mortality rates of 30% or greater and also pose risk of outbreak. The World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes several viruses, including the avian strain, as threats with pandemic potential. When viruses of this magnitude threaten the health of our community, whether seasonally or sporadically, an all-hands-on-deck approach must be available.
The value of paramedicine in vaccination campaigns lies with their ability to reach populations not always accessible to public health nurses and other providers. Often public health nurses require peace officer escorts to reach populations accessible to paramedics, however this escort can often cause individuals to flee reducing efficacy. In a University of Pittsburgh study, 90 paramedics were able to vaccinate over 2,000 individuals against seasonal influenza, 49% of whom had not received the vaccine in the prior year. That program’s organizers found paramedics operated with high success and saw zero adverse outcomes.
Despite the clear opportunity to improve our response to these public health crises, current California law does not allow for paramedics to administer vaccines unless state regulators provide emergency authorization. This lengthy process delays decisive action when time is of the essence. Even with emergency authorization paramedic campaigns are still burden with nursing oversight, when ironically, the standard protocol for out-of-hospital allergic reaction—the most concerning adverse event with vaccine administration—is to call paramedics.
Unfortunately, some organizations do not generally support the expansion of paramedic scope of practice to include vaccination. They often argue paramedics are unqualified to deliver this critical service. The reality of the situation is that administering intramuscular injections or intranasal sprays is a core skill of paramedics in their day-to-day work. The low risk of allergic reaction to a vaccine can be expertly handled by paramedics, who are often requested via 911 to handle the most severe forms of these incidents.
Public health is not a zero sum game, and paramedics have proven to be a valuable and safe component in a comprehensive approach for the management of highly-infectious and deadly viruses. This value must be recognized with pragmatic legislation via EMS stakeholders and policymakers.
The Modernization of Paramedic Treatment
The time has come to modernize the way California paramedics treat our communities. Community paramedicine presents a viable pathway to begin addressing patient vulnerabilities in our communities. Can we really allow labor politics and gamesmanship to sideline an otherwise effective and widely used approach like Community Paramedicine?
The value of paramedics in vaccination campaigns has been vividly demonstrated, as well as the nonsensical, outdated rules that currently hinder its broader adoption. Paramedic vaccinations are low-hanging fruit in the important battle against deadly diseases. Can we really overlook this ready solution, when viral outbreaks truly threaten lives?
The California Paramedic Foundation is calling on stakeholders and legislators to work together for the modernization of paramedic treatment in California EMS, through the passage of Community Paramedicine into state law and the expansion of the paramedic role in the provision of vaccines.
Shawn Percival: Shawn is a certified Community Paramedic (CP-C) credentialed by the International Board for Specialty Certification (iBSC) and has previously attended the Community Paramedic Training Program at University of California, Los Angeles. As a community paramedic, Shawn works with the City of San Diego Resource Access Program (RAP) to reduce low-acuity, high-frequency callers. A large focus of his work is with military veterans, who have increased risk of substance addiction and homelessness. Shawn and his colleagues provide access to primary care, addiction specialists, housing support and family reconnection services to help these populations. As a Community Paramedic, Shawn is committed to research that steers public health policy. Recent research by the San Diego RAP Paramedics on the Spice epidemic helped form the 2016 San Diego City Ordinance banning all synthetic drugs.
Josh Krimston: With over 25 years of paramedic experience in both the private and public sectors, Josh Krimston has taken his field experience and leveraged it to develop programs that fuse paramedicine and prevention. As co-founder of the nonprofit group EPIC Medics, Krimston recognizes the inherently unique position paramedics are in to affect positive changes in injury and illness prevention. In 2017, during San Diego County’s deadly Hepatitis A epidemic, Krimston worked with Public health officials to implement a paramedic-led vaccination program in his southern San Diego district. Krimston has travelled extensively throughout the United states promoting the integration of EMS and prevention and has authored numerous related articles and text book entries.
Part 2: The Modernization of Training
Part 4: The Modernization of Transport
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City Budget (13)
State Budget (12)
Report Economic Development
Raising the REDC Bar
This report assesses REDC design and implementation based on best practices identified through case studies of successful local revitalization efforts in the U.S.
Report Health Care
A New Approach to Funding New York City Health + Hospitals
This report analyzes the system’s finances, compares H+H to other providers in the City, and outlines options to right-size the City subsidy and improve H+H's fiscal future.
Report State Budget
Getting Greener
While GHG emissions have risen in other large states like Texas and Florida, New York has been a leader in reducing GHG emissions; the continued focus on getting greener through further emissions reductions is necessary and important.
Overdue Bills
State leaders have two options to reconcile the disconnect between reality and the budget: reduce Medicaid spending and/or achieve savings in other areas of the budget.
Report Housing
NYCHA 2.0: Progress at Risk
Success of NYCHA 2.0 will require political, labor, and community support; assistance from City, State, and federal governments; and significant management improvements.
Report City Budget
$1.1 Billion in NYC Public Leases
NYC spent more than $1.1 billion to lease space for public facilities and offices—an amount that has grown 40 percent since fiscal year 2014.
Opportunity Zones In New York State and City
The Opportunity Zone program may amount to significant losses for both NYS and NYC before rising substantially in 2029.
Green in Perspective
Six facts about the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption, production, regulation, and costs.
Cut Costs, Not Ribbons
Administrative solutions can reduce school crowding and limit the need to build expensive new school buildings.
Report Transportation
The new congestion pricing fee serves the dual goals of raising revenue and reducing traffic congestion; however, the measure is not a complete solution to the State’s need for transportation funding.
Report Public Workforce
Reform at the Bargaining Table
The MTA's fiscal outlook is dire, and improving it requires a multipronged approach. Paramount in the effort is slowing the growth of labor costs.
Options to Enhance the Coordination of Care for Dually Eligible Individuals in New York State
This discussion paper outlines lessons from previous and existing efforts to coordinate the care of duals, and suggests five strategies for the State to consider moving forward.
2019 Economic Development Scorecard
Dozens of bills to expand existing economic development programs and create new ones have been introduced during the legislative session.
To Weather a Storm
A well-funded and structured Rainy Day Fund (RDF) would help New York City weather future recessions.
Swimming in Subsidies
NYC Ferry serves more than 4 million passengers at a high level of operating subsidy: $10.73 per ride, 10 times that of the New York City Transit.
Building a Sound Fiscal Future for New York's Highway and Mass Transit Systems
Options for raising sufficient funds for roads and transit statewide include increasing tolls and fees, enacting congestion pricing, and implementing a vehicle-miles traveled (VMT) fee.
9 Things New Yorkers Should Know About How New York City Buys Stuff
CBC's new report outlines nine critical things New Yorkers should know about procurement and makes four recommendations that could generate savings for the City.
10 Billion Reasons to Rethink Economic Development in New York
This policy brief updates the Citizens Budget Commission's previous analyses of the cost of New York's state and local economic development programs.
Reconsidering Rent Regulation Reforms
New York is a city of renters, and rent regulated units account for nearly half of the city’s rental housing stock.
Report Taxes
How Much Do Taxes Matter?
In this background paper prepared for a panel discussion "How Much Do Taxes Matter? New York City's Tax Burden and Economic Competitiveness," which was convened by CBC on December 11, 2006, Elizabeth Roistacher, professor of economics at CUNY Queens College, summarizes the econometric literature that tries to model the relationship between tax levels and economic growth.
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National Basketball Association all-time scoring leaders 1946-2020
National Football League: Super Bowl wins by team 2019
Average ticket price for an NFL game by team
FIFA world ranking of men's national soccer teams 2019
Athletic footwear global market share by company
Health & Fitness Clubs - Statistics & Facts
Sporting Goods Industry - Statistics & Facts
Sports & Recreation›
Azerbaijan: Topaz Premier League average stadium attendance 2010-2017
Published by David Lange, Sep 6, 2019
This statistic presents the average number of stadium attendees of professional football matches of the Topaz Premier League in Azerbaijan from 2010 to 2017. In 2017, the average number of people who attended matches of the Topaz Premier League amounted to two thousand.
Average number of stadium attendees of professional football matches of the Topaz Premier League in Azerbaijan from 2010 to 2017
Average number of attendees
FIFA World ranking of women's soccer national teams 2019
Brand value of top football clubs worldwide 2019
Record soccer transfers: player transfers by value 2019
Statistics on "Professional football in the Netherlands and Belgium"
Market size of professional football in Europe 2006-2018
Revenue distribution of top-20 European soccer clubs 2017/18
Revenue of the FIFA broken down by segment 2003-2018
UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) total revenue 2004-2018
UEFA Champions League revenue distribution to clubs 2017/18
UEFA: leading number of Champions League finals appearances as of 2019, by player
UEFA Europa League most titles by club 2019
Market value of the Dutch Football League clubs 2019
Players of Dutch Football League with the highest market value in 2019
Record all-time football transfers fees of players from the Netherlands 2019
Squad value of PSV Eindhoven 2019-2020
Squad value of Feyenoord Rotterdam 2019-2020
Stadium capacity of the Dutch Football League clubs 2019/2020
Private ownership of Dutch Eredivisie football clubs in the Netherlands 2018, by type
Season ticket rates of Eredivisie clubs in the Netherlands 2018-2020
Market value of the Belgium Jupiler Pro League clubs 2019
Private ownership of Jupiler Pro League football clubs in Belgium 2017/18, by type
Players of Belgian Jupiler Pro League with the highest market value in 2019
Belgium: Jupiler Pro League League average stadium capacity 2010-2017
Belgium: Jupiler Pro League average stadium utilization 2010-2017
Belgium: Jupiler Pro League average stadium attendance 2010-2017
World ranking of Dutch women's national football team 2003-2019
World ranking of Belgian women's national football team 2003-2019
Netherlands: national football team's most played in venues as of 2019
Netherlands: matches of the national football team with most attendees as of 2019
Netherlands: national football players with most goals scored of all time as of 2019
Expectations qualifiers UEFA European Championship football 2020 the Netherlands 2017
Belgium: matches of the national football team with most attendees as of 2019
Belgium: national football team's most played in venues as of 2019, by matches played
Belgium: national football players with most goals scored of all time as of 2019
Azerbaijan: I Divizion League average stadium attendance 2010-2017
England : The Premier League average stadium capacity 2010-2017
Norway: Eliteserien average stadium capacity 2010-2017
Portugal: Liga NOS average stadium capacity 2010-2017
Russia: ROSGOSSTRAKH Football Championship average stadium attendance 2010-2017
Scotland: Ladbrokes Championship average stadium capacity 2010-2017
Austria: Tipico Bundesliga average stadium capacity 2010-2017
Average football match attendance for men's national A team in Italy 2010-2018
Top ten football clubs viewership in China 2017
Italy: national football team match attendance in 2015
Europe: tier 1 league football match aggregate attendance 2015-2017, by country
Affinity rate of the most popular football clubs in China 2017
Football in the United Kingdom (UK) Soccer Sports Betting Sports Sponsorship 2014 FIFA World Cup
EPFL. (January 12, 2018). Average number of stadium attendees of professional football matches of the Topaz Premier League in Azerbaijan from 2010 to 2017 [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved January 19, 2020, from https://cdn2.statista.com/statistics/799635/topaz-premier-league-average-stadium-attendance-azerbaijan/
EPFL. "Average number of stadium attendees of professional football matches of the Topaz Premier League in Azerbaijan from 2010 to 2017." Chart. January 12, 2018. Statista. Accessed January 19, 2020. https://cdn2.statista.com/statistics/799635/topaz-premier-league-average-stadium-attendance-azerbaijan/
EPFL. (2018). Average number of stadium attendees of professional football matches of the Topaz Premier League in Azerbaijan from 2010 to 2017. Statista. Statista Inc.. Accessed: January 19, 2020. https://cdn2.statista.com/statistics/799635/topaz-premier-league-average-stadium-attendance-azerbaijan/
EPFL. "Average Number of Stadium Attendees of Professional Football Matches of The Topaz Premier League in Azerbaijan from 2010 to 2017." Statista, Statista Inc., 12 Jan 2018, https://cdn2.statista.com/statistics/799635/topaz-premier-league-average-stadium-attendance-azerbaijan/
EPFL, Average number of stadium attendees of professional football matches of the Topaz Premier League in Azerbaijan from 2010 to 2017 Statista, https://cdn2.statista.com/statistics/799635/topaz-premier-league-average-stadium-attendance-azerbaijan/ (last visited January 19, 2020)
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Industry Accolades
Number 1 Speech Trainer & Vocal Coach in America
“You’re perfect.”
Primetime Emmy Nominated Actor & Academy Award Nominated Director
“Wow! I can’t believe how you did. You were so good. Oh my God.”
Jordan Brady
Nashville Film Festival Award-Winning Writer/Director
“When I cast Cecily, I needed someone that could hold her own on screen with Ashton Kutcher. Cecily delivered and more, bringing subtle nuance and sharp comedic performance to the piece. Her finesse and boldness is a treat to work with.”
Gunnar Todd Rohrbacher
Backstage Expert Contributor, Co-Founder Actors Comedy Studio
“Cecily has a winning combination of charm, warmth and offbeat humor which she always brings to her work. Time and again she’s able to take the character on the page and make her more complex and likable than you might have imagined on the first read through. She’s a breeze to work with and always nails adjustments and redirects. If you need to cast a teacher, mom or neighborhood busybody, Cecily’s your gal.”
Todd Sherry
Patrick Rush Casting, Casting Associate for Men In Trees, Chuck, The OC
“I believe wholeheartedly in actors bringing themselves to a role because I think that’s what makes it believable. Cecily Gish knows what she’s selling, makes great choices as an actor, and commits wholeheartedly. In my opinion, she’s a great actor and very cast-able.”
Copyright text 2020 by CecilyGish.com. - Designed by Thrive Themes | Powered by WordPress
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11/7/17 – Goodbye to a friend
by admin2 | Nov 7, 2017 | Articles - BCAR, Articles - FCIR, Insider Blog | 0 comments
Life hits hard sometimes, and the greater the hit, the greater the perspective one is often given of life. What can seem like the end of the world at one moment can suddenly change into, “Hey, that’s not so bad,” the next moment when true tragedy strikes rearing its ugly head.
In their first season game, Gordon Hayward of the Boston Celtics was thrown an alley-oop pass from Kyrie Irving (#13 FCIR) when he landed awkwardly and his left leg bent as he collided with Lebron James (#1 FEAR), immediately collapsing to the ground in the first quarter against the Cavs. The footage is excruciating to watch, to put it mildly, and it was announced that Hayward will be out for the entire season. According to doctors, it was a clean break, so his leg is expected to heal in what could have been a career ending moment.
Indeed, it was hard for us, and fans, to watch our Boston Celtic’s lose one of their best players. Yet, on the same day, tragedy really struck closer to home.
Our longtime friend, Kyle Stevens, went missing while flying his small plane in Alaska from Russian Mission to Bethel to pick up volunteers for the Christian mission where he works. His plane was soon found about 10 miles downriver, and what at first began as a rescue mission soon turned into a recovery mission, with his body eventually beingAi??recovered.
Kyle was only 31 years of age, and leaves behind a wife and two young children. He died what he loved doing … flying, and serving people in the name of Jesus Christ. Kyle was a unique and gifted #10 BCAR, and writes his brother, Andrew, “My brother Kyle was always a big dreamer. When we were young, he spent countless hours telling me stories of us in imaginary far off places. We had a marble set with every marble individually named, and we would sit in our attic for hours while he used them as the characters in his stories.”
Life is short, and Kyle leaves us with a beautiful example of a life lived for for what truly matters.
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The information found on these pages has been gathered as areas of possible interest. The Information Point has no responsibility over the content of the information featured on these websites.
Condition specific websites
Myotubular Trust
Zusammen stark (German Language website)
Joshua Frase Foundation
MTM-CNM Family Connection
Myotubular Myopathy Resource Group
Where There’s a Will There’s a Cure
Condition specific resources
The Muscular Dystropy Campaign have produced a factsheet about centronuclear and myotubular myopathy.
Myotubular and other centronuclear myopathies (PDF, 423KB)
The American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy have produced a set of infographics and a short film describing what x-linked myotubular myopathy is and how gene therapy works.
What is myotubular myopathy
Scientific terminology
An A-Z of terminology can be found on the Myotubular Trust website.
Research glossary
There are many organisations that provide services and support for those affected by disability, some of which are listed on the advice and support page of this website.
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Apple hints at new live TV streaming service
Apple has published a patent outlining a new user-friendly streaming service as it moves further into the TV streaming market
Big DataChief Data OfficerChief Innovation Officer
In a filing published with the US Patent and Trademark Office, Apple has proposed a "TV side bar user interface" in which a panel on the screen can be used to drill down to specific categories and types of content.
The patent tries to make the interface more user-friendly, a problem which is one of the key challenges of developing a video streaming service which is meant to work in tandem with live television, allowing users to see all of the available channels before deciding what to watch. The patent described an interface that manages content from multiple sources, from live streaming TV to video services such as Netflix.
Apple outlined the reason for the interface was the fact that viewers today are presented with too much choice.
"While the explosion of video content providers in the marketplace may seem a boon for viewer's, the large number of choices and providers complicates the viewing experience," the patent explained.
The patent suggested introducing a side bar that includes a list a list of items for viewers selection including: "Favorites", "Friends" and "Recently Watched". To give two examples, the "Favorites" section would provide a list of shows the user has previously watched, allowing them to select the next episode, while the "Friends" interface would share the users' friends viewing habits.
As it makes a concerted push to diversify its offerings in the wake of falling iPhone sales, Apple has been eyeing the TV streaming market and has been working to create original video content. It is unclear what form this will take, but it is rumored to be working on a rival service to Netflix and Amazon Prime. Apple CEO Tim Cook recently confirmed the company's commitment to creating original content.
"We will participate in the original content world. We've signed a multi-year partnership with Oprah," Cook said. "Today I'm not really ready to extend that conversation beyond that point. We've hired some people we have a super amount of confidence in. They're working on that really hard. We'll have more to say on that later."
Despite the fact it looks like the company is becoming more and more invested in creating its own service, investment bankers at JPMorgan this week advised that Apple should buy Netflix for around $189bn.
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Stories from our successful campaigns: “Hummus Wars”
Through the years, we have had a lot of successful campaigns on Jewcer. We wanted to share their stories and what they learned while crowdfunding with us. Our next interview comes from Avital Levy, the documentary filmmaker behind “Hummus Wars”. She raised over $8,000 on Jewcer to make a film that brought Middle Easterners together rather than pushing them apart.
1. Tell us about “Hummus Wars”? What inspired it?
In 2009, Israel broke the world record by making 9,000 lbs/4,090 kilos worth of Hummus. Then, Lebanon sought to defeat this record. “Hummus Wars” is a documentary about the battle between Israel and Lebanon for the Guinness Record for the largest dish of Hummus in the world. My Middle Eastern friends and I wanted to make a film about how the people in our countries share similarities – especially passion over this food, hummus, and how that could potentially bring us together, even as our countries are at war. Those were the roots of the project. After a few years of developing and filming “Hummus Wars,” we discovered a bigger love story too, not only a war story, and are currently following the new stories and people in a documentary titled FOR THE LOVE OF HUMMUS.
Image by AV22 Productions
2. What piece of advice from the Jewcer team stuck with you the most that you can remember?
The Jewcer team was incredibly supportive and so much of their advice was instrumental to the success of my campaign. For me, the most beneficial piece of advice was to convey that others could help and be stakeholders in your project – to enlist people to share in your vision. If we could present our projects as opportunities for others to contribute, invest money and energy, then the rewards could be that they helped make it happen, in addition to cool campaign rewards. Translate the contributors’ investment as being a participant in the making of the film.
If you can make someone’s dream come true with $5 and you get a credit for it and even a gift, wouldn’t you want to give?
3. How did you promote your campaign? What was the most challenging aspect?
First of all, there was the building of the campaign and video to help promote it. This is the most important element because I presented a link of the campaign and video when approaching potential contributors. I contacted as many people as I could on a personal level and avoided mass emails as much as possible. Jewcer emphasized this and it was something I learned in college when I was running for a dorm office position. I knew that visibility is the most important to win a campaign, so getting in front of potential supporters, learning their names and having a conversation is more likely to lead you to win a YES from them. If you have any competition, your strength will be in personalizing and making others feel important – that they can be a contribution. Once they know they are a part of your project, they become champions of it as well, since your success is also their success.
The hardest part was time and energy aspects needed, sometimes money as well for parts of the campaign that were instrumental to get more people on board. Indeed, while working a day job, time was the biggest challenge because the campaign required consistent and persistent action. We also decided to hold a live event – a Hummus competition – and that added to the workload and spending, so there were some sleepless nights and incessant workdays, but, in the end, it was well worth it for creating an unforgettable event and making a couple thousand dollars for the campaign.
4. Is there any advice you’d give for those considering crowdfunding?
Make sure you have as much support after the campaign to complete the project as you had during the campaign. Outline and plan out the fulfillment aspect of the campaign as much as the campaign. This will help keep you on track. People will tend to drop off the project, as it is natural for a long project, but if you have a plan in place, you can get through it much easier.
5. After successfully getting funded, how have you been using the funds towards your project?
To pay for filming overseas in Israel, hiring camera people, and crew, as well as renting equipment.
6. What are your three favorite online or mobile tools that help you run your crowdfunding campaign?
Icalendar/Clock, Google (docs + email) and Photos
7. If you had to choose a one-liner piece of advice for aspiring Jewish entrepreneurs, what would it be?
Gather your tribe and help each other, don’t go it alone.
8. Add a question of your own that we did not ask and give the answer to it…
What was your favorite experience during your campaign?
Giving the campaign a live event where we could see our contributors and host an unforgettable event while also fundraising. It felt like we had created a real community with the event and also drew many more fans.
To stay up to date with Avital Levy’s latest work check out her website, vimeo, and YouTube.
Stories From Our Successful Campaigns: MyMDband for Holocaust Survivors
Stories from Our Successful Campaigns: “We Will Overcome”
Stories from Our Successful Campaigns: “Soon by You”
6 Web Series That Fully Crowdfunded Their Project on Jewcer!
The Story of MI POLIN: Being a Jewish Entrepreneur in the Contemporary Poland
Alma: A New Online Community for Young Jewish Women
October 16, 2017 /by Shani
Tags: campaigns, documentary, filmmaking, films, hummus, Jewcer campaigns, jewish films, middle east, middle eastern films
https://i1.wp.com/blog.jewcer.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Hummus_Wars_Final.jpg?fit=7640%2C5350&ssl=1 5350 7640 Shani https://blog.jewcer.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/jewcer_insight_logo_h50e-300x40.png Shani2017-10-16 08:29:122017-10-24 08:33:22Stories from our successful campaigns: "Hummus Wars"
Alma: A New Online Community for Young Jewish Women Careful, Your World is Flooding: An Entrepreneurial Response to #MeToo
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How science fiction is guiding Te Papa’s digital team
By: Hazel Bradshaw
Hazel Bradshaw, part of Te Papa digital’s team, looks at how science fiction master Neal Stephenson’s work is informing ideas at Te Papa.
Last week American author, Chief Futurist of Magic Leap, and game designer Neal Stephenson made a flying visit to Te Papa as part of Techweek.
Some of you will know immediately know who he is and react as I did, with awe. I was lucky enough, as a member of the Te Papa digital team, to briefly meet Neal and show him some of the new technology we are developing for our visitors.
In this instance it was tangible touch-table technology, linking physical objects with digital content through large touch screens.
Hazel Bradshaw, Te Papa’s Chief Digital Officer Melissa Firth, and Neal Stephenson in Hīnātore, our learning lab, 2017. Te Papa
Blurring the line between reality and ‘reality’
So why is his writing relevant to what we do at Te Papa?
Stephenson’s work falls into a category known as cyberpunk. It explores the impact that technology and digital may have on shaping our future societies. His work is neither light nor fluffy, but it carries an ironic humour and is comparable to the dystopian world views of Aldous Huxley.
Stephenson’s breakthrough novel Snow Crash (1992) described a world of the metaverse where humans roam an infinite digital space. This work explored the novel idea of computer viruses and whether they could leap the digital divide to crash our conscious minds.
This concept had a huge impact in 1992 as the internet was becoming more commonplace. However, it was Snow Crash’s use of the term ‘avatar’ that popularised the word into general use. We now use ‘avatar’ to describe any representation of our human-self in a virtual world, and it’s a term no gamer or game designer can live without.
Not just the stuff of science fiction
Similarly, later works such as The Diamond Age (1995) explored how the integration of artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, and centralised versus peer-to-peer digital-distribution channels could impact on society – all seen through the eyes of female protagonist Nell.
As a woman as well as a technologist, it was refreshing to read about new technological concepts from a female perspective for a change, making me feel that technology was a world that I could inhabit.
Cryptonomicon (1999) introduced me to the concepts of crypto-currencies and cyber-security by connecting the historical work of WWII code breakers with present day issues of how we stay secure when online, while keeping the data flowing.
For me, both these novels provided an introduction to the brilliance of Alan Turing and his contributions to the field of computer science.
However, it is one of Stephenson’s more recent works, Reamde (2011), which addresses the very hot topic of a ransomware virus infecting online multi-player game worlds and how impactful this can be for the both the prepared and the unprepared.
It’s a fiction that has now played out in real life, with this weekend’s outbreak of the WannaCry virus, which has been exploiting vulnerabilities in Microsoft’s Windows security, encrypting the data of corporations and holding it to ransom for payment through the crypto-currency bitcoin.
How Stephenson’s ideas inspire Te Papa
There are many, many more of Stephenson’s books that have explored and predicted the shape of technology to come in our lives. Stephenson is an influencer, impacting the real world through engaging works of fiction that interpret challenging technological concepts using the power of story.
As someone who works in the digital space within Te Papa, the perspectives of Neal Stephenson are present in my work and the digital strategies I apply.
Stephenson’s tech-informed fiction has allowed me to visualise the wonders and vulnerabilities of the connected digital space.
The works Snow Crash and Reamde influence my game design thinking as I try to create avatar-driven digital worlds that allow our visitors to explore the array of cultural and scientific data we have stored at Te Papa.
Fortunately, I have Neal Stephenson’s fictional signposts to guide my design frameworks so that I can create interconnected digital experiences that inspire wonder while keeping both Te Papa’s data and our visitors’ data secure.
So, if in the future you are visit us at Te Papa and try out our new tangible touch-table experiences, think about how a niche sci-fi author has helped us model fun and safe interactions for you.
In: Behind the scenes
Tagged: cyberpunk, Neal Stephenson, science fiction, virtual reality
Other interesting facts about Neal Stephenson’s Reamde — a significant part of the action takes place in Xiamen, one of Wellington’s two sister cities in China (the other one is Beijing).
Chris Lipscombe
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Good lord, I'm on film. How did that happen?
Or at least I'm on footage.
Today's post-blood donation food treat was Big-Ass Sandwiches. And it was a special day at the Big-Ass Sandwiches cart; they're shooting a commercial. They already have a jingle, by Portland's fun punk band The Punk Group, and an ad is the latest step in their march on Portland media.
I shot a testimonial. I'd ordered the Pork Hammer -- ham, sausage, bacon and coleslaw along with their fries topping the whole thing -- and a guy with a video camera shot me eating it, and talking about it, and also shouting "Me!" like one of the guys in the jingle. (Right before I did that, I said, louder than conversationally, "I'm about to yell." I didn't want to surprise a family walking past. Sounds like I didn't. I do try to be well-behaved when yelling.)
I also told the cameraman, "You can tell I'm not an actor." Good thing I can relax enough to just be me when I'm on camera.
If my sammich-eatin' face shows up in the ad, you bet your ass I'll link you to it. I'm amused by film of me. I cringe at it, but I'm still amused by it.
Then I walked a long walk, which is a good idea after eating a Big-Ass Sandwich. (The Woods said they'd weighed a Pork Hammer sandwich earlier that day, and it weighed two pounds. That's a big Twinkie a lot of sandwich.) Because it's closed to cars and it'll be closed to walkers and bicyclists soon, I walked across the Broadway Bridge and looked at the streetcar construction now underway on it. Then, ducking into shade whenever I could, I got to Rose Quarter Transit Center to get a bus home. Taking it easy now. And still digesting the Pork Hammer.
Ilan Eshkeri's score to Stardust
blood, peregrinations, portland
More remembrance
Now in the hands of my friend Tarah Grant: my memorial letter for Mrs. Webb, our high school journalism teacher who passed away last week. I e-mailed it to Tarah, who will print it out and leave it in the memorial book at tomorrow's ceremony, over in Virginia.
Maybe later I'll post what I wrote, as it is meant to be public and not just for the eyes of Mrs. Webb's family. (It is also different from my first piece remembering Mrs. Webb.) But technology has helped me add my thoughts to the many thoughts people are having about her, and for her.
Thank you, Tarah, for doing this for me.
I wrote the piece last night. Strange, conflicting night for me. Tired after a week that felt long even with just four work days. Punchy from being tired. I was sad at times; I laughed my bark-laugh at other times. My emotions were -- variable. But I soldiered through that, shall we say, emotional stew to get that writing done; I'd set last night as my personal deadline.
I slept all right after that. (Better than some recent nights, including the night where right before waking I dreamed of riding in a car that started to drive towards oncoming traffic. That unsettled me. And much better than the recent night where I fell asleep with my night stand light still on, which means I don't get deep enough into sleep to be actually rested once I awake.)
Continuing to try to do my best to take care of myself, during what, you may have gathered, has been an up-and-down time. But I wanted to be sure I gave some further remembrance to Mrs. Webb.
Incoming Craziness (a Blogathon notice)
The weekend of San Diego Comic-Con won't be my only crazy weekend coming up:
Several of my online friends will once again blog for Blogathon (even though -- LONG story -- the official Blogathon site isn't even operating this year). I've followed along each Blogathon via LiveJournal since 2006. Come to think of it, I may have read an earlier one that greyduck did (Karel? When did you do the Blogathon with all of the bunny photos? Thanks. Chris).
Here's how it is: bloggers blog (bloggers blogging, like in the Christmas song!), every half an hour for 24 hours straight, from 9 a.m. Eastern Time on a Saturday to 9 a.m. Eastern Time on a Sunday. Yes, staying up, and in that time writing 49 entries. It's for charity: the bloggers choose and announce said charities and people donate. And this year, it'll happen July 31st-August 1st.
I don't know if I'll have the funds to donate -- and I definitely don't have the fortitude to do Blogathon myself yet (and it's VERY IMPORTANT that the bloggers have support staff, like a race car driver has a pit crew) -- but what I will have is the time and wherewithal to read and comment. And at 3 or 4 in the morning for a blogger, delirious on no sleep and struggling to get coherent thoughts out, it helps knowing that people are reading. It helps that I read almost exclusively Blogathon bloggers on the East Coast, so when it's a manageable 1 in the morning for me it's 4 in the morning for them.
Generally my pattern is to comment until 3:00 or 3:30 -- by which time (6:00 or 6:30) actual sunlight has returned to the bloggers' part of the world -- and then crash for a few hours, and go back in the lighted part of morning to read the grand finales. Which are usually sputtering-to-delirious-halts, but remember, the first marathon runner died: you don't want an ending that dramatic.
Don't get me wrong, by the end of my reading and commenting I'm pretty damn loopy myself, but it's for a good cause: good people I know doing something good. Savvy?
Blogathon. It'll happen even when it, officially, doesn't. *nods*
Starrr Trekkin', across the universe...
On Facebook? You can see Merrick Monroe's photos from Trek in the Park's premiere performance of the Classic Trek episode Space Seed!
The first show was today. I plan/hope to see it tomorrow. 5 p.m. at Woodlawn Park, for free. Screaming "KHAAAANNNN!" is REALLY not recommended.
More info is at Trek in the Park Dot Com, run by Portland theater troupe Atomic Arts. It'll run each Saturday and Sunday from now until August 1st.
Trevor Jones's score to The Dark Crystal (isolated score on DVD)
portland, star trek
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Items tagged with: Air Cooled
Aesthetics – The Gozzy Porsche 935 K3 – Photographed by Keith Ross
Year after year, there's one car in particular that brings me back to the Rolex Historics at Laguna Seca. Don't tell my peers... but, truth be told, it's a Porsche, and a 911, at that. Sort of. The P...
Throwback Thursday – Celebrating Amir Bentatou’s Recently-Sold 1976 Porsche 911S
On the heels of selling his beloved 911, Amir Bentatou is hard at work prepping his latest and greatest on-track machine: a turbocharged K-swapped NSX, soon to hit the pages of StanceWorks, of course...
Order & Progress – Renan Roberto’s Brazilian Chamonix Speedster
Chuck Beck's name has long been synonymous with the best Porsche replicas on planet Earth. While authentic 356 coupes, speedsters, and 904s are well out-of-reach for the common man, Beck's namesake h...
Order & Progress – Wagner Malfatti’s Brazilian Chamonix Speedster
Preserved – Luigi di Gioia’s 1964 Volkswagen Beetle
Since its introduction in 1938 until 2003 when the last one rolled off the assembly line, Volkwagen has built more than 21,500,000 aircooled Beetles. Yes, that's a lot. Surprisingly, though, it's par...
Luftgekühlt 6 – by Matt Amezcua – Shift Pattern
In its 6th year, Luftgekühlt, the premier all-aircooled Porsche event, has somehow raised the bar once more. With an incredible catalog of Porsches in store for an absolutely massive audience of show...
Luftgekühlt 6 – by Mike Amezcua – Shift Pattern
#AFlat6LoveAffair – Bart Kuyken’s 1970 Porsche 911 2.2T
Photography by Mike Crawat Bart Kuyken isn't what one might consider your run-of-the-mill StanceWorks feature owner. Amidst the auto shop owners, weekend warriors, and a slew of do-it-yourselfers, Ba...
The Crawat Files – The Lady In Red – by Mike Crawat
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: the Porsche 911 is undoubtedly the "quintessential sports car." Everything about it speaks to its enthusiast-driven nature. Porsche, as a brand, still prid...
Rennsport Reunion IV – by Zachary Lenfesty
Every four years, the Olympics of Porsche events, Rennsport Reunion, comes around. This year was the third at the legendary Laguna Seca raceway but sixth event in total. It is undeniably the best dis...
The Dirty Truth – Makellos Classics’ 1978 Porsche “Safari” 911SC
The popularity of aircooled 911s has been on a constant rise for years on end now, and for good reason: the 911 is unequivocally the quintessential sportscar. The skyrocketing demand has brought thes...
The Crawat Files – The Trabant 601
The Traband 601 is a unique machine. To provide some history for American readers, the 601, most commonly known simply as "the Trabant," was East Germany's response to the Volkswagen Beetle. It began...
Project 9110101621 – Markus Haub’s Porsche 911
The idea to build a this 911 came to Markus Haub in 2013. After returning to his Porsche workshop to park cars for the winter, he found himself gazing upon an F-Model 911 in need of future restoratio...
Like Grandfather, Like Father, Like Son – Connor Schenk’s 1973 Porsche 914 2.0
It's an astoundingly beautiful car to be driving at just 20 years old, but Connor Schenk's '73 Porsche 914 didn't come to fruition without a lot of hard work. Thankfully, Connor's father, and his fat...
From Brazil With Love – Thomas Mayr and Martin Mildenberger’s 1973 Volkswagen SP2
It's hard to steal the show at Worthersee, to say the least. When it comes to Volkswagens, it's hard to conjure an idea that hasn't been beaten to death as seemingly every considerable mod has been a...
Makellos Classics 1973 Porsche RS-Inspired Hot Rod 911T
For most, the term "Hot Rod" likely conjures images of classic American iron. Maybe a '30s coupe, a chopped top, and fat wide tires, or perhaps something more modern, such as a big block-sporting mus...
As Fate Would Have It – Mark Tingey’s 1989 Porsche 911 Carrera 4
Mark Tingey's '89 911 Carrera 4 clearly has a lot of draw. Its white-on-white styling nestles it comfortably somewhere in between the 80s and 90s, and its perfect paint, stature, and presence command...
Aesthetics – Dick Barbour’s 1980 Sachs Porsche 935 K3
In 1979, a Kremer Porsche 935 K3 sat atop the podium at LeMans, and its success led to a growing interest in 1980. Kremer sold a number of cars to customers and packaged up kits to update old cars wi...
Das Ziel – A Film by Kris Clewell and Alex Nelson
Just over six months ago, Kris Clewell and Alex Nelson set out on the trip of a lifetime. Following the shipment of Kris's 1972 Porsche 911 from Minnesota to the StanceWorks HQ here in Southern Calif...
Staying True – The Onassis Porsche 356 #115368GT
There's a group of guys over in Germany focused on the artistry of the air-cooled automobile, and with each photoset that they toss into my inbox, I'm more and more impressed by their vision and tast...
The Road Less Traveled – by Kris Clewell
I’ve driven my 1972 911 over 44k miles in the last 4-5 years. I couldn’t believe it once we’d figured it out. Some friends and I had been sitting over pizza, wondering how much it costs every time yo...
Assembling the Dream Team – The Making of LuftAuto’s Safari Porsche 911
Each year, the team at Luftgekuhlt seems to outdo themselves. What once started as a small gathering of friends around a handful of air-cooled Porsches has quickly become one of the events of the yea...
The Road Less Traveled – The Making of LuftAuto’s Safari Porsche 911
A Second Look – The Rooshers 911T in Motion
They say that two is better than one, and we hope our readers feel the same when it comes to StanceWorks posts. We offer a second look at the Rooshers 911T we featured early last week. This time, how...
Mein12 – One of the Underdogs | Benton Performance’s Porsche 912
John Benton has obviously been cut from a different cloth. In a community where many of the older shop owners hold on tight to the trade secrets they've learned over the years, John is an open book. ...
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City Room | New York Today: Film City
New York Today: Film City
By Annie Correal and Andy Newman
March 21, 2014 5:46 am March 21, 2014 5:46 am
"She's Lost Control"Credit SLC Films
Updated 10:01 a.m.
Good Friday morning to you. Spring is moving slowly.
It’ll be nice enough to step outside this weekend, but not always nice enough to stay there.
Perfect weather for a movie.
New Directors/New Films, the annual festival for emerging talent, opened this week at MoMA and the Film Society of Lincoln Center.
Manohla Dargis, the co-chief film critic for The Times, told us it’s a good year.
“People may want to get on a train or bus or car for this,” she said.
There are 27 feature films in the festival. (The schedule is here.)
This weekend: “The Babadook.”
It’s an Australian film about a single mother in a haunted house.
Overall: “The highlight for me, the knockout, was a film from Iran called ‘Fish and Cat,’” Ms. Dargis said.
The story revolves around a restaurant in the countryside that might be run by cannibals.
For scenes of our city, try “She’s Lost Control.”
It’s about a woman who works as a sex surrogate while getting her degree.
“New York is a character in a way, in that sometimes, it’s the only familiar thing in her life,” Ms. Dargis said.
Here’s what else you need to know for Friday and the weekend.
Just a nice old sunny, slightly chilly spring day, with a breeze and a high around 50.
Tomorrow: much warmer — mid 60s — but cloudy, with maybe a shower in the morning.
Chilly again Sunday, with highs only in the 40s.
Subways: Check latest status.
Rails: Check L.I.R.R., Metro-North or N.J. Transit status.
Roads: Check traffic map or radio report on the 1s or the 8s.
Alternate-side parking is in effect.
Weekend Travel Hassles: Check subway disruptions or list of street closings.
COMING UP TODAY
• Mayor de Blasio announces a new parks commissioner: Mitchell Silver, former head of the American Planning Association and now an official in Raleigh, N.C. 12:45 p.m.
• The mayor heads for Albany this evening to speak at the “Somos el Futuro” conference of political progressives.
• A Scottish sculptor, Andy Scott, unveils his 15-foot-tall horse heads at Bryant Park. If that seems big, they’re replicas of ones back home that are 100 feet tall. 9 a.m. [Free]
• “Style Wars: The Original Hip Hop Documentary” screens at the Bronx Museum of the Arts. 6:30 p.m. [Free]
• The veteran Bronx graffiti artist COPE2 has a show opening at Krause Gallery on the Lower East Side. 7 p.m. [Free]
• Celebrate International Day of Puppetry at the Society of the Educational Arts on the Lower East Side with puppets, food and dancing. 7 p.m. [$15].
• Benji Hughes, composer of “I Went With Some Friends to See the Flaming Lips” and other tales of modern life, plays Joe’s Pub. 11:30 p.m., also Saturday. [$15]
• The Citi Bike program is losing lots of money and needs tens of millions to stay afloat. [Wall Street Journal]
• A 14-year-old shot a man dead in an argument on a city bus in Brooklyn, the police said. [New York Times]
• The mayor has steadily found ways to impose his uncompromising liberalism onto New York City. [New York Times]
• He also vowed reforms on Rikers Island. [New York Times]
• At least three people are dead in a motel fire in Point Pleasant, N.J.. this morning. [Press of Atlantic City]
• There’s been a steady rise in the abandoning of pet rabbits in New York City. [DNAinfo]
• The teenager who sneaked to the top of 1 World Trade Center slipped through a fence hole 12 inches square. [New York Times]
• Bodega cat connoisseurs, your March bracket has arrived.[WNYC]
• Scoreboard: Devils conquer Wild, 4-3 in overtime. Yankees top Red Sox, 3-2 (not 4-3 as we had mistakenly written earlier). Mets beat Braves, 7-6.
• If the outdoors beckons, there’s plenty to do: You can take an introduction to bird-watching in Prospect Park at noon. [Free] …
• … Help install “tree guards” that keep deer from nibbling and otherwise damaging trees, at Orchard Park in the Bronx. 9 a.m. [Free] …
• … Or go on a guided two-hour hike through the green heart of Staten Island. 10 a.m. [Free] …
• Welcome spring with a frittata with pickled ramp vinaigrette at the Wave Hill House in the Bronx. 11 and 11:30 a.m. [$45]
• A record store in Carroll Gardens, Black Gold, will sell about about 3,500 records for a dollar each.
• Fill your head with the history of sports and leisure in New York City at the Archivist Round Table’s Field Day, at the 92nd Street Y. 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. [Free]
• Hitchcock galore: A complete retrospective of the director’s films continues at Film Forum. [$13 a film] …
• … And 20 short films he made for television all weekend at the Paley Center for Media in Midtown. [$10]
• Scarier still: A documentary about the world’s water wars at the Center for Remembering and Sharing near Union Square. (It’s U.N. World Water Day). 4 p.m. [Free]
• First day of Macy’s annual flower show at Herald Square. Flower manicures in the Impulse Department at 1 p.m. Next week: Zyrtec’s “beauty secrets to combat Allergy Face ™” on the Cosmetics Main Floor.
• Last day for the annual G.L.B.T. Expo at the Javits Center, featuring business and nonprofits, from the International Gay Rodeo Association to the Provincetown tourism board. [$17]
• Take a political-history walking tour of the onetime Irish stronghold of Hell’s Kitchen. 1 p.m. [$12.50]
• Hear Duke Ellington’s sacred music at Carnegie Hall. 3 p.m. [$7.50 and up]
• What’s cooking: Colman Andrews and Ruth Reichl talk about Mr. Andrews’s new book, “My Usual Table,” at Powerhouse Arena in Dumbo. 7 p.m. [Free, R.S.V.P.]
• For more events, see The New York Times Arts & Entertainment guide.
• And if you’re looking for stuff to do outside New York City, The Times’s Metropolitan section has suggestions for Westchester, Long Island, New Jersey and Connecticut.
On March 23, 1857, a marvelous new contraption was demonstrated at a department store on Broadway and Broome Street.
It was not a toaster or a bread slicer. (Sliced bread was still decades away.)
It was the first commercial passenger elevator.
Elisha Graves Otis’s steam-powered device, in the Haughwout and Company store, took about 15 seconds to get from one floor to the next.
But it got there.
The Haughwout Building still stands at 488 Broadway.
The elevator has been replaced.
Sandra E. Garcia contributed reporting.
New York Today is a weekday roundup that stays live from 6 a.m. till late morning. You can receive it via email.
What would you like to see here to start your day? Post a comment, email us at nytoday@nytimes.com or reach us via Twitter using #NYToday.
Follow the New York Today columnists, Annie Correal and Andy Newman, on Twitter.
You can always find the latest New York Today at nytoday.com.
A Graffitist Takes On a Corporate Space
Crying on a Public Bench
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UPDATE 1-Lonza CEO to leave chemicals maker after less than a year
(Adds background, board comment)
ZURICH, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Lonza Chief Executive Marc Funk is leaving the Swiss chemicals company after less a year in the job, it said on Tuesday, citing personal reasons.
Funk, who has held his post since March, will be replaced by Chairman Albert Baehny on an interim basis until a permanent replacement is found. Funk will stay with the company until January 2020, Lonza said.
Before becoming CEO, Funk was head of Lonza's Pharma & Biotech segment where he expanded capacity and was responsible for innovation in biopharma manufacturing.
Lonza reported a steep fall in first-half profit as it took losses linked to the sale of its water business and as difficulties at its speciality ingredients business continued.
The Basel-based company, whose products include viruses for gene therapies, on Tuesday said board member Christoph Maeder has been appointed lead independent director by the board.
"The board respects Marc's decision and would like to thank him for his service to Lonza and wish him well for his future endeavours," said Maeder, adding a search for a new CEO was under way. (Reporting by John Revill; Editing by Michael Shields)
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Falcon & The Winter Soldier
Marvel: Future Fight
Marvel: Contest Of Champions
'Spider-Verse' Star John Mulaney Pitches Spider-Ham Solo Film
By Charlie Ridgely - December 18, 2018 04:48 pm EST
Now that Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is in theaters, and Marvel fans around the country are falling in love with the film's vast array of characters, everyone is wondering which of the Spider characters is going to get their own spinoff. Miles Morales and Gwen Stacy are already confirmed to have more movies in the future, but what's to become of Spider-Ham, the pig-turned-hero that's way funnier than he has any right to be?
When it comes to stealing scenes, John Mulaney's Spider-Ham takes the cake. Each of his silly lines was absolutely hilarious, and fans would certainly love to see him in a solo movie or series in the near future. What would that project be like? Well, Mulaney has his own ideas.
While speaking to Variety, Mulaney said he'd love to see a Spider-Man movie that dealt with his everyday life and regular job, snapping photos for The Daily Beagle.
“[Spider-Ham] is a fun guy who is capable of great rage,” Mulaney joked. “To go see him back at the Daily Beagle – I could see a Watergate-like story at the Beagle where he’s both a reporter and Spider-Ham by night.”
If that sounds a lot like Peter Parker and Clark Kent, that's exactly what Mulaney is going for.
“[I] never thought that the Clark Kents and the Peter Parkers leaned enough into the day job," he continued. “This would be more like The Post or All The President’s Men or Spotlight, but we’d make it family friendly. Lots of bacon jokes, or, ‘that’s hamfisted.'”
You might be surprised to learn that a Clark Kent type of story, albeit one filled with puns and slapstick gags, is right up Mulaney's ally. He's been a fan of Superman for quite some time.
“I remember buying the Superman Death series, when he died in the ’90s. I went to Moondog Comics in Chicago, which was under Tower Records, but you know that,” said Mulaney. “I got it in a sealed thing, with the black Superman logo on it. Everyone was putting them in these cases, and I opened mine to read the book. And they were like, ‘You fool. That’s no longer sealed. You just possibly lost yourself $100,000,'"
Would you want to see a Spider-Ham spinoff? What other characters deserve their own movie? Let us know in the comments below!
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is now playing in theaters.
This Custom Made Infinity Gauntlet Is Perfect for a Night on the Town
Chris Pratt Shares Birthday Love for Avengers: Endgame Co-Star Dave Bautista
Captain Marvel Takes on the Movie Trolls in Avengers
Thor: Love and Thunder Fan Art Teases Arrival of Jane Foster's Thor
Jeremy Renner and Matthew McConaughey Spotted at UFC 246
Spider-Man Fan Art Imagines Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Kraven the Hunter
Avengers: Endgame Art Shows Different Look for Smart Hulk's Damaged Arm
Agents of SHIELD Star Ming-Na Wen Hilariously Captions Behind-the-Scenes Photo
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Could Warren-Castro be the ticket?
Massachusetts and Texas pols seem in sync in first debate
By Sarah Betancourt Democrats, Elizabeth Warren, Immigration, Julian Castro 0 Comments Jun 27, 2019
You have to wonder if Warren-Castro could be the ticket to Democrats unseating President Donald Trump in 2020.
In a very crowded debate of 10 Democratic candidates, Sen. Elizabeth Warren got the chance to bookend the night during opening and closing statements, with her standard policy-laden plans sprinkled in between.
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As the top polling candidate of Wednesday’s scrum, Warren was given star treatment by NBC, with her podium set at center stage. She didn’t exactly shine last night, and the Boston Globe‘s Joan Vennochi even said that Warren wasn’t the big story, and she had “nothing to say about immigration.” But if you still think Warren looked like the frontrunner at least among this half of the Democratic field, you began wondering who could be her No. 2.
Immigration was a prevalent topic, as Democrats remain heated about Trump’s border and detention policies days after the drowning deaths of migrants Oscar Alberto Martinez Ramirez and his 23-month-old daughter Valeria in the Rio Grande. Former housing secretary Julian Castro, who also served as mayor of San Antonio before joining the Obama administration, dominated on the subject with the most intricate policy proposals.
He pushed a plan to decriminalize crossing the US border without documents, challenging every candidate to support the repeal of a portion of the law that allows federal authorities who charge migrants who cross illegally with a criminal offense (although it would remain a civil offense). He even went as far as to call out fellow Texan Beto O’Rourke, saying that O’Rourke’s immigration policy would “criminalize a lot of these families,” and that the current law is the “reason that they’re separating these little children from their families.” Interestingly, Castro’s immigration policy is endorsed by Warren.
“Watching that image of Óscar and his daughter Valeria is heartbreaking; it should also piss us all off and it should spur us to action,” Castro said during the debate.
And while Castro got the chance to shine on immigration, Warren spent the day visiting the Homestead detention facility in Florida, the largest child migrant detention center in the country. The Globe‘s Liz Goodwin and Jess Bidgood wrote that Warren said she wants to end all private detention. During NBC’s breakout panel of millennial debate watchers, several young women touted the Massachusetts senator. But when it came to who “won” the debate, five out of six decisively said, “Julian Castro.”
Reporter, CommonWealth
E-mail @sweetadelinevt
Bio » Latest Stories »
About Sarah Betancourt
Sarah Betancourt is a bilingual journalist reporting across New England. Prior to joining Commonwealth, Sarah was a reporter for The Associated Press in Boston, and a correspondent with The Boston Globe and The Guardian. She has written about immigration, social justice, and health policy for outlets like NBC, The Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism, and the New York Law Journal. Sarah has reported stories such as a national look at teacher shortages, how databases are used by police departments to procure information on immigrants, and uncovered the spread of an infectious disease in children at a family detention center. She has covered the State House, local and national politics, crime and general assignment.
Sarah received a 2018 Investigative Reporters and Editors Award for her role in the ProPublica/NPR story, “They Got Hurt at Work and Then They Got Deported,” which explored how Florida employers and insurance companies were getting out of paying workers compensation benefits by using a state law to ensure injured undocumented workers were arrested or deported. Sarah attended Emerson College for a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Communication, and Columbia University for a fellowship and Master’s degree with the Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism.
Many Latino journalists and prominent local immigration attorneys noted what an intriguing paring Warren-Castro would be, particularly with their similar immigration interests and their execution of incredibly complex policy (and explaining it to the average Joe). While Warren comes from a liberal state, Castro is from the state that has seen the most conservative border and migration policies executed, and a state that has struggled with its blue/red identity in the wake of a growing Latino and Democratic demographic.
The Boston-Austin alliance worked out well almost 60 years ago when John F. Kennedy paired up with Lyndon Johnson. Perhaps we’ll see another joining of Massachusetts and Texas political forces.
Tagged in: Democrats/ Elizabeth Warren/ Immigration/ Julian Castro
‹ Crowded T cars can mean unwanted touching Could Warren-Castro be the ticket? ›
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News from Lewisville | Flower Mound | Highland Village
Mallgoers gather to watch the unveiling of the Ten Commandments display at Music City Mall Lewisville
A Ten Commandments monument was unveiled at Music City Mall Lewisville on Dec. 29.
By Sherelle Black | 12:07 AM Dec. 30, 2017 CST
Music City Mall Lewisville General Manager Richard Morton unveiled two stone tablets Friday afternoon—the largest of which displays all Ten Commandments and weighs over 5,900 pounds.
“Our owner [Investment Corporation of America] owns many properties and places these at each one," Morton said. "It’s family-oriented and sends that message."
A smaller, second tablet highlights two commandments and weighs in at 1,800 pounds. The two monuments could not be displayed in the same location because of the weight.
Northside Baptist Church Pastor Mark Dallalio said a prayer to dedicate the new tablets. More than three dozen mall shoppers gathered to watch the unveiling.
“I think it’s great, I’m excited,” Denton resident Colette Franklin said. “I think it’s great we can get back to things that we used to have and make people aware of this foundation. We teach these values already to our kids, and this helps to enforce it.”
For more information on the mall's new owner and transformation, click here.
By Sherelle Black
Sherelle joined Community Impact Newspaper in July 2014 as a reporter for the Grapevine/Colleyville/Southlake edition. She was promoted in 2015 to editor of the GCS edition. In August 2017, Sherelle became the editor of the Lewisville/Flower Mound/Highland Village edition. Sherelle covers transportation, economic development, education and features.
Public education the focus of upcoming forums with candidates for the Texas Legislature
The events are hosted by nonprofit advocacy group Raise Your Hand Texas Foundation.
Two candidates file to run for Lewisville ISD board of trustees
On May 2, voters will get to cast a ballot to fill Places 6 and 7 on the Lewisville ISD board of trustees.
Eggspress Cafe now open in Highland Village
The cafe serves breakfast and lunch items such as pancakes, waffles, crepes, hamburgers, chicken, steak, energy bowls and more. Visitors can order handcrafted coffee and espresso drinks.
Candidates begin to file to run for Lewisville, Flower Mound and Highland Village councils in May 2 elections
Candidates began filing Jan. 15 to run for election for various seats on Lewisville, Flower Mound and Highland Village councils.
La Quinta by Wyndham now open in Lewisville
The new hotel opened at the end of 2019.
The Mill Street House now open in Lewisville
Old Town Lewisville has a new event space.
Lewisville ISD to soon break ground on Josey Lane Elementary
Lewisville ISD is expected to begin construction on a new elementary school by the end of this month, according to school district officials.
FM 2499 bridge demolition scheduled to begin Jan. 17
Work on the I-635/SH 121 interchange project continues as demolition of the northbound FM 2499 bridge is set to take place from 8 p.m. Jan 17 to 6 a.m. Jan. 20, according to a news release from NorthGate Constructors.
DATA: Populations, median household incomes, median home values rise from 2013-18 in Lewisville, Flower Mound, Highland Village
New data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that the populations, median home values and median household incomes in Lewisville, Flower Mound and Highland Village were on the rise from 2013 to 2018.
New Girl Scout cookie to premiere when sales begin Jan. 17
Proceeds from cookies bought locally will benefit the Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas.
American Red Cross seeing ‘critical need’ for blood donations, partners with NFL for Super Bowl LIV trip
Find out where you can donate blood in the Dallas Fort-Worth area.
Top 10: Most read online stories from Dallas-Fort Worth area posted by Community Impact in 2019
Thrift City to close its Lewisville location
Multiple flu-related deaths reported across Denton, Tarrant, Dallas counties in December
Here's 10 things to do in Lewisville, Flower Mound and Highland Village in December
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Why does graphics speak of “dielectrics” rather than insulators?
For example, Filament's documentation at https://google.github.io/filament/Filament.md.html uses the term "dielectrics" when contrasting nonconductors to conductors, which it calls "metallics". And here on stackexchange, https://computergraphics.stackexchange.com/search?page=2&tab=Relevance&q=dielectric also produces many hits for "dielectric". I would have normally expected the word "insulator" in these instances. Does "dielectric" stem from some historical source, or is it the accurate term to use?
learning graphicslearning graphics
$\begingroup$ The first edition of PBRT (2004) used the word dielectric. Being the reference for physically-based shading, it could just be that other PBR frameworks that were developed after PBRT all tried to speak the same language. I'm sure the term dielectric was used way before that but my understanding is that this is the term that stuck. $\endgroup$ – Hubble Sep 12 '18 at 3:02
Strictly speaking, dielectrics are not necessarily insulators. For example, salt water is a reasonable conductor but also a dielectric.
The term "dielectric" tends to show up in discussion of the Fresnel effect—how reflectance and transmittance vary with angle. Dielectric materials (i.e. nonmetals) are contrasted with metallic materials as they have different Fresnel behavior, which can be traced back to how the materials react on a microscopic scale to the electromagnetic field of an incident light wave.
So, for computer graphics purposes, the axis "dielectric/metallic" is more relevant than that of "insulator/conductor", since the former directly affects the appearance of materials.
Nathan ReedNathan Reed
It is not especially related to graphics but physics, and especially, interaction between electromagnetic waves (like light) and matter, i.e. microphysics of optics.
Metals have free electrons, and thus it's quite a sea of almost free moving charges that are interacting with the EM field. Ideally, it would be totally reflected.
In dielectrics the electrons are not free, but still the atoms and molecules behave as a non-neutral set of central positive charges (the nucleus) and peripheral negatives charges (the electrons), smoothly locked in position by forces (you might see that as springs), thus the dielectric term (or dipolar in simplest configurations). So, the whole thing reacts to EM waves by distorting, and when restoring (+oscillating) also causes an EM wave emission (since moving charges). Note that it is the interference of these direct and reactive fields that makes the "EM field in the material" with characteristic light velocity, and thus tilt the propagation angle at material border (also named "refraction).
Thus, the behavior to light is quite different in both cases.
Fabrice NEYRETFabrice NEYRET
Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged material or ask your own question.
Why do most photorealistic renderers have similar material test scenes?
Does light particle loses energy when it hits something?
What is the most physically accurate model of surface materials possible in computer graphics?
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What you will find in this section
Greening Our Chemical Footprint – The Green Deal
State of the art: Three big picture medical/scientific publications
We need to green our chemical footprint by addressing the crisis of environment with the crisis of livelihood and the disproportionate way poor people carry the burden of industrial pollution at the same time. Every important non-carbon industry economist agrees there is a new industrial revolution already taking place in energy – the fastest growing sector of the U.S. economy now is in windmills. The Chinese have thrown hundreds of billions of dollars at solar and other green energy manufacture. The new prosperity that creating a sustainable economy would bring, on the chemical as well as the energy fronts – would result in just those “good green jobs” we need. This way lies a livable 21st century. But we must be equally creative and pro-active on the chemical front too.
Graphic: Integrated Health Blog.com
“98% of chemicals on the market never tested for safety. 287 industrial chemicals and pollutants found in U.S. newborns. 30% increase in teen cancer since the 1970s.” – Lowell Center for Sustainable Production, University of Massachusetts
The goal in a sentence: radically green our chemical footprint by regulating and banning harmful chemicals and substituting benign ones, which we can often do; or by substituting different ways of doing things, for example, organic farming, for chemical pesticide-dependent farming.
We need to do this in order to save the health and viability of our envelope of life and our own species itself from the corroding effects of today’s brown chemistry industries and their results in industrial pollution and consumer products that affect us all, and our children most
You don’t need to take my word for it, there’s so much information available today. One quick way to get an overview is to watch the documentary film, The Human Experiment, produced and narrated by Sean Penn. Viewing Chemerical,, a trip through the toxic chemicals in most people’s homes by filmmaker Andrew Nisker, is also an eye-opener.
You may want to get reading after that, or maybe you’re ready to leap in now. If you’re new to the issue, two very accessible books you may want to check out are The Body Toxic: How the Hazardous Chemistry of Everyday Things Threatens Our Health and Well-being by Nena Baker and the very engaging and informative Slow Death by Rubber Duck: How the Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Life Affects Our Health by Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie.
To do this we – and in the first instance, our elected representatives who guide the various ships of state – have to change thinking, shift paradigms, look at the world in a different way. These twinned objectives – livelihood and environment – must inform how economic development is pursued, how laws and public policy are formulated – absolutely on chemical manufacture and use – on how to build infrastructure and use incentives and disincentives in subsidies, how to understand and act to protect public health, in how to educate for and practice medicine and provide health care.
How do we do green our chemical footprint? By addressing the twin crisis of environment and livelihood – the other great crisis of our time – together.
Because climate change and ocean destruction are proceeding at such dangerous speed, emergency measures to save the envelope of life that is our biosphere must be taken very soon. To that end, I recommend that every single person learn about and support in every way possible the Half Earth project, which seeks to set aside 50 per cent of the planet’s surface for nature and wildlife. The idea is that without this much, the ecosystem of the biosphere will collapse, and we will find ourselves without oxygen and the conditions to sustain ourselves.
Then, we need to make some massive paradigm shifts in human life, too.
Every important non-carbon industry-affiliated economist agrees there is a new industrial revolution already taking place in energy – the fastest growing sector of the U.S. economy now is in windmills. The Chinese have thrown hundreds of billions of dollars at solar and other green energy manufacture, and sustainable energy is the economic wave of the future. The new prosperity that creating a sustainable economy would bring, on the chemical as well as the energy fronts – must now come just as sharply into focus. This, too, would result in those “good green jobs” we need. This way lies a livable 21st century.
In the years of the Great Depression, the United States adopted the New Deal – an overarching, multi-faceted plan to mobilize the power of government, through the taxation and distribution powers of government, to build critical infrastructure, support enterprise and promote social projects and services that would cohere, support and revive American society and the American economy. Many other countries took this Keynsian approach too.
The Alternatives Are Here
People ask all the time, “but do we have the technology?” And the answer to that is, YES. Drop in and visit these websites, see how far we’ve come, see who’s doing the work, and see who’s coming on board.
ChemHAT The Chemical Hazard and Alternatives Toolbox
http://www.chemhat.org/en . ChemHAT “is an internet database designed to offer up easy to use information that we can use to protect ourselves, our families and our co-workers against the harm that chemicals can cause. … Instead of what engineering controls and personal protective equipment do I need to lower the levels of exposure to a “safe” level, ChemHAT is being designed to answer the question, “Is there a way to get this job done without using dangerous chemicals? We know from stories of substitution and elimination that already exist, that the answer can be yes.”
Lowell Center for Sustainable Production. University of Massachusetss at Lowell https://www.uml.edu/research/lowell-center/
Clean Production Action. “Simplifies the complexity of managing hazardous chemicals through tools and collaborations.”
https://www.cleanproduction.org/
https://www.cleanproduction.org/programs/chemical-footprint
Pharos. “Evaluating building products and components” https://www.pharosproject.net/
Today, we need the same overarching vision and mobilization; but today, it needs to turn toward environment as well as jobs. Former Vice President Al Gore has proposed a Global Marshall Plan, so the global North can assist the global South to transition to clean energy. And we are beginning to move in the right direction on climate change – through programs based in what people are now calling “climate justice”. But we need a transformation, on more than energy, we need it on chemisty too – and toxics clean-up and ocean plastics rescue and other pressing matters related to chemicals. We’re still a century behind on policies that seek to green our chemical footprint, and integrate both energy and chemistry, while ensuring that those who work in brown industries are support in their transition to green.
The upshot is we need a Green Deal. Check out the sidebar to see its component parts.
So, since the conception of this multifaceted, pro-active, redistributive approach must, by definition, precede its execution, all of us as citizens and as those seeking public office office need to understand the issues involved in greening our chemistry – the science, the medicine, the economics, the politics, and the alternatives. It can be done. Click here to see ten examples of companies doing it today! And read on for many resources, from websites to scholarly books, to help you believe it too.
Because there’s so much to read – studies, reports, articles, books, journalism in so many venues – what I’ve done here is to create an idiosyncratic collection of references that I have found extremely useful. And I’ve divided this information into three sections. Please be sure to scroll down for the second and third sections – they’re well below the fold.
State of the Art: a trio of accessible medical/science publications, two brand new, and a third that goes with it, that – providing you like to read stuff like this – should rock your world because of what these say on their own about the extent of adverse health effects from ubiquitous chemicals, and what they mean in relation to each other. (Jump to State of the Art)
Internet Resources: A collection of excellent websites that allow easy reading and access to lots of really important material, including scientific and popular material about which products are toxic, healthy substitutes for those, updates on regulatory and other initiatives, ongoing news on chemically-related matters of all kinds, guides to action – and much more. (Jump to Great Websites)
Mostly books: A reading list of acclaimed books for those who want to read in more depth about health impacts, corporate venality, deceit and corruption, the solutions we need to change our chemical regime. Some popular, some scholarly and scientific. All accessible. (Jump to Reading Material)
State of the art: Three big picture medical/scientific publications on adverse health effects
Hot off the press – The stunning new NIEHS/EPA Children’s Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Centers Impact Report: Protecting children’s health where they live, learn, and play, the EPA report on the impacts of industrial and consumer chemicals on children’s health, that links everyday exposures to bisphenol A (a plasticizer found in myriad goods), flame retardants (in our furniture, bedding, clothing) and in pesticides (in our food chain, golf courses, gardens and homes) with asthma, poor birth outcomes, cancer, and brain and behavioural problems, immune dysfunction, autism spectrum disorder and obesity. The report estimates the cost of environmentally related diseases in children at $76 billion a year. Read about it at and download it here.
An important 2011 study – Early Exposures to Hazardous Chemicals/Pollution and Chronic Disease: A Scoping Review, A Report from the Canadian Environmental Law Association, the Ontario College of Family Physicians and the Environmental Health Institute of Canada, is also powerful, especially when combined with the EPA’s new report. This was an important piece because it showed how extensively, by 2011, correlations had been made by researchers among between certain classes of chemicals in everyday products and certain types of diseases and disorders.
Also new, and so important – The chemical disruption of human metabolism. Stephen J. Genuis, M.D., & Edmond Kyrillos (2017) http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15376516.2017.1323986. Toxicology Mechanisms and Methods, ISSN: 1537-6516 (Print) 1537-6524 (Online) http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/itxm20 DOI: 10.1080/15376516.2017.1323986.
Environmental Defense (Canada) http://environmentaldefence.ca/
Environmental Working Group (USA) http://www.ewg.org/
The Endocrine Disruption Exchange (TEDX) https://endocrinedisruption.org/
Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families Coalition (U.S.A.) http://saferchemicals.org/
The Chemical Sensitivity Foundation http://www.chemicalsensitivityfoundation.org/
The BioScience Research Project https://bioscienceresource.org/about-us/ Independent Science News https://www.independentsciencenews.org/
Children’s Health and the Environment http://cehn.org/
Canadian Partnership for Children’s Health and the Environment (CPCHE) http://www.healthyenvironmentforkids.ca/
Contested Illness Research Group http://www.brown.edu/Research/Contested_Illnesses_Research_Project/
Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE) http://cape.ca/
Ecology Center (Ann Arbor) http://www.ecocenter.org/
Health Care Without Harm https://noharm.org/
Pesticides Action Network (PAN) http://www.panna.org/
Physicians for Social Responsibility http://www.psr.org/
Canadian Environmental Law Association http://www.cela.ca/
Michigan Environmental Council http://www.environmentalcouncil.org/
Oil Sands Truth http://oilsandstruth.org/
Greenpeace Canada Greenpeace USA http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/home/ http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/
Photo: Greenpeace
Sierra Club Michigan Environmental Justice Program http://www.sierraclub.org/michigan/environmental-justice
Anne Steinemann, Ph.D., Professor of Civil Engineering, and Chair of Sustainable Cities, University of Melbourne, Australia. https://www.findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/display/person709828. Leading scientific investigator of indoor air quality, consumer product safety. Also find MCS bibliography. http://www.drsteinemann.com/
Chemistry for Life: Examples of Green Chemistry https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/greenchemistry/what-is-green-chemistry/examples.html
Top Green Chemistry Companies https://www.ventureradar.com/keyword/Green%20Chemistry
ChemHAT The Chemical Hazard and Alternatives Toolbox http://www.chemhat.org/en
Lowell Center for Sustainable Production https://www.uml.edu/research/lowell-center/
Clean Production Action https://www.cleanproduction.org/
Pharos https://www.pharosproject.net/
Dream Corps https://www.thedreamcorps.org/
A Toxic Tour of Canada’s Chemical Valley – VICE https://www.vice.com/en_au/article/a-toxic-tour-of-canadas-chemical-valley
‘Cancer Alley,’ Louisiana, https://www.treehugger.com/corporate-responsibility/cancer-alley-big-industry-bigger-illness-along-mississippi-river.html
World-Changing Classics
Silent Spring. Rachel Carson. Houghton Mifflin. New York 1962
Living Downstream: An Ecologist Looks at Cancer and the Environment. Sandra Steingraber.Addison-Wesley. Reading, MA 1997.
Our Stolen Future: Are We Threatening our Fertility, Intelligence, and Suvival? A Scientific Detective Story. Theo Colborn, Dianne Dumanowski and John Peterson Myers. Foreword by Al Gore. Penguin. New York 1997 (on endocrine disrupting properties of microdoses)
Doubt is their Product: How Industry’s Assault on Science Threatens Your Health. David Michaels. Oxford University Press. New York 2008
Accessible reads on everyday chemicals
The Body Toxic: How the Hazardous Chemistry of Everyday Things Threatens Our Health and Well-being. Nena Baker. North Point Press/Farrar, Strauss and Giroux. New York 2008
Slow Death by Rubber Duck: How the Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Life Affects Our Health. Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie. Vintage Canada. Toronto 2009
Science and the politics of adverse effects of chemicals and petrochemical production
A Line in the Tar Sands: Struggles for Environmental Justice. Toban Black, Stephen D’Arcy, Tony Weiss, Joshua Kahn Russel, eds. Forward by Naomi Klein and Bill McKibben. Between The Lines Press. Toronto 2014
Amputated Lives: Coping with Chemical Sensitivities – Exxon Valdez Cleanup, Gulf War, World Trade Center Attack, Hurricane Katrina. Alison Johnson. Cumberland Press. Brunswick, ME 2009.
Bending Science: How Special Interests Corrupt Public Health Research. Thomas McGarity and Wendy E. Wagner. Harvard University Press. Cambridge, MA 2008
The Blue Death: Disease, Disaster, and the Water We Drink. Robert Norris, MD. Harper Collins. New York 2007
Child Honouring – How to Turn This World Around. Foreword by the Dalai Lama. Edited by Raffi Cavoukian and Sharna Olfman. Praeger, hardcover 2006. Paperback 2010
Contested Illnesses: Citizens, Science and Health Social Movements. Phil Brown, Rachel-MorelloFrosch, Stephen Zavestoski, and the Contested Illness Research Group. University of California Press. Berkeley, CA 2012
Deceit and Denial: The Deadly Politics of Industrial Pollution. Gerald Markowitiz and David Rosner. Milbank/Uninversity of California Press. Berkeley 2003 and 2013.
Diagnosis Mercury: Money, Politics & Poison. Jane Hightower MD. Island Press/Shearwater Books. Washington D.C. 2009
Endocrine Disruptors, Brain, and Behavior. Heather B. Patisaul and Scott M. Belcher. Oxford University Press 2017
Endocrine Disruption and Human Health 1st Edition. Philippa D. Darbre, ed. Elsevier/Academic Press 2015. eBook ISBN: 9780128011201 Hardcover ISBN: 9780128011393
Engineering Green Chemical Processes. Thomas F. DeRosa, Ph.D. McGraw-Hill Education. 2014.
Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice. By Paul T. Anastas and John C. Warner, University Press. 2000.
Lake Effect: Two Sisters and a Town’s Toxic Legacy. Nancy A. Nichols. Shearwater Books/The Center for Resource Economics. Washington D.C. 2008.
Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientist Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming. Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway. Bloomsbury Press. New Yor
Pandora’s Poison: Chlorine, Health, and a New Environmental Strategy. Joe Thornton. MIT Press. Cambridge, MA 2000
Poison on Tap: How Government Failed Flint, and the Heroes Who Fought Back. The Staff of Bridge Magazine 2016. https://www.createspace.com/6314585
Poison Spring: The Secret History of Pollution and the EPA. E.G. Vallianatos (20-year EPA veteran) with McKay Jenkins. Bloomsbury Press. New York 2014
When Smoke Ran Like Water: Tales of Environmental Deception and the Battle Against Pollution. Devra Davis. Basic Books, New York, 2003
The Secret History of the War on Cancer. Devra Davis. Basic Books, New York 2007
Sacrifice Zones: The Front Lines of Toxic Chemical Exposure In The United States. Steve Lerner. Foreword by Phil Brown. MIT Press. Cambridge, MA 2012.
Toxic Exposures: Contested Illness and the Environmental Health Movement. Phil Brown. Foreword by Lois Gibbs. Columbia University Press. New York 2007
Trespass Against Us: Dow Chemical and The Toxic Century. Jack Doyle. Environmental Health Fund/Common Courage Press. Monroe, ME 2004
A popular protest banner and T-shirt emblem
A new politics for present-day environmental challenges
This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate. Naomi Klein. Simon and Shuster. New York 2015
This Changes Everything The film: Avi Lewis and Naomi Klein. Joslyn Barnes, producer. 2015 https://thischangeseverything.org/
Out of the Wreckage: A New Politics for an Age of Crisis. George Monbiot. Verso Books. London, 2017.
The Next World War: Tribes, Cities, Nations and Ecological Decline. Roy Woodbridge. University of Toronto Press. Toronto 2007
Solutions – The Half Earth Project & The Green Deal
The Half Earth Project
You will want to learn about and build support for the new campaign that seeks to set aside “half the earth for the rest of life.” It’s simple: the biosphere is an ecosystem; if large parts of it collapse, all of it will collapse. Setting aside half of Earth for wildlife and their habitats is the proposal that speaks best to saving oceans, rainforests, coral reefs, glaciers – those places in the world we need in order for humanity to live too. And the mission could not be more urgent. Visit the website to learn more at http://www.half-earthproject.org/.
An added bonus in doing this, our species will be compelled to create structures and mechanisms that allow for international cooperation on environmental goals far more advanced than we have now; and this will help with…
The Green Deal Approach
Fusing the approaches of the New Deal with Environmentalism, creating a new economy with dignified work for all while reducing our carbon, water and chemical footprint.
Create a new economy with dignified work for all while reducing our carbon, water and chemical footprint.
Right now we are truly facing twin, inter-impacting crises: catastrophic environmental threats in climate change and chemically-linked health decline, on the one hand; and growing economic distress for the majority of people in the sucking out of wealth by the top layers, past and future job loss to automation and to low wage jurisdictions, the rise of precarious work as the new normal, the eroding of social supports of all kinds, the scattering and breaking of families, the decline of the middle and working classes, and the lack of economic incentives sufficient to green our economy in a race against time and greater disaster.
We have the technologies, but we lack the instruments of political will. In fact, only governments have the economic resources, the legislative clout and societal reach to solve a crisis as deep and wide as this, a crisis that demands a societal mobilization as great as if we were at war. In the 1930s President Franklin Delano Roosevelt saved the United States from a suicidal death-dive by crafting the New Deal, a coherent series of federal programs that redistributed wealth to needful goals and social supports; funded massive public work projects that built infrastructure (including energy) for the coming century and employed people at a living wage, and created sweeping financial reforms and regulations to prevent another Great Depression.
Today, we need the same broad approach, but crafted specfically for our time. We need a Green Deal.
“Visit The Dream Corps at https://www.greenforall.org/ to see how these principles can be brought to life at the national and local levels, from Washington, D.C. to the Oakland, CA area.”
And for that, we need at least the following components:
1. Build political parties committed to the public interest, capable of strategizing a Green Deal approach on multiple fronts, and of governing pro-actively and comprehensively to implement this program; and build them at all levels. Work to expand and enhance awareness of fellow citizens and their commitment to vote. Again: becoming involved in politics in order to make them green and equitable has become the highest calling for environmentalists.
2. Elect national governments pledged to the Green Deal approach, that will re-set their policies, programs, reforms and laws and distribute funding to states, provinces, and cities along the policy objectives of the Green Deal. Elect state/provincial and municipal governments that seek to create a Green Deal approach at whatever scale they are able.
3. Use government spending power to purchase green-only products and use it aggressively to create new markets and a competitive edge for green commerce/ create healthy work and study conditions and good green jobs. From the food served in government and government-funded facilities such as schools and hospitals and military bases; to the products used (be they office or medical or building supplies, cleaning materials, all manner of equipment)— all government funded services and agencies should use only products that pass the ‘green production and safer chemicals’ litmus test.This measure alone would constitute a benign but massive market intervention, and shift practices in many sectors in which economies of scale are important to shifting to green practices.
4. “Green Trade,” not “Free Trade”: renegotiate international trade agreements to include standards that create healthy imports and off-shore jobs, and good green jobs away and at home: “Free trade” was always an Orwellian misnomer, that, in fact, undermined the environmental sovereignty of its signees, as well as permitted the draining of jobs to the lowest wage jurisdictions, both continentally and globally. Greening international trade agreements— setting standards on the energy use, component materials, mandatory labeling, waste creation and disposal of goods— with serious carrots and sticks (taxes and tariffs) will force countries to ensure their goods are safe, and should be paired with agreements to raise wages in manufactured traded goods (“harmonize upward”).
5. Green the energy infrastructure at home with sustainable technologies and end all carbon subsidies, slow climate change, implement environmental justice, and create good green jobs. End all formal and informal subsidies to the carbon sector; massively subsidize green energy industries to create sustainable infrastructure and energy on the condition of good wages; effect legislative reform to make all this possible; create capacious and adequate transition funds and pro-active, nation-wide programs, administered locally, to ensure all carbon sector workers are retrained and re-employed in other jobs, again, with good wages. Stop new oil, gas and coal exploration, especially in fragile ecosystems; make the energy revolution at home.
6. Green the chemical industry and use of its products, implement environmental justice, create safe consumer goods and good green jobs. Laws governing chemical manufacture and disposal, minimally on the European R.E.A.C.H. standards are needed as a base-line for policy and law. With this, a system of standards, mandatory labeling, penalties and incentives needs to be crafted, and enforced. This will mean a shift from petroleum based, endocrine-disrupting, ocean-destroying materials such as today’s plastics to products based more on plant and mineral sources. Implement a wide-ranging program of environmental justice for fence line communities tied to the petrochemical industry, including laws about permissible distances for housing and subsidies to move and to seek work in other industries.
7. Green Agriculture, go chemical-free, restore soil, use water wisely, slow climate change, create healthy farming conditions, healthy food and good green jobs. Institute a set of programs, policies and reforms to enable farmers of all sizes to stop hurting the land, themselves and their workers with harsh chemical fertilizers and deadly pesticides. Institute economic incentives and capacious transition funds to permit the shift to organic agriculture, to amends vast tracts of pesticide-laced, chemically-fertilized, depleted soil. Organic methods produce healthier food and healthier farmers, over a five-year period surpass the yields of chemically-based farming, produce one-third less greenhouse gases, and turn organic fields into carbon sinks—actually absorbing greenhouse gases and reducing global warming threats.
8. Green the financial sector: create transitional funds and prevent continued investment in deadly commerce. Institute ‘Robin Hood’ taxes— very small, transactional charges that yield billions—on financial transactions, and create funding pools for green economy purposes. Tax chemical toxics as well as carbon production, at levels high enough to repel capital and create counterincentives to invest in green ventures. Regulate the size and activities of banks and insurance companies in ways aligned with the Green Deal objectives. Raise taxes on the wealthy, on and off-shore; reduce taxes on the working and middle classes to fund the transition.
9. Green your city-state-province-nation-oceans/Create good green jobs. Legislate and enforce laws against harmful waste disposal, create serious new enforcement laws and agencies, and fund massive programs of cleanup and reclamation wherever these are needed. Trained workers, good wages: good green jobs.
10. Green health and social services/help victims of climate change disaster and chemical injury, make environmental health costs transparent, restore people and families to productivity and create good green jobs. Health care needs a ‘environmental health overhaul’— parts of which are described in the side bars here and here—to rise to adequacy in the 21st century. Invest in research, in health provider education, in mandating and funding public health, in delivering services; oblige health insurers to cover the costs. This too will help those in need and create good green jobs.
About the BioScience Research Project, Independent Science News and Jonathan R. Latham, Ph.D
Jonathan R Latham, PhD is co-founder and Executive Director of the Bioscience Resource Project and the Editor of Independent Science News. Dr. Latham holds a Masters degree in Crop Genetics and a PhD in Virology. He was subsequently a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Genetics, University of Wisconsin, Madison. He has published scientific papers in disciplines as diverse as plant ecology, plant virology, genetics and genetic engineering. Dr Latham is also the Director of the Poison Papers project which publicizes documents of the chemical industry and its regulators.
Why ban classes of chemicals?
Anti toxics advocates have been confronted with nearly 100,000 new chemicals and no clear path to how to deal with their staggeringly destructive effects on humans and on our environment.
Many countries – including the U.S. And Canada – and many government agencies have based their various chemical management schemes – laws, regulations, norms – on “single chemical evaluations,” an approach that is flawed scientifically, and guaranteed to fail on many fronts. Not least of these is the amount of time needed to effect such an approach.
A “management process” that would take a hundred plus years to implement is – does this actually need saying? – the wrong way to go.
The alternative? Get to know the BioScience Resource Project and the views of its Executive Director Jonathan Latham, Ph.D. because he proposes a different approach, based on banning classes of chemicals.
A longer article that gives more detail about the scientific flaws in the “single chemical approach” is also available, in full below the short article that follows here, for readers who want to know more about the science involved and the thinking behind the “ban classes of chemicals” approach, the one I support. That this approach is more scientifically sound than other approaches of course recommends it highly.
That it is the only realistic approach with a snowball’s chance in hell of making a big enough difference to time to stop the toxic onslaught, recommends it even more.
In Dr. Latham’s first article below, I’ve bolded the sections that speak to actions most directly. Read and learn; then, by all means if you’re interested, read some more.
EU Reapproval of Glyphosate Leaves Environmentalists’ Strategy in Tatters; What Now?
by Jonathan Latham, PhD, November
To be updated soon, please check back later!
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Anguilla, the most northerly of the British Leeward Islands, retains the laid-back character of a sleepy backwater. Goats still wander the streets and reggae music blares from passing cars. Anguilla also lays claim to some of the finest beaches in the region, as well as some of the most luxurious hotels.
Antigua- Home to 365 plush beaches, a true island paradise with its warm white sugar sand beaches, crystal clear blue waters, this luscious Island is almost completely surround by coral reefs, walls, and shipwrecks.
Aruba- Known as "one happy island" its white sand beaches are considered some of the best in the world, along with their tropical dry warm climate, cooling trade winds and warm friendly locals waiting to welcome you home away from home.
Bahamas- An island hoppers paradise with more than 700 islands just 50 miles off the coast of Florida. With water so blue it seems to merge with the sky above, white and pink sand so soft it's like every step is a walk among the clouds.
Bali- A truly ideal tropical destination has beautiful beaches, an exotic interior complete with a live volcano and rice paddies plus extremely friendly people make this an unforgettable place.
Barbados- Sophisticated and casual, warm and friendly, and always distinctively charming. The Caribbean's easternmost island boasts beautiful powder white sand beaches, shady palms, and clear blue waters all surrounded by lush tropics of this friendly little British island.
Belize- Located in Central America north of Mexico and west of Guatemala with the Caribbean Sea to the east. Belize's mainland is 180 miles long and 68 miles wide, boasting the longest Barrier Reef in the Western Hemisphere, a divers dream paradise!
Bermuda- Picturesque coves ring the coast, with calm waters and pink-sand beaches, with over 180 islets, Bermuda looks like your archetypal Caribbean retreat, its Bermudaful!
British Virgin Islands with her sloping hills of green, lush mountainous terrain, extensive coral reefs, and famous shipwrecks sum up the thrills and spills of these beautiful islands.
Cayman Islands- Caribbean archipelago renowned for its beautiful beaches, world-class diving and incredible food. Discover your Caymankind!
Costa Rica- One of the most bio-diverse spots on the planet, with stunning variety of landscapes, micro-climates, flora & fauna. If Mother Nature can ever be accused of showing off, it is in Costa Rica!
Curacao is rich in multicultural heritage, with its distinct blend of Spanish, Dutch, and Caribbean architecture, is the seat of the Dutch Antilles, offers over 38 breath-taking beaches with perfect weather outside the hurricane belt!
Dominican Republic- This beautiful country is so geographically diverse, showcasing everything from tropical rainforests and alpine ranges to mangrove swamps and desert expanses. These natural gifts offer superb adventure travel and eco-tourism options.
Fiji is the magical isles with the friendliest people on earth! From glistening white sand beaches and crystal clear lagoons and unique atmosphere to world class diving, The Soft Coral Capital of the World has epic surfing and untouched rain-forests to explore!
The Greek Isles are lined with golden stretches of sand with dunes, sheltered bays and coves to coastal caves with steep rocks and black sand.
Hawaii- The youngest and the largest of all the islands is still growing! The home of one of the world's most active volcanoes and tallest sea mountain. This island is a natural wonder of unrivaled expression in the powers of nature at work!
Italy- Considered one of the world’s most iconic travel destinations, Italy manages to be many things, a vision of golden countryside, a mass of seething cityscapes, a repository for ancient culture, a mecca for fashion, made for romance!
Jamaica is a luscious tropical island, nestled in the majestic blue mountains and known for its breathtaking beaches and secluded private coves, quaint villages, picturesque jungly landscape. Jamaica will amaze you.
Kauai- The island of discovery, with 50 miles of breathtaking beaches against the clear pacific ocean with its sparkling blue water to its lush rainforest and waterfalls with rushing rivers, colorful valleys and quaint historic small towns.
Cabo San Lucas- known simply as Cabo, where the desert meets the Sea! One of the top tourist destinations in Mexico, known for its famous Arch and breathtaking beaches, fishing, whale watching, golfing, food, nightlife and of course the world class resorts.
The Maldives is a by-word for luxury, romance, and tropical bliss; a beautiful string of low-lying coral islands in the Indian Ocean, and a paradise for diving enthusiasts and sun seekers alike.
Maui is the second largest hawaiian island, but with low population, making it very desirable with its diversity and attractions, there something for everyone here! Maui is a good mix of all the Hawaiian Islands into one.
Mauritius, a sparkling crystal in the turquoise waters of the Indian Ocean, will fascinate you. A hypnotic blend of Indian, African and European influences, Mauritius might be synonymous with luxury beach breaks, but this destination will dazzle even the most discerning traveller.
Oahu is the "Heart" of Hawaii with its timeless beauty blended with today's modern luxuries. The third largest Hawaiian island is home to a diverse population and the contrast between the ancient and the modern that makes discovering historic Oahu so enjoyable.
Puerto Rico- With tropical rainforest, warm turquoise waters and soft yellow sand, Puerto Rico (Rich Port) is certainly abundant in natural riches. Most visitors are attracted to the island's beaches; there's one for every type of beach bum!
Riviera Maya- Spicy as salsa roja, intoxicating as a shot of tequila, volatile as the volcanoes of the central sierra, surreal as a Frida Kahlo canvas, monumental as the pyramids of Teotihuacán and warm as its inhabitants, Mexico fills the senses, tweaks the intellect and nourishes the soul.
The Seychelles are located in the Indian Ocean, are thought to have been the original Garden of Eden, the stunning beauty of these islands will leave the most discerning traveler speechless.
St. Lucia stands apart from the rest of the Caribbean islands thanks to its varied landscape and diverse culture and cuisine. Friendly locals and authentic culture impress the most travelled individuals for a holiday with lasting memories.
St. Martin-St. Maarten- Although the island is often referred to by one name, it is actually divided between France (St. Martin) and the Netherlands (St. Maarten). Often referred to as the crossroads of the Caribbean.
Tahiti and her Islands is the most romantic place on Earth! With its turquoise blue-lagoons and palm-fringed beaches. The small peaceful villages, known for their over-water bungalows are this is a honeymooners dream paradise, rated #1 most romantic place in the world!
Thailand is simpy amazing! From the bustling streets of Bangkok to island beaches lined in limestone cliffs; golden temples to lush, green forests; ancient ruins to exotic nightlife.
Turks and Caicos- With a warm dry climate, friendly people and natural beauty, the islands boast an unrivaled reef system and 193 square miles of pristine white sand beaches. A ideal location for romance, relaxation, diving, snorkeling.
United States Virgin Islands- Each of the three major islands, St. Croix, St.John and St. Thomas has a unique character all its own. The U.S. Virgin Islands is a paradise with so much more to offer than the traditional beach vacation. Experience a cosmopolitan culture with a tropical twist.
Wine Country, California
Wine Country- Sonoma County is a traveler’s paradise in California, the perfect Honeymoon spot for Wine Lovers & Foodies! Experience farm-to-table dining, with breathtaking vineyards & ancient redwood forests, more than 50 miles of stunning Pacific Coast, Redwoods, mountains, and quiet rivers.
Are you a human? What's 2+5 ?
© 2015 VirtualHoneymoon
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Expert advice and support for children with speech and language difficulties in Luton and Bedfordshire
Preschool & Younger
Complex Communication Needs
The Child Development Unit (Redgrave and Kempston) assesses and manages children (0-5 years) who live in Bedfordshire and Luton who have significant problems with development.
Who is this service for?
Services at Redgrave gardens and the Child Development Centre are available for children aged 0-5 years provided they are not in school. We assess and provide treatment programmes for children who have significant developmental problems (whether diagnosed or undiagnosed). This includes, but is not exclusive to:
Physical problems
Learning difficulties / disabilities
Social communication difficulties including autism
Swallow and feeding difficulties
We offer assessment, therapy and training. This may be on a 1:1 basis or in a group setting.
Sessions focus on developing a child’s overall communication skills and an individualised plan will be devised to address your child’s needs.
Preverbal skills such as eye contact, joint attention and using gestures.
Attention and listening skills
Play skills
Receptive language – understanding what is said to them.
Expressive language – using words and sentences, in a variety of different ways and for different purposes.
Social communication such as turn-taking, staying on topic and using non-verbal communication appropriately.
Alternative methods of communicating e.g. signing, object exchange, picture exchange and symbols
We are a group of Speech and Language Therapists who have specialised in eating, drinking and swallowing difficulties in babies, children and young. We do this in addition to our work with children’s speech, language and communication. The service works through supporting families and carers of babies, children and young people who are having difficulties with eating, drinking and/or swallowing.
We can offer the following service:
Assessment of child’s eating, drinking and swallowing within a mealtime environment
Advice on how to develop these skills e.g. by modifying food or drink textures or feeding strategies
Training to groups of professionals/carers around the development of and functional eating, drinking and swallowing
We often work in conjunction with a Dietician (if there are concerns about growth), an
Occupational Therapist or Physiotherapist (for support with feeding support systems such as
seating).
How do I access this service?
We accept referrals from GPs, social care and other professionals and organisations working with young children and families (eg Portage, Early Years Service) for children registered with a GP in Bedfordshire and Luton.
How do I refer to Redgrave / Child Development Centre?
We accept referrals by letter from GPs and other professionals and organisations working with young children and their families. Please address to Consultant Community Paediatrician.
Please provide:
Demographic information, including name, address, sex, date of birth, NHS number, GP
Reason for referral
Relevant diagnostic information
Previous medical history
Any other services involved
Referrer’s details
The paediatric speech and language therapy team assesses and manages children (0-17 years) who live in Bedfordshire and Luton who have significant speech, language and communication difficulties.
Once children are at school, their speech and language needs are linked closely to their education and all children in Bedfordshire and Luton who attend school and have speech and/or language needs are seen in the school setting.
The therapist will work with parents/carers and school staff to put strategies and support in place to maximise communication and enable the child to learn to their full potential.
All schools have a link therapist, who will manage the children in that school that have speech/language needs.
In addition there are a team of therapists who oversee the speech, language and communication needs of children who have Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP) in mainstream and special schools. These children may have other developmental difficulties or a medical diagnosis and may require support from other professionals who the therapist will work with to meet the needs of the child.
We provide support on the following areas:
Receptive language – understanding what is said.
Alternative methods of communicating e.g. signing, object exchange, picture exchange and communication books.
Discuss your concerns with your child’s school and then the Special Educational Needs Coordinator or Inclusion Manager can discuss your child with the link therapist and complete the school’s referral form.
Back to Specialisms list
We work across Bedfordshire and Luton providing help in health centres, schools, pre-schools and hospital settings. We treat children up to 19 years old who have a difficulty with communication or swallowing, as individuals, groups, parent/carer workshops and assessment clinics.
Bedfordshire Community Health Services
Luton Flying Start
Hungry Little Minds
© 2020 Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust. All rights reserved | Privacy | Accessibility | Terms and Conditions | Website by NARKAN Ltd
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Walter Whyte Max Mahoney Sukhmail Mathon Sports Men's college basketball College basketball Basketball College sports Men's basketball Men's sports
Binghamton America East Boston University Patriot League
Sessoms’ 40 points get Binghamton past Boston U in OT, 84-79
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. (AP) — Sam Sessoms scored nine of his school-record 40 points in overtime and Binghamton overcame Boston University and a career-high 38-point effort by Max Mahoney to take an 84-79 win on Saturday.
Sessoms opened the extra period with a 3 and followed that with a jumper that made it 75-71 with 3:45 left. After Mahoney scored at the basket, Sessoms did the same, and after Richard Caldwell Jr. dunked, he added two free throws.
The loss snapped a 10-game win streak by the Terriers in the all-time series and stretches their current losing streak to five straight.
BU (3-7) tied the game at 70-70 with :32 left in regulation on a Mahoney jumper and each team missed 3s in the closing seconds.
Sessoms was 15 of 32 from the field, including 6 of 14 from long range, and added five boards, four assists and three steals for the Bearcats (5-5). Caldwell added 11 points and 13 rebounds and Brenton Mills contributed 10 points.
Mahoney hit 15 of 23 from the field and did not attempt a 3-pointer but was 8 of 12 from the line. He grabbed 13 rebounds. Sukhmail Mathon added 15 points and grabbed 12 rebounds and Walter Whyte grabbed 10 boards.
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James Anderson Jamari Blackmon Matt Dentlinger Noah Freidel Brandon Key Payton Youngblood Sports Men's basketball Men's sports Basketball Men's college basketball College basketball College sports
South Dakota State Summit League
BROOKINGS, S.D. (AP) — Brandon Key scored 18 points and Matt Dentlinger scored 17 with 11 rebounds and South Dakota State beat North Alabama 78-73 on Tuesday night.
Douglas Wilson and Noah Freidel each scored 13 and Wilson grabbed nine rebounds and helped the Jackrabbits (4-2) end a two-game skid.
North Alabama led 33-32 at halftime before the Jackrabbits used an 11-5 run and never trailed again. Jamari Blackmon’s jumper with 11:03 left brought the Lions within 52-51, but Key followed with a 3-pointer and a layup and Dentlinger made two foul shots and a layup for a 61-51 lead. The Lions couldn’t get closer than five the rest of the way.
Blackmon scored a career-high 26 points, James Anderson II scored 16 and Payton Youngblood scored 11 for the Lions (2-3).
The Jackrabbits now have won 11 straight at home and are currently tied for the ninth-longest active streak in Division I.
It was the first-ever meeting between the two schools.
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The CQ Corner
Consulting Quest Global Directory – New Search Features
by Helene Laffitte | Oct 23, 2017 | CQ News, The Global Directory
Consulting Quest Has Just Launched the Newest Version of our Global Directory, the World’s Largest Professionally-Managed Directory in the Consulting Industry.
After much anticipation we are very excited to announce the arrival of the latest version of our Consulting Quest Global Directory – the World’s Largest Active Database of Management Consulting Firms. For the past year, the directory has been served as a valuable tool for consulting clients and general users to search for consulting firms in their geographic region and providing general information on each consultancy.
We recently launched a latest version of the Directory where you can now directly search companies by capability and industry, in addition to name and region.
Both company headquarters and local offices are mapped, so users can easily find consulting firms in a specific area. All information in the Consulting Quest Global Directory is collated by hand and constantly updated. Consulting Firms can also claim their business and manage all information on their profile.
More About the New Global Directory
With more than 2,000 Consulting firms profiled, the Directory lists consultancies with more than 8,000 offices spread across 160 countries, with links to their websites and social media channels. It serves as both a great tool for consulting clients searching for consulting firms with a specific profile and also provides tremendous exposure for small to mid-sized consultancies looking to expand their own network. The use and inclusion in the Directory is free of charge without commitment to any membership.
In addition to the listing of Consulting Providers, the Directory also features various links from all over the globe covering topics such as: Consulting Blogs, Consulting Industry, Consulting Career, and Thought Leadership. The goal of Consulting Quest is to become the go-to-source for all your consulting needs whether it be general information, sourcing, performance assessment and improvement.
Check out the new directory now at directory.consultingquest.com. If you would like to be listed in the Directory or need to update your firm’s information, please e-mail us at directory@consultingquest.net.
Consulting Quest is a global, performance-driven consulting platform founded in 2014 by former members of top 10 consulting firms with the objective of reinventing consultancy performance. With a worldwide presence and a range of proprietary performance measurement tools, we help companies navigate the consulting maze.
We work with Consulting Clients to increase their performance through consulting and Consulting Providers to help them acquire new clients and to improve their performance.
The Consulting Quest Global Directory The largest Worldwide curated database of Consulting Firms is now available online
by Helene Laffitte | Jan 26, 2017 | The Global Directory
[New York, NY] Consulting Quest has just launched the Consulting Quest Global Directory, the world’s largest professionally-managed directory in the consulting industry.
With more than 2000 Consulting firms profiled, the Directory lists consultancies with more than 8000 offices spread across 160 countries, with links to their websites and social media channels, searchable by consultancy name or by region, capability or industry. Both company headquarters and local offices are mapped, so Consulting Clients easily find consulting firms in a specific area. All information in the Consulting Quest Global Directory is collated by hand and constantly updated. Consulting Firms can claim their business and manage their profile.
“We understand that companies need the perfect fit in terms of skillset, value proposition, style, culture, and geography.”, says Helene Laffitte, Consulting Quest’s CEO. “The right consultant for a given project is not necessarily qualified for the next one. Consulting Clients want to know what are the Consulting Firms they could use for their project, the Consulting Quest Global Directory meets that need. ”
To learn more about the Global Directory or Consulting Quest, contact Dominic Prisco at +1 609 516 4495 or email, dominic.prisco@consultingquest.com, or visit the website at directory.consultingquest.com
Consulting Quest is a global, performance-driven consulting platform founded in 2014 by former members of top 10 consulting firms with the objective of reinventing consultancy performance.
With a worldwide presence and a range of proprietary performance measurement tools, we help companies navigate the consulting maze.
Consulting Quest Announces Launch of their Global Directory!
by Helene Laffitte | Oct 26, 2016 | Consulting Clients, Consulting Providers, The Global Directory
After much anticipation we are very excited to announce the arrival of our newest resource – The Consulting Quest Global Directory – the World’s Largest Active Database of Management Consulting Firms. The Directory will serve as a great tool for Consulting Clients to search for firms in their geographic region and providing general information for each Consultancy. The Directory also provides tremendous exposure for small to mid-sized Consultancies looking to expand their own network. The use and inclusion in the Directory is free of charge without commitment to any membership.
The Directory currently boasts more than 2,000 Management Consulting Firms worldwide spanning more than 100+ Countries allowing to sort for firm by name directly or to search by region. If you would like to run a custom search via capability and industry experience for your business we are able to provide directly by e-mailing us at info@consultingquest.com.
For advanced research, we use our proprietary Consulting Navigator, an internal function of the website, which includes case studies and performance reviews allowing us to evaluate each firm’s specific experience and potential fit for future projects. We use our Navigator every day to help our clients source the most qualified consultants in an efficient manner.
If you would like to be listed in the Directory or need to update your firm’s information, please e-mail us at directory@consultingquest.net.
Consulting Quest is a global, performance-driven consulting platform founded in 2014 by former members of Top 10 Consulting Firms with the objective of Reinventing Consultancy Performance. With a worldwide presence and a range of proprietary performance measurement tools, we help companies navigate the consulting maze. We work with Consulting Clients to increase their business performance through consulting and also with Consulting Providers to improve upon their performance and assist in new client acquisition.
Consulting Quest Recognized By the World Procurement Awards 2018
2017 Paris Digital Workshop-Summary
Where Should You Look for Your Next Consulting Candidate?
Where Should You Look for Your Next Consulting Job?
Consulting Clients
Consulting Clients Conference
Consulting Providers
Consulting Quest Communities
CQ News
Jobsulting
Search & Advisory
The Global Directory
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Contemporary Church History Quarterly
News, reviews, & commentary on contemporary religious history with a focus on Germany & Europe in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
Browse: Home » A World Without Jews
Review of Alon Confino, A World Without Jews: The Nazi Imagination from Persecution to Genocide
June 1, 2015 · by Christopher J. Probst · in Reviews, Volume 21 Number 2 (June 2015)
Contemporary Church History Quarterly Volume 21, Number 2 (June 2015) Review of Alon Confino, A World Without Jews: The Nazi Imagination from Persecution to Genocide (New Haven, London: Yale University Press, 2014), 284pp. ISBN: 978-0-300-18854-7. By Christopher Probst, Washington University in…
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If you would like to subscribe to Contemporary Church History Quarterly and receive e-mail notification when each new issue is published, just send an e-mail to kjantzen[at]ambrose.edu with the word SUBSCRIBE in the subject line. Please be sure to include your full name.
Contemporary Church History Quarterly (ISSN: 2291-0786) is a free, open-access journal.
Volume 25, Number 3 (September 2019)
Letter from the Editors (September 2019)
“Understanding Twenty-first Century Christian Nationalism and Its Antecedents: A Scholarly Conversation”
Review of Paul Hanebrink, A Specter Haunting Europe: The Myth of Judeo-Bolshevism
Review of Karl-Joseph Hummel and Michael Kißener, eds., Catholics and Third Reich: Controversies and Debates
Review of Anita Rasi May, Patriot Priests: French Catholic Clergy and National Identity in World War I
Review of James Enns. Saving Germany: North American Protestants and Christian Mission to West Germany, 1945-1974
“Victoria Barnett’s Retirement from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum”
Article Note: Jouni Tilli, “’Deus Vult!’ The Idea of Crusading in Finnish Clerical War Rhetoric, 1941-1944”
Article Note: Julio de la Cueva, “Violent Culture Wars: Religion and Revolution in Mexico, Russia and Spain in the Interwar Period”
Copyright © 2020 Contemporary Church History Quarterly
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GNN News online - Tv živě
Země: Indie
GNN News 5 z 5
Stars, starlets and wannabes; sports and sportspersons (of all genders); netas, babus, activists and yoga gurus; movie & restaurant reviews, latest trailers and trending music videos and just about everything else is Fun on in.com. GNN or Global News Network is a dedicated news and public affairs cable channel based in the Philippines. It broadcasts through Sky Cable, Destiny Cable and Cable Link nationwide and broadcast also in some parts of Asia through Global Satellite TV (GSAT), and online via Ustream.tv. Among the covered countries in Asia are: Japan, North Korea, South Korea, China, Mongolia, Taiwan, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Indonesia. Its studios are located at 6th floor, First Global Building #122 Gamboa St. cor. Salcedo St., Legaspi Village, Makati City.
9XM TV
Indie - Hudba
Bollywood Music at its best, that’s what 9XM is all about. We play it all, without any specific genre, 9XM is known for pure music pleasure. We play
Indie - Zprávy
Know the New Economy through Moneycontrol, India’s No.1 financial portal. Tune in for exclusive and breaking news, in-depth analysis, high-quality
Angel TV
Indie - Obecné
A free HDTV channel proclaiming the soon coming of Jesus Christ. The most popular Indian Christian Prophetic and Entertainment TV channel worldwide.
CNN IBN
Read CNN News18 breaking news, latest news from India & World including current news headlines on politics, cricket, business, entertainment and
Doordarshan News, usually referred to by its abbreviation as DD News, is India's only 24-hour terrestrial TV news channel. The Prasar Bharati
AAJ TAK is a 24-hour Hindi news television channel owned by TV Today Network. AAJ TAK loosely translates as "Till Today" or "Up to the
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North America Has Lost 3 Billion Flying creatures Since 1970: ‘This Is Stunning, Destroying News’
DailyLists Crew September 24, 2019, 2:49 pm
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Researchers peg the uncommon fall in numbers down to loss of territory and the across the board utilization of pesticide.
Another examination has uncovered that the US and Canada have lost near three billion winged creatures since 1970. Three billion feathered creatures speak to 29% of the considerable number of fowls in the two nations joined. The examination distributed in the diary Science asserted that over 53% of winged creatures in meadows have vanished throughout the most recent 48 years. Sparrows, songbirds, blackbirds, and finches have been the most influenced in that term. Between the US and Canada, the two nations have 760 winged animal species, as indicated by a report by NBC News. The premise of the examination was 48 years of information assembled by volunteers who participated in winged animal studies.
The examination said that the number of inhabitants in flying creatures has tumbled from 10 billion to somewhat more than 7 billion over the most recent 50 years. “We should accept it as amazing, decimating news,” said study senior creator Diminish Marra, chief of the Georgetown Condition Activity at Georgetown College. One of the main impetuses behind the environmental calamity could be loss of natural surroundings and across the board utilization of pesticides. “You just need to fly the nation over to see that we’ve definitely changed the essence of the earth. There’s a ton of natural surroundings that is simply gone,” said Marra. Winged creatures have lost their biological system because of man’s powerful need to clearing woods and fields to raise structures and streets. An additional issue for flying creatures is local felines going after them. More than 1 billion winged creatures are evaluated to executed by felines consistently in the US.
Baltimore Oriole taking off. Male bird in flight, Icterus galbula. Motion blur.
“We would all be able to talk through the tales about there being less and less feathered creatures, yet it’s not until you truly put the numbers on it that you can truly get a handle on the extent of these outcomes,” said Marra. “We’re presently observing basic species that have declined, things like red-winged blackbirds and grackles and meadowlarks — species that I grew up with, that were normal when I was a child. It’s a vacant inclination in your stomach that these equivalent feathered creatures that you grew up with simply aren’t there any longer.”
CLIFFE, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 07: Avocet come in to roost at the RSPB’s Cliffe Pools reserve at sunset on September 07, 2019 in Cliffe, England. In Autumn and Winter much of the UK’s coastline, mudflats and estuaries become the home to millions of migratory waterbirds as they arrive from their breeding grounds in the Arctic Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Scandinavia or Arctic Russia to take advantage of our milder climate. Many more pass through on migration, stopping to refuel on their way. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
Winged creatures are significant to keeping up the biological offset as they help with fertilization, discarding cadavers and holding bugs under tight restraints. One conceivable clarification for the quick fall in the number of inhabitants in winged animals could be the drop in the bug populace. Bugs are a significant type of avian prey. The examination likewise uncovered that there was an enormous drop in the number of inhabitants in bugs and creatures of land and water, which allude to a natural catastrophe. Mike Parr, leader of the American Winged creature Conservancy said the consequences of the biological calamity will get up to speed with humankind. “We’re making an inappropriate moves presently to support nature for the future, and this means nature is unwinding and that biological systems are exceptionally focused. Our age will endure it, and most likely the cutting edge will, however who knows where the tipping point is,” said Parr, who is likewise the co-creator of the examination.
As the term natural parity proposes, the issue can’t be fixed by simply reestablishing one issue, said Marra. “I consider it demise by a thousand cuts. In the event that we fix the natural surroundings issue, we would have a bounce back, however there are different communicating dangers out there that are currently driving these decays.”
Source:Twitter
Lucas DeGroote, an avian research facilitator for the Carnegie Exhibition hall of Regular History, is not really shocked by the discoveries of the examination. “We’ve been banding flying creatures here since 1961, and over that very nearly 60 years, we’re getting less winged animals in volume than we once did, and the species arrangement has additionally changed. So it’s extremely incredible to see an examination that puts a few numbers to that,” said DeGroote, as per a report by National Geographic. While alter the course is close to unimaginable, DeGroote says it’s as yet not very late to observing our environment and dealing with it. “There’s this idiom, The best time to plant a tree was 20 years back. The following best time to plant a tree is currently.”
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Crimean War Veterans in Western Australia
Veterans Index
Courts Martial
Turkish Contingent
Sources and Links
Lee, George
Home / Veterans Index / I – L / Lee, George
Note: Few personal details are available for George Lee owing to the commonality of the name.
Birth date and place c. 1817 Naas, Kildare, Ireland.
Baptism date and place
Civil Census Residences
England, Wales & Scotland
Occupations pre-WA Comb Maker.
Physical Description Height: 5 ft. 7 ins. Complexion: fair. Eyes: blue. Hair: brown.
Marriage date and place
Death date and place 18 Oct 1875 Liverpool District, Lancashire.
Burial date and place
Will and Probate
Regiment(s) 77th (The East Middlesex) Regiment.
Regiment No. and Rank #981 Private.
Attestation date and place 16 Mar 1837 Dublin, Dublin.
Service/Campaigns Mediterranean, Turkey & Crimea 3 years 6 months.
West Indies & North America 5 years 2 months.
Australia 1 year 4 months.
Musters
Promotions Private to Corporal 29 Jul 1854.
Corporal to Sergeant 16 Sep 1855.
Medals, Clasps and Badges Crimea War Medal clasps Alma, Inkermann, Sebastopol. Turkish Crime Medal.
Distinguished Conduct Medal (gratuity £10). Recommended by Commanding Officer 9 Jul 1855
for gallantry in the field in the face of the enemy.
Three Good Conduct Badges.
Long Service & Good Conduct Medal (£5 gratuity).
Casualty/Medical This man’s disability is merely decay of strength, natural to long service and age, and is not the result of intemperance.
Strength and activity much impaired from length of service.
No longer fit for the active duties of a soldier – William Lucas, Staff Surgeon, Melbourne. [Source: WO97 Discharge Sydney].
Regimental Courts Martial Deserted 6 Aug 1837. Rejoined 7 Dec 1837.
In confinement by Court Martial 21 Dec 1837 to 9 Jan 1838.
District Courts Martial None.
General Courts Martial None.
Discharge date and place 11 Oct 1859 Chatham.
Length of Service 22 years 53 days.
Chelsea Pension Reference WO97/1617/78.
Post Discharge Residence Dublin.
Post Discharge Pension District 2nd Dublin 1859. Edinburgh 1861. Western Australia 1862. Sydney 1863. 1st London 1864. Preston 1864.
2nd Glasgow 1867. 1st Liverpool 1873.
Pension Amount 1/5d. per diem. Increased to 1/9d. on 15 Aug 1871.
ARRIVAL AND LIFE IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Ship York.
Departure and Arrival 8 Oct 1862 Portland; 31 Dec 1862 Fremantle.
Status/Occupation Enrolled Pensioner Force.
Land Grant/Purchase None in Western Australia.
Misc. Newspaper Articles
Departure from WA Departed 1863/1864 for England.
George Lee’s Army documentation is unusual. He has two sets of WO97 Chelsea Pension discharge papers. While they undoubtedly refer to the same man, there are a number of discrepancies.
After service in the Crimean War, Lee’s regiment went to New South Wales. His first set of discharge papers were completed in Sydney in April 1858 at which time he was given a medical discharge and pension of 1/3d. per diem. His age at discharge was stated as 21 years 1 month, when from date of enlistment it should have been 41 years 1 month (clerical error?). His number of years’ service totalled 20 years 241 days and his promotions recorded.
It appears that Lee’s regiment had only been in New South Wales from 1857 to April 1858 when it was transferred to India where it landed during the closing scenes of the Indian Mutiny, remaining there until 1870. Lee’s intended place of residence on his Sydney discharge papers indicate he would reside in New South Wales. We can only assume he requested instead a return to England (perhaps on medical grounds), where he served a further year and five months at home.
Lee’s WO97 discharge to pension documents of September/October 1859 do not show a discharge on medical grounds, but by this time he qualified for a pension for service over 21 years. His Profile reflects, in the main, details from his final discharge documents (Chatham) unless otherwise stated.
Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM)
Long Service & Good Conduct Medal
Website Content and Maintenance by Diane Oldman
Website by Western Web Design
Crimean War Veterans WA
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Posted on January 11, 2015 November 29, 2015 by N.R.P
Explained : How Stealth Technology Works
‘Stealth’ is the buzzword when we are talking about any modern fighter, bomber, warship or submarine. The top militaries in the word are spending billions trying to develop or ‘acquire’ stealth technology. But as is the case with science, the word ‘stealth’ is misunderstood by the general public. It is viewed as a phenomenon which is like magic and makes things invisible and invincible. In this article, I will explain the physics and engineering principles behind stealth technology and will try my best to give you a clear understanding of how this complex technology works.
The legendary B-2 © Tyler Rogoway
PRINCIPLE OF RADAR
To understand stealth technology, we need to know about the basic working principle of a radar. A radar sends out electromagnetic waves, which reflect on an obstruction and return. This signal is processed in order to determine the exact position, size and direction of target. This spoils the element of surprise of the attacking party. This was observed during WW2 when British radars foiled surprise attacks by the Luftwaffe by detecting the arriving bomber fleets several minutes in advance and directing fighters to intercept them. The radar played a massive part in the cold war as well with each side developing new radars. Both sides worked on stealth technology, but it was the Americans who took it to the next level and made it operational.
RADAR CROSS-SECTION (RCS)
The concept of Radar Cross-Section (RCS) plays a big role here. RCS is a measure of how big an object appears on the radar screen. Larger the RCS of an object, the bigger it appears on a radar screen and vice versa. The B-2 and the F-22 have an RCS lesser then 0.0001 m2. This means that they are too small to appear on most of the radar screens which are currently in use. The image below provides a general idea of the RCS of common objects and high tech military aircraft.
Approx RCS values of modern fighter jets
PRINCIPLE OF STEALTH TECHNOLOGY
You see a butterfly flying a 10 meters from you, you have no trouble seeing it or tracking its movement using your eyes. Now if there is a fly at that distance, it would be impossible to visually detect it at that distance because the human eye cannot resolve such a small object over such a large distance. Now if the fly is 1 m away from you, you can detect it visually but you will still have trouble tracking it and getting a visual lock on it because it is so small. Killing it would be extremely difficult because of its tiny size. So we use our ears to detect the buzzing sound made by the fly to determine its approximate location and then visually cue in on it. But most of the times, the fly would have disappeared by the time we detect its exact location. This is how stealth technology works.
The butterfly at 10 m can be compared to a conventional aircraft which appears as a big dot on the radar screen and the fly at that distance can be compared to a stealth aircraft which doesn’t appear on the radar screen because it can’t resolve the stealth aircraft at that distance. At a distance of 1 m, the detection of the fly can be equated to detection of stealth aircraft by modern radars. But just like the fly, these radars will have a hard time tracking the stealth aircraft and locking onto it even if it manages to detect it. By the time multiple radars, IR sensors, Optical sensors are combined to get a lock on the target, the stealth aircraft would have completed its mission and would be on the way home. So from this we can learn that stealth technology doesn’t make an aircraft invisible to radar but it delays the detection of the aircraft until it is too late for the enemy. So the accurate term for stealth aircraft is ‘low-observable’ aircraft.
Stealth technology works on the principle of eliminating radar reflections. This can be done by either
Absorbing radio waves (RAM coatings)
Deflecting radio waves (Shaping of the surfaces)
The radio waves are electromagnetic waves of varying frequencies. The methods of deflection and absorption of EM waves complement each other in order to create a stealth aircraft/ship. It is important to note that these methods reduce the RCS of the object to such an extent that it fails to appear on most radar screens. They aren’t invisible, but extremely hard to detect and generally are detected at ranges of 10-20 km by ultra-modern radars compared to 150-300 km for non-stealth objects. This enables them to maintain the element of surprise which is extremely decisive in a conflict.
A typical Radar screen
ABSORBING RADIO WAVES
Radar Absorbent Material (RAM) coatings involve application of materials which can absorb electromagnetic waves on the object. USA has been the pioneer in this technology from the past 40 years. These are specially designed materials made from dielectrics, composites which absorb the radio waves which fall on them. Their contents are so highly classified that today we know that the US Air Force used iron ball paint on the SR-71 in the 1970s. Even though that RAM coating is 45 year old technology and not used today, we know only one constituent of it. The radio waves fall on the paint and they are absorbed through multiple diffusions. This absorption is caused by conversion of radar energy into heat which is dissipated off the surface of the aircraft. This is one of the unclassified ways of how these materials work.
SR-71 was one of the earliest operational stealth aircraft
To maximize the absorption of radio waves, the paint has a microscopic pyramidal structure in some cases. The pyramid shapes are cut at angles that maximize the number of bounces a wave makes within the structure. With each bounce, the radio wave loses energy to the foam material and thus exits with lower signal strength. Other foam absorbers are available in flat sheets, using an increasing gradient of carbon loadings in different layers.
Microscopic view of Pyramidal RAM coating
DEFLECTING RADIO WAVES
Angles surfaces of the F-117
Shaping involves designing the object in such a way that the Radio waves the radio waves, instead of being reflected back along the same path are deflected and scattered in different directions. This is achieved by using sharply angled flat surfaces or special curved surfaces which conduct the radio wave along its surface and thus does not give back a reflection.
The conventional aircraft reflects radio waves (above) and the stealth aircraft deflects it © abovetopsecret.com
Deflection of radio waves in F-117
The angled surface are highly prominent on aircraft like the F-117 and on stealth warships. These angled surfaces are combined with special curved surfaces on aircraft like B-2, F-22 etc. This helps to achieve a high degree of low observability. To obtain near perfect stealth, RAM coating + Deflecting design is necessary. This involves a higher degree of research and testing compared to conventional aircraft. That’s one of the reason that stealth aircraft are very expensive.
STEALTH SHIPS
The clean and angled surfaces of the Visby classs
The most widely spread misconception of stealth warships is that they are invisible to radar and are as stealthy as stealth aircraft. Stealth ships are in fact very much visible on radar. But the difference is that if a normal 5000 ton warship of 1000 m² RCS is detected at 100 km, a stealth design warship of 5000 tons and 200 m² RCS would be detected at the same distance, but will appear with a much smaller blip on the radar. This makes it similar to a small 1000 ton ship which confuses the enemy in the radar clutter which has hundreds of ships on screen. A 1000 ton ship of 100 m² RCS with stealth features can appear like a 250 ton merchant ship of 10 m² on radar and the enemy will not know the difference between these warships and smaller merchant ships. Naval stealth is mainly to appear smaller and blend in with other ships and boats.
The stealthy Zumwalt Class
A 10,000 ton destroyer of 2000 m² RCS would be a prime target for the enemy in a conflict if it is sailing among a fleet of warships which are significantly smaller. But if this 10,000 ton ship uses a stealth design like the Zumwalt, it can appear as big as the 5000 ton warships on the enemy radar and they won’t be able to pick out valuable targets. The Visby class corvettes of the Swedish navy are the world’s first operational stealth warships. This is a 640 ton ship but it would appear as small as a tiny 20 ton boat on the enemy radar. This allows it to hide among fishing boats and launch sneak and stealthy attacks.
In this age, every counter-tech has a counter-counter tech. Now stealth aircraft appear invisible only to a certain range of radar frequencies.
Modern systems using the L-Band radar are said to be capable of detecting stealth aircraft.
Stealth aircraft have to hide their infrared signature and not just their radar signature to prevent detection from the enemy.
Modern systems like Infrared Search & Track will be able to detect stealth aircraft from far off by detecting their IR signatures. So just by using radar absorbing paint, you can’t hide an aircraft from the sky.
Stealth aircraft are visible when they open their weapons bay doors to release their weapons.
Opening the weapons bay door increases RCS greatly
One of the biggest disadvantages is its extremely high manufacturing, operational and maintenance costs.
The Radar absorbent coating is extremely fragile and needs to be replaced after being exposed to combat or harsh weather.
If you enjoyed reading this article, do rate it below
Categories5th Gen, Air force, Navy Tags5th gen, Aircraft
18 Replies to “Explained : How Stealth Technology Works”
Danilo Amelotti says:
Reblogged this on "Danilo Amelotti" and commented:
Very informative NRP… I learnt a lot after reading this article
Sumant says:
Can you please add stealth tech used in SU T-50 ??
I heard it uses some Plasma stealth technology .
How efficient it is ?
Sure. Once I get more details I’ll add it.
Ganesh Babu says:
Yes. Your article, explaining ‘stealth’ technology is more informative.
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Ayush says:
nIce one!….specially the warship part….i always thought that how the stealth is useful for big and slow moving ships…now i know that its not about their low RCS but the comouflage that helps it…thanks!
Umed says:
Very informative except I would have refrained from using the F-117 as an example, as its ‘stealth’ technology hasn’t really worked from the outset. But for everything else, thanks!
S.K Amanullah says:
Excellent article to understand behind the magic ” Stealth “
Great article, thank you so much!
This is a very elementary article on stealth. I would like to cover in a little more detail the difficulties of achieving and manufacturing stealth aircraft.
A major barrier to achieving true stealth technology is machining the composite materials used in the construction of the outer panels of the aircraft. Composite panels are very difficult to machine without causing material delamination. Once this occurs the panel is ruined. The only practical way to machine such materials is with “routers” using diamond bits. However composite materials are extremely tough on diamond bits. At one point the US was destroying a diamond bit every four feet of cutting. The latest information I can find is that the US has extended bit life to 18 feet.
The US made a design decision to not construct the external extensions of the fuselage completely out of composite materials. Composites are mostly transparent to radar, but there must have been significant difficulties or expenses in engineering structural members, fuel and sensor lines etc. out of radar transparent materials.
If one looks at closeup images of the F-22 skin one can discern thousands of tiny triangles machined or molded into the structure of the composite. The US used such incredibly expensive techniques to obtain the F-22’s 0.0001 m^2 RCS.
Radar absorbent material (RAM) is an incredibly difficult field. Modern RAM uses in conjunction three different strategies to dampen reflection of radar. First is constructing the outer structure in pyramids as your illustration shows. The second strategy is the embedding of nano particles of carbon or iron
into the material which will absorb the energy of UHF and VHF EM. The third is to distribute those nano particles in matrices in the coating to conduct the energy away from the top surface of the RAM. That is significant technology that takes more than a decade to develop.
IR signature reduction is an art in itself. All modern stealth aircraft overlay their RAM with a coating of material designed to conduct heat efficiently away from “hot spots” to cooler areas of the structure. If the entire surface of an aircraft which is efficiently distributing heat from local hot spots is being cooled by the atmosphere the thermal signature is much less than if small areas of the structure disburses the same heat. Air flow dynamics and surface area physics.
And then there are those jet turbines. There are numerous ways to decrease the temperature of exhaust emissions. For example air bypass of the turbine to mix exhaust with cooler air is a common strategy. The A-10 has an incredible bypass rate of 7:1. The F-22 and the F-35 have a ratio of 0.33:1. What can one do about that? The first order of business is to move that heat away from the aircraft. Therefore the exhaust aperture is made of ceramics which do not heat up to a great degree. The second step is to distribute that heat widely. Thus you see the serrated construction of the exhaust nozzles on the F-22 and the F-35.
An interesting issue is the area of fuel additives to slow the rate or cooling in the exhaust of a jet turbine. The slower the release of IR from a planes exhaust the more disperse the signature. The Blackbird used a Cesium additive to the fuel for that purpose. That was the technology four decades ago. Purely speculative but I would not be surprised that US stealth aircraft do not add nano particles just for this purpose.
I hope this helped a tiny bit.
Thank you for your informative comment.
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Most important psych experiment never done? October 5, 2007 July 30, 2016
What’s the most important psychology experiment that’s Never been done…?
To mark 100 email issues of the Research Digest – the British Psychological Society’s free roundup of the world’s best new psychology research – and to inspire the next generation of researchers, I asked leading psychologists and bloggers to write about ‘The most important psychology experiment that’s Never been done.’
This feature is sponsored by the not-for-profit Centre for Applied Positive Psychology. CAPP Press, their publishing arm, is proud to announce the forthcoming publication of two titles in its “Strengthening the World” series. See www.cappeu.org.
I’d like to thank our contributors sincerely for taking their time to participate in this special feature and being prepared to put their ideas on the line.
We have 13 contributions in all, which have been published daily over the past fortnight.
1. Watching death, by Susan Blackmore
2. Reducing prejudice and discriminatory behaviour, by Pam Maras
3. Caring for psychotic patients with maximum kindness and minimum medication, by Richard Bentall
4. Personal psychology experiments, by Will Meek
5. Can psychology save the world? by Scott O Lilienfeld
6. Why is learning slow? by Richard L Gregory
7. Switching the parents around, by Judith Rich Harris
8. Expanding the frontiers of human cognition, by Chris Chatham
9. Testing foetal cognition, by Annette Karmiloff-Smith
10. Hiring private detectives to investigate paranoid delusions, by Vaughan Bell
11. Challenging the conclusions drawn from Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment, by Alex Haslam
12. The Truman Show experiment, by Jeremy Dean
13. Changing the focus of psychotherapy to what is good in your life, by Martin Seligman
What do you think is the most important psychology experiment that’s never been done? Have your say via comments.
Post written by Christian Jarrett (@psych_writer) for the BPS Research Digest.
Changing the focus of psychotherapy to what is good in your life
Animals – a reminder of our own mortality?
33 thoughts on “What’s the most important psychology experiment that’s Never been done…?”
I think the most important psychological experiment(s) yet to be performed have to do with the question of whether consciousness continues after death, etc.We hear of near-death and out-of-body experiments. Seems to me that we could create a massive experiment that would, say, allow us to guage if it is true…or just the mind tricking us. For example, what if we placed a “secret” number on top of the light over the operating table? No one could see it…unless they were floating up near the ceiling (and perhaps even the number might be a LED readout that changes ever few moments). Well, obviously, if someone sees the number after a near death experience, we’d start thinking a bit differently.Further, there is some thinking that the end of consciousness is somewhere beyond brain death. But for all we know, that consciousness goes on for eternity. We simply do not know…and I think there have to be psychological tests that we can perform about the nature of the soul, eternity, etc. Very simply, are we truly eternal beings…or is all of religion really a farce?
Blue Sun says:
I think that the most obvious experiment that has never been done is one to examine the question of what damage is or is not done to children and young teenagers who are exposed to relatively benign adult sexual content, in particular adult nudity or George Carlin’s “Seven Words You Can’t Say on Television.”We have always taken it as an article of faith that children, even most teenagers, must be protected from any exposure to the unclothed figure or to graphic language. Massive effort is put into censorship, ratings systems, even criminal laws to “protect” the delicate sensibilities of the young.Has anybody ever actually studied the effects of such exposure? I would be very interested to see the results of such a research project.
destined2doom says:
I think the most important psychological experiment that has not been done is the Quantification of Fear.The differences and nature of the fear that arises out of circumstances like imminent danger,other implicit prototypes of fear such as failure,guilt et al. or the fear of death.I’m not an authority on this subject.Please let me know if some kind of quantification of fear studies have been conducted earlier.
How about the question of where psychology would be if they cut all ties with government and corporations? If, instead of being used as a means to force conformism to the status quo, and, usually, the petite bourgeoisie lifestyle, psychologists would focus their attention toward actual social good? Or, how about, re-establishing the foundation of psychology–the bifurcation of the self, in order to be a more legitimate discipline, as opposed to being based on a fallacy?
I think a neat experiment that would probably be half case study half performance art would be for someone to try to make themselves have multiple personalities. Not through the horrific abuse that people say is the ‘usual’ cause, but a gradual process of trying to radically alter their own mental state.
Blackmore’s proposal stirs me most, of the dozen on offer – it selects a fundamental matter and suggests something to be donesurely there will be volunteers who will help psychologists set up means of observation and record – even if it currently involves rather apparently degrading b its of large machinery (I speak from having been in a body scanner – but not having had the pleasure of using brain imaging gadgets …)nobody asked me for an experiment – but anyway, here goes:I would like to see someone investigate the role that listening to input (call it music, whatever) involving triple time might offer for individuals lucky enough to receive such input – even in utero. This is against a background that in utero the predominant auditory experience will be in dual time (mum’s heart beat)and walking behaviour as it contributes to foetal proprioception and hearing. The dual time experience I hypothesise is limiting for later cognitive development. Triple time is, however, something for which a more advanced mental apparatus is required. Thus triple time input early on (and slow, withal) could be a most constructive “building block” for future cognitive sophistication. Something along the lines I suggest has been tried with studies which have tantalisingly fallen back on a likely-misleading label of the “Mozart effect”. I am sure it is nothing magical to do with that genius – more a matter of which bits of Mozart’s music was most successful in promoting such effects – I hypothesise they will have been slower items, and deploying triple time.If anyone may intend to pick this one up and run with it – G-d bless you – and I’d be most interested to know what happens!cheers!!Mallory Wober
Related to the consciousness and death question, why do some people still believe in God? My hypothesis would be that in early human societies, religious beliefs about god(s) and mythological external influences had some sort of survival advantage. Over time, I’m sure these religious ideas helped bind human societies together and were the foundation of modern politics. It’s difficult to work out how to test it scientifically though.
I think that there are many empty spaces in < HREF="http://amolife.com/inner-world/sweet-dreams-questions-and-answers.html" REL="nofollow">dreams psychology<>!
L K Tucker says:
There have been no papers or experiments on visual Subliminal Distraction. A survey of those with panic attacks and early episodes of brief psychotic disorder to determine how many of those victims have Subliminal Distraction exposure would be such an experiment.There are activities in which SD appears because of the nature of the activity, Qi Gong and Kundalini Yoga. The “special circumstances” for this exposure are deep mental investment to the point of slight dissociation while there is repeating detectable movement in peripheral vision. The psychotic episodes connected to these two exercises are known. No one has previously connected these activities with SD. Although there are individual cases that show SD exposure no one has written a paper on this.VisionAndPsychosis.Net is a five-year research project to define and explain Subliminal Distraction.
VAN(s) says:
I think that the most important experiment in psychology that has not to this date occured, is one in which velocity is multiplied by the autonomous nervous system in order to determine whether or not there is an extra dimension in which human consciousness is only skeptical about at this point in time. The ANS is the subconscious functioning of the body correct? The subconcious has been likened to the unexplainable phenomenon occuring in our everyday lives by the ever growing New Thought movement.
LK Tucker says:
Although visual Subliminal Distraction was discovered in the 1960’s when it caused mental breaks for office workers there have been no papers or studies since. Almost no one in mental health services is aware the problem exists. So little is thought of this phenomenon that a design student in Australia tells me it does not appear in text books. Students of design there are expected to “pick it up” from lectures. I began to research the problem when my wife had a psychotic break in the payroll office of the University of Alabama in 2002. This happen about thirty days after her workspace was redesigned eliminating Cubicle Level Protection. By searching for activities that cause mental breaks and evaluating them for SD exposure I have been able to track the phenomenon. Using the psychiatric outcomes of Qi Gong and Kundalini Yoga it is possible to see that intense short term exposure causes a temporary episode, ICU Psychosis. Low-level long-term significant exposure creates fixed psychotic-like mental states. Victims believe they can levitate, walk through solid objects, read your thought and control your actions through mental telepathy. Although the etiology is not understood by contributors, there are YouTube video of examples of this. The links are on my website with an explanation of how this belief system is installed. (George Dillman, Dim-mak Fraud- Pentecostal Bedlam, holy laughter.) I don’t have the training or access to carryout the necessary experiments. Surveys investigating SD exposure would show a connection for this phenomenon with depression and other disorders. This would dramatically change the outlook for mental illness. This phenomenon points to the fact that most mental illness is preventable but not treatable with any drug therapy. Positive results are an outcome of suggestibility and coincidence. My site is a collection of notes gathered over five years. It is a difficult read because if is not intuitively organized. Consider this question: Can you cite a case of a blind from birth person having panic attacks ICU Psychosis, or schizophrenia? The completely bind cannot have SD exposure. L K Tuckerhttp://VisionAndPsychosis.Net
amt says:
I am trying to find an “important psychology experiment that’s never been done” of my own.. I’m a junior in high school and am trying to decide what to do my senior thesis on. Psychology has been my favorite class so far so I would like to do something at least vaguely related to it. . At the moment I’m leaning towards a study on whether latent toxoplasmosis has an effect on male criminal behavior but I’m not sure if it will work out. I have concerns about how exactly I would go about collecting my data, if i will find a mentor in my area, etc, so I’m looking for other options. Our thesis has to be something that expands/adds to existing knowledge: it can’t be something previously done. It also can’t take over a year to complete. Does anyone have ideas about any viable research or experimental studies I could complete? I’m interested in things related to emotion and personality.. I was considering doing something related to aggression and video games but there have already been way too many studies on that. Any advice in general would be appreciated, such as the best way to go about the toxoplasmosis idea (i was thinking about administering blood tests to prisoners to determine whether the rate of it in the criminal population was significantly higher than that in the noncriminal population) or simply new ideas.
a true study of what is really going on during the Mushroom, lsd, Mescaline (and many others} experiences needs to be examined in a serious way to determine if these journeys of the self have a benificial potential for mankind as a catalist or bridge to an area of human conciousness that should not just be dismissed as undesirable. They may be the answer to many of our most serious human delemmas and have been too readaly dimissed
Ok lets be honest..an experiment on whether consciousness continues after death as suggested by someone here is one that would never and should never be taken seriously within psychological research…My interest is in the area of psychosis and anti-social behaviour. I believe that we as humans have created an unnatural environment for ourselves that does not bode well with our evolved animal brains. We have houses, cars, computers etc which all seem very intelligent and advanced, yet we still have teenagers stabbing, shooting, raping etc. which seems to set us back a long way in terms of “intelligence”. What I propose as an experiment is to take a group of teenagers who are beginning to display signs of antisocial behaviour to an area of complete wilderness to almost entirely fend for themselves(of course some regulation being needed). Im not talking about the intense, military style of places such as “Brat Camp” etc, it would instead be a gradual long term project. In a hippie-ish term “to reconnect with nature” or more specifically our natural selves, and gain some understanding of how we are the way we are and why we have evolved the way we have… However one could argue that it may be too late as anti-social behaviour may be genetically woven into society…..
ozideas says:
Noise experiments needed – Can very loud percussive music over time have long-term effects on abilities to think? – especially to make connections, to think of more than one thing at once, and to persist with cognitive curiosity over time. Can talks with background music of this type be comprehended and attended to as well as without background noise? We know the risks of damage to hearing – but do loud factory-pattern drum-beats have, over time,cognitive consequences too?These are important experiments that are needed to monitor what are now global mass cultural impositions that few can escape, not even babies or listeners to radio talks. There have been plenty of investigations into improving IQ – but less into how to prevent damage. The current world-wide rises in IQ are in technologically useful non-verbal abilities, such as pattern recognition and manipulation – but not in verbal areas of reasoning and judgement.
vcyule says:
Literacy should be made far easier.Urgently needed: experiments in innovations in the task of literacy. It is absurd that half the population under-functions because it cannot read adequately – because human engineering is not applied to the literacy task that they have been set.That is, experiments are needed in the print and format of books; aids to fast-track reading such as three levels of text difficulty on the same page; and experiments in removing unnecessary spelling difficulties for new readers, so that they can read an ‘easy spelling’ version on the same page as standard spelling. These experiments can be cheap, on-line, enable self-help by learners, and enhance the value of teachers. There is so much that cognitive psychologists know about the processes of learning and reading – and it is not applied to these areas of literacy. The costs of teaching English spelling as it is are ridiculous. Radical change is not needed, but elimination of unnecessary unpredictability, such as redundant letters in words. Every assumption needs to be challenged, as in every other area of scientific activity. The time for mere arguments is long past.URLs – http://home.vicnet.net.au/~ozideas – pages on literacy, spelling and writing systemshttp://www.ozreadandspell.com.au – cartoon video aid to prevent and reduce confusions, which demonstrates the advantages of reducing spelling unpredictability.
I have to agree with those that say that the most important psychology experiment not done, is a true unbias look at the “lifstyle” that the modern world presents and it affects on the indivdual and presently labeled mental illnesses.I am very troubled that psychology is constantly “finding” individuals “metally ill” because the do not conform to what they or those institutions that are established (government and social norms) believe “should be” the norm.Kids that are active but not to the extreme labeled as having ADD because parents don’t have time to handle raising them due to needing to work to “live”. People with depression consider “ill” simply because the “experts” believe that a “normal” person shouldn’t have problem with dealing with modern influences of society. Did you now research suggests highly intelligent and creative people are show to be more at risk of depression? Why? because the “reflect” too much on things. So now thinking too much is close to being considered a “mental illness risk”.We as humans have come to expect to exert our influence and control over all aspects of our life. We make devices to control the climate. Devices to control information and vehicles to lessen distances. We seem to think that we should be able to control humans as well. A person too active for your liking? Give them a drug to make them calm. Not happy with the situation give them a drug that prevents them from feeling. It goes on and on. There seems to be a terrible push towards modifying the person to fit the desires of whatever forces are currently at work but none that actually question whether those forces are causing real problems and whether the symptoms seen are actually normal and natural responses.To put it simple. As is the case with medications. The WHAT has become the focus. Not the WHY. Chemicals in the brain are known to be responsible for people feeling emotions or acting is certain manners. Today, medication is used to control those reactions by modifying what chemically is happening. It has become less and less important to researchers to search for the reasons why those reaction are happening in first place.
Mauro Mello says:
I would very much like to see the result of a well-conducted correlation study of personality profiles and DSM Axis II disorders.
As raw material for formulating the hypotheses to be tested, I would use Eve Delunas' clinical findings, reported in her 1992 book “Survival Games Personalities Play”.
Heretically, I would prefer using MBTI, rather than, say, NEO-PI, as a profiling tool, because it explicitly leaves out dimensions such as “neuroticism”, that could seriously correlate with the DSM Axis II classes.
My hypothesis is that there are common(innate?) factors that determine both personality and the kind of mental disorders one has propensity to develop. If confirmed, this would shed important light on the genetic versus environmental etiology models of mental disorders.
Chevalier says:
I'd like to think the biggest unanswered question is to figure out the true total potential of the human brain. Can we read each others' minds if we try hard enough? Can we 'read' the future? Can we possibly end sexism? Can we finally harness our full potentials?
And what would the experiment look like that could help us answer such a question?
Tee Azu says:
I am not sure if scientifically or psychologically, this research/experiment has been done and its findings. If not, I would like to establish the link if any on THE EFFECTS OF NAMES ON PERSONALITY. My personal experiences warrants this research.
The similarities in actions and behaviours of my 2yr old named after my granny(deceased) is astonishing. Same for between my nephew and my dad, and a few friends and family.
In some cases, the similarity is as close as to the sound of their voice, their walk and general mannerism wheher one is deceased or alive.
Is it gene related or is it the name?
Draxdon says:
Unseen staring phenomenon investigated via fMRI,fEITER technology.
Scyla
I love that idea about the consciousness after death study…and why shouldn't it be investigated and taken seriously by the scientific community, if it were to yield results. Nothing worse than a close minded scientist.
One problem with the methodology suggested though, is that an out of body experience can happen when you are alive,(I have personal experience of one when I had a one off epileptic fit so I know these things do happen – very strange). It wouldnt confirm life after death.
Psicologo Barcelona says:
Hello. My name is Jordi and I am a psychologist at Barcelona. First of all congratulations to this blog for its interesting content area, and secondly, mencioanar for me, as a psychologist I am, the experiment “incredible and amazing” I think that has been done is that of Milgram's Prison (http://www.barcelonapsicologo.net/stanford/explicacion_experimento.htm). It's amazing how people react in this experiment. People who are “normal” get aggressive and problematic. I think it's amazing because it shows how flexible is the human behavior and shows that people can come to perform genuine outrage if the circumstances are appropriate.
Anyway, I think many of the experiments that have been mentioned in this forum are worthy to be studied very carefully.
Coach Barcelona says:
Hi Jordi. I'm from Barcelona! Do not have enough blogs in Barcelona ???… jajajjaja … I read the article you say and I liked, but there is something not quite understand. People in the experiment already knew they were participating in an experiment. Why is pussy crazy? might think: “I know this is an experiment and in a few days away”. I think the reaction of the participants is exaggerated. I understand the reasons that explains the article, but I still think that the reaction of the participants is greatly exaggerated. Perhaps with other participants of the experiment would have had another result. They repeated the experiment?
There should be an investigation or an experiment to determine why a massive number of subliminal failed attempts to execute the vision startle reflex, in a compact time frame, causes a dissociative mental break, possibly an episode of coma, psychosomatic medical complaints, then a manic or psychotic episode.
This problem was discovered and solved forty years ago. In nine years investigation using news stories about psychotic episodes on the Internet I found only one doctor who said he had seen these episodes while in residency.
I have an 'uneducated guess' as to the cause in the “background” section of the “Letters” page at VisionAndPsychosis.Net.
The Air Force has agreed to investigate the phenomenon as the proximate cause of service member suicides. There are two suicide clusters in China and France, where the companies failed to protect against this exposure with peripheral vision blocking schemes. The cubicle was designed to do that in offices to stop the problem by 1968.
Hello Coach Barcelona. The experiment has been repeated ever. He is currently prohibited this type of experiments on people. Human behavior is unpredictable and depends on the circumstances. Think that these people overreacting? I recommend you read other experiments, such as Milgram (http://www.barcelonapsicologo.net/milgram/explicacion_milgram.htm). This experiment was repeated many times by changing the conditions. Read the results (http://www.barcelonapsicologo.net/milgram/condiciones_y_resultados.htm). You will be surprised!
Sigrun says:
1)Find out how many of psychologists' clients who have been harmed in therapy (for example because the therapist did not allow user participation) and what could be done to help harmed clients.
2)Study the relationship between staff and patients in locked wards in light of Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment.
Übersetzung says:
I don't have the training or access to carryout the necessary experiments.
Surveys investigating SD exposure would show a connection for this phenomenon with depression and other disorders.
Maritza Cortés says:
I think that Skinner's experiments were very important for Psychology and the knowing of human behaviour.
'Why the human brain is liable to religious faith?'
Although i have no real methodology to test this, it is an area that could be given more attention in the future as religion and the role of 'God' is such a huge influence in the world and I think psychology could have an important contribution. Dawkins has said that we may have evolved the type of brain that is inclined to partake in religion or believe in 'God'. At first thought the advantages of community strength, 'psychological crutch/support', refusal of current life to be 'insignificant' in the broader scope of things and of course cultural conditioning are possible reasons but i am sure there are more specific ones. Is it possible that parts of the brain for persons with a devout faith based up bringing would differ in certain aspects to those up bringing as atheistic? e.g Brain activations during tasks (type of tasks i cannot currently think of). Could devout religious people experience less/more depression or life satisfaction than non-religious/atheists? There may be some existing research that involves religion but as it is such a sensitive topic it appears to be ignored, understandably due to funding issues and benefits of findings etc.. interesting nonetheless.
Toxoplasma gondii (or similar) being the cornerstone of Christianity?
Lydie Griffiths says:
I think this has been done already several times in different ways. The young peope were in a farm and given responsibilities and chores related to animals, probably to motivate them, or they were trekking and camping in wild areas to give them a chance to discover a wild environment, versus a city environment, and to discover the 'real world' versus 'a world created by us human beings'.
I do, like you do, believe that the more we leave disconnected from nature the more uncomfortable we feel and we develop strange behaviours like animals in a zoo do.
to be able to study something we would need to be able to detect it…
Have you ever heard of a machine that can detect any activity in a body after?
If yes… please send me an email!
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Home/Tag:marijuana
Smoking & Stillbirth
By Will Humble| 2017-02-10T09:49:56+00:00 December 23rd, 2013|Prevention|
It’s been almost 50 years since the 1st Surgeon General’s report on the health dangers of smoking and we’re still fighting the battle. About 43 million Americans smoke despite decades of warnings. Science continues to uncover dangerous aspects of tobacco use. A new report highlights the threat to unborn children. The study published in Obstetrics [...]
Marijuana v. Cannabis
By Will Humble| 2017-02-10T09:50:11+00:00 August 30th, 2013|General|
Are Marijuana and Cannabis the same thing when it comes to Arizona Law? The short answer is no- and the distinction may be an important one for Qualified Patients. The Arizona Medical Marijuana Act provides registry identification card holders and dispensaries a number of legal protections for their medical use of Marijuana pursuant to the [...]
Petitions to Add Debilitating Conditions to the MM List
By Will Humble| 2017-02-10T09:50:18+00:00 July 23rd, 2013|General|
The AZ Medical Marijuana Act also requires us to periodically accept petitions to permanently add new medical conditions to the list of conditions that qualify folks for a card. In Jan 2012, we’ve received petitions to add PTSD 1; PTSD 2; Depression; Migraines; and Generalized Anxiety Disorder. In short- I didn’t approve the petitions because of the lack of published [...]
Dispensary Zoning Case
By Will Humble| 2012-12-13T17:11:26+00:00 December 13th, 2012|Preparedness|
Last week a Superior Court judge ordered Maricopa County to process the zoning paperwork that has been submitted by the applicant for the Sun City CHAA. The Maricopa County Attorney asked for a Stay of the decision while he appealed the case to the Court of Appeals. This morning, the Superior Court judge denied that request [...]
Dispensary Court Ruling
By Will Humble| 2012-12-04T16:24:20+00:00 December 4th, 2012|Preparedness|
A Superior Court judge ruled today in the dispensary case concerning the applicant in the Sun City CHAA. The judge ordered the county to begin processing the required zoning paperwork. This was the only application for this area, so the next step for the applicant is to submit to us a completed application including the zoning [...]
First Dispensary
By Will Humble| 2012-11-15T16:23:02+00:00 November 15th, 2012|Preparedness|
Our team just returned from a field inspection for a dispensary applicant in Glendale. There were no major deficiencies, and we awarded the dispensary an “approval to operate” late this afternoon. This is the first dispensary approval to operate we’ve issued in the State. By law, we’re not allowed to publicly disclose the address. The [...]
Medical Condition Petition Status
By azdhs-admin| 2012-07-06T11:11:56+00:00 July 6th, 2012|General|
The AZ Medical Marijuana Act requires us to periodically accept petitions to add new medical conditions to the list of conditions that qualify folks for an AZ Medical Marijuana Registration Card. In January, we accepted petitions from the public and had a public hearing in May. Folks submitted numerous articles as a part their petitions for PTSD 1; PTSD 2; Depression; Migraines; and Generalized [...]
M2 Contracts On Deck
By Will Humble| 2012-06-23T09:04:27+00:00 June 23rd, 2012|General|
We have a couple of new projects in the works to ensure that the dispensary system reflects a medical rather than a recreational system. We’re working with Arizona's pharmacy/poison control systems to put together a contract to provide technical assistance and educational materials to the future dispensary medical directors. We’re also putting together a contract [...]
Selection Tuesday
By Will Humble| 2017-02-10T09:51:08+00:00 June 21st, 2012|General|
Overall, we ended up receiving 486 medical marijuana dispensary applications among our 126 Community Health Analysis Areas (CHAAs). Twenty-seven of the CHAAs had no applicant at all- leaving 99 Community Health Analysis Areas with at least 1 applicant. Seventy-five of the 99 had more than 1 applicant. Assuming that each of these end up being complete, we’ll [...]
“It’s a Wrap”
By Will Humble| 2012-05-25T20:47:07+00:00 May 25th, 2012|General|
It’s been a busy week for our medical marijuana team. Our 2-week dispensary application period ended a couple of hours ago… as did the hearing regarding adding new debilitating medical conditions. We received 484 dispensary applications over the last 2 weeks. As you know, we have 126 Community Health Analysis Areas (CHAAs) and a maximum [...]
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26. Best and Worst Sci-Fi Technologies
Big Fat Geek Podcast
36. STAR WARS THE RISE OF SKYWALKER
All three of the geeks have now seen the conclusion of the Skywalker saga, and Dallas dials in from another time zone to chat with Chris and Nathan about the film. We’d love to get your thoughts as well, so feel free to email us at geeks@bigfatgeekpodcast.com, or hit us up on Twitter @bigfatgeekpod), Facebook, or Instagram (@bigfatgeekpodcast). May the Force be with you, casual nerds!
info_outline 35. Into The Wick-Verse
A bounty has been put out on our wayward Dallas, and while trying to collect, Chris and Nathan talk about their favorite professional assassin, John Wick. In the first of several episodes about the Keanu Reeves character who has changed how action movies are shot, the geeks talk about the original John Wick film.
info_outline 34. 2019 Comic-Con Trailers Reaction
The geeks took the summer off, but they're back! With Dallas grounded due to other commitments, Chris and Nathan hop in their T-16 Skyhoppers to navigate the Beggar's Canyon of Comic-Con trailers. They bullseye the womp rats of new movies and shows they're interested in and excited about.
info_outline 33. Avengers Endgame Reactions
The geeks gathered to give their thoughts and feelings about the blockbuster Avengers Endgame. Spoilers abound so don't ruin it for yourself before listening. Let us know what you thought about Endgame and your thoughts on the future of the MCU!
info_outline 32. Game of Thrones
Chris and Nathan got together to talk all things Game of Thrones after episode 3 of this final season
info_outline 31. We Play Clank!
Chris, Nathan, and Dallas sit down to play the deck-building board game Clank!, and record the whole thing. While recording, they catch up on what they've been up to geek-wise since they last recorded. Including some conversations about Punisher, Video Games, and what to expect from Captain Marvel. Clank! <https://www.renegadegamestudios.com/clank> BoardGameGeek review of Clank! <https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/201808/clank-deck-building-adventure>
info_outline 30. Current State of Our Geek Lives
BFGP episode 30 =============== Current State of Our Geek Lives -------------------------------- Given that it had been awhile between our previous two episodes, the geeks wanted to catch up with one another on what they'd been up to, casual nerdom-wise. Dallas: Star Trek mirror universe comic series - http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation_-_Mirror_Broken Destiny 2 <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destiny_2> Arrow <https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2193021/> The Flash <https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3107288/> Ready Player One...
info_outline 29. Creepy Movie Moments From Our Childhood
The Big Fat Geeks are back! The guys talk about their top 3 movies that creeped them out as kids. What were some movies that creeped you out?
info_outline 28. Aliens
Load up the M41A pulse rifles and prep the drop ship, because the geeks are doing an Ancient Geek Mythology deep dive on James Cameron's 1986 masterpiece—and Nathan's all-time favorite film—Aliens. Chris, Nathan, and Dallas are joined by friend of the show Luke to watch the 1990 Special Edition of Aliens. For Dallas, it was his first viewing of the film ever! So pop in the Blu-ray or start streaming from your preferred service, sync up on the opening 20th Century Fox logo, and listen to the geeks deliver their own commentary as the movie plays. START THE EPISODE AT 9:37 TO WATCH ALIENS...
info_outline 27. Intro to Table Top Role Playing Games
The big fat geeks are sharing how they got into the vast world of table top RPG's and how you could get started too. Let the geeks know what are some of your favorite RPGs or tabletop games. Feel free to ask them any questions you may have on entering the RPG realm!
The Geeks get together to talk about the best and worst of sci-fi tech. They are exploring the sci-fi universe and bringing you the best and worst out there. But we want to know what some of YOUR favorite and least favorite pieces of sci-fi tech are out there. Let us know on any of our social media outlets, and thanks for listening!
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CorinaWrites
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HIMYM: The Mother Revealed, Theories Disproved & Clues To Still Possible Connections!
This entry was posted on January 25, 2014, in By Me, Funny, HIMYM, HIMYM music, HIMYM quotes, How I Met Your Mother, How I Met Your Mother Halloween costumes, How I Met Your Mother music, Lists, Pictures, plus size TV, Quotes, TV and tagged Amber Theory, Barney, bump girl theory, Carly Theory, clues to the mother on how I met your mother, fan theories, funny, HIMYM, HIMYM color theory, HIMYM memes, HIMYM wiki, How I Met Your Mother, Lily, list of facts about mother, long read, Marshall, memes, Mosby Boys Detective Agency, Mosby kids, quotes, Reddit HIMYM, Robin, St. Patrick's Day theory, Stella, Ted Mosby, Tracy Theory, Victoria, who is Ted's wife, who is the mother. Bookmark the permalink. 238 Comments
Have you been wondering about the mother is on How I Met Your Mother? If so, you’re in exactly the right place (at the right time)!
ORIGINALLY POSTED 1/4/13
UPDATED THROUGH SEASON 9, EPISODE 22 “THE END OF THE AISLE”
The season 8 finale “Something New” episode of HIMYM revealed that actress Cristin Milioti plays The Mother! Ted hasn’t met her yet, but he’s getting close!
Season 9 has revealed a whole lot about The Mother so far, but there are some big mysteries that remain. The most obvious one is that she doesn’t have a name yet! There’s also some confusion about the timeline, which so far deviates from the traditional love story some fans were expecting.
What’s cool is that some of the fan theories are still very much in play! Her name could be Tracy, or Hannah. She isn’t the same actress as we’ve seen in some other scenarios, but her character could still be the bump girl or the missed date. Ted as a slightly unreliable narrator can explain (via memories that are decades old) inconsistencies in how he thought or imagined she looked back then.
With that in mind, here’s the mother lode index – click to jump ahead to any section:
Who She Isn’t
Before They Meet
Who She Isn’t – Extra Details
Basic Info – Extra Details
Before They Meet – Extra Details
The First Meeting – Extra Details
The First Date – Extra Details
Season 6 DVD Extras Info
The Early Days – Extra Details
The Future – Extra Details
Color Theory in HIMYM
The Tracy Theory – POSSIBLE
The Bump Girl Theory – DISPROVED
The “Milk” Theory – DISPROVED
The Carly Theory – DISPROVED
The Wedding Band Theory – CONFIRMED
The Marissa Heller Theory – POSSIBLE
The Sister Theory – DISPROVED
The Michelle Tanner Theory – DISPROVED
The Jennifer Birmingham Theory – DISPROVED
The Cast Connection Theory – DISPROVED
The Joss Whedon Theory – DISPROVED
The Lyndsy Fonseca Theory – DISPROVED
The Hannah Theory – POSSIBLE
The Slutty Pumpkin Theory – DISPROVED
The Dead People Theory – POSSIBLE
Here is everything that we currently know about The Mother. Just consider me an honorary member of The Mosby Boys Detective Agency!
CLUES ABOUT THE MOTHER & HOW TED MEETS HER
She’s not Robin (S6 DVD extra “What We Know About Your Mother”)
No really, I promise, she’s NOT ROBIN. Let it go guys :)
She’s not Victoria (S6 DVD extra “What We Know About Your Mother”)
She’s not Stella – but she almost was (S6 DVD extra “What We Know About Your Mother”)
She was never going to be Zoey (S6 DVD extra “What We Know About Your Mother”)
She’s not Naomi, The Slutty Pumpkin (S7E8 “The Slutty Pumpkin Returns”)
She’s not Carly, Barney’s half-sister (upcoming S8E14 “Ring Up!” to air on 1/21/13) (I know, this theory has gone strong for a long time but it is officially DISPROVED – more details below)
She’s not the coat check girl (aka coat check wench aka Jayma Mays) We already knew this per S1E5 “Okay Awesome” but she was brought back for S8E20 “The Time Travelers”. She’s still not the mother.
She’s not ANYONE that we have seen before on the show, including everyone’s relatives, all of Ted’s exes, and any random woman we may have spotted.
BUT – given the nature of this show – it is still possible (though not as probable) that she could still be an extra or bit character formerly portrayed by a different actress.
She is played by actress Cristin Milioti (S8E24 “Something New”)
She was born on September 9th, 1994. This is based on her 21st birthday occuring the same night as S1E1 “Pilot” air date of 9/19/05). As such she is 28 years old when she meets Ted in May of 2013. (S9E16 “How Your Mother Met Me”)
She has a yellow umbrella (S3E1 “Wait For It”) (S3E12 “No Tomorrow”) (S5E12 “Girls Versus Suits”) (S6 DVD extra “What We Know About Your Mother”) (plus many other episodes)
She was dating a man named Max, who was the love of her life, for at least 2 years. Unfortunately he died on her 21st birthday. (S9E16 “How Your Mother Met Me”)
She owns a replica of Pee Wee Herman’s bike from Pee Wee’s Great Adventure. It was a birthday gift from Max (S9E16 “How Your Mother Met Me”)
She owns a one man band suit, complete with cymbals. It was also a birthday gift from Max. (S9E16 “How Your Mother Met Me”)
She shared her apartment with her best friend until the fall of 2009 (S9E16 “How Your Mother Met Me”)
She lived with Cindy, who is a PhD candidate attending Columbia University (S5E12 “Girls Versus Suits”)
The Mother and Cindy were both in Economics 305 (S5E12 “Girls Versus Suits”)
The Mother is “getting a degree in economics”. This was true as of April 2013, 45 days before her and Ted meet for the first time. (S8E20 “The Time Travelers”)
She makes paintings of robots playing sports (S5E12 “Girls Versus Suits”)
She enjoys making breakfast foods sing show tunes: “Your mother’s rendition of ‘Memory’, as performed by an English muffin is, to this day, the most hauntingly beautiful thing I have ever heard.” (S5E12 “Girls Versus Suits”)
Cindy said her crushes are “always falling in love with” The Mother (S5E12 “Girls Versus Suits”)
She owns a little yellow bus – first mentioned when seen in Cindy’s apartment, but also shown in the background of many scenes with Future Ted’s kids (S5E12 “Girls Versus Suits”)
She plays bass guitar (S5E12 “Girls Versus Suits”) (S6 DVD extra “What We Know About Your Mother”)
She never leaves uneaten food on her plate (S6 DVD extra “What We Know About Your Mother”)
She befriends waitresses and often scores free desserts (S6 DVD extra “What We Know About Your Mother”)
She likes Pablo Neruda’s poems, particularly one entitled “Desnuda Eres.” (S5E12 “The Naked Man”)
Lilacs are her favorite flower (S6 DVD extra “What We Know About Your Mother”)
She owns and wears a pair of leather driving gloves (S9E1 “The Locket”)
She knows about Florian Van Otterloop, a buckle maker that Ted says “revolutionized the belt industry” (S9E1 “The Locket”)
She makes delicious cookies called Sumbitches, which include chocolate, peanut butter, and caramel (S9E1 “The Locket”)
She went to business school (S9E13 “Bass Player Wanted”)
She started a band called Super Freakonomics with some dorks from business school. She originally played bass and did lead vocals until the arrival of the evil Darren, who tried to take over her band. (S9E13 “Bass Player Wanted”) (S9E16 “How Your Mother Met Me”)
She knits (S9E13 “Bass Player Wanted”)
She went to orchestra camp (and Mitch The Naked Man was her instructor there, although he was presumably not naked at that point) (S9E16 “How Your Mother Met Me”)
She knows how to play the cello but hasn’t “since the popular girls locked me inside the case” (S9E16 “How Your Mother Met Me”)
She is the 1 out of 3 girls that The Naked Man move does not work on (S9E16 “How Your Mother Met Me”)
She has a calligraphy set (S9E16 “How Your Mother Met Me”)
She has a coin collection (S9E16 “How Your Mother Met Me”)
She has a chainmail corset from the Renaissance faire (S9E16 “How Your Mother Met Me”)
She pronounces “Renaissance” in the same douchey way that Ted does, but it doesn’t seem douchey coming from her (S9E16 “How Your Mother Met Me”)
She does the crossword (S9E16 “How Your Mother Met Me”)
She plays the eukele
She has a friend from college named Dong Nose, who at one point was hit in the nose with an actual dong, but that is not how she got the name Dong Nose (S9E19 “Vesuvius”)
In September of 2005, Ted meets Robin at the MacLaren’s on the West Side, and The Mother celebrates her 21st birthday at the MacLaren’s on the East Side. The Mother’s boyfriend and first love of her life, Max, passes away. He leaves her a ukelele as a birthday gift.
On approximately September 24th, 2007, (air date) The Mother (umbrella in hand) walks by MacLaren’s
She and Ted were both at the same club, Low Point, in New York on St. Patrick’s Day, 2008: “I found out years later that your mom was at that party. I just didn’t meet her.” (S3E12 “No Tomorrow”)
The Mother leaves with Mitch, aka The Naked Man, and forgets her umbrella at the club. She asks him over so she can donate her cello to his school. He tries TNM move on her but she is the 1 out 3 that it didn’t work on. Meanwhile, Ted makes out with a married lady, commits credit card fraud, and gets punched in the face.
She forgets her yellow umbrella at that club, and Ted takes it home the next day (S3E12 “No Tomorrow”)
Ted takes the umbrella out one day when it is raining (air date May 4th, 2009), and ends up running into Stella while holding it. Future Ted explains that this encounter was an essential step in the story of how he meets The Mother. We now understand that seeing Stella again led to Ted’s job at the university, which in turn led him to Cindy and The Mother. (S4E22 “Right Place, Right Time”)
The Mother and Cindy both saw Ted when he tried to teach the wrong class on his first day of work as a professor at Columbia University (S5E12 “Girls Versus Suits”)
Ted thought he was teaching Architecture 101, he was actually in Econ 305: “Kids, you remember the wrong classroom story. I thought it was Architecture 101, but it was Econ 305.” (S5E12 “Girls Versus Suits”)
The Mother laughed at Ted’s shellfish joke (S9E16 “How Your Mother Met Me”)
The Mother loaned Cindy the album “Who Will Cut Our Hair When We’re Gone” by The Unicorns. Ted had never met anyone else that had it. (S5E12 “Girls Versus Suits”)
The Mother gave Cindy the book At World’s End, by T. Coraghessan Boyle (S5E12 “Girls Versus Suits”)
Ted sees The Mother’s foot and ankle as she enters her bedroom. (S5E12 “Girls Versus Suits”)
Ted forgets the yellow umbrella at Cindy and The Mother’s apartment, thus inadvertently returning it to her (S5E12 “Girls Versus Suits”)
“A few years ago” (as of season 9, set in May 2013) The Mother started a band with “a couple of dorks from business school”. She originally sang lead vocals and played bass for the band, Super Freakonomics. (S9E13 “Bass Player Wanted”)
At an undetermined point between the band starting and the present, she invited Darren into the band to do backup vocals. By April of 2012 he has assumed control. He took over lead vocals and relegated her to bass player in her own band. (S9E13 “Bass Player Wanted”)
The Mother meets Louis when he helps her carry band equipment to Darren’s van. He asks if he can buy her a drink, and they head to the West Side MacLaren’s. Louis mentions that the last time he was there, he thought the place was called Puzzles. The Mother gets the brilliance of a bar named Puzzles! Louis and The Mother start dating. (S9E16 “How Your Mother Met Me”)
Once Ted and Robin are officially no longer a possibility (at least in his mind and her mind – Marshall seems to still be holding out hope), Ted is finally emotionally free and open to meeting someone new. This new phase is demonstrated by him walking outside and seeing a veritable sea of yellow umbrellas passing by MacLaren’s. This is presumably symbolic and didn’t actually happen – it is unlikely that a yellow umbrella convention happened to appear right when Ted walked outside. As such we cannot assume that The Mother was among the crowd. (S7E17 “No Pressure”)
The Mother meets Barney in the fall of 2012 (“six months earlier” than the wedding date) when he tries to hit on her in the drugstore. She shuts him down, expresses concern for his clearly damaged soul, and they have a heart to heart chat. She convinces Barney to go back to Robin, and to do so with a grand gesture that will take everything he has. Without this encounter, Barney and Robin may not have ever gotten back together. The Mother says she has a boyfriend, but then says “I think maybe I still haven’t met the right guy”. (S9E9 “Platonish”)
Ted runs into Cindy and her wife on the train. He mentions that Barney and Robin need a wedding band, and Cindy suggests The Mother’s band! This is how The Mother ends up at the wedding and therefore meets Ted (S8E13 “Band or DJ?”)
She is confirmed to be the bass player in Barney and Robin’s wedding band! (S8E13 “Band or DJ?”)
As of April 2013 – exactly 45 days before her and Ted meet – “she was dating some finance guy named Louis”. Based on the image of the Wall Street sign show when this fact is announced, Louis works on Wall St. Also Louis (at least as Ted imagined him) was played by Lou Ferrigno Jr. (S8E20 “The Time Travelers”)
As of April 2013 – exactly 45 days before her and Ted meet – her address was 7A on West 115th St.
We see her at the Long Island train station, buying a ticket to Farhampton, right before Barney and Robin’s wedding. (SE24 “Something New”)
She meets Lily while they are both on the train, heading to Farhampton on the Friday before Barney and Robin’s wedding. (S9E1 “The Locket”)
She shares her homemade Sumbitches cookies with Lily & they become friends (S9E1 “The Locket”)
On the Saturday before the wedding, The Mother sees that Darren has posted a “Bass Player Wanted” ad. She realizes he is trying to kick her out of her own band. (S9E13 “Bass Player Wanted”)
The Mother runs into Lily at the hotel bar, and they discusses their troubles. Lily advises The Mother to steal Darren’s van (Aldrin Justice in effect), and then confides in her about Marshall taking the judge job. (S9E13 “Bass Player Wanted”)
The Mother is in the process of returning the stolen van (which she plans to gas up and get washed) when she sees Marshall and baby Marvin on the road. She picks up the adorable hitchhikers and freaks out Marshall with her uncanny knowledge of his life.
After talking to Marshall, and realizing that she is (like him) too nice, she decides to address her fear of confrontation and take back control of the band. (S9E13 “Bass Player Wanted”)
Ted ends up punching out Darren, and The Mother buys him a double shot of 35 year Glenn McKenna as a thank you. Neither has seen or met the other yet. (S9E13 “Bass Player Wanted”)
Louis proposes to The Mother, and she talks to Max (in heaven) about the situation. She feel sthat she receives his blessing to move, but she says no to Louis. She is ready to move on but knows he is not the right one for her.
The Mother checks into the Farhampton Inn. She takes room 6, which was originally intended for Robin’s mother. Ted is in the room right next door. The Mother plays La Vie En Rose on the ukulele and Ted listens, intrigued, from the other side of the balcony.
Robin panics with less than 30 minutes to go before her wedding, and tries to pull a runaway bride move. She runs into The Mother (literally) and gets some last minute advice that changes her whole perspective. The Mother saves the wedding! (S9E22 “The End of the Aisle”)
Barney and Robin are set to be married on May 26, 2013
Ted and The Mother officially meet for the first time at the Farhampton Train Station, after Barney and Robin’s wedding (S8E1 “Farhampton”)
She carries a bass guitar, a yellow umbrella, and a purple purse (S8E1 “Farhampton”)
Her dress and shoes are also purple (S8E1 “Farhampton”)
She has her bass guitar, which she used a member of the wedding band (S8E1 “Farhampton”) (S8E13 “Band or DJ?”)
Ted gives her a lilac the first moment that they meet (S6 DVD extra “What We Know About Your Mother”)
The wedding colors are lilac and cream, which can explain both her purple attire/accessories and the flower that Ted gives her (S8E13 “Band or DJ?”)
Ted’s right hand is bandaged, perhaps from being in a fight (S8E1 “Farhampton”)
Ted got her number and called her “right away” afterwards (S5E2 “Double Date”)
The First Dates
Ted and The Mother’s first date occurred at 8 pm on the Wednesday after Robin and Barney got married (3 days later) (S9E21 “Gary Blauman”)
They originally planned on having dinner at a Scottish/Mexican fusion restaurant but decided against it when they realized there was live bagpipe/mariachi music playing. (S9E21 “Gary Blauman”)
Ted and The Mother walked around her neighborhood and Ted told her the tale of Gary Blauman. (S9E21 “Gary Blauman”)
They almost ran into The Mother’s ex, Louis, but hid behind a truck at the last minute (S9E21 “Gary Blauman”)
They share their first kiss at the end of the night. (S9E21 “Gary Blauman”)
She laughed at his first date shellfish joke (“Do you want to share the oysters? Good, because if you didn’t, that would be shellfish” (S5E2 “Double Date”) (Probably their second date as the first one didn’t seem to involve dinner)
She presumably did “the check dance”* (S5E2 “Double Date”) (S7E2 “The Naked Truth”) (Probably their second date as the first one didn’t seem to involve dinner)
Ted quits smoking within two weeks of their first date (S5E11 “Last Cigarette Ever”)
Robin is the last person that Ted says “I love you” to, so The Mother is the next person (S7E17 “No Pressure”)
Ted says “I love you” to The Mother when they go to see the movie The Wedding Bride III. She is holding the yellow umbrella in this scene. (S7E17 “No Pressure”)
She nicknames Ted “Lady Tedwina Slowsby” as a way to make him stop driving slow like a little girl. It works. (S9E1 “The Locket”)
She and Ted return to the Farhampton Inn in May of 2014, exactly a year after Ted sits alone and vows to bring her back (at this point, “her” is just him thinking of his soulmate, not The Mother specifically) (S9E2 “Coming Back”)
Ted is shown holding his infant daughter in 2015 (S7E20 “Trilogy Time”)
Ted and The Mother’s daughter is named Penny! (S9E15 “Unpause”)
“Trilogy Time” occurs once every 3 years, beginning in 2000. The first time (2000), Ted and Marshall watch the Star Wars trilogy instead of studying for their Economics final. (This is also interesting because of The Mother’s connection to Economics classes). In 2003, it seems to be the summer before Marshall begins law school. In 2006, Marshall is sad about Lily breaking off their engagement and going to a summer art internship in San Francisco. In 2009, Barney and Robin are carrying on their secret summer romance. The 2012 episode aired on April 9, 2012. It seems that Trilogy Time officially occurs in late spring/early summer each year. (S7E20 “Trilogy Time”)
Given this information, we can assume that Ted’s daughter Penny (appears to be approximately 1-3 months old) must have been born in early 2015. This matches with the original time frame that shows her as a teenager in 2030. (S7E20 “Trilogy Time”)
In May of 2013, Ted has a disasterous trip to the Farhampton lighthouse with a girl named Cassie. In a flash forward scene set “Not 2 Years Later”, we see Ted at the lighthouse with The Mother. Ted says to her, “Why couldn’t it have been you here with me two years ago”? (S9E8 “The Lighthouse”)
Ted proposes to The Mother at the top of the lighthouse! (S9E8 “The Lighthouse”)
Some fans are confused because this indicates that baby Penny was conceived and born prior to Ted and The Mother getting engaged/married. The Mother does not appear pregnant in the scene, so it would either have to be set when she was not at all pregnant, when she was in the early stages (first trimester perhaps), or after the baby is born. Since the baby is alive for Trilogy Time in spring/summer of 2015, it seems that she was already born as of the proposal scene. Trilogy Time 2015 must have occurred around the same time, either shortly before or after this scene. Ted is wearing a wedding ring in the Trilogy Time 2015 scene, so that furthers confuses the matter. But, the show’s writers have tweeted to confirm the timeline IS correct and is not an error. (S7E20 “Trilogy Time”) (S9E8 “The Lighthouse”)
Ted and The Mother let Lily and Marshall babysit Penny in December of 2015. They take Penny to meet Santa for the first time as a long awaited revenge for Ted doing the same with baby Marvin in December of 2012. (S8E9 “Lobster Crawl”)
Ted, The Mother, and Penny return to visit Farhampton in 2017. The Mother is very pregnant and goes into labor after 2 AM. We see her, Ted, and Penny getting in the car and preparing to deliver their second baby. (S9E15 “Unpause”)
Ted and The Mother’s son is named Luke! (S9E15 “Unpause”)
As of the night of Luke’s birth, Penny looks to be the wrong age. The timeline strongly indicates she is born in late 2014/early 2015, which would make her around two years old as of 2017. The actual baby that played Penny is the second child of writer Carter Bays and wife Denise Cox Bays. Little Georgina was born in (approximately) August of 2012. This scene was shot in November, making the tiny actress just about 1 year and 3 months (15 months) old as of filming. Even if the night of Luke’s birth was January 1st, 2017, that still gives us a baby that was born in late 2015. We know that Trilogy Time 2015 should occur in spring/summer, and that Penny meets Santa for the first time when is an infant in December of 2015. We also know that The Mother must have delivered Penny and lost the baby weight as of the lighthouse proposal scene set in May 2015. At first the age discrepancy seemed like a mistake or a change in the timeline. But upon realizing it is the writer’s own child, it makes sense that would sacrific a bit of age accuracy for such a special guest star cameo. (S7E20 “Trilogy Time”) (S9E15 “Unpause”)
https://twitter.com/Denise_Cox/status/425397266254286849
https://twitter.com/CarterBays/status/425461149149048832
At some point when the kids are growing up, she insists on the whole family taking a seven hour detour while en route to Disney World, so she can see a goat in South Carolina that blows smoke rings. (S9E1 “The Locket”)
Ted and The Mother are married as of the Wesleyan Reunion that they attend with Lily and Marshall in 2020 (S3E5 “How I Met Everyone Else”)
Ted reports being happily married and with two kids when he runs into Wendy the Waitress in 2021 (S6E20 “The Exploding Meatball Sub”)
Approximately 2022 she ends up as a writer; Ted says that her book will “end poverty in our time” (S9E18 “Rally”)
At different points in the series, there were plans for existing characters (Victoria and Stella) to be The Mother in case the show was cancelled:
1) The writers, knowing that they only had as good a chance in their first season as any other new sitcom, wanted to make sure if they got cancelled after their initial 13 episodes that they still gave the fans a satisfying ending. You’ll notice that episode 13 of season 1 is “Drumroll, Please”: Ted (Josh Radnor) meets a wonderful girl named Victoria (Ashley Williams) at his friend’s wedding, but they part ways without exchanging information.
Robin (Cobie Smulders), who’s just realized she has feelings for Ted, tracks down Victoria because she wants Ted to be happy. Had the show gotten cancelled, the writers could have easily ended the series there, with a quick voiceover from Future Ted (Bob Saget) saying, “And that, kids, is how I met your mother.”
2) HIMYM hit another snag at the end of season 2; the finale, “Something Blue,” aired before the writers knew if the show had actually been renewed. In this case, we wouldn’t have had a specific woman to pinpoint as The Mother, but you can’t deny that it would’ve made a great series finale: Marshall (Jason Segel) and Lily (Alyson Hannigan) finally got married; Ted and Robin took their relationship as far as they could and parted as friends; and Barney ends on “Legen…”
3) The show’s fourth-season renewal didn’t come until late in season 3, long before Stella (Sarah Chalke) could leave Ted at the altar. Before then, the first episode “Ten Sessions” could’ve been an ideal finale: We would’ve watched Ted’s ten-week attempt to win over his dermatologist Stella, their two-minute date — which is still ranked as one of the series’ best moments — and the ending, where she says she’ll call him if she has time. Again, all it would’ve taken was a last-minute addendum from Future Ted.
–Did You Know That How I Met Your Mother Has Had Three “Contingency Mothers”? 9/19/11
–Who have the “contingency mothers” been? FAQ on IMDB
Victoria returned later in the show, but she’s still officially ruled out:
TV Guide: Ted’s driving off with Victoria, but we know that she’s not the mother.
Thomas: That’s why it’s really fun with storytelling time! [Laughs] But it felt very relatable to us. I think everybody in their love life has had someone they felt they screwed it up with or that person could’ve been the one or if circumstances had been different, maybe that was the one. That’s how Ted feels about Victoria. He screwed that up in Season 1… Ted doesn’t know this in 2012 — he still thinks Victoria could be the mother of his children — but we, the audience, and astute HIMYM fans know more than him thanks to Bob Saget. We love Victoria representing the door that’s still open a crack in Ted’s mind. He has to see what’s behind that door and eventually close it to be able to meet the mother. As we head toward the end of the series, it’s one of the last things Ted has to do.
-How I Met Your Mother Boss on Barney’s Bride: “It Had to Be Her” 5/15/12
She was indeed “almost Stella” – look at this clever set design element that could have tied current Stella to Future Ted and the Mosby family:
We can rule out Naomi, aka The Slutty Pumpkin, played by Katie Holmes. Naomi and Ted were super awkward together when they finally reunited, and they both agreed it wasn’t a love match. (S7E8 “The Slutty Pumpkin Returns”)
The Carly Theory is DEAD, guys. In S8E14 “Ring Up!” we have Ashley Benson playing Carly. Ted clearly meets her before the day of the wedding, and that is enough right there to prove it’s not the winning theory.
Cindy is currently “writing a dissertation titled Foreign Direct Investment and Inter-generational Linkages in Consumption Behavior.” This sounds pretty Economics-y to me, but I can’t say for sure :) (S5E12 “Girls Versus Suits”)
Ted is trying to teach an introductory course, Architecture 101. Therefore 101 equals the first, introductory course in a given subject.
The course numbering system likely means that 100-level courses are for undergraduates, 200-level classes are for those majoring/minoring in the subject OR are only for graduate students, and 300-level classes are for PhD candidates/graduate students only. Alternately, 100-level courses may be for freshmen, 200-level courses may be for sophomores, 300-level for juniors, and 400-level for seniors. I believe the former makes more sense.
Thus, The Mother is likely either a PhD candidate working on her own dissertation, or a graduate/upper level student taking a required Economics course for a different degree. She could be a junior taking an undergraduate class but that doesn’t seem to make as much sense.
Some fans assume The Mother must be in the 17-22 age range, because she is a college student. Given the type of class and caliber of classmates (Cindy), I think that The Mother must be in her mid to late twenties when that show aired in 2010.
The Mother is probably close to Cindy’s age. We don’t know Cindy’s exact age but we do know Rachel Bilson, the actress, was 28 years old when the episode aired in January of 2010 (IMDB). This age makes sense for Cindy, given that a PhD candidate should already have a high school diploma, a four-year college degree, and some years of post-graduate work completed.
In “Shelter Island”, we see a flash forward of how the future may have looked if Ted and Stella had gotten married. Both children are blonde in this image, indicating that a blonde mother plus brunette Ted equals blonde kids. Since we know that the children actually have dark hair, it is very likely that The Mother has dark hair as well. This is further demonstrated in the pictures seen in the background behind the children, which feature what looks like Ted, two children, and a dark-haired woman. This picture is also present in the image with the imaginary Stella-kids, though, so it may be a childhood picture of Ted, his sister, and their parents. (S4E5 “Shelter Island”)
The show’s creators have confirmed that Ted and The Mother officially meet at the Farhampton train station:
She was still obscured by her yellow umbrella, of course, but the couple’s future together officially kicks off on a train station platform — the episode’s namesake, Farhampton. And while you ponder the likely fake-out of her hopping on a different train, showrunners Carter Bays and Craig Thomas insist that’s not the case.
“There won’t be a swerve,” Thomas told The Hollywood Reporter and other press at a screening. “That’s the moment. We can very honestly say it. He’s moments away from meeting her.”
– ‘How I Met Your Mother’ Showrunners Promise No More Fake-Outs After Season 8 Premier 9/24/12
This scene is presented to us as the immediate moment before Ted actually meets the mother. Here’s the question we need to focus on now – are we thinking of when Ted officially or unofficially meets the mother?
Here’s what is awesome about the end of S8E13 “Band or DJ?”…
I absolutely LOVE this scene because it proves something I’ve suspected for quite a while – Ted does meet The Mother at the Farhampton station, but he sees her at least once before (shown above). If he’s seen her once before he meets here, that opens up waaaay more possibilities for tie-ins to prior characters and encounters. The writers nicely tied up the issue, for example, of him already meeting the St. Patrick’s Day party girl. She could still be The Mother now, because he saw/ran into her but did not technically meet her. Similarly, he saw the bass player at the reception, but did not technically meet her until the train station scene. So much more fun this way!
Ted uses “the check dance” as a measure of compatibility on first dates. He plans to pay for dinner, but he appreciates when the woman reaches for the check as though she will pay. This demonstrates general good manners and consideration, and it also gives Ted the chance to feel like a big man when he goes ahead and takes care of it. This is noted as an important diagnostic tool for him in two episodes: “The Double Date” (S5E2) and “The Naked Truth” (S7E2).
*Season 6 DVD Extra: “What We Know About Your Mother”
Future Ted recaps clues that we already know:
She’s not Robin
She was almost Stella
She was Cindy’s roommate
She plays bass
She has a yellow umbrella
She was in what Ted thought was his architecture class
She paints robots doing sports
She makes breakfast foods sing show tunes
She was never going to be Zoey
Ted met her on the day of a wedding
And some brand new information:
She never leaves uneaten food on her plate: “She never would’ve left that much of her sandwich uneaten. No joke, I’ve seen that woman get a half a pad of butter wrapped up to go…”
She befriends waitresses and often scores free desserts: “Oh, and your mother definitely would’ve befriended the waitress, which inevitably would have led to a free desert…Mom’s ability to get free pie; supernatural”
Lilacs are her favorite flower, and they are also the first flower that Ted ever gives her: “Oh, and I wouldn’t have had much luck with an orchid. I’d have given her lilacs; her favorite…which just just happened to be the first flower I ever gave her…the very moment we met…”
POSSIBILITIES & THEORIES
I’ve been giving this quite a bit of thought (as it is clearly VERY IMPORTANT lol) and I have some newish conclusions. Most of them are fueled by the fact that EVERYONE IS WEARING PURPLE ALL SEASON LONG. Seriously, idk if the Gap had a sale on all things eggplant and lilac or what, but these guys are rocking more purple than Barney. Yes, THAT Barney:
We all know that yellow is the main color for this show – the yellow umbrella, little yellow school bus, Robin’s yellow raincoat, all of the pivotal moments that occur in yellow cabs, etc. There are two schools of thought regarding purple. One theory is that, since purple is the complementary/opposite color for yellow, it indicates a lack of romance. By this theory, anyone with yellow symbolism is a viable candidate to be someone’s happily ever after, and anyone wearing purple is disqualified.
But that doesn’t really mesh with how this season in particular has progressed, so I think I’m going with the alternate theory. This theory holds that Ted’s happily ever after color is yellow, whereas Barney’s happily ever after color is purple. This just means that purple people – like Robin with the purple giraffe – are not suited for Ted. But – since Barney is a foil character for Ted – this means that Robin and all her purple giraffe glory could be Barney’s true soul mate. Quinn is in purple because she is a contender, and everyone else is in purple because it signifies Barney’s upcoming nuptials.
UPDATE – I’ve been reading some other blogs, and they pointed out a couple additional facts. We could assume that Ted is purple, and looking for his yellow, whereas Barney is yellow, and looking for his purple. Or we could assume that both are purples, looking for their yellows. When we see both members of a couple in the same color – Robin and Kevin both wearing purple, for example, or Barney and Nora both wearing yellow, or Barney and Quinn both wearing purple – that means that they’re NOT meant to be together. Ex:
It has also been noted that Robin seems to only wear yellow when she’s involved with Barney. I’m not sure if this is accurate but I’ve documented all of the Robin in yellow episodes I’ve found so far:
Season 4, episode 24 “The Leap”, where Barney and Robin finally kiss and get together for reals.
Season 6, episode 9 “Glitter” – Barney is the one that tracked down the glorious Space Teens video starring Robin Sparkles and Jessica Glitter…
Season 7, episode 8 “The Slutty Pumpkin Returns” – this is the one where we find out that Barney is (gasp!) part Canadian…like Robin…
Season 7, episode 9 “Disaster Averted”, where Barney and Robin reminisce about what might have been had they hooked up in the (yellow) cab.
Season 7, episode 15 “The Drunk Train”. This one is a Robin with Kevin episode, which ends with them breaking up. Maybe stripes indicate ambivalence? If so that could apply to the earlier image of Robin and Ted in purple/blue stripes and plaids. I will have to investigate further…
UPDATE: As of the season 9, episode 4, the gang is still doing the purple wardrobe thing every week. There have also been some interesting new color theories to arise. For example, some theorize that the show is going through the entire progression of the colors of the rainbow. This doesn’t make as much sense to me, because why would they skip over the other colors so much and emphasize this hue for three plus seasons? In terms of the order of colors in the rainbow, the acronym ROY G. BIV does remind us that violet is at the very end.
That being said, The Mother is shown to be wearing purple when we finally see her at the Long Island train station, AND when Ted meets her at the Farhampton train station. Both times she is carrying the yellow umbrella, which might balance out her purple? This would work better if Ted was somehow wearing tons of yellow with a purple accent, but I don’t see that happening. :)
Basically, we can see the plethora of purple as all indicative of Barney and Robin getting married, or as Ted finally meeting The Mother. Barney and Robin’s relationship is essential to Ted meeting The Mother, though, so it can of course be indicative of both.
It might make more sense to focus on traditional color theory, and the well known meanings and symbolism associated with purple. Here are some interesting traditional associations to consider:
Purple indicates royalty. I doubt that The Mother happens to be an actual princess or queen, but we could widen the parameters a bit. If we look at purple as indicating wealth and/or power, it is the appropriate color for a member of the extremely rich Van Smoot family. That option could lend credence to the Hannah Theory (see below).
Purple can also indicate uniqueness – or artifice. It is the color that appears most rarely in nature, and it is said to be the first hue that was artificially created. We can certainly gleen from this that The Mother is unique, but the “fake” implications don’t fit what we know of her.
Purple can mean uncertainity. This can be said of any color that is comprised of two primary colors. We can see it as a mix between the symbolism of blue (loyalty, nature, truth, sincerity, and faith) and red (passion, love, strength, and excitement). These would suit what we know of The Mother.
Purple in American pop culture is associated with the band Deep Purple (of “Smoke on the Water” fame), “Purple Rain” (the song, album, and movie) by Prince, and “Purple Haze” by Jimi Hendrix. I have no idea if any of this relates to The Mother but I always like to consider the pop culture connections.
One of my favorite ideas for the symbolism of purple in How I Met Your Mother actually comes from the world of science. Violet is one of the colors on the visible spectrum. It can be seen in rainbows and it was identified by Isaac Newton. Purple, however, is totally different. It is a non-spectral color. Here’s the part that I love the most, as quoted from Wikipedia:”It exists in culture and art, but not, in the same way that violet does, in optics.” This totally reminds me of how The Mother has existed in this show since day one, but she has not been a visible element until very recently.
Here are thumbnails with examples of purple throughout season 7. I’m compiling additional examples from seasons 8 and 9 to post here as well.
The Amber/Stripper/Tracy Theory
Way back in the early days of HIMYM, an intriguing fan theory came about. To understand it best, we should revisit the specific scene, which is set at a familiar location – The Lusty Leopard Strip Club.
Stripper: I’m Amber
Ted: I’m Ted
Stripper: Actually, it’s Tracy
Ted: Still Ted
– cut to Future Ted speaking to the Mosby kids –
Future Ted: And that, kids, is the true story of how I met your mother
Kids: WHAT?!?!
Future Ted: (laughs) Just kidding
-S1E9 “Belly Full of Turkey”
Some fans felt that the shocked reactions meant the kids believed Future Ted’s story. And instead of saying, “wait, but mom’s name is _____”, the kids just gasped in astonishment. These fans believe that the kids accepted the statement so readily because Ted used The Mother’s actual name – Tracy. Other fans agree with this reasoning but think it indicates that The Mother’s name is Amber. This idea also holds credence to some because amber is a shade of yellow, the main symbolic hue of the show and The Mother.
As of the season 8 finale, we do not know The Mother’s name. As such, it could still be Tracy. Or Amber.
IF IT’S TRUE: The mother’s name is Tracy. Or Amber.
WHY IT MIGHT NOT BE: The shock expressed by the kids could also be simple confusion because none of the information – names or occupation – match what they know about their mother. Alternately, the name may be irrelevant, because strippers (particularly those at The Lusty Leopard) often have stage names. So the kids may have just assumed that Amber and/or Tracy were the mother’s stripper names, and thus not her real name. Finally, we have to remember that Ted is not a reliable narrator.
The Bump Girl/St. Patrick’s Day/”No Tomorrow” Girl Theory: DISPROVED
In the aforementioned “No Tomorrow” (S3E12), there is an interesting scene set inside the bar. Ted bumps into an attractive dark-haired girl, and they both part ways after a brief moment of acknowledgement. Ted says “oh, I’m sorry”, and she responds “it’s okay”. Many fans suspect that this woman is The Mother. We do know that both Ted and The Mother were at same bar at the same time, but Ted notes that he did not meet her that night. “I found out years later that your mom was at that party. I just didn’t meet her.” (S3E12 “No Tomorrow”) Since bumping into someone doesn’t technically constitute a real meeting, this character may in fact be The Mother.
Let’s compare this actress to the woman holding the yellow umbrella – my thanks to Jack Cola for the pictures:
The actress – Nicole Muirbrook Wagner, played “Woman” on this episode per IMDB – may be called back to play the role, or she may just represent Ted’s hazy memory of her.
If the former is true, we may see a flashback that shows the same scene but with the “official” actress playing this character. This theory has big appeal, because there is no obvious reason to include the scene otherwise.
IF IT’S TRUE: We know that The Mother is slim, beautiful, and has long dark hair. That’s really all we can discern from these without knowing if this specific actress ends up playing The Mother. I guess we can assume that she has a penchant for clutch purses and print tank tops but that’s a stretch. I think she’s adorable and I would love to see her play The Mother! That being said, she looks a little bit too much like actress Lindsay Price, who played Cathy in S3E8 “Spoiler Alert”.
WHY IT MIGHT NOT BE: The scene seems relevant, but we have to remember that the writers may be throwing in red herrings to distract/deter us from discovering The Mother’s identity. These twists and turns are part of what we love about How I Met Your Mother!
UPDATE: We saw in the season 8 finale that The Mother is played by Cristin Milioti. That is obviously not the same actress as Nicole Wuirbrook Wagner, shown above. In S9E16 “How Your Mother Met Me” we see The Mother in a different part of the club as Ted is bumping into the bump girl. Therefore The Mother is NOT the bump girl as many previously tought!
The Matchmaker/Missed Date Girl Theory/”Milk” Theory: DISPROVED
I wrote about this theory extensively already (HIMYM: I’m 99% Sure These Are Pics Of “The Mother) so most of this content is pulled straight from there:
In “Matchmaker” (S1E7), Ted signs up for a matchmaking service. He is not matched up with anyone suitable. There is one match – a 9.6 out of 10 – but she (Sarah O’Brian) is already matched up. Undeterred, Ted sneaks into the office to print the info sheets for Sarah. He reads them and learns her occupation, guilty pleasure song, likes and dislikes, etc. He is able to locate her and meet her in person, but she is engaged to her match and not interested.
Ok, now let’s skip ahead to “Milk” (S1E21). Ted receives a phone call from the new owner of the matchmaking agency, informing him that his match has been found. Ted ponies up the $500 needed for her information, and receives her file in return. We see 10 photos (shown above) which indicate that the woman is Ted’s perfect match.
So I read the file, and by God this woman was perfect. She liked dogs, she spent her summers in North Carolina, she played bass guitar, she did the Times crossword, she played tennis, she liked old movies, her favorite food was lasagna, and her favorite book was Love in the Time of Cholera. Her favorite singer was Otis Redding and she wanted two kids, a boy and a girl.
Later, when speaking to Robin, Ted also mentions that “she’s 28, just like me” and “college-educated”. When Robin asks if the mystery woman is looking to get married, Ted says yes.
The photos are either in the file, or what Ted is imagining based on her profile information. If the photos are in the file, why are they shown with the faces blurred out? Is it perhaps because she is indeed The Mother, and the show creators are keeping her face a secret? If Ted is imagining the images based on the information given, why is he imagining them with the face blurred out? Is it because she was intangible at that point, and Ted simply couldn’t put a face to her profile? Or is it because Future Ted is reflecting on this past experience and purposely obscuring information so he doesn’t spoil the surprise for his kids?
The last picture, at least, has to be imagined, because it shows two young children that the woman presumably wished to have someday. The only issue with this is how the picture shows a little girl and her older brother, while the siblings on the show seem to be an older sister and her little brother. In real life, the actress who plays the daughter (Lyndsy Fonseca) is two years older than David Henrie, who plays the son. So I’m not sure, but I’m still intrigued.
It could also be an image of that woman’s childhood, with her beside her older brother. Who knows!
Notice anything else interesting about this pictures? Half of them show the woman wearing a silver ring on her right ring finger. I suspect it might be a little clue for the discerning fans and not just an oversight. Now look at these two photos of the children – one from the pilot episode, and one from season six:
A silver ring! Could be coincidence, sure, but I like the idea of it being the mother’s ring, gifted to her daughter. The daughter wears her ring on her left middle finger though – maybe it’s still too big for her ring finger? I don’t know!
A final thought…we never find out the name of Ted’s match. They schedule a blind date, and Ted is able to contact her to delay their meeting when Lily needs him ASAP. It seems likely that he would know her name, don’t you think? Especially since he paid for the full file and didn’t just print and steal a summary sheet. If he knew Sarah O’Brian’s name, I think he should have known the match’s name as well. So why do we never hear it?
Later, in “Rabbit or Duck” (S5E15), Ted asks Lily and Marshall to set him up. They consider women from his past, including Trudy (married), Blah Blah (committed – relationship? no, Bellevue), and Natalie (Ted is her least favorite person in the world). But they never think of the “Milk” maiden. Based on prior episodes, neither Natalie nor Blah Blah are viable options, but this woman is still a real possibility. And yet we never hear of her again…
IF IT’S TRUE: We know that The Mother likes dogs, spent summers in North Carolina, plays bass guitar, does the NY Times crossword, plays tennis, likes old movies, her favorite food is lasagna, her favorite book is Love in the Time of Cholera, her favorite singer is Otis Redding, and she ended up with two kids just like she wanted, a boy and a girl. We can also see that she has/had a golden retriever (I think that’s the dog breed shown above?), is right-handed, and rocks a silver ring on her right hand. We also know that she is the same age as Ted (28 as of this episode’s May 28th, 2006 air date), college educated, and looking to get married.
Actress Lisa Claire is credited as “Beautiful Woman #2” in S1E21 “Milk”. The first “Beautiful Woman” was the girl that Barney hits at the bar. Anyway this woman’s hair feels like it could match the pictures, but there are no guarantees:
WHY IT MIGHT NOT BE TRUE: There is a brief conversation that may rule out this possibility:
Future Ted: I didn’t know it, but I was about to hear the very first description of the woman I’d one day marry.
Cindy: She’s a whore.
-S5E12 “Girls Versus Suits”
If we get really technical, we can go with the idea that Ted read/saw the information from the matchmaker profile, and thus did not hear a description of The Mother until meeting Cindy. That’s a bit of a jump, so it could completely eliminate the Matchmaker Girl Theory, depending on how you look at it. There is also the continuing possibility of this being a red herring, planted by the writers to add even more mystery. BUT loose ends are generally resolved on this show, so I expect to see some reference to this particular character again.
UPDATE: We saw in the season 8 finale that The Mother is played by Cristin Milioti. That is obviously not the same actress as Lisa Claire, shown above. Beyond that, the body shape, height, and hair don’t seem to match how Cristin looks as The Mother at all.
In S9E16 “How Your Mother Met Me” we learn that The Mother is six years younger than Ted. The Milk girl is said to be the same age as Ted. Therefore, The Mother cannot be the milk girl.
The Carly Theory/The Barney’s Sister Theory: DISPROVED
People visit my blog for a variety of writing, but there’s one specific concept that draws in more readers than anything else: articles on the possibility of Barney’s sister, Carly Whittaker, being THE mother on How I Met Your Mother. It was fun while it lasted, but it’s been officially squashed. Check this info out:
BARNEY BEGS TED TO CONTINUE SEEING HIS YOUNGER, WILDER GIRLFRIEND, EVEN THOUGH TED HAS NOTHING IN COMMON WITH HER, ON “HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER,” MONDAY, JAN. 21
Ashley Benson (“Pretty Little Liars”) Guest Stars as Carly, Ted’s New Girlfriend
CHEAT TWEET: Barney begs Ted to continue dating a much younger girl @AshBenzo until he learns who she is! #HIMYM 1/21 @8PM ET/PT http://bit.ly/SmKGNn“Ring Up” — Barney begs Ted to continue seeing his much younger, much wilder girlfriend, even though Ted has nothing in common with her. Meanwhile, Robin must adjust to the power of the bling, on HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, Monday, Jan. 21 (8:00-8:30 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Ashley Benson (“Pretty Little Liars”) guest stars as Carly, Ted’s new girlfriend.
GUEST CAST:
Carly (Ashley Benson)
Those who want all the details can still review all the facts; just keep reading…
Since I’ve already written about this topic extensively, I will once again be pulling some content straight from my previous posts NEW Pic of the Mom – HIMYM – Does Ted Marry Barney’s Sister? I’m 99.99% Sure Yes and The Latest How I Met Your Mother Theories (HIMYM – Including Season 8).
Here’s what we know about Carly Whittaker, per “Legendaddy” (S6E19):
She’s the daughter of Jerome Whittaker and Cheryl Whittaker.
She’s the sister of Jerome Jr. (J.J.)
She’s the half-sister of Barney Stinson
We haven’t seen or met her character yet
When Barney visits his father’s home, he meets his younger half-brother, JJ, and hears about his younger half-sister, Carly
Jerome says that Carly is away at college and doesn’t live at home
Those are pretty much the only facts that we have so far. But, we can see if Carly Whittaker meets the requirements that are already established for the mother.
Carly could be going to school at Columbia University (the same school that Cindy goes to and Ted teaches at)
Carly could be Cindy’s roommate
The Whittaker’s home and Cindy/The Mother’s home are both decorated in a similar manner (animal figurines, pillows, pictures, etc.)
Cindy says that guys are always falling in love with The Mother. We know that women are always falling in love (or at least lust) with Barney. Perhaps him and baby sister share the same set of sex appeal genes?
As Barney’s sister, Carly will likely be at the Barney and Robin wedding
If she happens to be musical, Barney may have asked her to be a part of the wedding band
Ted meets The Mother on the day of the wedding
Future Ted refers to Barney and Robin as “Uncle Barney” and “Aunt Robin”
Ted’s bandaged hand in “Farhampton” may be due to a fight with Barney over his violation of The Bro Code (hooking up with Barney’s sister at the wedding?)
Note – Ted could hook up with Barney’s sister Carly at the wedding, fight with Barney, and then go on to meet the actual mother at the train station
If Ted married Barney’s sister, Barney and Robin would in fact be uncle and aunt to the kids. But Ted also refers to “Uncle Marshall” and “Aunt Lily”, and we know that they aren’t technically related to Ted. So this clue doesn’t hold much weight.
Ted hooking up with Barney’s sister is a clear violation of The Bro Code. BUT, Barney has already violated his own code of ethics twice where Ted is concerned – he made out with Ted’s mom, and he slept with Ted’s ex-girlfriend Robin. I’m not sure if marriage negates that violation or what, but Ted hooking up with Barney’s sister would certainly balance things out a bit.
This concept is particularly amusing because of the following exchange:
Ted: Check it out. I just got that girl’s number. See? Holly.
Barney: Nice! Girls with “ly” at the end of their names are dirty. Carly, Shirly, Lily.
Marshall: Hey!… all right, it’s true.
Barney: Don’t even get me started on girls whose name should end in “ly”, but instead end in I. Those girls are like roller-coasters. You’ve got to wait in a long line, but once you get up there, you just hold on for dear life and hope you don’t lose your keys.
-S4E21 “The Three Days Rule”
Lord help the men of New York if Barney’s sister spells her name Carli… :)
There’s been a persistent rumor running around the interwebs about how Cindy’s apartment has a picture frame (I think?) that says C + C. This could refer to Cindy + Carly (= Best Friends 4Eva?) but it could also refer to the show’s creators, Craig Thomas and Carter Bays. From what I can tell, though, nobody has been able to find a screenshot or anything actually showing this elusive symbolic object. As such I don’t think it’s all that relevant.
So at this point, Carly Whittaker is a loose end. She has been mentioned but not truly incorporated into the show. Proponents of this theory are encouraged by the lack of discussion of Carly before or after on the show. I feel the same way about her that I do about the missed date from the “Milk” episode – she might not be The Mother, but her character will be revisited. If we had to spend all this time with effing Victoria and The Slutty Pumpkin and Robin again and again, they can certainly find time to delve into this mini mystery.
IF IT’S TRUE: Carly Whittaker, Barney’s half-sister, is The Mother. The Bro Code slate would be wiped clean. Mystery solved!
WHY IT MIGHT NOT BE: It’s established, it’s for sure not her.
Other Assorted Mother Theories
The Wedding Band Theory – CONFIRMED!!:
Many fans suspect The Mother is a member of the wedding band (or DJ) :) We know that she does play bass guitar, and we see her at the Farhampton train station on the night of Barney and Robin’s wedding. She’s dressed in formal wear, and she has her guitar case with her. I can’t think of any reason why this may not be true, so for now it’s a strong possibility.
UPDATE: We just discovered that the original wedding band falls through, and Ted fortuitously runs into Cindy (Rachel Bilson) and her wife on the subway. Cindy asks if Ted believes in destiny, and then explains that her former roommate – the one that was a perfect match for Ted – happens to be the bass player for the BEST wedding band in NYC. Then we see Ted, at the reception, eyes fixed upon the bass player. At the same time, we hear Future Ted talking about how everything worked out as it should…
The Marissa Heller Theory:
In “Robots versus Wrestlers” (S5E22), we learn that mail for a prior resident (Marissa Heller) has consistently been delivered to the apartment ever since Ted and Marshall first moved in. When Ted spots Marissa Heller’s invitation to an exclusive party at the Alberta Building, he convinces the others to accompany him. They attempt to use her invitation, but the real Marissa Heller shows up.
Or does she?! Marissa invites Ted, Barney, Lily, and Marshall to join her. In the elevator, Lily tries to chat with Marissa about mail-related interests. Lily saw that Marissa received Soap Opera Digest, for example, so she asks Marissa about her favorite soaps. Marissa isn’t into that, though, and everyone thinks she’s pretty douchey. Except Ted, of course, because he was a little douchey himself in that episode.
One Redditor posited that elevator-Marissa’s lack of interest means that she wasn’t the real Marissa at all. The real Marissa could have been busy that night – busy being The Mother! We actually only know of one other event occurring that event – a little thing called Robots VS Wrestlers. Who might be interested in such a thing? Maybe a woman who paints ROBOTS DOING SPORTS. Is your mind blown just a little? :)
The Mother may not be Marissa, but she certainly could have attended Robots Versus Wrestlers. It is a yearly event, after all. Ted notes that this becomes an annual tradition for the whole group, so it’s likely that The Mother ends up going once they meet and get together. I like this theory because it’s a unique take that isn’t discussed much. It’s a long shot, but such an intriguing possibility. Marissa Mosby does have a certain ring to it, no?
UPDATE: We still don’t know the name of The Mother, so it could very well be Marissa Heller.
The Sister Theories: DISPROVED
The whole Aunt Robin and Uncle Barney thing has really thrown off some fans. As I noted in a prior article, many are holding strong to The Carly Theory because of this:
Future Ted refers to Barney as “Uncle Barney”.
Conflict: Ted also calls his other friends “Uncle Marshall”, “Aunt Lily”, and “Aunt Robin”
Conclusion: If Barney is Ted’s brother-in-law by marriage, and that’s why Ted refers to him as “Uncle Barney”, then we can presume that Robin is “Aunt Robin” because she is married to Barney.
Alternate Conclusion: Like many of us, Ted refers to close family friends as “aunt” and “uncle”.
–NEW Pic of the Mom – HIMYM – Does Ted Marry Barney’s Sister? I’m 99.99% Sure Yes. 2/7/12
If we really want to stretch our imaginations, these other marriages would fulfil the technical requirements: Ted marries Robin’s younger sister Katie Scherbatsky, or Barney marries Ted’s younger (already married) sister Heather Mosby. Other fans have speculated that Ted ends up with Stella’s sister Nora Zinman. All three of these possibilities are ruled out – Ted has already met both Katie and Nora prior to the wedding, and Barney is definitely marrying Robin.
UPDATE: Now that we’ve seen actress Cristin Milioti, we know without a doubt that she isn’t any of these characters that Ted has met before.
The Michelle Tanner Theory/The Full House Theory:
Update – it looks like Dave McKain (the Facebooker that created the image below) was the first to post this theory online. I don’t know if he and Justin came up with the ideas separately, or were influenced by one another, but I wanted to make sure to give proper credit where it’s due. Here is Dave’s take, as published on Have-You-Met-Ted.com in early 2012:
HIMYM can cross over with Full House by making Michelle Tanner the mother. Bear with me…there are lots of things that can make this work. As unlikely as this probably is, it might make sense on a lot of levels. My thought is that we have not met the mother character as of yet. They have said as much throughout the first 6 seasons, but we like to twist words and give double meanings to make it possible to mean other things. I think a lot of the ‘clues’ that we have are purposeful misleadings to get different theories circulating. But also, I don’t think they would just spring a random character that the audience is not attached to as well. I think the creators want the ending and the reveal to be iconic in the “nobody saw that coming” Newhart fashion.
REASONS THAT SUPPORT MICHELLE TANNER
They casted Bob Saget as the ‘voice’ of future Ted. Now we have seen future Ted with his grey hair many a time over the years and he always had Josh Radnor’s voice. I believe the voice of Bob Saget is more a metaphorical representation in the kid’s minds as a combination of a paternal and maternal story telling…with the Grandfather being thrown in…kind of a hint to the mother’s lineage. And as we know, Bob Saget (aka Danny Tanner) would be the Grandfather to these kids.
The Age. If we can assume that Michelle Tanner and the Olsen’s are the same age, then as of today the Olsen’s are 25. Which as of the first day of Ted’s teaching career (Sept 2009), Michelle Tanner would have been 23 years old…the perfect age for a grad student taking Economics 305. The St Patty’s day party was Mar 17, 2008…making Michelle Tanner 21 and old enough to go bar hopping (not that under 21 would stop people).
Rachel Bilson as the roommate. This tie in is more of a funny real-life one. Rachel Bilson has listed Ashley Olsen as one of her major fashion influence, and it is common knowledge that they are good friends and they run in the same circles.
Lily. When Lily and Marshall broke up, Lily went off to San Francisco. The Tanners were from San Francisco. The creators could make an easy tie in as to why Michelle Tanner is at a wedding that Lily is at…maybe Lily invited them after befriending during her time in San Fran.
Robin. Robin is in TV journalism…as was Danny Tanner. They have had the exact same job, but Danny Tanner was just a little more accomplished. Robin’s career path could be a tie in to how they all meet each other.
Bass guitar. Ted’s future wife plays bass guitar. What 23 year old, good looking chic would have a better opportunity to have played a rock’n’roll instrument than the niece of Uncle Jesse. For all we know, Michelle Tanner could have been playing since she was a kid. Easy tie in.
Admittedly (and proudly) I never watched Full House. But from what my wife has told me, Michelle’s best friend growing up was a boy named…you guessed it…Ted. I’m not saying that this Ted is Ted Mosby (cause we know its not), but what a great hint and an even better Ice-Breaker for when the two meet.
Doppelganger…what an easy and perfect twin…you know that whoever Ted gets with eventually will have to have a doppelganger to be a permanent fixture in the group.
Josh Radnor is directing and starring in a movie in 2012 called Liberal Arts. The lead actress…Elizabeth Olsen…yes the younger sister of the Twins. I think he’d have some pull in that family for casting purposes.
I know this is likely not the ending…but I just wanted to float ‘out-of-the-box’ thoughts out there and get people’s opinions.
One blog commenter, Justin Banker, has a very unique take on who The Mother may be. He has put together evidence supporting the idea of Michelle Tanner from Full House being The Mother! Wait, what? Click here to check out the information on his blog. I’ve put together the relevant details in bullet point here:
Lily spent a summer in San Francisco doing her art program. Full House is set in SF, so perhaps Michelle Tanner/The Mother became friends with Lily at that point.
Uncle Jesse played bass, and he was always very close to Michelle, so he could have taught her how to play.
Future Ted is voiced by Bob Saget, aka Danny Tanner (Michelle’s father) on Full House.
Josh Radnor (Ted) was in a movie (Liberal Arts) with Elizabeth Olsen; she is the real life younger sister of actresses Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, who both played Michelle Tanner on Full House.
Josh Radnor and Elizabeth Olsen share the same agent (I haven’t confirmed this info, btw)
Michelle Tanner – if played by one of the original actresses – would have the perfect doppelganger…her twin sister!
Michelle’s childhood BFF was named Teddy.
Both Danny Tanner and Robin Scherbatsky are broadcast journalists. Their paths could potentially cross this way, although I suspect Danny is up near retirement age by now. Then again, Bob Saget hasn’t retired yet, so what do I know.
Regarding her age – Justin says:
First off everyone will say how is he going to marry some kid, shes like 6 years old! In the TV Show yeah but Full House ended in 1995 with the character of Michelle being the same age as her actresses, 9 years old. She would be 19 by the time HIMYM started in 2005 and would be 22 on Mar. 17th 2008 when she was at the St Patrick’s Day party that Ted was also at. In 2009 when Ted began teaching she would be nearly 23 years old, perfect college age to be taking an upper level economics class.
Justin thinks that the character could be Michelle Tanner, but he doesn’t think she would actually be played with Mary-Kate or Ashley Olsen. He suggests that perhaps Elizabeth Olsen could play the role, and notes that Elizabeth Olsen has mentioned Rachel Bilson as one of her inspirations.
Here’s an image that Facebooker and HIMYM fan Dave McKain put together – click the image to go see the post and comments:
What I think – the age doesn’t match up quite right, for one thing. I would guess Stephanie Tanner before Michelle, but she lacks many of the connections that Justin found between the Olsens and the HIMYM cast. Also all the Tanner girls and Olsen girls are more blonde than not, and I still don’t think The Mother will have light hair. Beyond that, Full House aired on ABC and HIMYM is on CBS. If The Mother was going to come from another show, I would guess it would be from a “sibling” show that shares the same parent network.
Although…here’s an interesting quote from Carter Bays…it’s just a joke, but it certainly adds some validity to this theory:
Which show would you like to do a crossover event with and why?
Full House. I want it to slowly become clear that our show is the prequel to that show, Prometheus-style.
-http://www.vulture.com/2012/06/showrunner-survey-himyms-carter-bays.html
UPDATE: I consider this theory disproved, because the actress is Cristin Milioti and not an Olsen. Beyond that, she looks nothing like how Michelle Tanner would have looked as an adult. Finally, the timing was always off, so I was never really on board with this one.
The Jennifer Birmingham Theory: DISPROVED
Actress Jennifer Birmingham was originally credited as “Woman” for S8E1 “Farhampton”, but later her name was removed:
(Update: The IMDB listing for the “Farhampton” episode of “How I Met Your Mother” appears to list several other actors who were neither listed in the post-show credits nor obviously involved in the on-screen action. It is therefore possible Birmingham was listed in error.)
http://www.headlineplanet.com/home/2012/09/24/mystery-how-i-met-your-mother-actress-revealed-but-is-she-teds-wife/
Now she is credited as “Woman” for S8E13 “Band or DJ”. But, this doesn’t necessarily mean she THE mother. We’ve only seen bits and pieces of The Mother – her ankle, her legs and torso, her hands – so it could still be virtually any woman playing her.
We also know that Thomas and Bays have used a stand-in as The Mother at least once before:
As for that mother, Thomas and Bays wouldn’t say whether it was a body double or the actual actress viewers will eventually meet. (Previous stunt mothers include series director Pamela Fryman.)
“It was definitely closed doors,” Bays said of the shoot. “That moment was something we’ve been building to for a long time, and we’ll see more of that moment as the series goes on — or ends, whenever happens.”
-http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/how-i-met-your-mother-season-8-premiere-373735
Is she the real deal? No idea, but she could be! The only objection that I have is that she is blonde, and I think The Mother should have dark hair. I know it can be dyed, but some people just look right as blondes and can’t pull off darker hair colors (ahem Barney talking to you).
UPDATE: Nope, not played by Jennifer Birmingham. The Mother is played by Cristin Milioti.
The Cast Connection Theory: DISPROVED
How I Met Your Mother loves to cast people with connections to the stars of the show! Here’s a list to reference, but I will update later with a link to the full article that I’m working on. That post will have pictures so you can get a better mental image of all the cast connections…but here’s what I have so far:
Sandy Rivers (Robin’s former co-anchor/nemesis) = Alexis Denisof, real life husband of Alyson Hannigan (Lily)
Scooter (Lily’s high school boyfriend) = David Burtka, real life fiance of Neil Patrick Harris (Barney)
Blauman (Barney & Marshall’s coworker) = Taran Killam, real life husband of Colbie Smulders
Jeanette (Ted’s crazy girlfriend from “PS I Love You” and “Bad Crazy”) = Abby Elliott, real life daughter to Chris Elliott, who plays Lily’s dad Mickey
Katie Scherbatsky (Robin’s little sister) = Lucy Hale, who co-stars on Pretty Little Liars with Ashley Benson, who plays Carly Whittaker (Barney’s half-sister)
Ted’s daughter = Lyndsy Fonseca, who in real life is said to have dated David Henrie, who plays Ted’s son
David Henrie is also the real life ex-boyfriend of Lucy Hale (Katie Sherbatsky)
Cathy (chatty girl from “Spoiler Alert”) = Lindsay Price, real life former girlfriend of Josh Radnor (Ted)(but I believe they met on set, so that doesn’t really count)
Robin’s dad = Ray Wise, who was in Twin Peaks with Kyle MacLachlan (The Captain)
Given all of that, it stands to reason that The Mother could be played by someone with a real life connection to the cast. Here are some people that I would not be surprised to see on HIMYM:
Michelle Williams, real life (ex)fiance of Jason Segel (Marshall)
Sarah Michelle Gellar, real life former co-star of Alyson Hannigan (and Alexis Denisof) (see below)
Mila Kunis, real life former co-star of Jason Segel (Forgetting Sarah Marshall)
There’s also a fair chance of seeing other stars from Pretty Little Liars, or anyone that has done anything with Joss Whedon. Read on for the details!
UPDATE: As far as I know, actress Cristin Milioti (who plays The Mother) has no connection to any of the cast members. If anyone knows otherwise please tell me!
The Joss Whedon Theory/The Sarah Michelle Gellar Theory: DISPROVED
This ties into the aforementioned Cast Connection Theory, because there are many connections between Joss Whedon and HIMYM. Let’s break them down point by point, beginning with main cast members and then proceeding down to cameos and one time roles:
Alyson Hannigan – Lily – played Willow on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel
Colbie Smulders – Robin – played Agent Maria Hill in The Avengers
Neil Patrick Harris – Barney – starred as Billy in Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog
Alexis Denisof – Sandy Rivers – played Wesley on Buffy and Angel, and Senator Daniel Perrin on Dollhouse
Harry Groener – Clint (Ted’s stepfather) – played Mayor Richard Wilkins on Buffy
Morena Baccarin – Chloe (barista girl that Marshall dated – “Swarley” S2E7) played Inara Serra on Firefly and Serenity
Amy Acker – Penelope (a girl Barney slept with – “Come On” S1E22) – played Winifred “Fred” on Angel and Dr. Claire Saunders/Whiskey on Dollhouse
Danny Strong – Trey (he held the funeral service for Marshall’s dad; he was the son of the preacher and also a short guy that used to bully Marshall in high school – “Last Words” S6E14) played Johnathan Levinson on Buffy
Tom Lenk – Scott (no idea who he is, I need to rewatch “Swarley” S2E7) played Andrew Wells/Cyrus on Buffy and Angel
Craig Thomas, Carter Bays, and Joss Whedon all graduated from Wesleyan University
Ted, Marshall, and Lily also graduated from Wesleyan
Willow (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) was early accepted into Wesleyan, among other schools
Willow wrote Doogie Howser, M.D. fan fiction when she was younger
Doogie Howser was played by Neil Patrick Harris
Doppelgangers factor prominently into both HIMYM and Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Based on all of this, and the interconnected nature of the Joss Whedonverse, there is an excellent chance that The Mother will also have worked with Whedon in the past. The obvious selection is Sarah Michelle Gellar, who starred as the titular character on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She’s the right age, but I’m pretty sure I’ve read that her and Alyson Hannigan do not get along at all. If that is the case, the writers might not want to bring on an actress that will clash with one of the leads on the show. What do you guys think?
Here’s a pic of her with dark hair; it is usually blonde but I think she can pull off the brunette thing:
Other potential actresses from the Whedonverse that could play The Mother:
Felicia Day (played Vi on Buffy, Penny on Dr. Horrible, and Mag on Dollhouse)
Eliza Dushku (played Faith on Buffy and Angel and starred as Echo on Dollhouse)
Summer Glau (played Prima Ballerina on Angel, River Tam on Firefly and Serenity, and Bennett Halverson on Dollhouse)
UPDATE: The Mother is played by actress Cristin Milioti, and she does not have a solid connection to Joss Whedon. The closest we can come is this:
Critin Milioti was in Mike Birbiglia’s 2012 movie Sleepwalk With Me. This came out around the same time as Joss Whedon’s The Avengers. Whedon made and posted a video where he jokingly told people to boycott Birbiglia’s film because it was taking money away from Whedon’s own movie.
The Lyndsy Fonseca Theory: DISPROVED
The show has been going on for so long now that some people think Ted’s daughter could end up playing his wife! Here’s a pic of actress Lyndsy Fonseca looking especially grown up (from January 2013):
I would be a little weirded out by this, and I’ve heard other fans say the same. Then again, what better way is there to ensure that The Mother looks like she could be related to the kids? Still, she was born in 1987, and that’s a little young for Ted. But there’s still a bit of an ick factor.
UPDATE: Nope, The Mother isn’t played by Fonseca. The Mother is played by actress Cristin Milioti.
The Hannah/Captain’s Daughter Theory:
This is an interesting one that I was slow to pick up on. You can read in the comments for more details, but here’s the gist: Ted’s ex-girlfriend Zoey Pierson (Jennifer Morrison) was the current, and then former, wife of The Captain. The Captain is actually George Van Smoot, so named The Captain because “a real man chooses his own name!” (This leads to Ted calling himself – and The Captain referring to Ted as – “Galactic President Superstar McAwesomeville”!) The Captain is also, as of season 8, Lily’s new employer.
Anyway, George Van Smoot has a daughter, Hannah Van Smoot. We have never met her. We only know that her relationship with Zoey was always strained, and at one point Zoey purchased a stuffed animal to give her as a gift.
The Van Smoots have been connected in the HIMYM storyline since season one. Their first reference is when Lily and Marshall race to beat another engaged couple for an unexpected opening to have their wedding at the infamous Van Smoot House. Later, Ted ends up falling for Zoey, and basically helps break up her marriage to The Captain. When Ted is featured on the front of New York magazine, there is a cover blurb about Van Smoot. Finally, The Captain eventually becomes Lily’s new boss, and asks her to move to Italy with him for a year.
The Van Smoot name having prior importance throughout the show indicates that it could be important to The Mother’s identity. So, maybe Hannah is older than we would think, and she’s The Mother!?
UPDATE: We have seen that The Mother is played by actress Cristin Milioti, but we don’t know her character’s name yet. It could be Hannah Von Smoot.
The Dead People Theories:
The internet can be a morbid place, and HIMYM fan theories are no exception. Rumors abound about various characters being dead when Future Ted tells his story in 2030. Let’s review the evidence for and against each, shall we?
Many fans have legitimately wondered why Ted is so painstakingly relaying every detail – and then some – about how he met the mother. Why would someone subject their kids to this if not for a purpose? And could that purpose be to tell the children every little thing he remembers about their dead mother?
We have to keep in mind that Ted has already been proven to be a dorky, somewhat boring dad. He bores Barney and Robin as their surrogate dad figure, he tells lame dad jokes to waitresses, and he often talks at length about stuff that frankly no one else cares about. I love Ted, but he’s not the most exciting character in terms of storytelling. You’re more likely to hear a lengthy diatribe on proper prounciation than you are to hear a legendary “true story” a la Barney.
We also have to remember that Ted provides an explanation in S2E3 “Brunch”. Ted asks his mom and dad how they met, and receives a brief “we met at a bar” in return. He then vows that when he has kids, he’s going to tell them everything about how he met their mother. So, we have a solid reason for Ted’s long-winded story, and it fits with his general character.
Flash foward scenes have indicated that the Mother is alive in the future, but her absence in the 2030 scenes still worries some fans. It is also worth noting that the kids are kinda being jerks about the story if their mom really is dead. You could at least feign interest in the story of how your dad met your now dead mom, you know? Hopefully their impatience with the story means that all is well in the Mosby household.
I have never given this theory much credence, but the end of “The Time Travelers” (S8E20) did worry me a bit. Future Ted talks about what he would do if he could actually time travel. If he went to that day, he tells the kids, “you know the thing I’d do first”. We then see what Future Ted is imagining – himself visiting the mother’s apartment 45 days before they were set to meet. He delivers an impassioned speech about how they will meet, fall in love, get married, and have kids. He explains that this is all just 45 days away, but he wants those 45 days. And if he can’t have them, he will take the 45 seconds before her boyfriend (Louis) shows up and punches him in the face. He tells the mother (who remains unseen, of course) “I love you, I’m always going to love you, until the end of my days and beyond.”
Could this be the desperate plea of a man wanting just a sliver more time with his one true love? And why does he need that 45 seconds so badly? This episode was pretty masterfully done, because it really could go several ways.
2013 Ted is so horribly alone and depressed and without hope that Future Ted would end his suffering in a second if he could. Future Ted wishes that 2013 Ted didn’t have to go through those last – presumably painful – 45 days where his friends are happily settling in to the life that he always wanted. 2013 Ted has no girlfriend, no wife, no children, and his very best friends have all that and more.
As someone who is currently single and amidst close friends that have found their destiny, I can relate. It’s pretty much a soul-crushing feeling to look around and see everyone in love, while you’re not even close to the happily ever after you’ve wanted your whole life. If there was a Future Corina that could save me from 45 more lonely days, I would appreciate her making an appearance.
That being said…Ted was really emotional. And crying. Perhaps more than is appropriate for just seeing the 2013 version of your soulmate. It is entirely possible that he is so emotional because he can’t have even 45 more seconds with The Mother in 2030. Perhaps because she is dead? I really hope not.
I actually think that Ted’s speech made it seem more like HE was the dying one. Imagine a scenario where there is a couple, and one of them is dying. Does it seem like the dying person or the healthy person would say “I love you, I’m always going to love you, until the end of my days and beyond”? To me it seems like something a dying person would say to the one that would survive them. If it were me, and my spouse were dead in the future, I would say something like, “I will always love you, until the end of time and beyond” or “until the end of our days and beyond”.
So could Future Ted actually be dying/dead? He’s clearly interacting with the kids and at times having small conversations with them, so I think he is still alive as of 2030. I don’t think the kids are just watching a video he made or anything like that. But he might be sick/dying, and sharing his greatest story before his time is up. That could also explain why the kids have attitude. When someone is dying, you don’t usually want to spend all of your time crying and being sad. People often try to act normal for the benefit of the sick person, and for their own sake. So the kids might be giving Ted a hard time because they’re trying to act like nothing is wrong…
I don’t really believe that either of them are dead or dying as of 2030. I think the writers created a poignant episode with the end of the series in mind. Future Ted also imagines going back to his old apartment, holding baby Marv, and visiting with his close friends. These scenes made me cry because they spoke to the series ending. It felt like the beginning of an arc that takes us to the very end.
There have also been theories about Barney being dead in the future. We haven’t seen him in any flash forward scenes, except for the odd Exploding Meatball Sub scenario. That seems like it could be a false memory, from unreliable narrator Ted. The thing is, Barney actually does have the time, energy, resources, and twisted motivation to pull off an elaborate prank like that. So I take that as proof of Barney being alive in the future.
As of today, 1/3/13, I think that The Mother is the missed date from the “Milk” episode. I don’t think she is named Tracy or Amber, and the arrival of Ashley Benson makes me suspect that Barney’s sister Carly is not The Mother either. I would enjoy a multitude of connecting threads, so I would personally like it if The Mother was the missed date, and the bass player in the wedding band, and the girl from the St. Patrick’s Day party. I would LOVE feedback on all of this, so please feel free to lawyer me with your questions and comments.
Update as of 1/15/13: I was correct about the Carly Theory (Carly is NOT The Mother), but I didn’t for sure let it go until the episode descriptions and official name of Ashley Benson’s character was confirmed. So I can’t say that I always knew it was wrong :) I was correct about the wedding band theory (The Mother IS the bass player in the wedding band), and I still believe The Mother is also the missed date from “Milk” and/or the bump girl from “No Tomorrows”.
Update as of 5/16/13: I’m still really hoping that The Mother connects to Ted in one of aforementioned ways. I feel like it would add more excitement and importance to the story if she is not just the bass player, and his ex’s old roommate, and the owner of the yellow umbrella, but ALSO is the missed date, or the bump girl, or Hannah or even Tracy. We have months to go before season 9, but it’s pretty fun that these theories can still be in the running for now.
Update as of 1/27/14: Welp, we have some more theories disproved. She isn’t the milk girl or the bump girl! But the show delivered exactly what I hoped for: meaningful near misses and encounters between Ted and The Mother. Now we’re left wondering what her name is, when they get married, and what the entire timeline of the relationship results in as of the “present” (2030). Things are looking up for the rest of season 9!
Showing us that Ted has seen The Mother before meeting her really breathes new life into some of these theories. I think it almost has to be at least one of these women, because otherwise I don’t know if I believe it’s truly the greatest love story ever. All of the umbrella moments and the connection via Cindy aren’t quite enough for me to feel satisfied that this entire saga is the most romantic story ever. But, we have to stay tuned to find out.
Finally, here are some articles that aren’t specifically about The Mother, but they do offer observations about HIMYM that you may not be able to find elsewhere. If anything they may spark your interest to do some sleuthing of your own! I’ve had so much fun writing them, and I hope you enjoy reading them.
Ted always seems to encounter old ladies during pivotal moments in his relationships
Color Theory in How I Met Your Mother, with an emphasis on yellow and purple
All of the How I Met Your Mother Halloween costumes throughout the years
Mrs. Erikson’s secret 7-layer salad recipe – make it today!
5 HIMYM theories that need to be put to rest
Do bad weddings equal good marriages in the HIMYM world?
7 HIMYM mysteries solved in season 7
10 signs you’re a HIMYM super-fan
A compilation of HIMYM music, including the infamous Get Psyched! Mix
Fat jokes in HIMYM – how they add to and how they degrade the show
Adding insult to injury with Patrice as Barney’s fake girlfriend
I came up with all of this from my own set of notes, compiled by my obsessive watching and rewatching of episodes, but I have to give credit to the HIMYM wiki page for “The Mother” and the Reddit Semi-Definitive “Mother” Checklist. I confirmed quite a bit of information by double checking these sites, and they continue to inspire me to seek out and analyze new theories. There is a ton of information at both sites and they are great refreshers for those that need it!
238 thoughts on “HIMYM: The Mother Revealed, Theories Disproved & Clues To Still Possible Connections!”
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I think they put a bunch of people who could be the mother depending on when the show was going to end. Whatever story lines they don’t choose to close up, I’m sure they will loop into the mother arch.
I agree the bump girl from St. Patrick’s day party is likely the mother (otherwise, why put the scene in the episode?)…and I always did feel the blind date girl from the “Milk” episode was the mother…until you pointed out the line from a later episode where Cindy’s description was the “first” description of the mother Ted heard…now I’m not sure. The “Milk” story might resurface to close some chapter in Ted’s life before meeting the real mother…who knows? I don’t subscribe to the Carly theory b/c she’s too young to be the Mother. There are too many clues that the Mother is near the same age as Ted.
I think Ted will bump into Cindy while Ted is trying to help plan Robin/Barney’s wedding. In chit chat she’ll mention her former roommate’s band, and Ted will get the contact information to book that band. The wedding does not go smoothly, so maybe Ted doesn’t get the opportunity to meet the band members… until later.
CorinaWrites says:
That is all exactly what I am thinking!
nischaltonthanahal says:
I think you can pretty much confirm that ted dates carly and it is barney’s half sister.
Check out the new descriptions of ‘Ring Up’
Ashley Benson (“Pretty Little Liars”)guest stars as Carly, Ted’s new girlfriend
and this tweet
CHEAT TWEET: Barney begs Ted to continue dating a much younger girl @AshBenzo untilhe learns who she is! #HIMYM 1/21 @8PM ET/PT
ted’s girlfriend, carly, much younger girl, until barney learns she’s his half sister……
Makes sense!?
You’ve cracked the case for me! I hadn’t seen this info yet but it certainly points to Carly being in upcoming episodes, but NOT being The Mother. I’m still holding on to the missed matchmaker date – that has always been my number one theory and I’m really hoping it works out. Thank you so much for posting this info and inspiring my next post :)
bluecuriosa says:
Hi. My name is Uwi. I come from Indonesia and just found out your blog since I get addictive with the series. I think it’s awesome that you diggin’ old episodes and searching clues about The Mother. I can’t wait to see what’s she looks like.
I just finished watching season 8 episode 12 where Robin and Barney got engaged. The whole scene just take my breath away. And now I come up with few thoughts, although I didn’t know if this could help to develop a theory about who The Mother is.
At the Farhampton episode, we see Ted sitting on the bench with his hand bandaged. I think it’s not because he punched someone. It’s very unlikely that you need your hand to get bandage after punching someone. I think it’s from bleeding caused by glass or knife. Why and how, well I think we just have to wait a little longer :)
Second thought, I dont recall in which episode, but I do remember Stella tells Ted when they were dating, that she come to St. Patrick party (where Ted bump into the girl everyone thinks might be The Mother). So maybe, The Mother is friends with Stella and they came to the party together at the time. We just have to diggin’ which friends Stella mentioned before who have the same similarity to The Mother character.
It still possibly Carly Whittaker. But, looking from JJ’s age, it’s more possible to assume that Carly is a junior student at college and not as same age as Cindy. Because JJ is like… I don’t know… 12 something? While we assume that The Mother is 28 or older. But still it’s possible given a consideration to the “MIND THE GAP” sentence at The Farhampton Train Station, if this is one of the clues?
In Starwars Trilogy episode, we are shown that in 2015, Ted holds an infant baby in his arms. So, we can assume that Ted is meeting The Mother in 2012, dating at 2013, got married in 2014, and having a baby in 2015. The Mother will be revealed very time soon.
Anyway, I like to think that HIMYM creators must have set the whole The Mother character from the very beginning of the series, including the actress who would actually played her. And it is possibly that The Mother has been in several scene this whole time. We just dont see it. Or we just dont have any idea that she is the one. I also think that this would go like The Sixth Sense movie when everything just make sense in the end. We’re all gonna be like: “Oooh, now I get it!” and we’re gonna watch the whole series one more time. Hahaha.
And I think, the cast must have know about The Mother too, from the very beginning. Maybe, the contract with all actress and production team includes secrecy which said that they can never mentioned or revealed who The Mother to the media. I don’t think Bays and Carter would make a series about finding a true love in NY without setting the whole characters before. It’s impossible if they just decides who is The Mother at the end of the series. Or well, I don’t like to think that way :)
It’s a very good serial, though. And even people keep compares HIMYM with Friends, I dont think it’s apple to apple. It’s the puzzle and twist that make this series interesting because somehow it makes us, the audience, interact. It really fun to talked about it with fans like you. So, keep on searching and keep on posted. I really enjoyed reading them. Thank you, and greetings from Jakarta :)
Hello Uwi, and thank you for your comment! I will respond point by point :)
I agree that Ted’s hand is probably not damaged from a punch. BUT, Ted is not exactly a strong guy, and we saw that him and Barney did not fair well in terms of fighting when they went up against bouncer Doug. So, since it’s Ted, his hand could be excessively bandaged just because he punched someone or something.
I don’t recall Stella mentioning many friends but it is certainly possible that she has known The Mother this whole time. Wouldn’t that be an intriguing twist?!
I don’t think it is Carly anymore, based on recent information about upcomiong episodes (see post to follow shortly). But I did notice “MIND THE GAP” and was curious as to whether it was a clue as well.
I have to find the quote, but I’m pretty sure Carter and Bays confirmed that they haven’t cast the actress yet. Josh Radnor (Ted) tweeted at one point that no one had any idea except for the show creators. Plus that’s quite a few actors to keep such a big secret, and it seems like they wouldn’t risk that. Other shows often film several end scenes for big surprises, so even the actors don’t know for sure what happened until it airs. Maybe that will be the case here, I don’t know.
There are for sure similarities to Friends, but I don’t think it’s fair to consider them as equivalent. I agree it is not apples to apples. I do think that HIMYM was inspired in part by Friends, and both shows coordinate well in terms of the viewing experience.
Anyway, more later, and thank you again for your insights :)
ThuCyrus says:
Alright, here goes. I don’t usually post stuff, so I don’t really know where or even how to post something without just replying to someone else’s post. That being said, I really like your post, so I’ll use it. I’ve been perusing the forums for theories, and I’ve noticed that my theory doesn’t seem to exist yet, so I guess I’ll have to make it.
I call this the “Yin Yang Theory”. It also ties in with the “Color Theory”. I’ll start with the flaw to my theory. If my theory is correct than Ted has already met the mother, though “meeting” and “properly meeting” are not necessarily the same thing.
That being said, this is it. I think the mother might be Nora. Hear me out. When Nora is first introduced, she is wearing the exact same shade of “yellow” as the umbrella. On that same day everyone at the table is wearing “purple”. These two colors both appear on the mom at the train station, thus tying into the color theory.
Also keep in mind that Nora wants everything that Ted wants in a relationship. We know this because she tells Barney all of this on their first date, which I might add, is a very “Ted” thing to do. Adding to the similarities, she speaks four language which Ted also does, at least to some extent. He speaks English, obviously. He and Stella spoke only French during one of his tattoo removal sessions. He often quotes Italian, and he knows sign language.
She is the right age to have attended Ted’s first ‘accidental’ class; a fact that she would probably not share with a stranger or her boyfriend considering the fact that, in future Ted’s narration, the mom thought he was cute. Also keep in mind that Ted and Nora only see each other twice, on camera at least. They never actually carry on a full conversation. What’s suspicious to me, is that there is no lead up. Barney meets her. Barney loves her. Barney tries to date her.
This is where my “Yin Yang Theory” comes in. Ted and Barney have been near opposites since the start of the show. Que phrases like, “I feel like we collectively learn the opposite lesson each year”, or “Old stuff’s great!” vs. ” Newer is always better. Barney’s a man whore, and Ted’s a hopeless romantic, but there is one key point on which they agree, “Robin”. Ted falls in love with her on sight, but Barney marries her. Barney falls in love with Nora on sight, so maybe…You get the idea.
Now I know that Nora probably hates Barney, and rightfully so, but if history tells us anything, nothing lasts forever. Plus, Barney can get out of anything. The way I see it, Ted loved Robin who was totally wrong for him. Barney loved Nora who was totally wrong for him. Ted falls apart just as Barney starts getting his life together. I feel like the two character’s love lives are interconnected in some “equal but opposite” way.
Nora’s the right age for the class, the right hair color for the pictures in “Milk” and the ones behind the couch, she’s also the right skin tone, and body build. She loved laser tag which means she’ll probably love “Robots vs Wrestlers”. She’s “a gooey romantic too.” She hates ewoks, but not necessarily Star Wars. Most importantly, we know almost NOTHING about her life, and I think her sudden appearance is unmistakable. Sorry for how long this was. Hope you enjoyed my theory.
Oh! One last thing, in the “Trilogy Time” episode, Ted’s imaginary dream girl casual adds in, “Oh, and I’m British.” which further leads me to believe that it might be the case.
I remember that! Good point.
You did an excellent job of posting, no worries :)
I totally agree that the writers will employ the difference between meeting and properly meeting someone. I don’t know that I believe it is Nora, although your facts do add up. My main disagreements with this theory are:
-Nora was likely a working woman and perhaps would not have wanted to share a home with a college student, albeit a PhD candidate (not the strongest objection but the first to come to mind for me)
-I think if Nora was in a band, and she found out that it was Barney’s wedding, she might not have agreed to play.
-I don’t know that most fans would like this outcome – they might feel cheated.
All of that being said, it’s a solid theory. I think most people will dismiss it on the technicality of them meeting before, but the few Ted and Nora scenes have been incredibly brief. And with Barney marrying Robin (clearly his perfect match and clearly wrong for Ted) it would make sense for Ted to marry Nora in a reverse of the scenario. I used to really dislike Nora because I wanted Barney with Robin. I’m not sure yet if I like her with Ted.
Then again, whenever I think of her I remember her with a missing front tooth and it stresses me out :)
And the yellow/purple stuff is dead on. I’m sure Ted would prefer to marry someone that hasn’t slept with Barney, but that does drastically limit his options among the women of New York. And it would explain a potential altercation between Barney and Ted at the wedding.
I’m going to think about this, gather some additional facts if I can, and add it to the list! Thank you so much for sharing!
FatehS says:
Great write-up! Thanks!
I’d like to add my own personal “mother theory” (one I’ve never seen anyone else ever mention), if you want to add it to your list of assorted theories:
The Sarah Michelle Gellar Theory:
As noted on the HIMYM Wikipedia page, and by anyone who’s a fan of Joss Whedon, the show creators have a particular infatuation with hiring actors from Joss Whedon productions – particularly Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The most obvious example of this is of course Allyson Hannicgan, who plays a main character on Buffy. This fact is even noted by Carter Bays (source wikipedia), citing the “great cast pool” as a reason.
All of this leads me to believe that if Carter Bays and Craig Thomas were to try and choose the ideal actress to play the mother, it would have to be someone from a Joss Whedon production, and who better than Sarah Michelle Gellar, who plays Buffy herself, right alongside Allyson Hannigan (for 7 seasons no less). Sarah, who is both attractive and a skilled actress, would be a pretty good match for Ted, and I think could play the mother role pretty well.
Of course this is less of a theory as to who is the mother, and more just about what actress will likely play her, but as there is not too much evidence yet regarding what character (if any) she may be already within the show, this is as good a mother theory as any, and (in my opinion) a particularly viable one.
Just remember – if it is Sarah Michelle Gellar: FIRST!!! ;)
Oh that for sure needs to be added! The only conflict there could be is that I’ve heard Sarah Michelle Gellar and Alyson Hannigan don’t get along well in real life. No idea if it’s true but it is surprising she hasn’t been on there already. I should do a post about all the guest star connections for people that don’t already know! Before I forget…
Sandy Rivers = Robin’s former co-anchor/nemesis = Alyson Hannigan’s (Lily) real life husband Alexis Denisof
Scooter = Lily’s high school boyfriend = Neil Patrick Harris’ (Barney) real life partner & fiance David Burtka
Blauman = Barney & Marshall’s coworker = Colbie Smulders’ (Robin) real life husband Taran Killam
Jeanette (from the most recent episode PS I Love You) = Ted’s crazy girlfriend = actress Abby Elliott = actor Chris Elliott’s (Lily’s dad, Mickey) real life daughter
Katie Scherbatsky = Robin’s little sister = actress Lucy Hale = co-star on Pretty Little Liars with Ashley Benson = Carly Whittaker = Barney’s half-sister
Ted’s daughter = actress Lyndsy Fonseca = rumored to have dated actor David Henrie = Ted’s son = also the ex-boyfriend of Lucy Hale = Katie Sherbatsky
Did I miss any? Please fill me in folks!
There are also some Full House connections to delve into, and all this from imdb that is too long to paraphrase :)
Alyson Hannigan’s character on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Willow Rosenberg, once mentioned that she wrote Doogie Howser, M.D. fan-fiction as a girl. Hannigan went on to star in “How I Met Your Mother” with Neil Patrick Harris, who as a boy played Doogie Howser. Alyson Hannigan’ who plays Lily, is perhaps best known prior to starring in ‘How I Met Your Mother’ for her role on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”. The creators of both of these shows – Joss Whedon of the Buffy series and Carter Bays and Craig Thomas of HIMYM – all graduated from Wesleyan University, as well as did the characters Lily, Ted, and Marshall on HIMYM. Additionally, Hannigan’s character from the Buffy series, Willow, got early acceptance to Wesleyan, along with many other schools. Several cast members have also worked with Joss Whedon, notably stars Alyson Hannigan’ (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Neil Patrick Harris (Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog) and Cobie Smulders (The Avengers). Also appearing have been guest stars Morena Baccarin (Firefly/Serenity), Alexis Denisof (Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel/Dollhouse), Amy Acker (Angel/Dollhouse), Tom Lenk (Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel), Harry Groener (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Danny Strong (Buffy the Vampire Slayer). The search for all the main characters’ so-called “doppelgangers” is a running joke throughout this series. In ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ doppelgangers were also a frequent theme of many episodes, and most of the major characters (including Buffy, Xander, and Willow) encountered doubles of themselves through plot contrivances of magic or alternate universes.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0460649/trivia
one bit of info i think wasn’t mentioned here is that when Ted gets the mom’s number, he calls her immediately. (episode 4.21 – the three days rule: “When I got your mother’s number. I called right away.”)
because older Ted says that when we see present Ted leaving the bar with Holly (Holli?), we think he means the usual way of “getting her number” – but i think the writers again are getting clever with us: actually he *gets her number* from Cindy regarding booking her band for the wedding, so OF COURSE he calls right away – it’s not about disregarding the 3 days rule, it’s on business – in order to save the wedding!
I thought the bit about Ted calling her “right away” was specifically “after the first date.” I could be remembering wrong, but that was the context in which that comment was made. So whether he talks to the Mother previously to book the band- I don’t think that relates to Future Ted’s comment.
i thought it was two separate things – there’s getting the girl’s number at first, like when he met Holly at the bar (when the guy presumably has to wait 3 days – but Ted doesn’t), and there’s calling her *after* they already had a first date..
well, i guess we’ll wait and see how all the details come together .. soon!
Hopefully as soon as the end of season 8!
I believe that episode laid it out as meeting a girl, being interested in her as a romantic possibility, getting her number, and then waiting three days to call. Like in Swingers! So I’m taking it as he called right away after they met at the train station.
I thought I mentioned the first part, I will double check! I guess it depends on if she is the contact person for the band or not? But my interpretation is in reference to after the first meeting.
thetammer says:
my BF & i want to re-watch the main episodes that provide clues about the mother’s identity. from all the info in your posts, plus a review of the HIMYM wikia, i’ve decided on these. please let me know if you think i’m missing any that will fill in more info. i don’t really need the ones that are disproved theories or red herrings, just the ones that give us clues that have been established.
01-07 – “Matchmaker”
01-21 – “Milk”
03-12 – “No Tomorrow”
04-09 – “The Naked Man”
05-12 – “Girls vs Suits”
06-01 – “Big Days”
08-01 – “Farhampton”
I think you hit all the big ones, aside from the recent season 8 “Band or DJ”? You’ve probably watched them all by now – let me know what you think!
Cleyton says:
What about the Jennifer Birmingham theory?
Cleyton Caetano de Souza says:
The theory is about the credits given to Jennifer playing “The Woman” in two episodes of season 8 (Farhampton and Band or Dj?).
That is a theory that needs to be added as well, good point! I didn’t include it originally because the writers have mentioned using various women as stand in, including one of the directors for the show, Pamela Fryman. Basically I feel like Bays & Thomas wouldn’t cast the same woman as the actual mother, simply because the mystery already would have been revealed via imdb. But I will be adding her to my list of theories at once!
CLeyton Souza says:
Thanks for the reply. Actually I truly believe on this theory, but, personally, i am more fan of the Lyndsy Fonseca theory. I dont know. It appears right to me. Greetings from Brazil.
Lyndsy Fonseca as the mother would totally creep me out. please don’t let that be the answer! i’m all for stunt casting, if they can find the right actress to make sense with the entire series.
I agree, and it would be a letdown for the fans that have been waiting so long for the big reveal. It can’t be that hard to find a dark haired actress that could look related to them! I do feel that it will be a bit anticlimatic if they choose an unknown actress and don’t find some way to show all their prior connections. I hope they do the reveal at the end of 8 vs the beginning of 9…
i’m betting there’s a 98% chance that S8 finale will be a cliffhanger and we won’t see the true, actual, real reveal of the mother until S9 premiere.
I know you’re right. But how much more of a cliffhanger can we have? We already had the experience (as viewers) of seeing Ted at the moment right before he meets her. So there isn’t much more that we can see immediately before he actually meets her. I guess maybe we could see him walking over to meet her, saying excuse me, and then she turns towards him and just as we see her face – cut. Kinda like how they did that one time when he saw the yellow umbrella but it was Stella, you know?
you know how they block the shows when an actress is pregnant? there are pillows and sofas and purses and everything else in front of her stomach so you can’t tell she’s pregnant? they could do that with the Mother. you see her from Ted’s point of view, or everyone else’s point of view, but something’s in the way, like a street sign, or a post, or someone else’s umbrella. since this is supposed to be at Robin & Barney’s wedding, i could see possibilities where the whole gang joins them on the train platform for one reason or another. either way, i’m just enjoying each episode and trying not to jump to the reveal, because i see the end of the series coming and i want to enjoy all of the new ones before it’s over.
If they do that they will basically have to make her a well-known actress, don’t you think? I hope so at least.
i meant they could do that on the S8 finale, to make it a cliffhanger for a S9 premiere reveal. there’s no way they would or could do that for the rest of the series and not ever show her to us. the villagers would burn their houses down.
haha yes the natives are getting quite restless at this point
I was juts thinking how Bays and Thomas would need round the clock body guards if they pull a trick like that at the finale! >:(
Right?! I was thinking how it would be cool if they picked a fan to be the mother. Then I realized it would be cool for exactly one person and everyone else would be incredibly pissed so I changed my opinion on that real quick :)
I am still on the fence…too bad she doesn’t have a real life older sister!
Larissa Bohnenberger says:
Hey, Corina!
First of all, congratulations on this post! You did an amazing job putting all this informating together. I laugh so hard about The Michelle Tanner Theory, lol. Peaple are really creative.
About The Matchmaker/Missed Date Girl Theory/”Milk” Theory: I’ve always though that it could be right, but reading about the age of this woman I started to have my doubts; If she really Ted’s age, doesn’t she to old to be on that college class? She’d be older than Cindy. I don’t know… It will be a really great love story, if that theory is correct, but it’ll also have some flaws about it…
The Marissa Heller Theory realy blew my mind, I hope is her, and that she definetly was in Robots vs Restlers that night.
I did’nt know about the information on the S6 extras, here in Brazil we didn’t have the DVDs… It’s a shame!
Anyways, It was great read all of this. Congratulations again, It couldn’t be easy to do all this. Thank you!
Thank you for the kind words! The Michelle Tanner Theory feels like a stretch to me, but the appearance of Dave Coulier and references to his “cut. it. out.” catchphrase on Full House does give it some more credence. I will have to update that :)
As for The Mother’s age…we know that Rachel Bilson was 28, so Cindy should be approximately 28, but we don’t know the character’s age for sure. I don’t think? I will have to watch again, I know Ted mentions that she’s legal but I don’t think he specifies an age. Anyway, if The Mother was 28 as of “Milk”, she would be in her early thirties as of that day in class, which is plausible enough. I mean, it’s a graduate level course that Cindy is taking for her PhD, so I imagine she’s spent a fair amount of time doing undergraduate and then maybe post-graduate studies.
I wonder what The Mother’s major was? Or what her degree might be? It could, of course, be in Economics, like Cindy. But perhaps it is something more artistic, given her paintings of robots and her beautiful singing voice (when performing via breakfast foods, at least). Or maybe it’s more along the lines of LIBERAL ARTS. ZOMG the connections are too much for me :P
lulu loxin says:
so check it, ted says “dont EVER invite an ex to a wedding” in shelter island. And we know why, and how that went. So my theory of how Barney and Robin’s wedding goes is this:
Remember in “Farhampton” how ted’s hand was bandaged, suggesting that he may have gotten in a fight? Well, I think that Barney and Ted will get into one last fight over Robin. Because we know that Ted isn’t 100% over Robin because there is no REAL closure in “Band or DJ”. So its possible that Ted isnt completely over Robin. Ted makes ONE last push for Robin, they fight, Ted tries to get a train back to New York, by himself because Marshall and Lily already left because they are old and married (Barney). And Robin and Barney left for their honeymoon.
That is the most logical explanation for sure. I will be soooo annoyed if Ted pulls that crap on their wedding day, but maybe Barney and Robin’s nervousness makes Ted think he has a shot. Classic Schmosby, sigh.
I’d like to add to the Milk theory:
When Ted describes her profile from the dating agency he mentions that her favourite book is Love in the Time of Cholera. Ted is reading that book on the platform at Farhampton where he meets the mother. Maybe the trigger for them meeting?
Also, having just rewatched Milk, I think it’s really significant that the whole episode is about the necessity of making mistakes and it is in this episode that he ditches the blind date for Robin. I reckon he needed to do all of this stuff before he would be ready to meet the mother.
Also, it’s possible that Cindy and the Mother did the Sunday Crossword together (Ted mentions that Cindy does the Sunday crossword every week (S5E12) and doing the Times crossword is another one of the specs of the date he never met in Milk.
In Cindy’s apartment, there is a framed photo of a dog – and guess what? Loving dogs is yet another detail revealed about the date in Milk.
I don’t recall Ted mentioning Cindy doing the crossword but I will take your word for it. And of course they could do them together (although personally I don’t like help with my crosswords :) )
In a prior post I showed the two dog pics side by side. I really, REALLY wanted them to be the same dog but alas, they are not. Still, it’s a good connection regardless!
The Milk Theory is still my number one top favorite and I love finding other people that are on board!
I’ve re-watched “girls vs suits”, focusing on Cindy’s and the mother’s apartment.
Corina, if you’re still working on that “background items” post, are you also looking into the objects around Cindy’s apartment?
I didn’t see any “C+C” pictures, but there are plenty of other things BESIDES the little yellow bus!
first, the abundance of flowery patterns, though that might be a way to create interest and confuse the viewer’s eyes :) and i think Cindy has those too in her room.
There’s lots of yellow there, obviously, but also reds and greens. i tend to think that the objects with the warm tones belong to the mother, and the cooler tones belong to Cindy.
BTW, Cindy wears blues and has lots of greens in her room, but i think she only wears purple when we first see her, before we realize she is NOT the mother; and in the picture shown on season 6 opener, “Big Days”, of her future family: she with a striped lilac top and her wife in an argyle sweater with yellow accents :D
* flower side note – sorry for jumping around – in “Big Days” we see Barney’s fantasy of stealing Ted’s future bride (actually Cindy’s future bride..) at their wedding, where all the flowers are purple and yellow. The flowers at the van Smoot party in “Robots vs Wrestlers” also has lots of purple and yellow flowers.
ok, back to Cindy’s apartment – I don’t have “Girls vs Suits” in HD, so it’s not all clear, but still i could spot some very interesting items:
On the shelf unit where the little bus is, there are more yellow objects, sure, but also lots of red – including a little RED RACE CAR – very similar to the one Ted has! i think it’s metallic and not wood, but it’s really uncanny how similar they are.
behind the photo of the dog which you’ve mentioned, is some red object i cannot figure out.
On the shelves are displayed also lots of metallic, mostly red figurines – they really look like robots to me. all kinds of robots, in different positions.
behind them – a partially-hidden painting of what seems like a group of humanoid robots playing tennis!
there is another painting on the top of the unit of a pink flower/dancer, and a painting in the kitchen of what seems to me (again, it’s not the sharpest image) like a girl with a red umbrella and another figure (a nun?)
on the middle shelf a framed photo of a beach is in front of some yellow box. on top there are books, mostly with dark covers and titles i couldn’t make out, but the bottom one is YELLOW and you can see it’s title starts with “ROB” and maybe the beginning of another O.. it has to be ROBOTS!
there are plenty of animal figurines and ethnic masks and decor which i don’t know what to make of exactly.
I don’t know much about botany, but on the coffee table is that an aloe vera plant or a rare Bolivian house plant??
on the table next to the door where Ted leaves the umbrella you see a yellow lamp, a naked bowling/disc-throwing man (?!) and a MODEL of the Empire State Building, a building which has made several appearances on the show, including in model form (“Zoo or False”, “First time in New York”, “Mosbius Designs” and “Last Time in New York” come to mind).
On the wall behind is a art-deco poster of New York City skyscrapers with a TRAIN below them with yellow accents.
maybe i’m reading way too much into this, but maybe some of these items will come into play or at least be explained during this final season!
phew. i hope this is helpful in some way… now back to work :)
This was very helpful and interesting. I have basically given up on color theory in this show because it started to make me so angry. I can’t identify a solid pattern as to who is wearing purple when and what it all means. I’m still very frustrated with it :) But I love that the apartment has so much that matches with the description of the mother so far. Hopefully tonight we will see so much more!!!
haha i feel that the mother might be Quinn. For reasons such as ted once joked about a stripper named tracey that he met who was the mother..this could potentially be foreshadowing the future. Quinn could also fir the description of the whore that cindy mentions. Perhaps she is stripping to pay for school. Ted currently lives in her old apartment and she is apparently coming back in an episode in april. Also it would equalize the bro code..barney marries robin whose ted’s ex and ted marries quinn who is barneys ex..just a thought but i really like quinn.
Another solid possibility, although Quinn has always been a purple girl and we know that purple isn’t Ted’s love color. Also they have for sure already met, formally and informally, so I don’t know if the writers could pull that off. But she is coming back, so who knows! Maybe romance will begin to blossom at the bachelor party idk :)
also remember ted is a kicker not a puncher, his hand couldnt have gotten hurt from punching someone..maybe he broke the window in robins room to get her to run away.
lol that’s right Ted doesn’t exactly have fists of fury. I can see him getting upset and punching a wall, and then immediately bursting into tears because it hurt way more than he expected. Classic Schmosby!
ok, i just watched episode 8×20 … damn!
first, a small thing that bothers me – i thought Robots vs Wrestlers is an annual tradition for the whole gang! so in 2013 they don’t go?? or only Ted goes? no fair.
and now, for the mother’s address!
naturally (or crazily) i looked it up on google maps. 317 west 115th street in NYC does exist (at first i thought maybe it’s fake like Sherlock Holmes’ address).
(wouldn’t it be cool to live in that building and watch the episode??)
(also, does anyone know if that’s the same apt. from “girls versus suits”?)
then i zoomed in to get the Google street view. i thought, how could it be a real apartment? someone in our world lives there!
her apt. number is 7A, and OF COURSE those cheeky bastards chose a building with 6 stories!!! ha!
Google street view – allowing us crazies to stalk fictional characters since 2007.
I’ve heard some people say that since this was Robots vs. Wrestlers LEGENDS, it was a different event than the one that they all attend annually. That’s the only option that fits with the continuity, from what I can tell.
I must have missed the address number of 317 – I need to update my mother info article with this detail! Very clever of them to select a 6 story building…classic HIMYM trickiness.
And don’t worry, you’re far from the only one stalking fictional characters online :) Google maps is a godsend and a curse!
I have a theory that I haven’t seen anywhere before… I’m not particularly sure of the accuracy, but I feel like tossing it out there.
In the episode “Challenge Accepted” we see Ted trying to get back together with Zoey. Barney and Robin ultimately stop him, just as he is buying a flower to give to her. Eventually, Ted decides not to get back together with her, and gives the flower to her.
The flower goes to the wrong girl, who Ted jokes about being the mother.
I believe that she actually IS the mother!
-Ted never actually meets her, he just sees her
-He asks the old lady for help. The whole “Old Lady Luck” thing comes into play, where he was lucky that she gave the flower to the incorrect girl
-Is a pink lady slipper a lilac? I don’t know, maybe..? In the S6 DVD Special features, he talks about how an orchid would have been bad. When he is picking out a flower, he is trying to decide between the pink lady slipper and the orchid.
-She is wearing yellow(ish clothing) and has a cupcake with yellow frosting
I do understand that Ted says “Psych! She was just some chick” but up to that point, she was just some chick. He was trying to save the surprise of her being the “mother” until they meet. Also, she is blonde, and that was kind of improbable. Anyway, like I said I have never seen this theory before, wanna know what you think!
Nice theory, if she was brunet it will be more easy to me accept
I agree on the hair color
I haven’t ever heard this theory! I don’t think it’s quite right though. I believe the whole DVD extra about giuving her a lilac was in direct response to this scene, confirming that it couldn’t have been her because he gives her a different flower. I’m not a floral expert but Lady’s Slippers are orchids, not lilacs. And that would have been bad, per Ted.
I love that you tied in the old lady thing! And it would have been a unique way to get Ted to meet her. Who knows, maybe she will pop up again somewhere? I’m still really hoping the mother is NOT blonde, though. My whole HIMYM Mother concept is based on her having dark hair :)
Crys says:
I like the old lady tie in as well. It fits right into your old lady theory… she shows up just as his relationship with Zoey ends.
The stuff with old ladies really interests me! Why do they keeping showing up? Is it just a coincidence or indicative of something important? I just don’t know. Maybe we will see more of Ted’s interaction with the old woman at Farhampton and that will help explain, idk.
I think the mother is robin’s friend Tori, the one she mentioned in her lets go to the mall video, “Come on Jessica, come on Tori” , and she appears dancing, we already know Jessica is the keyboard player , so tori must be a musician too… (bass guitarist) , that makes sense ,maybe robin and her stoped being friends but she did moved to new york too, maybe to study another career, which also explains why she was at ted’s classroom, and i think he might be the one she was talking to in the first episode , the pilot, the blonde girl that we never get to see her face , as far as i know robin doesn’t have many other friends and remember what ted said when he first saw them, “And there she was.” , we immediately saw robin but maybe ted’s talking about the other one.. , it will be funny if she is the one because we have met her since the very first episode.. plus this allows Carter & Bays to explain why the story starts at this moment
here’s the link to the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IY_bhVSGKEg
I don’t think any of Robin’s Canadian pop star friends were in New York when the series began, because she talked about having no friends. I don’t think she was particularly close to any of those women – maybe they lived in her building or worked with her?
I’ve always insisted that the show starts with Marshall planning to propose to Lily (because it DOES, for what it’s worth), but the writers have noted that it started with Robin because Ted meets The Mother at Robin and Barney’s wedding. Either way makes sense but doesn’t mean that Robin or anyone in that first episode is The Mother.
I do love the idea of Tori being a character that shows up, though! And your point about her playing music is totally valid. Ultimately I don’t agree with this theory, but it’s unique and I’ve never heard it before, so kudos for that. :)
Mastermind says:
Well i just observed one thing ..!!
In S03E12 (No Tomorrow) the girl with ted rushes into is having the same purple purse which is shown of the lady with yellow umbrella at the station in S08E1 ..
I m not sure .. if she’s the one or not ..??
Guys you also check it once
The first purse seemed to be a clutch (one that you would hold in your hand) while the second seems to be a traditional strapped option. BUT they do both seem to be purple, and that could be a really good link! I’m excited that you spotted this, thank you for sharing!!
I have a theory I havent heard of anywhere else!
its the Magazine Bang Girl!
in season 7 episode 1 “The Best Man” Ted and the gang are
invited to Punchys wedding.Punchy is Teds friend from high school
that being the reason why they were invited,ted is even punchys
best man.At this point ted has made it on the cover of New York Magazine for
his design of the new GNB building,so Barney suggests that he take
the magazine to the wedding and brag about his accomplishments to
the women there instead.Ted does take the magazine but refuses too use it
to get laid.At some point Barney points to this girl saying
something like “look you could bang her” i really dont remember what he says
but we never see the girls face just the back part of her.Maybe ted did not meet
his wife at Punchys wedding but that same girl could have been invited
to the other wedding Barney/Robins wedding where he did meet her.
I know that the wedding was in cleveland and for the girl to had been
at the wedding she would of had to know someone close to Punchy or his
recent bride but they can always make some crazy connection.
Really there’s a chance that any female character (aside from those specifically eliminated) could be her! It seems like a stretch that she was in Cleveland and now is back in New York, but I suppose stranger things have happened. You are at the very least the only person I’ve encountered with that particular theory, so you can totally claim 100% credit if it happens to be her :)
I completely agree that this is the mystery woman from MILK. I also agree that there will be a link between the actress and one of the cast members from a previous show. My guess that no one has mentioned is Linda Cardellini from “Freaks and Geeks” as was Segal. She is recently on Mad Men and is quoted about hiding the role from the public to make a surprise on the show.
That is really intriguing and I will be looking into this actress ASAP! I forgot about looking into Freaks & Geeks cast connections even though that was only one of the best shows ever.
Did she say that about her role on Mad Men or another role?
She specifically stated this for her role as Sylvia on Mad Men. In fact she also stated that she did not tell her friends or family about this role. The only other option that I can assume, based on the “British” comment above is the actress in Joss Whedon’s new show Agent’s of Shield, Elizabeth Henstridge.
I would really like it if the mother came from somewhere in the Whedonverse. Hopefully we will get more clues in tonight’s new episode
CL says:
Respect. This is the best and most thorough HIMYM analysis on the entire Internet! I can only imagine how long it took you to get all the little bits of information together. I gave up on speculating who the mother might be a while ago, but this post got me all fired up again.
At this point, I believe the mother’s going to be a new face we haven’t seen before. It would be awesomely mind-blowing, however, if the writers managed to sneak her in without any of us noticing. Fat chance.
An actress from the whedonverse… Amy Acker? Eliza Dushku? Who would fit the profile? Ooooh, how about Jewel Staite? Or Felicia Day? Please God, let it be Felicia Day…
Thank you so much! I had always wanted to put all the clues together so one day I had a bunch of coffee and just went for it. I love that other people are enjoying my research and rambling :) I’m down with Dushku or SMG as the mother but I don’t know if they would go that obvious of a route, you know? They may even do some kind of reference with her name, giving her the same initials or character name as someone else in the Whedon universe. I can’t wait to see who!
Ooops! Nevermind about Amy Acker. I just remembered she was already on the show. And on one of my favorite episodes no less – “Come on!”
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Tamiris Garcia says:
I just have one more thing to add about “The Bump Girl/St. Patrick’s Day/”No Tomorrow” Girl Theory”: You remember that, by the time Stella was supposed to be the mother, (I don’t remember in which episode exactely, but…) she said that she had been to one party the year before, a St. Patrick’s party, and it was awefull, she left early. So, considering that, the writers are opened to the possibility of the girl in that party to be someone other than the bump actress.
About the Tracy theory, I think it’s highly unlikely that the mother’s name is Tracy. I mean, it’s been proven more than once thoughout the show that what we see in camera is not necessarily what Ted tells the kids. For example, in 1×16 (Cupcake), Ted says “That’s exactly what we did with our last day… the museum, the bridge, the restaurant….” while old Ted says that, in camera we see Ted and Victoria doing it. Besides, although Ted is telling the story in detail, there’s no way in hell he remembers exactly what everyone says in every scene. I think it’s just a false clue.
Given that Carter and Bays have already said they would prefer an unknown actress, I think it’s fair if we keep on guessing, but it’s probably pointless… She’s probably gonna be someone we’ve never seen before.
Can I share my theory? Great! (Barney style – no matter what you say, I’m sharing it anyway)… For me, there has to be a ‘surprise’ anyway, for the audience to be happy. So, the way I see it, it would be a surprise in 2 ways:
1 – Someone that has already ‘showed up’, but Ted didn’t get into much details on purpose, so he could suprise us later.
2 – Ted meets TWO great girls in the wedding. Both of them could be in the band (one is the bass player, the other is like, the guitarrist, but she also can play the bass), one of them he saw across the room, and the other he talked for a while in a funny or awkward situation…Something in a way that both fit the clues we have so far, so both are possibilties, and we don’t know who she is untill the end. We would spent the whole season wondering who Ted is gonna end up with.
About 1: I think, as I mentioned before, it’s very unlikely. Afterall, all of the girls along the years who seemed to be a potencial mom, the writers have been bringing them back, and I think they’re doing it on purpose – to show us that it’s none of them (The Slutty Pumpkin, the coat-check girl, Carly, Trudy from the pineapple day, etc). And, considering this strategy, I don’t think it’s the one what we can expect to happen.
About 2: This one, I think would be really nice to see. Because in this case, we have some kind of triangle… And, as television history tells us, at the end of the day, it’s the audience that ends up choosing, right? (Joey x Ross in Friends, Dawson x Pacey in Dawson’s Creek, etc). I imagined this theory based on that movie, “Definitely, Maybe”: The story there is very similar (a man telling his daughter how he met her mother, and we don’t know who the mother is. But, when we do figure who the mother is, we kind of wish it wasn’t her). This possibility gives us more things to talk about, more speculation, and it doesn’t take the surprise away, which is what all of us are waiting for!
Anyway, that’s the Season 9 I hope to watch! What do you think, Corina!?
That really sealed the Stella deal for a while there, didn’t it? It was just too perfect, but in the end I’m glad Stella wasn’t the mother. Knowing that she was a default pick, though, makes the whole exchange make sense.
Anyway, about your two surprise options!
1. I still really, really want her to be someone who has shown up before. Each episode that passes without reference to the missed date/milk girl gives that theory more credence in my book. The ends of that little storyline were left too undone to not tie up, in my opinion. But I would be happy seeing flashbacks where she was in the background, or instances where her and Ted almost met but didn’t quite. I need something to make her relevant to the ENTIRE story, and not just the last portion of it, you know? I may be expecting too much with that though. :)
2. I had not considered a love triangle like that for the end! It would have to be carefully executed, but they could potentially introduce even 3-5 women and keep us guessing til the end.
OOOOOH WHAT IF THEY BRING BACK MILK GIRL AND BUMP GIRL AND IDK ONE OF ROBIN’S FRIENDS FROM THE PILOT AND THEN WE HAVE TO FIGURE OUT WHICH ONE IS THE MOTHER?! Although to be clear ideally I want milk and bump to be the same girl.
Anyway, I love the idea of a late season 8 love triangle, and my only concern is if they have enough time to pull that off. Also any comment that references Dawson’s Creek automatically gets VIP status on my blog. There are no perks or anything it’s just me thinking that you are extra awesome.
i 100% believe that it’s bump girl, although i don’t recall the missed date/milk girl episode enough to comment on that one. i do feel that it’s highly likely that they’re the same girl, because i think Ted has had missed connections several times with the same woman (the Mother) throughout the years (like in the apartment when he sees only her ankle).
instead of them just revealing the mother in some “love at first sight” shot, it would be nice if future Barney stepped into the scene with the kids (even if it’s just VO and he’s offscreen) and did a “flashback summary” for us, like “So kids, you’ll recall from your Dad’s longwinded story, your Mom was roommates with … blah, blah, blah” and he recaps all the pertinent highlights, while we see each of those clips to show us how the missed connections ultimately led to the final reveal.
at least that’s how i would write it!
I love that idea! Barney’s speed-talking recap to Quinn could be employed here as well. That would also neatly tie up the whole Barney is dead in the future idea.
My best guess for season 9 is that it will go back over the entire show and touch on every moment when they almost met but didn’t quite. This would be the easiest (and in my opinion best) way to make the mother a meaningful part of Ted’s life, even before he officially met her.
Yeah, well… The reason why I’m so emphatic with the whole ‘not being a previous girl’ theory is because…. It really gets to me! I soooooo wish she were someone we’d seen plenty of times, but never taken into consideration (Someone like Wendy the Waitress, for example, you know? Nobody ever considered her for the mother, but at the end bum! Suprise!!! – I mean, I know it’s not her, she’s married to that loser guy who worked with Marshall… But you get the example, right?!).
But the writers are trying so hard to bring old girls this season… they are closing old deals, and… I’m taking it as a sign, yunno? I guess I’m trying to feel better about it, because that’s what I really want, but it is, the way I see it, very unlikely…. Anyway, if it is a girl we’ve seen before, many times, I’d love it! But…. I’m trying to go with conformity….. =(
And about the 2nd (Triangle suggestion), I’d never seen anyone talking about this, or any other fan discussing it in the forums…. So I don’t think it’s what will happen! I still hope that Carter and Bays read this, and like my idea…. lol
It seems more likely that she will be a character that has been in the same places as Ted, at about the same time, but we never actually saw her. I don’t like that idea best, but it seems like the easiest way for them to play this out. And I do feel like they are going for easy sometimes here, instead of the same effort that went into earlier seasons. But maybe I’m just jaded. :) But your 2nd triangle idea at least gives Ted something to do/reflect on beyond him just being weird about Barney and Robin’s wedding. I’ve seen enough of Ted panicking about life changes, I’m ready for him to actually do something.
I just found something very interesting Im pretty sure I saw a comment somewhere
here regarding the purse the Bump Girl has being similar to the one the girl aka “The Mother” has when she gets out of the cab in season 8 episode 1 Farhampton..
But get this looking closer at the pic from the purse from season 8 episode 1 Farhampton the one the girl has getting out of the cab is exactly the same as the one from season 7 episode 10 “Tick Tick Tick”
if you pause the episode Tick Tick Tick from season 7 episode 10 at the 2 minute with 08 seconds mark you can see a purse that is exactly the same as the one from Farhampton idk maybe its nothing but you never know..
Now keep in mind that the episode I watched is 21minutes 35seconds long so if you watch a longer o shorter version of the same episode you might need to pause at a different point its right after Ted says Groova Palooza!
I have both of the pics if youre interested!
I would love to see pictures, please send them over! You can email them to me if that’s easier – Corina@CorinaWrites.com.
Taxis are important in this show so you just may have something there!
I have sent you the pics, both of them are screenshots i took from the episodes..the purse in the episode TickTickTick from season 7 belongs to Lily as she carries it with her when she goes to the concert with Ted and Marshall. Maybe its nothing maybe it is, what do you think?
The fact that it is Lily’s purse throws me off, unless they somehow traded purses like they traded umbrellas. And there was a scene in season 1 when Robin thinks Ted is cheating on her (but it ends up being Barney as Ted Mosby, Architect) when she mentions stealing that girl’s purse. I’m going to think about this further for sure!
What did you think about the purses, exactly the same huh? I remember that episode..now it could just be another accessory thats available for the show or maybe lily and her cross paths while shopping for purses..are we going crazy over this purse thing or is there really something there? regarding the “something old” episode its obviously clear robin is not the mother of the kids but what if the show is trying to show us how good ted and robin fit together and maybe they end up together because the mom the actual mom of the kids dies or something like that..i personally don’t like the idea of ted and robin together it is just too boring..
They do seem to be the exact same purse but I don’t know if that’s just because they both came from the show’s prop department? Like maybe they just have purses that they randomly pair with character’s outfits.
I don’t like Ted and Robin together either – it is boring :)
The episode you were talking about is actually from season 2..Robin gives the bouncer her purse in order to find out where that girl that Ted is with lives.Robin mad at loosing her purse tells lily shes gonna kick that girls ass and steal her purse.
haha yes I love that episode and especially that moment. The way Robin says…and steal her purse! is just so early Robin badass, you know?
haha yeaa…regarding the last episode “Something new” lily tells Ted that the one is out there somewhere in new York walking in “some boots that she (lily) could ask to wear sometime, and what happens we see Cristin Milioti walking in some boots, idk maybe theres a lily-mother connection thing there, and now the whole purse thing takes an important meaning..
Now it doesn’t really matter too me im just too excited we got to see her and shes really cute..I just want for season 9 to begin :)))) HIMYM Rocks!!! :)))
sorry I cant stop smiling :)))) OMG!!! the mother reveal was awesome :))
Ted’s dream woman is basically a combination of Lily (his idea of the perfect wife, from what he has observed between her and Marshall), Robin (the independence and confidence that he is really attracted to), and his own mother (obligatory because we’re all trying to find or avoid our own parents in who we seek out as a partner). So far Cristin looks just like a combo of these women, and the character clues we have as of now fit the idea as well. To me she looks exactly how she should, you know?
Have you by chance ever heard the Hannah theory ? This is the theory that the Captain’s daughter, Hannah Van Smoot, is another candidate for being the mother. Hannah was the daughter who apparently didn’t like Zoey ( which is understandable considering how underhanded and manipulative she can be) and asked that her father come alone on Thanksgiving. Zoey ( who might have been trying to make amends ) was planning on giving her a stuffed turkey doll, but as we all know, was not invited. She was briefly mentioned on the Blitzgiving episode.
There are a few clues to the Van Smoot family in the show. For instance, Lily and Marshall were originally supposed to be married at the Van Smoot mansion. In addition, in the Robots vs Wrestlers episode, the snooty party they went to was for the “Van Smoot” party.
I have also heard theories that Lily introduces the Captain to Marshall’s mom and they get married. So, if Ted marries Marshall’s stepsister, then they could truly be “bros” and calling them Aunt and Uncle would be more than simple pet names for good friends.
Who knows, again the Hannah theory is just another silly theory out there. Might happen and it might not, but what a fun show to investigate such theories.
I have heard of this theory, but I don’t think anyone has mentioned it recently. I guess it was disregarded when Ted and Zoey broke up, but now that Lily works for the captain there is new relevance. And you’re right, Van Smoot has been prominent throughout the entire series, so that could be a really interesting connection.
I can’t, though, imagine Marshall’s mom with the Captain! I think she needs more of a man’s man, someone that can put away an entire Minnesota meal and then watch the Vikings game with her. Whereas the Captain is more into fancy art, his fancy boat, etc. I just can’t picture those two together, but hey, sometimes opposites do attract. It would be a surprise for sure, and I’m always interested in surprises!
The Hannah Theory should be added on the list, though, so I will get to work on that. Thank you for bringing it up!
Andnad says:
The Hannah theory makes a lot of sense since the episode of Blitzgiving focused on acted and then Barney being the Blitz. Ted missed out on an opportunity to meet Hannah when he was the Blitz as when he was the Blitz is when Zoey realized Hannah was not coming for Thanksgiving. Hannah with a rich eccentric father may have the similar qualities as Robin that Ted has become familiar with. It also explains the strange reinstroductiom of the Captain this season as it did seem somewhat out of context, and ties in The snooty Van Smoot party and the previous tenant of the apartment.
Also take a look at Robots vs Wrestlers and there is an actress named Brea Cola credited for the role “Hannah” at the party. Not to say this is the mother but another hint that the mother’s name and the connections relate to the mother being Hannah Van Smoot. George Van Smoot was introduced via Arthur Hobbs, Marhsall’s boss. We are then introduced to Zoey who crosses paths with Ted as we all know and mentions Hannah in the first place. There are references to the Van Smoot house, Jefferson Van Smoot and his party, the reintroduction of the captain and again interchanging with career paths of Lily and Marshall.
Veeeeery interesting. There are so many connections to the Van Smoots that it has to tie together somehow. I was going to say that perhaps The Captain was invited to the wedding, and he brought his daughter as his date, but then I remembered the mother is (duh) the bass player. So it would have to be some overlapping connections there…but if any show could/would do that, it’s HIMYM, am I right?
I’m becoming more and more intrigued by this idea! Thanks to all the commenters who have mentioned it. Must do more research and update ASAP…
Yeah I agree that Marshall’s mom and the Captain might me a stretch. However a few episodes ago, I think it was the episode where they reintroduced the Captain, something caught my attention. It was the insistence of Marshall to drive theCaptain’s boat. He just couldn’t stop talking about it. So who knows, maybe Marshall’s mom also has a love for boating and she and the Captain bond over that shared interest and hobby. In addition, being with the Captain could finally give his mom the confidence she has been needing. I say this based on her interactions with Lily and the insecurity she seems to have because she feels she isn’t cosmopolitan and cultured.
I don’t know. Maybe she even tags along with them to Italy to help Marshall out with Marvin.
Again, this is just a theory. Who knows that will actually happen.
Take a look at the picture of the kids above. On the shelves behind them to the right there is a boat. Maybe someone can check of this boat was in the Captain’s office. Also there are two wedding photos. Distinctively different. One I am guessing is the mother and Ted. The other has a groom wearing the same flower as Barney, meaning a picture from their wedding of where they met. There is also another picture that we assume is a family photo but it looks like potentially the mother on the right and robin on the left.
I always thought the family photo was Ted, the mother, and the two kids. That’s what it looks like to me anyway. The wedding pictures are likely both from Ted’s wedding – it’s not uncommon to frame and display multiple shots from the most important day of your life, you know? But it also makes sense that Ted would display wedding pics of his best friends. It would be most true to his character (in my opinion) for him to have framed pictures of both M & L and B & R.
The boat thing is interesting though! I’m really intrigued to see if/how boats and the captain play into things.
Take a look again at the wedding photos. The veils and the positioning of them are different. Also the liquor decanters are the same ones that were in Zooey and the Captains apartment and in the Captains office. Also (not including the pilot episide) there are multiple pictures of the kids online captured from the show but there are subtleties and differences with the items on the shelves, how they are positioned and items added). The boat as I can tell and the two wedding photos have always been there.
I am still trying to find more items.
I have a post with a shot of the kids from every episode they appear in. The changes in background decor are really interesting, but someone on Reddit explained to me that they aren’t changed in a consistent way. They filmed all of those scenes in advance, so now I guess the one they use just has the kids reacting in the right way, regardless of what items are behind them. It’s all really interesting but also a little overwhelming (thus why I haven’t published it yet lol)
Actually on your site you posted two good pictures as samples of what I was mentioning. One caption underneath the children in the pilot episode does not show the framed letter from Stella and the second wedding photo is obscured. The next photo comparing the letter behind the kids to the one in Stella’s home shows the letter behind the kids this time and a more of a reveal of the second wedding photo.
I think this is strategically done for each season. As you know the mother has already been filmed with the children for the season finale and this was done in season two. The filming of the kids for expressions was done that season and also to capture the clues.
I think the various objects in the background were designed to be both clues and red herrings, depending on how the show went. So that makes it hard to determine their significance. Maybe tonight will clarify? I hope so!
Loved last night’s episode! She will inevitably be a mix between Lily and Robin, Lily being his confidante and edgy like Robin. Great choice!
Also my thoughts on the background items on the shelf may be proving to unfold. Part of last night’s episode focused on the home and the empty shelves. We find out that the little red car on the shelf behind the kids in the future held Robin’s locket. Symbolic for Ted to keep this on the shelf. If he gives Robin the locket she will believe that is meant to marry Barney and Ted can let go, but for Ted it is a sign that is he is to facilitate and make this marriage happen.
As for the Friday and 56 hours to the wedding, looks like we have a clue that something will happen to the pastor at the wedding. Barney can’t step in (as we know he is ordained) so they will go through with a symbolic ceremony and probably marry later in city hall.
Wait what clues are there to something happening to the pastor? Not sure if I missed something there.
The locket symbolizes Robin’s heart so well. She buried it when she was younger, and without it she lost her soft and sensitive side. She didn’t want to get hurt and being treated like a girl was too weird for her for a long time. Then Ted ends up with it, accidentially, and he can’t get over her for years and years. Now it’s time for him to pass the locket on to a man that she wants to give her heart to – Barney.
That’s a good point about her feeling insecure and small town compared to Lily. They’ve always done such a good job balancing Lily’s insecurities at not being tall/conservative/Minnesotan enough for Marshall, and his mom’s insecurities at not being cultured, thinking she’s being replaced by Lily, etc.
Anyway, now that she’s had her fling with Lily’s dad, I suppose anything is possible. And The Captain is certainly a step up from Mickey! I don’t think they’re actually going to Italy but if they do that’s a plausable scenario.
The next episode I know Marshall is taking the baby to Minnesota for a family visit. Perhaps he talks her into coming with them ?
Oh and when you are doing your boat research remember…Boats Boats Boats, BOOOOOAAAAATTTTSSSS :)
That’s gonna be stuck in my head all day, and I don’t even mind!
Boats! Now it is stuck in my head.
One more thought. There is the comment above of a piece on the shelf that was located at Stella’s home. We know that Ted has not seen Stella in the series so far since she left with Tony to LA. How would Ted attain this? Here is another theory and the importance of Stella and the fate of the Universe. Ted was not meant to marry Stellla in his role in the Universe but reunite her with Tony Grafanello.
Tony being indebted to Ted as we recall said his family was well connected and rich, landing Ted the job at the University. I suspect that family is the Van Smoot family. Tony’s mother is related into the family such as a sister to the Captain. We have already been introduced to a Jeffrrson Van Smoot why not another? The mother is either the sister or cousin of Tony.
This may also tie in to the pictures from the Milk episode of the mystery date woman. One of the pictures depicts an older boy and younger girl whose faces are blocked out. Why block out the boy unless there is a connection through the boy on the show.
Tony and Stella will be back in the picture and that is how Ted gets the artifact on his shelf.
I’m not sure if the item seen in both Stella’s house and Future Ted’s house have to be the exact same thing. Meaning, perhaps Ted saw it at Stella’s, liked it, and bought his own. But that’s hard to say considering that it’s hard to read and could in fact be a personal memento. So it could go either way. I know originally it was placed as a clue to Stella being a potential mom but they could easily disregard it later on.
Tony being related to the Van Smoots makes sense! I like that idea quite a bit.
In terms of the missed date from Milk, all of the faces were blurred out, so it isn’t just the kids. I always thought they were maybe just what she or Ted imagined, but now I wonder if it is actually a picture of the mother and her own brother when they were younger. Or perhaps just friends of hers, idk.
I have a theory given the latest episode.
Maybe just maybe the mysterious woman ted meets is the mother of his kids but he isn’t with her. He could have a one night stand and the kids are twins.
Or more realistically she is a surrogate mother for Ted and robins. Heres why:
– Robin cant have kids
– Would explain why a long story and unusual meeting would be explained to the kids, also the amazing story of how he finally gets with robin.
– The Show hints at robin n barney not going through with it or could be unhappy if they do (maybe barney cheats on her?)
I’m unsure wether i would want this to happen or not, Do you think it would make a great ending or a bit disappointing?
Carter Bays would love us to hope it is Robin, but based on what future Ted calls Robin as Aunt Robin it is not. Next episode we will see that Robin gets her locket back either from her dad or Barney. The big change that they are alluding to is Ted officially moving out of the city into the completed house fortifying the separation of all the friends that each season hints at.
This year we saw a return of Robots vs Wrestlers in the Time Traveller episode. It was strong that we were meeting the mother. But this is also a string indication and reminder by the writers to go back to the Robots vs Wrestlers episode from season 5. Watch it again. Opening shows Lily wearing yellow and then later purple when attending the party. The majority of the flowers at the party are yellow and purple and they are mainly lilies. We are reintroduced to a Van Smoot connection as well and the coincidence of the former occupant of the apartment leading them to the party. The building was the Alberta building (again noting a connection and similarity of the mother to Robin) and Ted again like in the St. Patrick episode not acting like himself.
There is a dark haired girl in the episode, but I do not think this is the mother. The mother probably did attend this party after Ted left to see his doppelgänger. It is also this episode that he mentions the gang to go their separate ways but do attend every year for Robits vs Wrestlers. No one else attended this year because they were busy with their lives except Ted and the important part being the mother is still yet to come to attend with them. It will be the realization once Ted meets the mother who I am guessing is a Van Smoot relative that the wrestling match and this party will be the annual event every year for them.
The most recent episode where Ted tells Robin to stop listening to the Universe and signs is the way that Ted can finally let go and the mother can be introduced. In all these seasons we see Ted relying on signs and the Universe, but he when he does this , he is trying to control the outcome instead of letting it unfold. Now that he can let it go, the mother can be introduced and his faith in the Universe and signs restored when we see next seasons how all these incidents play out and the near misses of meeting the mother as Ted kept reading signs but all the wrong ones. This will be confirmed as happening to have faith for the audience when Ribin gets her locket.
As for Barney and Robin marrying, they will remain together, but there is a chance that they feel like staying as a couple without the overhang of the word marriage and will stil celebrate being together.
I’ve long been a fan of the theory that the mother was attending Robots vs Wrestlers. It just makes sense, given her paintings of robots playing sports. And that could explain all the color symbolism in that particular episode. But a Van Smoot connection also makes sense given what we’ve seen. I just don’t know!
I don’t see them going back to this party each year. Maybe Ted and the mother would go annually, but not the rest of the gang. I don’t think they would even be allowed back in after their hijinks!
Everything you said about Ted and controlling the outcome instead of letting things unfold is so on point. I’ve been seeing this in my own life, actually, so I felt a connection to Ted in that moment. I love the idea of the universe bringing us what we need, but I’m always trying to control the who and how and what and where of it. I need to either let go of the idea of destiny playing a role, or accept that it’s largely out of my hands.
I think – hope – that Barney will present the locket to Robin. If not, it should come from her dad. Either way, she’s decided this locket has symbolism, and I think she needs that final stamp of approval from the universe to calm her own insecurities. I wouldn’t be surprised if her and Barney do get divorced at some point, but still stay together. They aren’t the traditional type but they are so right for one another, you know?
Maybe its worth comparing ted (Time travellers) and robins (bad crazy) rings to see if they are the same?
Tricky part is that future Ted in Time Travelers was just current Ted’s imagination. So we can’t take anything of substance from him wearing a wedding ring in that scene, or Barney wearing a ring, because it’s just how Ted is thinking of it at the moment. NPH is so good at keeping his ring finger hidden in flash forward scenes that it is hard to tell!
I would love it if Robin was the one Ted ended up with. I don’t think it’s likely, however, since there is so much evidence to the contrary.
Honestly, it’s hardly our fault for thinking Robin and Ted will be together. The writers keep showing us over and over again that Ted understands Robin better than Barney does. And it just shouldn’t be like that if Barney and Robin are getting married. Plus, we’ve seen how everyone ends in up in the future EXCEPT Robin and Barney. I’ve always found that suspicious….
I’ve reluctantly come to accept the idea of Barney and Robin getting married, but I really don’t think they’ll go through with it. If all these heavy-handed hints being thrown at us mean anything, that is.
I think the writers have leaned too heavily on the “mystery” of Robin and Barney getting married. This show was originally focused on one central mystery, but it’s been heavily diverted to the R & B mystery in the past couple seasons. I’m kinda bored of it.
I would be much less bored if we didn’t play this Ted and Robin are into eachother again game every few episodes. I know that makes it somewhat true to life, but it also makes it repetative and effing boring as a sitcom after a while. Sometimes I wonder if they are just trying to mess with fans that still ship Ted and Robin together.
They’ve told us since literally the very beginning that Robin isn’t the mother. So why would I care about the back and forth between her and Ted if I already know the final outcome? Yes, his initial pursuit of Robin and their subsequent relationship was important. But it feels like lazy writing to bring back the SAME scenario over and over again.
I will say, though, that Ted rejecting Robin may be necessary at this point. If the mom is the “Milk” episode missed date, we have to remember that Ted initially rejected her in favor of pursuing Robin. Robin wasn’t a sure thing at all at that point, but Ted had faith and he went for it.
So now I guess we need to see Ted rejecting Robin, but this time going on faith that the right woman is out there and he will find her. It would be perfectly coordinated if that character is the Mother, because it demonstrates how it took all of this time (I suppose all this time with and without Robin) for him to realize that he wants his Mrs. Right, and not just the woman that seems right but really isn’t.
IDK, I could drive myself crazy with all this but at this point I better see some Ted shutting down Robin soon, so we all can move on!
Yeah, totally! When I saw the ending of “Something Old”, I was like “No! No, no no, no, no! Ted, you cannot do this to me! No! No, no, no!”
SOMETHING OLD SPOILERS ALERT!
Buuuut, after the heat of the crap-one-more-episode-to-the-finale-still-no-answers shock, I started thinking about the ending of the episode… I do think it’s necessary for Ted and Robin to have a REAL closing. Because, you see… Robin was shaken by Ted, early in season 7, in “Symphony of Illumination”, but then, she closed the deal in “No Pressure”, and then she was shaken again this week in “Something Old”. The same for Ted, who was shaken in “No Pressure”, then closed the deal in “The Final Page”, then was shaken again in “Band or DJ”, I mean, I know it seems lazy writting, and I get why it may look that way (I’m sick of it as well!).
But I think they’re trying to emphasize something they’ve already mentioned: Timing. As much as Barney and Robin’s timing to get together was never right (until it was), Ted and Robin’s timing to let each other go hasn’t been very good. They were never (for real), both, over each other at the same time, know what I mean?
I think the wedding crisis is gonna seal the timing problems that this triangle still has.
Besides, I think the “getting over Robin to be ready to meet somebody new” was always the story Carter and Bays were set up to tell… And, as the show was postponed, this story also had to be stretched, you know?
Have you read this text in Reedit?
http://www.reddit.com/r/HIMYM/comments/tnope/what_you_saw_tonight_all_makes_perfect_sense/
It says everything I think about the show! =)
Anyway… The point of this episode was to seal the “Something Old” hanging between Ted and Robin. They love each other, but they’re not IN love with each other. And I think it’s the moment both of them will start seeing it, brighter than ever. And if one really thinks that Ted doesn’t believe in the universe anymore, they’re probably one of the fans who still root for Robin to be the Mother: they obviously don’t know this show. The rain was a symbolism for them, taking us back to “Come On”, where “the universe” helped Ted get Robin for the first time. And I think it means something, specially considering the rain that is to come, at Barney and Robin’s wedding. =)
BTW, I thought it was awesome that L & M’s wedding episode names were “Something Borrowed” and “Something Blue”, and now B & R’s wedding episodes are “Something Old” and “Something New” I mean, it sucks that there are no related names left to Ted and Mother’s wedding, but anyway, awesome!!
I also enjoyed the rain symbolism for the beginning and ending of Robin and Ted’s romantic relationship. Sometimes when I watch that ending I feel like Robin is hoping for a kiss, but Ted seems hesitant. Other times it seems like she is just gripping on to his hand the way you do when your world is shaken and you need a friend to be your rock. Ted has always been there for Robin as a friend – just like he’s always been there for all his friends – and I imagine he would be enormously comforting. So I agree that the last episode sealed that T & R are something old, and both will secure their something new in tonight’s episode. I can’t wait!
do you think we’ll actually get to see who the mother is tonight, or will they just cliffhanger her info to next season’s premiere?
In my opinion, we will get a glimpse of her face. She won’t say anything, we won’t know her name, I don’t know if we will even see Ted introduce himself to her, but I have a feeling we will at least see what she looks like.
I’m thinking along those lines as well. Like perhaps it will seem really anticlimactic, but then next season we will discover all the ways that she connects with Ted. This could work for an unknown actress or someone really famous.
For me, it was both ‘i wanna kiss you’ and ‘you’re my best friend’. That’s the big deal breaker for Ted and Robin. They’ve never been able to quite see the line between these two feelings. Specially Robin.
Hey Tamiris, sorry for the late response! I completely agree that Ted and Robin seem incapable of acknowledging – or at least respecting – the line between those two concepts. Or maybe it makes more sense to say that they tend to disregard the third part that is important, which is the factor of wanting to share a life together. You can love someone as a friend, and want to kiss them all the time, but if you’re not looking for the same things then your future together is not too promising.
AARGH that would make me so mad! Mainly because the writers have been so emphatic about Robin NOT being the mother, and it would really bother me if they made that into a technicality. I think Barney and Robin do get married – but that’s based on comments from the writers, and some of what they said has gone back and forth. I guess I will feel kinda betrayed if they do that to the fans…get us all involved in the mystery and then, whoops, it’s just Robin, haha. No. I will not be amused. It would make for a shocking ending though.
Sorry, but I don’t think this is the case. In one episode, Ted says that Robin is many things but she was never a mother. To me that means that she is never a biological mother, adoptive mother or stepmother.
There has been some debate on this…some people think that when Robin said “pole vaulter” she meant biological mother able to get pregnant and carry a child. Other people think this covers all versions of motherhood, including having adopted kids, using a surrogate, etc.
I personally don’t think Robin is ever a mother in any form. I think her and Barney have an awesome life together, and they get their kid fix via Marvin (and any of his siblings, if any show up), and “Luke and Leia”. They seem like they would be happy with this limited degree of interaction. It’s still family, and they still get to babysit and play with the kids all the time, but they can also go home and drink Scotch and have crazy sex without worrying about waking up their own babies. Know what I mean?
See I have to watch the episode again. I thought I remembered Ted talking to his kids and listing all of Robin’s accomplishments and all that she has become but he said that Robin was never a mother. Hmmmm, maybe I remembered it wrong.
I also could be remembering it wrong so please let me know!
Ok you are right. In Ted’s narration, Ted told his kids that Robin never becomes a ” pole vaulter ” but a famous journalist, a successful businesswoman, a world traveler and a bullfighter. I interpret this as Robin never being a mother, but it could mean she never has biological children.
I interpret it as her never having been a mother in any sense as well. Plus that coordinates with how the kids drew pics of them spending time with Aunt Robin, so it works out.
I’m so glad you mentioned this!
not the point, i know – but ever since “symphony of illumination” i’m waiting for Robin’s trip to Spain.
Old Ted even says “that’s a funny story, I’ll get to that one later”
just like how at the end of season 2, Ted mentions all the places Robin traveled to, “even Japan for a little while”, and in early season 4, she does :)
season 9 should have at least one story set in Europe.. i’m crossing my fingers!
At this point I don’t have much faith that all the loose ends will be tied up. I think the writers are fine with leaving stuff like that up in the air. I, on the other hand, want to see every single thread resolved. It’s how I am, and I think the fans deserve to see everything they’ve been anticipating.
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Did you see the last episode? OMG
While not the same actress as the girl he bumps into at the bar, she does have a strong resemblence. I personally think that it was the mother he bumped in to.
I agree that it could be her! I’ve always wondered if they would use a different actress but still have her be the bump girl, the missed date, etc. The change in appearance could just be credited to Ted’s hazy memory. I’m going to do a whole post on that this week!
OMG I KNOW! I’m hoping next season we get to know her and how her and Ted have almost crossed paths in the past…
Oh my goodness. How awesome. She is adorable and how cute is it that she and Lily are the same size and can share boots.
I know! Adorable, seriously. She seemed pretty short but I can’t quite tell if she actually is?
she probably is on the shorter side, but oh well. I just thought she looked cute and already a good match for Ted looks wise.
Oh yes, I think she’s a great match for Ted in terms of looks. It’s not a bad thing that she’s on the shorter side, it just surprised me. I guess I was assuming she would be taller, not that I have a real reason for doing so lol.
Austin Snelling (@Austin_Snelling) says:
I can’t wait to see your updates over the summer!
Thanks, I will be busy protesting against the season 9 format and still proposing outrageous theories that might just be true! :)
New theory…
Her name is Robin, Barney and her get married, leading to Ted getting married to the original Robin. What a twist!
Oh Jerome…no. It would be quite a twist, but no :)
Sorry for being a stickler for dates and numbers, but i just gotta say – according to the finale, the wedding takes place on a Sunday – May 26th, 2013 – the 25th is Saturday.
That’s the day Ted meets the love of his life.
May 26th: The “International Mother’s Day” for the die-hard fans! :)
also, i noticed the finale starts a week before the wedding, which is about the time when the original wedding band cancels and Ted runs into Cindy and her wife on the subway (“band or DJ?”). Barney says that all the wedding plans are done, so maybe the cancellation and Ted’s subsequent subway meeting occure just before!
Five days later, the future Mrs. Mosby makes her way to Farhampton :D
So that would mean their nuptials are at 8;00 pm Sunday May 26th. More than enough time for things to go awry at the wedding.
according to my calculations the wedding starts at 6 pm that Sunday
(Fri 10 AM = 56 hours –> Fri 6 PM = 48 hours)
so yeah, plenty of time :) but enough time for a whole season??
will those 56 hours make the better part of season 9 ?
Unfortunately yes, they will. What do you guys think about that?
first, it might be a short season.. ?
also, we might get the mother’s perspective too at the end! or maybe that could be a TV special! guess i’m just fantasizing…
I know season 9 is going to be the first that isn’t chronological with its airing time, but i’m not protesting (yet!) – i’m putting my faith in the writers right now. this is probably the most important season for them, and even though things didn’t go 100% smoothly, i know they’re going to want to do this right – tying up 8 long years, telling the story they had set out to tell – i think and hope they’ll put everything they got into this one. fingers crossed!!
and just think, this time next year it will be over, no more. a sad thought, to me anyway.
I believe it has been confirmed that it will be a full season? I need to double check but that was part of my initial objection. A short season of maybe 5-10 episodes would possibly make sense all over one wedding weekend. A full season of 20-30 episodes on one wedding weekend feels like too much to me.
I worry that the writers aren’t actually all that into season 9. They seemed to have a good stopping point planned for season 8 as the series finale, and it seems like being forced to stretch it out into another season may have been detrminental to their vision.
But I don’t actually know them or what they’re thinking so I could be way off :) It is possible that they will do a bang up job of tying everything together across this weekend, but it will take tons of flash backs and forwards to satisfy me. It is important to me that I see Ted bond with the mother and see how they fall in love. Even if it’s love at first sight, there’s that wonderful honeymoon period where you’re so in synch with a new love and the world is so amazing. I’d like for Ted to experience that in a way that lets me see it!
You’re right, though, this time next year I will be wishing for more episodes even if they are crappy. :)
Apparently a crapload of things must go wrong at this wedding, to fill up an entire season! I’m hoping for flash forwards and flash backs but at this point I’m very distressed about how the wedding “weekend” is going to be handled.
I was a little confused about how that scene with Ted on the subway fit in the timeline. I also don’t really understand how Robin was in NY the night before Ted’s wedding to Stella. How did she manage to get there from Japan when on the wedding day we see her debating catching a flight.
I suppose the wedding weekend, if stretched over an entire season, could include a couple weekdays before and after. Like it starts on, idk, Friday night, and ends on Monday or Tuesday.
i don’t think the night Robin got drunk was the night before Ted and Stella’s wedding, at least i don’t remember it being mentioned in the episode.
Their wedding announcement was spontaneous – less than a week from the date itself, when Robin was already in Japan.
but Ted and Stella got engaged months before that and spent the summer being engaged, so i think Robin’s freak-out was sometimes after, when she saw how serious they were, a little before she left for Japan.
as for season 9 unfolding.. we’ll just have to wait for this Fall. the writers LOOOVE messing with timelines, so who knows what tricks they have up their sleeves?
I think you must be right about the timing of Robin’s drunken pity party. Nothing else really makes sense. I’m sure however season 9 unfolds I will have a whole lot to say about it, so stay tuned everyone!
John Eddy Egbert says:
After reading all the theories, im surprised how much effort went to try and identify the mother.
SPOILERS*
the mother is Cristin Milioti
* SPOILERS
This article was posted almost a year and a half ago. I haven’t been able to update it this week because I’m dealing with some personal stuff. Thanks for being that guy, though.
Thanks :) It’s been a rough couple weeks but focusing on all this HIMYM drama is a great distraction!
a fun distraction indeed!
Corina, I enjoy your blog so much, and so many others as well – and hope you’re doing well!
Thanks! It’s mostly just money worries that I’m dealing with. Obviously not having money is a huge problem, but I prefer these types of struggles over health issues, trouble with family, etc. So I’m just trying to be grateful for what I have :)
Betrand-Russel says:
I think a good explanation for the blurred-out face of the Milk-Girl in the 10 pictures is that Ted isn’t allowed to the face until he pays the 500$ to LoveSolutions (otherway he could perhabs identify the girl without paying). Or LoveSoultions doesn’t want to ruin the “First Moment” with showing both date-attentands pictures.
Corina, you seem to know everything about HIMYM, what do you think about following:
If we want to know which connection the mother and Ted have, we just have to figure out how Carter Bays met his wife Denise Cox and which connection the both had.
We know that the character Ted is based on writer/producer Carter Bays*. The other Producer Craig Thomas (=Marshall) is together with his wife (=Lilly) since freshman year, just like Marshall and Lilly**! And we know that Ted’s Wife loves lilacs (S6DVD); if we check Coxs Twitter-Account***: there are tons of lilcas! So we just have to figure out, which relation Bays and Cox had before their meeting and how they met. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a lot about her until now in the internet. :-(
* http://how-i-met-your-mother.wikia.com/wiki/How_I_Met_Your_Mother
** http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2006/04/craig_thomas.html
*** https://twitter.com/Denise_Cox
That’s what I thought about the Milk pictures, but it still doesn’t explain a random picture of children that would be in her file. When he originally went to the matchmaker and tried to track down his almost match, I know he was able to see her name on the report that he stole. I don’t know if it included a picture?
But in “Milk”, he must have paid for the info, because he is able to contact her, ask her out, arrange a date, and then cancel it. So he’s gotta know at the very least her first name and phone number.
I don’t think Cristin Milioti resembles those pictures at all, but that still leaves room for the pics to be Ted’s mental pictures of her. It’s hard to think up a brand new face for someone that you’ve never seen before, you know? Like even right now I was thinking, hmm, can I imagine a hot guy that could be my soulmate? (Only for the purposes of getting in Ted’s head, of course…or not) Anyway, it’s super difficult to imagine a face out of the blue. It always ends up kinda blurry or just a composite of other faces of people you know, celebrities, etc.
I read on Tumblr that your brain can’t dream of faces you’ve never seen before. I don’t know if it’s true but it would make sense for this scenario.
As for Denise Cox, I have wondered the same thing myself! I’ve done some minor snooping online and couldn’t find much to work with either. It would be fascinating to find out how much of the love story was based in truth, and how much developed in the show.
Nerak says:
I watched an obscure HIMYM panel interview video on Amazon Prime this weekend. The panel was C&C and the cast and director. In real life season one had recently finished airing.
One of the first things C&C disclose is the VERY importance of rain-then they stop themselves and say they probably shouldn’t say any more about it.
Also, for any lingering Robin-Ted fans, they said from the inception (and they were close to the inception of the show at that point!) Robin and Ted were not going to wind up together-that part of the tension of show was us loving both of these characters but never seeing them get together.
I need to go back and see each rain scene-esp. the most recent of Ted and Robin in the park looking for the locket …
it would be nice to make a compilation of all the rain scenes!
BTW, i’m re-watching the early season these days and looking back it’s very clear that Ted and Robin don’t work (aside from the obvious – revelation at the end of the pilot and the fact they want different things for theri futures).
They love each other, and adore different traits about each other, but they’re not compatible.
Not to sound overly simplistic, but for example Ted has this big nerdy part of him that Robin doesn’t really appreciate, not to mention the romantic side she’d say is “cheesy” – and Robin has these more independent, “masculine” traits and hobbies that Ted doesn’t really appreciate. She is also quite vain, similar to Barney in a lot of ways, and has a lot of quirks that only Barney “gets” or thinks are attractive – there are hints of that throughout all the seasons so you know these two are meant to be.
I don’t know why i opened this up right now, but anyway – i feel almost like T&R have a very strong foundation to the relationship but are not compatible, whereas B&R are very compatible but have a shakier foundation, which is feeding Robin’s doubts about their future.
I like the way you describe the relationships in terms of foundation. Sometimes a good foundation seems and feels like it should be enough, but it just isn’t. And sometimes a relationship with a shaky foundation somehow works better than one on solid ground. I think the show has done a great job of demonstrating Robin and Barney’s compatability all the way back to season one, and slowly building it up more as episodes passed. I guess that’s a foundation of sorts, right?
Compilation of rainy episodes, coming right up:
01×22 – Come On
03×12 – No Tomorrow
04×22 – Right Place, Right Time
05×12 – Girls vs. Suits
07×09 – Disaster Averted
08×01 – Farhampton
08×23 – Something Old
Feel free to add stuff, I may have forgotten sth! =)
I wonder if snow scenes are similarly important? Then we could add in Three Days of Snow and…actually I don’t recall if there are other snow episodes. I know there must be but none are coming to mind. Also I believe it rained in “Swarley” but that may have just been a scene where Chloe the coffee shop girl was holding an umbrella.
Tamiris says:
I don’t think there was ever a strong link to snow in the show. it would be worth to take a look, though…
But, see… practicly all the episodes we have strong clues about the mother include rain…in “Come On” and “Right Place, Right Time”, the clues are not clear, but I think the connection is clear – On he first one, Ted finally gets Robin, showing the link Robin and Ted still have on the day he meets the Mother; and on the second one, he gets the job that leads him to Cindy….
It might be worth to check snow episodes, I’ll tell you if I find anything! ;)
You’re spot on with the rain scenes connecting to the mother. I don’t think my snow theory has legs :)
Very interesting, especially since it was from so long ago! I wish more people would believe them about Ted and Robin though :)
Corina, I was watching the Last scenes of Episode 24 and is Marshall waiting for Ted and Lily to pick him up at the airport or is he at a train station?
Marshall could be the first one to meet the mother during the wedding weekend if they are both at the train station together.
Not sure if New York airport is a train station hop away from Farhamton? Just a thought.
Those who are hung up on Ted and Robin need to understand the relationship.
Up until Ted starts Dating the Mother Robin is still Ted’s Closest female best friend. This bond has been outside the couple intimacy that they once shared.
If I had an old girlfriend that was still involved in my life 1) My wife and I must be very secure in our relationship. I think Ted will be. 2) Robin must be a very close friend of the Mother as well. I think she will be because the Mother is very likable. 3)Something must change in Ted’s life to help him completely let go of the romantic notions he has towards Robin. I think that has happened for the most part. We are missing one thing. 4) Someone Ted can focus all his romantic interest into… Now we as the audience have seen her. In Band or DJ Ted will see her. We know the ending.
That story is over. Ted will Love no one else the same way he will Love the Mother. I hope we get to that this season.
I got the impression that Marshall is at the Minneapolis airport with his brother, but you are right, Marshall could be the first one to meet her.
I think that Brenda is right, and Marshall is at the airport. But him traveling does indicate that he is likely to meet her first. I know nothing about New York geography, so I don’t know if it is logical that Marshall would use the train to get from the airport to Farhampton. BUT since Farhampton isn’t actually a real place, it could easily be made to work out.
And I agree with everything you said about Robin. :) I also agree about hoping we get to see the relationship develop next season – it’s what I’ve been waiting for!
I know. Everytime people mention Ted and Robin I feel like Regina George and want to say ” Ted and Robin isn’t going to happen. Stop trying to make Ted and Robin happen.”
Ted and Robin are so not fetch!
PS please link us to the video if you are able to?
Coolboy892 says:
Not sure if anyone else mentioned this, sorry if it has. Just wanted to see what others felt about this observation. This has to do with the “Ted or The Mother is dead” theory. Let me just start of by saying that I would hate for one of them to be dead, and there are also many good reasons for neither of them to be. That being said, on to my observation.
So. This was the song played in Season 8 Episode 1, when The Mother is shown under her yellow umbrella (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMFWFhTFohk). As the name implies, it is a pretty deep song about a funeral. Something else that I found worth noting was how the “Farhampton” sign was shown, then a thunderstorm suddenly started and we fast forward to moments before Ted meets The Mother. The song choice, combined with the storm effect, really struck (see what I did there) me. Now this could mean nothing of course, but it is worth noting.
Now. This was the song played in the Season 8 Finale, when we finally meet The Mother (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoLTPcD1S4Q). In the music video, the Father is reading his last will to his children. Two songs about death during 2 important points where we meet The Mother? Again, this could just be coincidence, but woah.
Of course, there are many reasons that point to Ted and The Mother being alive in the future, which I hope is true, but I just wanted to put this out there and see what others felt.
tl;dr: 2 songs were played when we met the mother, both were about death.
The guys over at http://ted-mosby.com/ were talking about this recently as well. I’m not sure if they came to a consensus, though, because some were saying the songs weren’t really all that much about death, but the videos were. I think it’s really interesting symbolism regardless. It imparts a sense of finality and intrigue to the mother discovery, and that’s what the show is all about, right?
promo season 9!
ani0227 says:
the tracy theory probably isnt possible. barney hit on a blond dancer named tracey at the end of season 4 i believe in “the leap”. i doubt they would reuse the name. Barney told the girl he was the producer of the rockettes or something.
I believe Barney also had a secretary named Tracy in season 1 or 2. So I agree that they’ve overused the name already and it isn’t likely to be The Mother’s name. Also when I look at her I do not see a Tracy. I see her as maybe: Erin, Laney, Caitlin, Becca, Mary, or Sara. I have no real logical basis for these though :)
allisonsarah says:
If it’s purple, someone’s gonna die.
http://www.amazon.com/Its-Purple-Someones-Gonna-Die/dp/0240806883/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1378960579&sr=8-1&keywords=if+it%27s+purple+someone%27s+gonna+die
No bueno!
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I have something about the Carly theory and the C+C that is (supposedly) in Cindy’s room. (I say supposedly because I haven’t seen it, but I’m not very observant :) )Think to S6E1. The girl that Cindy is with and eventually marries is named Casey. That would be C+C. I don’t know if this holds any weight, but it’s a possibility.
I am very observant and I’ve never spotted it, so I have my doubts as to whether it actually exists. That being said, though, it makes much more sense for it to be Casey. Good looking out!
daneparker says:
Epic article! I think her name will be Daisy by the way due to season 9 episode 20’s title ;)
I thought that too, but then I thought it was too easy. So now I’m not sure. Someone on Reddit said that a daisy looks kinda like a yellow umbrella, so perhaps that will come into play?
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saulo lima lemos says:
I believe she’s captain’s daugther. I can’t believe she’s milk girl because she can’t be in college in 2013 and also it’s likely impossilbe she and ted are the same age
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Corina, go ahead and take Bump Girl off the list. Per Video just watched she is not The Mother. http://www.ign.com/videos/2014/01/24/how-i-met-your-mother-love-of-your-life
nick letterese says:
I think Daisy is the name of the umbrella. The mother has a strong connection to it, which is why she was so panicked when she lost it. And it’s yellow.
I just don’t see them revealing the secret in an episode title ahead of time. Also I think it was just established that the name isn’t revealed until the last episode? Which occurs well after the Daisy episode. I really don’t know though! I have seen it suggested that Daisy is Robin’s mother and she shows up for the wedding. That would be an interesting development.
you are probably right…i may be reading too much into it, this show is starting to make me crazy..i usually like to figure out the end before it happens… however on a side note, i have found out that the actress Mariangela Pagan is credited as “Mother” in the Rally episode. I know at this point it could mean anything from Ted’s wife in the future, just a mother that happens to be there or maybe even robins mother. thoughts?
I rewatched the entire episode looking for this actress/character and couldn’t find anything. Did I miss something? Did anyone see her? I can only assume it’s someone from the Weekend at Barney’s wedding pictures. There were some randoms in there that I couldn’t quite identify. I will find some good size screen caps and do some analysis if possible!
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UGHHH! This show is killing me. I figured out that she is the mother in the flash forward to 2016 and barney and robin wake up in Buenos Aires in 2016.
Thank you for figuring that out – I don’t know why that didn’t occur to me!
I wanted to post this as soon as possible and I hope I get a response from you soon before the show ends..
I can go ahead and confirm that the mother is indeed dead by 2030,,
Here is why i believe/know this is true..
In the episode how your mother meet me,,we see things from the mothers perspective,,as the mother is the telling the story of all the close calls she had with Ted,,we see her tell those stories to who later would become her room-ate Cindy instead of her telling her kids like Ted does,,This happens twice first with her room-ate and then with Lois her last bf before Ted..HIMYM begins with Ted telling his kids,,”kids I’m going to tell you a story,,the story of how i met your mother” I would like to believe the mother would have started her story the same way ted does but she doesn’t,,why didn’t she?
We could have easily seen a flash-forward in the how your mother met me episode but we didn’t,,crazy huh!! now in the last episode “Rally” we saw a flash-forward with the mother,,ted and the kids,,but the kids were very small meaning that probably the mother was only with them for a few years before she passed..
A.Too far off,not buying it
B.Wow!! Spot On
C.Stop! you are making me cry
D.Interesting its a thinker
E.Now i don’t know the meaning of life,,is red really red?
I don’t think that your theory CONFIRMS that the mother is dead, but it does offer some good reasons why we could guess that. It seems like they are really playing up this angle, so avoiding having her narrate the episode – and avoiding scenes from 2030 where she is clearly alive – draw out the mystery. I can’t really emotionally process the concept of someone being dead so for this week I’m assuming it’s just a ruse. If she is dead I will absolutely own up to being wrong :)
She can’t be 28 in 2013 and born in 1994. Math doesn’t add up.
You are correct about the math but I don’t know what this is in reference to. This post is so long and has so many comments it gets confusing! If there is a typo will you clarify so I can fix it please? Thank you!
Thank you for all your work on this website. I’m on overdrive trying to make sense of what is known so far and predict what might happen.
On Amazon Prime video there is this offering. It was filmed right after the wrap of the first season. Early on either C or C talks briefly about the importance of rain.
I wonder if you compared the color theory and looked at the times it rained, if that would be even more telling? Think of all the major HIMYM relationship moments that happened in the rain.
http://www.amazon.com/How-Met-Your-Mother-Creators/dp/B004EPS9UK
I haven’t been able to find a solid connection between the color scheme and the rain, but it’s something I will absolutely look further into. That may just be my next project!
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Remember the episode where Ted was suppose to fly to Chicago with Robin but didn’t because they were late and missed the flight..
Robin and Ted try too figure out why they missed the flight, and it turns out it was teds fault, because he found a penny on the train,,,well what if it was the mother that dropped the penny and that caused ted to stay and eventually meet wouldn’t that be AWESOME!!!
The writers confirmed that they named her Penny after the episode “Lucky Penny”, and we have learned that both Ted and The Mother are into coins…so this is a viable theory for sure! We will find out shortly :)
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Online Marketing 101: How to Create a Killer Meme
Create a Killer Meme
A Meme is like a message in a bottle, except that it is set afloat on the internet. Funny, tender or downright raunchy, these pictures combined with brief captions capture the eye as they wash up on the homepages of social media users.
Marketers are paying attention to the phenomenon of killer memes, the kind that make thousands of amused readers on social sites, such as Facebook, spread the message rapidly across the cyber seas by clicking on 'share' buttons.
Great memes entertain viewers. From a creative marketing viewpoint, the best ones cause viewers to click-through to the websites that they help brand. A Killer meme can cause readers to take action, such as subscribing to a website, making a donation or purchasing goods and services.
Attracting Consumers Instead of Lawsuits
Much that goes viral on the internet does so by happy accident. But it is far from an accident when a well-designed, cleverly written meme attracts consumer attention. There are, however, legal matters to consider so that your killer message doesn’t inspire a killer case of copyright infringement.
Online meme generators offer an abundance of images that appear to be free. But this isn't a safe assumption if you are using the images to make money. At the Corporate Counsel website, intellectual property lawyer Scott J. Slavick says that if you want to use a popular image, you need to determine whether it is protected by copyright or trademark that requires licensing fees.
If the meme you've constructed is a composite of materials from different copyrighted sources, such as the combination of a quote from a book and a photo, you need licenses to use both as well as permission to combine them.
Accessing Public Domain Materials
Use of public domain materials, such as many Library of Congress photos, generally avoids copyright problems and offers plentiful opportunities for creative marketing designs. For example, an animal shelter could create a meme from the Library of Congress file photo Man and dogs on rail cart trip from Shelton to Nome, because it is cataloged as having 'no known restrictions on publication.'
Sometimes free photos from sites such as Morgue File or Creative Commons are referred to as being in the public domain. But that's inaccurate. Free photo sites may require users to obtain permissions from the photo creators, which is not the case for most Library of Congress photos, especially ones from the 1920s and earlier.
Also, Morgue File notes that if a free photo is used without significant alteration, attribution is necessary along with permission from the photographer. So if you create a meme using one of the website's free images and mark it with your name or the name of a client company, you also likely will need to add the photographer's name.
Many resources are available for putting together a meme with 'unambiguously public domain' images, according to the Public Domain Images Online website. However, your own original materials are probably the least ambiguous and safest solution to avoiding intellectual property infringement.
Building Brand Through Memes
To transform an image into a well-branded meme, the caption attached to it should be brief, pithy and relevant to the website with which it is connected. For example, in talking about questions of clear communication, website Mainstreethost creates memes to demonstrate how to write short captions about complicated ideas.
"One semicolon?" asks the caption above the shining bald pate of Pawnstars' Rick Harrison. "I'll give you two closely related independent clauses for it," is the answering caption beneath his goatee.
Returning to the animal shelter example, one meme currently being circulated shows a dog with a trusting look on his face and the caption “Be the person your dog thinks you are.” It’s gently funny yet also helps shelters transmit their essential message that people should be kind to animals.
Grammarly memes are a good example of funny, effective brand builders. The company's interactive marketing strategy is to lure viewers to the its website with humorous memes clarifying common writing mistakes. The more viewers share the meme, the more people head to Grammarly for help with their writing.
Of course, killer memes can't be effective if they aren't backed up by quality service, something for which the Grammarly website has received praise along with about 550,000 subscribers by early 2013.
Adding A Watermark
It may seem too basic to mention, but if you want a meme to build brand, it has to contain the name of the website it wants viewers to visit. This is called watermarking and requires installation of an application on your computer or mobile devices. The app may be a photo editor containing the extra ability of marking photos or it may simply create watermarks and embed them through a photo editor to which it links.
As one popular meme character -- the Y U NO man -- might say about lack of watermarking, 'Y U NO tell me your brand?'
Alicia R is a freelance writer available on WriterAccess, a marketplace where clients and expert writers connect for assignments.
Artisan Talent is a Digital, Marketing and Creative Staffing Firm placing talent in jobs perfectly matched with their skills all over the US. For available jobs, to submit your resume, or learn more about working with Artisan Talent, contact us here.
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Tag: geek radio daily
My Plans for Dragon*Con 2011
August 29, 2011 March 29, 2014 Michael FalknerLeave a comment
It’s time for Dragon*Con again, and I’m branching out a little bit more this year. Come find me and say hello!
I’ll be on the following panels:
A Little Cheeze With Your Syfy? on Friday at 10:00am, American Science Fiction Media (ASFM) track
Eureka: Café Diem on Friday at 10:00pm, ASFM
Superheroes on the Screen on Saturday at 11:30am, ASFM
BSG Universe – Evolution on Sunday at 1:00pm, ASFM
A Side of Mayhem With Your SF and Fantasy? on Sunday at 10:00pm, ASFM
Mormonism in Science Fiction on Monday at 10:00am, Star Wars (SW) track
Otherwise, I’ll be bouncing around the con having a wonderful time. I’m also planning on attending the Geek Radio Daily recording on the Podcasting track, Friday at 7:00pm.
If you're going, I hope to see you there!
Dragon*Con Schedule
September 1, 2010 July 28, 2011 Michael FalknerLeave a comment
Here’s where I’ll be during Dragon*Con this year.
Military in Sci-Fi: 4:00p, Marriott A704
I’ll be a panelist for this discussion about the use of military in science fiction and if it is a crutch or good planning.
The 2010 Parsec Awards: 4:00p, Hilton Regency V
The Scapecast is up for their third Parsec against some pretty stiff competition. I’m also there to support my fellow podcasters. The ceremony runs 2.5 hours.
“Browncoats: Redemption”: 7:00p, Peachtree Ballroom Westin
The world premiere of a highly anticipated fan film set three months after the events of Serenity. (2.5 hours)
Mighty Fine Shindig!: 10:00p, Peachtree Ballroom Westin
I had a lot of fun last year at this party for Browncoats.
Scapecast Live Show: 11:30a, Hilton 204
I’ll be on the panel with my friends from the show, Kevin Bachelder, Lindy Rae, and Wendy Hembrock.
“Farscape: Uncharted Territory?” 4:00p, Hilton Regency Ballroom
Fellow Scaper Angela Dean has the opportunity to interview Ben Browder, Raelee Hill, and Virginia Hey.
Geek Radio Daily Live: 7:00p, Hilton 204
I’ve recently become a fan of GRD, and I look forward to meeting this lively bunch. Rumor has it that Corin Nemec (Parker Lewis Can’t Lose, Stargate SG-1) will be a special guest.
Imagine Greater: 8:30p, Marriott A704
I’ll be on a panel with fellow sci-fi fans discussing the merits of Syfy’s Saturday night B-movies.
Aside from that list, I’ll be attending various other panels, hanging out with family and friends, and wandering about having a grand geeking time. For those of you who can’t be there, I’ll miss you and hope to see you next year.
If you will be there, come on by and say hello. I’m always willing to meet new friends.
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Organisations: University of Queensland - eResearch Group Tags: census
Socio-economic variables by UCL for Australia
Socio-economic variables of Urban Centres and Localities in Australia (2006). The variables were derived from 2006 census.
Location Quotient (LQ) by UCL for Australia
Location Quotient of Urban Centres and Localities in Australia (2006). The variables were derived from 2006 census.
Demographic variables by UCL for Australia
Demographic variables of Urban Centres and Localities in Australia (2006). The variables were derived from 2006 census.
Socio-economic variables by LGA for Australia
Socio-economic variables of Local Government Areas in Australia (1996-2006). The variables were derived from 2006, 2001 and 1996 census.
Shift share variables by LGA for Australia
Shift share variables of Local Government Areas in Australia (1996-2006). The components derived from shift share analysis of employment change 1996-2001-2006 include industry...
Location Quotient (LQ) by LGA for Australia
Location Quotient of Local Government Areas in Australia (1996-2006). The variables were derived from 2006 census.
Demographic Variables by LGA for Australia
Demographic variables of Local Government Areas in Australia (2006). The variables were derived from 2006 census.
Socio-economic variables by SLA for Australia
Socio-economic variables of Statistical Local Areas in Australia (1996-2006). The variables were derived from 2006, 2001 and 1996 census.
Location Quotient (LQ) by SLA for Australia
Location Quotient of Statistical Local Areas in Australia (1996-2006). The variables were derived from 2006 census.
Demographic Variables by SLA for Australia
Demographic variables of Statistical Local Areas in Australia (2006). The variables were derived from 2006 census.
The Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE) variab...
BITRE variable of Statistical Local Area in Australia (2006). The following variable was derived by BITRE using 2006 census: 2006 data on share of employed residents working...
LGA Industry Sectors 2001 - 2006 - 2011 for Australia
Industry sectors of Local Government Areas in Australia (2001-2011). The variables were derived from 2011, 2006 and 2001 census.
Socio-Economic Variables by PBC for 2004 Australian federal election
Socio-Economic variables of 7574 Polling Booth Catchments (PBCs) in Australia. The CCDs at the 2001 Census of Population and Housing were spatially allocated to a nearest...
Location Quotient (LQ) by PBC for 2004 Australian federal election
Location Quotient of 7574 Polling Booth Catchments (PBCs) in Australia. The CCDs at the 2001 Census of Population and Housing were spatially allocated to a nearest polling booth...
Demographic Variables by PBC for 2004 Australian federal election
Demographic variables of 7574 Polling Booth Catchments (PBCs) in Australia. The CCDs at the 2001 Census of Population and Housing were spatially allocated to a nearest polling...
Socio-Economic variables of 7500 Polling Booth Catchments (PBCs) in Australia. The SA1s at the 2011 Census of Population and Housing were spatially allocated to a nearest...
Location Quotient of 7500 Polling Booth Catchments (PBCs) in Australia. The SA1s at the 2011 Census of Population and Housing were spatially allocated to a nearest polling booth...
Demographic variables of 7500 Polling Booth Catchments (PBCs) in Australia. The SA1s at the 2011 Census of Population and Housing were spatially allocated to a nearest polling...
University of Queen... (25)
AURIN API (25)
federal election (12)
polling booth catch... (12)
location quotient (7)
locality (3)
industry sectors (2)
industry mix (1)
national share (1)
regional shift (1)
residents working i... (1)
shift share (1)
total shift (1)
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International Core Team
DataEthics – The New Competitive Advantage
Data Ethics Tools
Digital Selfdefense
European Data Ethics Forum 2019
Data Control – monopoly or individual control; event
Public presentation by the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy
Building Digital Trust
Understand the Market for Privacy
Predictions All Over
By Pernille Tranberg on 2019-01-27
Blog. Anything that can be predicted will be predicted. Such were the words in one of many events in Davos during World Economic Forum 2019. Artificial intelligence, privacy and ethics and data for good use were among the hot topics in the Swiss mountain city.
“We are entering the age of prediction. Anything that can be predicted will be predicted. And we are getting better and better at accuracy.”
The words are Igo Tulchinsky’s (to the left on the picture). He is the founder, chairman and CEO of Worldquant, an investment firm with750 employees spread across 26 offices in 16 countries.
His company was hosting an event on predictions in the Hard Rock Cafe Hotel in Davos together with Jacquelline Fuller from google.org and Robert kirkpatrick (second to the left), who’s director of the UN Global Pulse. According to Igor Tulchinsky the definition of prediction is; A forecast about the future based on the past. And the necessary level of accuracy depends on the area.
“In finance 51% accuracy is fine. In health, you want it higher,” he says.
And Robert Kirpatrick added to this: “When we talk starvation we talk weeks, when we talk malnutrition, we talk months. And in yet another situations it is about days.”
Davos from the top of Hard Rock Cafe Hotel
Robert Kirkpatrick has 75 data scientist sitting in New York city working with predictions. They can predict hunger by usage of the phone. Outbreaks of deceases by mobility info. Shipping data to detect rescue events and to help authorities be better prepared for refugees. They map hate speech on social media and hope to draw a global real time map of dicrimination around the world. They also want to build a system on vulnerability to natural disasters.
According to Kirkpatrick privacy is fundamental in all data predictions, and as a UN institution working with data only for the good, it is not tempting to compromise the use of personal data to make money.
“We constantly focus on privacy,” he said and on the question of how to make sure data is anonymised he asked; “What is an acceptable risk of re-identification versus the risk of detecting a disease?”
He believes that telcos have some fine standards for anonymisation that other organisations and business could learn from.
Also read the Society of the Destination Machine of the Algoritmic God(s)
Privacy Over Individual Personalization
DataEthics on The International Agenda
Privacy is Persistent in 6 Mega Trends
First European Ethical Charter on AI in Judicial Systems
Google Fined And Accused For Privacy Deprivation
About dataethics
DataEthics is a politically independent ThinkDoTank based in Denmark with a European (and global) outreach. We work to promote data ethical products and services
ThinkDoTank Dataethics
© 2018 Dataetisk Tænkehandletank - Grafisk design PAWs FABRIK
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Diana Kupke Writes
All about Diana
Crankiness
Val's Story
Hovey
Nell's Story
George's Story
Odd Bits
Seventeenth Archive
Items from 20 October 2014 to 1 May 2015
24 April to 1 May 2015
Pudgeon is a company in Turkey which is endeavouring to help feed the huge number of cats and dogs in Istanbul with vending machines. People deposit recyclable plastic bottles and the machine releases food and water at ground level for animals. Money from the recycled bottles buys the food.
This is the Barky Turntable, a limited number of which have been produced by Audiowood.
This photo-voltaic sculpture in Oregon is made from numerous layers of translucent fibreglass which is embedded with LED lights. The whole thing circles a steel pole and a solar panel at the top brings batteries to life. Created by Dan Corson who has made four of these sculptures.
17 February to April 23 2015
This is my fifth site, I needed to make my old site responsive so I decided to change the look entirely. Having been colourful and bright for years I have now decided, because I love the three photographs of my children taken by my brother, photographer Dale Mann, many years ago, to go to black and white.
And so for the past six weeks this is what I have been doing because my site is very large and I had to include new coding.
I would appreciate feedback, criticisms etc.
Thumbs drive!
17 February to 15 March 2015
Body parts used in odd ways are very effective. And these thumb drives really are thumb drives.
A cartoon can often present a moral issue in a way which confronts, even more than pages of text. This cartoon is by Vin Paneccasio who works in California as a cartoonist, storyboard artist, character designer and illustrator.
Absolutely no comment. Positively and absolutely.
Golden and Purple Moth
The Enigma moth is very small and also very pretty with gold males and metallic purple females. It was recently found on Kangaroo Island and is a new family of moth. So far it has only been found at one site, on one type of native pine tree.
Dermatographia is a condition whereby marks can be formed on skin and, as above, photographer Ariana Page Russell, who has this condition, uses her own flesh as a canvas.
27 January to 16 February 2015
My new found cousin, Lorna, has retired from fulltime work and is now using her time to run A Gift of Sox which aims to collect socks for homeless men.
Here is her story. The seed for A Gift of Sox was planted about twenty years ago when a homeless man wandered into my retail outlet "Leather Plus". Mervyn had arrived in Victoria from Queensland. In Victoria the month of June is very cold especially in Melbourne where Mervyn was living and sleeping in a wheely bin, he had no shoes just thongs so I offered to buy shoes for him.We went to the shoe outlet, the salesgirl gave Mervyn socks to put on before trying the shoes,Mervyn looked puzzled and asked me, what do I do with these?
When I retired in 2013 I wanted a project that was both satisfying and worthwhile so the seed that was planted twenty years ago was born and named A Gift of Sox. My mission is to supply homeless men living in Victoria with new socks. Before starting I did research to make sure there was a need and also investigated the legal implications of such a project. The Department of Justice advised me I could only work within Victoria as I was not a registered charity and any cash donations must not add up to more than $10,000 within a given year, gifts of socks do not count. I don't ask people for money as I would much prefer they donate new socks. If I don't have enough donated socks I purchase what is needed myself. One Service Club did pay my freight expenses last year and I really appreciated that.
A Gift of Sox is in its third year now. The past two years have been far more successful than I could have imagined with 2700 pairs of socks going to different charities that support the homeless. Local newspapers have been very supportive, I have also given TV and radio interviews. One of the Bendigo hospitals held a sock drive for me and one of our large shopping centres allowed me to hold a sock drive on site. This required me to sit inside the shopping centre for one week. The passersby were lovely and very generous so I had a really nice time raising awareness to my project.
Last year I added hand-knitted beanies and fingerless gloves to the sock parcels,I ask that the socks be commercial not knitted. Many people especially the elderly have gained so much pleasure out of knitting for me and they are looking forward to getting those knitting needles out again this year.
The Parkroyal
Photograph by Patrick Bingham-Hall
Central Singapore is home to the Parkroyal hotel which boasts curved planter terraces, green walls, a skygarden, pools and waterfalls. The Parkroyal was designed as both an hotel and office in a garden which includes palm trees, shade trees and creepers.
For a long time biologists had thought the pufferfish held its breath to blow its body into a scary shape. Not true, apparently it takes in a great quantity of water, and enlarges that way. Some pufferfish also have spikes which ward off baddies. The fish is very poisonous which makes them taste awful. One pufferfish has enough toxin to kill 30 adult humans. It is a delicacy in Japan where it is prepared by chefs who are licensed.
Industrial Rooftops Perfect Place for Plants
Photograph by Monica Tarocco
In Switzerland there is the Urban Farmers Rooftop where an aquaponic system includes fish swimming in amongst the vegetables. The group utilises flat roofs as homes to greenhouses and to containers which are for offices. The idea was formulated by Antonio Scarponi who saw unused rooftops in industrial areas as the perfect place to provide food within a city.
The Proposed Hochhaus Tower
Construction of this building, in Vienna, is planned to start next year. MVRDV, a Dutch studio, won an international competition to come up with the design where the twisted form is to ensure neighbouring buildings are not deprived of sunlight. The tower will have 30 floors for offices plus parking in the basement.
Find these in the Loo
These delightful troll faces are made from rolls of toilet paper and were created by Junior Fritz Jacquet. This series is called Masks. The rolls are crumpled and folded then coated with shellac.
1 January to 26 January 2015
This photograph of a titanium crystal was taken by photomicrography where photographs are taken using microscopes.
For years a tree I know as orange jessamine has warned of coming heavy rains by outbursts of flowers. The tree has gone but recently a rampant star jasmine decided to take over and the photograph above was taken only a few days before very heavy downfalls.
Tree of 40 Fruit
The tree above is not only beautiful, it produces 40 different kinds of fruit including cherries, apricots and plums to name just a few, but the common denominator is that only stone fruit, or fruit with pits, is used. Sam Van Aken, a sculptor created his first many-fruit tree seven years ago, thinking of it as natural art. Today there are more than 20 of these trees in the USA, valued in the tens of thousands of dollars each. Mr Aken visits his new trees twice a year to prune and to add more grafts.
It doesn't croak
This frog doesn't croak (although it does die), it coughs. It is a new species called the Atlantic Coast leopard frog. It is closely related to two other leopard frogs and it was only recently researchers realised it was a different species.
This photograph was taken by Lawren Lu.
21 December to 31 December 2014
Only in the USA (one hopes) would a mother take her two year old son shopping with a fully loaded gun in her purse. All the toddlers I have ever known love to fossick in their mother's handbag, thankfully most do not find the means to kill their parent. The woman's father-in-law said she was not irresponsible. No comment.
Operation cured fear of spiders
A 44 year old man's life was saved when his left amygdala was removed. A side benefit was that the man, who suffered from arachnophobia, was no longer terrified of spiders. This part of what is often referred to as the lizard brain, is responsible for animalistic fear. For a brief time he also disliked music but this faded with time.
Granddaughters in the snow in Malta
Isabella and Tahlia were chuffed (isn't that a wonderful word?) on their holiday in Malta when it snowed. The first time I saw snow was when I was six and South Caulfield, in the heart of Melbourne, received a snowfall. I put some in a jar to take to school not realising it would not last the distance. The second time I saw snow my mother-in-law Peggy woke me very early and there was a magical picture, snow on daffodils surrounded by pine trees. One of my favourite memories.
Recycling with Monsters
Those horrible paintings that clutter up opp shops are being put to good use by US artist, Chris McMahon. He buys the paintings and then adds monsters.
Another Treehouse
3 December to 21 December 2014
This tortoise, called Blade, had a growth disorder and because his legs were so weak, a local vet, Dr Carsten Plischke, used LEGO to create two lots of wheels so the tortoise can use his legs to move, as there is no body weight to make life difficult for him. In time, and after treatment, Blade will be able to use his legs.
What a house!
The house above is what happens when an artist buys a very old house and decides to renovate. Kat O'Sullivan and her partner painted the entire house in a variety of colours, added oddly shaped windows, and a black trim.
What a Bus!
And another artist, Magda Sayeg, surrounded a London double decker bus with knitted stripes and other patterns as part of a marketing promotion for the drink, 7up.
A bus which runs on something different
The bus above, which trundles the streets in parts of Britain, is powered by poo. The biomethane energy came from human waste as a local sewerage plant. Sludge is left in an anaerobic digestion plant where it produces biogas, used for fuel, and digestate which is used as fertiliser.
Very pretty cat
We should all go to Varna in Bulgaria so we can see this green cat. It is not known what caused the cat's fur to change colour.
Farewell to Peggy Molesworth, my wonderful mother-in-law,
and beloved mother, grandmother and greatgrandmother.
The Glass Beach
This is a fascinating photograph, what is it? A century ago the people of Fort Bragg, in California, didn't care about their environment and they threw rubbish over the cliffs until 1967 when the local authorities finally closed the area. And in an amazing transformation the action of the waves broke everything down excepting for glass which was broken, and, over a period of many years, was polished by hitting sand and rocks. Where once this beach was called the Dump it is now known as the Glass Beach.
Self healer
Credit: National Geographic
This beautiful wild axolotl was close to extinction four years ago when Mexican cities replaced lakes. It has been the subject of many studies as it can fully replace any limbs which are lost. In nature they live under water but, with an injection of iodine (in a laboratory) they become salamanders which live on land.
Children design their own toys
On the far left is a child's drawing.
Next to it is a toy, made by the child's mother, from the drawing.
Wendy Tsao made her first toy in this way, back in 2007 and today the handmade toys are so popular Wendy has launched her business, Child's Own Studio.
She takes 120 orders per year and is booked out until June next year.
This beautiful creature is known as the cuckoo wasp because of its awful behaviour where they lay their eggs in nests and the larvae eat the host eggs. They are mostly found in deserts and, because of the beautiful colours are also known as jewel, gold, emerald and ruby wasps. Because of their concave abdomens they can curl into a ball and their hard exterior protects them.
Let's Welcome the Mayor
Most human mayors have far shorter tenures than Stubbs who was a three month old kitten when she became the honorary mayor of Talkeetna in Alaska in July 1997. And, unlike many human mayors, she is a tourist attraction with around 40 people visiting her each day. Her day includes an afternoon tea with a wineglass of water infused with catnip at a local restaurant. Stubbs even has a Facebook page with thousands of followers. Although I firmly believe all cats are girls and all dogs are boys, there are exceptions and Stubbs is one of them.
The Orca is a mimic
This is an orca, a killer whale which is actually a species of dolphin. A group of whales, who had been in close proximity to bottlenose dolphins, are now mimicking the bottlenose language. The orcas have complex social structures as do elephants and that weird lot known as humans. They educate their young and have excellent communication skills.
Houses for Trees
Ho Chi Minh, where only .25% of the city is covered with greenery, is now home to to houses for trees (and people), designed by Vo Trong Nghia Architects.
Five houses, looking like tall concrete boxes with planters at the top for grass and trees, have been built.
18th archive 16th archive
Feedback - I'm always happy to receive feedback about my site.
Please contact me here.
This page was updated by Diana Kupke (Diana Mann) on 8 January 2020
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The International Fellowship F05 award of the NIH
Many of us PIs in the US are used to trying to suss out, hopefully subtly, whether or not potential postdocs who are approaching us are US citizens.
This is not because we are all jingoistic bigots, it is rather because the NIH NRSA training grant (institutional or individual) requires that supported trainees
must be a citizen or a non-citizen national of the United States or have been lawfully admitted for permanent residence
So if a potential postdoc qualified for the NRSA, there is at least the possibility of landing NIH support for the person’s stipend.
Conversely the thinking is that a non-qualifying person would be more limited in the types of additional support that are available.
Well a kind reader has alerted me to the F05 International Neuroscience Fellowship announcement which has been around at least since 2006. The purpose?
The goal of the International Neuroscience Fellowship (INF) is to advance the training of qualified foreign neuroscientists and clinicians at the early or mid-career level, by enhancing their basic, translational or clinical research skills in a research setting in the United States (U.S.). This program aims to strengthen the intellectual capital of neuroscience research in international institutions. Awardees are expected to pursue future independent and productive careers, which stimulate research in the neurosciences on a global scale.
Eligible individual applicants include non-immigrant foreign scientists at the early or mid-career level.
Sweet! NIH fellowships for foreign postdocs. wait, what about that tricky language about the host countries having to be sufficiently disadvantaged?
“All applicants must be from a low- to middle-income country based on Gross National Income per capita classified by the World Bank “
As my correspondent notes: “Scroll down to “lower middle income countries”. Note the presence of both China and India on that list.“.
Well, all good then, amirite?
I mean c’mon, don’t be worried domestic postdocs. After all
All applicants must have a doctoral or equivalent degree, and an endorsement from their home institution, with a guaranteed appointment upon completion of the fellowship.
What could go wrong?
Filed in Careerism, NIH Budgets and Economics, Postdoctoral Training
10 Responses to “The International Fellowship F05 award of the NIH”
1. The F05 isn’t a postdoc position, it’s for people who already have a job (maybe a postdoc) somewhere else and want a vacation in the U.S.
2. PI’s shouldn’t hire postdocs they can’t afford, and any postdoc worth having should never work for a PI who tells them their job is remotely contingent on getting their salary elsewhere. If you’re in a lab that can’t pay you (or you aren’t worth paying), you should probably just quit now. And actually, if you’re in a lab that can’t pay you, you won’t get an NRSA anyway. Is that irony?
Saw that yesterday and was shocked. It’s been around since 2006 and it’s the first time I saw it. I was under the impression that NIH did not have any foreign funding for postdoc level.
Aren’t the K99/R01s accessible to foreign postdocs?
Yes, miko, which is why I said the primary benefit of the NRSA to Postdoc Smith is so that the PI can use the freed-up salary line to hire Postdoc Jones.
Ace, the reason you and I have never heard of these may be that they are quite rare. Check RePORTER…
expat group leader Says:
At Ace#2,
NIH does allow F32s for training at foreign institutions but only for US citizens and perm residents.
The operative word here is “non-immigrant”. This limits the visa to a J1 or similar with “visitor” status (no H1B) that precludes advances towards green cards, and likely carries a strict “two year rule” with it (requirement to return to home country and two year ban on applying for other visas) because it’s funded by a national government (NIH) unlikely to waive that requirement. Plus the committal by the home institution to hire the grantee back as a requirement to even apply makes this very unlike a postdoc NRSA grant.
K99/R00 are open to foreigners but have no such immigration side requirements.
How is that a benefit to Postdoc Smith? Postdoc Jones is American, so he’s a dick who nods knowingly during seminars and always wants to tell you what was on the Daily Show last night. It’s a benefit to PI Websurfer. For Postdoc Smith it is a waste of untold hours filling out absurd forms and “liaising” with rubber stamps in some university grants office.
I have not idea why postdocs are the ones who apply for NRSAs. The award is to the PI/institution.
Wait, maybe I parsed your sentence incorrectly: did you mean, The primary benefit of [the NRSA to Postdoc Smith] is that the PI has extra money blah blah?
It takes 10 times as long as any other fellowship application and has several more idiotic puff paragraphs, you have to get physical letters of recommendation (ah, the 20th century), it no longer has a particularly high success rate, you are almost guaranteed to have to do it more than once. With new physical letters of recommendation.
At the end you get nothing you shouldn’t already have (the myth that it may “help” in some nebulous way with your future R01 is a lie to trick you into doing it–and face it, you will probably never be in a position to apply for an R01 anyway, even if the NIH still funds basic research 5 years from now). No postdoc should waste their time applying for this…I suppose you could let your PI write it for you.
@miko#8
Why so negative?
Everything that I wrote in the NRSA has been used in manuscripts and subsequent grants/job applications. It was extremely useful to sit down, spend a short amount of time writing it and let those nebulous thoughts crystallize into R01-scale research plans.
Now, if you join a PI’s group, and just do what they want of you (research-wise), then an NRSA has very little value. If you join a group, submit an NRSA that’s tangentially related to the PIs research focus, get it funded (with bench fees) then you should be able to form your own narrative line of research.
That’s why it’s valuable to write an NRSA and get it funded.
You seem very cynical.
EGL, I don’t see anything in there you shouldn’t be doing anyway, or that requires (or is enhanced by) an NRSA.
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Camille O'Sullivan Event Time & Tickets
This event has been marked mature level 1 due to the following, "ecstasy".
Camille O'Sullivan in Dublin
72 Dame Street
Dublin, Dublin 2
Camille O'Sullivan
MCD Presents
Camille O'Sullivan Sings Cave and others...
The Olympia Theatre
**Tickets on sale NOW**
Award winning Queen of The Fringe Camille O’Sullivan makes her return to her favourite Dublin venue, The Olympia Theatre, with her band on Saturday 19th October.
Previously an award-winning architect and portrait painter, Irish/French Camille O'Sullivan is a singer/actress who enjoys a formidable international reputation for her interpretations of the songs of Nick Cave, Brel, Waits, Bowie, Radiohead and more.
Tickets priced from €32 including booking fee and €1 restoration levy on sale NOW via , usual Ticketmaster outlets nationwide () including The Olympia Theatre Box Office, and by calling Ticketmaster at The Olympia Phone Bookings on 0818 719 330.
The fees for this event include a €1.00 restoration levy. The restoration levy will allow The Olympia Theatre to invest in maintaining and enhancing the theatre to ensure that it continues to consistently deliver the highest quality experience for theatre goers, actors, performers & producers.
Under 14's must be accompanied by an adult, Over 18's ID required to gain access to the bars where alcohol is served.
Approximate stage times as follows: doors open 7pm, no support, Camille due on stage at 8pm.
Please note, times subject to change as always and should be used as a guideline only.
"She burns just as bright as Cave, if not brighter. Where Cave longs to see the face of God, O’Sullivan danced last night with the ecstasy of one who has seen Him and lived to tell the tale." Theatre Scene
“Ravishing, a superb performer and great singer… the star is her singing voice” The Guardian
“Hypnotic…★★★★★” The Independent
“One of the top 25 performances ever on Later with Jools BBC” Daily Telegraph
The award-winning singer - one of the original cast members of the Olivier Award-winning La Soiree- has stunned audiences around the world with her sell-out performances including Sydney Opera House, London’s Royal Festival Hall, The Roundhouse and a show-stealing appearance on Later with Jools Holland BBC. Recently she sold out her 10 night run at Sydney Festival where she won a prestigious Australian Helpmann Award ‘Best Performance’.
Chameleon-like on stage, each song is a different character to inhabit with its story to tell, Dark, light fierce, amusing and mesmerizing, Camille transforms each song into “an intense theatrical experience, drawing her audience into a world illuminated by the dark and the light”. The show has also been described as “an emotional rollercoaster”.
“When she sings it's as though her breath is soaked in paraffin - one spark, and the whole room would ignite” FIVE STARS Daily Telegraph
At Wilderness Festival 2015 she performed Radiohead’s music with a forty piece orchestra and performed Brel’s music at Edinburgh Fringe 15 (A masterclass in living a lyric - mesmerising’ ***** - Mail on Sunday) and recently toured David Lynch ‘in Dreams’ music at the Sydney Opera House, dueted with Tim Robbins, Todd Rundgren, Shane McGowan (London 02), and acted in Stephen Frears film Mrs Henderson Presents.
Camille was chosen by Yoko Ono to perform Double Fantasy Live at Meltdown Royal Festival Hall alongside Patti Smith and Sean Lennon.
She has won several “Best Music” Awards (Dublin, Brighton, Melbourne Festivals, Spirit of the Fringe Award at Edinburgh Fringe and Irish Tatler Woman of the Year Music Award (2011) and Herald Angel Award (2012).
Recently, Camille performed alongside Nick Cave, Johnny Depp, Sinead O’Connor, Bobby Gillespie and Bono as a guest at Shane McGowan’s 60th birthday celebrations gig at the National Concert Hall in Dublin. she also performed alongside Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos in Jim Jarmusch Revisited at the Barbican and throughout Europe.
Other acting roles include the film Mrs. Henderson Presents alongside Judi Dench and Will Young, Constance in the Guardian’s Shakespeare Solos, the RTE TV series Rebellion as Countess Markievicz and a scene stealing performance on BBC Two’s Later… With Jools Holland (which lead her to support him at Royal Albert Hall) Camille was also chosen by Yoko Ono to perform John Lennon’s Double Fantasy alongside Patti Smith and Siouxsie Sioux at Meltdown 2014.
“A courageous and singular performer, Camille is one of the most gifted interpreters of narrative songs yet to appear.” ★★★★★ The Irish Times
“We gave Camille five stars last year, after this performance we'd give her six if we could”. ★★★★★ Metro
“Spellbinding storytelling in song – magnificent” ★★★★★ The Times
Event details at olympia.ie! | Buy tickets at stubhub.com! | Buy tickets at stubhub.com!
at Olympia Theatre
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Home / Profiles / Matilde Bombardini
Matilde Bombardini
Iona Building 201E
Matilde.Bombardini@ubc.ca
Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), Fellow
National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), Research Associate
Journal of International Economics, Co-Editor
Sauder School of Business, Distinguished Scholar
I am an Associate Professor in the Vancouver School of Economics at the University of British Columbia, a Fellow in the Institutions, Organizations and Growth Program of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, a Research Associate in the Political Economy Program of the National Bureau of Economic Analysis, a Distinguished Scholar at the Sauder School of Business and Co-Editor of the Journal of International Economics.
My research covers various aspects of International Trade and Political Economy. In particular I have worked on the link between skill distribution and comparative advantage, the lobbying decision of firms and the behavior of lobbyists.
I obtained my PhD in 2005 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and my undergraduate degree from the University of Bologna in Italy.
Please click on paper titles for abstracts and full text downloads.
Firm Heterogeneity and Lobby Participation
Journal of International Economics, Vol.75, No.2, July 2008, pp. 329-348
The structure of protection across sectors has been interpreted as the result of competition among lobbies to influence politicians, but lobbies have been treated as unitary decision makers and little attention has been devoted to the importance of individual firms in this process. This paper builds a model where individual firms determine the amount of resources to allocate to political contributions and shows that, in the presence of a fixed cost of channeling political contributions, it is efficient for a lobby to be formed by the largest firms in a sector. Therefore the size distribution of firms plays an important role: sectors with a higher share of firms above a given size exhibit higher intensity of political activity. This prediction is borne out by the data: industries characterized by higher firm size dispersion obtain a higher level of protection. The model is also tested against the leading "Protection for Sale" paradigm, employing a newly matched data set on firm-level political contributions. The empirical evidence shows that, accounting for individual firm behavior, the model explains a larger fraction of the variation of protection across sectors.
[go to paper]
Votes or Money? Theory and Evidence from the US Congress
(with Francesco Trebbi)
Journal of Public Economics, Vol. 95, Issues 7-8, August 2011, pp. 587-611.
This paper investigates the relationship between the size of interest groups in terms of voter representation and the interest group’s campaign contributions to politicians. We uncover a robust hump-shaped relationship between the voting share of an interest group and its contributions to a legislator. This pattern is rationalized in a simultaneous bilateral bargaining model where the larger size of an interest group affects the amount of surplus to be split with the politician (thereby increasing contributions), but is also correlated with the strength of direct voter support the group can offer instead of monetary funds (thereby decreasing contributions). The model yields simple structural equations that we estimate at the district level employing data on individual and PAC donations and local employment by sector. This procedure yields estimates of electoral uncertainty and politicians effectiveness as perceived by the interest groups. Our approach also implicitly delivers a novel method for estimating the impact of campaign spending on election outcomes: we find that an additional vote costs a politician on average 145 dollars.
Firm Heterogeneity and Ricardian Trade: the Impact of Domestic Competition on Export Performance
(with Chris Kurz and Peter Morrow)
Canadian Journal of Economics, Vol.45, Issue 2, May 2012, pp. 585-612
This paper develops and empirically examines a model of relative productivity differences both within and across industries for small open economies. We decompose the e ffect of industry productivity on export performance into direct e ffect of own firm productivity and an indirect eff ect of higher peer firm productivity. In a sample of Chilean and Colombian plants, we find evidence of both a positive direct e ffect and a negative indirect eff ect. The empirical evidence supports our theoretical prediction that industry-specifi c factors of production and asymmetric substitutability between domestic and foreign varieties drive the negative indirect e ffect.
[go to paper] [go to technical appendix]
Competition and Political Organization: Together or Alone in Lobbying for Trade Policy?
Journal of International Economics, Vol.87, Issue 1, May 2012, pp.18-26.
This paper employs a novel data set on lobbying expenditures to measure the degree of within-sector political organization and to explore the determinants of the mode of lobbying and political organization across U.S. industries. The data show that sectors characterized by a higher degree of competition tend to lobby more together (through a sector-wide trade association), while sectors with higher concentration and more differentiated products lobby more individually. The paper proposes a theoretical model to interpret the empirical evidence. In an oligopolistic market, firms can benefit from an increase in their product-specific protection measure, if they can raise prices and profits. They find it less profitable to do so in a competitive market where attempts to raise prices are more likely to reduce profits. In competitive markets firms are therefore more likely to lobby together, thereby simultaneously raising tariffs on all products in the sector.
Skill Dispersion and Trade Flows
(with Giovanni Gallipoli and Germán Pupato)
American Economic Review, Vol. 102 Issue 5, August 2012, pp. 2327-48.
Is skill dispersion a source of comparative advantage? In this paper we use microdata from the International Adult Literacy Survey to show that the effect of skill dispersion on trade flows is quantitatively similar to that of the aggregate endowment of human capital. In particular we investigate, and find support for, the hypothesis that countries with a more dispersed skill distribution specialize in industries characterized by lower complementarity of workers’ skills. The result is robust to the introduction of controls for alternative sources of comparative advantage, as well as to alternative measures of industry-level skill complementarity.
Risk Aversion and Expected Utility Theory: An Experiment with Large and Small Stakes
Journal of the European Economic Association, Vol.10, Issue 6, December 2012, pp. 1348-99.
We employ a novel data set to estimate a structural econometric model of the decisions under risk of players in a game show where lotteries present payoffs in excess of half a million dollars. Differently from previous studies in the literature, the decisions under risk of the players in presence of large payoffs allow to estimate the parameters of the curvature of the vN-M utility function not only locally but also globally. Our estimates of relative risk aversion indicate that a constant relative risk aversion parameter of about one captures the average of the sample population. In addition we find that individuals are practically risk neutral at small stakes and risk averse at large stakes, a necessary condition, according to Rabin (2000) calibration theorem, for expected utility to provide a unified account of individuals’ attitude towards risk. Finally, we show that for lotteries characterized by substantial stakes non-expected utility theories fit the data equally well as expected utility theory.
Unobservable Skill Dispersion and Comparative Advantage
Journal of International Economics, Vol.92, No.2, March 2014, pp. 317-329 .
This paper develops a tractable multi-country, multi-sector model of international trade with unobservable skills and search frictions in the labour market. Comparative advantage derives from (i) cross-sectoral differences in the substitutability of workers’ skills and (ii) cross-country differences in the dispersion of skills in the working population. We establish the conditions under which higher skill dispersion triggers specialization in sectors characterized by higher substitutability of skills across workers.
Is It Whom You Know or What You Know? An Empirical Assessment of the Lobbying Process
(with Marianne Bertrand and Francesco Trebbi)
American Economic Review, Vol. 104 Issue 12, December 2014, pp. 3885-3920.
Do lobbyists provide issue-specific information to congressmen? Or do they provide special interests access to politicians? We present evidence to assess the role of issue expertise versus connections in the lobbying process and illustrate how both are at work. In support of the connections view, we show that lobbyists follow politicians they were initially connected to, when those politicians switch to new committee assignments. In support of the expertise view, we show that there is a group of specialists that even politicians of opposite political affiliation listen to. However, we find a more consistent monetary premium for connections than expertise.
Does Exporting Improve Matching? Evidence from French Employer-Employee Data
(with Gianluca Orefice and Maria D. Tito)
Journal of International Economics, Vol. 117, March 2019, pp. 229-241.
This paper documents a novel fact about the hiring decisions of exporting firms versus non-exporting firms in a French matched employer-employee dataset. We construct the type of each worker using both a traditional wage regression and a theory-based approach and compute measures of the average worker type and worker type dispersion at the firm level. We find that exporting firms feature a lower type dispersion in the pool of workers they hire. This effect is quantitatively larger than the common finding in the literature that exporters pay higher wages because, among other factors, they employ better workers. The matching between exporting firms and workers is even tighter in sectors characterized by better exporting opportunities as measured by foreign demand or tariff
shocks. Our findings are consistent with a model of matching between heterogeneous workers and firms in which variation in the worker type at the firm level exists in equilibrium only because of the presence of search costs. When
firms gain access to the foreign market, matching with the right worker becomes particularly
important because deviations from the ideal match quickly reduce the higher potential value
of the relationship. Hence, exporting firms select sets of workers that are
less dispersed relative to the average.
This analysis is suggestive of the presence of additional gains from trade due to improved sorting.
Trade, Pollution and Mortality in China
(with Bingjing Li)
Forthcoming Journal of International Economics
Did the rapid expansion of Chinese exports between 1990 and 2010 contribute to the country's worsening environmental quality? We exploit variation in the local industrial composition to gauge the effect on pollution and health outcomes of export expansion due to the decline in tariffs faced by Chinese exporters. We construct two export shocks at the prefecture level: (i) PollutionExportShock represents the pollution content of export expansion; (ii) ExportShock measures export expansion in dollars per worker. The two measures differ because prefectures specialize in different products: while two prefectures may experience the same shock in dollar terms, the one specializing in “dirty” industries has a larger PollutionExportShock. We find that the pollution content of exports affects pollution and mortality. A one standard deviation increase in PollutionExportShockincreases infant mortality by 2.7 deaths per thousand live births, which is about 18% of the standard deviation of infant mortality change during the period. The dollar value of export expansion reduces mortality by 0.7 deaths, but the effect is not statistically significant. We show that the channel through which exports affect mortality is pollution concentration. We find a negative, but insignificant effect on pollution of the dollar-value export shocks, a potential “technique” effect whereby higher income drives demand for clean environment. We find that only infant mortality related to cardio-respiratory conditions responds to exports shocks, while deaths due to accidents and other causes are not affected.
Empirical Models of Lobbying
Forthcoming Annual Review of Economics
This paper offers a review of the recent empirical literature on lobbying within Political Economy. In surveying extant evidence, we emphasize quid-pro-quo and informational issues in special interest politics and we highlight crucial open research questions in both. The main unresolved methodological issues remain how to properly account for the impact of lobbying on which equilibrium policies are chosen and advanced, and on how distorted those equilibrium policies might be relative to the interests of the general public. Of the principal open questions within political economy, a comprehensive quantitative assessment of the welfare distortions of lobbying remains one of the most elusive.
Tax-Exempt Lobbying: Corporate Philanthropy as a Tool for Political Influence
(with Marianne Bertrand, Raymond Fisman and Francesco Trebbi)
Conditionally accepted American Economic Review
We explore the role of charitable giving as a means of political influence, a channel that has been heretofore unexplored in the political economy literature. For foundations associated with Fortune 500 and S&P500 corporations, we show that grants given to charitable organizations located in a congressional district increase when its representative obtains seats in committees that are of policy relevance to the firm associated with the foundation, a pattern which parallels that of Political Action Committee (PAC) spending. We additionally show that charities directly linked to politicians in personal financial disclosure forms exhibit similar patterns of political dependence. Our analysis suggests that firms deploy their charitable foundations as a form of tax exempt influence-seeking. The scale of charitable giving by large U.S. corporations is such that this channel of influence is economically substantial: our estimates suggest it may be larger than PAC contributions and federal lobbying combined. Given the lack of formal electoral disclosure requirements, charitable giving may further be a form of political influence that goes mostly undetected by voters and is subsidized by taxpayers.
Hall of Mirrors: Corporate Philanthropy and Strategic Advocacy
(with Marianne Bertrand, Raymond Fisman, Brad Hackinen and Francesco Trebbi)
Politicians and regulators rely on feedback from the public when setting policies. For-profit corporations and non-profit entities are active in this process and are arguably expected to provide independent viewpoints. Policymakers (and the public at large), however, may be unaware of the financial ties between some firms and non-profits – ties that are legal and tax-exempt, but difficult to trace. We identify these ties using IRS forms submitted by the charitable arms of large U.S. corporations, which list all grants awarded to non-profits. We document three patterns in a comprehensive sample of public commentary made by firms and non-profits within U.S. federal rulemaking between 2003 and 2015. First, we show that, shortly after a firm donates to a non-profit, the grantee is more likely to comment on rules for which the firm has also provided a comment. Second, when a firm comments on a rule, the comments by non-profits that recently received grants from the firm's foundation are systematically closer in content similarity to the firm's own comments than to those submitted by other non-profits commenting on that rule. Third, when a firm comments on a new rule, the discussion of the final rule is more similar to the firm's comments when the firm's recent grantees also comment on that rule. These patterns, taken together, suggest that corporations strategically deploy charitable grants to induce non-profit grantees to make comments that favor their benefactors, and that this translates into regulatory discussion that is closer to the firm's own comments.
How the Breadth and Depth of Import Relationships Affect the Performance of Canadian Manufacturers
(with Keith Head, Maria Tito and Ruoying Wang)
Revise and Resubmit Canadian Journal of Economics
This paper examines the relationship between a manufacturing firm's import behaviour and its performance. The focus is on two aspects of imports, input variety and the dynamics of import relationships. Firms importing more products from a larger set of suppliers tend to be larger, more productive and more successful in export markets. Not only the number, but also the duration of supply relationships matter. Firms maintaining a higher share of continuous supply relationships also benefit from size and productivity effects. These results suggest that the breath and depth of the import network are relevant factors for the performance of Canadian manufacturers. An unexpected result for a control variable merits further investigation. Namely, we find that more extensive use of Chinese suppliers is associated with inferior export performance. Our breadth and depth results underscore the importance of trade liberalization with new partners and trade facilitation with our established sources of suppliers.
How Robust is the Skill-Dispersion-Complementarity Hypothesis?
We explore the robustness of the hypothesis, first put forward by Grossman and Maggi (2000) (GM), that countries with higher skill dispersion specialize in the sector characterized by a submodular production function, i.e. the industry that cross-matches workers of different skills (henceforth referred to as SDC hypothesis). We relax the assumption of constant returns to skill, breaking the link between submodularity and the concavity of isoquants, a key feature in GM. We show that when a submodular sector displays convex isoquants, it no longer benefits from higher skill dispersion and higher skill dispersion countries may specialize in the supermodular sector. We investigate this theoretical possibility by performing a variety of simulations, based on empirical skill distributions, and find that in the vast majority of cases the SDC hypothesis is not violated.
Gains from Distortions in Congested City Networks
Revision requested at the Journal of Urban Economics
This paper presents a model and an automated methodology for assessing gains from network distortions in cities. Distortions arise from excluding traffic along certain routes. Distortions degrade network connectivity, but can be paradoxically useful for congestion amelioration. We show that such distortions are quantitatively large,increasingly pervasive in larger cities, and potentially very valuable. The results ultimately support the view that Braessí(1968) paradox is not just a theoretically interesting possibility, but a widespread feature of city road networks.
Import Competition and Innovation: Theory and Evidence from China
(with Bingjing Li and Ruoying Wang)
Exports and Emission Intensity in China: Destinations Matter
(with Haichan Fao and Bingjing Li)
Insider-Initiated Corporate Philanthropy: An Empirical Assessment of the Friedman Hypothesis
My Google Scholar Profile is available here.
ECON455 International Trade Sections
International trade theory and policy in general equilibrium; relative costs, factor proportions, imperfect competition and the pattern of trade; efficiency and distribution. Credit granted for only one of ECON355 and ECON455.
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Associate Professor Dana Thomsen
Associate Professor in Sustainability Advocacy
PhD Griff., MSc(Hons) Cant., GradCert(Higher Ed) Griff., BSc Auck.
dthomsen@usc.edu.au
Level 1, Accelerator (Innovation Centre)
Dana Thomsen PhD is an Associate Professor in Sustainability Advocacy, an Adjunct Professor at Brock University, Canada, and a Senior Research Associate at Uppsala University, Sweden. Associate Professor Thomsen is an executive member of the Sustainability Research Centre (SRC) at USC and led the sustainability teaching programs at USC from 2008–2015.
A/Prof Thomsen’s sustainability research agenda is interdisciplinary and situated at the intersection of the fields of human geography and environmental management. Her work explores the transformation of socio-ecological relationships through learning and communication, using qualitative methods within an interpretivist paradigm. A/Prof Thomsen’s research agenda is evidenced through numerous projects at local (eg exploring adaptation pathways with 17 local councils in QLD and NSW), national (eg developing adaptive learning strategies for coastal adaptation with partners across QLD, SA, Tas, WA) and international scales (eg informing the EU Water Framework Directive by working in collaboration with colleagues from universities in the UK, USA, Sweden, Canada, Netherlands and Italy).
A/Prof Thomsen is a named chief investigator on over A$11m of competitive research grants. Recent projects have been supported by the Australian Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, the CSIRO Collaboration Fund (Southeast Queensland Climate Adaptation Research Initiative), the CSIRO Coastal Collaboration Cluster, the Australian Government Office of Learning and Teaching, and the Europe and Global Challenges Program. Associate Professor Thomsen recently led the NGO Theme of the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF) Social, Economic and Institutional Research Network, and is currently researching disaster governance and sustainable development approaches between Australia and Sweden.
Dana's specialist areas of knowledge include: sustainability; sustainability education; communication; visual communication and adaptation; adaptive capacity and resilience.
Explore Associate Professor Dana Thomsen's publications
Communicating Sustainability
Applying Sustainability
sustainability communication
social and sustainability learning
adaptation, adaptive capacity and resilience
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SFS Media
1.
I. Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso
II. Molto vivace
III. Adagio molto e cantabile - Andante moderato
IV. Finale: Ode, “To Joy”
Some early listeners encountering Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony for the first time dismissed it as the raving of a deaf lunatic. Beethoven’s contemporary Louis Spohr was an enthusiast of his colleague’s prior works, but here he drew the line: its first three movements, he wrote, “are to my mind inferior to all the eight previous symphonies,” and he found the finale “so monstrous and tasteless … that I cannot understand how a genius like Beethoven could have written it.” And yet, countered Hector Berlioz, “There is a small minority of musicians whose nature inclines them to consider carefully whatever may broaden the scope of art, … and they assert that this work is the most magnificent expression of Beethoven’s genius. … That is the view I share.”
The Ninth provided much to perplex its audiences. When Beethoven unleashed it, the idea of a symphony running an hour or more was preposterous. Nonetheless, the impact of this piece was such that it inspire some ensuing symphonists to essay structures as long or even longer. Beethoven’s inclusion of voices in the finale also caused consternation.
Like all Beethoven’s symphonies, the Ninth was conceived as a grand experiment; but it held onto its stature as a beacon of the avant-garde even more firmly than its predecessors did. Doubtless that has to do partly with the fact that it was Beethoven’s last symphony. The Ninth takes on a magnified aura of monumentality—of finality, on one hand, but also of pointing to a future that Beethoven would not himself address. The path from the Ninth remained an uncharted challenge to future generations of composers. No masterpiece inspired them more.
—excerpt from liner notes by James M. Keller
A masterpiece that stands alone on this album, features the famous "Ode To Joy" in the finale
Recorded and Mixed to 96kHz, 24-bit WAV PCM. The 9624 WAV files (9624 is our shorthand for 96kHz, 24-bit encoding) are the original digital file generation received from the artist or label. The DSD and FLAC files are considered second generation and made from conversions using our Blue Coast conversion methods. DSF and FLAC will offer the convenience of metadata that the WAV files will not.
Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor
Erin Wall, soprano
Kendall Gladen, mezzo-soprano
William Burden, tenor
Nathan Berg, bass-baritone
San Francisco Symphony Chorus
Ragnar Bohlin, chorus director
Recorded live in PCM 96 kHz/24-bit audio June 27-30, 2012 at Davies Symphony Hall — a venue of the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center, City and County of San Francisco.
Producer: Jack Vad
SFS Media Manager: Andrea Luhrs
Engineering Support: Roni Jules and Gus Polleck
Post Production: Jonathan Stevens
Art Direction and Design: Alan Trugman
Cover Photo: Sunset and Clouds above Mt. Shasta by QT Luong
San Francisco Symphony and Chorus Photo: Kristen Loken
Franz Schubert - String Quartet in G Major
Debussy Images, Jeux & La plus que lente
Beethoven Symphony No. 5 & Piano Concerto No. 4
Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3 | Mass in C Major
Harmonielehre | Short Ride in a Fast Machine
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Accosting Acosta …
July 12, 2019 David Belisle Humor, Satire, The T-Rump Dig Leave a comment
The Alexanderacosta rued this day. He rued it as a rutabaga would rue upon learning it’s just a root. The root cause to the Alexanderacosta’s dino dilemma? The Tyrumposaurus had told him to go and clean up his mess. Pronto. That mess being a legal dino disaster he thought he’d managed to put a good eleven years behind him. Now he had to explain to the Mediacircustops why he’d given the Jeffreyepstein a suh-weetheart plea deal after the authorities had found that over a four-year period, at least three dozen young female dinos had massaged the Jeffreyepstein for non-medical reasons. It was a dino sex trafficking network and yet the Alexanderacosta had only put the Jeffreyepstein away for 13 months. Seven months technically, if you counted the 12 hours per work day he spent outside the Solitary Sinkhole.
The Alexanderacosta stepped to the flat rock podium, lifted his head … and gasped. There were only three dinos before him. But three very deadly dinos.
“The Juliebrown?”
“Hello, Alex.” She was the Mediacircustops dino who’d broken the story and knew its intricacies inside and out.
“The Eliehonig … and the Mimirocha?”
The two legal dinos nodded his way. They were two dinos not to be trifled with, however long or short their legal briefs.
The Alexanderacosta cleared his throat of a foot-long chicken bone.
“A-c-c-k-k! … Excuse me, I can never get those down. Now then, I didn’t think I’d have an audience with such experience and noted legal background. Let me begin by saying that my relationship with the T-Rump is outstanding. Okay, so, in short, this was a good deal at the time and … did I tell you that the Mickmulvaney has promised he’s going to say nothing but nice things about me. Today. For today.”
The three dinos looked at the Alexanderacosta like he had three heads.
“Oh, the details. Well, I stepped in because the Nevereverglades officials were inept. I said stop. They actually stopped. That was a shocker. Facts are being overlooked. See if you can keep up with me now. I got the Jeffreyepstein in jail when the Nevereverglades dinos were going to let him walk. I got him registered as a DIP — Depraved Incorrigible Pervert — and I got him to give some moolah-moolah leaves to the girls. Twenty years, next case!”
“He didn’t get 20 years,” said the Juliebrown. “You gave him one. Barely.”
“Oh. Heh-heh. That’s right.” Think, Alex! Think! “Uh, the Nevereverglades allowed the Jeffreyepstein to self-surrender! Self-surrender! What was up with that?!”
The Juliebrown however was having none of this T-Rump-trained gas lighting.
“You might sound convincing to a dino who hasn’t read the footprints in the sand or doesn’t understand the sequence of events. But I do.”
Damn. Here it comes. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned by lousy legalese. The Alexanderacosta wrapped his tail around his bony knees to keep them from rattling.
“How many girls did you allow the grand dino jury to see?”
“Uh, one.”
“One girl. The thing is, you didn’t need all 36 girls. They all told the same story. It was the same M.O. over and over. It is the job of the prosecutor to make them feel secure enough so they can testify.”
“Did the grand dino jury ever see the Nevereverglades evidence?”
“That would be a no.”
“What about the secrecy?”
“I’m not telling. … Oh, sorry. Reflex action.”
The Juliebrown was on a roll.
“If this was such a great plea deal, why couldn’t you tell them? Instead they had to get legal dinos just so you’d talk to them. Did you really have their best interests at heart?”
“The Jeffreyepstein had seven — count’em — seven legal dinos! That’s a lotta dinosaur. I spent all my time battling them.”
The Juliebrown bared her teeth and growled.
“There were a lot of things his legal dinos were fighting for. They still wanted this to go back to the Nevereverglades, which is exactly what happened. They got what they wanted. You relented. You gave it back to the Nevereverglades. How could you? Who are you protecting?”
“The Nevereverglades were going to let him go.”
“Don’t ask me. I was only the Milkanhoney Preservation’s district dino attorney for the southern Nevereverglades. I know, it’s a mouthful, isn’t it? Sometimes I think I never really grew into it.”
“But why didn’t you take the case and try it in a Milkanhoney Preservation court? It’s a dino sex operation involving dino recruiters and dino schedulers and pilot dinos and driver dinos. Moolah-moolah dinos who paid the girls. That’s a dino nation sex trafficking crime. It’s an organization. You thought you were the hero and you simply kicked it back to the Nevereverglades. Why didn’t you tell the victims about the plea deal?”
“I’m glad you asked that. Twice. Let’s see if I can recall the words of the career prosecutor. She didn’t want to share with the victims that the legal dinos were attempting to secure for them the ability to obtain moolah-moolah compensation because she’s aware that if she disclosed that and the negotiations fell through, the Jeffreyepstein’s legal dinos would use this to question the victim’s credibility.”
“Really, Alex? There are two problems with that argument.”
“There are?”
“First of all, before the deal was at the point where the Jeffreyepstein appeared in dino court and actually was sentenced, she didn’t have to tell them there was a restitution provision. She could’ve just said we have a plea agreement and we’re working on it. Oh, and by the way, it was extremely unusual for the victim’s attorney to be hired and paid for by the Jeffreyepstein to handle these restitution cases. Can you say conflict?”
“Damn. It was that obvious, huh?”
“You don’t want to be boasting about that, pal,” said the Eliehonig.
“Second, when you got to the sentencing part of the trial, what’s your excuse then? You’re not going to trial. What’s your excuse for not telling them about the whole plea deal? You didn’t do that, either.”
This was getting bad. All his footprints in the sand were quickly turning into career-killing quicksand. Time to play the emergency card.
“Kellyanne! Where are you!?”
Like a crazed Tasmanian Devilsaurus, in swooped the whirling dervish, The Kellyanneconvixway. She stared down the fearsome threesome.
“I can’t believe what I’m hearing. The Alexanderacosta this, the Alexanderacosta that. Why is he suddenly on trial? What about the Jeffreyepstein? Why aren’t you asking about him? Remember him? Young dino predator. Not a former party buddy of the T-Rump.”
“Shut up, Kellyanne!”
It was the Mimirocha and she wasn’t taking plea bargains.
“Back of the line. I’ve waited long enough to get at this legal lightweight.”
She turned her glare upon the dino Secretary of Labor.
“Your excuses are nonsensical and self-serving.”
“Why, thank you. I’ll accept that with a notwithstanding.”
His smile shriveled up. All levity had left the cave long ago.
“You are a dino who utterly failed to do what you swore to do as legal dino, uphold justice. We want answers about why you gave the Jeffreyepstein special treatment. You claimed that you wanted to help his victims, but in reality, there was absolutely nothing about the Nevereverglades prosecution that would have prevented dino nation authorities from pursuing a full-throttle investigation of the Jeffreyepstein’s crimes—which clearly rose to the level of dino nation sex trafficking.”
“The bones! Remember rolling the bones? I mentioned there was a chance we could lose it all on a roll of the bones.”
“Look at me.”
The Alexanderacosta slowly looked up at her with his dazed lizard eyes. His tongue stuck out, lolly-gagging to the side. He looked like a giant gecko on the verge of heat stroke.
“It is unfathomable that dino nation sex trafficking charges would not have been approved. And in a case this strong, the risk was minimal.”
“Victim shaming,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper.
“Uh … victim shaming?”
“Don’t even go there.” She stopped short of biting his tail off and stuffing it down his throat. “That’s an insulting excuse. At the time you decided not to prosecute the Jeffreyepstein, dozens of victims already had come forward to share what he’d done to them. Their statements were corroborated by other evidence discovered by dino investigators. The prosecutors and Langleyops dino agents amassed enough evidence to support a 82-footprints in the sand prosecution memo and a 53-footprints in the sand draft indictment for a dino nation sex trafficking case. Finally, let’s talk about the breakfast meeting.”
“Do we have to?”
“It’s giving you indigestion, isn’t it? It should. Was this working breakfast at your legal dino cave?”
“Oh, no. It was in an out-of-the-way, hole-in-the-wall for matters kept completely in. Cog. Nee. Tow. Oops. But the substance was unimportant. Very unimportant.”
“That’s an astonishing explanation … and not what the dino judge said. He said negotiations of the secret non-prosecution deal—which the Jeffreyepstein team was adamant about keeping from the victims—was the hot topic the day of your breakfast meeting.”
The Alexanderacosta was beat. He looked like a whipped Puppysaurus. He wanted to roll over and die. But the Mimirocha wasn’t done.
“The question remains, why, Alex? Why? The job of dino prosecutors representing the Milkanhoney Preservation is to uphold the law and vindicate the victims despite these tactics. You failed at this fundamental responsibility of your position. We know the Jeffreyepstein’s motive. What was yours?
“I — I … next question.”
“Oh, it’s a question alright, Alex.” It was the Eliehonig. “And a note and then a list. Why in the world did you immunize the co-conspirators around Epstein? Could it be you’re trying to — I don’t know — protect them?”
The Alexanderacosta was beginning to crack. The Cheshire Cat grin on Elie’s face was doing him in.
“The Labor of Secretary,” he sobbed. “It’s all I ever wanted.”
“Hang in there, Alex, I’m not done yet. My buddy, the Barrykrischer, you remember him. The dino prosecutor in the Nevereverglades? He said you’re completely wrong. He said the 53-footprint indictment was abandoned after secret negotiations between you and the Jeffreyepstein’s legal dinos. Now why was that?”
“We only had the weekend?
“Wrong again. You had all the time in the world.”
“You don’t understand. It was a tight schedule. The Jeffreyepstein’s sched–I mean, if there’s one thing the T-Rump taught me, time is moolah-moolah. And to bill accordingly. You, uh … mentioned a list?”
“Yes, my friend, the Sethabramson gave me a list of dinos who you really want to blame for your errors and corruption.”
“He did? I do? Who?”
“That would be the Nevereverglades prosecutors and investigators, the Jeffreyepstein’s legal dinos, the Jeffreyepstein himself … oh, and the victims too.”
The Alexanderacosta sank into the depths of delirium.
“Oh, could you? Please?”
The jig was up.
190712aDonald TrumpFictionHumorPoliticsSatireThe T-Rump Dig
Previous Post: Lewd, Crude and Screwed …
Next Post: The T-Rump Dig … Days 900 & 904
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Media Release: Libs fail homeowners once again
Nov 20, 2019 | Media | 0 comments
The NSW Liberals have once again failed ordinary home owners, pulling the Design and Building Practitioners Bill from the Parliament because they did not want to accept essential amendments.
By pulling the Bill the NSW Government is now offering precisely nothing to residents from the Mascot and Opal Towers along with thousands of other homeowners and tenants across the across the state impacted by building defects.
The crisis of confidence in the building and construction industry has seen new apartment sales in NSW collapse from a high of 27,000 units in the year to August 2015 to just 6,333 in the past 12 months.
Without a comprehensive plan to fix this crisis the NSW economy and the tens of thousands of people in employed in the construction industry face a very uncertain future.
Greens MP David Shoebridge said:
“The Government’s Bill was never going to be a serious fix to the quality and confidence problems plaguing the construction industry, but if they had accepted the Greens and Labor amendments it would have been a real start.
“The Greens have a serious of amendments ready to be debated that would have created a single, comprehensive Building Commission in NSW to finally bring together the fractured and ineffectual regulation of industry.
“Starting with the Campbell report in 2002, there have been dozens of reports calling for the establishment of a Building Commission in NSW, it is broadly accepted across the industry as an essential reform.
“Instead of working with the Parliament to fix his inadequate Bill, Minister Anderson has taken his very broken bat and ball and sulked off home.
“Instead of opening the Bill for debate and working with Parliament to try and give it some substance the Government have instead pulled the Bill altogether.
“The government will now head into 2020 offering nothing to long suffering residents of Opal or Mascot Towers or any of the ordinary homeowners facing ruin through no fault of their own,” Mr Shoebridge said.
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Deadball Baseball
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Archive for the ‘Lefty Grove Home Town’ Category
Lonaconing’s Own Lefty Grove
Robert Moses “Lefty” Grove was one of the greatest left-handed pitchers of all time. He spent his 17 year major league career with the Boston Red Sox and the Philadelphia Athletics, compiling a record of 300-141 with an ERA of 3.06. Prior to his major league debut, he pitched for several seasons for the Baltimore Orioles of the International League, which played their home games at Terrapin Park, also known as Oriole Park. He complied an impressive record of 108-36 while with the minor league Orioles.
Lefty Grove Baseball Card (1932 American Caramel)
Grove was born in Lonaconing, Maryland (pronounced loan-a-coney), in 1900. Lonaconing is a 19th century coal mining town located in the George’s Creek Valley of Allegany County, Maryland, about 10 miles south of Frostburg, Maryland, off Interstate 68.
Welcome to Lonaconing, Maryland, Hometown of Baseball Hall of Famer Lefty Grove
Grove spent his childhood in Lonaconing, where his father and many members of his family worked in the coal mines. According to local residents, Grove lived in a house on Douglas Avenue. One person I spoke with told me Grove lived in a duplex at 81- 83 Douglas Avenue. That house, although located within the Lonaconing Historic District, is in desperate need of renovation.
Duplex Where Lefty Grove Once May Have Lived, 81-83 Douglas Avenue, Lonaconing, Maryland
The duplex at 77-79 Douglas Avenue, which sits just to the left of what is believed to be Grove’s house, is in much better condition – an example of what Grove’s house might once have looked like.
Duplex at 77-79 Douglas Avenue, Lonaconing, Maryland
After Grove retired from baseball in 1947, he returned to Lonaconing and opened Lefty’s Place, a duck pin bowling alley and pool hall.
Lefty's Place (photo from www.appalachianhistory.net and bandkgreen.net)
In 1996, the building that housed Lefty’s Place at 14 Union Street was destroyed by a flood. On the former site of the pool hall now sits the Lonaconing Republican Club, which is fitting given that Grove was once an active member of that club.
Site of Lefty's Place, Lonaconing, Maryland
Many of the buildings throughout the town of Lonaconing appear as they did when Grove lived there, which is one reason much of the town was designated a historic district as a surviving example of a 19th century coal town.
Union Street, Lonaconing, Maryland
The George’s Creek Regional Library at 76 Main Street includes a small museum honoring Grove and the history of Lonaconing.
George's Creek Regional Library
A display case in the library’s conference room includes several items that once belonged to Grove, as well as memorabilia from his playing days.
Case Displaying Lefty Grove Memorabilia
Of greatest import is his 1931 American League Most Valuable Player award, which Grove gave to his friend, John Myers, a baseball coach at Valley High School in Lonaconing. Grove made the gift because he wanted the people of “Coney” to enjoy it, rather than give it to the Baseball Hall of Fame where likely no one from the town would ever to see it.
Lefty Grove's 1931 American League Most Valuable Player Award
Also included in the display is a Walter Hagen golf club that once belong to Grove, as well as a leather bound golf rule book with “Lefty Grove” imprinted on the cover and a Lefty Grove autographed baseball.
Lefty Grove Memorabilia, Including Grove's Walter Hagen Golf Club
Located in Furnace Park on East Main Street, less than a quarter mile from the library, is a plaque dedicated to Grove. At the rear of the park sits the George’s Creek Coal and Iron Company Furnace No. 1, a historic iron furnace dating to 1839.
Lefty Grove Plaque, Furnace Park
The plaque states:
“A Native of Lonaconing, Lefty Grove was one of baseball’s all-time great pitchers. In 17 season (1925-1941) as a major leaguer, he won 300 games and lost 141 for a .680 percentage.
Pitching for Philadelphia and Boston, he led the American League in earned-run percentage nine times and won 20 or more games on eight occasions. He won 16 consecutive games in 1931, a league record, and 14 straight in 1928. In 1931, when his record was 31-4, he was vote the league’s most valuable player. He was elected to the hall of fame in 1947
In connection with the baseball centennial in 1969, he was selected as the greatest lefthanded pitcher of all time. His career earned-run average in the majors was 3.06. He won 108 games and lost on 36 during six years with Baltimore in the International League.”
Plaque Honoring Lefty Grove
The park is also the former site of Central High School, which Grove attended prior to beginning his playing career with the International League Orioles.
Plaque Honoring Former Site of Central High School
Grove died in 1975 at the age of 75 and is interred ten miles north of Lonaconing in Frostburg Memorial Park (70 Green St Frostburg, Maryland).
Entrance to Frostburg Memorial Park
Grove’s grave site is located in Section 9, Lot 94, near marker 3A.
Lefty Grove's Burial Plot, Frostburg Memorial Park
Frostburg Memorial Park employee Joe Lavin, who worked for the cemetery at the time Grove was buried there, constructed a memorial to Grove in front of the grave site.
Joe Lavin's Memorial to Lefty Grove
Grove is buried along side his wife Ethel, who died in 1960.
Head Stone of Robert and Ethel Grove
Should you find yourself driving along Interstate 68 in western Maryland and looking for a baseball excursion, head 10 miles south on Route 36 to Lonaconing and pay a visit to the home town of one of baseball’s greatest left handed pitchers, Lefty Grove. And while there, should you find any additional information about Grove’s house on Douglas Avenue, please be sure to let me know. I certainly would appreciate it. In the meantime, be sure to check out Austin Gisriel’s installment of Off the Beaten Basepaths, which features Austin’s take on Lefty Grove and the town of Lonaconing.
"Safe At Home" Author Austin Gisriel Standing Behind the Lefty Grove Plaque at Furnace Park
Tags: 1931 American League Most Valuable Player Award, Austin Gisriel, Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Central High School, Douglas Avenue, Ethel Grove, Frostburg Memorial Park, Furnace Park, George's Creek Regional Library, International League, Lefty Grove, Lefty's Place, Lonaconing, Lonaconing Republican Club, Off the Beaten Basepath, Orioles Park, Philadelphia Athletics, Robert Moses Grove, Terrapin Park/Oriole Park V, Union Street, Walter Hagen
Posted in Lefty Grove Home Town, Maryland ballparks | Comments (10)
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Just Imagine If He'd Won Gold
Gourmet Spud
Filed to:Wake up deadspin
Because no one reads the newspaper, and SportsCenter's anchors are too perky for this early in the morning, Deadspin combs the best of the broadsheets and the blogosphere to bring you everything you need to know to start your day.
• That's Scotty Lago, U.S. bronze medalist in the halfpipe, enjoying one of the many perks of Olympic victory. The photos, taken at an apparent post-victory street party on Thursday night, ran on TMZ yesterday, prompting Scotty to voluntarily leave the Olympics. On the plus side, at least the woman got her question answered as to whether it was real bronze.
• Antawn Jamison had a (cough) memorable debut with the Cavs last night, going 0 for 12 from the field with four of his shots blocked and two of them air balled. Cleveland lost to Charlotte, dropping the season series to the upstart Bobcats 3 to 1. Interestingly, if the season ended today, these two teams would meet in the first round. Typical seasons - never ending when you want them to. I'm looking at you, winter and Deadwood Season 3.
• Major League Baseball is jumping aboard the "we would like our players not to threaten to shoot each other" bandwagon, posting signs in spring training locker rooms prohibiting individuals from "possessing deadly weapons while performing any services for MLB." The signs are posted in accordance with "Major League Baseball's Weapon-Free Workplace Policy", which was apparently developed after Plaxico Burress accidentally blew a hole in his own leg last year. According to the policy, employees (including players, natch) cannot carry "firearms, explosives, daggers, metal knuckles, switchblade knives, and knives having blades exceeding 5 inches" into any MLB-owned facilities. But it doesn't say shit about nunchucks.
Another full slate of Olympic action on tap today, including medals to be handed out in alpine, speed skating and (yes!) ski jumping. All this and a nine-week-old puppy/urine machine vying for my attention. Time to warm up the eyeballs and practice those summoning skills.
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Birds need feeders in cold spring
This video is called British Garden Birds Feeding.
From Wildlife Extra:
Cold weather means birds need feeding
Huge influx of birds into gardens
March 2013. Thousands of birds are homing in on garden feeding stations as Arctic conditions persist. Latest results from the year-round British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) Garden BirdWatch survey show a mass influx of many familiar species as they struggle to survive.
The current cold snap could not have come at a worse time for birds. Late winter is a period when natural foods are scarce. Seeds and fruits that were abundant during autumn have been depleted over winter, while many insects – which are cold-blooded and, therefore, are slower to emerge when the weather is cold – are yet to appear this year.
Mating time
The double-whammy is that birds are not just thinking about survival at the moment – they are also thinking about sex. Males want to be devoting their time to singing in order to claim and defend their territories, while females want to be feeding up to gain enough nutrients to lay their eggs. Amidst the unseasonably cold conditions, many birds are being forced to postpone nesting activities and, instead, to focus on survival.
Bird feeding is vital
Thankfully – as is so often the case – food provided by householders is providing vital support. Latest results from the BTO Garden BirdWatch survey show that visitors ranging from the tiny Long-tailed Tit to the portly Woodpigeon have been spotted much more often in gardens over the past fortnight compared with the previous three-year average.
% increase in BTO Garden BirdWatch counts: March 2013 vs. March 2010–12 average
Siskin 187% higher
Woodpigeon 53%
Long-tailed Tit 45%
Fieldfare 42%
Redwing 41%
Chaffinch 39%
Jackdaw 29%
Blackbird 28%
Goldfinch 24%
Robin 12%
Dr Tim Harrison, BTO Garden Ecology Team, commented: “Mid to late March is a terrible time of year for such testing weather conditions to set in. A few months ago birds were essentially focused solely on survival but now they are also trying to get on with nesting, with some still needing to migrate to their breeding grounds.”
BTO Garden BirdWatch survey
He added: “Thanks to citizen scientists who take part in the weekly BTO Garden BirdWatch survey, we have been able to chart this critical period in unique detail. The most remarkable increase has been in the Siskin, which visited almost two in five gardens last week – its highest reporting rate since 1995. Its cousin, the Goldfinch, has also been seen in large numbers, delighting over two thirds of householders last week.”
Top tips for feeding birds in cold weather:
Grind up peanuts and scatter these on bird tables and on the ground.
Provide sunflower hearts in tube feeders and on the ground.
Finely grate cheese, beef or vegetable suet on bird tables and the ground. You could also provide a few bread or cake crumbs.
Put out windfall or fresh fruit on the ground for Robins and thrushes.
Mealworms can be a real hit for invertebrate-eating birds such as Blackbirds and Wrens.
Don’t forget that birds also need clean, fresh water for drinking and bathing.
March 2013. It’s feared that the on-going bad weather may be responsible for the deaths of hundreds of seabirds of the UK’s east coast. RSPB Scotland has received many reports of puffins, as well as razorbills and guillemots, washing up on beaches from Aberdeenshire and Angus to Northumberland: here.
More lesser redpolls in British gardens (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
Siskins and robin on the balcony (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
Siskins on the balcony (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
Eight hawfinches, siskins, jays at the cemetery (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
Whisketeers: bird watching (whisketeers.com)
introduction (northcorkbirder.wordpress.com)
Introduction (naturenutter.wordpress.com)
This entry was posted in Biology, Birds, Environment and tagged spring, UK by petrel41. Bookmark the permalink.
8 thoughts on “Birds need feeders in cold spring”
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Q&A: Europe’s freezing Easter and global warming
STOCKHOLM— Is it Easter or Christmas? Many Europeans would be forgiven for being confused by winter’s icy grip on lands that should be thawing in springtime temperatures by now.
Britain is on track for the coldest March since 1962, according to national weather service the Met Office, which also says daily low temperatures in London are going to remain below freezing through the Easter holiday. The mean temperature in Britain from March 1-26 was 2.5 C (36.5 F) — three degrees below the long-term average.
In Berlin, Good Friday saw a new round of snowfall and temperatures just above freezing. The city’s popular lakeside beach opened for the season as planned, though it wasn’t exactly beach weather. Some visitors built a snowman and few ventured into the freezing water.
As always when you talk about weather, natural variability is a big factor. But an increasing body of research suggests that cold spells like the one that has lingered in northern and central Europe for much of March could become more common as a result of global warming melting the Arctic ice cap.
Q: Why is it so cold in much of Europe right now?
A: Normally, European winters are kept relatively mild by wet, westerly winds from the Atlantic. But in March, the wind has been blowing mostly from the northeast, bringing freezing Arctic air down over much of Europe.
Q: So why are the winds coming from the northeast?
A: The winds are driven by atmospheric circulation patterns which in turn are affected by differences in air pressure between northern and southern latitudes. For much of March this circulation has been in a negative state, meaning the pressure difference is small. That weakens the westerly Atlantic winds and paves the way for cold air to sweep down over Europe from the Arctic and Siberia.
Q: What does that have to do with Arctic sea ice?
A: Global warming is melting the ice cap over the Arctic Ocean. Last September, it reached its lowest extent on record. Climate models show that the loss of sea ice — which acts as a lid on the ocean, preventing it from giving off heat — triggers feedback mechanisms that shake up the climate system further. A series of studies in recent years have shown that one such effect could be changes in atmospheric circulation, resulting in more frequent cold snaps in Europe.
Q: How would melting Arctic ice lead to cold snaps?
A: The theory is the loss of sea ice means more heat is released from the open ocean, warming the layer of polar air over the water. That reduces the temperature and air pressure differentials with more southern latitudes, increasing the likelihood of a negative state in the atmospheric circulation. Experts stress that winter weather is affected by many other factors, but several studies have shown the Arctic melt loads the dice in favor of colder and snowier winters in Europe. One study by scientists at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany showed European cold snaps could become three times more likely because of shrinking sea ice.
Q: What’s the impact on the jet stream?
A: Some studies suggest that the shrinking sea ice also shifts the polar jet stream, a high-altitude air current that flows from west to east. Bigger waves in the meandering jet stream allow frigid air to spill southward from the Arctic, they say. Other climate experts are uncertain about this effect, saying more research is needed.
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Mandate and roles
Commissioner David Johnston
Why debates matter
Participation Criteria
Interpretation of Participation Criteria for the Leaders’ Debates
Green Party of Canada
Liberal Party of Canada
New Democratic Party
People’s Party of Canada
The Debates
Livestream viewing parties
Home > Transparency
Departmental Plan 2019-20
The Honourable Karina Gould
Minister of Democratic Institutions
The Right Honourable David Johnston
Debates Commissioner
© Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada (2019)
All requests for permission to reproduce this document or any part thereof shall be addressed to the Leaders’ Debates Commission.
Cette publication est également disponible en français : Plan ministériel 2019-2020
CP1-27E-PDF
Debates Commissioner’s message
Plans at a glance and operating context
Planned results: what we want to achieve this year and beyond
Core Responsibilities
Organize Leaders’ Debates for Federal General Election
Planning highlights
Spending and human resources
Planned spending
Planned human resources
Estimates by vote
Future-Oriented Condensed Statement of Operations
Raison d’être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do
Reporting framework
Supporting information on the Program Inventory
Supplementary information tables
Federal tax expenditures
Organizational contact information
Appendix: definitions
I am pleased to submit the Leaders’ Debates Commission’s Departmental Plan for 2019–2020. This Plan provides parliamentarians and Canadians with information on what we do and the results we are trying to achieve.
The core of the mandate of the Commission is twofold. First, to organize two leaders’ debates for the 2019 federal general election – one in each official language. Second, to prepare a report to Parliament, following the 2019 debates, outlining findings, lessons learned, and recommendations to inform the potential creation of a more permanent Commission going forward.
In order to accomplish this mandate, we will focus on three key objectives: standing up the Commission; promoting awareness of and access to the debates that we organize; and preparing reports and analysis for future decision-making. In so doing, we will be working to make these debates a more predictable, reliable, and stable element of federal election campaigns.
Our team is committed to the work we do and is excited to undertake the tasks ahead in the upcoming year. We will be working to establish an open and transparent dialogue with political parties, stakeholders and media organizations to deliver the debates Canada deserves. We recognize the essential role they play in exposing Canadians to a diversity of political views, including positions that do not always align with their own.
As Debates Commissioner, I firmly believe that the success of the 2019 leaders’ debates will rest on the ability of the Leaders’ Debates Commission to keep the public interest paramount, while remaining independent and non-partisan. I invite you to read our Departmental Plan to learn more about how we will focus our energies and resources during the coming fiscal year.
Debates play an essential role in Canada’s democracy as one of the most important events in electoral campaigns. They provide a unique opportunity for voters to observe, together on the same stage, the character, temperament, and unscripted approaches of leaders seeking to be Canada’s Prime Minister.
On October 30, 2018, the Government of Canada announced that it will establish an independent commission to organize leaders’ debatesEndnote i to be known as the Leaders’ Debates Commission (Commission), consisting of a:
Debates Commissioner: the director of the Commission who, in that capacity, conducts the ordinary business of the Commission, appoints the members of the Secretariat, and will provide a report to Parliament after the 2019 debates containing thorough advice with regards to the future of a Commission;
Advisory Board: selected by the Debates Commissioner, the Board will provide advice with the goal of ensuring that the organization of the leaders’ debates benefits from the expertise and experience of its members and that the leaders’ debates reflect the public interest;
Secretariat: responsible for all administrative support, financial monitoring, issues management, research and analysis, and parliamentary reporting.
In making this announcement, the Minister of Democratic Institutions is fulfilling one of her mandate letter commitmentsEndnote ii by advancing the public interest and promoting the principles of independence, impartiality, credibility, democratic citizenship, civic education, inclusion and cost-effectiveness.
Throughout 2019–20, the Commission will work with other federal departments and stakeholders to leverage a variety of media so that leaders’ debates are broadcast or otherwise made available to Canadians,
including those with disabilities, those living in remote communities and those living in official language minority communities.
To accomplish its mandate in 2019–20, the Commission will focus on the following three key objectives:
Standing up the Leaders’ Debates Commission
Activities that will support this objective include:
selecting and establishing a seven-member Advisory Board to the Debates Commissioner;
hiring employees to manage and implement Commission deliverables;
engaging political parties, media, and civil society organizations; and
entering into contract for the production of the debates.
Promoting awareness of and access to the leaders’ debates
engaging with Canadians to raise awareness about when, where and how to access debates; and
providing the feed for the debates to Canadians, free of charge.
Preparing reports and analysis for decision-making
providing a report to Parliament outlining findings and lessons learned; and
preparing a recommendation for the potential creation, in statute, of a more permanent Leaders’ Debates Commission, going forward.
For more information on the Commission’s plans, priorities and planned results, see the “Planned results” section of this report.
Organize Leaders’ Debates for Federal General Elections
In 2019–20, the Commission will organize two leaders’ debates for the 2019 federal general election – one in each official language. In order to execute its core responsibility, the Commission will apply mandated criteria to confirm the participation of eligible party leaders in leaders’ debates during general election periods, issue a call for proposals for debate production, that seeks to ensure that Canadians have access to these broadcasts, and communicate with Canadians to raise awareness of when, where and how debates can be accessed.
To that end, the Commission will work to make the debates a more predictable, reliable, and stable element of federal election campaigns. The desired result is an open and transparent organization of leaders’ debates that reaches a broad cross-section of Canadians.
Ensuring the leaders’ debates are available to all Canadians
The Commission will undertake an awareness raising campaign and outreach activities to ensure that Canadians know when, where and how to access the leaders’ debates. Following the debates, the Commission will conduct an evidence-based assessment of the leaders’ debates that it has organized, including with respect to the number of persons to whom the debates were accessible and the number of persons who actually accessed them.
The Commission will ensure that the leaders’ debates are broadcast free of charge and otherwise made available in an accessible way to persons with disabilities.
The Commission will seek to ensure that the debates reach as many Canadians as possible, including those living in remote areas and those living in official language minority communities, through a variety of media and other fora.
Maintaining the highest standards for the leaders’ debates
The Commission will conduct any necessary research or rely on any applicable research to ensure that the leaders’ debates are of high quality.
The Commission will ensure that any reproduction of the leaders’ debates is subject to only the terms and conditions that are necessary to preserve the integrity of the debates.
The Commission will also provide advice and support in respect of other political debates related to the general election, including candidates’ debates, as the Debates Commissioner considers appropriate.
The Commission may find itself unable to execute its mandate in the time available prior to the 2019 election. To mitigate this risk, the Government has provided research and background information to the Commission to allow it to begin its work immediately upon appointment of the Commissioner. The Commission is also exploring options including working with existing departments for the provision of back office support (e.g., administration, finance, legal, procurement, security, and information technology) to allow the Commission to benefit from the targeted expertise of an existing department for specific services.
Planned results
The Commission is still in the process of finalizing its Departmental Results Framework. Therefore, there are no previous year’s actual results. Indicators will be made available on the GC InfoBase website in the coming year.
Departmental Results
Departmental Result Indicators
Date to achieve target
2015–16 Actual results
Canadians are aware of and have access to debates organized by the Leaders’ Debates Commission Number of Canadians who have access to debates organized by the Leaders’ Debates Commission. The proportion of Canadians having access to debates organized by the Leaders’ Debates Commission exceeds comparable figures from the previous election*. March 2020 N/A N/A N/A
Number of Canadians who view debates organized by the Leaders’ Debates Commission The proportion of Canadians viewing the debates organized by the Leaders’ Debates Commission exceeds comparable figures from the previous election*. March 2020 N/A N/A N/A
(*) Comparable figures to be determined and included in the Commission’s report to Parliament.
Budgetary financial resources (dollars)
2019–20 Main Estimates
2019–20 Planned spending
4,629,699 4,629,699 0 0
Human resources (full-time equivalents)
2019–20 Planned full-time equivalents
Financial, human resources and performance information for the Commission’s Program Inventory will be made available on the GC InfoBase website in the coming year.
Internal Services are those groups of related activities and resources that the federal government considers to be services in support of Programs and/or required to meet corporate obligations of an organization.
Internal Services refers to the activities and resources of the 10 distinct services that support Program delivery in the organization, regardless of the Internal Services delivery model in a department. These services are:
Management and Oversight Services
Human Resources Management Services
Information Management Services
Real Property Management Services
Materiel Management Services
Acquisition Management Services
Internal Services functions to be provided to the Commission by the Privy Council Office (PCO) through a Memorandum of Understanding between the two parties covering the 2019–20 fiscal year.
Statutory 0$ 0$ 29,181$ 108,924$ 0$ 0$
Voted 0$ 0$ 257,949$ 108,924$ 0$ 0$
Total 0$ 0$ 287,130$ 4,629,699$ 0$ 0$
The Commission will be funded through existing resources approved under Budget 2018, which announced the Government’s intention to provide $5.5 million over two years, to be repeated every pre-election and election year, to support a new process that would ensure that federal leaders’ debates are organized in the public interest and improve Canadians’ knowledge of the parties, their leaders and their policy positions.
Budgetary planning summary for Core Responsibilities and Internal Services (dollars)
Core Responsibilities and Internal Services
2016–17 Expenditures
2018–19 Forecast spending
Organize Leaders’ Debates for Federal General Elections 0 0 287,130 4,629,699 4,629,699 0 0
Subtotal 0 0 287,130 4,629,699 4,629,699 0 0
Internal Services 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 0 0 287,130 4,629,699 4,629,699 0 0
Human resources planning summary for Core Responsibilities and Internal Services (full-time equivalents)
2016–17 Actual full-time equivalents
2017–18 Actual full-time equivalent
2018–19 Forecast full-time equivalents
Organize Leaders’ Debates for Federal General Elections 0 0 1 6 0 0
Subtotal 0 0 1 6 0 0
Internal Services 0 0 0 0 0 0
Information on the Commission’s organizational appropriations is available in the 2019–20 Main EstimatesEndnote iii.
The Future-Oriented Condensed Statement of Operations provides a general overview of the Commission’s operations. The forecast of financial information on expenses and revenues is prepared on an accrual accounting basis to strengthen accountability and to improve transparency and financial management. The forecast and planned spending amounts presented in other sections of the Departmental Plan are prepared on an expenditure basis; as a result, amounts may differ.
A more detailed Future-Oriented Statement of Operations and associated notes, including a reconciliation of the net cost of operations to the requested authorities, will be available on the Commission’s website in the coming year.
Future-Oriented Condensed Statement of Operations for the year ending March 31, 2020 (dollars)
2018–19 Forecast results
2019–20 Planned results
Difference (2019–20 Planned results minus 2018–19 Forecast results)
Total expenses 335,265 4,849,613 4,514,348
Total revenues (0) (0) (0)
Net cost of operations before government funding and transfers 335,265 4,849,613 4,514,348
The net cost of operations before government funding and transfers for the 2019–20 Planned results is expected to increase by $4,514,348 when compared to the net cost of operations before government funding and transfers for the 2018–19 Forecast results.
This increase is mostly because the Commission becomes fully operational in 2019–20 compared to 2018–19.
Appropriate minister: The Honourable Karina Gould
Institutional head: The Right Honourable David Johnston, Debates Commissioner
Ministerial portfolio: Minister of Democratic Institutions
Enabling instrument: Order in Council 2018-1322
Year of incorporation / commencement: 2018
“Raison d’être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do” will be made available on the Commission’s website in the coming year.
The Commission’s Departmental Results Framework and Program Inventory of record for 2019–20 are shown below.
Rationale for change
Core responsibility Organize Leaders’ Debates for federal general elections Organize Leaders’ Debates for federal general elections No change Not applicable
Program Leaders’ Debates Leaders’ Debates No change Not applicable
Supporting information on planned expenditures, human resources, and results related to the Commission’s Program Inventory will be made available on the GC InfoBase website in the coming year.
The following supplementary information table will be available on the Commission’s website in the coming year:
Gender-based analysis plus.Endnote iv
The tax system can be used to achieve public policy objectives through the application of special measures such as low tax rates, exemptions, deductions, deferrals and credits. The Department of Finance Canada publishes cost estimates and projections for these measures each year in the Report on Federal Tax ExpendituresEndnote v. This report also provides detailed background information on tax expenditures, including descriptions, objectives, historical information and references to related federal spending programs, as well as evaluations, research papers and gender-based analysis. The tax measures presented in this report are the responsibility of the Minister of Finance.
As presented in the Government Electronic Directory Services.
Leaders’ Debates Commission
3rd floor – Suite 301
K1A 0A3
E-Mail: info@debates-debats.ca
Leaders’ Debates Commission website: www.debates-debats.ca
appropriation (crédit)
Any authority of Parliament to pay money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
budgetary expenditures (dépenses budgétaires)
Operating and capital expenditures; transfer payments to other levels of government, organizations or individuals; and payments to Crown corporations.
Core Responsibility (responsabilité essentielle)
An enduring function or role performed by a department. The intentions of the department with respect to a Core Responsibility are reflected in one or more related Departmental Results that the department seeks to contribute to or influence.
Departmental Plan (plan ministériel)
A report on the plans and expected performance of an appropriated department over a three-year period. Departmental Plans are tabled in Parliament each spring.
Departmental Result (résultat ministériel)
Any change that the department seeks to influence. A Departmental Result is often outside departments’ immediate control, but it should be influenced by Program-level outcomes.
Departmental Result Indicator (indicateur de résultat ministériel)
A factor or variable that provides a valid and reliable means to measure or describe progress on a Departmental Result.
Departmental Results Framework (cadre ministériel des résultats)
The department’s Core Responsibilities, Departmental Results and Departmental Result Indicators.
Departmental Results Report (rapport sur les résultats ministériels)
A report on the actual accomplishments against the plans, priorities and expected results set out in the corresponding Departmental Plan.
evaluation (évaluation)
In the Government of Canada, the systematic and neutral collection and analysis of evidence to judge merit, worth or value. Evaluation informs decision making, improvements, innovation and accountability. Evaluations typically focus on programs, policies and priorities and examine questions related to relevance, effectiveness and efficiency. Depending on user needs, however, evaluations can also examine other units, themes and issues, including alternatives to existing interventions. Evaluations generally employ social science research methods.
experimentation (expérimentation)
Activities that seek to explore, test and compare the effects and impacts of policies, interventions and approaches, to inform evidence-based decision-making, by learning what works and what does not.
full-time equivalent (équivalent temps plein)
A measure of the extent to which an employee represents a full person-year charge against a departmental budget. Full-time equivalents are calculated as a ratio of assigned hours of work to scheduled hours of work. Scheduled hours of work are set out in collective agreements.
gender-based analysis plus (GBA+) (analyse comparative entre les sexes plus [ACS+])
An analytical process used to help identify the potential impacts of policies, Programs and services on diverse groups of women, men and gender-diverse people. The “plus” acknowledges that GBA goes beyond sex and gender differences. We all have multiple identity factors that intersect to make us who we are; GBA+ considers many other identity factors, such as race, ethnicity, religion, age, and mental or physical disability.
government-wide priorities (priorités pangouvernementales)
For the purpose of the 2019–20 Departmental Plan, government-wide priorities refers to those high-level themes outlining the government’s agenda in the 2015 Speech from the Throne, namely: Growth for the Middle Class; Open and Transparent Government; A Clean Environment and a Strong Economy; Diversity is Canada’s Strength; and Security and Opportunity.
horizontal initiative (initiative horizontale)
An initiative where two or more departments are given funding to pursue a shared outcome, often linked to a government priority.
non-budgetary expenditures (dépenses non budgétaires)
Net outlays and receipts related to loans, investments and advances, which change the composition of the financial assets of the Government of Canada.
performance (rendement)
What an organization did with its resources to achieve its results, how well those results compare to what the organization intended to achieve, and how well lessons learned have been identified.
performance indicator (indicateur de rendement)
A qualitative or quantitative means of measuring an output or outcome, with the intention of gauging the performance of an organization, Program, policy or initiative respecting expected results.
Performance Information Profile (profil de l’information sur le rendement)
The document that identifies the performance information for each Program from the Program Inventory.
performance reporting (production de rapports sur le rendement)
The process of communicating evidence-based performance information. Performance reporting supports decision making, accountability and transparency.
plan (plan)
The articulation of strategic choices, which provides information on how an organization intends to achieve its priorities and associated results. Generally a plan will explain the logic behind the strategies chosen and tend to focus on actions that lead up to the expected result.
planned spending (dépenses prévues)
For Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports, planned spending refers to those amounts presented in the Main Estimates.
A department is expected to be aware of the authorities that it has sought and received. The determination of planned spending is a departmental responsibility, and departments must be able to defend the expenditure and accrual numbers presented in their Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports.
priority (priorité)
A plan or project that an organization has chosen to focus and report on during the planning period. Priorities represent the things that are most important or what must be done first to support the achievement of the desired Departmental Results.
Program (programme)
Individual or groups of services, activities or combinations thereof that are managed together within the department and focus on a specific set of outputs, outcomes or service levels.
Program Inventory (répertoire des programmes)
Identifies all of the department’s programs and describes how resources are organized to contribute to the department’s Core Responsibilities and Results.
result (résultat)
An external consequence attributed, in part, to an organization, policy, Program or initiative. Results are not within the control of a single organization, policy, Program or initiative; instead they are within the area of the organization’s influence.
statutory expenditures (dépenses législatives)
Expenditures that Parliament has approved through legislation other than appropriation acts. The legislation sets out the purpose of the expenditures and the terms and conditions under which they may be made.
sunset program (programme temporisé)
A time-limited program that does not have an ongoing funding and policy authority. When the program is set to expire, a decision must be made whether to continue the program. In the case of a renewal, the decision specifies the scope, funding level and duration.
target (cible)
A measurable performance or success level that an organization, Program or initiative plans to achieve within a specified time period. Targets can be either quantitative or qualitative.
voted expenditures (dépenses votées)
Expenditures that Parliament approves annually through an Appropriation Act. The Vote wording becomes the governing conditions under which these expenditures may be made.
Government of Canada announces the creation of an independent Leaders’ Debates Commission
Return to endnote 1
Return to endnote i referrer
Return to endnote ii referrer
Return to endnote iii referrer
Leaders’ Debates Commission, Gender-based Analysis plus
Return to endnote iv referrer
Report on Federal Tax Expenditures
Return to endnote v referrer
Date modified: July 22, 2019
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Wood Fired Pizza
Delicious pizza
Earth and Stone Wood Fired Pizza was started in May 2013 by Stan Stinson and Tina Ford as a mobile pizza vendor and caterer. Our first event was at The Greene Street Farmer’s Market in Huntsville, Alabama. We bought our first mobile pizza oven with hopes to travel and to attend festivals. Little did we know that Huntsville had other plans for our little pizza oven on a trailer.
In June 2013, we signed up to sell pizzas at Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, TN. It was a fun and enlightening experience! We learned a lot about how important developing processes and becoming efficient are while keeping our standards high was going to be.
When we settled in to weekly vending at the farmer’s markets in Huntsville, we were fortunate that Matt Wake, a food and entertainment reporter with AL. com decided to try our pizzas at The Greene Street Farmer’s Market. Matt shared his review and praises with his readers … and our lives changed forever.
After our first review, the phone rang off the hook and we were on our way to becoming a full time vendor and caterer. We were on our way….
We sold pizzas everywhere — farmer’s markets, food truck rallies, private catering, company parties, graduations, weddings, sporting events, church socials and picnics, Redstone Arsenal, festivals, you name it.
A very popular event for us was selling pizza at the local craft breweries in Huntsville and Madison, AL. The Rocket City is a mecca for craft breweries and wow, are we thankful! Our popularity continued to increase as did our determination to offer delicious food for our customers.
Two short years later, we were collaborating with Yellowhammer Brewing to have our pizza joint inside the Yellowhammer brewery building, which is located at Huntsville’s newest entertainment district, known as Campus 805. (www.campus805.com) Campus 805 is the South’s premier brewery, event and entertainment venue that has been developed on the vacant Stone Middle School properties. Being the first brewery and restaurant to open at Campus 805, we are so thankful for the support and patronage that our customers, their friends and families have shown us!
While craft pizza and craft beer are a perfect duo, a perfect trio is even better. We have created a house made ice cream that sets the bar for sweet treats. We push the envelope with our adult ice cream, our signature flavor is bourbon butter pecan. Stan makes a variety of flavors depending on the availability of ingredients and the season.
It was an amazing year and we are excited to see what the future holds!
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Your search: "author:"Mauritzen, Cecilie""
Department of Earth System Science (1)
Chapter 1. Impacts of the oceans on climate change.
Reid, Philip C
Fischer, Astrid C
Lewis-Brown, Emily
Meredith, Michael P
Sparrow, Mike
Andersson, Andreas J
Antia, Avan
Bates, Nicholas R
Bathmann, Ulrich
Beaugrand, Gregory
Brix, Holger
Dye, Stephen
Furevik, Tore
Gangstø, Reidun
Hátún, Hjálmar
Hopcroft, Russell R
Kendall, Mike
Kasten, Sabine
Keeling, Ralph
Le Quéré, Corinne
Mackenzie, Fred T
Malin, Gill
Mauritzen, Cecilie
Olafsson, Jón
Paull, Charlie
Rignot, Eric
Shimada, Koji
Vogt, Meike
Wallace, Craig
Wang, Zhaomin
Washington, Richard
UC Irvine Previously Published Works (2009)
The oceans play a key role in climate regulation especially in part buffering (neutralising) the effects of increasing levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and rising global temperatures. This chapter examines how the regulatory processes performed by the oceans alter as a response to climate change and assesses the extent to which positive feedbacks from the ocean may exacerbate climate change. There is clear evidence for rapid change in the oceans. As the main heat store for the world there has been an accelerating change in sea temperatures over the last few decades, which has contributed to rising sea-level. The oceans are also the main store of carbon dioxide (CO2), and are estimated to have taken up approximately 40% of anthropogenic-sourced CO2 from the atmosphere since the beginning of the industrial revolution. A proportion of the carbon uptake is exported via the four ocean 'carbon pumps' (Solubility, Biological, Continental Shelf and Carbonate Counter) to the deep ocean reservoir. Increases in sea temperature and changing planktonic systems and ocean currents may lead to a reduction in the uptake of CO2 by the ocean; some evidence suggests a suppression of parts of the marine carbon sink is already underway. While the oceans have buffered climate change through the uptake of CO2 produced by fossil fuel burning this has already had an impact on ocean chemistry through ocean acidification and will continue to do so. Feedbacks to climate change from acidification may result from expected impacts on marine organisms (especially corals and calcareous plankton), ecosystems and biogeochemical cycles. The polar regions of the world are showing the most rapid responses to climate change. As a result of a strong ice-ocean influence, small changes in temperature, salinity and ice cover may trigger large and sudden changes in regional climate with potential downstream feedbacks to the climate of the rest of the world. A warming Arctic Ocean may lead to further releases of the potent greenhouse gas methane from hydrates and permafrost. The Southern Ocean plays a critical role in driving, modifying and regulating global climate change via the carbon cycle and through its impact on adjacent Antarctica. The Antarctic Peninsula has shown some of the most rapid rises in atmospheric and oceanic temperature in the world, with an associated retreat of the majority of glaciers. Parts of the West Antarctic ice sheet are deflating rapidly, very likely due to a change in the flux of oceanic heat to the undersides of the floating ice shelves. The final section on modelling feedbacks from the ocean to climate change identifies limitations and priorities for model development and associated observations. Considering the importance of the oceans to climate change and our limited understanding of climate-related ocean processes, our ability to measure the changes that are taking place are conspicuously inadequate. The chapter highlights the need for a comprehensive, adequately funded and globally extensive ocean observing system to be implemented and sustained as a high priority. Unless feedbacks from the oceans to climate change are adequately included in climate change models, it is possible that the mitigation actions needed to stabilise CO2 and limit temperature rise over the next century will be underestimated.
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Studies of water damage in polyester glass laminates
Taneja, Neelam (1974) Studies of water damage in polyester glass laminates. (PhD thesis), Kingston Polytechnic, uk.bl.ethos.328850.
Official URL: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos...
Results are presented of an investigation into the combined effects of hot water and static uniaxial tensile stress on chopped strand mat reinforced polyester resins. Transport of water has been studied by measuring permeation rates, and the damage has been categorised by optical microscopy. Changes in flexural properties are reported. The resistance to crack propagation of polyester resins in the presence of water has also been studied. Isophthalic-acid based polyester resin/chopped strand mat laminates were prepared by the “contact moulding process”. Rates of permeation of water at a series of temperatures (35-80C) were measured by a gravimetric method for up to 2000 hours. The flow was Fickian in most cases, but there were circumstances where the transport became non-Fickian. The non-Fickian behaviour was observed at higher temperatures on prolonged exposures. A specially designed apparatus was used to stress laminates uniaxially in tension and to measure water permeation rates through the stressed samples. The effect of introducing external stress ([not greater than] 25% of the ultimate tensile strength) was to increase the rate of permeation. The progressive changes in the structures, as observed by microscopy took the form of (i) flat plate like circular disc cracks in the resins and resin rich areas of laminates, (ii) surface cracks in the resin casts and gel coats of laminates and (iv) partial failure of glass monofilaments by buckling. In most cases the damage was confined to regions very near the exposed surface. However, straining to 0.4% elongation led to the onset of debonding in transverse fibre bundles throughout the cross-section. Water damage was accelerated and modified by the presence of external stress. The laminates retained their flexural strength and modulus well. Laminates stressed to 0.3% strain at 80C in water for nearly three months retained 80% of their original strength. No catastrophic failure was observed. Single edge notched polyester resin specimens were exposed to water at three different temperatures for up to three months. The resistance to crack propagation as measured by the critical stress intensity factor was lowered at all exposure temperatures. An examination of the fractured surfaces revealed that no stable crack growth had occurred.
This item is held in stock at Kingston University Library.
uk.bl.ethos.328850
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Sweden look to upset Netherlands in the semifinals
Harjeet Johal
LE HAVRE, FRANCE — JUNE 20: Sofia Jakobsson during the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup France group F match between Sweden and USA at Stade Ocane on June 20, 2019 in Le Havre, France. (Photo by Daniela Porcelli/Getty Images)
LYON – Sweden will look to book a spot in the World Cup final when they take on Netherlands Wednesday night in the second semifinal at Stade de Lyon. It has been a surprising tournament for a No.9-ranked Sweden side that’s upset Canada and Germany in the knockout round.
Ahead of facing the Netherlands, Sweden are a squad full of confidence and belief.
“I think it’s also going to be a very tough game against them,” Caroline Seger explained. “They’re a very good team, and have played many years together. They obviously won the Euro’s, and have a lot of confidence too.”
The team who has knocked #GER out of the #FIFAWWC has ALWAYS gone on to lift the trophy…
1991 – #USA ?
1995 – #NOR ?
2011 – #JPN ?
2019 – #SWE ❓
That's your #MondayMotivation, @svenskfotboll! #DareToShine pic.twitter.com/FR30q2RDkR
— FIFA Women's World Cup (@FIFAWWC) July 1, 2019
On the way to winning the 2017 European championship, Netherlands eliminated Sweden in the quarterfinals with a 2-0 victory. Lieke Martens and Vivianne Miedema made sure Sweden didn’t progress on that day. Two years on and Sweden have not forgotten.
“I feel like during the Euros, it’s night and day how we play,” Kosovare Asllani explained to The Equalizer. “We’ve got Peter (Gerhardsson) now, and he’s changed the way we play football. We play fun football, and we try to hold possession. Netherlands will be a tough opponent, but they’re not unbeatable. We’re going to do everything we can to be really prepared. That’s the recipe. We can’t just focus on ourselves, we obviously need to focus on their strengths, and weaknesses.”
The No.8-ranked Dutch side haven’t played their best football at the World Cup. While they topped Group E, fans and media have been less than pleased with how the Netherlands are playing. Wins over Japan and Italy haven’t quieted doubters.
Criticism has been especially vocal towards forward Shanice van de Sanden and Martens. Martens, who plays for club side Barcelona, is nursing an injured toe.
Yet, even with the Netherlands not playing like they did at the Euros, they’ve still managed to make it to the semifinals.
#NED Miedema on playing #SWE
“We’ve got 23 players. I’ve seen Sweden a lot. We know Sweden. I think it will be a hard game to win.”#NED Sari van Veenendaal on #SWE
“We are the Dutch squad and we want to play our game. We want to have possession and wear them out.”#FIFAWWC pic.twitter.com/F122fDGIHE
— Har Journalist (@HarJournalist) July 1, 2019
If Sweden is going to stop the front three of Martens, Miedema and van de Sanden, Nilla Fischer and Linda Sembreant will have to be on top of their game. Miedema has shown she doesn’t need a lot of time and space to capitalize on a defensive mistake.
“We need to be really tight, and compact as a team,” Sembrant said of Miedema. “It’s a good player that’s playing in the box. She’s a little tricky. We need to be tight on her, and go hard. I think they’re a really strong team, and we need to look out for everybody.”
“I think overall, we could [have a] so much better performance than we did against them two years ago. Of course, a lot has happened with them. They have a new coach, we have a new coach. It’s going to be an interesting game,” Fischer said.
A place in the #FIFAWWC Final is up for grabs. Big.
It is #NEDSWE ???? tonight, and it's gonna be good! pic.twitter.com/QuqKPNuNhc
Sweden have made a habit of delivering quick attacks off the counter. Asllani, Fridolina Rolfö (suspended for this match), Stina Blackstenius and Sofia Jakobsson have the green light in transition. The Netherlands have been prone to turning the ball over and Sweden will be ready.
“I think it will be a really tough game,” Jakobsson said. “They are a little bit like us. We have a fast player up top, and they also have a fast player. I think we probably have a better goalkeeper and, also, kind of better defenders. It will be a tough game.”
Sweden have shown they can beat anyone on any day, and the Netherlands haven’t played to their fullest potential. The U.S. have advanced to the World Cup final, and now it’s time for Sweden or the Netherlands to join them on Sunday.
Related Topics2019 World Cup Netherlands2019 World Cup SwedenCaroline SegerKosovare AsllaniLieke Martens NetherlandsLinda SembrantNetherlands 2019 World CupNetherlands Shanice van de SandenNilla FischerNilla Fischer SwedenShanice van de SandenShanice van de Sanden NetherlandsSofia JakobssonSwedenSweden 2019 World CupSweden Nilla FischerVivianne Miedema
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1929 artists, 2678 albums, 296 events, 19184 videos, 65559 photos
Darren Espanto (Philippines)
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Espanto was born on May 24, 2001 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. His family includes his filipino parents Marinel and Lyndon Espanto, who emigrated from Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines, and his younger sister named Lynelle. Despite living in Canada, his parents taught him Filipino language particularly Tagalog, and remain fluent with it, he said, "When I went home from school, when I'm still speaking English they will tell me 'you are not in the school anymore, you're in the house, you should speak tagalog' so that's how I became fluent in Tagalog."
Espanto started singing at the age of two. In manila bulletin interview Espanto stated that: "When I was little, I would listen to some songs and I'd try to copy the tune to it."As a toddler, Espanto serenaded his parents with the tunes from The Lion King or Sleeping Beauty in their home, which led to his relatives to discover his singing potential and urge him to pursue and hone his raw talent. His parents were supportive of his dreams and talents, his father taught him the basics of singing, and his mother who was a choreographer during high school days, helped him infused dance into his singing performance.
Before joining The Next Star, Espanto first joined a singing contest for young Filipinos in Edmonton, and won during the Masters Finals of Pinoy Singing Sensation on November 19, 2011, singing Alone by Celine Dion.
During ABS-CBN's The Voice Kids Season 1 auditions aired on June 1, 2014, Espanto performed Jessie J's "Domino", which he formerly sang during The Next Star at age 11. Coaches Sarah Geronimo and Bamboo Mañalac both pressed their buttons for him, vocalizing that he 'can be groomed to be a recording artist, a total package'. Although Espanto revealed that he was Manalac's front act during one of his concerts in Canada, he still picked Geronimo stating that she could help him a lot in the music industry
Espanto eventually advanced to the finals after singing Whitney Houston's "One Moment in Time" during the live semi-finals held at the Newport Performing Arts Theater in Resorts World Manila.He was the second one to receive the highest votes, after Lyca Gairanod. Salonga, one of the coaches commented that Espanto is a phenomenal while his mentor Geronimo stated that he was 'a winner and a complete package'.
Darren Espanto - Poison
Darren Espanto - My Baby & Me ft. Nik Qistina
Despacito Remix feat. Justin Bieber - Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee (Cover by Darren Espanto)
Darren Espanto - Parachute
Darren Espanto - 7 Minutes
Darren Espanto - In Love Ako Sa 'Yo
Darren Espanto - Diamonds Cover Now! VEVO
The Voice Kids Philippines Blind Audition "Domino" by Darren
Darren Espanto - Stuck
Darren Espanto - Makin' Moves
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Home World Is this Iran’s ‘Chernobyl’ moment?
Is this Iran’s ‘Chernobyl’ moment?
After days of denial and obfuscation, Iranian officials finally acknowledged early Saturday that its military had shot down a Ukraine International Airlines jet, killing all 176 people on board, many of whom were Iranian citizens.
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif blamed “human error” prompted by “US adventurism,” alluding to the escalating brinkmanship between Iran and the United States over the US killing of a revered Iranian commander, Qasem Soleimani.
But the Iranian government’s tendency to point the finger at Washington, or other malicious foreign actors, for unrest at home is ringing hollow now. While the Trump administration has fomented a fractious atmosphere, it was not responsible for this accident.
Tehran’s admission appears to have re-ignited the anti-government sentiment that raged last year, despite the wave of nationalism followed Soleimani’s death earlier this month.
As crowds gathered in the capital Tehran for a candlelight vigil on Saturday to commemorate victims, protesters called for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to step down and for those responsible for downing the plane to be prosecuted. Familiar chants of “Death to America,” were traded for “Death to the dictator” and “Death to the liar.” In one video, demonstrators chanted, “Khamenei have shame. Leave the country.”
This reckoning is already being billed as Iran’s “Chernobyl” moment, an analogy to the way the 1986 nuclear disaster in the Soviet Ukraine “exposed all the incompetence, state deception and rot in that regime,” according to IranWire, a site for Iranian citizen journalists in the diaspora.”
But whether Iran’s grief and fury could lead to revolution is hard to tell.
A revolutionary moment?
“Through a western lens, we’re always looking for a revolutionary moment [in Iran],” said Sanam Vakil, a senior research fellow and leader of the Iran Forum at London-based think tank Chatham House.
While there are certainly similarities between how authorities handled the Chernobyl accident and the downing of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 — repeated denials, attempted cover-ups, inescapable evidence from foreign governments, and a reluctant admission — the parallels may end there, she said.
“This could be ‘Iran’s Chernobyl moment,'” said Vakil. “But the question is how is Iranian leadership going to handle it. [After Chernobyl] everything was very much incumbent on one political leader making a decision to accept responsibility and alter political dynamics.”
“The only person who can really make meaningful changes in the Iranian political system is the Supreme Leader,” she points out.
And if history is any judge, Khamenei could move to violently quash protests, as he did during anti-government protests that gripped Iran late last year. How Tehran reacts now to the protests has drawn both international and domestic scrutiny, with warnings from US President Donald Trump that the “world is watching” and “do not kill your protesters.”
For an uprising to become a revolution, the opposition needs its own leadership and a shared ideology, according to Emmanuel Karagiannis, a senior lecturer at the Department of Defense Studies at King’s College London.
But Iranian protesters have neither, he said, dismissing recent demonstrations as a “spontaneous and grassroots” movement that draws across a broad mix of interests and loyalties, including students, professionals, trade unionists, and ethnic minorities.
“The Iranian regime has been in power for over 40 years. Of course, it could collapse but it’s hard to see that happening without the elements that would need to be in place … an organized and united opposition,” said Vakil.
Something’s different
Nevertheless, this moment seems different.
Unlike the previous groundswell of opposition, response to the downing of the Ukrainian passenger plane has triggered condemnation from conservatives too, who typically support the government. The editor in chief of right-wing Tasnim news agency — which is tied to the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps — criticized Iran’s leaders for attempting to lie to the public. “Officials who misled the media are guilty too,” Kian Abdollahi said on Twitter. “We are all ashamed before the people.”
That shame has grown under the harsh spotlight of a relentless news cycle and the outcry from Iranians on social media.
Though Iran’s state media did not cover this weekend’s protests, images and cellphone videos shared on social media has amplified the message of civilian anger. So too have public figures, who have spoken out online at great personal risk.
Oscar-nominated Taraneh Alidoosti, Iran’s most popular female actor, took to Instagram on Sunday to bluntly criticize the government, telling millions of followers that Iranians were “not citizens,” but “captives.” “I fought this dream for a long time and didn’t want to accept it. We are not citizens. We never were. We are captives,” she wrote.
“Ultimately the Islamic Republic is under pressure, because people really do want accountability and transparency,” Vakil said.
Perhaps Iran’s government spokesman described the situation best. In commentary published in the semiofficial Fars News Agency, Ali Rabiee said that the regime’s delayed admission to downing the plane had “irreparably damaged the relationship between us and our nation.”
The question now is what Tehran will do about it.
Source : Cnn
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HISTOIRE PRÉCÉDENTE:
HISTOIRE SUIVANTE:
DREW HARDESTY SLIDES HIS SKIS from the back of his pickup, the dome light above illuminating his face, giving his bearded visage a wizened look. He is quick, efficient. It is clear from his movements that this is a routine so often repeated it has become habit. Skis, poles, pack. Check. Drew glances around the parking lot, already filling with cars in the predawn light, and walks to the trailhead, stepping into his bindings. Click click.
The soft, rhythmic swoosh of skis is interrupted every now and then as Drew pauses to inspect the snow. His melodic voice is low as he muses on what he sees, its quiet tones matching the mood of the morning. He gestures up the mountain, contemplating what he expects to find higher. And then he’s off again. Watching Drew move uphill, it would be easy to imagine that he is moving across flat ground, his steps brisk and precise. As he reaches the top of Toledo Bowl, before the sun has fully risen, he points across to Mt. Superior. A heli group has landed on top, and a single skier is arcing down the pristine run.
Despite the silence of the morning, Drew is not alone in the mountains. No one is, and the presence of this skier makes that reality strikingly clear. Drew knows, maybe better than anyone, that we all accept a shared risk in the backcountry, whether consciously or unconsciously. As the skier on Superior curves downward, Drew cannot know if he has followed the snowpack this season, if he’s aware of other skiers above and below him or even if he has his beacon turned on.
As Drew watches the skier’s run, the deep smile lines along his blue eyes crinkle, and he laughs, because at heart, he is in love with the mountains and with skiing. It is Drew’s love for these mountains that his driven him to develop and champion a code of ethics for backcountry users. As, each year, the number of backcountry users rapidly expands, the level of risk increases. And Drew knows that we sit at the edge of a precipice. For him, establishing a clear set of expectations is imperative to the future of the backcountry. And as such, his livelihood, and his life, depend on it.
THE FIRST TIME DREW ever wore a pair of skis, he was in Kentucky. “I’m surprised I didn’t break both of my legs,” he remembers of the day. The sticks had been his father’s in college, and that day, the father and son took turns riding the family horse while it pulled the other behind. “At the time, we didn’t know that was called skijoring. We just thought it was good country fun.”
Drew did not immediately fall in love with skiing that first day in Kentucky. Instead, it wasn’t until he went to college that he discovered his passion for skiing and the mountains. Now, Drew lives his life in tune with the snow, following it as it falls each autumn and living alongside it all winter until it melts again each spring. He spends his summers in the mountains of Wyoming, working as a Jenny Lake Climbing Ranger. Each winter he returns to Utah’s Wasatch Mountains, where he works as an avalanche forecaster for the Utah Avalanche Center, one of the first avalanche centers in North America. For Drew, stumbling upon his careers was like finding a soul mate, and it’s a lifestyle he wouldn’t give up. “I feel very strongly that this lifestyle of the mountains resonates for me. I couldn’t imagine any other life without the mountains year round.”
But the work is not all powder lines and hero shots. Forecasters are out every day, regardless of the conditions. “The goal every time is to come back to the car, come back to my family at the end of the day.”
"I couldn’t imagine any other life
without the mountains."
DREW'S HOME IS COMFORTABLE and unassuming; a two-story bungalow set a short ways back from the street. Immediately upon entering, visitors are greeted by a wall-size map of Alaska, a place close to Drew’s heart and where he got his start as a forecaster. You can see the Wasatch from the front windows. And on the fridge and the walls hang the trappings of a family man: snapshots of Drew and his son, Wyatt, on a raft trip down the Green River, preschool scribblings now fading at the edges, a soccer game announcement. Wyatt is an only child. He’s 13 now, a pivotal age.
“I subscribe to the parenting school of dirty fingernails and bloody knees; the school of experiential education,” Drew says. “I’ve taken Wyatt on the rivers and in the deserts and on the mountains to see the lessons that are out there. Sometimes they’re not immediately apparent. But they can be embedded within your soul.”
Before Wyatt was two, Drew strapped a pair of skis to his tiny snow boots. The two would spend mornings walking, and then slowly sliding, across the corduroy at Alta, just a stone’s throw from the uncontrolled peaks that Drew patrols throughout the winter. The pair took more than a few hot chocolate breaks. But now, the stakes are higher.
As the community of backcountry users grows exponentially, professionals have increasingly noticed higher numbers of accidents and fatalities in the backcountry. “We’re not in the backcountry alone anymore.” Drew says. “We share all of this passion with everyone else who’s headed into the mountains. So any mistake by any of us has significant repercussions on the communities at large.”
IN ORDER TO COUNTERACT THIS TREND of increasing accidents, Drew is pouring his energy into championing a backcountry code of ethics. The code relies on three fundamentals: knowledge, awareness and wisdom. Drew maintains that backcountry users must have knowledge of the current avalanche conditions and the knowledge to pull off their own rescue. They must have awareness of other user groups and backcountry parties, awareness of the skiers above them, the snowshoers in the drainage below and the many cars passing along the highway beneath their run. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, backcountry users must have the wisdom to know whether or not they are putting other parties at risk.
“If we do nothing to offset the trend of increasing accidents, when a skier triggers an avalanche that runs down across the open road and knocks that school bus full of kids into the creek, if we’ve done nothing, then what can we say?”
At the end of nearly every day spent forecasting, Drew drives down Big Cottonwood, back to his house and his family. “I feel very honored to have sewn my life together with something that I feel gives back to the communities of people in the mountains,” he says.
He knows that the work he does can only inform people whose decisions are ultimately made from emotion, not logic, people who have a different level of acceptable risk than he does. He can’t control what they do with his report. But even so, it is worth it.
Words: Shey Kiester
Photography: Mattias Fredriksson
Videography: Spindle
Drew is pouring his energy into championing
a backcountry code of ethics.
“I feel very honored to have sewn my life together with something that I feel gives back to the communities of people in the mountains.”
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News Release 2-Dec-2019
Human behaviour follows probabilistic inference patterns
According to a study published on Nov. 28 in Nature Communications by Philipp Schustek, Alexandre Hyafil and Rubén Moreno-Bote, researchers at the Center for Brain and Cognition of the Department of Information and Communication Technologies
Universitat Pompeu Fabra - Barcelona
IMAGE: The researchers designed their experiments presenting hierarchical integration tasks using the plane task. view more
Credit: UPF
How do human beings perceive their environment and take their decisions? To successfully interact with the immediate environment, for human beings it is not enough to have basic evidence of the world around them. This information by itself is insufficient because it is inherently ambiguous and requires integrating into a particular context to minimize the uncertainty of sensory perception. But, at the same time, the context is ambiguous. For example, am I in a safe or a dangerous place?
A study published on 28 November in Nature Communications by Philipp Schustek, Alexandre Hyafil and Rubén Moreno-Bote, researchers at the Center for Brain and Cognition (CBC) of the Department of Information and Communication Technologies (DTIC) at UPF, suggests that the brain has a refined form of representation of uncertainty at several hierarchical levels, including context. Hence, the brain has a very detailed, almost mathematical probabilistic representation of all that surrounds us we consider important.
"The notions of probability, though intuitive, are very difficult to quantify and use rigorously. For example, my statistics students often fail to solve some of the problems I pose in class. In our study, we find that a complicated mathematical problem involving the use of the most sophisticated rules of probability can be solved intuitively if it is presented simply and in a natural context", asserts Rubén Moreno-Bote, coordinator of the Research Group on Theoretical and Cognitive Neuroscience at the CBC.
Cognitive tasks of hierarchical integration
Let us suppose that a city airport is hosting a football final and we look at a few passengers who are leaving a plane. If we note that four of them are fans of the red team and two of the blue team, we could conclude that more fans of the red team are attending the final than of the blue team. This inference, based on incomplete sensory evidence, could be improved with contextual information. For example, if worldwide there are more fans of the blue team than of the red team, despite our initial observation, we would review our inference counting how many supporters of each group are travelling on the plane to more accurately confirm whether more fans of the red team have really come to the city than of the blue team. Or, we could also do the opposite, basing ourselves on the context inferring whether the sample observed follows the more general context or not.
The researchers designed their experiments presenting hierarchical integration tasks using the plane task. "For the study, we told our participants that they are at an airport where planes can arrive carrying more of one type of person than of another, for example, more supporters of Barça than of Madrid. On seeing a handful of passengers leaving several aircraft, the participants can predict with mathematical precision the likelihood that the next plane will be carrying more passengers of a certain type", Moreno-Bote explains.
"In general, this structure of tasks creates hierarchical dependencies among the hidden variables to be solved bottom up (deducing the context of previous observations) and then passing the message top down (deducing the current status combining current observations with the inferred context)", the authors explain.
The results showed that the participants, based on their preliminary observations, built a probabilistic representation of the context. These results help to understand how people form mental representations of what surrounds us and how we assign and perceive the uncertainty of this context.
comunicacio@upf.edu
http://www.upf.edu
The Researchers Designed Their Experiments Presenting Hierarchical Integration Tasks Using the Plane (IMAGE)
https://www.upf.edu/web/e-noticies/home/-/asset_publisher/wEpPxsVRD6Vt/content/id/230648132/maximized#.Xd-sx-hKiUk
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-13472-z
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View all in Biology
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Influence of culture heterogeneity in cell surface charge on adhesion and biofilm formation by Enterococcus faecalis
van Merode, A.E.J.; van der Mei, H.C.; Busscher, H.J.; Krom, B.P.
Journal of Bacteriology 188(7): 2421-2426
Biofilm formation is an increasing problem in medicine, due to the intrinsic resistance of microorganisms in the biofilm mode of growth against the host immune system and antimicrobial therapy. Adhesion is an important step in biofilm formation, influenced, among other factors, by the surface hydrophobicities and charges of both the substratum and the adhering microorganisms. Enterococcus faecalis strains generally display subpopulations with different surface charges, expressed as bimodal zeta potential distributions. Two-thirds of E. faecalis strains isolated from clogged biliary stents displayed such heterogeneity of surface charges in culture. In this study, the influence of this culture heterogeneity on initial adhesion and subsequent biofilm formation was investigated. Heterogeneous strains were retained in higher numbers on polystyrene than homogeneous strains. Also, biofilm formation was much more pronounced for heterogeneous strains than for homogeneous strains. In a population enriched to display only one subpopulation, fewer bacteria were retained than in its original heterogeneous culture. Also, the enriched subpopulation formed less biofilm than its original heterogeneous culture. The presence of ox bile during adhesion resulted in fewer retained bacteria, although heterogeneous strains were still retained in significantly higher numbers than were homogeneous strains, and, in general, the presence of ox bile reduced biofilm formation. The initial adhesion and biofilm formation were independent of the presence of the gene encoding the enterococcal surface protein (esp) or the expression of gelatinase (GelE). It is concluded that heterogeneity in cell surface charge represents an advantage for bacteria in the colonization of surfaces.
(PDF emailed within 0-6 h: $19.90)
DOI: 10.1128/JB.188.7.2421-2426.2006
Enterococcus faecalis strains show culture heterogeneity in cell surface charge. Microbiology 152(Pt 3): 807-814, 2006
Relationship between biofilm formation, the enterococcal surface protein (Esp) and gelatinase in clinical isolates of Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecium. Fems Microbiology Letters 256(1): 145-150, 2006
The enterococcal surface protein, Esp, is involved in Enterococcus faecalis biofilm formation. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 67(10): 4538-4545, 2001
Enterococcal surface protein, Esp, enhances biofilm formation by Enterococcus faecalis. Infection and Immunity 72(10): 6032-6039, 2004
Influence of Streptococcus mutans on Enterococcus faecalis biofilm formation. Journal of Endodontics 35(9): 1249-1252, 2009
Influence of clinical origin and of various genes on biofilm formation by Enterococcus faecalis. Abstracts of the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents & Chemotherapy 43: 52, 2003
Influence of the fsr locus on biofilm formation by Enterococcus faecalis lacking gelE. Journal of Medical Microbiology 55(Pt 12): 1747-1750, 2006
Biofilm formation on polystyrene under different temperatures by antibiotic resistant Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecium isolated from food. Brazilian Journal of Microbiology 44(2): 423-426, 2015
Influence of growth rate and formation of biofilm upon the cell surface charge of escherichia coli. Abstracts of the General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology 92: 140, 1992
Enterococcus faecalis produces abundant extracellular structures containing DNA in the absence of cell lysis during early biofilm formation. Mbio 3(4): E00193-12, 2012
Enterococcus faecalis pCF10-encoded surface proteins PrgA, PrgB (aggregation substance) and PrgC contribute to plasmid transfer, biofilm formation and virulence. Molecular Microbiology 95(4): 660-677, 2015
EbpR is important for biofilm formation by activating expression of the endocarditis and biofilm-associated pilus operon (ebpABC) of Enterococcus faecalis OG1RF. Journal of Bacteriology 189(17): 6490-6493, 2007
Influence of origin of isolates, especially endocarditis isolates, and various genes on biofilm formation by Enterococcus faecalis. Infection and Immunity 72(6): 3658-3663, 2004
Deletion of the glycosyltransferase bgsB of Enterococcus faecalis leads to a complete loss of glycolipids from the cell membrane and to impaired biofilm formation. Bmc Microbiology 11: 67, 2011
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Archive for the ‘Wellington’ Tag
My journey in pigeons. 8 comments
Dad in holiday mode!
Everyone has a journey in pigeons and this is the start of mine and I welcome you to read it. I had my first five years in Tawa, Wellington, New Zealand. As a little boy I loved chickens, we raised and cared for them, even using an old concrete water tank to do so at one stage. Dad, a Presbyterian Church Minister and a country boy from Hunua, Auckland, worked at the Porirua Mental Hospital down there, that’s what they called them in those days. He also did work for the Arohata Women’s Borstal down there around that time.
Like most little boys it was always a thrill when Dad arrived home from work and he’d attend to his chickens and garden and we’d help him. Dad’s pancreas had a bad viral infection not that long after I was born and he became an insulin dependent diabetic making his life a challenge for him and especially for our Mum! But he still ‘flew his kyte high’, naturally with a good woman behind him!
Not long after I’d started school at Tawa Primary, Dad got the invitation to be the Presbyterian Minister at the Khandallah Presbyterian Church up in the hills below Mt Kaukau overlooking Wellington harbour. It was one of the posher areas of Wellington. Dad had pastored in a previous parish in Wanganui before I was born and had done very well there.
Khandallah Presbyterian Church, I’d like sneaking up and ringing the bells for a laugh!
My mother Val was trained as a ‘deaconess,’ the female equivalent of a woman minister back in those days. They had met while training at Knox College down in Dunedin i.e. a ministers training place. Mum was from a prim and proper churchie home background (lawyers) and Dad from a more dysfunctional background, his father Jim having lost his health sometime during or after the First World War whilst serving as a naval officer. It’s possible he had an over active immune system like me and burnt himself out (I have debilitating Chronic Fatigue Syndrome). Either way, the old codger lived to 94 and he had settled onto 20 acres in Hunua, Auckland which the government had given him after the War with his wife Georgina, the mainstay of the family and they raised four children, Dad being the eldest.
Dad’s parents grave. I led the old codger, grandpa Jim Elley to the Lord three months before he died at 94. I look forwards to seeing him in heaven further down the track!
At Khandallah I had my own bantams in their own shed and Dad had layers in battery cages which would get out for a scratch around in the garden on his day off, Mondays. It took quite a while to convince my parents that I could have pigeons.
Back in those days there were no laws to stop kids travelling around by themselves and we wouldn’t even know what a child molester was and from a very young age I’d travel into Wellington by myself or with a friend by train. Most of the time we’d sneak on for free.
I remember trying to catch pigeons as a little boy down at Wellington railway station with a cardboard box and a bit of string and grain, but naturally they were too quick for me. I also remember family visits to Pigeon Park in Wellington from a very young age. Obviously something fascinated me about them. Another time I found out some old ladies near Khandallah shops had a problem with pigeons sitting and crapping on their roof. I tried several times to catch them on the roof at night having climbed up a big ladder. Again to no avail, I just scared them off.
Pigeon Park Wellington 1930, a bit before my time. One of my childhood loves.
After that I think my Mother convinced Dad to build me a little pigeon loft. It was on stilts on the concrete play area that the manse had (Presbyterian minister’s free accommodation). It was only about a metre wide and the rest of it even smaller. We got some pigeons off a guy in Miramar near the Airport, a bit of a drive from where we lived. He was an Asian guy. He said “don’t let them out”. Probably the first big storm that came along the little loft got blown over and wrecked and of course we didn’t see those pigeons again!
The next loft I had was a small shed; Dad probably had chickens in it beforehand. One of the places I got pigeons from was up behind Onslow College somewhere. Some boys were going out of pigeons, racers and of course this was very exciting for me. I remember bringing them back by train with my mate Timothy Prescott including a big squab in an open cardboard box much to the awe of a few of the passengers. Those were pigeons I really liked the look of and the bug had really bitten!
I had plenty of success breeding babies off these pigeons and sold a whole lot when we moved up to Auckland where Dad had changed jobs to be a Bible College lecturer in Auckland at Henderson. Naturally having a father as a minister was embarrassing at times and Dad had already embarrassed me in Wellington by turning up with another church man from another brand at Raroa Intermediate School Assembly wearing the full ‘preacher gear’ including the white ‘dog collar’. My teacher, a lovely Mr Langridge at the time said to me from the side aisle, ‘Fergus aren’t you going to stand up for your father?’ Which of course made it worse for me!
Dad obviously enjoyed being in the ministers suit with the dog collar on his wedding day!
I only took two pairs to Auckland, a pair of racers and a pair of whites. I was 12 by that stage. I attended Henderson Intermediate and when the teacher Ollie Green found out that I had pigeons he suggested we build a cage and keep them in the class high up near the ceiling. We thought it was quite cool as we could let them out in the class. There’d be the odd crap during that time and we also bred them there, that was 1974.
We bought our first house later that year in Te Atatu North and I started out at Rutherford High School in 75. I was a pretty bright boy and the school ran an advanced class which meant that you skipped the fifth form. I joined the Henderson pigeon club and Graham Abercrombie often used to take me there. The following year I got my driver’s licence. Les Gale a friend of Dad’s from the Church circles provided birds and I also got a good hen off my Uncle Jim, Vaughan Jones bloodlines and I had success pairing it to a Mealy Cock from Les.
So there’s the start of my humble pigeon life. I hope to add more episodes of my racing pigeon experiences in the near future.
Dad passed away about 18 months ago at the ripe old age of 87. Many people have commented either to my face or behind my back that I was the way I am because I am a ministers son. What a load of garbage. I was a rebel in my teenage years and kicked over the traces big time. I even vowed to never become a born again Christian and yet that is what I have been for almost three and a half decades and loved every minute of it despite poor health for the bulk of that time.
Dad didn’t deserve the abuse he got, as he met hardly anyone in pigeon racing here in Auckland and I just put it down to people’s ignorance, narrow mindedness and rejection of God’s free gift of his Son, Jesus Christ. I’m a fool for Jesus, who’s fool are you??
Here’s some shots of Dad the funny man. The sweetest man I’ve ever known with a great sense of humour and a very funny speaker (people told me so).
Always up for a laugh!
Good one Dad!
A distant relative?!
Rest in peace Dad, till the last trumpet sounds and the graves are opened!
Posted February 4, 2014 by ferguselley in Ferg's birds
Tagged with Auckland, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Henderson Intermediate, Khandallah Presbyterian Church, racing pigeons, Rev Donald Elley, Rutherford High, Wellington
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Man Who Shot Up Mosque Goes Back For Forgiveness
Man Who Shot Up Mosque Goes Back For Forgiveness, Finds Hugs Waiting
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When a man shot up their mosque, the Connecticut congregation welcomed him with open arms after he felt remorse and returned, armed with an apology instead.
Ted Hakey, Jr. had been drinking heavily after November’s Paris attacks, stewing over the terrorists who identify as Muslims. In haste, he took his gun and opened fire on the empty mosque next door to his house.
No one was in the Baitul Aman building at the time, but Hakey was arrested and faces serious charges.
For an update, click here.
Author Patricia CampPosted on October 31, 2016 Categories Uncategorized
Lawyer Embraces 2nd Amendment
Why This Muslim American Civil Rights Lawyer Decided To Buy A Handgun
In a time of anti-Muslim hate crimes and political speech, Hassan Shibly thinks Muslims should embrace their Second Amendment rights.
Watch the video and read the article here.
The Big E – Evangelism
Do You Know What the Big E Is?
Some people think the Big E is a kind of regional fair – you know, cotton candy, fried everything, animals, rides, entertainment. Happening once a year, and sponsored by the New England States, the Big E is known for eclairs and cream puffs, the Avenue of States, the midway, and 4-H exhibits. But for some, the big E stands for evangelism. In the United Church of Christ we believe that God is still speaking through and to the United Church of Christ. Members and congregations are claiming and embracing God’s call to evangelism. Evangelism is vital for the future of the United Church of Christ. God is saying to the United Church of Christ to be ready and set to grow in witness, outreach and welcome. Evangelism Ministry proclaims the gospel in the world and the church, as well as, starts, nurtures, strengthens and renews congregations in partnership with Conferences.
Dealing With The 6 Words A Christian Should Never Want To Hear
Jason Foster writes, “Conviction can come at strange times and in strange places. I learned this the other day. A co-worker saw that I mentioned this blog on Twitter. We talked for a few minutes about faith matters, about God’s will, about making tough decisions as a Christian. Then my co-worker said six words I hope I never hear again: I didn’t know you’re a Christian. Talk about convicting. I thought it was obvious, but obviously not.” Read here about this interesting revelation about evangelism.
WHY WE NEED A PUBLIC BLACK THEOLOGY FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
BY VINCENT LLOYD SEPTEMBER 20, 2016
Writing about black religious culture should not be the qualification for being a black Christian intellectual. ---Joshua L Lazard
Lloyd writes, “To come across a Christian public intellectual—as Alan Jacobs notes in Harper’s this month—is a rare occurrence. To come across a Black Christian public intellectual is even less likely.” He goes on to say “the need for the Black Christian public intellectual is particularly acute today. Jacobs observes that Christian public intellectuals are uniquely situated to address the conflicts over public religion that appear regularly in the headlines. The Black Christian public intellectual is doubly important, serving as a translator of both Christian and Black concerns to a white, secular public that is attuned to racial injustice more now than any time in the past half century.” Read more here.
Activities for Children – Swimming Lessons
Black children ages 5 to 19 drown in swimming pools at a rate more than five times that of white children. That suggests a lot of blacks are not learning to swim, said Dr. Julie Gilchrist of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
According to the USA Swimming Foundation, about 70 percent of African-American children, 60 percent of Latino children and 40 percent of white children are non-swimmers. Lack of access and financial constraints account only partly for these numbers. Fear, cultural factors and even cosmetic issues play a role as well.
“Before the Civil War, more blacks than whites could swim,” Lynn Sherr, the author of Swim: Why We Love the Water, said in an interview. “There are many stories of shipwrecks in which black slaves rescued their owners.”
But as Ms. Sherr learned from Bruce Wigo of the International Swimming Hall of Fame, segregation destroyed the aquatic culture of the black community. “Once whites discovered swimming, blacks were increasingly excluded from public pools and lifeguarded beaches,” Mr. Wigo told her.
As a result, many minority parents never learned how to swim. Adults who can’t swim often fear the water and, directly or indirectly, convey that fear to their children. Read more here.
Dear Rev. Camp,
I am writing to inform you of opportunity to provide youth from Hartford, ages 5 to 9, with free swim lessons at the Downtown YMCA. The program is designed to mitigate youth drowning and promote physical activity.
Jeff Williams
241 Trumbull Street, Hartford, CT 06103
(P) 860 522 9622 ext 2302 (F) 860 522 1314
(E) jeff.williams@ghymca.org (W) ghYMCA.org
Author Patricia CampPosted on October 22, 2016 Categories Children, Community
The World Mourns the Loss of Gloria Naylor
The World Mourns Loss of Gloria Naylor
The celebrated author of “The Women of Brewster Place” died on September 28 at the age of 66.
Colorlines Screenshot of Gloria Naylor, taken from Twitter on October 4, 2016.
Colorlines informs, “Naylor was perhaps best known for her debut 1982 novel, “The Women of Brewster Place.” The novel, which won a National Book Award, focuses on seven women living in a housing project and struggling with tragedy, including rape and the death of a child. “The Women of Brewster Place” was eventually adapted into a 1989 miniseries and 1990 TV show by Oprah Winfrey‘s (who stars in both) Harpo Productions. Her later works dealt with related themes of racism, homophobia, sexism and Black womanhood, principally emphasizing the lives of its Black female characters.”
Read more here [Colorlines], here [NY Times], here [Huffington Post] and here for a list of her works.
How Does Racial Bias Play Out in Policing?
credit: aintaboutthatlife.com
Recent events across the nation, and a report from the US Justice Department conncerning policing in Baltimore, have led many to feel vindicated in their assertions of biased policing. In particular, men of color have been victimized by police in terms of being stopped, searched, arrested, assaulted and sometimes killed. Women have not been exempt from this treatment. Traffic stops, excessive force, and unreasonable searches all contribute to the atmosphere of mistrust between police and communities of color. For a police perspective, read an article in The Police Chief, an on-line magazine here. For a discussion of implicit bias, read this article in Time Magasine here. To take the implicit bias test, gohere. Read more here.
Do You Need Help With Living Expenses?
Do you sometimes have more month than money? Are your utility bills overdue? Is your rent behind? Do you live on a fixed income? Have you been ill and unable to meet your expenses? Are you unemployed and not collecting unemployment? What’s a person to do? Look for assistance at the following websites:
http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/states/connecticut/renting/energyprgms
http://hartfordlarrabeefund.org/ for Hartford residents only
http://www.larrabeefund.org/ for women outside of Hartford
http://www.needhelppayingbills.com/html/connecticut_heating_bills_and_.html
http://www.crtct.org/en/need-help/basic-needs/energy-assistance
http://www.suntopia.org/hartford/ct/utility_and_rental_assistance.php
http://www.ct.gov/doh/cwp/view.asp?a=4513&Q=530584
Need Food?
FoodShare Distribution takes place every other Monday from 1:30 – 2:00pm at Grace Worship Center Church, 750 Wethersfield Avenue, Hartford. No ID required! No paperwork! Bring your own bags/boxes. For more information go to mygwcc.org. Dates for 2016 are:
November 14 and 28
Want to be a Firefighter?
The City of Hartford is currently recruiting firefighters and can use your help spreading the word. Please forward attached application link below to interested candidates and others in the community.
https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/hartfordct
Don’t want to be a firefighter but still need a job? Click here: Neogov (Open) https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/hartfordct and on (Promotional) https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/hartfordct/promotionaljobs
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Joy comes when we understand that desperate times cannot prevent the fulfillment of God’s promise in our lives. Even in the night, God is moving us toward better days.
Be grateful if you’ve been on the receiving end of selflessness, but don’t regard the service of others as their duty and your right.
Welcoming Questions
Things seem so hard right now. Disturbance drives us deep, below the rocks, into our cores. We can welcome disturbance as something pregnant with good.
Bruised, Broken, Smoldering, Snuffed Out
Headlines full of over-the-top violent imagery agitate our inflamed emotions and rub the raw places in our spirits. Be mindful of where they lead, and remember Who you follow.
Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark
We sometimes live in a full-sun spirituality that can make our eyes ache. We need the respite of night, the salvific hibernation of a rainy winter day, the relief of tears.
Mass Shootings – CBS News
https://youtu.be/-vn4P3kGYls
Ohio church hopes to rebuild from steeple collapse, through a mission of recovery
A small but determined Ohio congregation, still immersed in assessing considerable damage from an intense weekend windstorm that took down the church steeple, hopes the building collapse could eventually benefit the church’s ministry. It’s a story of recovery in every sense of the word.
Commentary: Know Justice. Know Peace.
A few years ago, I posted something on my Facebook page that offended a friend from church. He responded vehemently.
Judge blocks Trump order that allowed local vetoes of refugee resettlement
A federal judge has blocked a presidential executive order that allowed state and local governments to veto refugee resettlement in their jurisdictions.
Chicago congregation's 'good, sacred bodies' featured in pin-up calendar
Gilead Church Chicago lifts up the sacredness of the body through a theologically-informed pin-up calendar called Word & Flesh, which features images and stories of its congregants.
https://youtu.be/8olL43PKJKw
New Sacred
American Jesus
What would it mean for Christians to find their identity in Christ with an understanding of Christ’s lowliness?
Sidewalk Angels
There have been instances when I have encountered “challenges” and no “sidewalk angel” has appeared. This time one did.
You touched without permission. You silenced with intention. You were the problem. You are the problem.
Ready, Willing and Able for Peace
When the President told the United Nations that the United States was “ready, willing and able” for such destruction, he meant my husband.
The Lie of White Supremacy
White supremacy is a lie. It prompts us to indulge the theologically, socially, and economically unjustifiable.
Toni Morrison documentary
https://youtu.be/t8pDyXX1rf0
Weekly Seeds
Following God's call, in the light of God's love
Revelation and expectation
Disciples who are loved
Orientation-Disorientation-Reorientation
Embracing one another's sorrows
Close to God's Heart
Everything changes with the light
Go Back to Your Country
https://youtu.be/SkDUFUZrVLg
What Virginia gun rally says about future of Second Amendment rights
Beyond Second Amendment rights, the pro-gun rally planned for Monday in Richmond, Virginia, is about changes in demographics and cultural attitudes.
How one 'Jersey girl' created a space for Muslim millennials
As a N.J. teenager, Amani Al-Khatahtbeh started a blog to counter anti-Muslim bullying. Now, she's on the Forbes "30 under 30" list of top achievers.
MLB sign-stealing scandal spreads: N.Y. Mets manager fired
After only two months on the job, Carlos Beltrán has been fired over a MLB report that implicated him for cheating while with the Astros.
Respect vs. humiliation: What pushes Trump to leave the Mideast
Presidents Trump and Obama, two men who could hardly be more different, arrived at the same conclusion about the Mideast: The U.S. needs to leave.
Parnas says 'President Trump knew exactly what was going on'
Lev Parnas delivered accusations against the president in a TV interview Wednesday. The White House office violated federal law, says the GAO.
https://youtu.be/73fz_uK-vhs
Medi-Cal’s Very Big Decade
California’s health insurance program for low-income people grew 78% between 2010 and 2019 to 12.8 million enrollees. The federal Affordable Care Act spurred the increase, aided by state policies broadening eligibility.
Employers’ Dream Of Controlling Health Costs Turns To Workers’ Sleep
Sleep is the latest in an ever-growing list of wellness issues — such as weight loss, exercise and nutrition — that firms are targeting to improve workers’ health and lower medical costs.
The Supreme Court in March will hear a Louisiana case that tests whether the new five-member conservative majority is willing to overturn the 1973 decision that made abortion legal nationwide. Even if the court does not go that far, it could hasten the procedure’s demise by saying abortion providers cannot sue on behalf of their […]
KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Trump Takes Credit Where It Isn’t Due
President Donald Trump says he “saved” popular protections for preexisting conditions, even though his administration is in court asking them to be struck down. Meanwhile, Democrats who want to run against Trump in the fall continue to argue among themselves over health issues. And Kansas may become the next state to expand Medicaid. Alice Miranda […]
What The 2020s Have In Store For Aging Boomers
On the bright side, advances in medical science and a push for healthier lifestyles might extend the quality of life for aging boomers. Among clouds on the horizon: ageism, strained long-term care services and the need to work well past retirement age.
How Childhood Trauma Affects Health
https://youtu.be/95ovIJ3dsNk
Think Justice: The Vera Institute
Lesson Plans for Justice Reform: A Call to Action for Students and Teachers
Kevin Keenan, Britt Masback
The Arrest-Jail Admission Gap
Abdul Rad, Wenshu (Monica) Yang, Frankie Wunschel
Federal Leadership Needed to Transform Conditions of Confinement
Logan Schmidt
The Shocking Lack of Due Process for Immigrants
Krystin Roehl, Logan Schmidt, Hayne Yoon
A Sentinel Review Process Could Help Washington D.C.
Akhi Johnson
Time for a New Federal Commitment on Rural Jail Incarceration
Micah Haskell-Hoehl
You Will Not Replace Us
https://youtu.be/RIrcB1sAN8I
HuffPost Religion
Austria’s New Anti-Immigrant Green Government Stokes Fears Of Climate 'Nightmare'
Chancellor Sebastian Kurz may have traded his far-right governing partners for the progressive Greens, but his anti-Muslim views haven’t changed.
Anglican Bishop's Son Faces Deportation To El Salvador
Bishop David Alvarado says his son would be in "great danger" if he was deported back to his home country.
Trump Thrills Base With Moves To Protect School Prayer, Funding For Religious Groups
The White House announced it is strengthening protections for prayer in public schools and protecting the flow of federal funds to religious organizations.
New Jersey Expands Legal Definition Of Terrorism In Response To Kosher Store Attack
Gov. Phil Murphy said the new law will make it clear that his state is committed to eliminating “hate in all its forms.”
Tennessee Governor Says He Will Sign Anti-LGBTQ Adoption Bill
The law will guarantee taxpayer funding for agencies that refuse to place a child based on "religious or moral" beliefs.
Altruism and the Literary Imagination
https://youtu.be/PJmVpYZnKTU
CT Conference News
Southern New England Conference Begins
The New SNEUCC.ORG Website The Southern New England Conference officially came into being with the New Year, and the change is becoming more and more visible. At the end of December, the Conference's Articles of Incorporation were filed with the Massachusetts Secretary of State's office, establishing it as a nonprofit. On Jan. 1, employees of […]
Stories from 2019 from CT, MA, and RI
The year two thousand nineteen is over. The roman notation MMXIX has changed to simple MMXX for 2020. For the Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island Conferences of the United Church of Christ, now referred to as the "historic" conferences, the long- anticipated formation of the Southern New England Conference is here. And with it, it […]
Be Prepared ... to be Flocked
The following is a message from Bridge Conference Minister the Rev. Don Remick: It’s Advent and Christmas is just ahead. And we’ll be moving quickly into the New Year. The New Year marks an historic moment as we launch our new Conference and our new way of being Conference. To mark this moment we will […]
Executive Conference Minister Position Description Finalized
By Tiffany Vail Associate Conference Minister for Communications The search committee for the first Executive Conference Minister for the Southern New England Conference has developed a position description - and it looks very different from those of traditional Conference Ministers. "This position is more like a University President," said Bridge Conference Minister Rev. Marilyn Kendrix, […]
Toni Morrison Talks
https://youtu.be/_8Zgu2hrs2k
WNBA CBA Recap
Reaction to New WNBA CBA
Top 10 Plays of the Decade
#GOATchat Episode 2: Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi
Top 10 Plays of the 2019 Season
CT Sun v. Mercury
https://youtu.be/fDWRytwRRPY
RNS Updated Budget — Friday, January 17, 2020
EDS NOTE: Religion News Service will be closed on Monday, January 20 in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. NEWS STORY RNS-India-Protests: South Asian Americans protest Modi's crackdown from ... The post RNS Updated Budget — Friday, January 17, 2020 appeared first on Religion News Service.
Precarious US-Iran relations have Muslim voters eyeing candidates’ records on war
(RNS) — Muslim voters who sit in the anti-war camp seem most drawn toward Sen. Bernie Sanders, the candidate who has long been a favorite among Muslim voters. The post Precarious US-Iran relations have Muslim voters eyeing candidates’ records on war appeared first on Religion News Service.
Book: How Martin Luther King Jr. used the pulpit to 'redeem' America's soul
(RNS) — He believed there were transcendent truths that had the power to change hearts and move them away from the political and social policies of segregation. The post Book: How Martin Luther King Jr. used the pulpit to 'redeem' America's soul appeared first on Religion News Service.
United Methodist Schism and the ‘Protocol’ of 2020
(Sightings) — One wonders if United Methodists, including those who signed the “protocol,” increasingly understand that “breaking up [really] is hard to do.” The post United Methodist Schism and the ‘Protocol’ of 2020 appeared first on Religion News Service.
Gwyneth Paltrow trolls the wellness industry
(RNS) — Unlike other companies that commodify our spiritual yearnings, Goop exists apart from the question of whether anyone has ever actually bought any of its products. The post Gwyneth Paltrow trolls the wellness industry appeared first on Religion News Service.
The Root of Racial Injustice
https://youtu.be/-aCn72iXO9s
Interpretation Crisis at the Border Leads to Deportation of Mayan-Language Speakers Seeking Refuge
As the U.S. continues to use hostile policies to stop people from seeking refuge and asylum in the United States, we look at a key problem that is preventing migrants from getting due process, and in many cases getting them deported: inadequate interpretation for indigenous asylum seekers who speak Mayan languages. Guatemala has a population […]
4 Years Seeking Justice: Daughter of Slain Indigenous Environmental Leader Berta Cáceres Speaks Out
In Honduras, a new report by the Violence Observatory at the Honduran National Autonomous University says that at least 15 women have been murdered in the first 14 days of this year. Violence against women, LGBTQ people, indigenous leaders and environmental activists has skyrocketed in Honduras under the U.S.-backed government of President Juan Orlando Hernández. […]
"They Must Conduct a Full and Fair Trial": Senators Sworn In for Historic Trump Impeachment Trial
For just the third time in history, the U.S. Senate has opened a trial to determine if a sitting president should be removed from office. The Senate trial comes a month after the House impeached President Trump for pressuring Ukraine to investigate his political rival Joe Biden. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, who will […]
Headlines for January 17, 2020
Senate Impeachment Trial Opens as Accountability Office Says Trump Broke Law by Withholding Aid, Pentagon Contradicts Trump and Says 11 U.S. Troops Injured in Iranian Strikes, Senate Votes to Approve USMCA, Report: Six Banks Reaped $18 Billion Last Year from Trump Tax Cuts, Guatemalan Protesters Demand Outgoing President Be Arrested for Corruption, Deported Immigrant Rights […]
Tanks & AR-15s: Moms 4 Housing Speaks Out After Militarized Eviction from Vacant Oakland House
We look at the fight for affordable housing in the Bay Area with Moms 4 Housing, the unhoused and insecurely housed mothers who were evicted Tuesday by a militarized police force from a vacant home they had been occupying in Oakland, California. The action ended a two-month standoff between the mothers and real estate developer […]
Toni Morrison Nobel Lecture
https://youtu.be/ticXzFEpN9o
Religion scholar Elaine Pagels lost her young son to terminal illness and her husband a year later in an accident. She spoke to Fresh Air in November 2018 about loss and faith.
Remembering Spiritual Leader Ram Dass
Dass, who died Dec. 22, was a practitioner of Eastern-inspired philosophy who became interested in the religious potential of LSD in the '60s and '70s. Originally broadcast in 1990.
Born 100 Years Ago, Filmmaker Federico Fellini Captured The Messiness Of Life
Fellini was cinema's great laureate of the id, a director who understood the power of the body and didn't fear its unruliness.
Leaked Intelligence Reports Reveal The Vast Power Iran Wields In Iraq
Intercept journalist James Risen says new documents show how Iran has embedded itself in the politics of its neighbor — and that the late Gen. Soleimani oversaw Iran's proxy wars in Iraq and Syria.
Filmed Before The Fires, 'Seven Worlds' Shows Off Australia's Amazing Wildlife
BBC America's new docuseries, Seven Worlds, One Planet, uses cutting-edge technology to showcase extraordinary creatures on seven continents. It's narrated by Sir David Attenborough.
CT Sun v Fever
https://youtu.be/-NIm_oCQxfU
I Was a Theological Drifter, Then a Reform Jew, Then an Orthodox Jew, Then...
How I finally crossed the road to Christ. I came of age in an ardently literary family. My father served as United States Poet Laureate in the late 1950s, published more than a dozen books, and won most major literary prizes. I grew up surrounded by creative people, friends of my father. Their burning energy […]
On MLK Day, Be Still and Listen
Hearing each other is a miracle. We need to practice receiving it as such. Years ago I sat alongside a dozen pastors in a sun-baked, mud-caked church in rural northern Mozambique. They’d gathered to test a recent translation of Isaiah in Lomwe, their local dialect. The Isaiah passage was familiar to me, but not the […]
Colegas na Seleção Brasileira, Firmino é Batizado por Alisson
Roberto Firmino, campeão mundial de clubes pelo Liverpool FC, diz que agora seu maior título é o amor de Cristo. Milhões de torcedores cristãos estão comemorando a maior jogada fora de campo do famoso jogador brasileiro de futebol Roberto Firmino: ele entregou sua vida a Cristo. Menos de um mês depois de marcar o gol […]
Soccer Champ Baptized by Christian Teammate
Liverpool FC player Roberto Firmino says his biggest title is now the love of Christ.
Millions of Christian fans are celebrating popular Brazilian soccer star Roberto Firmino’s latest move off the field: He has committed his life to Christ. Less than a month after scoring the winning goal at the FIFA Club World Cup, Firmino […]
More Multiracial Churches Led by Black, Hispanic Pastors
But the task of stewarding diverse congregations remains a challenge, emotionally and spiritually. For four hours at a megachurch outside of Dallas, pastors of color shared their personal stories of leading a multiethnic church. One, a lead pastor of a Southern Baptist congregation in Salt Lake City, recalled the “honest conversations” he had with his […]
CT Sun vs. NY Liberty 8/4/19
https://youtu.be/NXAwdfhVp1Q
NY Times Religion
James Parks Morton, Dean Who Brought a Cathedral to Life, Dies at 89
Leading the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine for 25 years, he sought to make it central to urban life.
Hurl Bibles or Hot Coffee: How One Church Is Preparing for Attacks
Religious institutions across the country are learning how to protect themselves. In Georgia, one small black church is taking action after a thwarted attack.
Stories About Equality that Gave Us Hope in 2019
At a time when hate crimes, inequality and white supremacy appear to be on the rise, these stories offered a little hope.
China Sentences Wang Yi, Christian Pastor, to 9 Years in Prison
The founder of one of China’s largest unregistered churches was given a lengthy sentence for what the government called subversion of state power.
Baba Ram Dass, Proponent of LSD Turned New Age Guru, Dies at 88
Born Richard Alpert, he first gained notice as a colleague of Timothy Leary and later became even better known as the author of “Be Here Now.”
Get Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable
https://youtu.be/QijH4UAqGD8
Pew Trust
How Pew Research Center is approaching the 2020 election
As 2020 approaches, here’s a preview of how the Center is approaching the election, both in terms of how we plan to conduct surveys and other studies and what we plan to explore. The post How Pew Research Center is approaching the 2020 election appeared first on Pew Research Center.
5 facts about public opinion in Spain as its election nears
Spaniards head to the polls on Sunday for Spain’s fourth election in as many years. The election comes as the Spanish public is especially pessimistic, harbors strong doubts about democracy, and is concerned about inequality, their children’s financial future and the availability of well-paying jobs. That said, overall sentiment about the economy has rebounded in […]
Public’s Views of National Economy Remain Positive and Deeply Partisan
Americans continue to have positive views of the nation’s economy, though views are split by party. Most Republicans and half of Democrats rate their personal finances positively. The post Public’s Views of National Economy Remain Positive and Deeply Partisan appeared first on Pew Research Center.
A Week in the Life of Popular YouTube Channels
An analysis of every YouTube video posted by high-subscriber channels in the first week of 2019 finds that children’s content – as well as content featuring children – received more views than other videos. The post A Week in the Life of Popular YouTube Channels appeared first on Pew Research Center.
Digital News Fact Sheet
A vast majority of adults in the United States get at least some news online (either via a mobile device or desktop/laptop), and the online space has become a host for the digital homes of both legacy news outlets and new, “born on the web” news outlets. The post Digital News Fact Sheet appeared first […]
Sun vs. Wings 9/4/19
https://youtu.be/vfkQtbJCILA
Disaster Updates
UCC Disaster Ministries augments support for Hurricane Michael recovery
Across the Florida Panhandle, there are still significant unmet needs from Hurricane Michael in 2018. Households in both coastal and inland communities are still awaiting help to rebuild or rehabilitate their homes. UCC Disaster Ministries has a broad program of support for the Panhandle's recovery - most recently salary for a construction manager in Calhoun […]
Earthquake Recovery - Puerto Rico
In Puerto Rico, powerful earthquakes have killed one person, injured several, unleashed small landslides and caused homes and other buildings to crack and crumble. The earthquakes and aftershocks have taken out power across most of the island, also leaving hundreds of thousands without water. UCC Disaster Ministries is issuing an emergency appeal to assist the people […]
Recent UCC Disaster Ministries international grants
Here are recent grants approved by UCC Disaster Ministries.
Disaster recovery initiative UCC helped form is growing ecumenically
A pilot program to help communities launch long-term recovery following disasters is growing ecumenically. Over the past two years, the disaster ministries of the United Church of Christ, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and Church of the Brethren have joined forces to pioneer the Disaster Recovery Support Initiative (DRSI) in nine states and U.S. territories. Now […]
Malcolm X: The Ballot or the Bullet
https://youtu.be/8zLQLUpNGsc
3rd Thursday Alert: Tell Congress to constrain our country’s militarization of the Middle East
Escalating tensions with Iran in the last two weeks verging on war resulted in the Iraqi parliament voting overwhelmingly to expel US troops from the country. The vote was received with a strong rejection by the US, despite President Trump having campaigned on a promise to bring US troops home. Having been present as an […]
INESIN Hosts Intercultural Workshops on Biblical Interpretation
Institute for Intercultural Study and Research (INESIN) Mexico
Al Amana Center in Oman - Pray for Peace in the Gulf
The work of Al Amana Centre is based on 125 years of collaboration between Christians and Muslims in the Sultanate of Oman. The Reformed Church in America began collaborating with the people in Oman already in the year 1892. In schools and hospitals, they worked together with Omanis to educate and treat people. We know you […]
Disciples' Leadership issue statement on US-Iran escalation
God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved; God will help it when the morning dawns. The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts.He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear; he […]
Toni Morrison uncensored
https://youtu.be/DQ0mMjII22I
The trade war had an upside for U.S. garlic farmers
While we’ve been hearing a lot about how the trade war has negatively impacted U.S. farmers, the executive vice president of the largest garlic producer in the country wants people to know it’s helped others. “We’re apolitical as a company,” said Ken Christopher of Christopher Ranch. “What we are is pro-American garlic farmers.” Plus: negotiations […]
Citizen’s United, a decade later
The Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. the Federal Election Commission allowed corporations and unions to spend money in politics in an unprecedented way. It’ll be 10 years next week, so today we’re taking a look back on how our elections have changed. Plus: new retail and supply chain numbers, and the economics of […]
The trade war isn’t over
The U.S. and China signed a phase one trade deal this morning. Today we’re answering more of your trade questions, talking with a farmer about how she’s affected by the trade deal and examining more of America’s trade disputes around the globe. Plus, Target’s sluggish growth, the affordable housing shortage and Amazon’s fraught relationship with […]
Looking back on a long trade war
The trade saga between the United States and China has gone on for almost two years. Now it might just be at the end. With President Donald Trump set to sign a phase one deal tomorrow, we’re devoting most of today’s show to the trade war: how we got here, what tensions still remain and […]
How U.S. sanctions led to Instagram censorship in Iran
According to the International Federation of Journalists, more than a dozen Iranian journalists recently reported having their Instagram profiles suspended after they posted about Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani’s death. Facebook, Instagram’s parent company, said any accounts or posts that are being blocked is because the company is being careful not to violate sanctions. It makes […]
Isaac Woodard
https://youtu.be/P11sW1sXNbs
United but Not Uniform: Finding Faith at the Women’s Convention
Thousands of women gathered in Detroit over Halloween weekend for the Women’s Convention, a conference meant to build upon the energy of January’s Women’s March—the largest single-day protest in U.S. history. Our Women and Girls Campaign Associate Jenna Barnett attended the gathering to learn what role faith played in this Convention. She was surprised by what […]
Black and DACAmented in the U.S.
With the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in limbo, our Associate Web Editor Dhanya Addanki talked to Patrice Lawrence and Mwewa Sumbwe of the UndocuBlack Network about what the end of DACA could mean. This network was founded by undocumented black immigrants who wanted to center the voices of black undocumented people that […]
Can Virtual Reality Rescue Humanity?
Video games have long been dismissed from mainstream audiences as shallow or immature, but can they be something more? Our multimedia editor JP Keenan traveled to the "Games For Change" festival to talk with game designers about the power of "empathy games" and learn about future of virtual reality to see if it's the game […]
How These Christian Activists Are Putting the Death Penalty on Trial
In January 2017, 18 anti-death penalty activists were arrested and taken to jail for protesting against the death penalty on the steps of the supreme court. On this episode, our Associate Web Editor, @dhanyaddanki, talks to three of the 18 arrested death penalty abolitionists about why they fight against capital punishment. @ShaneClaiborne, Derrick Wayne Jamison, and SueZann […]
You Can’t Mute All the Trolls: How to Be a Journalist in 2017
On today's episode, our deputy web editor @chwoodiwiss chats with with journalists @sullivanamy, @dawn_cherie, and @ayshabkhan about something journos usually don’t like talking about: when doing our job becomes too much. We discuss the public's rising suspicion of journalism, dealing with traumatic images, fending off Twitter hate, and—whew—why we still love the work. For more, read our companion piece in […]
A black man goes undercover in the alt-right | Theo E.J. Wilson
https://youtu.be/OqUaEJLfrLo
Letters to the Editor (Resurrecting this Historical Section): Redefining Anthropology?
Editor’s Note The lifeblood of science and social science is competition among ideas in healthy debate testing scholarly standards and findings. In recent years, as standards have begun to disappear in social science and as journals begin to advocate for doctrine in place of social science and discipline, the opportunity to challenge colleagues (and editors) […]
Returning Discipline to the Discipline: A Model Procedure for Reviews in Anthropology, Social Sciences, and Other Related Disciplines
This piece uses participant observation of and research into disciplinary procedures to reveal that review policies in anthropology, other ‘social sciences’, and related disciplines have become arbitrary and politicised with little to protect professional standards of a discipline and to avoid conflicts of interest that prejudice scholarship. To address the problem, this piece takes the […]
The Nonsense and Non-Science of Political Science: A Politically Incorrect View of ‘Poly-T(r)ic(k)s’
The purpose of this short essay is to highlight the failures in contemporary Political Science by sketching a small model of what the discipline would look like if it were in fact a “discipline” driven by scientific questions and methods responsive to public benefit rather than to indoctrination and control. Rather than simply accept, on […]
An International Legal Scholar’s View on “Is Economics in Violation of International Law? Remaking Economics as a Social Science”
An Ecological Economist’s View on “Is Economics in Violation of International Law? Remaking Economics as a Social Science”
Introduction Is mainstream economics with its many theories and recommendations compatible with international law, such as the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP, 2007) or the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development of 1992 (UN Rio Declaration, 1992)? Are globally renowned universities teaching economics in ways that violate international law? Can […]
https://youtu.be/upRMoso0fw8
The Religious Coalition
Newsletter: Winter 2020
Download Our Winter Newsletter Here The post Newsletter: Winter 2020 appeared first on The Religious Coalition.
Click for details The post It’s A Wonderful Life appeared first on The Religious Coalition.
2019 Unity Campaign
2019 Unity Campaign: September 11-22 2019 Click Here to Make A On-Line Donation to this year’s campaign Why Is The Unity Campaign So Important? Our Goal is $30,000- Your gift will be boosted by matching funds The post 2019 Unity Campaign appeared first on The Religious Coalition.
Newsletter: Summer 2018
Download Our Summer Newsletter Here The post Newsletter: Summer 2018 appeared first on The Religious Coalition.
2019 Run (or Walk) for Shelter
Thank you for supporting the 11th Annual Run (or Walk) for Shelter! For Finisher Times-Click Here The post 2019 Run (or Walk) for Shelter appeared first on The Religious Coalition.
Julian Bond: We Must Practice Dissent
https://youtu.be/-MGIKiCLoV8
5 facts about crime in the U.S.
Both violent and property crime in the U.S. have declined over the long term, but Americans regularly say crime is up. The post 5 facts about crime in the U.S. appeared first on Pew Research Center.
Far more immigration cases are being prosecuted criminally under Trump administration
The first full fiscal year of the Trump administration saw large increases in the number of people arrested and criminally prosecuted for immigration offenses. The post Far more immigration cases are being prosecuted criminally under Trump administration appeared first on Pew Research Center.
Only 2% of federal criminal defendants go to trial, and most who do are found guilty
Trials are rare in the federal criminal justice system: Just 2% of criminal defendants went to trial in 2018. Acquittals are even rarer. The post Only 2% of federal criminal defendants go to trial, and most who do are found guilty appeared first on Pew Research Center.
From police to parole, black and white Americans differ widely in their views of criminal justice system
Attitudes vary considerably by race on issues including crime, policing, the death penalty, parole decisions and voting rights. The post From police to parole, black and white Americans differ widely in their views of criminal justice system appeared first on Pew Research Center.
The gap between the number of blacks and whites in prison is shrinking
Blacks have long outnumbered whites in U.S. prisons. But a significant decline in the number of black prisoners has narrowed the gap. The post The gap between the number of blacks and whites in prison is shrinking appeared first on Pew Research Center.
https://youtu.be/apbSsILLh28
PBS NewsHour: Russia’s war in Ukraine leads to historic split in the Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church in Ukraine has been under the authority of Moscow since 1686. Until the 2014 war with Russia, that situation bothered few. Now a growing number of congregations, approximately 500 so far, have joined a new independent Ukrainian … More → The post PBS NewsHour: Russia’s war in Ukraine leads to historic split […]
PBS NewsHour: Following Father Theodore Hesburgh through Civil Rights era
The new documentary, “Hesburgh,” explores the life of Father Theodore Hesburgh, who served as a long-time president of the University of Notre Dame and is recognized now as one of the most important civic and educational leaders of the 20th … More → The post PBS NewsHour: Following Father Theodore Hesburgh through Civil Rights era […]
VIDEO: California’s first Muslim judge on faith and public service
Justice Halim Dhanidina was recently elevated to California’s Courts of Appeal, making him the state’s most senior judge of Muslim faith. NewsHour Weekend Special Correspondent David Tereshchuk talks with Dhanidina about engaging with supporters and critics alike, and setting an … More → The post VIDEO: California’s first Muslim judge on faith and public service […]
America’s Foremost Muslim Judge
America’s Foremost Muslim Judge By David Tereshchuk It wasn’t exactly a surprise for Halim Dhanidina to get a call in 2012 from California Governor Jerry Brown’s office saying he’d been picked to serve as a judge on the state’s Superior … More → The post America’s Foremost Muslim Judge appeared first on Religion & Ethics […]
The relationship between science and religion
The friction between science and religion goes back centuries. While the conflict often lies in beliefs and research, the common ground between the two is sometimes left unexplored. Researchers dive deeper into this debate. The post The relationship between science and religion appeared first on Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly.
Shekinna Stricklen Wins 2019 All Star 3 Point Contest
https://youtu.be/d7F0aeSvr4I
Woolies and Soweto Gospel Choir: Madiba Tribute
CT Sun 2019
https://youtu.be/aV6Q2hSZXQk
Meet the Pastor Who Performs Exorcisms Over Skype
Evangelical Pastor Bob Larson performs physical exorcisms on people who believe they’re possessed by the devil. But because this is the 21st century, he also performs them over Skype. Larson has built a business by exorcising demons via video chat, using hand gestures–like crossing people’s foreheads by waving his pointer finger in front of the […]
We’re Gonna Let You Finish, Christianity, But Yeezianity Is The Best Religion OF ALL TIME
In a track off his 2013 album Yeezus, Kanye West requested that we a) hurry up with his damn croissants and then b) remember that he is a God. An anonymous group of people have taken that song pretty literally, it seems, because they’ve formed an official religion centered around Kanye called Yeezianity. According to its website, […]
Here’s an Interactive Birthday Card for the Pope’s 77th Birthday
People who visit the English version of the Vatican’s website today will see a 32-page interactive pop up that says “Best Wishes, Holy Father” in honor of Pope Francis’s 77th birthday, The Guardian reports. Viewers hear a “whoosh” sound as they click through this compilation of photos of the Pontiff and some of his most inspirational quotes […]
The Grand Canyon Will Make You Believe in God
Calling all churches, Planet Earth is your new marketing tool. Though the BBC’s nature-focused series is far from a religious promotional video, a new study shows that Americans who watch Planet Earth are more likely to believe in a god or a higher power, the Independent reports. In a new study published in the journal Psychological Science, scientists asked a […]
Atheists Embrace Megachurch-Style Services
While evangelical Christians are known for celebrating faith in God at mega-churches, now atheists are celebrating their lack of faith in God in a “mega-church” setting. The Associated Press profiled the Sunday Assembly, a movement started in London in January 2013 that’s spearheaded by two British comedians, Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans, who are bringing atheists together in […]
https://youtu.be/nzZ8ESXJSiw
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Alexander Wang’s Balenciaga Departure Confirmed By Kering
by Paige Reddinger July 31, 2015
written by Paige Reddinger July 31, 2015
PARIS, FRANCE – MARCH 06: Designer Alexander Wang walks the runway after the Balenciaga show as part of the Paris Fashion Week Womenswear Fall/Winter 2015/2016 on March 6, 2015 in Paris, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)
French luxury conglomerate Kering confirmed today that Alexander Wang will indeed be leaving his role as creative director of Balenciaga after much speculation in the industry in recent days. It was assumed, among other reasons, that Wang would be leaving the brand to focus on his own eponymous label, which does about $100 million in sales according to Reuters.
“I am looking forward to taking my own brand to its next level of growth,” said Wang in a statement released by Kering today. “It’s been an incredible experience to work with a couture house in Paris. I am honored to have had the opportunity to work for this historical maison. I would like to thank the brilliant team at Balenciaga for their collaboration and for what we have accomplished together.” The Spring 2016 show on October 2nd in Paris will be Wang’s last. A search for a new creative director will apparently be announced in “due course,” according to Kering. Balenciaga is Kering’s biggest brand after Gucci, Bottega Veneta, and Saint Laurent.
Alexander WangAlexander Wang departs BalenciagaBalenciagafashion newsKering
Paige Reddinger
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Sharing Iran’s Health Experience
Regional states can draw on Iran’s experience in measures taken in rural and urban healthcare,” said Peter Slama, UNICEF director for Middle East and North Africa, in a meeting with Health Minister Hassan Qazizadeh Hashemi on Sunday to discuss health issues and projects in Iran.
Slama said this is his first visit to Tehran and he is interested in using Iran’s know-how in executing UNICEF plans in other countries with similar conditions.
He thanked Hashemi for his ministry’s efforts in healthcare projects and in particular, implementing the Health Reform Plan, Borna News Agency reported.
UNICEF Representative in Iran Ezio Gianni Murzi, was also present.
Referring to Iran’s achievements, Hashemi said more than 30,000 health clinics in rural regions are providing medical, immunization and consultancy services to over 30 million rural residents, ISNA reported.
He also praised cooperation by the World Health Organization and other countries that have contributed to national achievements by sharing their expertise with Iran, but said, “Iran still is a long way from the desirable state of healthcare provision.”
“We hope to extend medical and health services to a suburban population of roughly 10 million over the next six months and have an efficient health system in place in the next 10-15 years,” he said, calling on the UN agency to assist in promoting healthcare for children and vulnerable groups as well as local production of certain vaccines like rotavirus and intravenous vaccine for polio.
Slama said UNICEF is ready to support Iran in all its health and medical projects, especially in infant care, nutrition, and mother and child health.
He suggested south-south cooperation to screen children’s health with Iran as the core center to share its resources, technology, and knowledge in the region. Further bilateral cooperation can be worked out in the framework of the Millennium Development Goals, he concluded.
Iran-China MoU to Broaden Health Ties
Health Coop. With Algeria
UNICEF Cooperation in Drug Control
Promoting E-Healthcare in Iran's Rural Regions
More Physicians in Remote Areas
Hashemi Meets Counterparts
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FCSN: White Paperfw_dev2017-11-21T14:31:14+00:00
Taking Action Against Cancer in the Fire Service
In late April 2013, the Firefighter Cancer Support Network (FCSN) invited a small group of experts to Indianapolis to develop a white paper on cancer in the fire service.
The participants came from the legal, medical- and social-research communities, and the fire service — including volunteer, combination and career departments and chief officers, firefighters, company officers, union leaders, and local and state fire training directors. Two firefighters who are cancer survivors participated, and every workshop participant knew firefighters who currently have cancer or who died as a result of cancer.
They willingly shared their knowledge, experience, commitment, and questions to better understand and describe the complexity of firefighter cancer awareness. The discussions addressed prevention, diagnosis, treatment and the long-term implications for the firefighter, the fire- fighter’s family, their coworkers, the fire department and community policy. Importantly, they also identified a series of actions that firefighters can take to reduce their exposure to chemicals that can cause or facilitate cancer.
In two-and-a-half days, the working group outlined and wrote the initial draft of a white paper describing the status of cancer in the fire service and developed answers to very challenging questions. This report is the result of that working group which was enhanced by the additional review of multiple career and volunteer operational fire companies, additional clinical researchers and medical physicians, other stakeholders and the leadership of the FCSN.
The Indianapolis Fire Department hosted the workshop at its head- quarters, and the Indianapolis Metropolitan Professional Firefighters Association IAFF Local 416 extended its well-known and gracious hospitality and support, complemented by the facilitation skills of the Volunteer & Combination Officers Section of the International Association of Fire Chiefs. Special thanks to Chief John Buckman for taking great notes during the workshop and to Garry Briese for writing the document, to the Indianapolis Firefighter Emerald Society Bagpipe Band for their bus, to the Indiana State Professional Firefighters Association for their support, and to Captain Tim McDonnell, IFD and FCSN Board Member, who did yeoman’s work in making the on-site arrangements and logistics.
The FCSN offers our sincere appreciation to all these individuals and organizations for this successful effort.
WHAT IS THE FIREFIGHTER CANCER PROBLEM?
Firefighter cancer is a looming personal catastrophe for each and every fire- fighter. Cancer is the most dangerous and unrecognized threat to the health and safety of our nation’s firefighters.
Multiple studies, including the soon-to-be-released NIOSH cancer study, have repeatedly demonstrated credible evidence and biologic creditability for statistically higher rates of multiple types of cancers in firefighters compared to the general American population including:
Testicular cancer (2.02 times greater risk)
Multiple myeloma (1.53 times greater risk)
Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (1.51 times greater risk)
Skin cancer (1.39 times greater risk)
Prostate cancer (1.28 times greater risk)
Malignant melanoma (1.31 times great risk)
Brain cancer (1.31 times greater risk)
Colon cancer (1.21 times great risk)
Leukemia (1.14 times greater risk)
Breast cancer in women (preliminary study results from the San Francisco Fire Department)
We are just beginning to understand the horrific magnitude of the problem, the depth of our naiveté, the challenges involved and the changes required in education, training, operations, medical screenings and personal accountability to effectively address cancer in the fire service.
The signs of firefighters’ exposure to carcinogens are everywhere:
Photos appear every day of firefighters working in active and overhaul fire environments with SCBA on their backs but not masks on their faces.
Firefighters still proudly wear dirty and contaminated turnout gear and helmets.
Some fire instructors wear their carcinogen-loaded helmets and bunker gear as symbols of their firefighting experience.
Diesel exhaust, a recognized carcinogen, still contaminates many fire stations
— apparatus bays as well as living, sleeping and eating quarters.
Many firefighters only have one set of gear which means they are continually re-contaminated from previous fires.
Some diesel exhaust systems — even when installed — are not used, are used incorrectly or are poorly maintained.
Bunker gear still is stored in apparatus bays where it is bathed in diesel exhaust.
Bunker gear goes unwashed for months at a time, even after significant fires.
Many volunteers carry their contaminated gear in the trunks of their personal vehicles resulting in superheating and enhanced off-gassing of contaminants into the passenger compartment and sometimes even into their homes.
Firefighters put their contaminated gear into the cabs of their apparatus both before and after fires.
Some firefighters still take their contaminated bunker pants and boots into sleeping quarters.
The interiors of apparatus cabs are rarely decontaminated.
Many firefighters do not take showers immediately following fires.
“Pinpointing the cause of cancer is extremely difficult because firefighters are not exposed to just one agent. They are exposed to multiple cancer-causing agents. Because of the multiple exposures and the multiple routes of exposure — they inhale carcinogens and carcinogens are absorbed through the skin — it is also highly unlikely for firefighters to get only one type of cancer,” said Grace LeMasters, Ph.D., a professor of epidemiology at the University of Cincinnati and the lead author of a 2006 meta-analysis of 32 published studies of cancer in firefighters.
Unfortunately, there is no immediate visible impact of carcinogenic exposure, since the time between exposure to carcinogens and the appearance of malignancies can be 20 years or longer, known as the latency period.
“We are not making this up,” IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger said. “The connection between firefighting and cancer is real, and there is scientific data to support our position. But we cannot stop there — we must continue to learn more so we can prevent our members from contracting this horrible disease and help them if they do.”
IAFC VCOS Chairman, Chief Tim Wall agreed. “Cancer does not discriminate between firefighters,” he said. “Volunteers routinely transport bunker gear in their vehicles, wear clothing contaminated after a fire into their homes and expose their families to these carcinogens. This is a terrible problem that requires our full attention and immediate action.”
WHAT IS THE SCOPE OF THE CANCER PROBLEM?
A May 2013 report for the President’s Cancer Panel, a three-person panel that reports to the U.S. president on the National Cancer Program, said approximately 41% of Americans will be diagnosed with cancer during their lifetime.
But cancer is not the death sentence it was in the past. According to the report, “Cancer: More Americans are Surviving,”
In the early 1970s, the five-year survival rate for all invasive cancers was a dismal 43% and the treatments — disfiguring surgery, almost unbelievably toxic chemotherapy, and indiscriminate radiation — were so dreadful that many patients considered them worse than the disease.
Today the five-year survival rate for all cancers is 67%. Surgery, chemotherapy and radiation — still the triad of successful cancer treatment — are more precise, causing much less pain and disfigurement, resulting in a huge upswing in the number of cancer survivors from just 3 million in 1971 to about 12 million in 2012.
While 41% is a significant number by itself and that is a challenge for all Americans, that is not the specific challenge for the fire service.
The fire service faces an even greater challenge. Firefighters have a statistically significant higher risk for multiple cancers than the general population.
In 2006, researchers at the University of Cincinnati published their meta-analysis of 32 studies of cancer among firefighters. Based on their analysis, there was a significantly increased risk among firefighters for a number of cancers, including multiple myeloma, non- Hodgkin’s lymphoma and prostate and testicular cancer.
In 2007, the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer Working Group classified firefighting as “possibly carcinogenic to humans” and called for more research to better understand cancer risks among firefighters.
In October 2010, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) began a major retrospective study of cancer in firefighters and collected data from some 30,000 firefighters in three metro fire departments. The analysis of the data is underway and the initial report is due in 2014.
In May 2011 at the 2nd National Fire Service Research Agenda Symposium, there was an identified priority for continued research on fire service exposure related to cancer.
In late 2011, Australia started a large-scale study of cancer among up to 162,000 former and current career, part-time and volunteer firefighters, and like the NIOSH study, will include women firefighters.
In 2012, the Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety & Health named firefighting as the most deadly occupation in their state.
In September 2012, the U.S. government announced that the 70,000 surviving firefighters, police officers and other first responders who were present at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 are entitled to free monitoring and treatment for some 50 forms of cancer. This is significant because it is the first time that the federal government has formally recognized the link between firefighting and cancer.
In 2012, case studies in the San Francisco Fire Department suggested an increase in breast cancer among women firefighters. While previous studies have not examined cancer risks specific to women, women have now been in the fire service long enough to begin experiencing the effects of long-term exposure to the toxic chemicals from fires. The pending NIOSH Cancer Study will be the one of the few studies examining cancer risks in U.S. female firefighters, although the sample size for female firefighters remains relatively small.
Despite the significant evidence supporting the relationship between fire- fighting and cancer, not all are in agreement that sufficient evidence exists to establish a causal relationship between firefighting and cancer. In 2009, the National League of Cities (NLC) published a report that noted, “….there is a lack of substantive evidence currently available to confirm or deny linkages between firefighting and an elevated incidence of cancer.”
The NLC report also stated, “The cancer research studies do, however, provide solid groundwork from which future studies can be developed and improved. The researchers recommend collaborative efforts by government, scientists, firefighters, municipalities, national associations, and others to undertake additional research, establish a firefighter cancer database, and seek more federal funding for research.”
While the methodology and conclusions of this report were criticized and refuted by the national fire service organizations, the NLC report should be read by the fire service as a prime example of the challenges facing existing or new presumptive cancer legislation.
“While more studies certainly will be helpful and will provide more definitive information, we already know enough to take immediate preventive actions to reduce exposure, especially for new firefighters,” LeMasters said. “We now know enough to recommend and require changes.”
WHAT IS KNOWN AND NOT KNOWN?
Current research demonstrates an increased risk for a number of types of cancer among firefighters.
Although most fire departments are responding to fewer fires than in the past, the amount of exposure time has increased due to the limited number of available firefighters, either due to budget cuts, staffing reductions or the avail- ability of volunteers.
Today’s fires grow at a much more rapid rate than yesterday’s fires while exposing firefighters to significantly increased concentrations of highly carcinogenic agents.
Today’s residential fires have more in common with hazmat events than old-fashioned house fires due to the materials now common in homes such as plastics and synthetics. Commercial and vehicle fires have highly concentrated toxicants and dumpster fires contain completely unknown substances and toxicants.
Many researchers believe that cancer rates among firefighters would be even higher if it was not for the “healthy-worker effect.” Firefighters are expected worker effect.” Firefighters are expected to have a lower rate of cancer than the general population because the job tends to attract people who are healthy and in better shape, at least when they start their careers.
It is also believed that cancer rates are potentially underreported among firefighters because many firefighters do not discover they have cancer until after retiring and are subsequently then considered to be a part of the general population comparison group.
Volunteers were not, and are not, included in any of the previous or on-going U.S. studies.
A large scale study of cancer and other causes of death among Australian firefighters was begun in late 2011 and up to 162,000 former and current career, part-time, paid and volunteer firefighters make up the study population. This study includes men and women firefighters.
It has become increasingly clear that the two routes of greatest concern for entry of carcinogens into the bodies of a firefighter are:
Through the lungs: when firefighters do not wear or prematurely remove SCBA, especially during overhaul
Dermal absorption: where toxicants are absorbed through the skin
Some good news is that firefighters may have a lower incidence of lung cancer in some studies than the general population. If this holds in the current studies underway, it may be due to restrictions on the use of tobacco products and to the increased use of SCBA.
Following the lungs, the skin is the body’s second largest organ in area and it is highly absorptive. Some areas of skin are more permeable than others, specifically the face, the angle of the jaw, the neck and throat and the groin. Skin’s permeability increases with temperature and for every 5° increase in skin temperature, absorption increases 400%.
The most permeable piece of personal protective equipment is the hood. Hoods are designed to protect our head and neck from heat but are not designed to stop skin absorption through the forehead, angle of the jaw, the neck and throat.
Every firefighter knows that a lot of soot gets through their hoods, sits on sweaty, hot, highly permeable areas of skin, and then is rubbed into the skin as the firefighter is working.
Some cancer studies are also noting that firefighters are developing far more aggressive types of cancers, such as brain cancers, at a younger age than the general population, which provides further indications that the cancer could be a result of firefighting.
Rarely discussed and certainly not documented is the impact on the fam- ily of a firefighter diagnosed with cancer including the huge emotional toll, financial costs, time, and decreased quality of life not only for the firefighter but on the spouse/partner and children. They also experience the impact of a cancer diagnosis and prolonged treatment on their loved one.
The direct and indirect cost of a cancer diagnosis on a fire department is huge and starts with the emotional impact on the other firefighters. The loss of a qualified and experienced member, even for the time of treatment, includes training, overtime and backfill and will increase insurance costs after a cancer event which adds to the costs of both the individual and the department.
It is in the interest of all involved to reduce the impact of cancer on the fire service through a proactive and aggressive approach by the reduction of exposure to carcinogens.
THE UNIQUE CHALLENGES OF THE VOLUNTEER AND COMBINATION FIRE SERVICE
While concerns regarding the exposure to carcinogens are common to both career and volunteer firefighters, the volunteer and combination fire service have some specific challenges that are different and need to be addressed.
Volunteers regularly transport contaminated PPE and other gear in their personal vehicles, thereby exposing themselves and their family members to carcinogens. Because they may return home or go back to work directly after a fire, they often continue to wear their personal clothing, which will stay contaminated.
It is not acceptable to return from a medical call with blood or vomitus on our clothing and then sit back down at work or return to the dinner table at home. The same concern should be exercised after returning from a fire: gear must be cleaned, clothing must be washed and showers must be taken — before returning to work or family activities to reduce carcinogenic exposure.
Many volunteers carry their PPE in their personal vehicle, often in the trunk or even in the vehicle’s passenger compartment. Handling PPE in this manner facilitates the off-gassing of toxins and carcinogens, especially when the PPE is heated by elevated temperatures from the sun.
The interior of a car or pickup truck parked in the sun for just a few hours will get very hot. On an 85° day, the interior temperature will rise to more than 120° due to the “greenhouse effect.” Surprisingly, the inside of a trunk is often cooler than the inside of the car itself because there are no windows for sunlight to enter. Temperature readings inside the trunk can be 5-10 degrees cooler than the air in the passenger compartment.
In either situation, actions need to be taken to protect from off-gassing into the vehicle passenger compartment. These protective actions could include: keeping PPE in closed, zippered duffel bags or large sealed “Rubbermaid-style” storage bins and taking contaminated PPE back to the fire station on the fire apparatus for washing, cleaning and decontamination.
Most volunteer/combination fire departments are particularly challenged when it comes to tracking exposures over the lifetime of their volunteers who frequently come and go, some staying for a short time and others staying longer.
There is not a common reporting system that tracks which volunteers were on what scene and for how long. In the interim, each firefighter should establish their own method of capturing this type of information, using personal computers, mobile devices or even index cards.
Departments need to identify proper facilities that can be responsive to quickly clean and decontaminate PPE according to the current edition of NFPA 1851. Two current alternatives are sending the gear out for cleaning to qualified vendors or purchasing washer-extractors for use in the fire station.
In the real world, neither of these may be currently available due to budget limitations. In the meantime, some volunteer departments have implemented interim procedures such as: wiping skin areas with Wet-Naps or baby wipes; gross decontamination at the fire scene with booster lines; transporting contaminated gear on fire apparatus to the fire station instead of in personal vehicles; thoroughly washing bunker gear with hoses back at the station; washing clothes and hoods as soon as possible; cleaning helmets and helmet liners/ suspensions and immediately showering.
WHY ARE EXPOSURE RECORDS ESSENTIAL?
Any record of exposure is better than no record.
Currently there is no national guidance for the collection and reporting of exposures to toxicants, including carcinogens or tumor-promoting agents. Exposure reporting guidelines exist for hazmat incidents, but guidelines need to be developed and implemented for exposure to chemicals, toxicants and carcinogens from incidents other than those covered by traditional hazmat guidelines.
Firefighters need to change their perception and acknowledge that structure, vehicle, dumpster and even wildland fires contain the same chemicals and toxicants, sometimes in greater concentrations, than in hazmat releases and exposure records need to be maintained for all of these exposures.
Certainly the establishment and maintenance of exposure tracking systems needs to be the primary responsibility of the fire department, but each individual firefighter needs to ensure that they are also tracking their own exposures. Each firefighter should establish their own method of capturing this type of information, using personal computers, mobile devices or even index cards, if for no other reason than having a backup.
The IAFF and several state union organizations, such as the California Professional Fire Fighters, have established cancer registries and/or exposure tracking systems for their members. While some of these systems have been available for many years, utilization by individual firefighters can still be significantly enhanced as the definition of toxic and carcinogenic exposures expands to include more and more incidents.
In states where cancer presumptive legislation has been implemented, having exposure records bolsters the case of the impacted firefighter as more and more cases are being challenged and existing presumptive legislation is coming under re-examination.
To ensure better protection and prevention, retired firefighters and volunteers who leave service should also be included in these tracking systems for following long-term health status changes, longevity and cause of death. General cancer registries must be updated to capture both an individual’s primary and secondary work history, including specific types of hazardous volunteer work (such as firefighting).
WHAT IS THE ROLE OF THE FIRE CHIEF?
Like the company officer, the fire chief must lead by example and set clear expectations about cancer awareness and prevention. The significant difference is that, “the buck stops on the fire chief’s desk” to set clear expectations, develop and enforce procedures, policies, and operational changes.
The chief must take the initiative to personally understand the facts about cancer in firefighters. Initiate the discussion among the leadership team and then with the firefighters about the prevalence of cancer in the fire service and the preventive measures that can be implemented.
Identify what the department will do. Identify operational enhancements and changes, set clear expectations and then enforce the policies — every time. The goal is to have firefighters understand the risk and the rationale for the changes. As with any other SOP/SOG, enforcement needs to be consistent with company officers and chief officers setting the example.
Integrate cancer awareness and prevention into related training. Review the SOPs about mandatory use of SCBAs from the initiation of active fire operations to the completion of the overhaul process, field decontamination procedures including the use of industrial strength wet wipes and mandatory showers. Make cancer awareness and prevention a priority, including the implementation of an appropriate exposure tracking system.
Fire chiefs should work with their governing organizations, supervisors, government leaders and unions to seek and provide adequate funding for cancer awareness and prevention, necessary equipment and annual physical examinations, including appropriate cancer screening. An early cancer diagnosis will increase survival and decrease the overall costs of treatment.
HOW CAN THE GOVERNING JURISDICTION ASSIST IN REDUCING CANCER IN FIREFIGHTERS?
Appointed and elected officials must remain open-minded in order to address the complicated issues surrounding cancer in firefighters as well as the requisite funding that will be necessary to reduce its effects in the fire service.
Many awareness and prevention efforts, including operational changes, are low cost and high impact. There are some essential exposure solutions, like diesel exhaust systems and PPE cleaning, annual physicals and cancer screenings, which require initial and on-going funding. These must become a priority.
If governing jurisdictions are proactive with funding, the wellness of fire- fighters will be enhanced and the overarching costs that accompany a cancer diagnosis can be better managed and even minimized.
Eventually the costs associated with cancer in firefighters will need to be dis- cussed. In many ways, unfortunately, it really is all about the money.
The National League of Cities (NLC) report stated that “One of the greatest concerns for municipal employers is the financial impact of state-mandated presumptions. Cost estimates are not available due to a lack of data but there are reasons to be concerned about the impact.”
The NLC report continues, “The majority of cancers detected today occur after the age of Medicare eligibility and the cost is born broadly across the Medicare system. Under the concept of presumption, Medicare has a right, given its status as a secondary payer, to demand that worker’s compensation policies pick up 100% of this lifetime cost in states that have not limited the post-employment eligibility period. This would place substantial additional costs on municipal employers and could lead to a lack of availability for workers’ compensation insurance for firefighters.”
The NLC raised several municipal policy questions in their study.
What actions can municipalities take to require and encourage the use of safety equipment by firefighters?
What actions can be taken take to curtail smoking by career and volunteer fire- fighters?
Should municipalities take action to eliminate or limit second jobs held by fire- fighters that may increase the probability that firefighters develop cancer?
How should volunteers be treated under the presumptive laws since they often never retire from the fire service?
Is firefighters’ exposure significantly less now that fire departments spend a greater percentage of their on-duty time responding to EMS and other non-fire calls?
Fire service leaders must understand the concerns reflected by the NLC and concurred by other municipal, county and state elected leaders. Understanding does not mean agreeing, it means recognizing. If the fire service is going to be successful in increasing awareness and preventing cancer in firefighters, then the cooperation of both elected and appointed officials is essential.
WHAT ARE THE ROLES OF THE LOCAL, STATE AND NATIONAL FIRE ACADEMIES?
Leading by example is the best description of the key role that our local, state and national fire academies can fulfill in the initiative to integrate awareness and prevention of cancer in firefighters.
All fire academies need to adopt and integrate awareness training and discussions of the cancer risk to firefighters. It should not be an afterthought, or something that is “bolted on” to a course of instruction. Cancer awareness should be given the status that this terrible risk to the health of firefighters deserves.
Cancer awareness training needs to start with a firefighter’s initial training since we now understand that firefighters are exposed to significant carcinogens on a regular basis.
Concentration on the dangers of smoke and soot needs to be enhanced with more information about the carcinogenic impact of components of combustion, including benzene, chloroform, styrene, formaldehyde, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, plasticizers and fire retardants, among many more. All of these are absorbed through the skin.
If SCBA is not worn throughout each fire incident, these carcinogens will also be absorbed through the lungs. Soot has ultra-fine particles that enter the lungs and it is also absorbed through the skin traveling to most organs including the brain.
Fire academies need to incorporate recommendations from this paper to provide students with the best examples of what can be done to significantly reduce exposure to carcinogens. Instructors need to “walk the talk” by wearing clean bunker gear and helmets and utilizing other recommendations to teach, perform and enforce new procedures, including the initiation of expedient field decontamination as soon as reasonably feasible after post-fire operations.
The use of skin wipes, such as Wet-Naps or baby wipes should be used to remove soot and contamination from vulnerable skin areas between evolutions and should become as common as re-hydrating in rehab.
Training schedules should be adjusted to allow sufficient time for the laundering and decontamination of PPE which must, at a minimum, be conducted in accordance with NFPA and manufacturer recommendations. FF1/FF2 curriculum needs to include instructions on how to perform PPE cleaning using NFPA 1851 highly programmable, front-load washer-extractors and gear dryers. Fire- fighters in fire operations training should leave the academy environment with cleaner gear than when they arrived.
All levels of fire officer education and training should clearly address the risks of cancer and stress the key role and responsibility of the officer in providing leadership while protecting their firefighters from carcinogens.
Cancer awareness/prevention curricula need to be developed, including appropriate AV support, enhanced videos and personal stories of firefighters surviving a cancer diagnosis. Curricula and supporting information need to be presented to state firefighting standards boards for review and approval and passage to local fire training academies and departments. This training should serve as a catalyst for change through the U.S. fire service.
WHAT CAN FIRE EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURERS AND ARCHITECTS DO TO ASSIST?
Manufacturers provide a large variety of what the fire service needs to minimize firefighter exposure to carcinogens including NFPA-compliant personal protective equipment, self-contained breathing apparatus, vehicle exhaust extraction systems, detergents, washer-extractors, gear dryers, cleaning equipment and skin decontamination equipment.
Manufacturers can make a significant contribution by eliminating advertisements showing firefighters with dirty (read: contaminated with carcinogens) bunker gear and helmets since this reinforces and perpetuates the dangerous myth that “the only real firefighter is a dirty firefighter.”
Tremendous knowledge resides in these companies and their expertise needs to be embraced as the fire service moves forward to meet this new challenge. Innovation and new approaches may provide cost-effective solutions to cancer prevention questions.
Initially, manufacturers can support “jump starting” firefighter cancer awareness and prevention by directly supporting, with funding, the development of the new firefighter cancer awareness/prevention curricula, appropriate AV sup- port and enhanced videos.
The fire service needs to include manufacturers in the development of these training materials to ensure that the cancer awareness/prevention information is coordinated with available commercial solutions and manufacturer initiatives. As gaps are identified, further research and development should be conducted by commercial providers to identify the full spectrum of carcinogenic hazards, as well as appropriate protection and decontamination technologies. Funding may need to be facilitated from the US government to support this research and product development.
The design of fire stations, whether for new construction or renovation, must include such standard design features as state-of-the-art equipment and systems for adequate air flow, removal and capture of carcinogens and particulates, appropriate location and ventilation of storage rooms for contaminated PPE and other equipment, washer-extractor and gear drying equipment, as well as clear separation of living quarters from the apparatus floor. In short, architects should be working to design cancer out of fire stations. Responsible elected and appointed officials should require this type of expertise when hiring design professionals for fire stations.
WHAT ABOUT THE NATIONAL FIRE SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS?
A commitment from the national fire service organizations, similar to that of the commitment given to the 16 Firefighter Life-Safety Initiatives, is required if significant progress in three to five years is the goal.
A coalition should be formed consisting of the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC), Volunteer & Combination Officers Section of the IAFC (VCOS/IAFC), Safety Health & Survival Section of the IAFC (SHS/IAFC), National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC), Firefighter Cancer Support Network (FCSN), Fire Fighter Cancer Foundation (FFCN), National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), National Association of State Fire Training Directors (NASFTD), Fire Depart- ment Safety Officers Association (FDSOA) International Society of Fire Service Instructors (ISFSI), National Fallen Firefighters Foundation (NFFF), International Fire Service Training Association (IFSTA), Fire Apparatus Manufacturers Association (FAMA), and Fire Equipment Manufacturers & Services Association (FEMSA).
It is essential that both for-profit and non-profit fire service textbook publishers, conference organizers and education providers are included as members of this national coalition.
Given the highly successful model of the Life-Safety Initiatives, this new Firefighter Cancer Coalition Initiative can implement the lessons learned and expedite implementation of the recommendations. This will require sustained effort, talent and financial resources over three to five years to develop an aggressive framework to address cancer awareness/prevention in the fire service.
WHAT ARE THE PENDING RESEARCH QUESTIONS?
Many unanswered questions and areas needing further exploration and research were discussed through the creation of this white paper. These topics were all identified as significant, although no priority or tiered ranking was done.
Research Agenda for Cancer in Firefighters, next five to seven years:
Research in-depth the epidemiology of cancer among firefighters specifically related to the most common types of cancer.
Develop a firefighter-specific cancer registry to help elucidate the relationship between exposure and cancer development.
Explore the relationship between behavioral risk factors (high-sugar diets, weight, alcohol consumption, exercise, smoking) and their relative contribution to firefighter cancer.
Engage cohort studies to better elucidate risk.
Develop better methods for tracking exposure (e.g. frequency, duration) and relating exposure to risk development.
Improve identification of better biomarkers for exposure (e.g. blood, urine, saliva) and disease.
Analyze regional differences in cancer incidence and possible reasons for differences (e.g. behavioral norms around SCBA use, building materials).
Understand the relative contribution of different routes of exposure (e.g. inhalation vs. skin absorption) among firefighters.
Examine the contribution of contamination under or through firefighter gear (e.g. boot tops, PPE).
Investigate the contribution of contamination from helmets, helmet liners, and hoods.
Research the most effective methods and modes of gear decontamination (e.g. types of cleaners, frequency).
Research the efficacy of decontamination. (How do we know if it is clean enough?)
Analyze the effectiveness of APRs or PAPRs in the post fire environment
Examine the efficacy of rapid field decontamination measures (e.g. wet-Naps or baby wipes on scene).
Study cancer epidemiology and risk specific to female firefighters (e.g. San Francisco study on breast cancer).
Research specific epidemiology and risk among minority firefighters.
Examine the relative efficacy of fire station design features in cancer prevention.
Determine the extent of carcinogenic exposure within the firehouse.
Understand the relative effectiveness of prevention efforts among firefighters.
Investigate the risk associated with firefighter foams used in suppression.
Research the cancer risk associated with fire retardants.
Analyze cancer clusters as they are identified.
Use additional meta-analytic analysis as new research emerges which will be helpful in quantifying the relative risk of different types of cancer for firefighters.
Create a central resource directory for cancer research to help disseminate and translate research between researchers and the fire service.
Schedule regular meetings among key stakeholders and the research community to identify research questions, disseminate and translate existing and future research.
The following research areas were identified by the Equipment Subgroup of The Interagency Board when they examined the “Evaluation of Hazards in the Post-Fire Environment” at a meeting in New Orleans in February 2013.
A comprehensive identification and quantification of the hazards, threats and risks to human health presented in the post-fire environment
The efficacy of current respiratory protective equipment in the post fire environment, and identification of alternatives if necessary
The determination as to whether currently available air-purifying respiratory protective equipment may be applicable in the post-fire environment when used in conjunction with commonly available gas detection technologies
The efficacy of structural firefighter protective ensemble against identified dermal hazards and potential workable enhancements that would reduce skin absorptive risks
The development of a set of mitigation strategies and PPE selection guidelines based on the above findings
The efficacy of methods and determination of best practices for decontamination (including field expedient decontamination) from post-fire hazards .
The identification of man-portable or vehicle transportable detection and analysis capabilities able to identify and quantify the full spectrum of risks to responders and the public
UPDATED WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS & REVIEWERS, AUG 9, 2013
lisa Allegretti, editor, Fire Chief magazine
C. Stuart Baxter, ph.d., university of Cincinnati* garry Briese, executive director, FCSN*
Chief John Buckman, director of Fire Training, State of indiana*
FF/pm Jim Burneka, dayton Fire department, ohio State director, FCSN* Capt dan Crow (ret), Redlands Fire department, president, FCSN*
Chief dan eggleston, Albemarle County department of Fire Rescue, Workshop Facilitator* FF/emT Steve Fisher, Tualatin valley Fire & Rescue, oregon State director, FCSN (cancer survivor) probationary FF/emT david Freyta, South metro Fire department, Colorado
FF/emT Jason Fritch, Castle Rock Fire Rescue, Colorado FF/pm Adam gallegos, Castle Rock Fire Rescue, Colorado
deputy Chief Billy goldfeder, loveland-Symms Fire department, iAFC Board of directors Captain michael greensides, Salt lake united Fire Authority, utah*
Chief Bobby halton (ret), editor-in-Chief, Fire engineering magazine
Tom hanify, president, indiana State professional Fire Fighters Association* deputy Chief Chad harris, Colorado River Fire Rescue, Colorado*
lt/emT Jeff hood, Castle Rock Fire Rescue, Colorado
Sara Jahnke, ph.d., Center for Fire, Rescue & emS health Research grace lemasters, ph.d., RN, university of Cincinnati
James lockey, md, university of Cincinnati
eng/emT matt melton, Castle Rock Fire Rescue, Colorado
Captain Tim mcdonnell, indianapolis Fire department. vice-president of West Region, FCSN, (cancer survivor)*
Captain Clint mechum, Salt lake united Fire Authority*
dan mcdonough, Rescue 3, FdNy (ret) National Fallen Firefighters Foundation* Ryan mcdonough, National Fallen Firefighters Foundation*
david prezant, md, Chief medical officer, office of medical Affairs, Fire department of the City of New york
Aaron Straussner, Jd, Straussner & Sherman, Counsel, FCSN*
FF/pm keith Tyson (ret), miami dade Fire Rescue, vice-president of east Region & director of education, FCSN (cancer survivor)*
Chief mike vaughn, Washington Fire department, illinois, vCoS project liaison*
Chief Tony Watson & members of the City of pigeon Forge Fire department, Tennessee Janet Wilmoth, Associate publisher, Fire Chief magazine
Jori Wilmoth, Copy editor, Fire Chief magazine
* workshop participant
WHAT IMMEDIATE ACTIONS CAN I TAKE TO PROTECT MYSELF?
1. Use SCBA from initial attack to finish of overhaul. (Not wearing SCBA in both active and
post-fire environments is the most dangerous voluntary activity in the fire service today.)
2. Do gross field decon of PPE to remove as much soot and particulates as possible.
3. Use Wet-Nap or baby wipes to remove as much soot as possible from head, neck, jaw, throat, underarms and hands immediately and while still on the scene.
4. Change your clothes and wash them immediately after a fire.
5. Shower thoroughly after a fire.
6. Clean your PPE, gloves, hood and helmet immediately after a fire.
7. Do not take contaminated clothes or PPE home or store it in your vehicle.
8. Decon fire apparatus interior after fires.
9. Keep bunker gear out of living and sleeping quarters.
10. Stop using tobacco products.
11. Use sunscreen or sun block.
The importance of annual medical examinations cannot be overstated — early detection and early treatment are essential to increasing survival.
FCSN recognizes and deeply appreciates the support provided by Honeywell First Responder Products and Fire chief magazine in the production and printing of this white paper report.
Number of cancer survivors in 2012, up from 3 million in 1971
Increase in absorption for every 5° increase in skin temperature
The connection between firefighting and cancer is real, and there is scientific data to support our position. But we cannot stop there — we must continue to learn more so we can prevent our members from contracting this horrible disease and help them if they do.”
— Harold Schaitburger IAFF
Cancer does not determinate between firefighters. Volunteers routinely transport bunker gear in their vehicles, wear clothing contaminated after a fire into their homes and expose their families to these carcinogens. This is a terrible problem that requires our full attention and immediate action.”
— Tim Wall, VCOS
Times more likely a firefighter will develop testicular cancer compared to the general population
What is the Role of the Company Officer in Addressing Firefighter Cancer?
The company officer, as the leader of the most operational working group in the fire service, is the single most influential person concerning the team’s attitude, operations and willingness to change. In this key role, the company officer must lead by example and set clear expectations concerning cancer awareness, prevention, tracking of exposure and the essential operational changes necessary to minimize exposure to carcinogens and other toxins.
What is the Role of the Battalion Chief in Addressing Firefighter Cancer?
As a second set of eyes, the next level of supervision and the person in charge of multiunit operations, the Battalion Chief (BC) has the responsibility of overall command and situational awareness. This key position allows the BC to provide reinforcement of SOPs, SOGs and other operational practices concerning cancer exposure reduction.
Steps to Consider When Firefighters Tell You They Have Cancer
Most cancer patients will suffer from distress, ranging from normal feelings of vulnerability and sadness to fear or debilitating anxiety and even panic. They are concerned if their cancer diagnosis is a death sentence and how long they have to live. They also are worried about how they will be perceived by their firefighter colleagues, friends and family; whether they can resume work; how well they will cope with the cancer and the coming treatments; and how to pay their medical bills. n Be supportive, offer your presence. n Be a good listener. n Be genuinely concerned. n O ffer to assist with identifying their rights for treatment and how to navigate the process. n I f you have the knowledge, share it. n I f you know where to get the answers, go get them. n E ncourage them to maintain copies of all reports and scans. n E ncourage others to not stop communications but to send cards and letters since email just does not have the same emotional impact. n Refer them to the Firefighter Cancer Support Network for someone to talk to who has had a similar diagnosis, www.firefightercancersupport.org/.
About the Firefighter Cancer Support Network
The FCSN is a 501(c)3 charitable foundation organized to provide timely assistance and one-onone support to fire/EM S service members and their families after a cancer diagnosis and to educate the fire/EM S service about cancer awareness, prevention, early detection and treatment options.
The FCSN was founded in 2005 by Los Angeles County Fire Department FF/PM Mike Dubron (survivor of stage IV colon cancer).
FCSN is governed by an elected ten-member board of directors from across the nation. For more information or to contact the FCSN, visit www.fire fightercancersupport.org.
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Home / Events / Events / New STAFF Campus-Wide Welcome Orientation
New STAFF Campus-Wide Welcome Orientation
Series: Professional Development for Staff
Jointly presented by the Department of Human Resources and the Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology (CTLT), this event is designed to help new staff members to:
Understand UBC’s vision, organizational structure and current initiatives;
Hear first-hand from colleagues about how to have a successful transition and first year;
Navigate effectively through UBC’s resources and services;
Meet colleagues from across the university; and
Experience UBC’s unique culture, diversity, architecture, and physical setting.
The day’s events include an optional guided tour at the Museum of Anthropology before the main event, a traditional musqueam welcome from Larry Grant, Musqueam Elder in Residence at the First Nations House of Learning, Angela Redish, Provost and Vice President Academic Pro term, Eric Eich, Vice-Provost and Associate Vice-President, Academic Affairs and Lisa Castle, Vice President Human Resources; an open house showcasing available resources and services; and presentations from colleagues.
4:30pm – 5:30pm – Wine and Cheese Networking Reception
Please note, this is for NEW STAFF only. New faculty members, please register here.
We are also offering a guided tour of the Museum of Anthropology. Please register here.
For a complete list of New Staff/Faculty Orientation events, please click here.
If you are unable to register for this event, sign up for the waitlist here.
Venue: Robert H. Lee Alumni Centre, Jack Poole Hall
Venue Website: http://alumnicentre.ubc.ca/
6163 University Boulevard, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z1
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Movies Chevron Right
Suicide Squad 2 taps Legend of Tarzan writer to pen screenplay
No filmmakers are currently attached to direct the sequel, which is a priority for the studio
By Nicole Sperling
March 15, 2017 at 03:40 PM EDT
Clay Enos
The Legend of Tarzan screenwriter Adam Cozad is negotiating to write the screenplay for Warner Bros. and D.C. Entertainment’s Suicide Squad sequel, EW has confirmed.
No filmmakers are currently attached to direct the sequel, which is a priority for the studio, but Mel Gibson did take a meeting on the project.
David Ayer wrote and directed the original, which grossed some $745 million worldwide, but was met with mixed critical reactions. He is not returning to direct the sequel, but is working on another D.C. project focused on the female villains from the comic book canon, including Suicide Squad’s Margot Robbie.
RELATED: Suicide Squad: Meet the Roster of Rogues
Prior to writing Tarzan, which grossed $356 million worldwide Cozad scripted 2014’s Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit. He also did the latest revision on the new film Underwater from writer Brian Duffield that Kristen Stewart recently signed on for.
The Hollywood Reporter first reported news.
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Extension Rangeland Facebook
Utah's Rangelands
Intro to Rangelands
Intro to Rangelands Home
Glossary - Range Terms
Federal Acronyms
Plants GIS Mapping
Grazing Management
Livestock - Wildlife
Drought and Climate
Controversy on the Range
Public Land Grazing
Are we losing Aspen
Fire and Aspen
Aspen Forage
Aspen's Value
Aspen Management Options
Utah Projects
Links - Utah Projects
By Paul Rogers, Utah State University
Quaking aspen are widely revered by range and wildlife managers alike for their diverse and nourishing array of understory plants. Young aspen sprouts are particularly favored by deer, elk, cattle, and sheep for their highly nutritious leaves and twigs. During the late summer and early autumn aspen may be the only green, nutritious, component of forests available as forage. Fortunately, aspen leaves contain defense compounds (phenolic glycosides and condensed tannins) that may deter herbivores, at least partly, from devouring young suckers. However, with high animal concentrations—often a mix of wild and domestic herbivores on the same landscape—defense mechanisms may not sufficiently deter browsing on regenerating aspen suckers. If these consumption patterns persist over many years aspen forests begin to lose their age and structural complexity. This situation seems particularly serious is stable (nearly pure) aspen forests where uncommon large disturbances offer little hope of broad forest rejuvenation.
Ongoing monitoring activities are attempting to document where livestock and wildlife browsing is threatening future aspen trees. In some cases, there is clear evidence of aspen collapse related to intensive browsing. The presence of large carnivores, such as wolves, grizzly bears, and cougars, may deter aspen browsing by keeping livestock and wildlife on the move. Domestic livestock may be more easily herded to prevent over browsing aspen. Range and wildlife managers are now working collaboratively to curtail aspen recruitment failure while continuing to sustainably utilize forage resources. Cooperative research and monitoring, as well as prudent use of fire, tree harvest, and post-treatment protection, will be required to overcome the widespread lack of aspen recruitment.
Beck, J. L., J. T. Flinders, D. R. Nelson, C. L. Clyde, H. D. Smith, and P. J. Hardin. 1996. Elk and domestic sheep interactions in a north-central Utah aspen ecosystem. Research-Paper -Intermountain-Research-Station,-USDA-Forest-Service:1-114.
Bork, E. W., C. N. Carlyle, J. F. Cahill, R. E. Haddow, and R. J. Hudson. 2013. Disentangling herbivore impacts on Populus tremuloides: a comparison of native ungulates and cattle in Canada’s Aspen Parkland. Oecologia 173:895-904.
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