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Home » Power » News
JDR Cables signs MOU with Taiwanese electric wire and cable manufacturer
PowerTransmission and DistributionPower Cable
By Surya Rao Akella 11 Jul 2019
JDR Cables, part of the TFKable Group, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Taya Group, an electric wire and land cable manufacturer in Taiwan.
Image: JDR Cables signs MOU with Taya Group. Photo: Courtesy of JDR Cable Systems Ltd.
Under the agreement, the two companies will collaborate on localisation opportunities on future renewable energy projects in the area, with a specific focus on building a stronger Taiwanese offshore wind supply chain.
In partnership with Taya Group, JDR aims to transfer key technical expertise and utilise Taya Group’s products and services in future project work. As a result of the signing, both companies will discuss areas where localisation can take place and where they can best support each other.
Gary Howland, Sales Manager at JDR, commented, “We are thrilled to sign the MOU with Taya Group today, and to be involved in one of the most exciting and ambitious emerging markets for renewable energy. Taiwan’s offshore wind industry has a bright future and we are extremely proud to be a part of it. Currently we are the leading subsea cable supplier in Taiwan, and we’re looking forward to collaborating with Taya Group.”
The ceremony was held today at Taya Group’s headquarters in Tainan and the MOU will serve to establish and implement joint efforts to develop the offshore wind supply chain in Taiwan.
Prysmian Group supports Terna in developing Italy’s power transmission grid
Prysmian Group to develop a new submarine cable link for Red Eléctrica De España
EIB offers $543m loan to Terna to improve electricity grid in Italy
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Home Newsroom Learn your NCUSIF distribution with NAFCU's calculator
Learn your NCUSIF distribution with NAFCU's calculator
Credit unions can learn the amount of the distribution they will receive from the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSIF) this year with NAFCU's updated SIF calculator (member only). The calculator reflects the latest figures shared during Thursday's open NCUA board meeting.
Based on the NCUA's final NCUSIF audit, the equity ratio on insured shares stands at 1.46 percent – higher than the current normal operating level (NOL) of 1.39 percent. From this ratio, the NCUA has revised its distribution to credit unions this year to be $735.7 million.
The board Thursday also announced that credit unions can expect their distributions in the third quarter of this year.
This distribution is the result of the NCUA Board vote last September to merge the Temporary Corporate Credit Union Stabilization Fund (TCCUSF) with the NCUSIF. At the same time, NCUA also elected to raise the NOL of the NCUSIF to 1.39 percent.
Based on NCUA's figures, the increase in the NOL will result in the additional retention of approximately $980 million in the NCUSIF. These funds would have been added to the distribution to credit unions if NCUA had not increased the NOL.
NAFCU was the only trade association fighting to keep the NOL at 1.3 percent so credit unions could realize the fullest distribution possible; the association continues to urge the NCUA to return the NOL to that level as soon as possible.
"The money credit unions will have returned to them belongs to their members and is critical to the products and services they offer. That is why NAFCU has consistently pushed for the NCUA to give all of the funds back to credit unions as soon as possible," said NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger. "While we are grateful credit unions will get some money back soon, NAFCU will continue to aggressively fight for credit unions to get all their money back, not just the small portion they're due to receive."
Also during Thursday's meeting:
The board approved a final rule amending the agency's regulations governing share insurance to add a temporary provision that will govern pay-outs for the 2018 NCUSIF distribution.
NCUA staff presented the NCUSIF report for the fourth quarter of 2017. Insured shares grew 5.7 percent in 2017. The fund anticipates invoicing $110 million for the 1 percent capital deposit adjustment in March.
The NCUA also announced Thursday that its four permanent funds – NCUSIF, Operating Fund, Central Liquidity Facility and Community Development Revolving Loan Fund – have all earned "clean" audit opinions for 2017, according to statements released by the agency's Office of the Inspector General.
NCUA Supervisory Priorities for 2018
Compliance Monitor - February 2018
NCUA Regulations for State-Chartered Credit Unions
2017 Year-End Review – Federal Regulatory Compliance Highlights
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G20 worried by 'modest' global growth
By David Lawder and Jason Lange
Financial leaders from the Group of 20 nations say they are heartened by a recent recovery in financial markets, but warn that global growth is "modest and uneven" and threatened by weakness in commodities-based economies.
In a communique issued after their meeting in Washington, G20 finance ministers and central bank governors repeated their pledge to refrain from competitive currency devaluations, but offered no new initiatives to keep growth from stalling.
The G20 officials took a slightly more positive view on financial markets, which they said had mostly recovered from sharp selloffs earlier this year and were in better shape since they last met in Shanghai in February.
"However, growth remains modest and uneven, and downside risks and uncertainties to the global outlook persist against the backdrop of continued financial volatility, challenges faced by commodity exporters and low inflation," they said.
The communique also pointed to Britain's possible exit from the European Union, geopolitical conflicts, terrorism and refugee flows as complications for the global economic landscape.
The statement repeated G20 pledges to "use fiscal policy flexibly" to strengthen growth, job creation and confidence. It kept language that member countries "will continue to explore policy options," adding that they would be "tailored to country circumstances".
"There's not a one-size-fits-all answer" to boost growth, US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew told a news conference, adding that each country needed to decide for itself how best to apply structural reforms, monetary policy and fiscal spending.
But he emphasised that it was important for Japan and China to pursue structural reforms - China to reduce excess industrial capacity and Japan to reform agriculture and other key sectors.
Both of those would require some social spending to support displaced workers, Lew added.
The G20 gathering, the highlight of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank spring meetings in Washington, came amid growing pressure on richer nations to boost infrastructure spending, deregulate industries and spur employment.
This week the IMF cut its 2016 growth forecast for the world economy, the fourth such move in less than a year.
The meetings this week also coincided with weakness in several key commodity-based economies, particularly Brazil, which is enduring its worst recession in decades.
After release of the so-called Panama Papers this month stirred up controversy over global elites' widespread use of offshore tax havens to shield their wealth, the G20 officials strengthened their pledge to implement measures to combat exploitation of tax law mismatches and improve tax information sharing.
They said "defensive measures will be considered by G20 members against nonco-operative jurisdictions" if progress towards these goals was not made.
CURRENCY UNEASE
Despite the repeat of currency pledges, differences over exchange rates, particularly a weaker dollar, and negative interest rates at some central banks were readily apparent at the Washington meetings.
Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso said the G20 agreements on currencies did not preclude appropriate action in the currency market to prevent excessive and disorderly exchange rate movements. The yen this week hit a 17-month high against the dollar.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble also this week warned of the fallout from the European Central Bank's negative rate policies, saying it would hurt bank profitability and German savers.
And ECB sources told Reuters that the European Central Bank was unhappy with the US dollar's recent fall but accepted it as a natural consequence of the Federal Reserve's cautious economic outlook and saw no reason to act to weaken the euro.
"With the Fed's lowered rate path comes a weaker dollar and we need to avoid even the impression that we're targeting the exchange rate," one of the three sources said.
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firstfederation
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All website content copyright © Newton Ferrers Church of England Primary School
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Kansas City 09/07/2017 1 Kansas City Chiefs 42 @ New England Patriots 27 6 55 1 5 2 25 3 25
New Orleans 09/17/2017 2 New England Patriots 36 @ New Orleans Saints 20 9 66 5 36 1 5 3 25
Houston 09/24/2017 3 Houston Texans 33 @ New England Patriots 36 5 69 1 10 3 54 1 5
Carolina 10/01/2017 4 Carolina Panthers 33 @ New England Patriots 30 7 55 2 20 4 20 1 15
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N.Y. Jets 10/15/2017 6 New England Patriots 24 @ New York Jets 17 6 45 3 30 2 10 1 5
Atlanta 10/22/2017 7 Atlanta Falcons 7 @ New England Patriots 23 8 65 7 55 0 0 1 10
LA Chargers 10/29/2017 8 Los Angeles Chargers 13 @ New England Patriots 21 6 80 3 35 2 35 1 10
Denver 11/12/2017 10 New England Patriots 41 @ Denver Broncos 16 1 5 0 0 1 5 0 0
Oakland 11/19/2017 11 New England Patriots 33 @ Oakland Raiders 8 2 10 0 0 1 5 1 5
Miami 11/26/2017 12 Miami Dolphins 17 @ New England Patriots 35 7 70 5 31 1 34 1 5
Buffalo 12/03/2017 13 New England Patriots 23 @ Buffalo Bills 3 9 66 7 51 1 5 1 10
Miami 12/11/2017 14 New England Patriots 20 @ Miami Dolphins 27 9 78 4 29 4 39 1 10
Pittsburgh 12/17/2017 15 New England Patriots 27 @ Pittsburgh Steelers 24 2 4 2 4 0 0 0 0
Buffalo 12/24/2017 16 Buffalo Bills 16 @ New England Patriots 37 2 10 0 0 2 10 0 0
N.Y. Jets 12/31/2017 17 New York Jets 6 @ New England Patriots 26 4 49 1 10 2 30 1 9
Tennessee 01/13/2018 19 Tennessee Titans 14 @ New England Patriots 35 4 37 0 0 1 5 3 32
Jacksonville 01/21/2018 20 Jacksonville Jaguars 20 @ New England Patriots 24 1 10 0 0 0 0 1 10
Philadelphia 02/04/2018 21 Philadelphia Eagles 41 @ New England Patriots 33 1 5 1 5 0 0 0 0
Totals 101 887 47 367 30 317 24 203
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ROMANTIC DRAMA; 2hr 3min
STARRING: Lily James, Matthew Goode, Michiel Huisman
Getting to know you: James and Huisman.
The almighty mouthful of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society was born of inventiveness on the Nazi-occupied English Channel island of Guernsey one boozy night in 1941. Five years later and picture-pretty London author Juliet Ashton (Cinderella’s James) is charmed from her cosy Lavender Lane digs, her dashing American fiancé (Glen Powell) and her solicitous publisher (Goode) by a chance correspondence with Guernsey local Dawsey Adams (Huisman), in which he explains how the society came to be.
Off Juliet pops (this being the embraceable brand of period piece in which pop one most definitely does) to Guernsey for a Friday-night society meeting. The plan is to stay the weekend—which anyone and their blind dog can see is never going to happen for reasons we’ll get to—and to write an article about the society for The Times. But plans can be contentious and when this one doesn’t fly with protective society stalwart Amelia (Penelope Wilton; her mixed-bag fellow members are Huisman, Katherine Parkinson, Tom Courtenay and Kit Connor), Juliet feels compelled to shine a light on the past.
As for those other reasons why the lady is so smitten: Guernsey is a postcard paradise with a craggy, windswept edge, the Peelers are soulmates anyone would covet and Dawsey has to be the most handsome pig farmer on the planet, plus there’s an abundant supply of homemade gin. Meanwhile, director Mike Newell, whose résumé includes Four Weddings and a Funeral and Donnie Brasco, keeps a pro’s grip on the shifting moods. There’s rarely any doubt how its bumps will level out, but in its picturesque and distinctly British fashion, Juliet’s unexpected journey spans a sweep of emotional ground.
tagPlaceholderTags: 2018, Romantic drama, Mike Newell
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Beat up Anita Sarkeesian
43,196 Views | 69 Replies
« Return to General | All Forums
SpiffyMasta
Member since: Mar. 21, 2002
Browse All Posts (3,186)
Member Level 31 Melancholy
Beat up Anita Sarkeesian 2012-07-06 17:44:49
In case of you didn't notice this http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/598591 was deleted not too long ago, not too long in fact after some articles started to appear about it everywhere.
Now what makes this any worst than say, OH I DON"T KNOW ALL OF THESE??
Some people seriously need to learn to take a joke. If your in the public limelight, you will get punched on, made fun of and ridiculed. And the more you pay attention to it, the more it will happen.
SO GOOD JOB NEWS MEDIA/WANNABE BLOGGERS for feeding the troll!
Wi/Ht #49 / EGB / Don't Click This! / Military Crew
Member since: Jun. 30, 2008
Browse All Posts (16,805)
Supporter Level 13 Blank Slate
Response to Beat up Anita Sarkeesian 2012-07-06 17:48:33
At 7/6/12 05:44 PM, SpiffyMasta wrote: about
"While many of the comments condemn the game, terrifying others give the project full marks."
Lol, it doesn't take a lot to scare the boring white people in this country.
~Entice's Official NG General BBS Index | Video Games BBS Index~
At 7/6/12 05:48 PM, GuerrilleroHeroico wrote: Lol, it doesn't take a lot to scare the boring white people in this country.
Since when has the media not been in the business of sensationalism and scaring the masses?
Member since: Nov. 4, 2010
I thought it was pretty original and fun, I gave it a 3.
They're just jokes, they don't actually harm the person.
I HДVЗИ'T ЭДTЗЙ SLICЭD ЬЯЗДD SIИCЭ I ШДS TЩЗLVЭ
BumFodder
Member since: Jan. 14, 2006
They must be a complete idiot for feeding the trolls
comment pls . ng plug.dj
SEVKITTY FORUM PLS JOIN D
homor
Member since: Nov. 11, 2005
Member Level 15 Gamer
Why did this game get deleted, but The Torture Game got added to the front page after it was on major news channels?
What makes "Beat Up Anita Jewerstein" more offensive than "Fuck a Guy's Shit Up 2: Electric Boogaloo"?
"Guns don't kill people, the government does."
- Dale Gribble
Please do not contact Homor to get your message added to this sig, there is no more room.
Rallard
Member Level 03 Blank Slate
At 7/6/12 08:14 PM, homor wrote: Why did this game get deleted, but The Torture Game got added to the front page after it was on major news channels?
Because negative publicity given by dipshit bloggers who think that any negative criticism against this chick = misogyny and sexism. Everyone knows that misogyny and sexism is way worse than murder in our society.
GoryBlizzard
From what I can gather, this game doesn't really look any different than a lot of the older, similar games from back in the day and the public reactions have been pretty much what I would expect. However, I would think that only Tom would know the specifics regarding this game's deletion, so I won't bother making any more assumptions.
Former iron fist mod of the NG Featureless Chat from May 23, 2012 to May 4, 2014.
NYC Meet 2010 | NYC Meet 2011 | NYC Meet 2013
Member since: Dec. 17, 1999
Browse All Posts (1)
newgrounds trying way too hard to look "professional" by deleting this
Aliensandwich
Member since: Oct. 21, 2006
Member Level 21 Artist
I really want to play this game.
Member since: Oct. 5, 2004
beating up overrated musicians, celebrities, politicians, etc is one thing, but what was this person's crime? being a woman? just because someone is 'in the limelight' doesn't excuse acting like literal human shit. you can say "omg lol it's teh internet, who cares", but there is a reason people act like this and it's a real problem. (im referencing moreso the death threats, wiki edits, etc than the flash game which no one is actually blaming for anything). what is this, saudi arabia?
how dare this person try to document the culture of racism and sexism on the internet where it actually exists. grow up folks
you talk a good one but u dont do what your supposed to do
TheBustinJeebers
Member since: Jul. 6, 2012
Browse All Posts (81)
Damnit, why doesn't Newgrounds ever get good press?
kittehg0d
Member since: Jul. 31, 2010
Member Level 14 Audiophile
What you haven't heard? If you don't agree with Anita Sarkeesian, you are a misogynist
At 7/6/12 08:47 PM, Rallard wrote: Because negative publicity given by dipshit bloggers who think that any negative criticism against this chick = misogyny and sexism. Everyone knows that misogyny and sexism is way worse than murder in our society.
But there's the fucking problem! Newgrounds games have gotten tons of bad publicity before. Just look at this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newgrounds#In_the_media
We've had games and movies making fun of the Oklahoman City bombings, various school shootings, terrorist attacks, games where you kill and maim famous celebrities, an entire game of a man getting tortured, a game about a kid who nearly burned down a school (who we stopped) and apparently the Newgrounds creators are willing to stand by all that, but some annoying, preachy, feminist chick gets her pretty little face tarnished, and suddenly Tommy and the gang are rolling over backwards to make sure she isn't offended?
This is bullshit. COMPLETE bullshit. What the hell makes this woman's stupid feelings more important than the feelings of school shooting victims, or the feelings of famous people?
We've gotta do something about this shit. We need to have a "Kill Anita McJewname" day, where all we do is make games about killing Anita.
Install-a-Friend
Member since: Sep. 9, 2008
Because its subject matter is a person - a somewhat famous person even. The Torture Game 2 only shows a generic drawing of a person that you can, "kill," with weapons.
Member since: Sep. 22, 2007
Holy shit, look at the huge amount of attention it got.
God damned beat up games.
At 7/7/12 11:29 AM, w33zl wrote: Because its subject matter is a person - a somewhat famous person even.
Just like the entire Assassin series?
At 7/7/12 10:36 AM, homor wrote:
You've summed up my feelings pretty well good Sir.
At 7/7/12 11:29 AM, w33zl wrote: Because its subject matter is a person - a somewhat famous person even. The Torture Game 2 only shows a generic drawing of a person that you can, "kill," with weapons.
In case you didn't read my initial post, NG has tons of games which are exactly the same, where you beat up celebrities.
If anyone is looking to try the game for themselves.
Some people can't take a joke amirite?
Pretend not to care about anything, but be bothered by everything.
You may be fast on the roads but it's no use on the track.
ScaryPicnic made me do it.My letterboxd.
Member since: Aug. 22, 2008
Member Level 30 Reader
HAHAHAHAH OH FUCKING WOW
This is news worthy?
wow its like Newgrounds went back in time or something (torture game, assassin games, club a seal etc.)
lol media
At 7/6/12 09:31 PM, Sanch wrote: beating up overrated musicians, celebrities, politicians, etc is one thing, but what was this person's crime? being a woman? just because someone is 'in the limelight' doesn't excuse acting like literal human shit. you can say "omg lol it's teh internet, who cares", but there is a reason people act like this and it's a real problem. (im referencing moreso the death threats, wiki edits, etc than the flash game which no one is actually blaming for anything). what is this, saudi arabia?
a thousand times this.
i'd like to point out that the only reason she is even in the limelight is because of the shitstorm that ensued because she started a Kickstarter page for her project titled Tropes vs. Women in Video Games which is pretty much about the tropes developers resort to when portraying women in video games, like armor that doesn't actually cover anything, among other things. i had never heard of her until i heard about the attacks on her because of the project she is doing, so no, it isn't exactly the same thing as those beat up a celebrity games.
i do notice how people ITT (and elsewhere on the internet) are ignoring the part about why there's been such a shitstorm involving Anita Sarkeesian in the first place. gee, i don't know, you could educate yourselves but i guess it's easier to play the victim card and pretend that they're oppressed by "THOSE EVUL FEMINISTS!!1!" because not everyone approves of the tone of the backlash against Ms. Sarkeesian and her project.
Like these guys:
At 7/6/12 09:46 PM, kittehg0d wrote:
At 7/6/12 08:47 PM, Rallard wrote:
seriously, it's like some people do not even know the difference between criticism (or just merely disagreeing with someone even) and "harassment" which is what has been happening, like the threats of violence, death, sexual assault and rape, edits to her wikipedia page, as well as trying to get her Kickstarter project defunded and flagging her youtube video for terrorism. this reaction has been effectively sending a message of "you said something we disagree with, we must destroy you." but don't you dare point out that what they've done here is wrong, or else they'll cry about how you're oppressing them and cry to the internet about how "any disagreement with her is misogynist!"
yeah, you could complain about people trying to stifle free speech here (even though this is Tom's website and we don't actually have freedom of speech on a privately-owned website) but consider this quote from one of the articles the OP linked that was in response to a person who argued that feminist campaigners pointing this out was a "hilarious echo of the 19th-century notion that women need protecting from vulgar and foul speech". We were, he said, "a tiny number of peculiarly sensitive female bloggers" trying to close down freedom of speech.
What you fail to understand is that the use of hate speech, threats and bullying to terrify and intimidate people into silence or away from certain topics is a far bigger threat to free speech than any legal sanction.
Imagine this is not the internet but a public square. One woman stands on a soapbox and expresses an idea. She is instantly surrounded by an army of 5,000 angry people yelling the worst kind of abuse at her in an attempt to shut her up. Yes, there's a free speech issue there. But not the one you think.
i'm thinking this person has a point here. Anita Sarkeesan sets up a page on Kickstarter for some project that points out some things related to the depiction of women in video games, but noooo, we can't have anyone point out stuff like that! how dare anyone suggest that some of these tropes might be sexist, we must attack her!! let's send her rape threats, death threats, make up crappy advice dog spinoffs based on her, and scream about what a fucking cunt she is, or something. i mean, if you're so uncomfortable with someone pointing things like that out that you have this kind of reaction, then something is obviously wrong with you.
Oh, and the flash game that prompted this topic? that's only just one out of many negative reactions this project that Ms. Sarkeesian has caused.
i DO love how the only thing all this has done is actually prove the point she was making. Good job retards.
sqweebel
Browse All Posts (279)
Swag-in-a-Bag
Member Level 13 Writer
Whats her deal anyways? Tropes vs Women in games ? Women being misrepresented in vidyah games? Whats her angle and why does she care so much ?
Are you not Entertained ?!?
The Jews HAVE PAID MILLIONS for Tom Fulp to sell himself out like the whore he is and delete that flash submission thats right THIS IS A JEWISH PLOT.
Jews are behind everything I stand against.
Tom Fulp you use to be cool now you are consorting with JEWS to earn money in the end they will just backstab you and you will be their goyim slave for all eternity
At 7/8/12 12:56 AM, Powerage wrote: a thousand times this.
You're a braindead fucking moron and so is he. What, apparently it's OKAY to reenact the Virginia Tech Shooting and beat up Eminem, but some random internet feminist (who's incredibly stupid and never does any research) gets beat up and suddenly you're crying "WHAT WAS HER CRIME?! WHAT WAS HER CRIIIIIIME?!"
What the fuck was Eminem's crime? Making shitty music? What was Kevin Federline's crime? Wearing terrible shirts? Nobody who gets a game about them committed a fucking "crime." They don't have to, it's just a fucking flash game. "But this is a real thing for her! She received DEATH THREATS!" Yeah, EVERY SINGLE PERSON WHO'S FAMOUS has received death threats. Don't believe me? Look it up.
Why is it that you don't care when random celebrities, most of whom are genuinely nice people who never did anything, get set on fire, shot and pissed on, but when this random internet blogger gets punched in some stupid flash game, you act like this is a horrible crime that proves humanity is bad. Why? Why do you find this stupid women's stupid feelings to be so much more important the feelings of 9/11 victims and people who lived through school shootings?
Because she's your fucking damsel in distress. You're guilty you were born a man, for whatever fucking reason, and you feel the need to protect and coddle this raging feminist girl so you can "make up" for your "original sin" of being born a man. You want to save a feminist from "those evil, sexist gamers!!" so you can justify your guilt filled existence while confirming that you've helped feminism in some way.
It's not like you're the only one, there's hundreds like you, that's why her stupid "Tropes Vs. Women" project got sixty thousand dollars when she only asked for six thousand (which is still a stupidly outrageous price just so she canplay fucking video games.) It's called "White Knight Syndrome." Men want to protect and coddle women because subconsciously, they believe being born female is a handicap. So if they see a woman get made fun of for doing something retarded, a man's first instinct isn't "meh, it's the internet, everybody gets shit." It's "OH NO! I'LL SAVE YOU MILADY!"
It's why her project has 90% male backers, it's why most of the videos that come out in support of this idiot are from men, it's why most of these articles defending her are written by men, it's why the vast majority of her fans are men. You people take it upon yourself to "protect" this woman, even though she's not even the slightest bit intelligent, does zero research, and quickly censors any and all criticism.
There is nothing special or even good about this woman, but you defend her anyway simply because she was born with a vagina between her legs, and it's revolting.
i'd like to point out that the only reason she is even in the limelight is because of the shitstorm that ensued because she started a Kickstarter page ... i had never heard of her until i heard about the attacks on her because of the project she is doing, so no, it isn't exactly the same thing as those beat up a celebrity games.
Except yeah, it's exactly like the regular beat up celebrity games. Just because so one was motivated to make it because she ripped off thousands of dollars from gullible, stupid white knights doesn't make it any different or more offensive than your average assassin game. In fact, it makes it a little bit better, because "she's a con artist and a fraud with nothing intellectual or insightful to say" is atleast a better motivation than "i don't like the music he makes."
i do notice how people ITT (and elsewhere on the internet) are ignoring the part about why there's been such a shitstorm involving Anita Sarkeesian in the first place.
I can't speak for everyone in the thread, but i can tell you right now most people know exactly why there's been such a "shitstorm" about Anita's stupid fucking videos. But that's not even the point. The point is, we've had games why you blow up the twin towers, games where you reenact school shootings, games where you blow people up, games where you torture people, games where you set people on fire, games where you eradicate the entire human race, and games where you beat the shit out of the president, yet the entire world absolutely has to stop for this woman.
It's speaks perfectly to her supporters. You're all neurotic, stupid people who worship this, let's face the facts her, fucking idiotic woman, and feel the need to be her knight in shining armor from all forms of criticism.
but i guess it's easier to play the victim card --
Hold on, hold it right there, shut your stupid fucking retard mouth for five seconds. Do you hear that? Do you? It's the sound of you being a FUCKING HYPOCRITE. There's all sorts of offensive games on here, but Anita gets made fun of and you go running around screaming "THOSE DAMN SEXIST GAMERS! THEY'RE OPPRESSING HER JUST BECAUSE SHE'S FIGHTING FOR EQUALITY! HARASSMENT!!"
Not to mention the fact the people you've pointed out as "playing the victim card" weren't even doing that, they were just point out the fucking truth. Anita DOES try to silence criticism by playing the "misogynist!" card. She really does try to paint anyone who speaks out against her as sexist. That's why disables comments and ratings on her videos, that's why she raves around men comments and shouts "this what the people who oppose me are like!!
I'll continue this in another post, because i'm running out of room.
seriously, it's like some people do not even know the difference between criticism (or just merely disagreeing with someone even) and "harassment"
I simply adore how in the same breath you accuse all of Anita's detractors of "playing the victim card" you then claim that what's been done to Anita isn't just criticism, it's harassment. Except no, it's not fucking harassment, no more so than "Beat Up Kevin Federline" is harassment, or even Jay Leno making a joke about Snooki's hair is harassment.
When you put yourself into the public light, people are going to make fun of you, make you like stupid, call you stupid, crack jokes at your failures, and yes, little Mr. Powerage, they'll make flash games where you get beat up, set on fire, shot with potion, forced to sit through one of Anita's videos, and pissed on.
Harassment is calling someone's house in the middle of the night to spew profanity at them, or setting their lawn on fire, or sending a flaming bag of feces through their window. It's not taking a potshot at them on the fucking internet.
which is what has been happening, like the threats of violence, death, sexual assault and rape, edits to her wikipedia page, as well as trying to get her Kickstarter project defunded and flagging her youtube video for terrorism.
Yeah, people do this to celebrities all the time. Every single celebrity gets death threats, it's nothing new. There are crazy people out there who will try to victimize easy targets, there are people who threaten to burn down O'Reilly's house, people who threaten to shove knifes into Ann Coulter's jaw, etc. It's absolutely nothing new, and it's not unique to this one woman.
That does not mean:
1. All criticism of Anita Sarkeesian is coming from those types of people.
2. The majority of Anita's dectractors are these types of people.
3. Anita is completely undeserving of any form of criticism.
4. Anyone who dares to criticism Anita is sexist.
5. This game is anymore offensive or shocking than any other "beat up famous person X" game.
All of which are things who've either claimed or implied.
this reaction has been effectively sending a message of "you said something we disagree with, we must destroy you." but don't you dare point out that what they've done here is wrong, or else they'll cry about how you're oppressing them and cry to the internet about how "any disagreement with her is misogynist!"
There have been tons of people who've pointed out what she said was wrong, even in this flash game the author claimed one of his prime motivations for making it was that Anita never did any research on her videos and clearly didn't need $60,000 to make a series of videos any talented person could make for free.
You've simply chose to actively ignore any and focus directly on the less intelligent comments so you can shout "Look at all these sexist people! They're so evil!" so you can come off as the wise knight in shining armor and Anita can come off as a poor innocent victim with a 500 IQ.
You keeping claiming her detractors are "playing the victim card" and yet you do the exact same thing, and you don't even realize the irony in any of it.
Imagine this is not the internet but a public square. One woman stands on a soapbox and expresses an idea. She is instantly surrounded by an army of 5,000 angry people yelling the worst kind of abuse at her in an attempt to shut her up.
The people who disagree with Anita aren't trying to "shut her up." We're pointing out how stupid the bullshit she spouts is. You're just trying to focus on the many bad comments (which are honestly no worse than someone like Justin Bieber receives every day) and trying to paint all Anita detractors as those same people.
Nobody's trying to "silence" her. Even the meaner, nastier comments aren't trying to silence her, they're just being mean and nasty. She has a right to say whatever she wants, however stupid, illogical, moronic, poorly researched, poorly thought out, mindless, brainwashed, idiotic, ridiculous, or simply untrue they may be. Even most of the nastiest comments aren't trying to shut her up, they're simply calling her a fucking cunt.
But now, let's put the shoe on the other foot, how does Anita respond to criticism? She actually DOES silence it. She turns off comments completely, she blocks any blocks comments that disagree with her (even the intelligent, well thought out ones) and she shuts off ratings. The only time she does allow negative comments is to screencap the meaner ones so she can pass off all her detractors as sexist.
This isn't like a woman preaching in Timse Square and 4000 men trying to shut her up. This like a going to Times Square, spouting a bunch of completely idiotic bile about how windows are sexist because they were made by men or something, about a dozen men all deconstructing her argument and utterly destroying it, then one guy yells "CUNT!" and suddenly the woman points and shouts "THIS CROWD IS SEXIST! THEY'RE ABUSING ME AND TRYING TO SILENCE ME! POLICE! POLICE!"
You're taking the shitty actions of a slim minority and making it look like all of her detractors think this, and it's bullshit. This really isn't an issue of freedom of speech in any way, for the most everybody's been pretty good at using that amendment to it's fullest. The only real issue with freedom of speech here is the fact that the game was removed, and now that people are pointing out how stupid that is, you're trying to paint them as evil sexist men who are just pretending to be victims and now you're trying to claim you're the one being silenced, in contrast to the fact that all of Anita's videos are still up, most without comments, and this game is going.
I could go on, i could go on all day in fact, but it's not worth, i know I'll never get through to you, you're too stupid, too stubborn, and this post has gone on too long anyway, so i'm done.
With all that in mind, i leave you with this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igXz_hXKUcE
I guess feminism is just such a sensitive subject at the moment that any event relating to it sparks controversy.
uglyslug
i'm not taking a moral stance but NG submission rules have always forbid excessively hateful material
akmeteor
Who the fuck is Anita Sarkeesian?
I'm sad I do not know this...
At 7/8/12 09:54 AM, InnerChild548 wrote: i'm not taking a moral stance but NG submission rules have always forbid excessively hateful material
How exactly was this flash "hateful" ? Are you claiming that it's more hateful than this?
K-FED: Dancing with Fire
by TomFulp
Stop K-Fed in his tracks before he can bring more harm to this world!
You beat a man up, kill a baby, cause a woman to die from shock, knock the guy's head off and piss all over the remains of the people you just killed, all because you didn't like some guy's music.
Is that anymore "hateful" than beating up some random internet chick?
« Return to General Forum
Dying In Dungeon
A small top down dungeon crawler/roguelite. For Weekly Game Jam 130
2D puzzle action game where saving coin is important!
Jidan Havoc
A combo-based platformer with a completionist streak
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Published on NewsBusters (https://www.newsbusters.org)
Home > WashPost's Erik Wemple Panics Over USA Today Un-Endorsement of Trump
WashPost's Erik Wemple Panics Over USA Today Un-Endorsement of Trump
By P.J. Gladnick | September 30, 2016 10:30 PM EDT
USA Today has never taken sides in a presidential race until they un-endorsed Donald Trump by recommending that people not vote for him. You would think this would make anti-Trump Erik Wemple of the Washington Post very happy. Instead Wemple is now in a panic mode.
It wasn't enough for him that the USA Today editorial board recommended that people do not vote for Trump. What has Wemple really riled up is that they did not flat out endorse Hillary Clinton. Instead they recommended that people vote for anyone but Trump, including besides Hillary, Gary Johnson, Jill Stein, write-in candidates, or even no one at the top of the ticket. To Wemple all this does is dilute the anti-Trump vote as you can see in his panic attack:
Donald Trump, as USA Today capably explains, is a threat to the United States on a number of fronts — eight, by the count of USA Today. He’s “erratic,” unprepared to be commander in chief, “traffics in prejudice” (which is an understatement), has a “checkered” business career, fails to “level” with the public, “speaks recklessly,” has “coarsened” politics and is a “serial liar.” The sheer awfulness of Trump, too, inspires some nice editorial writing from the USA Today folks.
So shouldn't Erik Wemple be happy? Quite the contrary as he makes clear:
All good, until the end, where USA Today caps off its well-reasoned editorializing with a belly-flop. You see, the USA Today editorial board failed to reach a consensus in favor of Clinton, who turns out to be not a perfect candidate.
...Then comes this woeful paragraph:
Which set off alarm bells inside Wemple's head:
Where does that leave us? Our bottom-line advice for voters is this: Stay true to your convictions. That might mean a vote for Clinton, the most plausible alternative to keep Trump out of the White House. Or it might mean a third-party candidate. Or a write-in. Or a focus on down-ballot candidates who will serve the nation honestly, try to heal its divisions, and work to solve its problems.
Over here, Thought Police. We need muscle!
Did USA Today just issue a back-door quasi-endorsement of, like, Gary Johnson? The Libertarian Party candidate who didn’t know what Aleppo was? And did it just issue a back-door quasi-endorsement of Jill Stein?
Eeek! Voters might veer away from the crony capitalist Democrat game plan! How dare they!
And this business about a possible “write-in” vote? Why doesn’t USA Today just advise its readers to take up knitting?
Or rubbing worry beads like Erik Wemple?
2016 Presidential Washington Post USA Today Erik Wemple
P.J. Gladnick
P.J. Gladnick is a freelance writer and creator of the DUmmie FUnnies blog.
Source URL: https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/pj-gladnick/2016/09/30/erik-wemple-panics-over-usa-today-un-endorsement-trump
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GSK tops new ethical ranking for investors
By Debora MacKenzie
A new rating of 20 of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies by how ethically they treat the poor has given Britain’s GlaxoSmithKline top marks, followed by Denmark’s Novo Nordisk and Merck of the US.
The four bottom-rated firms include three top US multinationals: Wyeth, Schering-Plough and (in 17th place) the world’s biggest research-based drug company, Pfizer.
The rating was released today by the Access to Medicines Foundation (ATM) of Haarlem in the Netherlands.
Their remit is to develop a standardised assessment for whether pharmaceutical firms give people in the developing world access to their products. The assessment was performed by the Dutch corporate social and environmental-assesment firm Innovest.
Ethical appeal
Some two billion people around the globe cannot get the medications they need because they are too poor, or drugs for their diseases are not in production. Big pharmaceutical companies are often criticised for this – but they cannot fix the problem unless it is profitable.
The solution, says Wim Leereveld, chair of ATM, is to make such work profitable by allowing investors to assess all of a company’s activities, including giving the poor access to their products.
“Investors see ethical behaviour as a sign of good long-term management,” Leereveld told New Scientist. “Also, such companies are seen as being present in developing countries, where the future of the industry lies.”
Twelve investment institutions with total assets of $1.2 trillion have welcomed the assessment.
The index rated the 18 biggest companies that sell drugs needed by developing countries, plus the two biggest Indian manufacturers of cut-rate generic drugs – which ranked only 14th and 16th, although their products, especially AIDS drugs, are vital for the poor.
Companies were rated on whether they:
Take access issues seriously
Grant licences to patented medicines
Help poor countries develop their own manufacturing capability
Price drugs more cheaply in poor countries
Donate drugs and other aid to developing countries
The assessment is based largely on what companies say about themselves. Points are awarded according to whether or not companies undertook certain positive actions, but perhaps because of the source of the information, there is little accounting for less positive activities.
For example, 12th-rated Abbott of the US is praised for its aid to Tanzania, with no mention that it withdrew seven drugs from Thailand after the country licensed a generic version of an Abbott drug.
Switzerland’s Novartis ranked 4th, despite a legal battle in India last year to extend a patent on a cancer drug (it lost, by the way).
Positive step
The idea is to emphasise the positive, says Martijn van Rijnsoever of ATM.
“We want to map areas that are open for improvement and offer information on best practices to guide the way.”
Rohit Malpani of the development charity Oxfam, who helped write Oxfam’s assessment of the problem, agrees, but says the rating system should be fleshed out with examples of where industry has failed. “But industry doesn’t divulge enough information to make these assessments fully accurate,” he adds.
Malpani hopes that by providing a forum for such transparency, subsequent versions of the ATM index will push industry to release more such information.
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China International Nutrition and Health Industry Summit
Sharing is caring: Why social e-commerce is conducive for health food success in China
By Tingmin Koe contact
Social e-commerce is gaining traction amongst Chinese consumers. ©Getty Images
Related tags: social e-commerce, Health food, China, Tik Tok, wechat
E-commerce via social media channels is especially conducive to health food and supplement brands, because it plays into consumers demands for trusted recommendations from fellow users.
Zeng Ying, a senior project manager at Chinese e-commerce platform Youzan, made the point at a recent summit organised by HPA China in Shanghai.
She said that sharing content through platforms such as The Little Red Book, Tik Tok, Kuaishou, and WeChat was an important step for firms to market their products and that major players such as Wahaha and BY-HEALTH had already jumped on the bandwagon in recent months.
“The traditional retailer’s job is to recommend a product to customers but for WeChat business owners, it is to recommend the health food products amongst their circles of friends…People trust the recommendations on WeChat a lot because they are real life examples,” she said.
Case studies
Citing beverage brand Wahaha as an example, Zeng said that its membership-based social e-commerce model had been successful in attracting 170,000 members within three months after its launch in December last year.
Under this model, users can start buying Wahaha’s products and recommend it to other users after paying a membership fee of RMB$98. Recommending a product also allows a user to earn sales commission.
Likewise, BY-HEALTH also launched a mini application on WeChat, where there are limited time frame for special discounts and group buying promotions, which in turn helped to drive product sales.
The social e-commerce phenomenon is a rising star in China’s e-commerce scene. Last year, the scale of social e-commerce was RMB$967.2bn (US$140.7bn), which was an annual growth rate of 59%.
E-commerce, on the other hand, was estimated to worth RMB$10tr (US$1.45tr), growing 30% on a yoy rate.
However, it is important to note that the new Chinese e-commerce rules introduced last year require business owners to apply for a business license. Conducting business without the license is illegal.
Related topics: Markets, Financial focus, The changing retail landscape
WATCH – Why personalisation, not purely new products, is the future for nutrition in China
China direct selling: All 91 firms summoned to regulator meeting amid ‘100-day’ clampdown
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How Long LASIK Really Lasts (Permanent or Not)?
Home » LASIK Eye Surgery Guide (2020): Costs, Benefits, & More » How Long LASIK Really Lasts (Permanent or Not)?
Research conducted on people who had LASIK surgery suggests that the benefits persist even 10 years later. (Learn more) But you may still read reports of benefits fading and poor eyesight returning. There are several explanations.
Your eyes can change with age, leading to blurred close vision. (Learn more) Your prescription can change after surgery, requiring an additional level of correction. (Learn more) Poor lifestyle choices can also impact your vision over time. (Learn more)
Let's dive into the specifics of LASIK surgery and its benefits, so you can make an informed choice.
LASIK Length
Change With Age
Prescription Change
Protect Your Vision
Truth About Lasik
LASIK Length: What the Research Says
In order to determine how long LASIK benefits last, researchers measure visual acuity right after surgery, and they take additional measurements of acuity as time passes. If those values change, it seems to suggest that the benefits of surgery can also fade a bit with time.
When LASIK was new, there were many studies just like this performed all across the country. Now that LASIK is considered a standard surgical procedure, there are fewer studies performed. But modern studies do suggest that people who have surgery experience benefits that persist over time.
For example, in a study published in the Middle East African Journal of Ophthalmology, researchers followed people for 10 years after LASIK surgery. They found that 98.5 percent of patients were either satisfied or very satisfied with the results of surgery after 10 years.
Researchers in this study did not measure visual acuity, but they used a questionnaire that addressed that issue along with quality of life. People were asked about troublesome post-surgery symptoms, for example. Since so many were pleased 10 years later, this seems to suggest that the surgery's benefits do not fade with time.
This is to be expected, as LASIK is a permanent solution to an existing vision problem. During LASIK, surgeons remove tissue that keeps images from focusing on the proper part of the retina. With that tissue removed, the underlying vision issue is amended. This is a permanent solution, but there are some other issues that can cause a new vision problem to appear.
Your Eyes Change With Age
LASIK is meant to address:
Nearsightedness, in which items at a distance seem indistinct.
Farsightedness, in which close items seem indistinct.
Astigmatism, in which portions of the visual field always seem fuzzy.
Any of these issues could cause you to reach for glasses or contacts when you want visual clarity. But these are not the only issues that can blur your vision. Presbyopia happens to everyone with age, according to the National Eye Institute.
Presbyopia is caused by hardening of the lens of the eye, paired with weakened muscles that control the lens. This process can make items close up seem blurry and indistinct, and it is the reason many older people need some form of reading glasses in order to focus on things close at hand.
LASIK is not meant to address this issue, and having LASIK cannot prevent this issue from happening to you. It is a natural process, and it can be blamed for a deterioration of LASIK benefits. If you have surgery and develop crisp vision, and then that crisp vision begins to fade, you may naturally blame your LASIK surgery. In reality, age-related changes could be to blame.
Your Prescription Can Change
While LASIK can correct an issue that causes nearsightedness, farsightedness, or astigmatism, it cannot prevent future changes from happening. As the American Refractive Surgery Council points out, the underlying issue that caused your vision loss can progress. Just as you may have needed stronger glasses due to changing vision, you may also find that your vision acuity can fade after LASIK. The surgery cannot be considered a failure. Instead, your eye health issue is growing in severity.
This process can happen to people who have any type of visual acuity problem, and research published in the journal Ophthalmology suggests that people with different types of vision loss experience a similar level of benefit from LASIK surgery. Here, 95.3 percent of those who were nearsighted and 96.3 percent of those who were farsighted were happy with the results of surgery. But some types of vision loss can be a bit more persistent.
For example, researchers writing in Optometry Times suggest that some forms of farsightedness are caused by a cornea that has grown steep through additional cells. At times, people who were farsighted can have some corneal cells grow back, and that can negate the benefits of LASIK. This is rare, researchers say, but it can happen.
How to Protect Your Vision After LASIK
As mentioned, LASIK is a permanent procedure that is designed to amend an underlying issue that impacts your ability to see clearly. A LASIK procedure cannot be undone, but the benefits can be undermined by other issues that can take hold with time. You can also make a vision issue worse through poor life choices.
For example, as the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) points out, the sun's rays can damage the retina, and they can spark cancerous changes within the eye. Both of these issues can impede clear vision. Wearing sunglasses that block UV rays can help you prevent these issues from taking hold.
AAO also reports that 2.5 million eye injuries happen within the United States every year. Wearing eye protection can help to prevent those injuries, and that protection is vital after LASIK. The flap in the eye created during LASIK is vulnerable to future injury, and if it is dislodged, you may need another surgery to fix the issue. Wearing protection can help prevent that damage.
Underlying health issues, such as diabetes, kidney disease, and heart disease, can also take a toll on your eye health and your vision. Visiting your doctor regularly and addressing health issues when they appear could be another way to ensure that your vision stays clear.
Get the Truth About LASIK
If you're not certain how LASIK works and if it's right for you, speaking with a professional can help. A trained professional can examine your eyes, explain LASIK surgery, and help you understand if it is the right solution for your vision issue. To find a professional near you that can perform the examination you need, contact us.
Discover Our Centers
NVISION® Eye Centers can be found throughout California, Nevada, Oregon, and in Toronto, Canada. Each center is a little bit different—but what they have in common are talented NVISION® surgeons, caring staff, and a commitment to a gold standard for patient care.
See All Centers
Functional Outcome and Patient Satisfaction After Laser In Situ Keratomileusis for Correction of Myopia and Myopic Astigmatism. (January 2015). Middle East African Journal of Ophthalmology.
Facts About Presbyopia. (October 2010). National Eye Institute.
Ask The Doctor: How Long Does LASIK Last? (May 2016). American Refractive Surgery Council.
LASIK World Literature Review: Quality of Life and Patient Satisfaction. (April 2009). Ophthalmology.
How to Manage Vision Changes Over Time Post-LASIK. (July 2017). Optometry Times.
Top 10 Tips to Save Your Vision. (September 2015). American Academy of Ophthalmology.
LASIK Cost Guide
Recovery Timelines and Tips
Guide to LASIK for Astigmatism
Qualifications for LASIK
Will Medicare Pay?
Is LASIK (or Eye Surgery) Safe for Children?
Does VSP Cover LASIK?
Can You Watch TV?
Can It Cause Blindness?
Does it Hurt or Cause Pain?
LASIK or LASEK?
Better Than 20/20 Vision
LASIK Financing Options
Avoid Cheap Surgery
Are There Age Limits?
Alternatives and Comparisons
Post-Surgery Eye Care
LASIK During Pregnancy
Success Rates and Safety
Can You Get it Twice?
Guide to Bladeless Lasik Surgery
Contacts and Glasses After LASIK?
LASIK for Farsightedness
Does the Doctor Make a Difference?
Does LASIK Help with Reading?
Are You Awake During Lasik?
How Is Epi-LASIK Different?
When Is LASIK Enhancement Needed?
History of LASIK: Invention, Iteration & Current Status
How Is Z-LASIK Different?
What Is 20/15 Vision & How Can Someone Get It?
Is LASIK Worth it?
LASIK Myths
LASIK for Nearsightedness
Blade vs. Bladeless LASIK
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Warriors captain rubbishes Shaun Johnson rumour
5 Dec, 2018 2:00pm 2 minutes to read
NZ Rugby's secret letter: Major twist in St Kents controversy
Rugby: St Kentigern College hits back with stunning claim after being effectively kicked out of top competition
5 Dec, 2018 2:45pm
Auckland powerhouse St Kentigern College has been excluded from the 2019 Auckland 1A First XV competition for poaching
St Kentigern College has reacted to the decision to exclude them from Auckland's top First XV rugby competition - by launching a stunning counter-attack against rival schools.
The Herald revealed today St Kents have been effectively kicked out of next year's 1A First XV competition after a coalition of rival schools agreed to boycott the school because of their recruitment policy, which they deem to be morally and ethically reprehensible.
• Elite Auckland school St Kentigern College kicked out of top rugby competition as rivals promise boycott
St Kents revealed a few weeks ago that they have taken on five boys on full scholarships, all of whom played for first XVs at schools outside the Auckland area.
Although there are no rules regarding how many students can be introduced from outside of Auckland, other schools felt this was a step too far.
As a result, 10 schools in the 1A competition where St Kents play are refusing to play the school in next year's competition.
The Auckland schools have since created a document about rules and conduct they've all had to agree to regarding poaching and welfare.
St Kents refused to sign it, and therefore were informed no other school will honour their fixture against them in 2019.
St Kents players dejected. Photo / Photosport
The Herald understands St Kents have requested College Sport Auckland, the governing body of secondary schools sport, to investigate the recruitment of "several other schools" in the competition.
"A school has asked me to investigate that's all I can say on the matter," Jim Lonergan, chief executive of College Sport Auckland, told the Herald.
Poaching scandal: Elite school kicked out of rugby comp
5 Dec, 2018 11:06am
The worrying trend suffocating NZ rugby
Black Ferns Sevens v ABs at Rugby Awards
5 Dec, 2018 5:00am
SBW, and the rise and fall of the millennial All Blacks
The Herald understands Kings College were also in the firing line for boycotts but have agreed to enact changes to their rugby programme.
Last year, King's College won a partial victory in a legal fight to allow new female students to play for its elite sports teams, a saga that cost College Sport more than $100,000.
King's College objected to a rule drawn up by College Sport designed to prevent wealthy schools stacking their top sports teams with talent poached from other colleges and encourage fair competition between teams in premier sport.
King's lodged High Court proceedings against College Sport in November of 2016 after the body removed exemptions allowing King's to bypass the "New to School" rule a month earlier.
Prominent lawyer Mai Chen wrote a letter to College Sport in September 2016 suggesting the proposed removal of King's exemption may be in breach of the Bill of Rights Act.
After a series of mediation meetings, a compromise was reached, which saw girls who enrol at King's in Year 11 considered new to school for one year instead of the usual two.
Girls new to King's had been exempt to the restrictions because the school has admitted girls only in Years 12 and 13 since 1980.
But after King's decided to allow Year 11 girls to enrol last year, their exemption was scrapped by College Sport.
'Fart noises' halt major sporting event
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‘Fixer Upper’ Stars Settle With EPA on Lead Paint Violations
The EPA says it reviewed video footage from several seasons of "Fixer Upper"
By The Associated Press • Published at 7:25 pm on June 5, 2018
Roy Rochlin/FilmMagic, File
Chip and Joanna Gaines, stars of HGTV's "Fixer Upper" series, have settled with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on allegations that they used inadequate protection while removing lead paint during renovations.
Under the deal with the EPA, Magnolia Waco Properties LLC, doing business as Magnolia Homes, will ensure compliance with lead-based paint regulations in future renovations. It also promises to educate the public on lead-based paint hazards.
In a statement Tuesday, the EPA says it reviewed video footage from several seasons of "Fixer Upper." EPA says it found violations of regulations governing lead-based paint exposure.
Magnolia also has agreed to pay a $40,000 civil penalty and spend $160,000 to abate lead-based paint hazards in homes and child-occupied facilities in Waco.
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Home News & Resources News Stories
Winter is a Great Time to Plan Monarch Habitats
(Posted Mon. Dec 9th, 2019)
Keywords: conservation sustainability
Continuing to expand pollinator habitat was a central issue at the recent annual meeting of the Monarch Collaborative attended by Nicole Hasheider, NCGA Biotechnology and Crop Inputs Director. NCGA has been an active member in the collaborative for several years, which brings together a variety of national organizations representing farmers, ranchers and landowners, businesses working along the agricultural supply chain, researchers, academic institutions, federal and state entities and conservation organizations. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is scheduled to release its decision on whether or not to list the monarch as an endangered species by the end of next year so increasing habitat is more important than ever. Monarch butterflies face a wide array of challenges including a loss of habitat and lack of access to milkweed and nectar resources. Monarchs also face threats from weather and...
Growing Trust A Key Development Driving Sustainability Efforts
(Posted Fri. Nov 22nd, 2019)
Keywords: Sustainability
The word “sustainability” may be a bit over-used in agriculture, but it is way more than a buzz word as evidenced by the 2019 Sustainable Ag Summit held in Indianapolis this week. More than 650 people converged on the event hosted by Field to Market, Pork Checkoff, U.S. Poultry & Egg Association, U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy and the Stewardship Index for Specialty Crops and attended by representatives of National Corn Growers Association and the Soil Health Partnership. “We had a lot of technical discussions with groups ranging from farmers, suppliers, processors, manufacturers, retailers, academics, conservation groups and public sector representatives. But to me a big take-away was the growing comfort level between these diverse participants,” said NCGA Stewardship and Sustainability Director Rachel Orf. “We’re trying to establish agriculture as a driver of large-scale, sustainable solutions that will meet consumer’s needs, but we...
NCGA Joins America’s Conservation Ag Movement
(Posted Wed. Oct 23rd, 2019)
Keywords: Sustainability Conservation
Driving sustainable farming practices is a priority of NCGA. That’s why it joined the America’s Conservation Ag Movement, a unique partnership between Farm Journal’s Trust in Food Initiative and leading agribusinesses, food companies and non-profit organizations. A national education and engagement program, it’s designed to more rapidly scale the adoption, documentation and beneficial outcomes of conservation agriculture. It will build upon the work of NCGA, USDA, land grants and others that have worked to improve the ecological impact of agriculture.
Teeter Joins SHP as Minnesota Field Manager
(Posted Tue. Aug 27th, 2019)
Keywords: SHP Sustainability Conservation
Anna Teeter is SHP’s newest team member, joining as a Field Manager covering Minnesota. Anna most recently received her master’s degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison from the Department of Soil Science. Her thesis evaluated preserving nitrogen from fall-applied dairy manure using nitrapyrin, a nitrification inhibitor, in combination with spring wheat as a fall cover crop. “Anna is a great addition to the SHP Field Manager team. Her extensive experience working with diverse farming operations will bring a great perspective to Minnesota farmers,” commented SHP Field Team Director, Jack Cornell. Anna received her undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison double majoring in Agronomy and Life Science Communication. Throughout her undergrad, Anna worked with the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Forage Extension Specialist and gained experience working with a diverse group of farming operations. Additionally, Anna served as a Crop Scout at Tilth...
Conservation Action Tour Showcases Advances in Sustainability
(Posted Thu. Aug 22nd, 2019)
NCGA Stewardship and Sustainability Director Rachel Orf is in central Iowa this week attending the 2019 Conservation Technology Information Center Conservation in Action Tour. Attendees are examining a wide range of edge-of-field systems, in-field solutions, and management practices on the farm and at those being adopted by retailers. “The theme of the 12th annual Conservation in Action Tour, Conservation at The Leading Edge, is reflected in how farmers hosting tour stops are literally at the leading edge of conservation practices,” Orf said. “Healthy soil and clean water are incredibly valuable assets for farmers living - and making a living - from the land as well as society at large.” Yesterday the group got to see a bioreactor in the process of being constructed. In agricultural applications, bioreactors are vessels/trenches filled with woodchips that literally contain water briefly allowing bacteria to filter and clean the water from the farm field. They are...
Soil Health Partnership Celebrates 5 Years of Growth and Collaboration
(Posted Thu. Aug 1st, 2019)
Keywords: SHP Conservation Sustainability
The Soil Health Partnership (SHP) has been fostering transformation in agriculture through improved soil health since 2014. This year, SHP celebrates its fifth anniversary and the foundational collaborations that developed the program. SHP was founded by a diverse group of organizations with a shared vision of developing a farmer-led research network to measure the impacts of implementing soil health practices on working farms. The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Bayer, the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), alongside the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA), came together to see this vision through. This program was based upon work supported by the National Resources Conservation Service, U.S Department of Agriculture. “We are proud of the collaboration led to SHP’s establishment. That collaboration has continued to grow and evolve with many partners, bringing dynamic perspectives to the table. We would not be where we are today without our founding partners sharing the...
Senate Staffers Hear About the Intersection of Soil Health and Climate Change
(Posted Tue. Jul 30th, 2019)
Keywords: farm policy sustainability conservation
A standing-room-only crowd attended a briefing: “An Overview of Climate Smart Agriculture and Forestry” in Washington, D.C. today to hear experts like Executive Director of the Soil Health Partnership Dr. Shefali Mehta, highlight the agricultural practices farmers are adopting that can help mitigate climate change. The briefing was hosted by the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry and targeted a diverse group of staffers interested in learning more about how farming practices are helping make farmers more resilient in the face of a changing climate. “Practices such as reducing or eliminating tillage and growing cover crops can improve soil health, and they also hold the potential to increase carbon sequestration and storage and to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with agricultural production,” Mehta said. “In addition to their role in climate change mitigation, these practices can make agricultural land—and farm operations—more...
Annual Monarch Blitz Kicks Off July 27
(Posted Fri. Jul 26th, 2019)
Tomorrow marks the beginning of the 3rd Annual International Monarch Monitoring Blitz in Canada, Mexico and the United States. The event from July 27 to August 4, 2019, invites people across North America to go out to gardens, parks and green areas and monitor milkweed plants for monarch eggs, caterpillars, chrysalises and butterflies. The information will help researchers identify priority areas for monarch conservation. It also provides a great way to build overall awareness of the importance of the Monarch butterfly to our ecosystem and biological diversity. NCGA supports Monarch conservation initiatives because of their contribution to productive agriculture. An increase in milkweed and nectar plants appropriately placed in rural areas can benefit Monarchs without inhibiting production, and farmers are in a great position to establish Monarch habitat. You can learn a lot more from NCGA’s new publication called Best Management Practice for Pollinator Protection in...
SHP Soil Sessions: Crop Update and Scouting Tips
You still have time to sign up for a unique webinar to get a U.S. crop update and learn crop scouting techniques and strategies. The Soil Health Partnership sponsored event will be held July 30, 2019 at 11 a.m. EST / 10 a.m. CST. During the session discussion will revolve around: How to scout fields with cover crops during planting What to expect with a late harvest? Drone scouting techniques and strategies If you are unable to join live, please still register. A recording of the webinar will be shared with all registrants so you can listen any time. You can register here.
Sustainability: Making Dollars and Sense in Agricultural Sustainability Programs
(Posted Wed. Jun 26th, 2019)
Consumer interest in where and how their food is produced is on the rise, and many leading brands and retail companies have responded by setting ambitious sustainable sourcing commitments. However, plenty of challenges remain to make sure all participants, from farmer to retailer, share in the value from the evolving marketplace. Better understanding this conundrum and finding solutions and incentives throughout the value chain is a key topic of discussion at the Field to Market Meeting in Oakbrook, Ill. this week. NCGA staff, including Rachel Orf, Director of Stewardship and Sustainability, are in attendance seeking opportunities to partner with other organizations and companies on projects. Orf says many farmers are making substantive changes in their farming operations with sustainability goals in mind. But, for the progress to continue, there must be clear incentives to enhance farmers’ livelihoods such as protecting and maintaining farm productivity and better prices...
SHP Testifies in Support of Investment and Collaboration in Soil Health Practices
(Posted Tue. Jun 25th, 2019)
Keywords: Conservation Sustainability SHP
The Soil Health Partnership (SHP) Executive Director, Dr. Shefali Mehta testified today at a House Agriculture, Subcommittee on Conservation and Forestry hearing in support of investment in soil health practices. The SHP, a program of the National Corn Growers Association, is a farmer-led effort that has built a network of over 220 farmers in 15 states and over 100 partner organizations at the federal, state and county levels over the past five years. “Our partner farmers work with us over five years to measure the impacts of the practice change. We measure basic soil macro- and micronutrients every year on the field, as well as soil health indicators every other year. Through this process, we are creating an in-depth data set from which to support farmers’ decisions and to understand the long-term changes in soil health over time. We look for impacts on yield, input use, and the farmer’s profitability,” explained Dr. Mehta. “The farmers we work with are exceptional...
Virtual Reality Immerses Viewers in Monarch Butterflies’ 3000-Mile Migration
EDF and NCGA debut “The Monarch Effect,” an interactive experience about solutions that benefit farms and monarchs
Keywords: Pollinators Conservation Sustainability
The Monarch Effect, an interactive, virtual reality experience, will debut today during National Pollinator Week in Washington, DC. Created by Environmental Defense Fund and the National Corn Growers Association, The Monarch Effect immerses viewers in monarch butterflies’ incredible 3,000-mile migration through North America. The journey begins in the oyamel fir forests of central Mexico, where tens of millions of monarchs spend the winter. Viewers then join consecutive generations of monarchs as they fly north into the American heartland looking for the milkweed and wildflower habitat they need to survive. “Being surrounded by millions of monarchs during our shoot in Mexico was one of the most surreal and magical moments of my life,” said Eric Holst, associate vice president for working lands at EDF. “This technology transports people there, letting them feel that same sense of awe.” Monarch populations have plummeted 90% over the past two decades due to habitat loss,...
Mesko joins SHP as Development Director
The Soil Health Partnership is pleased to announce that John Mesko has joined as the Development Director, bringing vision and a breadth of experience to the SHP team. Mesko grew up on a diversified crop and livestock farm in Minnesota, gaining a passion for farming and tremendous respect for farmers. After graduating from Purdue University with a bachelor's degree in agronomy and a master’s degree in agricultural economics, Mesko’s diverse career in agriculture has centered around helping farmers become more financially and environmentally sustainable. He served as a sales agronomist and technical information manager for Mycogen Seeds. As a County Extension Director for Purdue University, his work centered on farm management and developing new markets for farmers. In addition to raising and selling grass-fed beef and lamb for a dozen years, John has led two sustainability-minded nonprofits: The Sustainable Farming Association and the Midwest Organic and Sustainable...
Byerly Joins SHP as Kansas & Nebraska Field Manager
Keith Byerly has joined the Soil Health Partnership as the Kansas and Nebraska Field Manager. Byerly brings a broad set of experiences and expertise to this role. “I am really impressed with Byerly’s experience of communicating his agronomic knowledge to the growers in his region across various platforms,” said SHP Field Team Director, Jack Cornell. “SHP is dedicated to continually helping farmers make more informed decisions to become more productive in their operations, and Byerly is going to help us provide Kansas and Nebraska farmers with local support.” Byerly graduated with a degree in agronomy from the University of Nebraska Lincoln in 2001 and has been a Certified Crop Advisor since 2002. Byerly spent the last eighteen years working for a cooperative that served multiple states out of Nebraska. For fifteen years, he has been a precision ag manager focusing on data services, prescriptions and hardware. Raised on the edge of the Nebraska Sandhills, Byerly holds a...
Pollinator Week Is A Great Time To Think Small
(Posted Mon. Jun 17th, 2019)
Keywords: Sustainability Conservation Pollinator
So many big things on a farm: buildings, equipment, fields, and even the scale of business decisions. So, sometimes it can be easy to forget the small things like honey bees, Monarch butterflies and other pollinators that play a critical role in the health of the environment and high yields on many crops. “That’s why we have a National Pollinator Week – Junes 17-23, 2019 - which launches today. Pollinators are an indispensable natural resource in agriculture and healthy ecosystems,” said Roger Zylstra, a Lynnville, Iowa farmer who heads the National Corn Growers Association’s Stewardship Action Team. “There is a growing awareness amongst farmers that they are on the front line in playing a critical role for their survival and NCGA is trying to help.” NCGA is working cooperatively with numerous groups like The Honey Bee Health Coalition, Farmers for Monarchs, and the Environmental Defense Fund to expand pollinator awareness through education and providing tools to assist in...
Ag Innovation and Sustainability on Display at DC Area Farm
(Posted Fri. Jun 7th, 2019)
Key staff from multiple government agencies are getting a crash course in the latest farming techniques and agricultural technology from industry experts at the Modern Ag Sustainability Field Day Demo Day outside of Washington, D.C. today. The Office of Pesticide Programs, Environmental Protection Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service, USDA Pest Policy Management and Foreign Ag Service are all represented at the event on the family farm of Chip Bowling in Newburg, Maryland. Bowling, a former NCGA president and current chairman of the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance, hosted the event along with NCGA, Agricultural Equipment Manufacturers, American Soybean Association, American Seed Trade Association, National Agricultural Aviation Association and the Fertilizer Institute. The day featured in-field demonstrations of modern conservation tillage, precision planting, spraying and harvesting equipment. The group also saw drones and the latest in seed and fertilizer...
U.S. Farmers Should Take a Bow on World Environment Day
(Posted Wed. Jun 5th, 2019)
Keywords: Sustainability Conservation SHP
Today is World Environment Day and for U.S. farmers that makes it a great time to celebrate their success in modernizing agriculture and make it more environmentally sustainable. Improved soil management like no till and use of cover crops, precision farming tactics that better utilize nutrients and pesticides, and reducing trips across fields reduces fuel use and air pollution. This list could go on, but suffice it to say, caring for the planet is vital to our survival. As caretakers of massive tracts of land farmers play a key role in improving our environment and they take this responsibility seriously. From the Soil Health Partnership, which is building new soil for future generations; to the Take Action initiative that is constantly educating farmers on the latest and best ways to use crop products like herbicides and pesticides; to our efforts to save honey bees and Monarch butterflies, NCGA is working hard to keep farming profitable and assure environmental...
Exploring the Role of Corn Sustainability in the Beef Supply Chain
(Posted Wed. Apr 3rd, 2019)
Keywords: Sustainability Livestock Animal Agr
The National Corn Growers Association participated in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef’s Feed Transparency Summit at McDonalds Headquarters in Chicago last week. Representatives from the major grain aggregators, feed yards, packers, brands and retailers, as well as non-governmental organizations (NGOs) were also present. “Continuing to be a part of these conversations is extremely important, as corn and DDGs are a primary component of rations fed to beef cattle,” said NCGA First Vice President and Iowa farmer Kevin Ross. “The meeting was the first step towards exploring opportunities to pilot a collaborative project between the grain and beef value chains to improve transparency. Consumers are asking more and more questions about where their food comes from. The summit brought together stakeholders from across the beef supply chain to discuss that.” Each group in attendance had the opportunity to expand upon the challenges and opportunities within their industry and...
NCGA Releases Pollinator Protection Guide
(Posted Tue. Apr 2nd, 2019)
The National Corn Growers Association – in partnership with the Honey Bee Health Coalition – is releasing new best management practices (BMPs) to protect bees and other pollinators in and around corn fields. At roughly 92 million acres, field corn covers more land than any other row crop in the country, and in the Midwest Corn Belt, corn often makes up to 40 percent of the landscape or more. The BMPs presented in the NCGA’s new guide identify potential effects of agricultural practices on bees at each stage of production and recommend ways to mitigate those impacts. The digital publication showcases specific strategies such as reducing dust and drift while planting a pesticide-treated seed. “While corn does not rely on honey bees for pollination like some crops, bees depend on neighboring plants for forage,” said Nathan Fields, NCGA vice president of production and sustainability. “As good stewards of the land, corn growers can follow these BMPs to help protect honey...
Good Weed! Bad Weed!
(Posted Thu. Mar 28th, 2019)
Keywords: Conservations Sustainability
If you’re a city dweller, you probably don’t think much about weeds except for the occasionally dandelion in your front yard. Gardeners often have a mixed opinion on weeds depending on the specific kind, and if you are a professional farmer, you likely see nothing redeeming about weeds. While lambsquarter gives some farmers nightmares, others cultivate it in their gardens because they say it’s delicious. As with most things time softens or even change opinions. Given that it is National Weed Appreciation Day, it seems a good time to explore the emerging school of thought that not all weeds are created equal. So, is it a good weed or a bad weed? Some folks prefer to wax poetic and argue a weed is simply a plant growing out of place. Well, that’s largely hokum. They got their original classification as weeds because they have no redeeming value as far as food, nutrition or medicine are concerned. But there is a growing appreciation for the ecological contributions being...
Soil Health Partnership Announces Several Open Positions
(Posted Mon. Mar 25th, 2019)
As the Soil Health Partnership heads into its fifth year of long-term data collection on working farms, the organization is hiring for several roles to support its expanding footprint. Open roles include Development Director, a Michigan Research Manager, Soil Health Kansas-Nebraska Field Manager, and Soil Health Minnesota Field Manager. The Development Director plays a critical role in leading the relationships and partnership development for the SHP. The Development Director will provide internal support to the SHP Executive Director and work closely with the team of National Directors. This position will partner with the SHP National staff to build a comprehensive partnership and relationship plan to ensure long-term support of our unique on-farm science program. The position will also provide oversight of and contribution to communication efforts. The Michigan Soil Health Research Manager will provide technical assistance and research collaboration for the Soil Health...
Consider Pollinator Plantings as You Gear Up for Spring
(Posted Tue. Mar 19th, 2019)
If you are a Monarch butterfly supporter buckle up because here’s some good news. The yearly count of the Eastern Monarch butterfly population that overwinters in Mexico was released recently, showing an increase of 144 percent over last year’s count. After years of struggles with a host of challenges from bad weather to loss of habitat, the large butterfly count - the highest count since 2006 comes as welcome news. But not too fast, because Western Monarchs continue to struggle due to drought, wildfires, pesticides and loss of habitat. Landowners and farmers are uniquely situated to support the Monarch and are already making a difference. Habitat plantings can fit into many niches on the agricultural landscape, including conservation lands, grazing lands, rights-of-way, field margins, field borders, pivot corners, conservation lands, ditches, buffers and other low-productive lands. Milkweed and other nectar-producing flowers planted in these areas yield multiple on-farm...
Minnesota Farm Family Represents Generations of Stewardship
(Posted Wed. Mar 6th, 2019)
A Minnesota farm family’s four generation conservation initiative garnered national attention at the Commodity Classic in Orlando, Fla. The National Corn Growers Association’s presented Rick Schlichting’s - Schlichting Farms of Rice, Minn. with its 2019 Good Steward Recognition. “NCGA defines sustainability as the pursuit of constant improvement and the Schlichting family personifies this description,” said Lynn Chrisp, NCGA president of Hastings, Neb. “Their progressive farming practices and contributions to healthier soils, cleaner water and sustainable crop production are nothing short of extraordinary.” The program and recognition funding are provided by the NCGA’s Stewardship Action Team to raise awareness among U.S. farmers of the importance of conservation agriculture. The Schlichtings farm 6,600 acres of cropland, and the operation reflects their commitment to the concept of regenerative agriculture. They employ cover corps, crop rotation, extreme nutrient...
The Bottom-Line Benefits of Sustainability
(Posted Tue. Feb 26th, 2019)
In today’s economic environment it’s more important than ever to focus on business survival as a key element of all the management decisions you make, and this is true of efforts to make the farm more sustainable too. As agriculture and society become more focused on sustainability, efforts that emphasize the bottom-line benefits of moving to more sustainable practices are on the rise. And, this week, that’s the focus of a special Learning Center session at this year’s Commodity Classic sponsored by National Corn Growers Association. So, join Shefali Mehta, executive director of soil and sustainability, NCGA; Nathan Fields, NCGA vice president of production and sustainability and Suzy Friedman, senior director of agricultural sustainability, Environmental Defense Fund on March 1 from 2:15 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. in room W208 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla. Fields says there is an emerging pathway to cleaner water, healthier soil and a potential income...
Planting is Coming and So Are the Pests. Are You Ready?
(Posted Wed. Feb 20th, 2019)
Keywords: Sustainability Conservation production
If you haven’t looked into the innovative and proactive Take Action initiative of late, it might be a great time to give the widely expanded program supported by National Corn Growers Association and a host of partners a closer look. The great news is the educational campaign is evolving and growing at a fast pace and now provides information on dealing with herbicide-resistant weeds, and fungicide and insect resistance. Finding a clearer path to a more sustainable and profitable way to farm is made much easier thanks to Take Action. The mission here is to choose the best available tools and technology for the environment, your balance sheet and all with an eye on preserving access to these important tools. Informed management is just smart farming. Take Action on Weeds, which the National Corn Growers Association promotes as a resource of farmers combating herbicide resistance issues, was developed by the United Soybean Board. Based on that success new technical...
Soil Health Partnership Call for Proposals
The Soil Health Partnership (SHP) announced it is accepting proposals for partnerships and collaboration for 2019. SHP encourages any organization or individuals who have an interest in working together to submit ideas. “At the SHP, we collaborate with a diverse network of partners ranging from universities to industry and government groups to non-profits,” said Dr. Shefali Mehta, executive director of the Soil Health Partnership. “These broad partnerships enable SHP to maximize the impact of our work. This year we are making this specific call for proposals to ensure that we continue to seek out diverse partners and include a fuller range of ideas.” Applicants are required to complete the Request for Partnership form on the SHP website. The deadline for submissions is Friday, March 15, 2019. “Whether working with soil science or agronomy experts, developing a partnership in a new state as we expand our farmer network, or fueling a graduate student’s passion for soil...
Weak Farm Economy Not Hampering Drive to Healthier Soils
(Posted Thu. Jan 17th, 2019)
This week’s Soil Health Summit 2019 with Soil Health Partnership was the largest ever—360 registered attendees made their way to St. Louis to learn and network. A diverse group including farmers, corporations, educators and environmental groups spent two days talking about soil health. The summit provided many takeaway messages and insights of interest. Here are just a few: Enthusiasm for learning new sustainability practices and adopting new farm management tools to protect and improve soil is not being slowed by a prolonged downturn in the farm economy. Many farmers, landlords, and others are investing in the long game to assure more sustainable and profitable agriculture. SHP outreach is building a diverse coalition of partners from farms all the way to consumers. The program and the network being created is growing rapidly. The common interest of proving the latest farming techniques, building healthier soils, cleaner water while maintaining farmer...
Second Annual Soil Health Summit Awards Honor Best in Soil Health
(Posted Wed. Jan 16th, 2019)
Five dedicated leaders in soil health received “Seeds of Change” awards at the 2019 Soil Health Partnership Summit, Jan. 15-16 in St. Louis. These awards highlight those participants in the Soil Health Partnership who go above and beyond to promote soil health throughout the year. “The Soil Health Partnership’s strength has its roots in our committed and supportive partners—especially the farmers and agronomists who play an important role in our ability to support research-based practices,” said Dr. Shefali Mehta, executive director of the Soil Health Partnership. “These five individuals exemplify the very best of our dedicated partners, and we thank them for their great work.” The five award recipients are: Super Sprout: Brian Ryberg, Buffalo Lake, Minnesota. As a first-year member of the partnership, Ryberg has jumped right into active involvement with activities that included holding a field day. Ryberg values collaboration, according to SHP staff, and has worked...
Look Down, You Are Standing on Our Future
(Posted Tue. Jan 15th, 2019)
How do we feed a growing population and meet additional, related demand from other sectors for crops (like corn) while also addressing farmers and consumers desire for continuous improvement, healthier soils and cleaner water? Enter the Soil Health Partnership. Today and tomorrow, SHP is hosting a meeting with national significance called the Soil Health Summit 2019 in St. Louis, Mo. SHP Executive Director Shefali Mehta says the diverse partnership is “a gathering of unlikely partners” that includes farmers, agronomists, environmental groups, and partners from throughout the value chain from the farm all the way to finished consumer products. Mehta, notes a key thing that sets SHP apart is supporters moved beyond “just talking” quickly, and the “unlikely partners” rallied around their shared desire to help farmers improve soil health while maintaining and improving profitability. The result is a boots-on-the-ground effort that is turning farmers fields into a research...
NCGA Statement on WOTUS Rule
(Posted Tue. Dec 11th, 2018)
Keywords: wotus policy conservation sustainability
National Corn Growers Association President Lynn Chrisp made the following statement on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) release of the new Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule. The new rule replaces the 2015 WOTUS rule that would have increased regulatory burdens and costs for farmers. “Farmers rely on clean water and are committed to protecting our environment and the communities where we live and work. With a clear understanding of what is and is not jurisdictional under the Clean Water Act, farmers can implement stewardship practices such as grass waterways and buffer strips without the burden of bureaucratic red tape or the fear of legal action. “NCGA looks forward to fully reviewing the new WOTUS rule to ensure that it provides clear jurisdictional boundaries to farmers, protects our nation’s water and can be implemented without confusion.”
Soil Health Partnership Expands New Program to Grow Network and Data
Phase 2 of pilot Associate Program announced on World Soil Day
(Posted Tue. Dec 4th, 2018)
Just in time for World Soil Day on December 5, the Soil Health Partnership announced it is expanding a pilot project to give more farmers access to the soil health network. As the organization launches phase 2 of its pilot Associate Program, it will invite 75 farmers to enroll in 2019. This will enable more farmers to join SHP in its mission of using science and data to support farmers in adopting agricultural practices that improve the economic and environmental sustainability of the farm. The economic component of soil health has taken on an increasing level of urgency during a difficult farm economy, said Shefali Mehta, executive director of the Soil Health Partnership. “We’ve seen increasing demand from farmers who would like to join our network,” Mehta said. “Expanding the pilot phase of our Associate Program provides a great number of farmers with access to a scientific platform to evaluate soil health as part of a comprehensive management strategy.” Joining...
NCGA, USFRA Put Farming Sustainability in the Spotlight in Denver
(Posted Thu. Nov 15th, 2018)
The National Corn Growers Association joined other agricultural groups in telling farmers’ sustainability story during the “Cultivating Collaboration for Sustainable Food Systems” at the 2018 Sustainable Agriculture Summit in Denver this week. Lauren Biegler, a farmer from Minnesota who participates in both CommonGround and the Soil Health Partnership, represented the association during this dynamic panel, which was hosted and organized by the U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance. USFRA believes that farmers and ranchers are the solution to enhanced sustainability practices and varying climate patterns. The panel, hosted during this value chain- inclusive event, shared the current practices farmers employ and the potential for further improvement in the future with retailers and companies focused on consumer packaged goods. During the session, farmers representing various commodities discussed the importance of communication and collaboration in working towards a shared goal of...
NCGA Names Robyn Allscheid Director of Research and Productivity
The National Corn Growers Association welcomes back Robyn Allscheid, who rejoins the organization as the director of Research and Productivity in the St. Louis, Mo. office. Allscheid previously served at NCGA as manager of research and business development from 2008 to 2010. She will serve as staff lead for the Corn Productivity and Quality Action Team as well as leading NCGA’s research programs. “Robyn has a deep background, both academically and professionally, that will help NCGA coordinate and develop research programs across the state and national levels,” said Vice President of Production and Sustainability Nathan Fields. “Her proven skill and previous experience have allowed her to hit the ground running, already adding to the team in a positive, productive way that will benefit our efforts to maintain and create opportunities for U.S. corn farmers.” Allscheid comes to NCGA from the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center where she ran the lab for the Center’s...
Environmental Defense Fund, National Corn Growers Association Launch First-of-Its-Kind Partnership
(Posted Wed. Nov 14th, 2018)
Keywords: sustainability farm policy
Powerful collaboration will scale conservation through data, policy and farmer outreach Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) today announced a first-of-its-kind partnership between an environmental organization and commodity crop association. The partnership aims to address one of the most pressing challenges for today’s farmers, rural communities and natural resources – how to improve environmental outcomes while optimizing productivity and profitability. “Many practices that increase soil health and water quality also boost farmers’ bottom lines,” said Suzy Friedman, senior director of agricultural sustainability at EDF. “EDF and NCGA have worked together for many years to align economic incentives and environmental outcomes. Formalizing our partnership was a natural next step to accelerate progress toward our shared goals.” “The public expects greater stewardship and transparency from farmers, and it’s critical for the...
Commodity Leaders Join Forces on Sustainability Research
Pork, Soybean and Corn Sign Memorandum of Understanding on Sustainability Research
(Posted Wed. Nov 7th, 2018)
The National Pork Board (NPB), United Soybean Board (USB) and National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) announce the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on a sustainability research platform that will benefit all three organizations and their producers. This research program will include the sharing of completed research, coordination on current and planned research and define ways to share and communicate results with each organization’s members. Leadership from the three commodity groups agree that it is prudent to consider specific ways in which they might work together more effectively to ensure alignment and collaboration in sustainability research and how the results can and will be communicated and shared. “Sustainability is defined by the We CareSM ethical principles pork producers established over 10 years ago,” said National Pork Board President Steve Rommereim, a pig farmer from Alcester, South Dakota. “Joining in the efforts of two other organizations,...
Solutions to Lake Erie’s Nutrient Issues Found in Emerging Partnerships
(Posted Fri. Aug 24th, 2018)
Water management and water quality are the key focus this week for State and National Corn Growers Association staff attending a one of a kind meeting on Put-In-Bay South Bass Island in Lake Erie. The goal of the Summer Water Quality Meeting is to better understand how algal blooms on the lake became a national story and more importantly how agriculture and its allies are responding, said Tadd Nicholson, Executive Director of the Ohio Corn & Wheat Growers Association. The heart of the two-day meeting was a tour of Stone Lab, Ohio State University’s research center which is supported and operated by the University in partnership with Ohio Sea Grant program and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The Stone Lab allows researchers to identify plankton, measure chlorophyll content and cyanobacteria toxins which can result from blooms of blue green algae. They also test for nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen which enter the lake from multiple sources...
NCGA Joins Efforts to Block WOTUS
(Posted Tue. Aug 21st, 2018)
Keywords: farm policy conservation sustainability
On Monday, a broad coalition of agriculture organizations, including the National Corn Growers Association, asked a federal district court in South Carolina to stay its order striking a rule that delayed implementation of the 2015 Waters of the U.S. rule. Absent a stay, the court order puts the 2015 rule in effect in the 26 states where courts have not already stayed its implementation. The coalition warned of the “patchwork regulatory regime” created by allowing implementation of the WOTUS rule in about half the nation. “Enormously consequential national regulations like the WOTUS rule—which subject commonplace activities involved in building, farming, and pest management to a complex and burdensome federal permitting and enforcement scheme—should not apply differently depending on whether the activity happens to be located on one side of a state line or the other,” the organizations wrote in their filing with the court.
Dr. Shefali Mehta Tapped as New Leader of Soil Health Partnership
(Posted Thu. Aug 16th, 2018)
Shefali Mehta had a fascination with plants from early in her childhood. From her time growing up in New England, through her education and work in agriculture in the U.S. and around the world, she followed her passion, launching a notable career as an agricultural and environmental economist. Mehta has been tapped as the new executive director of the Soil Health Partnership, a long-term data project that measures and quantifies the impact of farm management practices known to promote healthy soils. “Everything we have literally starts with the soil, which is intimately connected to our very survival and ability to take care of current and future generations,” Mehta said. Soil health is taking on elevated importance in agriculture as a means to protect topsoil, helping farmers manage extreme weather, increase profitability, protect water quality and sequester carbon. Practices that improve soil health include growing cover crops, reducing tillage and taking a...
Get #SoilSmart: Soil Health Partnership Launches Soil Health Awareness Campaign
(Posted Thu. Aug 2nd, 2018)
Visit Brian Corkill’s Twitter page, and you’ll learn that he’s a farmer, husband, father, Illini and coach, with a passion for “Ag, technology, learning and preserving what we have for future generations.” The 48-year-old Corkill, who owns and runs BA Farms in Galva, Illinois, is among the growing number of farmers engaging in social media to enhance farm business, learn, and connect with his industry. The Soil Health Partnership has launched a new campaign to reach more farmers like Corkill on social media and help them get “soil smart.” “It’s pretty clear to me that social media isn’t just a fad, and if we want to help other farmers learn the value soil health can bring to their operation, we can reach them through social channels,” Corkill said. Corkill, an enrolled farmer in the Soil Health Partnership, serves on a committee that helped shape the new #SoilSmart campaign, which launched Aug. 1 and will run through the fall. Funded by a grant from the Walton Family...
Good Steward Aug. 6, Deadline Rapidly Approaching
(Posted Mon. Jul 30th, 2018)
If you have a farmer friend, neighbor or family member who epitomizes the title “Good Steward” then please take a minute to consider nominating them for the National Corn Growers Association’s Good Steward Recognition Program before the 5 p.m. CDT, Aug. 6, 2018 deadline. We’re looking for a farmer who always does their job with a keen eye on improving the productivity and sustainability of their farm for future generations so if you know one let’s make sure they get recognized. This year anyone can nominate a candidate for recognition if they are a Corn Grower member. NCGA affiliate states and organizational partners may also submit the nomination(s). One recipient will be selected from a field of nominees submitted by NCGA state affiliates and other corn industry and organizational partners. Nomination forms must be completed jointly by the nominating party and the nominee and will be processed through NCGA. Selection of the Good Steward Recognition will be made by...
Recognizing Good Stewardship Matters
(Posted Mon. Jul 2nd, 2018)
If you have a farmer friend, neighbor or family member who epitomizes the title “Good Steward” then please take a minute to consider nominating them for the National Corn Growers Association’s Good Steward Recognition Program. We’re looking for a farmer who always does their job with a keen eye on improving the productivity and sustainability of their farm for future generations. Every profession has its early adopters that point the way for others, and National Corn Growers Association thinks these good stewards of the land are special people who deserve to be recognized. If you agree and know of a good candidate, nominations are due 5:00 p.m. CDT August 6, 2018. This year any one can nominate a candidate for recognition as long as they are a Corn Grower member. NCGA affiliate states and organizational partners may also submit nomination(s). One recipient will be selected from a field of nominees submitted by NCGA state affiliates and other corn industry and...
Field to Market Sustainability Efforts Continue to Grow
Representatives from farmers through the entire production chain met in Madison, Wis. last week for the bi-annual meeting of Field to Market, including representatives of the National Corn Growers Association. Field to Market is a collaborative effort emphasizing the inclusion of diverse perspectives, a foundation of science- and outcomes-based approaches to sustainability, and a focus on commodity crops with recognition of their unique supply chains. “We approved our 138th member company at this meeting and I think it’s indicative of the support to grow sustainability in our society,” said Keith Alverson, who serves on the board of NCGA and Field to Market. “This represents 9% growth since last year at this time and we continue to host important discussions on supply chain sustainability from all ends of the supply chain spectrum.” Alverson said, “NCGA has a clear role and mission of engagement at Field to Market of representing a grower voice and help inform others...
Collaborative Effort on Climate Change
(Posted Fri. Apr 20th, 2018)
If the farming profession had a job description somewhere it would say good problem-solving skills and adaptable to change. New products, new technology, new policies, changing markets, changing weather and now on an even broader stage…climate change. Nick Goeser, National Corn Growers Association’s vice president of production and sustainability, notes there is significant data indicating some key weather and climate factors have indeed changed in many corn growing states across the United States, and with the shift comes new challenges as well as real opportunities. Identifying and assessing these challenges and opportunities and crafting appropriate next steps is the driving force behind the Climate Task Force formed by NCGA a year ago. The multidisciplinary group – made up of farmers and representatives of NGOs, input suppliers, processors, food companies, retailers, academia and state corn association staff – recently wrapped up its initial charter of developing...
Soil Health Partnership Begins Search for New Director as Organization Continues to Grow
Goeser to remain engaged in new role with National Corn Growers Association As the Soil Health Partnership heads into its fourth year of long-term data collection on working farms, some changes are afoot among the staff due to promotions, and several positions are open. An initiative of the National Corn Growers Association, the program’s goal is to quantify the benefits of soil health-promoting practices from an economic as well as environmental standpoint, showing farmers how healthy soil benefits their bottom line. NCGA has promoted Nick Goeser, who has served as the project’s director since its launch in 2014, to the position of NCGA Vice President of Production and Sustainability. Goeser said while the promotion offers a great new opportunity for professional impact, the decision to leave SHP was exceptionally difficult. However, in his new role at NCGA, he will serve as a member of the SHP Steering Committee and remain engaged with the Science Advisory...
Soil Health Partnership Builds One of Largest U.S. Databases of Soil Health Sample Info from Working Farms
The seeds of good data have been planted—and the Soil Health Partnership is eager to harvest early results. The organization’s team is currently preparing for another round of robust soil sampling, a critical part of identifying, testing and measuring farm management practices that improve sustainability through soil health. An initiative of the National Corn Growers Association, the program’s goal is to quantify the benefits of these practices–like growing cover crops in the off-season and reducing tillage—from an economic standpoint, showing farmers how healthy soil benefits their bottom line. “We have spent the first few years carefully constructing the infrastructure within our program to make sure that we have scientifically credible data,” said Nick Goeser, NCGA Vice President of Production and Sustainability. “We are now beginning to make early sense of the scope and scale of the dataset collected over last 3 and a half years – and we are eagerly anticipating the...
Kansas Farm Family Showcases New Sustainability Ethic on the Farm
(Posted Thu. Mar 1st, 2018)
A Kansas farm family’s soil-friendly, progressive farming practices and contributions to sustainable crop production earned them national notoriety as they were presented with the National Corn Growers Association’s 2018 Good Steward Recognition. Randy and Nicole Small of Neodesha, Kansas received the Good Steward designation at the Commodity Classic convention and trade show in Anaheim, CA. The program and recognition funding is provided by the Howard G. Buffett Foundation as part of their Harvesting the Potential campaign to raise awareness among U.S. farmers of the importance of conservation agriculture. “NCGA is known for taking the lead on many issues in the policy arena that effect our members, but we also work constantly to promote positive change and improvements in how we farm,” said Kevin Skunes, NCGA president from Arthur, North Dakota. “The Small family has a long history of enhancing the farm's soil and natural resources spanning several generations. They provide a...
New Virtual Reality Video Tells Soil Health Story from ‘Every Angle’
(Posted Thu. Feb 22nd, 2018)
As interest grows in soil health and its potential to optimize farming, the Soil Health Partnership has developed a new tool to immerse the inquisitive. Partnering with StoryUP, the nonprofit ag group has produced a “virtual reality” video that will allow viewers to visit a farm enrolled in SHP and experience a Virtual Field Day. "One of our most powerful assets is our enrolled farmers sharing their stories and knowledge with others," said NCGA Vice President of Production and Sustainability, Nick Goeser. "This video format allows viewers to transport themselves to a farm and learn from the farmer as if they are standing right there with him at a field day. We are all about innovation, and that spirit extends to our communications program." Virtual reality is 360-degree, 3D video or computer-generated environments viewed with special goggles where the user can see in all directions. After giving some attendees of the Soil Health Summit a preview in January, the SHP...
NCGA's Soil Health Partnership receives $1 million Conservation Innovation Grant
Project to develop model for large-scale greenhouse gas reduction incentives
(Posted Fri. Sep 9th, 2016)
Keywords: Sustainability SHP Soil Health Partnership
A $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture will help spur a groundbreaking effort to optimize farm enterprise profitability, reduce Greenhouse Gases and improve agronomic productivity. The National Corn Growers Association received the grant to develop a system for scalable carbon accounting in agriculture, to be developed through its Soil Health Partnership initiative. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced this year's Conservation Innovation Grant recipients on September 8. The competitive grant "stimulates the development and adoption of innovative approaches and technologies for conservation on agricultural land." Under the NCGA project, the SHP and other project partners will develop a "greenhouse gas insetting framework." The framework will serve as a model for corporations and other entities to drive conservation adoption and achieve GHG reductions, as well as economic profitability benefits. Carbon insetting is similar to "offsetting," in...
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Planned Parenthood’s Caren Spruch attends Lena Dunham’s ‘Sex, Politics & Film Cocktail Reception’ at The Spur in Park City, Utah, Jan. 24, 2016. (Photo by Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images)
Blogs | Sep. 23, 2019
Planned Parenthood ‘Secret Weapon’ Script Doctor Feeds Abortion Line to Hollywood
Planned Parenthood opens up about how it exerts immense influence over Tinseltown’s portrayals of abortion.
Lauretta Brown
Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, disclosed via the Washington Post Monday its direct control over the way abortion is portrayed in popular television shows and movies.
The Washington Post magazine explored the work of Caren Spruch, Planned Parenthood’s director of arts and entertainment engagement. According to the magazine, Spruch “encourages screenwriters to tell stories about abortion and works as a script doctor for those who do.”
Spruch told the Post that since assisting with the portrayal of abortion in the movie Obvious Child in 2012, Planned Parenthood “has advised on more than 150 movies and shows.” These include the shows Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Jane the Virgin, The Deuce, The Fosters, and Parenthood.
Gillian Robespierre, writer-director of Obvious Child, called Spruch “Planned Parenthood’s secret weapon.”
“A lot of people learn about sexual and reproductive health care through pop culture and entertainment programs,” Melanie Roussell Newman, Planned Parenthood’s senior vice president of communications and culture, told the Post. “We’ve seen pop culture change views around LGBTQ issues, for example, and pop culture has the power to challenge abortion stigma, too.”
The article’s author Nora Caplan Bricker did include comments from pro-life advocates including Lila Rose, founder and CEO of Live Action, who pointed out that Spruch’s role in movies is “like the tobacco industry getting to fact-check how smoking is treated in films … they have no business influencing anyone’s screenwriting … It’s a real injustice.”
“When Planned Parenthood tries to create positive story lines around abortion, it’s not good art, it’s propaganda,” Rose said. “You’ll never find content coming from Planned Parenthood and friends of Planned Parenthood that is honest about what abortion is.”
Lobbying for Abortion Rights
Spruch claimed that “she doesn’t meddle with characters’ emotions or impose an ideological purity test” and that her job “is to correct with facts… those are the types of issues I address and look for.” However, “Spruch does attempt to ensure that if a script features a Planned Parenthood clinic specifically, the organization isn’t put in an unflattering light.”
She was asked if the “promise of entertainment is in part that movies and TV will still be available vehicles even if the justices overturn Roe,” and responded that “focusing on culture would hopefully activate more people and prevent that from happening.”
Spruch discussed some of her early work in the film industry which included approaching actors and actresses for advocacy help. Actress Maggie Gyllenhaal said when she was introduced to her, “I think I said to her, ‘Just use me however you want… She has asked me to give some speeches that I’m really proud of.”
This revelation that Planned Parenthood is literally able to put words in the mouth of a prominent actress is unsurprising given that abortion is a favorite cause of many in Hollywood. Spruch reportedly has even influenced stars to wear Planned Parenthood apparel during public appearances, like Emma Stone and Dakota Fanning’s Planned Parenthood pins on the red carpet at the 2017 Oscars.
Jennifer Lawrence, Amy Poehler, Judd Apatow, and many other celebrities starred in a video in 2017 calling on the public to ask their representatives not to defund Planned Parenthood. Former Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards was honored onstage at the 2018 Oscars. Most recently, over 100 celebrity musicians including Selena Gomez and Lady Gaga signed a “Bans off My Body” Planned Parenthood campaign to protest state abortion restrictions.
Pro-Life Films’ Success
The article did go on to note the success of pro-life films like Gosnell and Unplanned — a success attained without help from Hollywood. “Planned Parenthood and its Hollywood allies, after all, aren’t the only ones putting abortion on-screen,” the article conceded.
“Conservative Christian filmmakers Chuck Konzelman and Cary Solomon released ‘Unplanned,’ based on the memoir of a former Planned Parenthood clinic director named Abby Johnson, who became a hero in the antiabortion movement after she renounced her former employer,” Bricker wrote. “Many theaters refused to show the movie, and major TV networks wouldn’t air the trailer. Still, ‘Unplanned’ was a hit, raking in more than $14 million at the box office in its first two weeks.”
Bricker noted the “fury” of Unplanned directors Chuck Konzelman and Cary Solomon over “what they perceive as an effort to silence their side.”
“It’s an open secret that there’s a tremendous industry-wide push for more story lines” about abortion, Konzelman said. “But I don’t think they’re pushing for more stories from our side of the fence. … We knew from the beginning that there would be no studio money for us and that we would have trouble finding distribution.”
The Unplanned producers told the Register in the past about the many obstacles they faced with the film, including networks refusing to let them advertise it, receiving an “R” rating by the Motion Picture Association of America, and initially being listed as “drama/propaganda” on Google.
Planned Parenthood’s Next Narrative?
The article went on to explore the next Planned Parenthood narrative that could be coming to a theater near you. Bricker said that “most movies and shows ignore the issue of cost” of abortion and emphasized that “nearly half of abortion patients live below the federal poverty level, but the Hyde Amendment bars federal Medicaid funds from covering the procedure (except in cases of rape, incest or danger to the pregnant person).”
Opposition to the Hyde Amendment is not in line with the views of the majority of Americans and there are conscience rights concerns over forcing taxpayers who disagree with abortion to fund it. January polling from Marist found that 54% of Americans oppose any taxpayer funding of abortion. And a Politico/Morning Consult poll from June found that 41% of Democratic women support the Hyde Amendment, compared to 39% who oppose it.
However, attacking Hyde is in line with the agenda of abortion advocacy groups and it could be added to the list of issues the abortion lobby is attempting to control the narrative on through popular television and movies.
Spruch has “been nudging her Hollywood contacts to think about the dramas that could unfold around abortion restrictions, or the stories they could tell from abortion providers’ perspectives.”
“I always talk about the things that I think are missing,” she said of her influence on these issues in Hollywood. “And they come to be.”
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Lauretta Brown is the Register’s Washington-based staff writer.
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Home Cricket World Cup 2019 Cricket World Cup preview - New Zealand v Pakistan: Pakistan needs to win again
SportsCricketWorld Cup 2019
Cricket World Cup preview – New Zealand v Pakistan: Pakistan needs to win again
The weather for the match at Edgbaston is predicted to be warm and sunny for the day.
Can Pakistan repeat their last match performance against the Kiwis? ©Getty Images
Engagements107
In the 1992 World Cup at this stage of the tournament, Pakistan has won the match against New Zealand. Not once but twice, in the group stage and then in the semi-finals. Those two games were the only games which the Kiwis lost in World Cup 1992. Can Pakistan beat the Kiwis again? Well, the records say so, Pakistan won 6 games against New Zealand in World Cup clashes and lost only two.
Pakistan has comprehensively won the match against South Africa at Lord’s. The batting clicked well due to the inclusion of Haris Sohail and their bowling is known as their greatest strength. However, they have been pathetic when it comes to fielding. They have so far dropped 14 catches in the tournament, the most by any team. If they do not raise the standard of their fielding, it would be too difficult for them to reach the semis.
New Zealand, the unbeaten team of World Cup, needs just one win to qualify for the semis. They would hope to win it here as their next two games are against one of the strongest teams of the World Cup, Australia, and England). They have won close matches against teams like Bangladesh, South Africa, and West Indies when they should have won it comfortably. They should not let the opposition to make a comeback, else it could be curtains down for them as well in the tournament.
Players to watch out
Haris Sohail was in top form against South Africa and because of him, Pakistan’s middle order has started to look more solid than ever before. He can strike the balls against any bowler in any given situation.
Kane Williamson who has scored 2 hundred in 2 games would be eager to score one more hundred in today’s game, and win the match for his team to qualify for the semis. Being the captain he has the extra responsibility of motivating players and making plans for the team in a crunch situation. His calmness has already proved that he is one the best captain in this tournament so far.
New Zealand v Pakistan in ODIs:
Overall: Matches 106, New Zealand Won 48, Pakistan Won 54, Tied 1, No Result 3
World Cup: Matches 8, New Zealand Won 2, Pakistan Won 6
Recent Form (most recent first): New Zealand W W NR W W, Pakistan W L L NR W
ICC Rankings: New Zealand (3), Pakistan (6)
Upcoming Records:
Martin Guptill has scored 942 runs in World Cup and needs 58 more to become the second New Zealand player to reach the 1,000 runs milestone.
Shoaib Malik has taken 98 catches and needs two more to reach the 100 catches milestone.
Squads:
New Zealand: Kane Williamson (capt), Tom Blundell (wk), Trent Boult, Colin de Grandhomme, Lockie Ferguson, Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Tom Latham (wk), Colin Munro, Jimmy Neesham, Henry Nicholls, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor.
Pakistan: Sarfaraz Ahmed (capt & wk), Asif Ali, Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Sohail, Hasan Ali, Imad Wasim, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Hasnain, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Wahab Riaz.
Cricket enthusiast, Tendulkar fan and a traveler !
2019 Cricket World Cup
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Infrastructure & Ops Conference
Strata Data & AI Conference
Radar / Innovation & Disruption
Where programming languages are headed in 2020
Experts discuss what's in store for popular and growing programming languages.
By Zan McQuade and Amanda Quinn
As we enter a new decade, we asked programming experts—including several of our own O’Reilly authors and instructors—for their thoughts on what’s in store for some established players and fast-growing languages.
The biggest news this year in Python is that creator and “benevolent dictator for life” Guido van Rossum retired, leaving Python in the hands of the Python Steering Council. So far, it’s been a painless shift in power, which as Eric Matthes, author of Python Crash Course, argues, should come as no surprise, since “Guido has carried himself, and his role in the community, with such poise for so long.” 2020 will also see the end of support for Python 2.7, which will likely cause its share of headaches among holdouts. Meanwhile, Python continues to be the language of choice for data science.
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For Matthes, one exciting aspect of Python has been “the variety of interesting and critical projects that have come out of a community where diversity has so intentionally been built for so long.” Carol Willing, a member of the Python Steering Council and a core developer of CPython, also celebrates these projects—like the Binder service, which promotes reproducible research by creating an executable environment from your Jupyter Notebooks—particularly as they expand beyond their initial aims. Binder, she notes, “was widely used last year for teaching workshops and tutorials at many Python conferences.” Willing also offered a shout-out to the CircuitPython and Mu projects, asking, “Who doesn’t love hardware, blinking LEDs, sensors, and using Mu, a user-friendly editor that is fantastic for adults and kids?”
It’s mostly good news on the Java front. Java Champion Ben Evans explains, “Once again, rumours of Java’s demise have proved to be little more than wishful thinking on the part of the platform’s detractors.” But it hasn’t all been smooth sailing. As we noted last year, the release of Java 11 in September 2018 brought a raft of new features, including many that give the release a significant, clear advantage for using containers. However, wide adoption of this latest release hasn’t followed suit, with more than 80% of developers still on Java 8, according to this JetBrains survey. Evans wonders, “Does this mean that people aren’t running Java in containers as much as we’re told they are? Or do people just not know about the benefits of 11 in containers?”
Despite the slow rate of adoption, Java’s six-month release cadence has been trucking along—Java 12 dropped in March 2019, with Java 13 following in September. And according to Java Champion Trisha Gee, it’s really starting to show its value:
Each release is quite small but predictable. And although they don’t all have exciting new language changes, you can see the language moving forward steadily. In addition, it enables this idea of preview features, which I think we saw working really well for switch expressions—developers got to try out the feature and give real feedback based on how it feels to work with, instead of feedback on abstract, conceptual ideas. In response, there was a small change to the syntax of switch expressions, which was possible due to it being a preview feature and not set in stone, in Java 13. Now this updated syntax is scheduled to be part of JDK 14 as a production-ready feature.
2019 brought another surprise when Oracle moved Java SE to a subscription-based model. But as Marc Loy, coauthor of Learning Java, fifth edition (now in early release), points out, “The Java community at large has approached this unfortunate change with increased enthusiasm for the OpenJDK.”
As for the coming year, Evans suggests that 2020 will be about watching the 2019 trends play out:
How close to a production version of Project Valhalla will we be? Will the incremental strategy of delivering pattern matching and algebraic data types (Project Amber) pay off? Will Quarkus bear out its promise and the faith of its early fans? Will 2020 be the year that Kotlin makes a significant beachhead beyond Android? These are exciting times—we’re in transition toward something new, and there’s a lot going on.
Google announced in May 2019 that Kotlin is now its preferred language for Android app developers, boosting the language’s already strong adoption. Although many Android developers are still in the process of making the move to Kotlin, those who have already transitioned know the benefits it offers. Dawn and David Griffiths, authors of Head First Kotlin, share a few reasons behind Kotlin’s ascendance:
For a language created by an IDE company, it’s no surprise that Kotlin has a healthy level of tooling support. The experimental DSL for code contracts gives developers the ability to provide guarantees about the ways that code behaves. Does your function have side effects? Is it guaranteed to return a non-null value? Code contracts allow you to make these promises, and the compiler can use them to loosen compile-time checks.
The barriers between different Kotlin platforms are now also breaking down. The “expect”/”actual” qualifiers allow developers to more easily write code that is compatible across Java/Native/JS environments. And serialization support now means that it’s even easier to convert JSON data into Kotlin objects, and vice versa.
Expect to see Kotlin continue its impressive growth—and not just in Android. Hadi Hariri, leader of the developer advocacy team at JetBrains, points to the success of Kotlin/Everywhere—a series of community-led events where you can learn the essentials and best practices of Kotlin in Android, Google Cloud Platform, and multiplatform development—as proof: “From May to November, we’ve managed to reach close to 30,000 people in 86 countries. KotlinConf sold out three years in a row with more than 1,700 attendees in 2019. This really shows, amongst other things, that interest and adoption of the language is growing.”
When Gophers think back on 2019, they’ll likely remember the saga of the try proposal. Go developer and writer Jon Bodner explains:
One of the most common complaints about Go is that error handling is too verbose. So in early June, the Go core developers proposed adding a new built-in function called try. A GitHub issue was opened to discuss this new feature. Within a month, there were nearly 800 comments, most of them negative. The people who were against the new feature felt that this change made code too “magical” and obscured the logic flow. After reviewing the feedback, the Go team marked the proposal as closed and rejected on July 16.
What’s notable about this process wasn’t the failure of the feature but rather, as Bodner describes it, “the way the process happened: a feature was proposed, the discussion was respectful, but many felt that the change was inconsistent with Go’s style. In the end, the people who steward the language decided to respect the majority opinion. That’s what developers mean when they talk about community.”
2020 should bring more clarity to Go’s Contracts specification, better known as the Generics proposal. According to Bodner, “It looks like Go is going to implement generics using an approach that is a bit different from other languages, but which fits nicely into the idioms of Go.” It will hopefully allow Go to keep its idiomatic style while adding a feature that developers have found useful in other languages.
We checked in with Jim Blandy, coauthor of Programming Rust, to see how his vision of Rust’s progress changed over the course of 2019. Last year, he noted that, “Rust has supported asynchronous programming in one form or another for a long time, but async functions provide a syntax for this sort of code that is a major improvement over what Rust has had before.” Did his hope for improvements to the Rust syntax come to fruition? Yes, eventually: Blandy explained that async/await syntax didn’t become stable until version 1.39, which was released November 7, 2019. “Originally, we were hoping async/await syntax could be part of the 2018 edition of Rust, but it took longer to get things right.” Still, he has high hopes for what async will mean for Rust in 2020: “Integrating async into the language lets the borrow checker understand what you’re doing, so asynchronous code can look like idiomatic Rust.” And as Blandy points out, the Rust ecosystem is acting quickly to take advantage of the language’s new expressiveness.
The Rust community is also excited about WebAssembly, which this year became a theoretical replacement to C/FFI for ecosystems that need portable, high-performance modules. And as Rust expert Nathan Stocks notes, “You get light sandboxing as well!” What impressed Stocks most was “how much of the theory had been prototyped and demonstrated successfully.”
I had previously thought of WebAssembly purely as a compilation target to run code from non-JS languages in the browser. The addition of the ability to consume web assembly from any language outside the browser was mind-bending.
The biggest stories in Swift last year were the releases of SwiftUI, Apple’s newest framework for designing user interfaces across all Apple devices, and Swift for TensorFlow, a platform for deep learning and differentiable programming integrating Google’s TensorFlow framework with Swift. SwiftUI, as Timirah James explains, “has already gained so much traction amongst developers (rightfully so) with its declarative nature and is already being seen as a possible future successor to UIKit.” As for Swift for TensorFlow, Paris Buttfield-Addison calls it “a radical new use for Swift.” He explains, “Swift has always been a great app development and systems programming language, and is a great up-and-coming web and back-end development language, but now, with Swift for TensorFlow, it’s a powerful ML framework, too.” Here’s why:
Swift for TensorFlow is developed by a team that includes the original creator of Swift, Chris Lattner, and provides (or will, when it’s done) everything you need for machine learning and numerical computing. Most surprisingly is the full first-class support for differentiable programming with automatic differentiation, which is made possible by Swift’s underlying compiler framework and design.
Full in-language differentiable programming will make a whole collection of previously impossible things possible: the best example is being able to use a standard programming debugger to step through backpropagation and debug derivatives when you’re building a neural network.
Swift for TensorFlow also brings full Python support to Swift, allowing data scientists to mix and match the useful and familiar Python frameworks they need, with clean expressive Swift code.
Looking ahead, both James and Buttfield-Addison are excited to see the new directions Swift takes, with James pointing to “Swift adoption across different communities and stacks beyond mobile, especially in the serverless realm,” and Buttfield-Addison calling out “amazing web development frameworks, like Kitura, and all sorts of amazing frameworks for niche areas…such as SwiftPlot, which is a Swift native version of the ubiquitous Matplotlib from Python.”
What lies ahead?
Change is inevitable, and as programming languages continue to lean in to optimization for new trends in the cloud, microservices, big data, and machine learning, each language and its ecosystem will continue to adapt in its own unique way. Big releases may be on the horizon in 2020 for certain languages—C++20 will be released this summer and Scala 3.0 is expected in late 2020—but what’s clear is even the smallest changes can cause huge waves in the daily lives of programmers.
Post topics: Innovation & Disruption
Post tags: Commentary
Software Architecture Feb 23 –26, New York
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Smart Cities & Mobility Ecosystems Apr 15 –16, Phoenix
Strata & AI Apr 20 –23, London
Smart Cities & Mobility Ecosystems Jun 3 –4, Miami
Software Architecture Jun 15 –18, Santa Clara
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Would You Eat Bugs to Lose Weight? UN Says Dining on Insects May Reduce Obesity
Many approaches have been employed in curbing the cases of obesity, which continue to skyrocket. But how about eating bugs? According to a UN report, it may be the next best weapon against obesity.
Sure, the thought of eating insects is enough to make anyone lose weight, but it's actually a very common practice throughout many Asian and African nations. According to the UN, nearly 2,000 species of bugs are regularly eaten by humans.
The UN's Forestry Department, which is part of the organization's Food and Agriculture Organization, looked at the nutritional breakdown of insects such as grasshoppers and termites, and found that while many insects fared the same in protein and minerals as meat, the bugs provided healthier fat than animal products. The presence of healthy, less saturated fats in insects are important to a healthy diet, whereas fats in meat (and some dairy) products, are believed to be a major contributing factor to obesity and obesity-related illnesses, including heart disease and high cholesterol.
"In the West we have a cultural bias, and think that because insects come from developing countries, they cannot be good," said scientist Arnold van Huis from Wageningen University in the Netherlands, one of the authors of the report.
But the trend is catching on. Reuters reports that restaurants throughout Europe—a region known for its fine dining—are beginning to present insect-based dishes on menus as exotic delicacies.
According to the World Health Organization, obesity rates have doubled since 1980, affecting half a billion people world wide.
Image: add.me
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Watch It Live! SpaceX Unveils First Manned Dragon Tonight @ 10pm EST
Thursday, 29 May 2014 - 10:26AM
Tune in to SpaceX's livestream tonight at 10 pm ET (7pm PT) for an exclusive sneak peak of SpaceX's first manned Dragon Spaceship.
This soon-to-be-unveiled Dragon Spaceship, the Dragon V2, is essentially an updated version of the Dragon Spaceship that has already been launched to the space station, but with the ability to carry a crew.
image credit: Karl Tate
The Dragon V2 is a compact egg-shaped capsule that will be able to carry up to 7 crew-members to the International Space station and back. The capsule is powered by solar panels, will carry parachutes and launch abort engines in case of emergency, and is expected to include a forward-mounting dock system so that it can attach and land at the International Space Station. When it launches into space, it will be the only current spacecraft with the sole purpose of shuttling astronauts to a destination and back.
Credit: NASA
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How Donald Trump's U.S. Government Shutdown Is Hurting Scientific Research
Elon Musk Unveils Shiny New Concept Art For SpaceX's Starship
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Becoming a Data Driven Business
Anthea Stratigos – September 14, 2016
Once upon a time there was a Fortune 500 conglomerate that made everything from light bulbs to appliances to jet engines. They had highly profitable divisions in media and financial services. At the time, a man named Jack, who had earned a reputation as a management guru around the globe, led the company. It was an amazing company — well respected, a household name, and revered in business. As the story unfolded, the company re-imagined itself under new leadership as a post 2009 world evolved.
From eco-imagination to divestiture and “deconglomeration,” the company went on a journey, putting itself at the center of the internet of things, of next generation computing, of big data, and transformed itself into a truly date-driven enterprise.
That company is General Electric — GE to most of us — and it embodies the future. Enterprises are becoming data driven and all enterprises are increasingly utilizing huge piles of data exhaust that they are carving and crafting to monetize customers, mitigate risk, manage supply chains, harness talent and human capital, and, in some cases, monetize the data into new solutions or license their data for other people’s use.
Suddenly, a key trend we’ve been calling is playing out, and everyone is a data owner or provider, and they are using it as the backbone of their enterprise.
They are creating data-first, data-driven cultures. They realize they are in the business of data. They are suddenly part of the information industry, and their ‘vendors’ are now partners or, in some cases, competitors. Our world is expanding. The possibilities are endless. The improvements we can make to our planet, through data, are limitless.
No person can speak better about the data-driven enterprise beyond the tipping point at Outsell’s 10th Anniversary Signature Event than Brad Surak, COO of GE Digital. His task is to support GE’s transformation into the world’s premier industrial company, harnessing its digital capabilities across the company. He runs GE’s network of global digital foundries, incubating industrial internet start-ups, collaborating with customers on new applications, engaging with the open source community, and promoting open source standards.
GE is at the center of the industrial revolution on steroids – the impact of next generation computing on industrial applications. The company represents what’s going on in the changing world of our customers who are now our partners and in the ecosystem in which we’ve been operating. Because now, everyone has data and it’s all about the data, all the time.
IBM bought the weather channel and Truven. Trimble bought Iron Solutions. BMW and Audi bought mapping technology. Oracle bought DataLogix. Monsanto bought Climate Corp. MasterCard launched commercial information solutions. Suddenly, our world is alive with possibility, and we will close Outsell’s Signature Event with a focus on this phenomenon.
Richard Susskind’s talk opens our event with a look at white-collar work and how it is changing our markets. Brad Surak will close the event focusing on how data driven enterprises are changing the possibilities and probabilities of success beyond the tipping point. Our 15th keynote focuses on success. Because at the end of the day, it’s all about data — how we use it, apply it, and make a difference with it.
Know your Customer and know that those customers are going all data, all the time.
You will leave inspired, awed, prepared, with plans. Mr. Surak is the perfect closing speaker to the perfect 10th anniversary Signature event.
Make your perfect plan and join us 5-7 October in London. Register here
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Gear Guy
What down jacket will keep me dry for under $200?
I'm after a well-waterproofed down jacket for under $200. I was looking at the Moonstone Lucid, but are there others I should consider? Katie Moscow, Idaho
Douglas Gantenbein
A: Well, you'll have to look pretty hard—there's really no such thing as a "waterproofed" down parka. At least, not for under $200. Even a down jacket that uses a waterproof-breathable shell—for example, Feathered Friends' Volant jacket with the eVent shell option ($295; www.featheredfriends.com)—isn't really waterproof because the seams aren't taped. Meaning, water can slip through those seams.
Still, today's superlight down sweaters, such as the Moonstone Lucid ($160; www.moonstone.com), have plenty of uses. They don't weigh much more than a T-shirt and pack down to the size of a softball, yet are as warm or warmer than a bulky fleece jacket. And they're wonderful layering pieces because the nylon face fabric slides easily beneath a Gore-Tex jacket or something similar, at which point you are both warm and largely waterproofed.
The Lucid is a really nice piece. It uses extra-fluffy 800-fill down, and has a polyester shell that is treated for water-repellency. Polyester also absorbs less water than nylon, so it's a very fast-drying material should it get damp. And, the thing weighs only ten ounces in the medium women's size.
A similar piece would be Patagonia's Down Sweater ($159; www.patagonia.com). It uses 700-fill down, weighs a whisker less than the Lucid, and has a nylon shell that's treated with Patagonia's very good Deluge water-repellent coating. Still, its specs aren't quite as nifty as those of the Lucid. And, if price is the kicker, L.L. Bean sells its Mountain Guide Down Jacket—which I'd view as more of a heavy down sweater—for just $99 (www.llbean.com). It's a steal.
For more winter-worthy parkas, read "Cold Play" from the November '04 issue of Outside.
Lead Photo: courtesy, Moonstone
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Theater review: At the Pantages, ‘Miss…
Theater review: At the Pantages, ‘Miss Saigon,’ revolving around war, now battles our senses
In its national tour, the revived musical still delivers a punch, but this time it’s to the ears.
Emily Bautista as Kim and Anthony Festa as Chris appear in the North American Tour of “Miss Saigon,” currently at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre. (Photo by Matthew Murphy)
By Dany Margolies | dany.scng@gmail.com |
PUBLISHED: July 22, 2019 at 3:02 pm | UPDATED: July 22, 2019 at 4:12 pm
It would seem, in the last decade or so, musical-theater tastes have changed, expectations have changed and singing styles have changed.
Perhaps in earlier days we didn’t care that a story didn’t quite fit together. We didn’t expect to even understand everything in a show. But certainly we thought singing meant expressing emotion with subtlety, not shouting.
Take for example “Miss Saigon.” The musical — with tunes by Claude-Michel Schönberg, lyrics by Richard Maltby Jr. and Alain Boublil, additional lyrics by Michael Mahler — was a smash in the 1990s, lasting more than 4,000 performances in London and more than 4,000 on Broadway.
It has now been revived and is in its national tour, directed by Laurence Connor with musical staging by Bob Avian and additional choreography by Geoffrey Garratt.
And it’s now a little on the unfathomable side and a lot on the scream-singing side.
The helicopter lands in “The Nightmare” in “Miss Saigon.” (Photo by Matthew Murphy and Johan Persson)
Red Concepción as The Engineer in the North American Tour of “Miss Saigon.” (Photo by Matthew Murphy)
Emily Bautista as Kim and Anthony Festa as Chris sing “Last Night of the World” in “Miss Saigon.” (Photo by Matthew Murphy)
Jinwoo Jung as Thuy. Emily Bautista as Kim and Sarah Ramirez as Tam appear in a scene from “Miss Saigon.” (Photo by Matthew Murphy)
It takes place mainly in Vietnam in the war-torn 1970s. Poverty and hopelessness drive young Kim (Emily Bautista) to work for the pimping Engineer (Red Concepción) in a clublike brothel. There, she locks eyes with American Marine sergeant Chris (Anthony Festa).
Despite the advice of his marine buddy John (J. Daughtry), Chris and Kim spend Chris’ leave together, during which the couple participates in a ceremony that looks to the audience like a wedding: She wears a headdress and they kneel at an altar while her friends watch.
Chris, however, doesn’t seem to understand the implications of this ritual. Nor does he seem to question her relationship to the menacing Thuy (Jinwoo Jung), to whom Kim is unwillingly betrothed.
A scene or two later, Chris, sleeping next to his new American wife, Ellen (Stacie Bono), writhes through a nightmare. When he wakes, she swears fidelity no matter what haunts him.
She’s the character who makes the most sense to today’s mindset. You can bet she’d accompany her husband on his journey back to Vietnam. We see her shame and regret as she assumes Kim is the hotel maid. We note her clarity of thought: She asks the right questions and gives the right answers.
Bono makes a kinder-than-usual Ellen — a warm, loving woman who wants to understand all sides of this personal quagmire, the new stand-in for an America divided by both sides of that political quagmire.
Still, we sympathize with Kim’s predicament. She’s naïve, without support of family and left pregnant by Chris, who departs the falling Saigon by helicopter. And here it’s a “real” one (thanks to production design by Totie Driver and Matt Kinley based on the original concept by Adrian Vaux, lighting design by Bruno Poet and sound design by Mick Potter).
In Act 2, Chris’ friend John works for an organization that connects children born of Vietnamese mothers and American military fathers. He tells Chris about Kim and her son Tam (the tiny, focused, heart-stealing Adalynn Ng on the night reviewed).
Chris and Ellen arrive in Vietnam, where further personal tragedy ensues.
At this point, the audience’s collective heart should be breaking. But it’s probably shell-shocked by now. From the first number in this sung-through work (based on Puccini’s 1904 opera “Madama Butterfly”) through the final tableau, songs are sung at their highest emotional peaks and most blaring volume. Everyone onstage is raging, everyone is overwrought, and by the time we get to what should be the story’s climax, we’ve already been through two dozen of them.
Perhaps to balance the Sturm und Drang, Concepción plays the Engineer impishly, without menace or guile. He holds our attention in the work’s pointed political showpiece, “The American Dream,” but, again, we’re numb from the previous aural assaults.
Connor’s direction is too often static, but several illusions fill in a bit of the deficit: Thuy’s ghost appears and interacts with Kim in a nice piece of staging, and, though we expected the touring version to offer merely a video helicopter, the arrival of this loud, hovering craft pitching and yawing over the stage brings an odd relief from the seemingly louder singing.
Dany Margolies is a Los Angeles-based writer.
‘Miss Saigon’
Rating: 2 1/2 stars
Where: Hollywood Pantages Theatre, 6233 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood
When: Through Aug. 11: 8 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sundays
Tickets: $49–$145 (subject to change)
Length: 2 hours and 50 minutes, including intermission
Suitability: Ages 14 and up for sexuality, language, gunshots and pyrotechnic effects; children under 5 will not be admitted to the theater
Information: 800-982-2787, hollywoodpantages.com
Next: The touring production comes to Segerstrom Center for the Arts, 600 Town Center Dr., Costa Mesa, Oct. 1-13. Tickets, starting at $26, will be available later this year by calling 714-556-2787 or going to www. SCFTA.org
Dany Margolies
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About Mr. Carton
Mr. Patrick Carton
Why Choose Mr. Carton?
Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs)
Benefits of Arthroscopic Surgery
Committed to Excellence in Orthopaedic Care
Internationally renowned specialist in surgery of the Hip and Groin
Developed and Taught the "Sports Hip Repair" Technique to Surgeons Across the World.
Active member of the International Society for Hip Arthroscopy
Awarded an honorary research associate, Waterford Institute of Technology
Awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the World Society of Sports and Exercise Medicine
Getting You Back in the GameMinimally Invasive Hip Solutions
Expert Care Keeping You ActiveMr. Patrick Carton
Hip Specialist
Advanced Technologies in Hip ReplacementGetting You Back On Your Feet
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Home / Patient Info / Knee / ACL Reconstruction
Anterior Cruciate Ligament Tears
The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of the major stabilizing ligaments in the knee. It is a strong rope-like structure located in the centre of the knee running from the femur to the tibia. When this ligament tears, it does not heal on its own and often leads to the feeling of instability in the knee.
Causes of an ACL Injury
An ACL injury most commonly occurs during sports activities that involve twisting or overextending of your knee. An ACL can be injured in several ways:
Sudden directional change
Landing from a jump incorrectly
Direct blow to the side of your knee, such as during a football tackle
Symptoms of an ACL Injury
When you injure your ACL, you might hear a loud "pop" sound and may feel the knee buckle. Within a few hours after an ACL injury, your knee may swell due to bleeding within the torn ligament. You may notice that the knee feels unstable or seems to give way, especially when trying to change direction.
Diagnosis of an ACL Injury
An ACL injury can be diagnosed with a thorough physical examination of the knee and diagnostic tests such as X-rays (to rule out fractures), MRI scans and arthroscopy. In addition, your doctor will often perform the Lachman’s test to see if the ACL is intact. During a Lachman test, the knee with a torn ACL may show increased forward movement of the tibia and a soft or mushy endpoint compared to a healthy knee.
The pivot shift test is another test to assess ACL tears. During this test, if the ACL is torn, the tibia will move forward when the knee is completely straight and as the knee bends past 30° the tibia shifts back into correct place in relation to the femur.
ACL Reconstruction Hamstring Tendon
The goal of ACL reconstruction surgery is to tighten your knee and restore its stability.
Anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction hamstring method is a surgical procedure to replace the torn ACL with part of the hamstring tendon taken from your leg.
The Hamstring is the muscle located on the back of your thigh. The procedure is performed under general anaesthesia.
Your surgeon will make two small incisions about 1/4-inch-long around your knee. An arthroscope, a tube with a small video camera on the end is inserted through one incision to view the inside of the knee joint. Along with the arthroscope, a sterile solution is pumped into the joint to expand it, enabling your surgeon to have a clear view and space to work inside the joint.
The knee is bent at right angles and the hamstring tendons felt. A small incision is made where the hamstring tendon attaches to the tibia. The two tendons are stripped off the muscle and the graft is prepared.
The torn ACL will be removed and the pathway for the new ACL prepared. The arthroscope is reinserted into the knee joint through one of the small incisions. Small holes are drilled into the upper and lower leg bones (tibia and femur) where these bones come together at the knee joint. The holes form tunnels in your bone to accept the new graft. The graft is pulled through these holes. The new tendon is then fixed into the bone with screws to hold it into place while the ligament heals into the bone.
The incisions are then closed with sutures and a dressing is placed.
Postoperative care following ACL Reconstruction - Hamstring Tendon
Following the surgery, rehabilitation begins immediately. A physical therapist will teach you specific exercises to be performed to strengthen your leg and restore knee movement. Avoid competitive sports for 5 to 6 months to allow the new graft to incorporate into the knee joint.
Risks and Complications of ACL Reconstruction – Hamstring Tendon
The possible risks and complications associated with ACL reconstruction with hamstring method include:
Blood clots (deep vein thrombosis)
Nerve and blood vessel damage
Failure of the graft
Loosening of the graft
Decreased range of motion
Crepitus (crackling or grating feeling of the kneecap)
Pain in the knee
Repeat injury to the graft
Arthroscopy of the Knee Joint
Ligament Repairs
Meniscal Surgery
Meet Mr. Patrick Carton MB, BCh, BAO, MD, FRCS
(Tr&Orth), FFSEM, FWSSEM
Rehabilitation Protocols
© Mr. Patrick Carton, Orthopaedic Surgeon, Waterford, IR
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Home / NASA / NASA's Brand New Planet-Hunting Telescope Already Captured This Insane Footage of a Passing Comet
NASA's Brand New Planet-Hunting Telescope Already Captured This Insane Footage of a Passing Comet
atiq ahmed August 06, 2018 0
NASA's new planet-hunting space telescope TESS has been inserted into its orbit around Earth, and has just started its job of scanning the skies to look for planets beyond the Solar System.
But before it even started work, NASA turned it on to do a few test observations - and it just so happened to catch a perfectly little comet in the act of streaking across the sky.
On July 25, TESS took 17 hours' worth of observations. This was to test its ability to collect a "prolonged set of stable periodic images covering a broad region of the sky," NASA wrote.
During these observations, TESS managed to snap a series of images of a comet named C/2018 N1 - first discovered less than a month earlier, on June 29.
The comet is located about 48 million kilometres (29 million miles) from Earth, and in the images taken by TESS, it's seen moving across the southern constellation Piscis Austrinus. Its comet tail can be seen extending towards the top of the image.
You may also notice the stars appearing to shift between black and white. This is a result of image processing, and it helps highlight variable stars, which change in brightness because of their rapid rotation, pulsation, or eclipsing binary companions.
The white dots are asteroids, and a "wave" of light moving across the image from left to right at the end of the sequence is caused by light reflecting off Mars, which is outside the frame. The entire sequence shows just a small fraction of TESS' field of view.
This ability to stare at wide regions of the sky for long periods of time is the key TESS will rely on as it looks for planets. This is because of the method it uses - the clue is in the telescope's name, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite.
It hunts for exoplanets using what is called the transit method. This is because when an orbiting planet moves between us and its star, it causes a slight dip in the star's light. By staring for long periods at the sky, TESS will be able to capture these changes.
It only works for systems in which the orbital plane is aligned the correct way - if the flat side of the plane is facing us, rather than its edge, there are other detection methods available - but the transit method is really effective. It led to the detection of thousands of exoplanetsby TESS' predecessor, Kepler.
TESS is more sensitive than Kepler, so it's expected that it will bring home some serious exoplanet bacon.
Immediately after taking these observations, TESS' science operations started, so hopefully we'll start seeing some cool exoplanet news soon.
You can read more about TESS on its NASA website, and follow its news on Twitter.
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July 03, 2014 Features & Images » Horoscopes/Astrology
Free will astrology for the week of July 3rd
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Would you like your savings account to grow? Then deposit money into in it on a consistent basis. Would you like to feel good and have a lot of physical energy? Eat healthy food, sleep as much as you need to, and exercise regularly. Do you want people to see the best in you and give you the benefit of the doubt? See the best in them and give them the benefit of the doubt. Would you love to accomplish your most important goal? Decide what you want more than anything else and focus on it with relaxed intensity. Yes, Aries, life really is that simple — or at least it is right now. If you want to attain interesting success, be a master of the obvious.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Your urge to merge is heating up. Your curiosity about combinations is intensifying. I think it's time to conduct jaunty experiments in mixing and blending. Here's what I propose: Let your imagination run half-wild. Be unpredictable as you play around with medleys and hodgepodges and sweet unions. But don't be attached to the outcomes. Some of your research may lead to permanent arrangements, and some won't. Either result is fine. Your task is to enjoy the amusing bustle, and learn all you can from it.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): The American painter Ivan Albright (1897-1983) was a meticulous creator. He spent as much time as necessary to get every detail right. An entire day might go by as he worked to perfect one square inch of a painting, and some of his pieces took years to finish. When the task at hand demanded intricate precision, he used a brush composed of a single hair. That's the kind of attention to minutia I recommend for you — not forever, but for the next few weeks. Be careful and conscientious as you build the foundation that will allow you maximum freedom of movement later this year.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): The Venus de Milo is a famous Greek statue that's over 2,100 years old. Bigger than life size, it depicts the goddess of love, beauty, and pleasure. Its current home is the Louvre Museum in Paris, but for hundreds of years it was lost — buried underground on the Greek island of Milos. In 1820, a farmer found it while he was out digging on his land. I foresee a comparable discovery by you in the coming weeks, Cancerian. You will uncover a source of beauty, love, or pleasure — or perhaps all three — that has been missing or forgotten for a long time.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): According to an ancient Greek myth, Sisyphus keeps pushing a boulder up a steep hill only to lose control of it just before he reaches the top, watching in dismay as it tumbles to the bottom. After each failure, he lumbers back down to where he started and makes another effort to roll it up again — only to fail again. The myth says he continues his futile attempts for all eternity. I'm happy to report, Leo, that there is an important difference between your story and that of Sisyphus. Whereas you have tried and tried and tried again to complete a certain uphill task, you will not be forever frustrated. In fact, I believe a breakthrough will come soon, and success will finally be yours. Will it be due to your gutsy determination or your neurotic compulsion or both? It doesn't matter.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Many of America's founding fathers believed slavery was immoral, but they owned slaves themselves and ordained the institution of slavery in the U.S. Constitution. They didn't invent hypocrisy, of course, but theirs was an especially tragic version. In comparison, the hypocrisy that you express is mild. Nevertheless, working to minimize it is a worthy task. And here's the good news: You are now in a position to become the zodiac's leader in minimizing your hypocrisy. Of all the signs, you can come closest to walking your talk and practicing what you preach. So do it! Aim to be a master of translating your ideals into practical action.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): In the last two decades, seven Academy Award winners have given thanks to God while accepting their Oscars. By contrast, 30 winners have expressed their gratitude to film studio executive Harvey Weinstein. Who would you acknowledge as essential to your success, Libra? What generous souls, loving animals, departed helpers, and spiritual beings have contributed to your ability to thrive? Now is an excellent time to make a big deal out of expressing your appreciation. For mysterious reasons, doing so will enhance your luck and increase your chances for future success.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): You have permission to compose an all-purpose excuse note for yourself. If you'd like, you may also forge my signature on it so you can tell everyone that your astrologer sanctified it. This document will be ironclad and inviolable. It will serve as a poetic license that abolishes your guilt and remorse. It will authorize you to slough off senseless duties, evade deadening requirements, escape small-minded influences, and expunge numbing habits. Even better, your extra-strength excuse note will free you to seek out adventures you have been denying yourself for no good reason.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): In the Inuktitut language spoken in northern Canada, the term iminngernaveersaartunngortussaavunga means "I should try not to become an alcoholic." I encourage you to have fun saying that a lot in the coming days. Why? Now is an excellent time to be playful and light-hearted as you wage war against any addictive tendencies you might have. Whether it's booze or gambling or abusive relationships or anything else that tempts you to act like an obsessive self-saboteur, you have more power than usual to break its hold on you — especially if you don't take yourself too seriously.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Percival Lowell (1855-1916) was an influential astronomer who launched the exploration that led to the discovery of Pluto. He also made some big mistakes. Here's one: Gazing at Venus through his telescope, he swore he saw spokes emanating from a central hub on the planet's surface. But we now know that Venus is shrouded with such thick cloud cover that no surface features are visible. So what did Lowell see? Due to an anomaly in his apparatus, the telescope projected shadows from inside his eyes onto the image of Venus. The "spokes" were actually the blood vessels in his retinas. Let this example serve as a cautionary tale for you in the coming weeks, Capricorn. Don't confuse what's within you with what's outside you. If you can clearly discern the difference, your closest relationships will experience healing breakthroughs.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): "I believe in getting into hot water; it keeps you clean." So said British writer G. K. Chesterton. Now I'm passing his advice on to you just in time for the Purge and Purify Phase of your astrological cycle. In the coming weeks, you will generate good fortune for yourself whenever you wash your own brain and absolve your own heart and flush the shame out of your healthy sexual feelings. As you proceed with this work, it may expedite matters if you make a conscious choice to undergo a trial by fire.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): "I awake in a land where the lovers have seized power," writes Danish poet Morten Sondergaard in his fanciful poem "The Lovers." "They have introduced laws decreeing that orgasms need never come to an end. Roses function as currency... The words 'you' and 'I' are now synonymous." A world like the one he describes is a fantasy, of course. It's impossible. But I predict that in the coming weeks you could create conditions that have resemblances to that utopia. So be audacious in your quest for amorous bliss and convivial romance. Dare to put love at the top of your priority list. And be inventive!
Homework: Picasso said, "I am always doing that which I cannot do in order that I may learn how to do it." Your comment? Write uaregod@comcast.net.
Tags: Horoscopes/Astrology
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Contending with our—and the ski industry's—reliance on flying More.
WSSF announces 2020 dates
Sports briefs: Whistler Freeride Club alums shine; Three Whistlerites hit ski-cross podium More.
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Catch the band headlining Squamish Punk Night on Jan. 25 More.
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Man holds up Queens cellphone store at gunpoint
Posted: 10:12 AM, Mar 05, 2017
By: Aliza Chasan
The man stole two iPhones from a MetroPCS in Queens on Saturday. The NYPD has asked for assistance identifying him. (NYPD)
JAMAICA, Queens — A man held up a Queens cellphone store Saturday at gunpoint, an NYPD spokesperson said.
The man walked into a Metro PCS on Hillside Avenue near 169th Street around 5:40 p.m., police officials said. He pulled out a black handgun and demanded an employee give him cellphones.
A 26-year-old male employee agreed and gave the culprit two Apple iPhones, an NYPD spokesperson said. The man left with the two phones.
No one was injured, officials said.
Police have asked for help identifying the culprit. He is described as being about 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighing about 180 pounds. The man has a mustache and was last seen wearing a black hooded sweatshirt.
Submit tips to police by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), visiting www.nypdcrimestoppers.com , or texting 274637 (CRIMES) then entering TIP577. Spanish-speaking callers are asked to dial 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
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All-Time Players
All-Time Coaches
Kyler Fackrell
College: Utah State
TCKLS
PDEF
OPP FR
17 @Lions W 23 - 20 3 3 0 0 0 0
16 @Vikings W 23 - 10 2 2 0 0 0 0
15 Bears W 21 - 13
14 Redskins W 20 - 15 2 0 2 0.5 0 0
13 @Giants W 31 - 13 1 1 0 0 0 0
12 @49ers L 8 - 37 1 0 1 0 0 0
10 Panthers W 24 - 16 0 0 0 0 0 0
9 @Chargers L 11 - 26 2 1 1 0 0 0
8 @Chiefs W 31 - 24 2 1 1 0 0 0
7 Raiders W 42 - 24 1 0 1 0 0 0
6 Lions W 23 - 22 3 2 1 0.5 0 0
5 @Cowboys W 34 - 24
4 Eagles L 27 - 34
3 Broncos W 27 - 16 1 1 0 0 0 0
2 Vikings W 21 - 16 1 0 1 0 0 0
1 @Bears W 10 - 3 2 0 2 0 0 0
Defense Career
2016 Green Bay Packers 13 0 18 16 2 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
2017 Green Bay Packers 16 2 26 20 6 3 0 0 1
2018 Green Bay Packers 16 7 39 26 13 10.5 0 0
2019 Green Bay Packers 16 0 21 11 10 1 0 0
Pro Highlights:
Played in all 16 games with seven starts in 2018 and posted a career-high 52 tackles (37 solo), a career-best 10½ sacks (led the team), 13 tackles for a loss (tied for team lead), three QB pressures and a QB hit.
Among linebackers, ranked No. 7 in the league in 2018 in sacks (according to Sportradar).
Was one of only three players in the NFL (Steelers LB T.J. Watt, Rams DT Aaron Donald) to have two three-sack games during the 2018 season.
Played in all 16 games with two starts in 2017, seeing time on defense and special teams. Posted 34 tackles (23 solo), six tackles for a loss, three sacks, a fumble recovery, nine QB hits and 20 QB pressures (tied for No. 2 on the team). Added three tackles on special teams.
Played in 13 games as a rookie in 2016, seeing time on defense and special teams. Was tied for No. 2 on the team with nine tackles on special teams.
Recorded nine tackles (all solo), two sacks, a forced fumble, six QB pressures, a QB hit and a pass defensed in the 2016 regular season.
Posted sacks in back-to-back games in 2016, vs. Detroit and vs. the N.Y. Giants.
Appeared in all three playoff contests in '16 and posted an assisted tackle on defense and a tackle on special teams.
Selected by Green Bay in the third round of the 2016 NFL Draft with the No. 88 overall selection, the first Utah State player to be picked by the Packers since DB Ed Berry in 1986 (seventh round).
2018 SEASON: Played in all 16 games with seven starts and posted a career-high 52 tackles (37 solo), a career-best 10½ sacks (led the team), 13 tackles for a loss (tied for team lead), three QB pressures and a QB hit...Among linebackers, ranked No. 7 in the league in sacks (according to Sportradar)...Was one of only three players in the league (Watt, Donald) to have two three-sack games on the season...Added three tackles on special teams…Vs. Buffalo (Sept. 30): Played 26 snaps on defense and registered a career-high three sacks, with all three coming in the fourth quarter. Became the first Packer to register three sacks in the fourth quarter since DE Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila had three at Chicago on Jan. 2, 2005. His first sack came early in the fourth quarter when he was credited with a 10-yard sack as QB Josh Allen fell down. Posted two sacks on the final three plays of the game, beating T Jordan Mills to bring down Allen for a 6-yard loss and then beating G Vladimir Ducasse to get to Allen for an 8-yard sack. Finished the game with five tackles (four solo)…At L.A. Rams (Oct. 28): Played 28 snaps on defense and a team-high 29 on special teams. Registered two tackles (one solo) and a sack. Late in the third quarter, blew by T Andrew Whitworth to wrap up QB Jared Goff for a 4-yard sack…Vs. Miami (Nov. 11): Played 48 snaps and posted five tackles (all solo), a sack and a pass defensed. Late in the first quarter with the Dolphins at the Green Bay 11, used a spin move to beat T Zach Sterup and get to QB Brock Osweiler for an 8-yard sack on third down to force Miami to settle for a field goal…At Seattle (Nov. 15): Started his first game of the season and led the team with three sacks, matching his career high, as he became just the sixth player in team history (since 1982) to register two three-sack games in a season. Late in the first half, fought off a block from T Duane Brown to get to QB Russell Wilson for a 7-yard sack. Early in the third quarter, deflected a Wilson pass on third-and-2 that was caught by Wilson at the Seattle 7 before he was tackled by LB Clay Matthews for an 11-yard loss. On Seattle's next offensive play, tackled RB Rashaad Penny for a 2-yard loss on a run to the right. On the next play, beat Brown again for a 2-yard sack of Wilson. Early in the fourth quarter, came unblocked off the left side to get to Wilson for an 11-yard sack. Finished with six tackles (five solo), including four for a loss, a QB hit and a pass defensed…Vs. Arizona (Dec. 2): Started and played 57 of 62 snaps, finishing with two assisted tackles and two QB pressures (tied for team lead)…At Chicago (Dec. 16): Started and played 51 snaps, recording two tackles (one solo), a half-sack and a forced fumble. Late in the third quarter, shared a sack of QB Mitchell Trubisky with DL Montravius Adams at the Chicago 39. Fought off a block from T Charles Leno to get to Trubisky for the 3-yard sack as Trubisky also fumbled on the play (forced by Adams), one that was recovered by Bears G James Daniels at the Chicago 36. Added a tackle on special teams…At N.Y. Jets (Dec. 23): Started and played 55 of 60 snaps, posting three tackles (two solo) and a sack. On the Jets' opening drive, came around on a stunt to sack QB Sam Darnold for a 10-yard loss to push New York back to the Green Bay 18 as the Jets missed a field goal two plays later…Vs. Detroit (Dec. 30): Started and played 58 snaps, matching his career high with seven tackles (four solo), a sack and a QB pressure. Early in the third quarter, fought off a block from T Taylor Decker to bring down QB Matthew Stafford for a 2-yard sack.
2017: Played in all 16 games with two starts, seeing time on defense and special teams...Posted 34 tackles (23 solo), six tackles for a loss, three sacks, a fumble recovery, nine QB hits and 20 QB pressures (tied for No. 2 on the team)...Added three tackles on special teams…Vs. Seattle (Sept. 10): Registered a QB pressure, a QB hit and the first fumble recovery of his career. On third down on Seattle's opening series of the second half, fought off a block from G Mark Glowinski to recover a Wilson fumble after DT Mike Daniels stripped Wilson on the sack. The recovery at the Seattle 6 set up RB Ty Montgomery's TD run on the next play, giving the Packers a 7-3 lead they would never relinquish…Vs. Cincinnati (Sept. 24): Posted two assisted tackles, a team-high five QB pressures and two QB hits. Also played a team-high 29 snaps on special teams...At Minnesota (Oct. 15): Early in the fourth quarter, fought off a block from T Mike Remmers to tackle RB Jerick McKinnon for a 2-yard loss. Added a QB pressure…At Chicago (Nov. 12): Appeared on 18 plays on defense and 20 on special teams. Registered two tackles (one solo) and a QB pressure on defense and a season-high two tackles on special teams…Vs. Baltimore (Nov. 19): Played 34 snaps on defense and 23 on special teams. Recorded a career-high seven tackles (five solo) on defense, including a sack and two additional tackles for a loss. Early in the second quarter, stopped RB Danny Woodhead for just a 1-yard gain on a screen pass on third-and-16 to force a Baltimore punt. Later in the second quarter, beat RT Austin Howard with an inside move and sacked QB Joe Flacco for an 8-yard loss. Brought down RB Alex Collins for a 3-yard loss on a fourth-quarter run…At Pittsburgh (Nov. 26): Made his first career start, opening up at ROLB in place of an injured Matthews (groin), and registered two tackles (both solo) and three QB pressures…Vs. Tampa Bay (Dec. 3): Played 31 snaps on defense and recorded three tackles (two solo), a QB pressure and two QB hits. Also appeared on 23 plays on special teams, tied for the most on the team…At Cleveland (Dec. 10): Appeared on 30 plays on defense and 20 on special teams. Late in the first quarter, fought off a block from G Joel Bitonio to bring down QB DeShone Kizer for a zero-yard sack on third down as the Packers forced a Cleveland punt...Vs. Minnesota (Dec. 23): Started at ROLB in place of an injured Matthews (hamstring), appearing on 39 plays and posting five tackles (three solo), a sack, three QB pressures and a QB hit. On a third-and-1 in the second quarter, chased down QB Case Keenum as he rolled to his left, wrapping him up for a 4-yard sack to force a Minnesota punt. Also fielded a kickoff and returned it 11 yards…At Detroit (Dec. 31): Played 23 snaps on defense and 17 on special teams. Registered two tackles (both solo), including a tackle for a loss, and two QB pressures.
2016: Played in 13 games, seeing time on defense and special teams...Recorded nine tackles (all solo), two sacks, a forced fumble, six QB pressures, a QB hit and a pass defensed...Was tied for No. 2 on the team with nine tackles on special teams...Was inactive for three games (Weeks 12-14) due to a hamstring injury...Also appeared in all three postseason contests and posted an assisted tackle on defense and a tackle on special teams…At Jacksonville (Sept. 11): Played 18 snaps on special teams, which was tied for the team high, and seven on defense in his NFL debut. Posted a tackle on special teams, bringing down RB Corey Grant at the Jacksonville 18 on the opening kickoff of the game…Vs. Detroit (Sept. 25): Saw increased action with Matthews (foot/hamstring) and DE/LB Datone Jones (knee) sidelined, appearing on a season-high 37 plays on defense. Posted his first career sack, beating LT Taylor Decker in the fourth quarter to wrap up Stafford for a 9-yard loss. Also played 22 snaps on special teams and made a tackle…Vs. N.Y. Giants (Oct. 9): Posted a sack for the second straight game, beating RT Bobby Hart to get to QB Eli Manning for a 6-yard loss late in the first half, also forcing the first fumble of his career on the sack, one that DT Kenny Clark recovered at the New York 33 and returned 2 yards to help set up a Mason Crosby FG as time expired in the first half. Finished with three tackles (all solo), two pressures and one QB hit. Also played 21 snaps on special teams (tied for the team lead) and tied for the team lead with two tackles, both coming on kickoff coverage…At Tennessee (Nov. 13): Played 29 snaps on defense and a team-high 31 on special teams. Recorded a solo tackle on defense…At Washington (Nov. 20): Played 22 snaps on special teams and two on defense. Led the team with two tackles on special teams, with one coming on kickoff coverage and the other on punt coverage…At Philadelphia (Nov. 28): Inactive due to a hamstring injury that he sustained at the tail end of the Washington game…At Chicago (Dec. 18): Returned to action, appearing on a team-high 21 snaps on special teams, and registered two tackles. Also appeared on four defensive plays…Vs. N.Y. Giants (NFC Wild Card, Jan. 8): Appeared on a team-high 27 plays on special teams and registered a tackle. Saw 15 snaps of work on defense and posted an assisted tackle…2016 NFL Draft: Selected by Green Bay in the third round of the 2016 NFL Draft with the No. 88 overall selection, the 13th linebacker picked in the draft.
COLLEGE: Started all 41 games he played in at Utah State and registered 253 tackles (104 solo), 36 tackles for a loss, 12 sacks, four interceptions (including one for a TD), eight passes defensed, five forced fumbles and seven fumble recoveries…Became one of just 15 players in school history to earn first-team or second-team all-conference recognition three times during his career (2012-13, 2015)…Entered Utah State as a walk-on in 2011 before a scholarship opened up in the fall…Earned his degree in business administration in the fall of 2015...Senior season (2015): Started all 13 games and was named first-team All-Mountain West after ranking first in the nation with five fumble recoveries and posting a school-record 12 quarterback hurries…Earned fourth-team All-America recognition from Phil Steele's College Football…Ranked second on the Aggies with 82 tackles (37 solo), including a team-high 15 tackles for a loss, along with four sacks and two forced fumbles…Was named to the watch lists for the Bednarik Award, the Butkus Award, the Nagurski Trophy and the Lombardi Award…Was a semifinalist for the Butkus Award, which honors the nation's best linebacker…Recorded a season-high 11 tackles (four solo), including 2½ tackles for a loss, two QB hurries, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery, earning Mountain West Defensive Player of the Week vs. Boise State (Oct. 16)…Earned Mountain West DPOW honors for the second time on the season after posting 10 tackles (three solo), a fumble recovery and two QB hurries vs. Nevada (Nov. 21)...Junior season (2014): Played in and started just one game due to a season-ending knee injury he sustained in the season opener at Tennessee (Aug. 31)…Sophomore season (2013): Started all 14 games, earning second-team All-Mountain West honors and Sophomore All-America honorable mention from College Football News…Led the team with 13 tackles for a loss, was tied for first with two forced fumbles and ranked second with five sacks on the season…Ranked fourth on the team with 82 tackles (37 solo) and added an interception that he returned 99 yards for a TD along with two passes defensed…Scored his first career offensive TD on a 4-yard reception vs. Weber State (Sept. 14)…Posted 11 tackles (five solo) and a sack at San Jose State (Sept. 27), earning Mountain West DPOW honors from College Sports Madness…Recorded a career-high 13 tackles (four solo), including two tackles for a loss, along with two QB hurries vs. Brigham Young (Oct. 4)…Was named the Mountain West DPOW and the National Linebacker of the Week by the College Football Performance Awards after posting nine tackles (four solo) and an interception that he returned 99 yards for a TD vs. Hawaii (Nov. 2)…It was his first career defensive TD and was tied for the third-longest INT return in school and Mountain West history...Combined with his 4-yard TD catch earlier in the season vs. Weber State, the INT made him the first Aggie to score an offensive TD and a defensive TD in the same season since Earsell Mackbee in 1964…Redshirt freshman season (2012): Started all 13 contests, earning first-team All-Western Athletic Conference honors as well as Freshman All-America recognition from the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA)…Became just the fourth freshman in school history to earn first-team all-conference honors and the first to be named a Freshman All-American by FWAA…Ranked second on the team and eighth in the WAC with three INTs, fourth on the team with 87 tackles and third on the team with eight tackles for a loss…His 87 tackles were tied for No. 3 by a freshman in school history…Finished No. 2 on the team with seven QB hurries to go along with three sacks and six passes defensed.
PERSONAL: Given name Kyler Bruce Fackrell…Last name is pronounced FACK-rull…Born in Mesa, Ariz. …Married, wife's name is Elizabeth…The couple has two daughters, Delaney and Lucy…Was a teammate of former Packers S Marwin Evans and RB Devante Mays at Utah State…Painted houses in the year between graduating high school and enrolling at Utah State in 2011…High school: Earned 5A-I all-region honors on both offense and defense as a senior in 2009 at Mesa (Ariz.) High School, seeing action at LB, QB and WR as he led the Jackrabbits to their first 5A state championship appearance in 17 years…Posted 68 tackles, two interceptions and a forced fumble on defense and caught 36 passes for 662 yards (18.4 avg.) and five TDs on offense…Also completed 22 of 38 passes (57.9 percent) for 334 yards and four TDs with one INT…Rushed for 159 yards and three TDs on 22 carries (7.2 avg.), highlighted by a 97-yard TD run in an Oct. 2 game that was tied for the second-longest rush in school history…Added four catches for 65 yards (16.3 avg.) in that game, a performance that earned him the U.S. Air Force Team Player of the Week award…As a junior, was named team MVP after starting at QB, safety and kickoff/punt returner…Also earned 5A-I all-region honors as a junior…Lettered four years in basketball and two years in volleyball, taking home 5A-I all-region honors in both of those sports…Community involvement: Participated in the Packers Give Back Celebrity Bowling Event to raise money for the Northeast Wisconsin Technical College (NWTC) Promise Scholarship…Helped build a warming house at Peterson Park as part of the NFL-United Way Hometown Huddle program…Visited elementary schools and Little League football practices while he was in college…Worked as an umpire for Little League baseball games during a summer in college…Residence: Logan, Utah.
Packers defense swarms Redskins QB Haskins on first drive for sack
Packers DL Kenny Clark and LB Kyler Fackrell come up with the sack of Washington Redskins QB Dwayne Haskins Sunday at Lambeau Field.
Kyler Fackrell gives back to First Responders
Packers LB Kyler Fackrell teams up with Campbell's Chunky Soup to give back to the men and women that serve the community.
Fackrell sees a strong OLB group
LB Kyler Fackrell spoke to the media after Wednesday's OTA practice.
Rock Report: Scoring in Double Figures
Only 12 Packers have recorded 10 or more sacks in a single season. Kyler Fackrell joined that rather exclusive club last year. Larry McCarren has the story.
Wes Hodkiewicz looks at the year's top defensive performers in this edition of Packers Daily.
Fackrell seeks double-digit sack benchmark in 2019
Packers LB Kyler Fackrell spoke on his 2018 sack performance and aims for more.
Fackrell explains post-sack dance
Packers LB Kyler Fackrell met with the media following Wednesday's practice.
Packers Daily: November 21
Wayne Larrivee shines the light on Kyler Fackrell's big leap in this edition of Packers Daily.
Packers Unscripted: Seattle sadness
Mike and Wes recap another frustrating road loss for the Packers, at Seattle last Thursday night. They also take a closer look at the strong performances by WR Davante Adams and LB Kyler Fackrell.
Rock Report: Fackrell Factor
Kyler Fackrell finds success as a pass rusher by combining technique with relentlessness. Larry McCarren uses the telestrator to explain.
Fackrell: 'Sometimes, the plays just come to you'
LB Kyler Fackrell spoke to the media following the Packers' 27-24 loss to the Seattle Seahawks
LB Kyler Fackrell game highlights | Week 11
Watch every big play from LB Kyler Fackrell during the Week 11 matchup between the Green Bay Packers and the Seattle Seahawks.
Packers LB Fackrell sacks Wilson for his third of the game
Green Bay Packers LB Kyler Fackrell sacks Seattle Seahawks QB Russell Wilson for his third sack of the game.
Packers LB Fackrell brings down QB Wilson for second sack of the night
Green Bay Packers LB Kyler Fackrell brings down Seattle Seahawks QB Russell Wilson for his second sack of the night.
Fackrell 1-on-1: 'Defense played really well'
LB Kyler Fackrell talked with Larry McCarren after the win vs. the Dolphins
Packers LB Kyler Fackrell flies through to sack Dolphins QB Osweiler
Green Bay Packers LB Kyler Fackrell sacks Miami Dolphins QB Brock Osweiler for a loss of 8 yards to force fourth down during Sunday's game.
Mike McCarthy Show with Kyler Fackrell
Packers LB Kyler Fackrell recaps his three-sack performance against the Buffalo Bills in Week 4.
Fackrell looks to build off of three-sack performance
Packers LB Kyler Fackrell talks on the urgency to get after Lions QB Matthew Stafford.
Fackrell on Sunday's shutout over the Bills: 'We put a whole game together'
Packers LB Kyler Fackrell talks about the defense playing together as a unit for all 60 minutes in the win over the Bills.
Fackrell aims for a big jump in 2018
Packers LB Kyler Fackrell talks importance of experience in his game.
Packers LB Kyler Fackrell blocks Buccaneers' punt
Green Bay Packers LB Kyler Fackrell blocks a Tampa Buccaneers' punt and the Packers recover.
Rock Report: More is better
LB Kyler Fackrell made a big impact in the absence of Clay Matthews. Analyst Larry McCarren has the game tape to prove it.
Fackrell 1-on-1: 'We've got to put our heads down & go to work'
LB Kyler Fackrell spoke 1-on-1 with Larry McCarren following the Packers' 23-0 loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
Fackrell on improving his game
LB Kyler Fackrell spoke to the media Monday afternoon about his performance in preseason and preparing for the regular season.
Fackrell: 'Try to improve on last year'
Hear from Packers LB Kyler Fackrell following Wednesday's minicamp.
Packers name captains for Texans game
Five players to represent Green Bay Thursday night
Self-belief pushed Kyler Fackrell to improve in 2018
Third-year linebacker had his sights on double-digit sacks all along
Kyler Fackrell letting it all loose this season
Despite his successes, the Packers' third-year linebacker won't say I told you so
What You Might've Missed: The pre-sacks Fackrell
Packers LB was putting together a strong game before his three sacks came
Captains selected by Packers for Dolphins game
Green Bay hosts Miami at 3:25 p.m. CT
Packers select captains for Steelers game
Kickoff set for 7 p.m. CT at Lambeau Field
Clay Matthews sees unpredictability in Packers' new defense
Veteran pass rusher sensing renewed energy, small-detail focus
It's the opportunity every young receiver desires
Self-awareness is an underrated attribute for young players
Defense looks to regain its outside edge
Packers seek options behind Clay Matthews and Nick Perry
Packers enter draft with league-high 12 selections
Later this week, the Packers will welcome another rookie class to their roster through the NFL Draft
You have 12 lottery tickets
History will always be there, so why rush to conclusions?
Packers expecting big things from Vince Biegel, Montravius Adams
Injuries sidetracked rookie season for pair of 2017 draft picks
Emerging playmakers give Mike Pettine options
Hybrid players will have role in Packers' new defense
McCarthy looks for young players to take a jump in Detroit
Packers head coach met with media before Thursday's padded practice
Packers finish season in Detroit
The Green Bay Packers travel to Detroit to play the Lions at Ford Field in the final regular-season game
Perspective is everything
The interior defensive line is in good hands with Kenny Clark and Mike Daniels
Vikings shut out Packers, 16-0
Green Bay falls to 7-8 with one game left
Vikings extend lead to 13-0 after three
Another promising drive comes up empty for Packers
Vikings' lead remains 10-0 at halftime
Packers QB Brett Hundley throws INT in red zone
Stories like this one are worth remembering
Even with no playoffs on the horizon, we might see a window into the future
Clay Matthews questionable, Nick Perry doubtful to play against Vikings
CB Davon House, G Jahri Evans also questionable for Saturday
Packers vs. Panthers: Performances to watch
Carolina's front seven on a defense can rush the passer and stop the run
Davante Adams' TD wins it in overtime for Packers
Green Bay keeps its season alive with second straight OT win
Packers rally to tie Browns at 21, send game to OT
Big punt return by Davis, TD pass to Adams ties game with 17 seconds left
Browns take 21-7 lead into fourth
Packers driving as third quarter expires
Happy Birthday to Kyler Fackrell!
Packers LB Kyler Fackrell celebrates his birthday on Nov. 25. Take a look at photos of him from the 2019 season.
Before they were Packers: Linebackers
See photos of the Packers' linebackers during their college careers.
Portraits: 2019 Green Bay Packers
Packers team photographer Evan Siegle recently held a portrait session at Lambeau Field with a variety of players.
2018 in Photos: Kyler Fackrell
Take a look at photos of Packers LB Kyler Fackrell from the 2018 season.
Take a look at photos of Packers LB Kyler Fackrell from the 2017 season. Photos by Evan Siegle and Corey Wilson, packers.com
Packers LB Kyler Fackrell celebrates his birthday on Nov. 25. See photos and facts from his career. Photos by Evan Siegle, packers.com
See photos of Packers linebackers during their college careers. Photos by AP and Milwaukee Journal Journal Sentinel.
2016 in photos: LB Kyler Fackrell
A third-round rookie out of Utah State, LB Kyler Fackrell recorded 18 tackles and two sacks this season, including a strip-sack of Giants QB Eli Manning in Week 5. Photos by Evan Siegle and Matt Becker, packers.com
Packers LB Kyler Fackrell celebrates his birthday on November 25th. See photos and facts from his career. Photos by Evan Siegle and Matt Becker, packers.com.
Best of Utah State LB Kyler Fackrell
The Green Bay Packers added another linebacker to their room on Friday night in drafting Utah State senior Kyler Fackrell with their third-round draft choice (88th overall). Photos by AP and CollegePressBox.com.
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Batman: Arkham Origins Initiation DLC sends you to North Korea
By Patrick Carlson 2013-12-03T00:55:48.336Z
Because it's the Dark Knight, it doesn't surprise me that the latest Batman: Arkham Origins DLC ships you off to a place where "there is no room for your self-righteous Western morality." Well alrighty then. Dubbed "Initiation," the latest DLC is a challenge map pack that pits Bruce Wayne against a series of martial arts obstacles high in the mountains of North Korea.
Initiation is out on Dec. 3 and should offer up some new locales to beat up on lesser mortals who haven't yet reached the exotic heights of a bearded and angry-looking Bruce Wayne. And with the requisite bamboo forest and craggy mountain monastery, it's safe to say the new DLC will have us pondering some places that might feel a little familiar . Initiation is set to include four different maps and a pair of new skins, rope gauntlets included.
If you already have the Season Pass for Arkham Origins, the new content should be available instantly tomorrow. By itself, Initiation should cost $7 . Not up to speed on the latest entry in the Arkham series? Take a look at our review of Origins before you check out the trailer for the new DLC below.
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Fujifilm FinePix XP130 Review
By Jim Fisher
Affordable.
Tough, waterproof design.
Simple operation.
5x zoom lens.
Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.
Video limited to 1080p.
So-so lens with limited macro focus.
Rear LCD doesn't support touch.
The Fujifilm FinePix XP130 is a tough, waterproof, budget-friendly pocket camera, but you'll need to spend more if you're after advanced features and manual control.
The compact camera market continues to dwindle, with fewer new models released every year, but there's one area where it still makes a lot of sense to opt for an inexpensive point-and-shoot: underwater. The latest phones may be waterproof, but not to the point where you'll want to take them diving in salt water. The Fujifilm FinePix XP130—priced at $229.95 but selling regularly for less—will adequately serve photographers on a budget. But if you can afford it, we recommend spending more for a waterproof camera that will net better photos and video, like our Editors' Choice, the Olympus Tough TG-5.
Bold and Bright
Fujifilm offers the XP130 ($122.92 at Amazon) in a variety of bold colors. We received one in bright green for review, but you can also opt for blue or yellow, or if you prefer a more conservative look, black or white. Its form factor is pocket-friendly—2.6 by 4.1 by 1.0 inches (HWD) and 5.8 ounces. The design incorporates rounded edges, including a silver-ringed porthole around the lens. The typical loop to hold a wrist strap is replaced by a sturdy metal bar.
Best for Beginners
Best for Enthusiasts
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The 5x zoom is modest in range when compared with pocket cameras without waterproofing, but they achieve 30x or 40x zoom ratios via optics that extend from the body. The waterproof XP130 puts the entire lens inside its body, protecting it from 5.8-foot (1.8-meter) drops and the stress of working at depths of up to 65 feet (20 meters) underwater.
The wide-angle coverage is about the same as a 28mm full-frame lens, and it zooms in to capture a narrower view, 140mm in full-frame equivalent terms. The aperture isn't ambitious—it starts at f/3.9 and narrows to f/4.9 when zoomed all the way in. It's not as wide or as bright as the lens on the premium TG-5, which features a 25-100mm f/2-4.9 zoom, though it does zoom in further.
Controls are straightforward and basic—if you're looking for a camera with full manual exposure control, look elsewhere. Out of the box the camera is set to Scene Recognition (SR), an intelligent, but fully automatic, shooting mode that adjusts settings to match what the camera perceives as the type of image you're making. It also has a number of Scene settings, a standard Automatic setting, and Program, which gives you a modicum of control in the form of exposure value compensation (EV) adjustment.
The shutter release is a big, silver button on the top. It's easy to press, even if you're wearing gloves. The On/Off and Record buttons are also on the top. The rear houses W and T buttons to adjust the lens zoom, as well as Play, a Drive button, and Disp/Back, along with a four-way directional pad. It gives you access to the Menu via its center press, along with Delete/EV adjustment, Flash, Self-Timer, and Macro shooting options via its cardinal direction buttons.
You might not notice the Drive button at first—the icon is engraved, which is hard to see given its small size and dark finish. The Wi-Fi icon is next to it, painted white for high visibility. I wish it was better labeled, but there aren't that many buttons to begin with, so it's not too difficult to locate when you want to switch from single to burst capture.
There's no EVF—the pricey Panasonic TS7 ($449.99) is the only rugged model we've seen with one. Instead you'll frame shots on the rear LCD, which is 3 inches in size with a 920k-dot resolution. It's bright and sharp, so you shouldn't have any problems framing and reviewing images, even on bright days. Touch input isn't supported, which isn't a big surprise when you consider the XP130's asking price.
The memory card and battery are protected by a locking door, accessible via the right side. The battery is good for about 240 images, which are saved to SD memory. The door also covers a micro HDMI output and a micro USB port, the latter of which is used to charge the removable battery. Fujifilm does not include an external battery charger, just a micro USB cable and AC adapter.
Wi-Fi is built in, which is a given in almost every new camera. The XP130 adds Bluetooth, which can be used to speed up pairing with an Android or iOS device. When connected to your phone you'll be able to transfer photos and control the camera via the Fujifilm Cam Remote application.
So-So Imaging and Video
The XP130 doesn't offer the blistering speed of an interchangeable lens camera, but it isn't slow either. It powers on, focuses, and fires in 1.8 seconds. Autofocus speed is solid for a pocket camera, 0.1-second in bright light and about 0.8-second in very dim conditions. The lens aperture is narrow, so you'll want to use a flash for indoor snapshots.
Burst capture is available at about 4.8fps, but only for ten shots at a time, with a few seconds required between bursts to give the camera time to write images to a memory card. There is a tracking option for focus, but the camera's autofocus system is pretty simplistic. The only focus options aside from tracking are a wide area, which automatically selects the focus point, a center area, or a flexible spot. You need to dive into the menu system to change the focus area or even move the position of the flexible spot. I found using the center focus point and recomposing my shot to taste after focus is locked suited my style best, but you may prefer to simply let the XP130 pick the focus point automatically.
I used Imatest to check the XP130's image quality. Its fixed lens delivers decent results at the wide angle, netting 1,890 lines in a center-weighted sharpness test. That's better than the 1,800 lines we want to see from a point-and-shoot with a 16MP image sensor. It loses resolution at the 65mm position (1,622 lines) and at 140mm (1,516 lines), delivering images that are on the soft side at both settings. Edges are soft throughout the zoom range, showing best results at the wide end (1,622 lines), but dropping off at the midpoint (938 lines) and telephoto end (740 lines) of the zoom.
There is some barrel distortion visible at 28mm (3.3 percent), which is surprising as compact cameras generally correct distortion automatically. The effect is negligible when zoomed in. You're also likely to notice some flare when shooting into the sun. Most waterproof cameras do the same thing, as the cover that keeps the lens watertight can induce the effect—we also see flare with the lens Olympus uses in its TG-5.
The Olympus TG-5 is similarly sharp at its wide setting (1,830 lines) when shot at f/2, but will narrow the lens to f/2.8 for most bright-light use for sharper results (2,096 lines). It puts these numbers up despite backing its lens with a 12MP sensor, which puts it at a disadvantage when compared with the 16MP XP130. The TG-5's lens also loses resolution when zoomed in, virtually tying the XP130 at the midpoint of its zoom and bettering it by about 100 lines when zoomed all the way in.
See How We Test Digital Cameras
The XP130's lens isn't as wide, bright, or sharp as the TG-5, but the camera does cost about half as much. But remember what you are losing. At the 28mm the XP130 is an f/3.9, almost two full stops dimmer than the TG-5's f/2.0 rating at its 25mm wide-angle setting. That means the XP130 captures about 25 percent of the light when zoomed out, giving it a distinct disadvantage when shooting in dim conditions. Its macro mode is also underwhelming. The TG-5 is one of the best pocket macro cameras out there, but when I turned on macro focusing with the XP130 to get a close-up shot of a large insect that landed on my car door, I wasn't able to focus that close at all.
The 1/2.3-inch image sensor isn't world-class for low-light shooting, and the dim lens doesn't do anything to help. You're going to use the flash indoors, or resort to shooting at a high ISO—the camera can be set as high as ISO 3200 in full resolution. You can also set it at ISO 6400, but resolution drops to 8MP. If you have automatic ISO control turned on the camera will only range as high as ISO 1600, but modes that top out at ISO 400 or 800 are also available.
Imatest shows that the XP130 keeps image noise under 1.5 percent through ISO 800, and shows about 1.6 percent at ISO 1600, 1.9 percent at ISO 3200, and 2.3 percent at ISO 6400. Typically photos with less than 1.5 percent noise don't show offensive grain, but cameras like this use automatic noise reduction to fight the effect, which can result in less-than-clear images at higher settings. The XP130 delivers its best images at ISO 100 and 200. Photos shot at ISO 400 take a step back, with some blur erasing fine detail. The blur effect is stronger at ISO 800, and at ISO 1600 and up all fine detail has washed away. We've included pixel-level crops from our ISO test scene in the slideshow that accompanies this review.
The XP130 supports video capture at 1080p resolution at 30 or 60fps, and 720p at 60fps. For additional slow-motion, you need to step down to SD resolutions; you can shoot 480p at 30 or 120fps, 240p at 240fps, and 120p at 320fps. Video quality is about what you'd expect—the 1080p resolution feels dated when compared with pricey pocket cameras that roll at 4K, and the lack of 24fps and any sort of manual exposure adjustment will turn off anyone who wants to get creative with exposure. You can't even brighten or darken the frame with EV compensation for movies.
Budget Price, Budget Camera
The Fujifilm XP130 isn't top of the line in any regard, but that includes price. It sells for around $200, about half that of our Editors' Choice Olympus Tough TG-5, and that seems about right. The XP130 is a good, but not outstanding, option for budget shoppers. It's tough and waterproof, so you can take it places where you wouldn't risk your phone's safety, it includes Wi-Fi for on-the-go image sharing (via your smartphone), and it offers a solid, 5x zoom range.
If you have the money, you'll find that the Olympus Tough TG-5 is a better camera overall. It shoots 4K video, has a wider, brighter lens that does a better job making snapshots when you're not outdoors, and has a much better macro capability, which can be supplemented with add-on lights that are also waterproof.
Budget shoppers who are willing to live with the XP130's limitations should also check and see if the XP120 is still available for sale. At press time it is, and is selling for under $150. It doesn't offer Bluetooth, which isn't essential, and aside from that it's the same camera as the XP130.
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About Jim Fisher
Senior digital camera analyst for the PCMag consumer electronics reviews team, Jim Fisher is a graduate of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he concentrated on documentary video production. Jim's interest in photography really took off when he borrowed his father's Hasselblad 500C and light meter in 2007. He honed his writing skills at retailer B&H Photo, where he wrote thousands upon thousands of product descriptions, blog posts, and reviews. Since then he's shot with hundreds of camera models, ranging from pocket point-and-shoots to medium format digital cameras. And he's reviewed almost all of them. When he's not testing cameras and gear for PCMag, he's likely out and about shooting with one of his favorite vintage film cameras, which include the Hasselblad, a Rolleiflex Automat, and a Leica M3. In his spare time, Jim posts his own photos to his blog, daguerreotyping, where he also writes a bit about antique cameras and film. His father never did get that Hasselblad back.
Read the latest from Jim Fisher
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Second tree with citrus greening disease found…
Second tree with citrus greening disease found in Riverside
Watchara Phomicinda
California Department of Food and Agriculture agricultural technician Maritza Paredes collects Asian citrus psyllid nymphs on a tree in Riverside. She is part of a team testing every tree within a half-mile radius of a grapefruit tree identified with citrus greening disease.
By Mark Muckenfuss | mmuckenfuss@scng.com | The Press-Enterprise
PUBLISHED: August 30, 2017 at 4:48 pm | UPDATED: September 2, 2017 at 12:24 am
A second Riverside tree has been identified with citrus greening disease.
Agriculture officials said they received notice of a positive test late Monday for an orange tree on a property adjacent to the one where the first tree to test positive for citrus greening was found earlier this summer. Both trees are near the 60/91/215 freeway interchange. The second tree was removed Wednesday.
Citrus greening, which first showed up in Southern California in 2012, has decimated citrus groves in other parts of the country. It is carried by the aphid-like Asian citrus psyllid. Infected trees exhibit mottled leaves and fruit that is misshapen and fails to ripen, remaining green. The fruit also tastes bitter. There is no known treatment for the disease and trees usually die within three to five years.
Inland area quarantine announced to stop spread of citrus disease
Riverside residents asked to help save state’s citrus industry from deadly disease
Why local citrus industry is worried about citrus greening reaching the Inland Empire
Citrus greening disease devastated Florida’s oranges. Ground zero for California’s battle is in Riverside
The disease has knocked out much of the citrus industry in Florida, resulting in a $4 billion loss to the state, and it is currently attacking commercial crops in Texas. California’s citrus industry is valued at $3.3 billion.
Ron Bray, assistant agricultural commissioner for Riverside County, said a quarantine area has been established that extends five miles from the infected trees.
The sale of all host nursery stock and the movement of all host plants and fruits is prohibited within that area for both resident and commercial growers.
The area extends from Riverside and San Bernardino avenues in Rialto to Alessandro Boulevard and Berry Road in Riverside, and from Camino Real and Limonite in Jurupa Valley to near the intersection of Pigeon Pass Road and Ironwood Avenue in Moreno Valley.
Officials are testing every citrus tree within a half-mile radius of the first diseased tree.
Steve Lyle, spokesman for the California Department of Food and Agriculture said 1,189 of 1,273 properties in the area have been surveyed so far and 428 plant samples have been collected for testing. He said the newly found tree will require an additional 10 properties to be checked.
Information on citrus greening and a map of the quarantine area can be found at http://rivcoawm.org/
Mark Muckenfuss
Mark Muckenfuss has been a reporter since 1981. He worked at various publications including the San Bernardino Sun before coming to the Press Enterprise in 1999. He covers higher education, military affairs and, when the ground shakes, earthquakes.
Follow Mark Muckenfuss @PEedwriter
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Imprint: Penguin Classics
H.K. Browne (Illustrator)
Jeremy Tambling (Introducer)
'The greatest achievement of the greatest of all novelists' Leo Tolstoy
In David Copperfield - the novel he described as his 'favourite child' - Dickens drew on his own experiences to create one of his most moving and enduringly popular works, filled with tragedy and comedy in equal measure. It is the story of a young man's adventures on his journey from an unhappy childhood to the discovery of his vocation as a novelist. Among the gloriously vivid cast of characters he encounters are his tyrannical stepfather, Mr Murdstone; his brilliant but unworthy school-friend Steerforth; his formidable aunt, Betsey Trotwood; the eternally humble yet treacherous Uriah Heep; frivolous, enchanting Dora; and the magnificently impecunious Micawber, one of literature's great comic creations.
Edited with an Introduction and Notes by Jeremy Tambling
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Hard Times (Vintage Classics Dickens Series)
A Christmas Carol (Vintage Classics Dickens Series)
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Charles Dickens (1812-70) is one of the most recognized celebrities of English literature. His many books include Oliver Twist, Great Expectations and A Christmas Carol.
H.K. Browne
Charles Dickens (1812-70) was a political reporter and journalist whose popularity as a novelist was established with the success of Pickwick Papers (1836-7). His other novels include Great Expectations and Bleak House. Jeremy Tambling is Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Hong Kong.
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Dirty Computer [Explicit Content]
Artist: Janelle Monae
Double vinyl LP pressing including digital download. 2018 release, the third studio album by singer Janelle Monáe. Dirty Computer is the follow up to her critically acclaimed studio albums, The ArchAndroid (2010) and The Electric Lady (2013). Includes the singles "Make Me Feel" and "Django Jane". Janelle has already made waves with her two recent videos: the sexy, funky Prince-like "Make Me Feel" and "Django Jane," her riveting rap about being a black woman in the 21st century. She continues to defy expectations, blur genres, provoke and break new ground as you behold her new album featuring those two songs and the rest of this postmodern mash-up of soul, funk, pop, rock and hip-hop.
Title: Dirty Computer [Explicit Content]
Artist(s): Janelle Monae
Label: Bad Boy
Attributes: Digital Download Card
1 Dirty Computer (Feat. Brian Wilson)
2 Crazy, Classic, Life
3 Take a Byte
4 Jane's Dream
1 Screwed (Feat. Zoë Kravitz)
2 Django Jane
3 Pynk (Feat. Grimes)
1 Make Me Feel
2 I Got the Juice (Feat. Pharrell Williams)
3 I Like That
1 Don't Judge Me
2 Stevie's Dream
3 So Afraid
4 Americans
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In Rotation
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Pop Past
MetalMatters
Cable Give Listeners a Dose of "Black Medicine" (premiere)
Jedd Beaudoin
Photo: Jason Hellman / In a Perfect World Productions
Cable's new dark and groovy track, "Black Medicine", from their upcoming album features Tombs frontman Mike Hill on vocals.
Cable will issue Take the Stairs to Hell via Translation Loss on 26 July. The band has just released "Black Medicine", a scorching, groove-centered slab of darkness that marries dissonant tension with meditative melodic resolution. Swinging between avant-metal and the good old blues-based swing of doom, the track bodes well for the rest of the album, which may be pre-ordered and features cover art from Mark Rudolph.
Bassist/vocalist Randy Larsen says, "The song mostly follows the overall theme and vibe of Take the Stairs to Hell. It's a personal song that comes from a dark place. Without getting into it too deep, 2018 was an extremely painful and dark year for me. I'll leave it at that. This song was one of the first written for Take the Stairs to Hell and dates back to probably 2015/2016. I worked a good portion of this song out with the drummer that was playing in Slow Death, another band I was doing around that time. The song defiantly evolved from those early stages for sure. When Mike Hill and Graham Brooks came onboard to lend additional vocals and guitars, it made the song really come to life. Peter Farris also delivered a stunning vocal performance on the fly with a part I was struggling with. in the end I think 'Black Medicine' ended up being one of the strongest tracks on Take the Stairs to Hell and my personal favorite. The struggle is endless."
Hill, who fronts the band Tombs, adds, "I've been friends with Randy for over 20 years; he's been someone that I've looked up to for a long time and Cable is a very unique band that blends all of the stuff that I love: chaos, heavy rock, blues and a total "fuck you" attitude. I've been a fan since Variable Speed Drive back in the 1990s. Their whole catalog offers something new with each record.
"When Randy asked me if I would be interested in contributing vocals, I was 100 percent down from day one. It was an honor. He sent me the track and gave me direction on the vocals. I came in on the tail end of the session, and it was a total family vibe.
Cable (American band) - Wikipedia ›
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We're Losing The Battle Against Wild Pigs
By Dan Nosowitz
Ich Bin Ein Berliner Pig
via Modern Farmer
From Berlin to Mississippi, feral pigs are proving to be one of the most efficient and dangerous invasive species ever known. Smart, industrious, voracious and omnivorous eaters, they reproduce quickly and destroy everything in their path. Modern Farmer has a lovely feature up on the menace--and yes, it is a menace. "The issue is as serious as swine flu," says Modern Farmer.
Some key quotes:
Wild pigs stick to one area until all food sources are tapped out. Their method of "rooting up" buried treasures (roots, acorns and the like) creates large swaths of cratered, barren terrain. The scorched earth is then abandoned in the hunt for another food source.
This voraciousness is problematic for many reasons — destruction of natural ecosystems, choking out native species — but none is more prevalent than decimated crops. Harvests of corn, rice, soybeans, and even cotton have been wiped out by roving boars. Of the approximate $1 billion in wild boar damage across the U.S. each year (a figure Strickland [an expert] calls a "gross underestimate"), a majority is chalked up to agriculture.
So, they're bad. But why don't we just hunt them, as we do with other tasty overpopulated species like the white-tailed deer?
For one thing, pigs are much tougher targets than deer. Preternaturally smart (they've been called "dolphins of the land") and fearful of humans, trying to get a bead on one can be an all-day affair. And if you do shoot a wild pig, you best use a high caliber and know where to aim. Their tough hides and thick skulls provide natural shielding that can be quite challenging to pierce. And a wounded wild pig isn't something you want to wrangle with.
Eep. Check out the full (and very pretty!) story here.
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Blood, Sweat and Tiny Gears
The World Cup isn't the only global soccer tournament raging in Germany. In the northern town of Bremen, most soccer players have four feet instead of two, and lines of code trump fancy footwork. Welcome to the world of RoboCup, where teams of robot dogs seek their own glory on a modified, wireless-enabled soccer pitch.
The annual five-day event has drawn nearly 350 teams of roboticists and their robots from 40 countries this year. The mission is the promotion of artificial intelligence and robotics research through robot soccer competitions. The ultimate goal is to develop humanoid robots capable of beating the human world soccer champions by 2050. (PM stands on the sidelines at a RoboCup match; Read more.)
And this year, as the four-legged AIBOs chase their tails up and down the field, a pair of bipedal, humanoid robots have reached celebrity status at the RoboCup World Championship: Carnegie Mellon University's (CMU) QRIO commentator 'bots Ami and Sango are providing the synthetic play-by-play.
"All the heads turn as we carry the robot to the field," says Nick Armstrong-Crew, a CMU Ph.D. candidate who helped program the QRIOs. "As soon as it starts to stand up, the cameras come out."
The two-and-a-half-foot-tall pair covered four games Thursday and will cover several more, including the championship matches. They use their electronic vision sensors to track specific colors, in this case the orange ball. By interpreting the direction of the ball, the QRIO commentators can react to the play with their synthesized voices. Each robot watches only one half of the field, but the duo is able to communicate what each sees to the other so that either can comment on the play. And like any good color commentary, they lace their announcements with the occasional joke, halftime dances and celebratory cheers when a goal is scored.
But don't draw up that Telemundo contract just yet. Only one robot can speak at a time—the designers intended this to avoid the robots talking over one another—though one can interrupt the other to comment on an exciting play. Also, a human "referee" must use a controller to inform them of a scored goal or a committed foul and to assist the duo in interpreting a complicated event, such as heightening the importance of a critical tie-breaking goal. Even so, CMU professor Manuela Veloso is pleased.
"They did a good job," says Veloso. "They are doing a better job every time, and the audience enjoys hearing [them]."
RoboCup concludes Saturday, when champions in four divisions of competition are crowned—in addition to numerous other awards for achievements in AI and robotics.—Adam Bryant
More: Do Robot Players Dream of Synthetic Goals?
Dynamic Duo: Carnegie Mellon University commentator 'bots Ami and Sango focus on the action. The QRIO robots are calling the play-by-play from the RoboCup World Championship in Germany. Collin McMillen
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Watch the Tesla D Dominate at the Drag Strip
The EV is lightning-fast off the line
By Ezra Dyer
Andy McMillan
The all-electric Tesla Model S P85D became a YouTube star soon after it went on sale last December, showing up at drag strips and spanking muscle cars and exotics alike. I watched those videos and thought, I want to do that. I want to surprise a few guys who think they're about to dust a glorified Prius. So at the earliest possible opportunity, I procured a P85D and headed for North Carolina's Rockingham Dragway to hunt some Mustangs and Vettes. Activate insane mode! (Yes, to unleash the Tesla's full 691 horsepower, you push a button labeled Insane Mode.)
The D, as it's colloquially known, is the ultimate Tesla, which means that it's also the ultimate electric production car. Compared with the former Model S performance champ, the rear-wheel-drive P85, the D gains a larger motor at the rear—470 horsepower—along with a new 221-horsepower motor at the front. You lose some luggage space in the front trunk, but the benefits are obvious as soon as you floor the accelerator. Electric motors make instant torque, and all-wheel drive provides ultimate traction. Combining the two results in off-the-line thrust that borders on disorienting.
I pick up the Tesla at the company's new store in Charlotte, about eighty miles from the drag strip. With an EPA-rated range of 253 miles, I could probably make it from Charlotte to Rockingham and then home to Southern Pines on a single charge. But I want to check out a Tesla Supercharger station, so I take a detour to a Texas Steakhouse restaurant 110 miles away, off I-95 in Lumberton. In the corner of the parking lot there's a row of high-speed chargers, free for any Tesla with the eighty-five-kilowatt-hour battery. While I'm inside eating a steak salad, the Model S gains 135 miles of range. The Supercharger gives me an extra stash of electrons for the track, but I suppose it would also work pretty well if you're planning a road trip. When I unplug the car to leave, there's a second P85D parked alongside, wearing South Carolina plates. Interstate electric-car travel: It's happening.
At the strip I expect to hustle a few suckers who still associate the word Tesla with eighties hair metal—lighters up for "Love Song." But a few months after its debut, the D is already such a legend that everybody knows exactly what it is. Respect is accorded. In the staging lanes I pull up next to a Trans Am WS6 and ask, "You wanna go?" The driver scopes the Tesla end to end and warily replies, "I guess so." His reluctance is validated by the result. By the eighth-mile mark, the Trans Am is a distant spec in my rearview mirror.
Back in the pits I overhear a guy on his phone saying, "We got a Tesla here! This thing is insane, cuz!" You'd think there might be some resentment toward an optioned-out $133,000 rich-guy ride showing up at the local Sunday fun runs, but the red Tesla seems to generate nothing but good-natured enthusiasm. I offer the shotgun seat to anyone who asks, including a track worker who introduces himself as Little Terry. "Presumably there's a Big Terry here too?" I ask. "Nope," he replies.
Little Terry and I proceed to dispatch a 2015 Mustang 5.0 in the opposite lane. Which is impressive, since it's plumbed with nitrous, giving it a one-hundred-horsepower boost. Its driver, a guy named Dan, got a bad launch and that was it. The P85D, you see, never gets a bad launch. Its sixty-foot times are consistently around 1.7 seconds, which means that by sixty feet, the D is doing nearly fifty miles per hour. That's bonkers.
The D loses exactly once, when Dan nails his launch and rides the laughing gas to a win. I call it a day soon thereafter, since I've noticed that each quarter-mile run is knocking five miles off my estimated range. Still, I arrive home with a hundred-mile cushion, having covered 219 miles and dusted a succession of muscle cars at the strip. The D is the latest evidence of how Tesla single-handedly changed the electric-car conversation. You don't want a P85D solely because of its carbon footprint or your position on Saudi Arabian politics. You want one because it's about the coolest damn thing on the road, a twin-motor sedan—an American one at that—that you can drive all day. The man at the track was right: It's insane, cuz.
5 Ways the Model S drives itself so you don't have to
Geocaching suspension
The air suspension can remember where you raise it, so that when you arrive at your steep driveway or office-park speed bumps, the car will raise itself.
Intelligent cruise control
If you're on the highway in the right lane and the adaptive cruise control slows you for a car ahead, activating the left turn signal cues the car to return to your set speed. So instead of pulling into the passing lane and waiting for the car to figure out that the road is clear, it starts accelerating as soon as you initiate the lane change.
Autonomous brakes
The regenerative braking is so strong that you can usually drive around without touching the brake pedal. If you actually want to use the brakes and clean the rust off the rotors, Tesla provides a mode to dial back the regen.
Built-in valet
On a conference call to announce new range-calculation software, Tesla CEO Elon Musk mentioned a somewhat more momentous Model S upgrade that's supposedly coming later this year: the summon function. "As long as you're on private property, you can press 'summon' on your phone and your car will come and find you," Musk said. "And your car will put itself to bed in the garage and close the door behind it."
Overprotective doors
If you try to move the car with a door open, it goes about five feet and then slams on the brakes. Keep that in mind if you crack the door open to eyeball your parking space—try to inch the car forward and you'll get brake-checked.
This story appears in the June 2015 Popular Mechanics.
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Southern Russian town unveils statue to Stalin
Residents of a southern Russian town unveiled a new statue to &to=http://english.pravda.ru/main/2002/12/21/41169.html' target=_blank>Josef Stalin Wednesday, as Communists and others marked the 126th anniversary of the late Soviet dictator's birth.
More three dozen residents of Digora, in the Caucasus region of North Ossetia, laid carnations at the gold bust topping a granite obelisk, while children in Soviet-style red kerchiefs saluted.
"Under Stalin, every year we waited for improvements and every year there were improvements. It's a fact," sculptor Mikhail Dzboyev said in televised comments.
In Moscow, several dozen people carrying red flags with Lenin's face braved wintry weather to lay visit Stalin's grave in Red Square, while in the Georgian town of Gori, where Stalin was born, people gathered to toast the Soviet leader.
A growing number of Russian towns in recent years have considered erecting monuments to Stalin, a controversial issue for many Russians who say the dictator was responsible for the deaths of millions of his own people.
Russians to decide the fate of their Constitution on Cosmonautics Day
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Home » The Environmentally Conscious Guitarist
more... Acoustic • Gear • How-Tos • Repair • Upkeep • February 2018 • Analog Outfitters • D'Addario • Taylor • Wallace Detroit Guitars
The Environmentally Conscious Guitarist
Tzvi Gluckin
A good rule of thumb, according to public policy professor Christopher Bosso, is to never put metal in your trash. Scrapyards will buy your metal scraps and repurpose them.
Guitar players love making messes. Slathering on too much fuzz at inopportune times, peaking VU meters, and rendering separation useless in the studio. It goes with the territory. True, sometimes you need complete isolation or the pristine precision of a Steely Dan record, but more often than not, there’s something special about getting gross with your guitar.
But that’s just aesthetics.
Unfortunately, guitarists also generate a lot of physical waste. Old strings, picks, batteries, and tubes need to be disposed of. Blown speakers, frayed wires, trashed amps, unwanted enclosures, and fried electronics need to be discarded as well. For better or worse, modern music making generates a small mountain of unwanted junk.
But don’t fret—pun intended—these are solvable problems. Options and innovations abound.
In this modest dissertation, we focus on three areas: recycling waste, innovative repurposing of discarded materials, and—at what first glance might seem like a side point—sustainable harvesting of wood.
Part I talks about garbage. Some things, like guitar strings and metal amp chassis, are easy to recycle and might even have marketable value. But others, like old tubes and single-use batteries, raise difficult questions and could be too much trouble—or just too expensive—to recycle.
Part II profiles two innovative businesses—Wallace Detroit Guitars and Analog Outfitters—that do incredible things while repurposing old materials. Each company, in its own manner, has found a way to turn trash into treasure.
Part III is about wood. Most guitars are made of wood and many of those woods are rare and expensive. But two of those woods, rosewood and ebony, are becoming scarce. That scarcity has raised enough alarm that CITES—the international body that deals with such matters—has imposed new, strict regulations. But it isn’t as bleak as it sounds. We focus our attention on the important initiatives being made to develop a more sustainable model for both the growing and harvesting of these precious tonewoods.
“Above all, don’t put metal in your trash.” —Christopher Bosso, professor of public policy at Northeastern University
In this story, we speak with entrepreneurs, captains of industry, tenured professors, and other experts to give you an overview of these complex and sometimes complicated issues. There’s a lot more to say, but consider this a thorough introduction. Ultimately, guitar players make messes, but for the most part, those messes—at least the non-musical ones—can be cleaned up.
Part I: Responsible Junk Disposal
Broken strings, worn out picks, dead batteries, fried circuits, non-functioning gear, stripped cables, and blown tubes—what should you do with all that junk?
Electric guitar strings are made from different types of metal and that’s true for most acoustic guitar strings, too (with the obvious exception of nylon). Those metals include steel, nickel, cobalt, bronze, and various other alloys.
But guitar strings don’t last forever. They wear out, break, or get crusty and gross, and at some point, you must change them. Most players change their strings on a regular basis. Many pros change them every gig.
What should you do with your old strings? Should you throw them in the trash?
“Anything with metal in it should be recycled,” Christopher Bosso, a professor of public policy at Northeastern University says. “It has material value and local recycling programs actually give money for that.”
D’Addario recently made string recycling easier for guitar players, with their Playback program, which allows players to drop off unwanted strings at more than 400 music retail spots around the U.S., including all Guitar Center locations. As an incentive, those who join the program earn points for recycling that can be used toward new strings or gear.
Through the Playback string recycling program, D’Addario and partner TerraCycle have recycled over 1.2 million strings in 2017. A reported 1.5 million pounds of strings are accumulated in landfills each year.
You can also take matters into your own hands. Ben Juday, the founder of Analog Outfitters, a company that builds amplifiers from repurposed Hammond organs, recommends having special bins for metal waste. “I have a couple of 5-gallon pails in my garage,” he says. “Any scrap or bit of wire, brass or copper, or any little bit—anything from guitar strings to cans to little pieces of steel—I put in there and either put it out for the scrappers or take it to the scrapyard.”
Scrapyards pay for junk metal, melt it down, and resell it. But don’t expect to get rich recycling strings. “You would have to have a heck of a lot,” Bosso says. “Scrapyards deal with significant amounts. Obviously, there’s an aggregator. Cities and towns that do that place big magnets over their recyclables and anything that’s metal gets pulled to a separate place. It’s then sold by the ton or gets separated into the different types of metals, depending on where it is in the waste stream. More recyclables than we care to admit don’t actually end up being recycled. But anything that has metal in it is of value in the marketplace. The real trick is, how do you get that into the right stream? If you put your strings into a recycling container or where the collection bin is, that’s better than tossing it into the trash. Above all, don’t put metal in your trash.”
Most effects pedals used to run on batteries, though the industry trend seems to be moving away from that. “I’ve probably sold close to 1,000 pedals and I’ve only had two people ask about batteries,” Eric Junge, the owner of Hungry Robot Pedals, told us in an earlier interview (“Stompbox Savants," September 2016”). “I think the general consensus is, most people aren’t using batteries anymore,” he added. “A lot of my designs are very tight internally—I couldn’t even fit a battery into a couple of them. So my take is, ‘Am I going to make this pedal bigger for the 0.1 percent of the public that’s going to use a battery?’”
That said, some players still rely on batteries and they are recyclable, although most communities are not set up to handle them. “In an ideal world, you would take these single-use batteries and figure out a way to recycle them,” Bosso says. “But hardly any states have recycling programs for single-use batteries. Car batteries do have a very high recycle rate. That’s because they contain a valuable metal, lead, and they’re big, and most times they are replaced by professionals at repair shops. You have a collection process, market value, and there is actually a process to extract the metal and other stuff from the batteries. There is a very high rate of recycling for car batteries as contrasted to consumer batteries.”
In 1996, legislation was passed to phase out the use of mercury in batteries, making it legal in most states to dispose of single-use alkaline batteries via the regular trash. But single-use batteries can still be recycled at local recycling centers, along with rechargeable batteries and other electronic waste, which are restricted from being tossed in with regular trash.
Tzvi Gluckin is a freelance writer and musician. In 1991, he was backstage at the Ritz in NYC and stood next to Bootsy Collins. His life was never the same. He lives in Boston. Follow him on Twitter @TheRealTzvi
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How to Eat Like t...
How to Eat Like the Irish on St.Patrick's Day
Ireland · About Dining
A foodie exploration of Ireland is an island-wide adventure involving the favorite Irish pastimes of eating, drinking and socializing – from cafés and pubs, to stylish Michelin-starred restaurants.
In the 'Emerald Isle', food is intimately connected to the rich green landscape, regional farming and cooking traditions, the freshest seasonal ingredients and supremely talented food-meisters who magically inject ‘art’ into artisan Irish produce and modern interpretations of Ireland's culinary heritage. Not to mention Ireland's famously colorful turns of phrase.
On the one day a year that 'everyone's a little bit Irish', up the ante on your green beer. Here's a guide to ordering authentic flavors of Ireland. And some tips about where and what to eat and how to celebrate Ireland's food culture on your next trip.
Where: O’Holohan’s on the Barge, Belfast
Climb on board O’Holohan’s, moored at the Belfast Waterfront. This restaurant-on-a-barge is famed for its boxty: a traditional potato pancake, which it serves with pan-fried hake, organic veg and shellfish cream.
Home-Smoked Salmon
Where: Delahunt, Dublin
Bring on one of the best fish dishes in Dublin. This is a thing of brains and beauty: lapsang souchong home-smoked salmon, served in the incredible surroundings of a converted Victorian building on Dublin’s Camden Street. It’s the very essence of contemporary Irish cooking – creative, fresh AND delicious.
Coddle
Where: The Woollen Mills, Dublin
Overlooking the iconic arc of the Ha’penny Bridge, the Woollen Mills has a light, modern-industrial interior – a great counterpoint to a dish that dates back to the 1770s, Dublin coddle, a no-nonsense bowl of bacon, sausages, onion and potato. Honest, hearty and very Dublin.
Seafood Chowder
Where: Canteen at the MAC Belfast
In the super-cool open-brick surrounds of Belfast’s premier arts venue, MAC, you can enjoy one of Ireland’s most popular seafood dishes: seafood chowder. MAC’s version uses sustainable fish, and comes with Guinness and treacle bread. Come for the art, stay for the chowder.
Cockles and Mussels
Where: The Exchequer, Dublin
Fever-ridden Molly Malone wheeled her wheelbarrow around the Dublin streets selling these fresh local molluscs. But to dine on the cooked combination, you need to check out the Exchequer gastro pub and its gourmet version with spiced sausage, Bulmers cider and homemade bread.
Where: Mourne Seafood Bar, Belfast
Traditionally served with pints of Guinness, sample some of the finest at the Mourne Seafood Bar in Belfast. In this relaxed informal space, seafood takes centre stage. Try local oysters three ways: au naturel, Japanese-style or Rockefeller. Either way, they’re delicious, so get shucking.
Celebrate Oyster Season
September is the month of the oyster and in Northern Ireland the annual Hillsborough Oyster Festival (1-4) holds the world oyster eating championships – you’ll have to eat around 223 in three minutes if you want to seriously compete! But the pretty Georgian village is alive with music, Ulster’s fine food, golf, dancing and pageants if you don’t.
The world-famous Galway International Oyster and Seafood Festival (23-25) is also a major event in Ireland´s social calendar – London’s Sunday Times has called it one of the 12 greatest shows on earth. Walk through the city and you’ll see passionately fought-out Irish and international oyster opening competitions, celebrity cook-offs, and fantastic live music events on the streets and pouring out of the pubs. Few can resist a Galway oyster tasting (with the perfect accompaniment of a pint of Guinness), a ‘seafood dine-around’ some of the city’s best restaurants or a glam night out at the Gala Oyster Ball.
A Fresh Fish Supper (Fish and Chips)
Where: John Long’s, Belfast
A philosophy of simple but impeccable fish and chips runs through this Belfast institution, which has been described by the Belfast Telegraph as “the holiest of holy culinary shrines”. Grab a space at a Formica table, order a cup of tea, and wait for some of the best fish and chips you’re ever likely to taste.
The Waterford Blaa
Where: Hatch & Sons, Dublin
Waterford locals love their ’blaa’ – a soft bread roll introduced by the French Huguenots in the 17th century. Paired with dry-cured bacon, it’s a real delight. To try one in Dublin, head to the Georgian kitchen-café of Hatch & Sons on St Stephen’s Green. Go old school with rashers (strips of bacon), or take it upscale with spiced beef, rapeseed mayo, Coolea cheese and onion relish.
Visit September's Waterford Harvest Festival. The city's famous fluffy breadroll blaa is centerstage, along with other local delicacies. Over 10 mouth-watering days, foodies will relish the cookery demos and workshops, seminars, foodie films and tastings, dinners, banquets and restaurant trails. Street performances and big outdoor music gigs are also on the Waterford menu.
And For Serious Foodies…
If you want to take your love for food a bit deeper you can sign yourself, your family, your colleagues or your pals up for one of the excellent cookery schools located around the country. Serious foodies can also opt for a food tour – counties Cork, Mayo and Dublin are excellent for these.
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* Braxton Live Performance
* Entertainment
* Washington
DC, Maryland and Virginia…Let's Have a Good Time… "On Earth"
Traci Braxton Appears LIVE at the Legendary Hideaway Blues Alley, in Washington DC's Historic Georgetown
By: Soul World Entertainment
* Washington - District of Columbia - US
* Events
WASHINGTON - Aug. 7, 2019 - PRLog -- In a world of uncertainty and confusion Traci Braxton extends audiences a "Lifeline" tucked away in a Georgetown alley; those who live in the DMV know the venue as the legendary hidden gem Blues Alley. Traci will perform two (2) shows on Tuesday August 13, 2019 at 8pm and 10pm in the hideaway located at 1073 Wisconsin Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20007.
Blues Alley is the perfect venue for Traci to debut her Solo LIVE performance of songs from both her first project "Crash and Burn" and her newly released sophomore album "On Earth." The intimate setting is an opportunity for Braxton Family Value Fans to see the full artistic side of Traci Braxton, up close and personal.
For more information on the show and how to purchase tickets visit: www.bluesalley.com
For Media Credentials contact Publicist, Thomasina Perkins-Washington at: Media@capitolpublicrelations.com or call (202) 486.0698 not later than Thursday, August 8th.
About Traci Braxton: Traci is a talented Singer, songwriter, from the eyes and ears of many a comedian by nature, and a philanthropist. She continuously Films her hit reality show Braxton Family Values along with her sisters on the WEtv network, however Traci is also committed to working with children, women's Health issues and families in and around her home base of the DMV (DC, Maryland, Virginia) area as well as around the country, working with various non-profit organizations and charities as a motivational speaker focusing on health & wellness and the importance of higher education. Traci has served as a Celebrity Ambassador for the Pulmonary Hypertension Association (PH Association) and Celebrity "Godparent" Mentor for the organization Saving Our Daughters.
Capitol Public Relations LLC is a Public Relations firm based in Washington, D.C. Metro Area servicing corporate, non-profit, entertainment and sports professionals nationwide. www.capitolpublicrelations.com
Capitol Public Relations LLC
Thomasina Perkins-Washington
***@capitolpublicrelations.com
: ***@capitolpublicrelations.com
Capitol Public Relations, LLC News
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By Harry Kloman
At the ultra-snazzy Piccadilly Club in London, where the elite meet to eat, drink and be entertained, Valentine, the club's oily manager, has a pencil-thin mustache and an eye for Mabel, the flashy dance sensation who performs with her partner, Victor, who believes she's in love with him. But Valentine made Mabel's career -- and made Mabel in the bargain. So he's already preparing to fire Victor when Victor decides to quit and go to America.
This bit of dated melodrama comes to us in the silent classic Piccadilly, directed by Ewald André Dupont, which was released in 1929 and has now been restored with crisp new images and elegant title cards. And while its cast includes three fine stage actors -- Cyril Ritchard, Charles Laughton and Ray Milland -- who would later become known in film, Piccadilly would not have returned but for the presence of Anna May Wong, the Chinese-American ingénue of the '20s who became an international phenom when she abandoned Hollywood for sophisticated Europe.
In Piccadilly, Wong plays Shosho, a Chinese girl who works in the club's kitchen. When a dirty dish turns up on the table of a demanding patron (Laughton, jowly even then, in his film debut), Valentine searches for the culprit and finds Shosho distracting her peers by dancing gaily on the job. After a long hungry look at the petite beauty, he orders her fired. But a few weeks later, he asks her to dance in his faltering club, and when she insists on wearing authentic Asian attire, they shop in London's dicey Chinese district, the Limehouse, where Shosho's earlier career as a dancer ended when two men drew knives to battle for her affection.
There are two kinds of silent movies: those that advanced the art, and those that gave audiences a good spectacle. With its banal story and modest technique -- the images are tinted, and the camera rarely moves, although when it does, it swishes and swirls impressively -- Piccadilly is certainly more the latter. To appreciate it you may have to imagine the bygone thrill of watching Wong dance in her glistening attire, or of the hint of sex and seduction that percolates beneath the surface of what we see on screen. The lovely musical score, which almost seems to mock the silliness of the plot, is jaunty, jazzy and sometimes a bit bluesy, but never bombastically symphonic, and with an undertow of piano and gentle percussion. The spare titles remind us of how easily movies can do without bad dialogue, even in the sound era.
All in all this restoration will surely be a treat for cultural historians with the scholarly desire to parse its signs and symbols -- racial jealousies play a role in the climactic love quadrangle -- and for the way it positions Wong as a coy exotic seductress who gets what she wants with almost invisible wiles.
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Can 18-Year-Olds Still Buy Tobacco Legally in Arizona? AG Suggests Yes
Disgraced Republican David Stringer Is Running for Yavapai County Attorney
CBS 5's Morgan Loew Got Stat Wrong in Medical-Marijuana Report, DHS Director Will Humble Says
Ray Stern
Ray Stern | May 23, 2013 | 10:18am
Ninety percent of medical-marijuana cardholders didn't qualify for nothing but "chronic and severe pain," as Channel 5's Morgan Loew reported last week, the director of the Arizona Department of Health Services told us this morning.
New Times writer Matthew Hendley wrote several articles recently about Loew's May 15 report on how easy it was to obtain a medical-marijuana card, noting several problems with the report. For one, Loew signed a form attesting to the fact that he had chronic and severe back pain, so he shouldn't have complained that the doctor did anything wrong. But Hendley also pointed out that Loew incorrectly stated -- and a graphic accompanying his broadcast showed -- that 90 percent of cardholders were qualified only for severe and chronic pain, and not for other state-approved qualifying ailments such as AIDs, cancer and glaucoma.
See also - CBS 5 "Investigation" Into Medical Marijuana Includes a Made-Up Statistic
- Anti-Pot Pinal County Attorney Thanks CBS 5 for Medical Marijuana "Investigation"
In a Facebook post late night, Loew doubled-down on the debate, complaining that New Times had criticized his work and saying that, "my numbers were right, by the way."
Hendley, in his critique, mentions, quotes Loew as saying in his broadcast, "Ninety percent of the certifications are for severe and chronic pain... "Not cancer, AIDS, glaucoma, ALS, or any of the other specific illnesses that qualify someone for medical marijuana."
Though the percentage of pain-only patients in the program is substantial, DHS' web site states that it's actually 71 percent and not 90 percent -- as Hendley's been saying. The other 29 percent do, in fact, have cancer, AIDS or one of the other qualifying ailments.
DHS Director Will Humble tells us this morning that not only was Loew's info incorrect, but that he'd sent Loew an email with the facts after his report ran. We're not aware of any correction made by Channel 5.
Here's the email Humble sent Loew on May 17:
Just BTW: The New Times ran a blog yesterday criticizing the 90% severe and chronic pain reference. As an fyi... the 90% figure includes the patients that qualified via only Severe & Chronic Pain + the patients that qualified with more than 1 condition- one of which was severe and chronic pain.
Loew responded to our request for comment this morning by accusing us of twisting the facts.
Guess he's not working on that correction.
Ray Stern has worked as a newspaper reporter in Arizona for more than two decades. He's won numerous awards for his reporting, including the Arizona Press Club's Don Bolles Award for Investigative Journalism.
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Twitter: @raystern
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CAMAS, WA (May 8, 2019) – PLEXSYS is proud to be part of the MacAulay-Brown (MacB) newly developed Resilient Command, Control, and Communications Integrated Solution (RC3IS™). RC3IS is a flexible, inter-operable C2 solution intended for use in integrating the command and coordination of multi-domain components of a military. The solution is a self-contained product that leverages both open and industry standards for application integration in a compact format. RC3IS™ can be deployed onto any physical hardware platform to meet mobility or resiliency requirements.
The RC3IS™ is an ideal solution for coalition partners in the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program, where implementing systems and capabilities developed in the U.S. allows foreign countries to perform air operations organically and fight side-by-side with U.S. forces.
“PLEXSYS is excited to be an integrated part of the RC3IS™ command and control solution. We have integrated individually with each of these technologies in past efforts, and the idea of a one-stop-shopping solution, integrated into one compact suite is sensational,” stated Greg Kraut, PLEXSYS Vice President of Business Development and Marketing. “Including the PLEXSYS simulation training solution as an organic capability within RC3IS™, guarantees an immersive, LVC training capability, tailored to the specific requirements associated with operational C2 warfighting.”
Senior engineers at MacB developed an advanced architectural framework, combined with the best commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) components, and integrated them into a single suite creating a fully interoperable solution in line with the current U.S. Air Operations Center (AOC) applications. PLEXSYS’ ASCOT is a core application component, providing radar modeling, scenario creation, exercise generation, data-link messaging capability, data link translation, and dynamic simulation entity play. Additionally, PLEXSYS’ sonomarc communications suite provides radio simulation for RC3IS™ allowing for communications with external simulations on a distributed training network.
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Plight of Byte
Is Google the new Apple?
With the launch of numerous devices, Google is trying to beat Apple. Is “Made by Google” making Google more like Apple?
Google has been a software company and has always followed the strategy of licensing. It makes the software but never actually makes a product out of it. Until now, it had Samsung, HTC & LG designing its hardware. Unlike Apple, which has always been creating its own software and hardware.
Since last year, Google has ventured into manufacturing. They created an initiative “Made by Google” to get into premium devices.
Back in 2007, while launching iPhone, Steve Jobs quoted Alan Kay,
“People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware.”
Apple disrupted the market so hard that no one has surpassed Apple in the smartphone race yet. Whatever Apple does, everyone follows. More accurately, Apple has pulled off things which others couldn’t and now, even they follow Apple.
In the past, Microsoft did beat Apple in personal computer space.
What did Microsoft do?
Microsoft created Windows and started licensing it. Soon it flooded the market with tons of options to choose from. It was cheaper to buy a Windows PC than a Mac. All this helped Microsoft gain traction, which has a lot of perks, keeping the ball rolling.
Google, Samsung and many more tried to beat Apple this way. Google makes the software and its partners make hardware. Just like Microsoft made Windows and Dell made PC. But this time everyone is failing.
What is everyone missing?
Apple is the only one with the secret sauce.
“There’s no other company that could make a MacBook Air and the reason is that not only do we control the hardware, but we control the operating system. And it is the intimate interaction between the operating system and the hardware that allows us to do that. There is no intimate interaction between Windows and a Dell notebook.”
— Steve Jobs
A lot of Apple products are considered benchmarks and it’s because of how revolutionary they are. Others follow standards and end up making things which are similar to one another.
Try shopping for an Android phone, you’ll find a lot of options that are more or less same. It’s confusing what’s better.
“Quality is more important than quantity. One home run is much better than two doubles.”
Apple makes one phone each year. Though Apple has started offering different sizes for a model, nevertheless they can be categorised as one flagship.
With an iPhone, you just buy an iPhone. You can trust it’s the best Apple has to offer and it’s at par with any other phone in the market.
This helps Apple create an image that an iPhone is an iPhone and not just a phone.
Microsoft realised the importance of creating its own device soon when iPad and Mac started eating its sales. Microsoft was never considered as a premium brand. For a PC this doesn’t matter much, as business is the biggest market, which wants whatever’s cost-effective. But things change drastically when it comes to consumers. They want well-designed devices.
Microsoft’s partners were not able to do so. Every partner wanted to stand out among themselves but in reality, they all were just a variation of one another.
Microsoft soon realised this and launch their own line of products named “Surface”. This product line is being received very well, they are considered premium. A surface product is seen as the best marriage of Windows and hardware. Remember Surface Studio?
This has worked so well for Apple & Microsoft that now Google has switched its strategy, risking relations with its partners.
Google is now making its own products like Pixel series, Chromecast, WiFi routers, Google Home and many more. Google wants to create “Pixel” a premium brand. It wants to show the best of its softwares which wasn’t possible with partnering.
Google took things to the next level when they took the “Made by Google” strategy. Unlike Apple, Google has its hands almost everywhere, prominently in machine learning and artificial intelligence. They are putting these expertise to good use when creating their own set of products.
All Google products come together very well to help you. You have the same Google assistant in your laptop, phone, speakers, also now in your ear to help you. They even combined Google translate and Google Pixel Buds to give you real-time translation both ways in 40 languages.
This might have been possible when partnering. But Google choose to go solo. Maybe it’s not willing to share all its expertise with them or it might have taken more time to develop or just that Google wants perfect design and integration.
Whatever may be the reason, they are now offering their own device family just like Apple.
“Devices that work together to make life run smoother.”
— Made by Google
What the future holds?
In my opinion, we will see both Apple and Google making their own devices for some time. But my belief is that Google will come out on the top when the dust settles.
Google has shifted to an “AI first” approach. Google’s AI and machine learning is the biggest weapon it has. They have started using it in their devices while Apple relies on best hardware, design & integration of software to hardware.
Apple was the first to bring voice assistant to the market. But today Google Assistant is way smarter than Siri.
Apple is not going to sit and watch Google win. They are hiring talented people in AI and machine learning. But Google sure has an upper hand in coming war.
Watch the launch videos of iPhone X and Pixel 2 if you haven’t. What do you feel after watching them?
Do you think Google is becoming like Apple? Comment with your views.
Share this article if you like it.
Sumit Gupta • 2018
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Character Head Modeling: A Different Approach
By Eric Kunzendorf
Learn a different approach to modeling heads by using linear NURBS curve cage production as a first step. This approach is fundamentally different from traditional methods and, once mastered, allows you to model from photos as well as drawings. Software required: Maya 2016, Photoshop CC 2015.
Drawings and Photos and Schematics, Oh My!
Introduction 5m Front and Side Images 12m Correcting Alignment Inconsistencies Using Photoshop 9m Correcting Inconsistencies in Photographs Using Photoshop 12m Creating the Maya Template 9m
Cage Match: Producing the NURBS Cage
Third vs. First Degree Nurbs Curves 10m Drawing the Eye, Brow, and Lips 10m Tracing the Nose 9m Contours Around the Lips/nose, Mouth, and Eyes 10m Tracing the Neck, Shoulders, and Skull 9m Tracing the Ear and Base 8m
Polygonal Throw Down: Creating the Face
Tracing the Nose 10m Tracing Around the Eye 9m Building the Mouth 11m Finishing the Mouth Cavity and Nostril 10m Creating the Eye Cavity 10m Extruding the Forehead 11m Defining the Bridge of the Nose and Nostril 11m Fleshing out the Cheek 10m Creating the Chin 9m Filling in the Side of the Head 9m Connecting the Chin to the Neck 6m
Finishing Strong: The Ear and Back of the Head
Shaping the Back of the Head 11m Shaping the Back of the Neck 10m Modeling the Front of the Neck 8m Defining the Sternocleidomastoid 10m Filling in the Side of the Skull 10m Tracing the Ear 9m Defining, Deforming, and Connecting the Ear 10m Redirecting Edges, Cutting Details, and Clean Up 8m UV Mapping the Half-head 10m Mirroring the Geometry and Correcting UV Problems 11m
Modeling requires the artist to think in 3D, but how can you do this when your computer screen and pencil and paper operate in 2D? In this course, Character Head Modeling: A Different Approach, you will unlock the connection between 2D and 3D thinking through a different approach to 3D modeling (as opposed to more traditional methods such as box modeling). First, you will learn about schematics and how to use contour lines extracted from drawings and photographs of the face. Next, you'll discover how to generate a 3D linear NURBS cage, and with it, you will create your head model polygon by polygon, from all parts of the face to the ears and back of the head. By the end of this course, you'll have a new approach to head modeling that will help you create better character models than ever. Software required: Maya 2016, Photoshop cc 2015.
Eric Kunzendorf
Eric Kunzendorf has been teaching computer graphics and animation at the college level for the last two decades at such varied institutions as Jacksonville University, the New Hampshire Institute of Art, the Atlanta College of Art, and the School of Visual Arts’ Savannah campus. He holds a Bachelors of Arts in Art history from Columbia University and a Masters of Fine Arts in Drawing and Painting from the University of Georgia.
Building Walk Cycles in Maya 2017
Introduction to Rigging in Maya 2017
Character Concept and Sculpting Techniques in 3D Coat
More courses by Eric Kunzendorf
Hi, everyone. My name is Eric Kunzendorf, and welcome to my course, Character Head Modeling: A Different Approach. I'm an associate professor of animation at Jacksonville University, and I have over two decades successfully teaching modeling and animation at the college level. In this course, we're going to plan and execute a model of the character, Hugo Gruffman. We will begin by exploring how to create a front and a side view of the character's head. From there, we will trace a 3-D linear nerves cage that we will use to model the character head polygon by polygon. In this course, we will cover the methodology of using front and side view images for modeling; first degree linear versus third degree NURBS curves; grid, curve, and vertex mapping; slicing, dicing, and reorganizing your polygon mesh; and polygon creation and extension using the create polygon and append the polygon tools. By the end of this course, you will have gone a long way to mastering this different approach to character modeling. Before beginning this course, you should have some familiarity with the Autodesk Maya Interface and a basic understanding of Maya's Modeling Toolset is helpful, but not required. I hope you'll join me on this journey to learn this new approach to organic character modeling at Pluralsight, so let's get started.
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Prototyping Game Systems for Swords and Shovels
By MJ Johns
Prototyping is a vital skill for all game developers. This course will teach you the basics of prototyping game systems, including designing, scripting, and testing the new systems, as well as integrating them into an existing game loop.
Understand the Design/Prototype Relationship
The Purpose of a Prototype 9m Assessing Design Needs 13m Understanding the Systems of a Game 11m Plan of Action 8m Assessing System Viability 2m
Building a Prototype Play Space
Creating a Prototype Scene 8m Building with the Pro Builder Tool 7m Testing with the Character 6m
Prototyping Non-combat Systems
Harvesting Loot Drops 10m Harvesting Loot Drops: isHarvestable 11m Harvesting Loot Drops: digSwings 5m Tool Upgrades and Powerups 10m
Adding Juicy Interactions
Digging 12m Opening Chest 10m Shovel Power Boost 10m
Playtesting and Iterating Based on Feedback
Playtesting 4m Reviewing and Assessing Feedback 3m Making Changes 6m
Prototyping is a valuable part of the development process that all games benefit from. In this course, Prototyping Game Systems for Swords and Shovels, you will learn skills and techniques for prototyping systems to integrate with an existing game loop. First, you will learn to dissect a design document and assess the design needs of the project. Next, you will explore the new systems in the existing project. Finally, you will discover how to playtest the prototype and make changes based on player feedback. When you are finished with this course, you will have a fundamental understanding of prototyping that will help you integrate new gameplay into a larger project. Software required: Unity 3D.
MJ Johns
MJ is a game developer and experienced designer, who's passionate about using games to create a better future.
Designing for Virtual Reality
Unity VR Fundamentals
Hi, everyone, my name is MJ, and welcome to my course, Prototyping Game Systems for Swords and Shovels. I'm the founder of Astire Games and a professor at the University of Texas. In this course, we are going to use prototyping techniques to integrate new game play into an existing game loop using Unity and C#. Some of the major topics we will cover include understanding the design needs based on a game design document; building new game systems, including harvesting loot and using power-ups; integrating the new systems with existing gameplay; and playtesting the prototype and iterating based on player feedback. By the end of this course, you'll know how to prototype new game systems for a larger project. Before beginning this course, you should be familiar with the basics of game development in Unity. I hope you'll join me on this journey to learn prototyping, with the Prototyping Game Systems for Swords and Shovels course, at Pluralsight.
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Clair Brothers Solves Multipurpose Audio Problems for Australia’s Holy Spirit College
RHDavis ⋅ Aug 23, 2018
MACKAY, QUEENSLAND AUSTRALIA: Established in 1983 as Emmanuel Catholic School, with classes ranging from year one to year seven, the school went through a renewal process and changed its name to Emmanuel College in 1990. Then in 1995, a second renewal led to its discontinuation, but in its place two schools were formed: Emmanuel Catholic Primary School for students, year seven and under and Holy Spirit College for students in years eight through twelve.
As it works with so many schools, the sports hall at Holy Spirit holds more than just sports matches. The hall hosts numerous assemblies, from college band and choir performances to special ceremonies that include ANZAC Day, college mass, fashion shows, graduations, career expos, and much more. Explains Greg Duncan, business manager at Holy Spirit College, “Each of these events have their own requirements but the common thread to all is the need for high-quality audio and video. So, when we decided to upgrade our audio and video systems, we wanted equipment to take us to the next level and stand the test of time.”
Chosen for the task was Clair Brothers to execute the audio design upgrade and Videopro for the refreshment of the video system’s functionality, quality and longevity. “The new systems are part of an integrated A/V installation and the Clair Brothers equipment is the showpiece of the audio component. These loudspeakers provide a ‘wow’ factor every time they’re used,” explains Martin Ridley of Videopro. “Historically, these types of rooms have limited or poorly designed audio reinforcement. This Clair Brothers system shows what can be achieved.”
Overseeing the installation with an expert eye on Clair Brothers role in the audio upgrade was Wayne Grosser, the director of the company’s Australian office, whose approach to this particular venue system design was based on a long-term solution that would suit the multipurpose nature of the room. “The multipurpose hall always posed challenges because of its size and construction. It’s not necessarily set up to be a performance area, so setting up for different types of performances often proved frustrating.” Grosser points out that, “like any typical basketball hall the acoustics are very lively since the floors are hardwood and the walls are concrete. Plus, the stage is mobile and can vary in size depending on the event.”
The Holy Spirit College sports hall is thirty-six meters wide and nineteen meters deep. In this case Mr. Grosser expertly recommended an array of three Clair Brothers kiT12s (60deg horizontal by 40deg vertical per cabinet) plus one CS218 subwoofer per side. “This gear and configuration provide even coverage of the large width and long throw depth. The truth is, this wasn’t really an application for a line array system. But it works incredibly well,” says Grosser. Furthers Mr. Duncan, “The audio/video solution designed by Clair Brothers and Videopro suit our applications perfectly! We’ve already had a number of events since the installation and the feedback from staff, students and guests has been super positive. We can’t wait for our next event!”
ABOUT CLAIR BROTHERS Clair Brothers is a world-class sound reinforcement company specializing in the design, manufacturing, and sales of professional loudspeaker systems. Founded by Roy & Gene Clair, the company is built on a tradition of excellence with fifty-plus years in the industry as the premier choice of top artists and audio engineers. Innovative engineering and impeccable attention to detail delivers state-of-the-art audio performance from every Clair Brothers product. Their headquarters in Manheim, Pennsylvania serves as the international distribution network hub facilitating product sales and support. For more information please call (717) 665-4000 or email csadd@clairbrothers.com
www.clairbrothers.com
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New York’s Redeemer Church Solves Problems with Martin Audio WPM
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Jonathan Safran Foer on eating animals
The prize-winning American novelist talks about why it's weird to eat meat, his move from fiction to journalism, and why eliminating ignorance will lead to more vegetarianism
by Elizabeth Kirkwood / March 4, 2010 / Leave a comment
Jonathan Safran Foer is the author of the novels Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, and Everything is Illuminated, which won the National Jewish Book Award and the Guardian First Book Award.
Eating Animals, his first extended work of non-fiction, is a powerful and disturbing look at the moral and environmental effects of factory farming and the devastating impact our dietary choices have, on both our health and the world around us. A combination of philosophy, science, memoir and reportage, the book examines the stories we tell ourselves to justify our eating habits and how such fictions can lull us into a brutal forgetting. The novelist JM Coetzee has said of Eating Animals: “Anyone who, after reading Foer’s book, continues to consume factory farm products must be without a heart, or impervious to reason, or both.”
Foer currently lives in New York with his wife, the writer Nicole Krauss, and their two sons.
Elizabeth Kirkwood: Even if you know about the methods of factory farming, this is still a deeply disturbing book to read. Was the writing process equally disturbing, and how did you cope with that?
Jonathan Safran Foer: Yes, it was really disturbing. I coped, probably like you did when reading it. Sometimes I didn’t want to look at it. You have to put it away for a while and come back to it—that was how I wrote it. Also, you do get used to it. If I went to a slaughterhouse now I wouldn’t recoil or find it disgusting. Frankly, I can’t say that I found it disgusting the first time round, so much as sad.
The experience I had, more often than disgust or even sadness, was surprise. So often when I was researching I would discover something and I would call my wife or a friend and say, “You’re never going to believe this…” I really feel like that is the stage our farming system is at now: this “You’re never going to believe this” place. It stretches the limits of what we can comprehend. Someone asked why I didn’t write it as novel, but I think if I had written it as a novel, people might have thought that it was fictional.
EK: Did you ever consider writing it as novel?
JSF: Not really. Firstly, I love novels and I love the way novels don’t have to do anything. There’s no function to a…
3553588285e2584346e3d74.94232403
Mental health report: match political commitment with smart policy
Nigel Crisp / October 9, 2019
Cuts in community services have made life harder for people with long-term mental health...
Climate report: it’s time to decarbonise capitalism
Edward Davey / September 5, 2019
The Labour and Conservative approaches will fail. We need to make Britain the world’s...
Yeah, what alot of bologna. It is a matter of evolution as well - something vegetarians always forget..figuring perhaps that peaceful death will lead them to the promised land. Vegetables are nice, just like non-god existence is when one goes round tooting ones horn as an athiest.. Convienent as God itself really, but no different from the others who believe otherwise. Industry should of course change.. please. we have been talking this way since before Sinclair Lewis... This author is really in need of new subject material.
Benny Souza
It looks like something "new" on behalf of vegetarianism but it is not. Nobody feels sorry for how barbarian agriculture is as machines kill worms when tilling the ground, harvesting, etc. Nobody bothers if orange trees feel sorry when we pluck oranges, etc. Come on folks! Eating is just biological! Stop making it poetical.
Here is a link to my Wall Street Journal review of Foer's book, which challenges the empirical basis of his argument, as it is not valid in the UK. Why did he and his publishers not revise it for UK publication? http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126715497682651975.html?KEYWORDS=Paul+Levy+Safran+Foer
Paul Doolan
Well, at least Paul Levy read the book before commenting, which is more than can be said for the other two comnmentators. I thought what he had to say about writing fiction was interesting. I love the idea 9and agree) that fiction is useless, which makes it all the more important in the technocratic age where most things are reduced to an instrumentalist value.
Jeremy Cave
I think it's a shame that Vegetarians have to orientate themselves to the arguments surrounding compassion or sentience in animals. There are very compelling arguments over the efficiency of meat eating and the poor health/environmental deprivation it brings about. If it was Euro-centric I would give it a read. But I think i'll pass.
Tom Davidson
So the line between fact and fiction has become blurred, has it? I had a similar problem, but cataract surgery corrected it.
B. Tuohy
He didn't write a novel because he wanted to make a political point, and be taken seriously? Ok, but what point did he make in this book? That it's 'kind of' bad to eat animals but it's alright sometimes even though “I don’t want to eat a food that abuses animals in ways that I wouldn’t abuse my dog.”? I don't think he'd allow his dog to be kept on a 'humane' farm with the purpose of being slaughtered and eaten. Am I supposed to take seriously a person who doesn't himself take a serious stance? Sorry, Mr Foer, but if you want people to change their attitude to animals, you'll have to, well, change your attitude to animals.
Richard_Mills
Gurg. Starting at my least coherent and moving swiftly forward, I think my main problem with Mr Safran Foer's account is aptly demonstrated at the point in which he refers to college student's vegetarianism. Apart from the insipid nature of these individuals' voguish fad, it is the myopia of SF's view on the meat industry at it's most transparent. What if say, the 18% of students had rather adopted a diet of free range or ethically, even sustainably produced meat? Even say, had decided to eat meat produced under such conditions in developing countries? Is this an alternative? Is this thought of? Goodness no, that would conflict rather unpleasantly with what is obviously a categorical imperative on behalf of the author, arrived at via goodness knows what fugue of confused logic.
joy gross
Jonathon - I am a fan of yours; rushed to buy Eating Animals the minute it came out.You know my granddaughter Emma Maitland, a friend of Jo's. She and her brother were raised vegetarian but got sloppy about it as they got older. Now, thanks to you, Emma has re-committed. You can catch me on UTube - just click on Joy Gross Skydives. I haven't had a helping of animal for 70 (of my 83) years. I love your brain!
Elizabeth Kirkwood
Elizabeth Kirkwood is a freelance writer living in London.
More by Elizabeth Kirkwood
In defence of veganism
The age of dishonesty
How would you cut public spending?
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What is a portfolio?
Types of portfolio
Portfolio tips
Putting together a creative portfolio
Emma Knowles, Editor
Unlike a traditional cover letter, a creative portfolio gives you the opportunity to express your personality, skills and talent - here's what to consider when putting yours together
Jobs in creative arts are fast-paced, exciting and increasingly popular - in recent years the creative industries have contributed nearly £92billion to the UK economy, and in 2017 the sector created 80,000 jobs (Cebr, November 2017).
That being said, the creative industries are incredibly competitive, and you'll need to make a memorable first impression with employers, admissions tutors and clients. Discover the different types of creative art portfolio you could produce and get advice from the experts on what to include.
Sharing your progress in a portfolio is just as important as the art itself
To secure a creative job, or a place on a creative course, you'll need to demonstrate flair and an aptitude for certain art mediums, software or styles. When you're called for interview, you'll be asked to bring a collection of your work as evidence of your skills and talents to accompany your CV. This collection of work is called a portfolio.
Through the projects you choose to include, your creative portfolio should demonstrate your progression, improvement and range as an artist. Sarah Simms, head of admissions at the University for Creative Arts (UCA), explains the purpose of a creative portfolio. 'It should lead the viewer through your creative journey by exhibiting pieces that showcase a variety of skills, materials, techniques and influences,' she says.
The creative industries provide candidates with the opportunity to create art portfolios in all shapes and sizes.
'It’s important to think of your portfolio as a statement about your work,' says Sarah. 'Don't be afraid to be bold and appeal to a viewer, keeping their attention and leaving them feeling excited about your creative potential.'
Margaret Burgin, careers associate at ScreenSkills, adds: 'An employer will often have a quick look through several portfolios and divide them into two - those they'll look at again, and those they won't. You want to be in the first group, so first impressions are crucial.'
With this in mind, the traditional black folder approach to building a creative portfolio may not be the most effective. A creative portfolio can be presented in a range of formats - through sketchbooks, a website or online journals, to name a few.
Consider taking advantage of the medium you work in to produce your portfolio. As well as showcasing your skills and past projects, you'll demonstrate a creative approach to problem solving.
For instance, Swedish art director Christian Söderholm created The Spotify Portfolio, where he displays each of his projects as albums, and audio presentations of his work are listed as songs. Robbie Leonardo, a freelance multidisciplinary designer, showcases his talents in his video game inspired Interactive Resume.
A digital element is highly recommended for any creative portfolio, even if you don't directly work with technology - if you're a ceramics designer or jewellery designer, for example. You could create an online portfolio by building a website or running a blog - in doing so your work becomes more easily accessible, can be shared further afield and by arranging your work in an eye-catching, engaging way, provides another opportunity for you to demonstrate an eye for detail and composition. Even just storing evidence of your work digitally could work to your advantage.
In digital roles, such as animator, graphic designer and photographer, including evidence of your competency in relevant software is crucial. An online portfolio is perfect for these industries.
Sarah and Margaret offer their insights into what makes a great creative art portfolio, and what you should - and shouldn't - include.
Don't be afraid to show aspects of your work that aren't polished. Nobody is born with refined skills, and exceptional talent doesn't happen overnight - sharing your progress in a portfolio is just as important as the art itself. Sarah says, 'Feel free to include pieces that are experimental or may not have worked as you expected. Documenting the development of these ideas is a great way to show how you approached a task, providing insight into your creative thought processes.'
Prioritise quality over quantity. 'Your audience wants to see your passion and commitment to the discipline you work in, so keep in mind the skills and techniques that will be required. Showcase how you're already applying them to your work,' explain Sarah. Margaret adds, 'Think about your portfolio design - don't make it too long. Most recruiters in the creative industries have limited time to look through portfolios. You're presenting the very best of what you can do, not everything that you've done.'
Get a second opinion before the interview. 'Ask someone you don't know very well to look at your portfolio and get their first impressions,' Margaret advises. 'It's good to know how the work you've put together makes you appear to a total stranger.' If your work contains digital elements, you should also check that these work prior to submitting or presenting your portfolio. As Margaret says, 'Host sites such as YouTube can be unpredictable. If you're using one to display your work, check what the site looks like when it's first opened as a link. Your work might appear on a page with unrelated content, which could change the impression you give.'
Keep your portfolio up to date. Your portfolio should reflect who you are as an artist in the present day. Submitting an art portfolio that doesn't reflect the role you're applying for, or hasn't been updated in a long time, looks unprofessional. Regularly updating your portfolio will show you're constantly developing your skills, take pride in your work and are committed to working in the industry.
See what else the creative arts and design sector has to offer.
Learn more about how to get a creative job.
Read more interview tips.
Written by Emma Knowles, Editor
7 skills you need to succeed in performing arts
Overview of the creative arts sector in the UK
How to get a creative job
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SOAS University of London · Financial and Management Studies
Minimum first degree with good grades in any subject equivalent to a UK upper second class honours.
Our MSc Public Financial Management programme will enable you with the conceptual tools and practical skills to analyse, understand, and play a role in the management of public financial resources.
The core modules of the programme will equip students with theoretical knowledge about programming, budgeting, collecting revenue and reporting about the financial performance of public sector entities. Elective modules will provide students the possibility to deepen their understanding of more specific areas such as, for example, development assistance and foreign aid, the role of capital markets and banks, management accounting and project appraisal. Along the way, students will develop capabilities to analyse, critically appraise and communicate which will provide valuable assets for their professional activity and career prospects.
The subject area of public financial management refers to all systems, processes and tools that public authorities employ to manage the financial resources in the public sector. Public financial management has various ramifications – for example, from the collection of revenue to the budgeting of expenditures, and from financial reporting to the auditing and evaluation of public entities and programmes. The prudent, efficient and effective management of public finances is vital for the delivery of public policies and services.
Why study MSc Public Financial Management at SOAS
we're ranked 11 in the UK and 2 in London for Business and Management by the 2019 Guardian University league table
programmes are delivered by a multicultural and international teaching body, who regularly publish in top international journals
you will develop an excellent understanding of key issues shaping international business strategy
we are specialists in the delivery of more that forty African and Asian languages. As the economies of the Global South continue to expand, knowledge of another language and other cultures will be a big asset in the world of commerce and international trade
you will be joining our community of alumni and academics who have an impact on the outside world of academia
For details, including English language requirements, please see SOAS website
For details of postgraduate fees, please see SOAS website
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Aerospace and Defence Automotive Chemicals Energy Equipment Food and Agriculture Healthcare ICT, Electronics & Semiconductor Materials Packaging
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Stingers Eye Off Usa In Olympic Warm Up
Stingers eye off USA in Olympic warm-up
By: Murray Wenzel Time published 2020-01-13 at 04:57 PM (GMT +11:00)
Australia's women's water polo team will know how their Tokyo preparation is tracking after three games against undisputed world No.1 USA in Brisbane this week.
Rowie Webster knows it will take something special to end the United States' 68-game winning streak, so that's why the Australian women's water polo team have gambled it all for a shot at Tokyo gold.
The Australian Stingers and Sharks will play three Tests against the United States in Brisbane from Tuesday - their last home games before July's Olympics.
London bronze medallist Webster admits loosening America's grip on the sport will be tough, but the Stingers squad have made a conscious decision to fully commit as they aim to repeat their Sydney triumph 20 years ago.
"We've just turned into amateur professional athletes," Webster told AAP.
"We've all committed to that and been off work for six months. It'll be 12 months all up and that's the decision we all made.
"We wanted to give it a real crack and chase that gold ... I'd rather be homeless and have a gold medal than some desk job that no-one enjoys anyway.
"If it doesn't pay off, well you went down gambling, put all your chips on the line and you can live with yourself if you gave it all."
Australia, third at last year's world championships, missed the podium in Rio and that devastation is driving those still in a squad that will be cut by three once the series concludes at the Brisbane Aquatic Centre.
The golden girls of Sydney will reunite in Brisbane and offer moral support to the current crop, while 3,500 juniors will compete alongside the elite squads as part of KAP7 Australian Youth Water Polo Championships.
The men's side have never medalled at an Olympics but, behind world-class captain Aaron Younger, are well positioned to do so this year after silver at the 2018 World Cup and bronze at last year's World League Super Final.
The Australian men's and women's teams will also be donating $100 for every goal scored during the Tests on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday to support various bushfire appeals.
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Diamonds to play fire charity netball game
Aussie Wishnowsky one win from Super Bowl
Aussie plumber Leo eyes NFL career
Gold hope Huni heads big boxing year
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Rap-Up TV
7.25.2019 News
Trump Slams Sweden After A$AP Rocky Charged
President Trump is lashing out at Sweden after A$AP Rocky was charged with assault.
Taking to Twitter on Thursday (July 25), Trump said he was “very disappointed” in Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven for not helping Rocky.
“Very disappointed in Prime Minister Stefan Löfven for being unable to act,” he tweeted. “Sweden has let our African American Community down in the United States.”
Trump said he watched the video of Rocky being harassed by two men on the streets of Stockholm on June 30. “I watched the tapes of A$AP Rocky, and he was being followed and harassed by troublemakers,” wrote Trump before calling on Sweden to “Treat Americans fairly!” He also used the hashtag #FreeRocky.
“Give A$AP Rocky his FREEDOM,” he demanded. “We do so much for Sweden but it doesn’t seem to work the other way around. Sweden should focus on its real crime problem! #FreeRocky.”
Very disappointed in Prime Minister Stefan Löfven for being unable to act. Sweden has let our African American Community down in the United States. I watched the tapes of A$AP Rocky, and he was being followed and harassed by troublemakers. Treat Americans fairly! #FreeRocky
Give A$AP Rocky his FREEDOM. We do so much for Sweden but it doesn’t seem to work the other way around. Sweden should focus on its real crime problem! #FreeRocky
Rocky has been behind bars since July 3 over his alleged involvement in a street brawl in Stockholm. Earlier today, he was charged with assault causing actual bodily harm and faces a maximum of two years in prison or a fine based on his daily earnings. He will remain in custody until his trial begins next Tuesday.
After being urged by Kanye West and First Lady Melania Trump, the POTUS intervened and called the Swedish prime minister to discuss Rocky’s detention and offered to “personally vouch” for his bail, assuring that he’s not a flight risk. “So many people would like to see this quickly resolved!” he tweeted.
Löfven issued a statement saying he would be glad to speak with Trump, but that he “cannot and will not attempt to influence prosecutors or courts.”
The Harlem rapper continues to receive support from celebrities including Justin Bieber, Diddy, G-Eazy, and A$AP Ferg. More than 600,000 people have signed a Change.org petition demanding his release.
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Stop Buying Avo Toast To Afford Your Own Home
Story from News
Millionaire Tells Millennials: "Stop Buying Avocado Toast If You Want To Afford A House"
Natalie Gil
Photo: Alexandra Gavillet
Can’t afford to buy your own home? Silly you! Owning a property is actually as simple as giving up avocado toast and fancy coffee. Haven't you heard?
That’s according to Australian millionaire Tim Gurner, a luxury property developer in Melbourne, who has antagonised young people everywhere by suggesting their housing woes are caused by millennials' spending habits, rather than a combination of stagnant wages and spiralling house prices in many cities.
“When I was trying to buy my first home, I wasn’t buying smashed avocado for $19 and four coffees at $4 each,” he said in an interview with 60 Minutes Australia. “We’re at a point now where the expectations of younger people are very, very high.”
He continued: “We are coming into a new reality where … a lot of people won’t own a house in their lifetime. That is just the reality.”
Tim Gurner believes our housing crisis will be resolved when young Aussies inherit the 'incredible wealth' from the Baby Boomers. #60Mins pic.twitter.com/iET9sus8qW
— 60 Minutes Australia (@60Mins) May 15, 2017
When asked if he believes young people will never own their own homes: “Absolutely, when you’re spending $40 a day on smashed avocados and coffees and not working. Of course.”
He then went on to suggest young people aren't working hard enough by offering his own story as a point of comparison. “When I had my first business when I was 19, I was in the gym at 6am in the morning, and I finished at 10.30 at night, and I did it seven days a week, and I did it until I could afford my first home. There was no discussions around, could I go out for breakfast, could I go out for dinner. I just worked.”
Unsurprisingly, Gurner’s comments went down like a lead balloon on social media.
The average UK house price is £234,795, or in millionaire speak, 39,132 lots of yummy avocado toast at £6 a pop. pic.twitter.com/EEq9HxoBr0
— Shelter (@Shelter) May 16, 2017
@TIME Dear Idiot,
Generational trends like those quoted here aren't due to the popularity of avocado toast.
Home-Owning Millennial pic.twitter.com/VaCsoPjqWF
— Dr. M to the J, Ph.D (@DrM2theJ) May 15, 2017
Help balance my budget! I need to buy a house :(
Internet: 100$
Utilities: 60$
Avocado toast: 150K$
Groceries: 200$ https://t.co/s57kMsfCTH
— Charlie Maas (@Live_Maas_) May 15, 2017
Alright, I did the math. If I stopped eating avocado toast every day, I would be able to afford a bad house in Los Angeles in 642 years. pic.twitter.com/nqhiqnQ07E
— Kaleb Horton (@kalebhorton) May 15, 2017
Confession: I bought a house & ate avocado toast.
Don't take financial advice from some boomer goomer who can't figure out how to do both
— Andrew Thaler (@DrAndrewThaler) May 16, 2017
Gurner isn't the first person to suggest young people's avocado toast habit was ruining their chance of buying a home. Writing in The Australian Magazine last year, columnist Bernard Salt said young "hipsters" were spending too much money dining out.
“I have seen young people order smashed avocado with crumbled feta on five-grain toasted bread at $22 a pop and more. I can afford to eat this for lunch because I am middle aged and have raised my family. But how can young people afford to eat like this? ," he wrote.
"Shouldn't they be economising by eating at home? How often are they eating out? Twenty-two dollars several times a week could go towards a deposit on a house."
Australian Millionaire Millennials Avocado Toast House
News • Work & Money
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John Frost, M&S’s Head of Business Continuity, reveals why he trusts Regus to help keep things running during a crisis
A leading British retailer operating more than 1,400 stores across 57 countries, Marks & Spencer certainly doesn’t have time to waste when a faulty local gas main threatens to its company Head Quarters. Especially when it happens the week before Christmas.
John Frost, the Head of Business Continuity, reveals how a reliable business continuity plan helped M&S at their UK headquarters in Paddington. “Regus recently supported an interruption in which we were able to continue business as usual for more than 2,000 colleagues in our Waterside head office, due to a local gas main being ruptured directly outside the building,” he says.
“The Regus team were able to identify alternative workspace in less than four hours, which was far quicker than the 24-hour SLA that we willingly signed up to. This was greatly appreciated as the incident was the Monday before Christmas and, therefore, a significant commercial time for our business. The Regus team understood the urgency of the situation and responded exceptionally well with clear communication a key part of the successful response.”
Marks and Spencer made use of Regus’s Dynamic Workplace Recovery solution. This tier of cover guarantees that businesses will have a new office ready and waiting for them – either the same or next business day when disruption strikes – offering an appropriate workspace.
“The adaptive nature and the flexible support of the Dynamic Workplace Recovery solution with Regus gives us premium business-grade offices and connectivity to our business and our staff during serious incidents,” says Frost. “On numerous occasions, it has ensured we were able to continue business as usual.”
Regus has been working for Marks & Spencer as their preferred business continuity partner for more than five years, supporting the brand in its locations across the UK, Europe, Asia Pacific and India.
“We are grateful for the collaborative and proactive relationship Regus offers us on an ongoing basis, along with the excellent response that they always provide when supporting us during a crisis,” says Frost.
Regus’s Dynamic Workplace Recovery solution is all about helping companies mitigate their risk, so that when disruptive incidents happen, they can rest assured they’ll have the back-up they need. In today’s climate of uncertainty and unpredictable events, businesses need recovery solutions that support the increased flexibility needed in today’s working world.
Find out how Regus can support your business’s Disaster Recovery Plan
A day in the life of a travelling entrepreneur
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105 results for “Hunt Midwest”
CRE Midwest
Inland's Paul Rogers: CRE's Thriller
November 21, 2014 | B. Herron
In Paul Rogers’ first job out of college, he worked as housing director for a state funded mental health agency located on the north side. He met many landlords including Mel and George Kaplan located in Rogers Park. They told him to get his real estate license and work for them. Rogers did and after 29 years in CRE he hasn’t looked back.
Woodfield Mall and Orland Square Mall announce 2014 holiday season 'Extra Festive' hours
November 6, 2014 | Staff Writer
Industrial X Missouri
Hunt Midwest's Bell: Industrial, multi-family markets boost Kansas City construction market
November 5, 2014 | Dan Rafter
Midwest Real Estate News recently spoke with Mike Bell, general manager of Kansas City’s Hunt Midwest, about the rise in construction activity today in Kansas City. Bell pointed to the industrial and multi-family sectors as the hottest in his market.
Finance i Ohio
Hunt Mortgage Group opens office in Cleveland, names new director
Commercial real estate lender Hunt Mortgage Group has opened a financing office in Cleveland. Daniel Eibler has been named the director of the office.
Bridge sells Freeman build-to-suit
September 11, 2014 | Staff Writer
Bridge Development Partners has sold its 365,359-square-foot build-to-suit corporate facility for Dallas-based Freeman Decorating Services, Inc., to American Realty Advisors, for one of its client portfolios.
PREMIER Design + Build Group, LLC celebrates the groundbreaking ceremony at Bridge Point Marina Mile in Dania Beach, Florida
Bridge Development Partners’ Second State-of-the-art speculative industrial facility in Broward County’s Dania Beach will house distributors, manufacturers and freight forwarders.
CenterLine Capital Group changes name; now known as Hunt Mortgage Group
Chicago-based Centerline Capital Group, a provider of real estate mortgage services for affordable and conventional multi-family housing, has been renamed Hunt Mortgage Group, completing the firm’s transition to Hunt Companies, Inc.
CRE Q Kentucky
Top-producer joins Louisville office of CBRE
March 10, 2014 | Staff Writer
Clay Hunt has joined CBRE's Louisville office as a senior associate. He will work in the office's retail services group.
March 7, 2014 | Staff Writer
CRE X Missouri
Kansas City's Hunt Midwest Real Estate Development hires new construction manager
February 27, 2014 | Staff Writer
Jeff Redhage has been hired as manager of construction with Kansas City-based Hunt Midwest Real Estate Development.
Bridge Development Partners sells 319,043-square-foot industrial facility
Bridge Development Partners LLC has sold the 319,043-square-foot industrial facility at 2700 Alft Lane at Randall Crossings Business Park in Elgin to Boston-based TA Associates for $20.2 million.
Bridge completes two leases at cold storage facilities in Chicago, Lyons
Chicago-based real estate investment firm Bridge Development Partners LLC has completed a new, 59,121-square-foot lease with Miami-based Quirch Foods Inc. at 8424 W. 47th St. in Lyons. Separately, at another cold storage facility at 2658 S. Leavitt St. in Chicago, Bridge renewed tenant Alpha Baking Co. in a 10-year, 53,644-square-foot lease.
Hunt Midwest: Meeting the growing demand for data center space in the Midwest
December 4, 2013 | Dan Rafter
A growing number of businesses can't lose access to their data for even a second. That's why the data center business is booming today.
Ora Reynolds' career-altering decision? She made the right choice
Ora Reynolds was only 27 when she faced a career-altering decision: The president of Kansas City's Hunt Midwest asked Reynolds, who had already worked with the company for two years, whether she wanted to stay with the firm's commercial group or if she wanted to develop and lead a new residential division.
CRE W Minnesota
Military stint provides surprisingly good training for Opus' new senior manager
The typical path to a career in commercial real estate usually doesn’t include a nearly seven-year stop in the U.S. Army. But that’s the path that Phil Cattanach took before becoming senior manager for real estate development earlier this year in the Minneapolis office of Opus Development Company.
Marcus & Millichap sells 4,700-square-foot retail center in Indianapolis
Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services sold a 4,775-square-foot retail center made up of a GNC and T-Mobile in Indianapolis for more than $1.2 million.
Industrial Midwest
Paine/Wetzel TCN Worldwide completes lease on 365,359-square-foot build-to-suit
Paine/Wetzel TCN Worldwide has completed a 15-year lease on a 365,359-square-foot industrial build-to-suit facility on behalf of Freeman in McCook.
Hunt Midwest to break ground on first phase of underground data center in Kansas City
Hunt Midwest Real Estate Development is breaking ground on the first phase of the SubTropolis Technology Center, an underground data center campus in Kansas City, Mo. LightEdge Solutions, a cloud-computing, colocation and consulting company, will be the anchor tenant for the technology center.
Bridge acquires two-building cold storage facility
July 30, 2013 | Staff Writer
Chicago-based real estate investment firm Bridge Development Partners LLC has purchased a 307,000-square-foot, two-building, cold storage facility at the corner of 26th Street and Western Avenue in Chicago.
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The Friendship Endgame
2019-12-20 by Catherine Brinegar in Articles, Overviews, Speculative
(Sky: Children of the Light, thatgamecompany 2019)
Games as a Service has been a much discussed experiment established by the AAA industry, one that has been wildly successful. As the arms race of technical advancements forever bloating development budgets races onward and the tightening of development cycle lengths to meet growing profit demands continues, games release at a dizzying flurry that is at once suffocating yet celebratory. Each year, a new pantheon of titles are added to the record, miles of scripts that inspire and renew, or simply experiences that last wordlessly; a breeze of mechanics and flow fusing into a torrent of fleeting endless memories.
“But,” the corporate mind may ask, “how do we make this profitable for us, a massive corporation wielding the labor of hundreds within our hand? How can we ensure consumers will flock to our products and save their purchasing power for more of what we have?”
“Perhaps the game marches on, incessantly, the celestial seasons hearkening return as the calendar turns anew. We already release a new title of this franchise every August, why not speed it up just a little? Give us a stopgap until the next tentpole is ready to reap the rewards?”
The Sisyphean task of supporting profit growth.
“Ah, yes, we can tell them that we’re no longer providing product but a service, a lasting companionship that will hold their hand through this life; never again will they need feel fear at the wall of possibilities, instead seeing our familiar and loving glow each and every night when they need it. A long day at work, a moment to unwind, we’ll be here, and we will ensure our developers never cease development! Should we continue to pour all these investments into engines, into worlds, into art, no, instead we shall squeeze every last drop from creative output ’til the drips cease and we thirst again.”
“But what, then, is the point? Certainly a Skinner Box proves endless enjoyability for a rat but these moneyhavers are wily — crafty, even. They’ll see the charade plain through eventually and move on to greener pastures. Complex as they may be, the end result is shamefully the same: boredom preceding the eager search for relief elsewhere.”
For those who pluck Destiny from their pantheon of treasures, the recurrent sentiments are common amongst its fans: “There’s so much grind, it feels unrewarding, it’s nothing more than a complicated loot treadmill.” Perhaps you’d ask, “why waste your time?” For myself, I would begin to explain the intricate, Eldritch knowledge you gain as you play and execute the Raids it holds; what other games have you and five others perfectly choreographing a bizarre, incomprehensible dance demanding precision, communication, speed, and endurance? Your reliance on one another all you have, and your reward some flashy models per the standard of the treadmill.
Oh boy, only 90 more levels and I can have a sidekick with a glowy mohawk! (Destiny 2, Bungie 2017)
That time spent, the investment of unearthing this complicated mess of mechanics and puzzles, would be far better spent engaging with and practicing any skill with a more practical application. However, you aren’t spending that time alone, and the tribulations you endure are shared. Stories arise: “Remember that time we…?” It becomes a touchstone, where you gather round the box once a week to suffer once again, the allure of a fancier helmet so enticing that you can’t turn down the chance to try again — so long as your friends are by your side.
Within a lot of games that exist under the Games as a Service (GaaS) moniker, having a space in which you and a gaggle of buddies can engage with one another while working together to achieve something is beautiful. The purpose is forever interchangeable: kill 96 other people on this island, explore the horizons of the known universe together, pretend to be super spies saving America, and so on. Fortnite, No Man’s Sky, and The Division all play into the same pastiche Destiny does; just with different flavours and dressings.
Community Manager DeeJ even outright said that the real reward for Destiny players is the friendships you make along the way.
Back before the GaaS craze, people would flock to MMOs for the sole purpose of being able to adventure and undertake insurmountable challenges with a few pals by their side. World of Warcraft’s 40-man Raids are the pinnacle of cooperative mechanical design, demanding people command a militia of other humans under a common banner for loot. But, the biggest distinction between WoW and Destiny is the speed at which new content is unveiled and released for what becomes a platform of experiences. While Blizzard stood by a fairly intermittent schedule of releasing major Expansion Packs that introduced new content to devour, Bungie has accelerated the process to a pace that has made it a titan of the industry.
Bungie is a studio that has made a fair commitment to end Crunch Culture after their split with Activision but, regardless of their intent, the rate at which new content releases for Destiny 2 must surely keep the team working tirelessly to maintain their headstart on the update schedule. Eventually, Destiny 3 will release and restart the process, moving the post-release team over to the new project, burn-outs tossed aside and replaced to keep the machine oiled. New Raids must be designed, and if not Raids then new weaponry, new armors, new activities to earn them in; the demand will not cease, and to keep these doors open we must supply.
Source: vg247
What does a deconstruction of this trend look like? Strip away the flashy components, the glitz and glam of the endless upgrades of the Loot Treadmill, and what’s left? A glorified dress-up doll. A digital chatroom. A set of mechanics that work best when solving puzzles with others. Thus, we can see that Sky: Children of the Light is the antithesis of everything GaaS is, while still existing within its framework.
A recent mobile title from thatgamecompany (@thatgamecompany), Sky is something of a dark horse. It plays similarly enough to the previous title from thatgamecompany, Journey; the player traverses a strange, surreal world full of beauty and wonder, carrying with them a flame to distribute to a once-proud civilization, urged onward by a gnawing desire to surmount a pinnacle that erupts light. Along the way, the player will stumble across others like them and can chirp to communicate. Light platforming and some minor environmental puzzles create a loop of entering a new area and exploring to find Spirits of the forgotten populace dotting this landscape.
Sky is an outrageously gorgeous game, begging exploration of its vistas.
These Spirits each offer a tree of unlockables for the player, but unlike Destiny where these unlocks drive the push forward into higher-leveled content that then drives the player into even higher-leveled content, and so on, the rewards on offer from these Spirits are cosmetic. They provide single use “Blessings” as well, but these carry an intent of playfulness: Anti-Gravity spells that make you and your nearby friends floatier, make you glow, shoot off fireworks, or place a table down that you and others can sit around and chat.
Sky is built around Seasons, much like Destiny and other GaaS progenitors, which last a few weeks featuring new content, and then disappearing to make way for the next Season. Unlike Destiny, these periods serve to introduce new cosmetics to the world with a light load of daily activities to unlock them. Grinding out all the activities rewards the player with the heady achievement of Having All The Things, not even providing an engorged number to measure your dedication. This then prompts a familiar question: “Why waste your time?”
Time spent with friends is never time wasted.
Unlike Destiny, Sky’s endgame isn’t built around complex and stressful events to center your social gatherings around, but instead facilitates a place for friends to gather and simply be together. The surface-level mechanics provide a slight amount of social lubricant to give you a reason to hop in together, but the most secretive areas and rewards tucked away from first glance simply reward gathering. An early area with a hidden zone plops you in front of a massive sealed door, with eight seats at its base. Should you manage to accumulate the people, it opens. Of course, should you lack the requisite number of acquaintances necessary, this becomes a game of patience wherein you must wait for enough people to stumble over the threshold and choose to wait with you.
Your perseverance is awarded with the only option available to pass the time: conversation. You cast that Table spell you figured would just gather dust, and rather than taking down some bullet sponge, or waiting for an opportune moment to flee cover together, you and the others who gather share stories and jokes, passing the time in earnest. Through and through, Sky utilizes its instances of a shared world to create a social space that is propped up by a GaaS coat of paint.
There are microtransactions to ease the burden of currency collection, Candles, and thus the collection of cosmetics, but the secondary currency, Hearts, can only be traded for with Candles so many times. Thus, the sole source of income for Hearts becomes being gifted them by friends (which requires 3 Candles to gift 1 Heart per day), continuing to build social interaction and the paying of attention to the needs of others at the heart of the game.
Objectives supplied by the ownership of the Season Pass, and thus the crux of “completing” (as much as collecting all the items counts as completion) always has one of the four daily obligations requiring the intervention of others: hold hands in a group of four, open a two-player door, etcetera. Even the post-game, after completing the main story, sees the player Ascend and forgo all their collected upgrade materials (collectibles that allow longer flight), prompting them to return to early-game sections to retrieve these materials, and hopefully help newer players with the ropes in the beginning of their journey. Furthermore, of the key aspects of the game is the flight mechanic which has a limited charge that can be rejuvenated by resting near fire or simply from a shout of a passerby, promoting cooperation and banding together for the most basic of activities: exploration.
Crossing this desert is an arduous task, but it doesn’t have to be done alone.
Similarly to Sky, social multiplayer spaces are abundant in the wide world of games. Easy examples to point to are Second Life, Habbo Hotel, or applications such as IMVU, but what these examples lack is a purpose outside the gathering of friends. Then there are the more obscure examples, such as Uru: Ages Beyond Myst, an MMO focused entirely on cooperative puzzle solving within the extended Myst universe. While featuring a full-fledged single-player campaign, all of its locales along with expansion content can be played with a group of friends.
Together, you and your group uncover swaths of the history of an ancient civilization, a lost culture, all while solely focused on puzzles built around that lost culture. Much like Sky, your primary time spent in the game is socially focused: talking to others, engaging with the playerbase to seek crew that can solve challenges requiring multiple players. It’s really something of a proto-Sky, given its pacifist gameplay and focused intent.
Uru features lush environments dense with oblique puzzles that’ll take more than a few heads to unpack.
Social spaces have been the frustum many a game have been hinged upon, especially when it comes to the multiplayer-centric offerings the industry has cooked up over the years. Whether it’s Everquest or Anthem, the game is always better with a group of friends by your side. But, as the industry shifts further and further into promoting GaaS platforms, we must ask ourselves what the toll is on development teams. Endless reiteration not only breeds trends toward the safe and profitable, but requires backbreaking labor that burns developers out.
We don’t need huge, flashy endorphin-rush-inducing, psychologically refined Skinner Boxes that exist to endlessly trap you. All that we need is a lush hillside, sun breaking over the horizon, our friends at our side. The moments we create will not be owed to byzantine game structures, but instead we will craft them together; our own slivers of time encapsulated by ourselves, reliant only on understanding.
Sky: Children of the Light is currently available on iOS and is in beta on Android. Myst: Uru is available in its entirety on the official website.
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Trump won't seek to block Comey testimony
By JULIE PACE Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump will not assert executive privilege to block fired FBI Director James Comey from testifying on Capitol Hill, the White House said Monday, setting the stage for a dramatic public airing of the former top law enforcement official's dealings with the commander in chief.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the president's power to invoke executive privilege is "well-established." But she said Trump wanted to allow for a "swift and thorough examination of the facts" related to Comey's ouster and the multiple investigations into his campaign's possible ties to Russia.
Comey is scheduled to testify Thursday before the Senate intelligence committee. His appearance will mark his first public comments since he was abruptly fired by the president last month.
White House officials had weighed trying to block Comey by arguing that his discussions with the president pertained to national security and that there was an expectation of privacy. However, officials ultimately concluded that the optics of taking that step would be worse than the risk of letting the former FBI director testify freely.
Legal experts have also said that the president likely undermined his ability to assert executive privilege by publicly discussing his dealings with Comey in tweets and interviews.
Lawmakers in both parties have urged Trump to allow Comey to testify publicly. On Sunday, Sen. Roy Blunt, a Missouri Republican and a member of the intelligence committee, said the president would be "better served by getting all this information out."
"Sooner rather than later, let's find out what happened and bring this to a conclusion," Blunt said on "Fox News Sunday." ''You don't do that I think by invoking executive privilege on a conversation you had apparently with nobody else in the room."
Comey associates have alleged that Trump asked the FBI director if he could drop an investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn and his Russian contacts. The White House has denied the president made that request.
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Shadowrun, 4th Ed.
Hottest Shadowrun, RPG Fiction
Shadowrun Legends: A Fistful of Data
In the abandoned factory known as the Crypt, society's castoffs have found a place to call home. Some of the Crypt's denizens are hiding or on the run; some have nowhere left to go. But the Crypt protects its own, providing care for street kids as well as medical and magical healing for those in need. It also sports an illegal tap into the Matrix, and hosts a coven of some of the most successful shadowrunners... [click here for more] Catalyst Game Labs $4.99
Shadowrun Legends: Aftershocks
The troll known as Hood and his fellow Shadowrunners steal some biotechnological agriculture from the Plantech Corporation--only to find themselves framed for murder and tied to an even greater conspiracy. Note: This zip file includes ePub and Mobi (Kindle) versions of the novel. ... [click here for more] Catalyst Game Labs $4.99
Shadowrun Legends: Blood Sport
Let The Games Begin Mama Grande streaked through Leni's life like a bad dream. She arrived out of nowhere, claiming to be the ex-Lone Star detective's grandmother. She prophesied rivers of blood and an earth in flames. But her murder was even more bizarre: she died at the hands of two Yucatán missionaries hiding a secret of the Gods. With combat biker wannabe Rafael in tow, Leni dives into... [click here for more] Catalyst Game Labs $4.99
Shadowrun Legends: Burning Bright
SPARE NO EXPENSE MISSING: Mitch Truman, heir apparent to an entertainment megacorporation. He may have fled his parents for the sake of love, but if magic is involved the reason could be darker... WEALTHY: Dan Truman, CEO of media giant Truman Technologies, doesn't care how much it costs--he wants his son back. He'll hire the best to find his heir, even if their motives are suspect... EXPERIENCED:... [click here for more] Catalyst Game Labs $4.99
Shadowrun Legends: Choose Your Enemies Carefully (Secrets of Power, Vol. 2)
When Magic Returns to the Earth its power calls Sam Verner. As Sam searches for his sister through the slick and scary streets of 2050, his quest leads him across the ocean to England, where druids rule the streets...and the throne. But all is not what it seems, and Sam and his new shadow friends are plunged into a maze of madness on the trail of destruction. Only when Sam accepts his destiny as a... [click here for more] Catalyst Game Labs $2.99
Shadowrun Legends: Clockwork Asylum (The Dragon Heart Saga, Book 2)
In this second book of the greatest epic in Shadowrun history--the maelstrom of cyber-magic and political intrigue following President Dunkelzahn's assassination rages out of control. Ryan Mercury, Dunkelzahn's secret agent, is torn between his duty and his desire to find a killer. But when a spirit wrongly concludes that Ryan is working for the enemy, he anoints a cyberzombie to carry out a hit of... [click here for more] Catalyst Game Labs $4.99
Shadowrun Legends: Crossroads
Battle Beneath the Streets of Boston! In the magical world of 2060, street mage Tommy Talon has hit the big time. He's a member of Assets, Inc., one of the best shadow-teams in the business, but now he's drawn back to his home town of Boston by secrets from his past. Secrets that lead him into conflicts with megacorporations, yakuza gangsters, and a powerful spirit that's hunting for him. Talon... [click here for more] Catalyst Game Labs $4.99
Shadowrun Legends: Dead Air
JACKED-IN, REVVED-UP... It's fast and furious inside the Combat Biker maze, where armor-plated hogs and juiced-up rice grinders blast, pound, and pummel each other for points. But it's just barely up to speed for Jonathon and Tamara, two elven bikers at the head of the Los Angeles Sabers. With a simsense link between them that allows them to act virtually as one, they're been tearing... [click here for more] Catalyst Game Labs $4.99
Shadowrun Legends: Drops of Corruption
Bannickburn is a burned-out Scottish mage with little power and fewer prospects when he falls into fast company. A notorious crime boss, Bigio family caporegime Quinn Bailey offers him a job that could turn hs life around. Soon Bannickburn is living once again in the style he's accustomed to. But then Bannickburn tries to leave the family, Bailey calls in his markers, and Bannickburn must aid the... [click here for more] Catalyst Game Labs $4.99
Shadowrun Legends: Fade to Black
In 2055, Newark is an over-crowded urban nightmare populated by hordes of SINless indigents. Millions live in abject poverty. Violence is rampant. Brutal gangs and vicious criminals control many sections of the city like feudal lords. Amid this harrowing landscape, Rico gathers his team: Shank, Thorvin, Piper, and the eccentric shaman known as Bandit. The job is to free a man from a corporate contract... [click here for more] Catalyst Game Labs $4.99
Shadowrun Legends: Fallen Angels (The Kellen Colt Trilogy, Book #3)
Kellan Colt has come far in her magical training. but all her accomplishments haven't satisfied her desire to know the truth about her shadowrunner mother, and to learn the secrets of the amulet she found among her mother's possessions. Kellan is determined to find answers - and to earn the respect of her fellow runners in the process. Lately Kellan has been troubled by disturbing dreams. Something... [click here for more] Catalyst Game Labs $4.99
Shadowrun Legends: Find Your Own Truth (Secrets of Power, Vol. 3)
He was only a "beginner" shaman, but Sam Verner had to find a cure to ward off the curse on his sister. Only something of great magic would do the trick. It was this quest that took him to a mystical citadel in Australia, where, with the aid of his shadowrunner friends, he recovered the strange artifact he hoped would prove helpful. But instead of anything that even remotely resembled help,... [click here for more] Catalyst Game Labs $4.99
Shadowrun Legends: Headhunters
NEVER TELL A DEAD MAN YOUR SECRETS Somebody aced the dragon Dunkelzahn, and one of the mysterious links to the assassination is flat on his back in slab city: a double agent with two identities--both out of commission. Now he's the most-wanted carcass in Tacoma. Jack Skater's mission? Sleaze past the high-tech funeral security, outwit the Knight Errants, cop the stiff, and keep it on ice long enough... [click here for more] Catalyst Game Labs $4.99
Shadowrun Legends: Just Compensation
WASHINGTON IS BURNING! Andy is happy as a shadowrunner wannabe, but when he accidentally gets involved with real runners, the game of Let's Pretend is over. So is his safe corporate life. Andy's half brother, UCAS Army Major Tom Rocquette, has some doubts about what he's involved with too. Why, for example, is he being ordered to mercilessly massacre the Compensation Army, a group that, like him,... [click here for more] Catalyst Game Labs $4.99
Shadowrun Legends: Never Trust an Elf
When Kham, an ork living in the Seattle ghetto in the year 2053, is suddenly snatched from his day-to-day existence and thrust into a world of dragons, he learns the hard way whom to trust. (This zip file contains two versions of Never Trust an Elf: one epub file (for use with many popular e-readers) and one azw file (for use with the Amazon Kindle). This book is based on an advanced reader copy... [click here for more] Catalyst Game Labs $4.99 $3.99
Shadowrun Legends: Night's Pawn
For years, Jason Chase was at the head of the pack, shadowrunning with the best in the business. When time dulled his flesh and cybernetic edge, he knew it was time to get out, or get dead. Now, his past has come back to haunt him. To protect a young girl from the terrorists who want her dead, Chase must rely on his years of experience, and whatever his body has left to give. And everything he's got,... [click here for more] Catalyst Game Labs $4.99
Shadowrun Legends: Poison Agendas (The Kellen Colt Trilogy, Book #2)
DEEP IN THE SHADOWS... Kellan Colt has been making a name for herself as one of Seattle's up-and-coming shadowrunners, and she believes she's ready to break out on her own. Opportunity knocks when she learns the location of a secret weapons cache abandoned by the U.S. military. With the right buyer, a score this big has the potential to secure Kellan's reputation - and her bank account.... [click here for more] Catalyst Game Labs $4.99
Shadowrun Legends: Preying for Keeps
Played For A Sucker When ace shadowrunner Jack Skater leads his team of commandos in a raid on an elven ocean freighter, things get a little sticky. Yakuza hitmen crash the party, and a Japanese shaman whips up a titanic sea creature just to make sure nobody gets out alive. Now, having escaped with his troops by the skin of their teeth, Skater wants to find out who set him up. But it isn't going... [click here for more] Catalyst Game Labs $4.99
Shadowrun Legends: Psychotrope
LIFE SPAN: 12 MINUTES It started out as a simple Matrix run, but now five deckers are trapped inside a nightmarish virtual landscape where jacking out is an impossibility--and what waits has all the hallmarks of the afterlife: tunnels of brilliant light, greetings from long-dead friends and family...and the terrifying sense of being juggled between Heaven and Hell. But in this computer-generated netherworld,... [click here for more] Catalyst Game Labs $4.99
Shadowrun Legends: Ragnarock
DIGGING FOR DANGER In the twenty-first century, magic brings out the best in people--and the worst. Tommy Talon should know. As head of a successful shadow-running team, it's the dark side of people that brings him business. This time he's hired to hunt a murderous archaeologist and recover a magical relic. But Talon's not hunting alone. Someone else wants the artifact too--someone very powerful.... [click here for more] Catalyst Game Labs $4.99
Shadowrun Legends: Run Hard, Die Fast
A MEGACORP BACKSTAB! Argent is the best shadowrunner in the biz...with one flaw: he's got a conscience. That's why he can't leave a chummer hanging. Only Andi Sencio is more than just a friend. She's his former partner--and lover. And now she's in the deepest drekpot of her life. Heading an op on a datasnatch turned bad, she's been stranded by the megacorp she works for--and targeted for flatlining... [click here for more] Catalyst Game Labs $4.99
Shadowrun Legends: Shadowboxer
Too Hot To Handle For Two Bears, a dwarf mercenary accustomed to running the shadows, the job sounded like an easy way to make a huge stack of cash: track down and discover the meaning of the word "IronHell." But when the decker he approaches for help gets her brain fried on the Matrix, Two Bears konws he's up to his stout little shoulders in drek. Too Cool To Give Up Realizing that... [click here for more] Catalyst Game Labs $4.99
Shadowrun Legends: Steel Rain
Sword Of The Serpent Machiko is second-in-command of the Green Serpent Guard, an elite corps of Elven samurai who are sworn to defend the Chairman of Nagato Corporation. But she soon gets a promotion - after her superior is ruthlessly cut down in a slew of attacks aimed at the famous Guard itself. Only the wealthiest can afford assassins with enough muscle to take on the Green Serpent Guard, and... [click here for more] Catalyst Game Labs $4.99
Shadowrun Legends: Stranger Souls (The Dragon Heart Saga, Book 1)
DEATH OF A DRAGON Dunkelzahn the dragon's election as President of the United Canadian American States promised the dawn of a new era. But the hopes of a nation disintegrate with the powerful explosion that assassinates him. On that same fateful evening Dunkelzahn's most trusted special agent, Ryan Mercury, is on a secret mission of great urgency involving dangerous magic. And only a miracle can save... [click here for more] Catalyst Game Labs $4.99
Shadowrun Legends: Striper Assassin
Prey For The Hunter For the world of humans knows her as Striper, the deadly Asian assassin and kick-artist. She has come to the City of Brotherly Love seeking revenge and made it her killing ground. But she is not the only predator stalking the dark underbelly of the Philadelphia metroplex. There are other hunters prowling the night, and some possess a power even greater than hers. Some may even... [click here for more] Catalyst Game Labs $4.99
Shadowrun Legends: Tails You Lose
TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN When a shadowrunner managed to extract PCI's most vital employee, it was Alma's job as security expert to get him back--no matter the cost. But all the evidence pointed to the one person who couldn't have done it...herself. Branded a traitor, Alma has one shot at redemption: find the real culprit. But she's never faced an enemy like this one. This 'runner not only looks... [click here for more] Catalyst Game Labs $4.99
Shadowrun Legends: Technobabel
A MEGA-BYTE BLOW-OUT IN 21ST CENTURY BOSTON He awoke in a body bag, his brain fried, a black hole where his memory should be. If not for the cool carbon-fiber blade concealed in the bones of his arm, he would've been dead for sure. But Michael Bishop--a.k.a. Babel, messiah of the Matrix--is back in the game. Renraku Computer Systems has defied the accords of the Corporate Court. Now they must decipher... [click here for more] Catalyst Game Labs $4.99
Shadowrun Legends: The Burning Time
HOT ALL OVER Low-level programmer Roy Kilaro wants nothing more than to become a Seraphim--an elite corporation operative--and experience some real action in the shadow ops between the megacorporations. He gets more than he ever wanted when a routine business trip to Boston lands him at ground zero of a running battle for survival. The combatants: a group of hardened 'runners trying to finish a... [click here for more] Catalyst Game Labs $4.99
Shadowrun Legends: The Forever Drug
The Biggest--and Last--High of Your Life There's a new "drug" on the streets, promising a phenomenal--and deadly--high. But this time the dealers aren't selling a substance. They're working with a creature called a "corpse light"--a creature of pure magic that gives the customer a euphoric rush...as it drains the poor sap's life away. Romulus was the first to see this new scourge... [click here for more] Catalyst Game Labs $4.99
Shadowrun Legends: Who Hunts the Hunter
Hunter and Hunted From the distant forests of Maine comes the deadly Weretiger known as Striper, seeking nature's own special justice. From the shadowed heart of the South Bronx comes the shaman called Bandit, interested only in the pursuit of his arcane arts, and the reconciliation with nature that Raccoon demands. From the nightmare streets of Newark come Monk and Minx, seeking life itself.... [click here for more] Catalyst Game Labs $4.99
Shadowrun Legends: Worlds Without End
Spawned in the realm between the worlds, a Horror comes. Defeated in battle centuries before by the elven mage Aina, it walks again, seeking vengeance on the mortal lands. If Aina fails to convince the courts of Tir na nOg and Tir Tairngire of the danger, she will have to face the Horror alone once more--or watch the world end. Note: This digital edition includes the ePub and... [click here for more] Catalyst Game Labs $4.99
Shadowrun: Adversary (Enhanced Fiction)
Listen Carefully They say everyone’s got a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other, giving them advice and trying to influence them. Well, in the Sixth World, the angel’s drunk in a gutter somewhere, and the devil Just. Won’t. Shut. Up. What’s worse, three-quarters of the time, that devil’s advice sounds downright reasonable and even moral compared to the drek... [click here for more] Catalyst Game Labs $0.99
Shadowrun: Big Dreams (Novella)
Slacker corp mage Cody's bad day is about to get a lot worse. Losing his job is crappy enough, but when his talismonger uncle turns up dead and dissected in his shop, Cody finds himself on the run from some very nasty people who want something they think he has. The problem is, Cody has no idea what it is. Turning for help to old friends from his Barrens roots, Cody soon learns that his problems... [click here for more] Catalyst Game Labs $2.99
Shadowrun: Blind Magic
Lucas, a gifted shaman and member of the Salish-Shidhe Council, is respected for his arcane talents among his tribe. When he’s blinded during a shadowrun on an Evo Corporation outpost, he’s fitted with a set of cybereyes during his recovery. But upon his return to the Council, the tribe banishes him, saying the cyberware he’s accepted makes him unfit to be a shaman. Distraught, Lucas... [click here for more] Catalyst Game Labs $2.99
Shadowrun: Deniable Assets
LOST SECRETS ARE THE DEADLIEST SECRETS OF ALL... Shadowrunner Katar Hawke knows the score on the streets. Every job is to be executed swiftly and simply—no muss, no fuss, and with as little help as possible. But when an extraction of a seemingly ordinary grad student from a Central American dig goes south in a big way, Hawke has to keep them both alive while he figures out what he’s stumbled... [click here for more] Catalyst Game Labs $12.95 $4.99
Shadowrun: Drawing Destiny (Tarot Anthology)
THE TAROT HAS AWAKENED… …And nothing will ever be the same again. The Tarot, a mystical divination deck of cards, has appeared in the Sixth World as a powerful artifact. It works its will on anyone who finds one of its magical cards, from runners surviving on the street to corp executives battling in the boardroom. And not just people’s lives will be changed, for the Awakened... [click here for more] Catalyst Game Labs $4.99
Shadowrun: The Seattle Gambit (Enhanced Fiction)
Sucked Back In Former shadowrunner Yuri Yehzov has discovered that the shadows have long tendrils. Life pushed him and Soren, his new partner in crime (and everything else), to Seattle, where they’ll have to do what thousands have done before them—figure out how to scrape by and attempt to build a life. If there’s one thing the darker corners of the Sixth World have in common,... [click here for more] Catalyst Game Labs $1.99
Shadowrun: World of Shadows
DARKNESS EVERYWHERE The Sixth World is a dangerous place, with deadly hazards lurking around every corner. Everywhere shadowrunners go, from the top of the world to the deepest, darkest Sprawl neighborhood, someone’s always looking to make their rep by taking you down. World of Shadows is the second anthology of original Shadowrun short stories, each one showcasing some of the most far-flung,... [click here for more] Catalyst Game Labs $12.95 $4.99
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Valkyria Chronicles 4 on Steam updated to the Complete Edition
by Adam Vitale, 07 November, 2019
Sega has updated the Steam release for Valkyria Chronicles 4 to the Complete Edition, which means that all the DLC for the game is now included in the purchase price. The Complete Edition was already made available as a digital option for the console versions of the game earlier this year.
On one hand, this means that Valkyria Chronicles 4 is now $49.99 on Steam when it has often been on sale for less than that, but on the other hand, now it includes DLC and anyone who owns Valkyria Chronicles 4 on Steam already has been given the DLC for free.
The short announcement was made on the Steam page, which states the following:
Valkyria Chronicles 4 has been updated to the Complete Edition which now includes all bonus DLC!
Previous owners of Valkyria Chronicles 4 will automatically receive the Complete Edition content.
Squad E, move out!
The DLC for Valkyria Chronicles 4 largely includes extra missions, including a cameo set featuring the cast of the original game. They are as follows:
Valkyria Chronicles 4 - A United Front with Squad 7
Valkyria Chronicles 4 - Advance Ops
Valkyria Chronicles 4 - The Two Valkyria
Valkyria Chronicles 4 - Expert Level Skirmishes
Valkyria Chronicles 4 - Squad E, to the Beach!
Valkyria Chronicles 4 - A Captainless Squad
Valkyria Chronicles 4: Complete Edition digital bundle now available
Valkyria Chronicles 4 launches on September 25
Valkyria Chronicles 4 gets English trailer and Special Edition
Valkyria Chronicles 4 Review
Valkyria Chronicles Remastered
Valkyria Chronicles 3: Unrecorded Chronicles
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Half term fun ideas for in and around Saffron Walden, Dunmow and Cambridge
Getting set for half-term fun at Audley End Miniature Railway
Here are our top tips for things to do this half-term including ghost stories, spooky craft sessions and dinosaurs that move.
Cressing Temple Barns:
October 26 to November 2: Pick your pumpkin and carve it. Meet slithery creatures at Snakes Alive and make spooky slime to take home (in a bookable workshop for years four plus). Acts include sword swallowing, fire-eating, stilt walking and a magic show.
For older children, evening events include Rocky Horror Picture Show drive-in movie, and Terrifying Tales in 13th century barns.
Witham Road, Cressing CM77 8PD.
www.visitparks.co.uk/events/spooky-fun or 01206 573948.
Audley End Miniature Railway:
October 25-November 3, 10am to 4.40pm. See witches, crafts, storytelling, dance tent. Booking required. No tickets on the day. www.audley-end-railway.co.uk.
Audley End House and Gardens:
Until November 3, Hallowe'en half-term activities. www.english-heritage.org.uk/audleyend.
Saffron Walden Museum:
October 30, 31, Spooky activities. 30 minutes sessions, 10.30am-12.30pm and 1.30pm-4pm. £1.50, book in person at the museum, Museum Street, CB10 JL. Children must bring an adult.
November 1. Museums at Night. 01799 510333 or saffronwaldenmuseum.org.
Braintree:
October 29, The Museum at Dusk, 11am-6pm, spooky fun including an anamatronic dino, Reggae Rex Show, 30-minute shows at 2pm,3pm 4pm 5pm. Included in entry to museum, no need to book.
October 30, 31, November 1, Hallowe'en crafts, 10.30am-noon. £3 per child, under fives, £1, Advanced booking on 01376 328868.
October 30 the Packing Shed, presents two new ghost stories. ages 12+ www.visitparks.co.uk/events/spooky-fun or 01206 573948.
Cambridge Junction:
November 3, Narky Sizzle and The Coconuts. Pay what you feel. Drop in workshop to make a show. 11.30-4pm. Ages four to 10. Junction.co.uk or 01223 511511.
ADC Theatre, Cambridge:
October 29-November 2, Twelfth Night. 7.45pm. Tickets, Tuesday, £11/£9, Wed/Thur £14/£10, Fri/Sat £15/£11. 01223 300085 or adctheatre.com.
Cambridge Arts Theatre:
Until October 26, Tom Gates. Friday, 2pm and 6pm. Saturday 11am and 3pm. £25 adults, children £19 from 01223 503333 or cambridgeartstheatre.com.
Rhodes Arts Centre, Bishop's Stortford:
October 28, Jill Murphy's Peace at Last at 2pm, 30 minutes show followed by playtime. Tickets, £10 or family £32.
October 29, Michael Morpurgo's I Believe in Unicorns. 2pm. Suitable for ages 6+. Includes a book swap. Take a children's book for age six upwards for the stage set at the beginning of the show. At the end ,the children can swap the books. £14 or £52 family. rhodesartscomplex.ticketsolve.com. 01279 710200.
Clavering Village Hall:
November 2, one-hour version of A Midsummer Night's Dream including supper for £12.50. 8pm, Clavering Village Hall, Hill Green, CB11 4QS. Tickets from Clavering Post Office, Saffron Walden Tourist Information 01799 524002 or Eventbrite.
Chelmsford Civic Theatre:
October 26, Little Stars Circus, 4pm. October 27, Milkshake Live, noon and 3.30pm. October 28, Mr Men and Little Miss Stage Show, noon. November 1, Dear Zoo Live 1.30pm. Tickets 01245 606505 or boxoffice@chelmsford.gov.uk
Saffron Screen:
October 26, Dora and the Lost City of Gold (PG) 2pm. Downton Abbey (PG) 5pm. October 28, A Midsummer Night's Dream from the Bridge Theatre, 3pm. October 29, The Art of Racing in the Rain (PG), 3pm. October 30, One Man Two Guvnors, (film of the play at the National Theatre) 7pm. October 31, Hotel Transylvania (U) Hallowe'en screening, 3pm. Ad Astra (12A) 8pm. November 1, 2, Abominable (U) 3pm. Tickets, Saffronscreen.com or Tourist Information 01799 534002.
Haverhill Arts Centre:
October 28, Downton Abbey (PG) 7.30pm. October 31 Northern Ballet's Dracula 7.15pm (live broadcast).
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With over 500 patents and manufactured in the world’s most advanced electrochromic plant, SageGlass makes one product: the world’s most intelligent, reliable electrochromic glass that is as dynamic as the people it benefits.
Our company started in 1989 in Valley Cottage, N.Y., with a singular and ambitious mission: to completely reinvent what glass means for buildings. We soon became the first to develop electrochromic technology and spent the years that followed innovating and building upon our revolutionary product.
In 2010, we announced our triple-pane glazing product, the world’s most energy-efficient window glass, and this led us to an important partnership. Saint-Gobain, the Paris-based world leader in building materials for 350 years, invested $80 million in our company. By 2012 Saint-Gobain had acquired 100% of SageGlass, making it a wholly owned subsidiary and a key part of its innovation strategy.
Our founder - John Van Dine
WHERE WE'RE GOING
Today, we’re proud to own and operate the largest and most advanced electrochromic glass plant on the globe. Since the first construction project using SageGlass, we have installed electrochromic glass in hundreds of projects and iconic buildings worldwide.
Every day, our perseverance pays off in small ways that give the world more beautiful, energy-efficient, occupant-centric buildings. We invite you to become part of our story.
We are a company of ideas that are nurtured by a commitment to research and development. The achievements of our founder inspire us to reach for the next great solution. With an ever growing list of green certified installations, SageGlass is committed to the mission of providing a dynamic system which helps to create more comfortable interior spaces to benefit everyone in the built environment.
What is SageGlass?
SageGlass is a leading electronically tintable glass for windows, skylights and curtain walls. It tints automatically or on demand to control sunlight, without shades or blinds, maintaining your connection to the outdoors and reducing energy consumption. The technical term is electrochromic glass or dynamic glass.
What is SageGlass for?
SageGlass maximizes interior daylight, preserves views and keeps people connected to the outdoors, making them happier, healthier and smarter. SageGlass also saves energy by harnessing the sun’s warming rays in winter and deflecting them on hot summer days.
Is SageGlass better suited to some types of buildings?
SageGlass has been incorporated into a wide variety of commercial buildings and is a good fit for any project where controlling the sun is a challenge. Some of the leading types of projects where SageGlass has been used include commercial offices, schools and universities, healthcare facilities, cultural institutions, government facilities and skylights in a wide variety of buildings.
Why should I consider electrochromic glass instead of conventional glass or solar control solutions?
Electrochromic glass such as SageGlass is energy-efficient and it removes the need for shading devices that can block our view of the outdoors and are less sustainable. Buildings are arguably our country’s greatest energy liability. They consume nearly 40 percent of our total energy and 68 percent of our electricity while emitting 38 percent of CO2 into the atmosphere annually. Energy lost through conventional windows accounts for approximately 30 percent of heating and cooling energy, according to the US Department of Energy. Shades, blinds, louvers, fins or other mechanized sun control devices sever our connection to the outdoors and add to a building’s environmental impact. Prior to SageGlass, there was no viable way to provide natural daylight and an outdoor view while simultaneously controlling glare, heat gain and energy use. Now there is.
Learn about how SageGlass has been helping government buildings meet energy-efficiency and worker comfort requirements.
Does SageGlass require power?
It takes less electricity to operate 2,000 square feet (186 square meters) of SageGlass than it does to power a single 60-watt light bulb. Learn how SageGlass Works.
See the Full FAQ
The SageGlass team is a group of thinkers, designers and innovators out to change the way people think about glass. We foster an all-inclusive, collaborative, and dynamic environment that inspires creative team members who are driven by purposeful work. SEARCH OPEN POSITIONS
FLEXIBLE HEALTH BENEFITS
Recognizing that each employee and their family has different needs, SageGlass offers a comprehensive suite of flexible medical benefits that include: medical, dental, life insurance, short and long term disability, flexible spending accounts, long-term care options, group legal and wellness programs.
SageGlass offers a Retirement Accumulation Plan through Saint-Gobain. If applicable, an employee becomes eligible the first day of the month on or after the first anniversary of the hire date. Saint-Gobain sets up an individual account for that employee and makes an annual percentage credit to that account that increases with years of services. If an employee leaves or retires from the company, they may receive a lump-sum balance or a series of annuity payments. Learn more with this video.
In addition to a Retirement Accumulation Plan, SageGlass offers the opportunity for individuals to enhance their retirement savings by participating in a 401(K). This plan is administered by Fidelity Investments and offers numerous investment options to suit a variety of investors.
A competitive vacation plan is available to all employees at the time of their hire, with vacation time increasing with years of tenure.
PROGRAM REBATES AND VENDOR DISCOUNTS
SageGlass offers a variety of discounts for team members, including applicable gym memberships, mobile phone plans and car dealership discount programs.
SageGlass offers the LiveWell program to encourage our team members to live a healthy lifestyle.
SageGlass offers Tuition Assistance for undergraduate and graduate level degrees.
The aforementioned benefits are applicable to US team members only.
PRODUCTION CAREERS - VIDEO
Watch an overview of different production careers available at SageGlass. WATCH HERE
SAGEGLASS CULTURE
SageGlass is by far the best place to work for numerous reasons, first and foremost, the culture of the organization thrives on valuing its team members. We love working here! So much so we have a series of videos called SageTalks that discuss just that. WATCH HERE
What do current and former team members think of SageGlass? Find out HERE
A Shared Perspective
The SageGlass team is a group of thinkers, designers and innovators out to change the way people think about glass. Get to know our team below.
Alan McLenaghan, PHD
Dr. McLenaghan has more than 20 years of experience in the manufacturing industry and has held numerous positions within the Saint-Gobain family of companies, including VP of Operations at SageGlass and SVP of Technology at Verallia North America.
Dragos-Victor Iancu
Mark Jarrett
TJ Wright
1st Shift Team Leader
Matt Rademacher
Equipment Maintenance Technician
Ruth Schlitz
Final Test Development Engineer
Julien Orillard
Architectural Project Manager
Christophe Barruezo
Specification & Sales Manager France
Jordan Vandyke
Josh Battles
Architectural Solutions Manager
David Pender, PhD
Dr. Pender has more than 16 years’ experience in the manufacturing industry. He is responsible for all operational aspects of SageGlass, including production, quality, logistics and site maintenance.
Shawna Westphal
Sample Coordinator
Philip Spande
Architectural Solutions Project Manager
Kate Huinker
Graphics & Web Designer
Dario Garcia
We're in good company.
See All Our Partners
SageGlass is truly the world leader in electrochromic glass, and we've got the recognition to prove it.
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Tide predictions map
Show nearby ship positions
Show nearby weather observations
N 26°07', W 080°09' tide Andrews Avenue bridge, New River, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
N 26°07', W 080°06' tide Bahia Mar Yacht Club, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
N 25°54', W 080°08' tide Bakers Haulover Inlet (inside), Florida
N 25°53', W 080°10' tide Biscayne Creek, ICWW, Florida
N 26°21', W 080°05' tide Boca Raton, Lake Boca Raton, Florida
N 25°39', W 080°10' tide Coral Shoal, Biscayne Channel, Florida
N 26°19', W 080°05' tide Deerfield Beach, Hillsboro River, Florida
N 26°28', W 080°04' tide Delray Beach, ICWW, Florida
N 25°44', W 080°14' tide Dinner Key Marina, Biscayne Bay, Florida
N 25°46', W 080°10' tide Dodge Island, Fishermans Channel, Biscayne Bay, Florida
N 25°46', W 080°10' tide Dodge Island, Fishermans Channel, Florida
N 25°57', W 080°08' tide Dumfoundling Bay, Florida
N 25°58', W 080°08' tide Golden Beach, ICWW, Florida
N 25°46', W 080°08' tide Government Cut, Miami Harbor Entrance, Florida
N 25°54', W 080°07' tide Haulover Pier, N. Miami Beach, Florida
N 25°54', W 080°07' tide Haulover Pier, N. Miami Beach, Florida (sub)
N 26°16', W 080°05' tide Hillsboro Beach, ICWW, Florida
N 26°15', W 080°05' tide Hillsboro Inlet (ocean), Florida
N 26°16', W 080°05' tide Hillsboro Inlet Marina, Florida
N 26°15', W 080°05' tide Hillsboro Inlet, Coast Guard Light Station, Florida
N 26°02', W 080°07' tide Hollywood Beach, Florida
N 26°03', W 080°08' tide Hollywood Beach, West Lake, north end, Florida
N 26°02', W 080°07' tide Hollywood Beach, West Lake, south end, Florida
N 25°53', W 080°09' tide Indian Creek Golf Club, ICWW, Florida
N 25°42', W 080°10' tide Key Biscayne Yacht Club, Biscayne Bay, Florida
N 26°22', W 080°04' tide Lake Wyman, ICWW, Florida
N 26°22', W 080°04' tide Lake Wyman, ICWW, Florida (sub)
N 26°11', W 080°06' tide Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Anglin Fishing Pier, Florida
N 26°06', W 080°06' tide Mayan Lake, Florida
N 25°46', W 080°08' tide Miami Beach (city pier), Florida
N 25°46', W 080°08' tide Miami Beach (city pier), Florida (sub)
N 25°51', W 080°10' tide Miami, 79th St. Causeway, Florida
N 25°46', W 080°09' tide Miami, Causeway (east end), Florida
N 25°47', W 080°11' tide Miami, Marina, Florida
N 25°47', W 080°11' tide Miami, Miamarina, Biscayne Bay, Florida
N 25°47', W 080°11' tide Miami, Miamarina, Biscayne Bay, Florida (sub)
N 25°56', W 080°07' tide North Miami Beach, Newport Fishing Pier, Florida
N 26°06', W 080°07' tide Port Everglades, Turning Basin, Florida
N 26°04', W 080°08' tide Port Laudania, Dania cut-off Canal, Florida
N 25°48', W 080°10' tide San Marino Island, Biscayne Bay, Florida
N 26°27', W 080°04' tide South Delray Beach, ICWW, Florida
N 26°05', W 080°07' tide South Port Everglades, ICWW, Florida
N 25°56', W 080°08' tide Sunny Isles, Biscayne Creek, Florida
N 25°44', W 080°10' tide Virginia Key, Bear Cut, Biscayne Bay, Florida
N 25°44', W 080°10' tide Virginia Key, Bear Cut, Biscayne Bay, Florida (sub)
N 26°05', W 080°07' tide Whiskey Creek, north end, Florida
N 26°03', W 080°07' tide Whiskey Creek, south entrance, ICWW, Florida
N 26°24', W 080°04' tide Yamato, ICWW, Florida
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India recall Rohit Sharma, Mohammad Shami for New Zealand T20Is
SAMAA | AFP - Posted: Jan 13, 2020 | Last Updated: 1 week ago
SAMAA | AFP
Posted: Jan 13, 2020 | Last Updated: 1 week ago
Photo Courtesy: ICC/Twitter
Senior batsman Rohit Sharma and fast-bowler Mohammed Shami were recalled to India’s T20I squad for the tour of New Zealand after they were rested for the home series against Sri Lanka.
Sharma and Shami come into the 16-man squad for the five T20Is starting on January 24 in Auckland. India will also play three ODIs and two Tests in New Zealand.
Shami joins a pace attack led by Jasprit Bumrah who returned for the three Sri Lanka T20s, won 2-0 by India after the first game was rained off.
All-rounder Hardik Pandya remains sidelined after a back operation in October, the Board of Control for Cricket in India said on Sunday, adding that his “rehabilitation process is taking longer than expected”.
Virat Kohli-led India will play three one-day internationals against Australia starting Tuesday in Mumbai before flying off to New Zealand.
T20 squad
Virat Kohli (capt), Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant, Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Navdeep Saini, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur
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MODERN AT MIDCENTURY Ruhtenberg Revisited
Frank Lloyd Wright and Mies van der Rohe reign as the two most important modern architects of the 20th century. Remarkably, their considerable influences were felt in the city of Colorado Springs during the late 1940s – Wright’s through the work of his granddaughter, Elizabeth Wright Ingraham, and Mies’s in the oeuvre of A. Gustaf Jan Ruhtenberg. Elaine Freed, author of a book about Ingraham’s signature houses, turns attention here to Jan Ruhtenberg’s journey from Riga to Berlin, then Stockholm and New York, and finally to Colorado Springs, where he designed and remodeled dozens of houses and other structures in the Miesian mode. After placing Ruhtenberg’s work in the context of European and American modernism, Freed focuses on five unique houses in Colorado Springs, ranging from a modest “cottage” to a spacious Italian villa. Her insightful view includes Ruhtenberg’s own home in the exclusive Broadmoor neighborhood.
Design magazines in Europe and America celebrated Ruhtenberg’s designs at midcentury, and the popular press did as well. His work appeared in Progressive Architecture and Architectural Forum – and in Time, Life, and Fortune. Later, Ruhtenberg’s legacy faded, but recently his design reputation has gained new respect. Modern at Midcentury: Ruhtenberg Revisited guarantees his proper place in the modernist pantheon.
178 pages . 8×10 . 77 photographs/illustrations, color and b&w
ISBN# 9781943829057 softcover
A “missing link” in the European movement that made America modern in the midcentury
Get to Know the Author
Former Executive Director of the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio in Oak Park, Illinois, and Vice President of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, Architectural writer Elaine Freed turns attention here to A. Gustaf Jan Ruhtenberg. Jan Ruhtenberg, Bauhaus trained under the direct influence of Mies van der Rohe and his journey from Riga to Berlin, then Stockholm and New York, and finally to Colorado Springs, where he designed and remodeled dozens of houses and other structures in the Miesian mode. After placing Ruhtenberg’s work in the context of European and American modernism, Freed focuses on five unique houses in Colorado Springs, ranging from a modest “cottage” to a spacious Italian villa. Her insightful view includes Ruhtenberg’s own home in the exclusive Broadmoor neighborhood.
Author’s Other Writings
Preserving The Great Plains and Rocky Mountains, a ten-state survey of historic sites in the American West for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, (University of New Mexico Press, 1992); Modern At Mid-Century: The Early Fifties Houses of Ingraham and Ingraham, (Hulbert Press, Colorado College, 2003); Editor of Architecture As Teacher, (Published by The Colorado College Studies, 2007) Freed has led tours, given lectures, and written articles about modern architecture.
© Copyright 2019 | Ryholite Press LLC | All Rights Reserved | Powered by Mountain Air Marketing
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Host, The
Blu-ray | Thriller | 25 Jul 2013
Choose your destiny
'The Host' is a riveting story about the survival of love and the human spirit in a time of war. Our world has been invaded by an unseen enemy. Humans become hosts for these invaders, their minds taken over while their bodies remain intact. Most of humanity has succumbed. When Melanie, one of the few remaining 'wild' humans, is captured, she is certain it is her end. Wanderer, the invading 'soul' who has been given Melanie's body, was warned about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the glut of senses, the too-vivid memories. But there was one difficulty Wanderer didn't expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind. When outside forces make Wanderer and Melanie unwilling allies, they set off on a dangerous and uncertain search for the man they both love.
Title: Host, The
Release Date: 25 Jul 2013
Actor(s): Rachel Roberts, Shyaam Karra, Brent Wendell Williams, Jhil McEntyre, Jalen Coleman, Saoirse Ronan, Diane Kruger, Stephen Rider, Jaylen Moore, Stephen Conroy, Marcus Lyle Brown, Michael L. Parker, Phil Austin, Chandler Canterbury, J.D. Evermore
Catalogue No: BDB1030
Category: Thriller
OFLC Rating: M
Transfer Format: 16:9 Enhanced, Full Height Anamorphic, Widescreen, 1080P HD
OFLC Advice: Science Fiction Themes And Violence
Director(s): Andrew Niccol
Genre: Horror/Sci-Fi, Thriller
Feature Commentary with Author/Producer Stephenie Meyer, Screenwriter/Director Andrew Niccol and Producer Nick Wechsler
Bringing The Host To Life
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# Adults 1 Adult 2 Adults 3 Adults 4+ Adults # Kids 1 Kids 2 Kids 3 Kids 4+ Kids
Greater Region
Mt Biking
Adirondack Guides & Tours
Saranac Lake 6er
St. Regis Canoe Area
Craft Beer and Cocktails
First Night Saranac Lake
Adirondack Snowshoe Fest
Celebrate Paddling Adk
3rd Thursday Art Walks
Can-Am Rugby Tournament
Resorts, Hotels, Motels
Inns, Lodges, Bed & Breakfasts
History of Saranac Lake
Saranac Lake Initiatives
Arts and Culture Master Plan
Downtown Revitalization Grant
Saranac Lake Brand
Perfect Paddling at the VIC
Mt. Pisgah: The Adirondacks’ Finest Uphill Bike Park
Submitted by guest blogger Chris Morris
Small towns across the country usually share some common traits. You’ve heard them before: a sense of community, volunteerism, a slower pace of living, being there for each other — the things that separate us from big-city life.
But Saranac Lake prides itself on being decidedly different. What does that mean? Here are five examples:
1: We sort of love to party.
To be fair, everyone loves to party. But Saranac Lake schedules parties year-round, and we have something for everyone.
Let’s start with the big one: Winter Carnival.
One of the country’s oldest winter festivals, our carnival features a giant ice palace, constructed every winter by a crew of community volunteers — they call themselves the “International Palace Workers 101” — who brave frigid temperatures to create carnival’s signature visual. The 10-day event includes a ladies’ fry pan toss competition (which is exactly as it sounds), themed parade, live music every night, snow rugby, and plenty of other weird festivities.
Winter Carnival may be our best-known bash, but it’s far from the only game in town. First Night, Party on the Patio, Music on the Green, and Can-Am Rugby Weekend are perennial favorites, too.
This year, Saranac Lake added two newcomers to the mix: Street Fest, a half-day celebration that brought stilt walkers, magicians, artists, musicians, and a whole other cast of characters to Main Street, and Northern Current, a free, day-long music festival for the whole community that features an eclectic lineup of bands, food and art vendors, and kids’ activities.
2: We have a traveling cure porch.
Listen. You’re on vacation. You’re busy. Saranac Lake is surrounded by mountains and water, and we have a ton of great restaurants and night spots to explore. You might not have time to take a historic tour — even though you totally should.
Lucky for you, Historic Saranac Lake has figured out how to take history to you with its new Cure Porch on Wheels.
A little background: a cure porch is the signature feature of a cure cottage, the housing used in Saranac Lake for tuberculosis patients in the early 1900s. The cottages feature a wider-than-average door frame that let nurses and doctors wheel less ambulatory patients into the porch, where the cold, clean air was said to ease the symptoms of TB.
The mobile cure porch hosts arts and culture activities and makes appearances at events across the region, including the aforementioned Street Fest, Cycle Adirondacks, and more. Keep an eye open for it while you’re out and about this summer.
3: We have an artisan-crafted carousel.
Those adjectives are often reserved for bourbon, cheese, or high-end furniture, but they truly do apply to the Adirondack Carousel.
Located on Depot Street in downtown Saranac Lake, the carousel operates year-round, seven days a week. The idea was born in 1999 when a local wood carver, Karen Loffler, read about a similar — albeit much smaller — carousel featuring woodland animals.
The idea picked up steam a few years later, and a nonprofit formed to raise funds and make it happen. Now a mainstay in the village, the carousel boasts a handcrafted otter, frog, deer, black fly, and twenty other creatures found in the Adirondacks. Each one is painted by a local artist. In addition, there’s a wheelchair-accessible chariot and a locally-forged weathervane atop the building.
The carousel isn’t just for kids and families, either; the building hosts events including community meetings, birthday parties, and more. And there’s a playground right outside the carousel’s doors. What more do you need for an afternoon with the kids?
4: We like to make sure there’s art EVERYWHERE.
There’s a well-loved Portlandia sketch about hipsters putting birds on things. In Saranac Lake, it’s sort of like that, except instead of birds, it’s art in all forms.
Weird sea creature sculpture art? Yup:
Word art? We got that, courtesy of the Adirondack Center for Writing.
Art in the middle of a busy intersection? Sure!
And if you prefer the more traditional art studio, well, we’ve got a lot of those, too.
5: We like to make outdoorsing easy.
Whitewater paddling, mountain biking down the side of a ski slope, a 10-day backpacking trip — these are all great ways to enjoy the outdoors. But depending on your physical fitness, your bank account, and your general ambition, they might not be the most accessible activities.
In Saranac Lake, we want you to enjoy the outdoors, no matter your comfort level or financial situation. We’re the originator of the easy(ish) hiking challenge, the Saranac Lake 6er—a concept that’s been embraced by several neighboring communities.
We have a year-round, multi-use recreational center at Dewey Mountain that features cross-country skiing and snowshoeing in the winter and mountain biking and hiking in the summer. Newcomers to paddling can try their hand at canoeing, kayaking, and stand-up paddleboarding right in town on Lake Flower or the Saranac River. And if you don’t own gear, no worries — you can rent gear by the hour or day for a modest fee.
Little adventures like these mean you can check out all of the things that make Saranac Lake decidedly different and still get outside and enjoy the Adirondacks. While you're planning, check lodging options, restaurants, and shopping!
This week in ADK news:
Group trips to Lake Placid
Square dancing in Schroon
Short hikes in Hamilton County
6 reasons to bike in Wilmington
Run through the Star of the North
Let's taco about beer
Wild walk birding
Science Book Group
To event remaining 1 day
Science Book Group - The Fate of Food by Amanda Little asks the question how will the world's food production change as the climate changes? We face a very probably decline in food production...
Sacred Songs of the Secret Church
Duane Keith Gould will perform songs on the theme “Free (at last)” in the first concert of a new monthly concert series called “Sacred Songs of the Secret Church” at 6 pm on...
Recent Blog Posts...
Dip into Winter on the Jackrabbit
The Jackrabbit Ski Trail is well-known inside and outside of the Adirondacks. Connecting the towns of Paul Smiths, Saranac Lake, Lake Placid, and Keene, the trail stretches for more than 30 miles...
Getting Back to Nature: Forest Bathing in Saranac Lake
The healing qualities of nature are no mystery to the Adirondacks, especially in Saranac Lake. From 1873 to the mid- 1900s, Saranac Lake was a world renowned hub for tuberculosis treatment. Until...
Earn Your Patch There’s an adventurous spirit in all of us. In Saranac Lake, you can answer that call by becoming a Saranac Lake 6er.
Unplug Outdoors The mountains, rivers, and lakes bordering Saranac Lake aren’t just for show, and those boots on everyone’s feet aren’t a bold new fashion statement.
Enter to Win Sample Saranac Lake with this getaway package. Enter now!
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"The 2017 Vieux Château Certan was picked in three passages through the vineyard, 12 and 13 September, 18 and 19 September and finally 25 September to 2 October. The yields are 37hl/ha with 14.2° alcohol and a 3.75 pH. It is the first vintage to contain Cabernet Sauvignon for several years. It has a very pure, Merlot-driven bouquet with black cherries, redcurrant and wild strawberry scents, just a hint of iris and incense in the background. The 70% new oak is nicely integrated here. The palate is medium-bodied with edgy tannin, a deep well of black and red fruit interwoven with allspice, truffle, white pepper and a little sage. This Vieux Château Certan manifests more complexity and profundity as it aerates, delivering genuine, spine-tingling mineralité on the persistent finish. It gains even more precision when I return to the property to re-taste it again. Tasted twice, ten days apart at the property." - Neal Martin
2 cases offered en primeur
Valdicava, Brunello di Montalcino
"Valdicava represents its own school within the greater Brunello philosophy. This estate (under proprietor Vincenzo Abbruzzese) crafts contemporary and modern wines with noticeable density and ever-present aromatic intensity. The 2012 Brunello di Montalcino reveals a dark and inky appearance with bright ruby highlights that break through the background darkness with brilliance. The nose is generous and robust with dark cherry fruit, plum, Indian spice, mocha and espresso bean. These elements are stitched together with seamless transitions. Despite that grand approach, Sangiovese's prickly and often nervous personality shines through nonetheless. The variety adds delicate berry nuances and bright acidity that give this wine profound depth. This is a very well-made wine that promises a long aging future." - Monica Larner, The Wine Advocate
94 WA Order
"Humming with energy and life from the very moment you put your nose in the glass, Marchesi Antinori’s 2010 Tignanello shows magnificent aromatic layering and an enormous capacity to peel back and reveal itself in beautiful slow motion. This is an articulate wine with a long story to tell about the quality of its profound 2010 fruit. This Tignanello has the elegance of 2004 and the structure of 2007. A brief note on the structure: The mouthfeel here is not broad and big. Instead, it shows a sharp and elegantly streamlined feel with impressive persistency. Compared to 2009, the Sangiovese component is slightly higher with 80% of the noble Tuscan variety followed by 15% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Cabernet Franc. Anticipated maturity: 2016-2035." - The Wine Advocate
1 case in transit – arriving shortly
"The 2012 Tignanello is a very handsome wine with dark fruit nuances that extend far beyond the normal spectrum for Sangiovese (and the smaller percentages of French grapes that complete this wine). This vintage, that started off with a very hot summer and ended with a cool harvest season, show a little more spice and Mediterranean herb on the finish. Grapes were harvested at the end of September and delivered slightly less alcohol than previous vintages. There is a point of freshness but the tannins are mature and yielding. In fact, the tannic management is spot-on and is complimented by the velvety and rich nature of the mouthfeel. Pretty mineral accents add a lasting touch of complexity. The 2012 Tignanello has the qualities for a successful evolution. " - The Wine Advocate
20 cases in transit – arriving shortly
6 x 75cl 20 IB
Sine Qua Non Syrah Ratsel 16 (non OC)
"Made exclusively from estate-grown fruit, the 2016 Syrah Ratsel 16 is composed of 81% Syrah, 7% Mourvèdre, 5% Petite Sirah, 2.5% Grenache and 4.5% Viognier that was fermented with 47% whole cluster. The vineyard sources are 47% Eleven Confessions, 38% The Third Twin, 13% Cumulus and 2% Molly Aida. It was aged for around 23 months in French oak, 47% new.
Deep garnet-purple in color, this Syrah from the relatively effortless, beautifully harmonious 2016 vintage comes blasting from the glass with notions of baked plums, black cherries, blackberry compote, licorice, spice cake and mocha plus sparks of cedar chest, lilacs, menthol and pencil lead. Big, full-bodied and opulently fruited, the mouth is completely coated with firm, unabashedly super plush tannins and seamless freshness, finishing with bags of bright fruit and fantastic energy. If a wine can be electric, this is off the charts high-voltage! 1,791 cases and 600 magnums were produced." - Lisa Perrotti-Brown, The Wine Advocate
Sine Qua Non 11 Confessions - Capo dei Putti Syrah/Testa dei Cherubini Grenache
Capo dei Putti Syrah - 99 Jeb Dunnuck - Leading off the reds, the extended barrel-aged 2014 Syrah Capo Dei Putti boasts an insane bouquet of cedarwood, white chocolate, caramelized meats, candle way, and assorted red and black fruits. With full-bodied richness, ultra-fine tannins, and an incredible elegance, it changed every time I came back to the glass and is a multi-dimensional, riveting red wine from California. A blend of 90% Syrah and the balance Viognier, Petite Sirah, and Grenache, partially destemmed and aged 38 months in 94% new French oak, give this beauty 2-3 years of bottle age, count yourself lucky, and enjoy bottles over the following 10-15 years.
Testa dei Cherubini Grenache - 99 Jeb Dunnuck - As with the extended aged Syrah release, the 2014 Grenache Testa Dei Cherubini (80% Grenache, 15.5% Syrah, and the rest Petite Sirah and Viognier) comes all from the estate Eleven Confessions Vineyard in the Sta. Rita Hills and spent just under 38 months in 25% new French oak, with the balance in neutral barrels (varying sizes). Layers of black raspberry, cassis, white chocolate, white flowers, and Asian spices flow to a full-bodied, supple, powerful Grenache that has silky, silky tannins, a seamless texture, no hard edges, and a finish that won’t quit. It’s already approachable, yet in my experience, this extended élevage results in a very stable wine, and I suspect this beauty will have another two decades of longevity.
99 JD/99 JD Order
Scarecrow Cabernet Sauvignon
"The 2015 Scarecrow is stunning. Powerful and intense, but with more detail than it has shown in the past, the 2015 is positively dazzling. Super-ripe red cherry, pomegranate, mint, blood orange and exotic spice infuse this deep, resonant Cabernet Sauvignon. Over the years, winemaker Celia Welch has dialed back the oak by giving the wine less time in barrel and lowering toast levels, while moving towards dry farming in the vineyard. Those are some of the choices that have resulted in a truly epic Scarecrow." - Antonio Galloni
98+ AG Order
"Here's a wine of power, determination and confidence—as far as first impressions go. The 2007 Bolgheri Sassicaia leaves little hidden behind the curtain. It presents a frank and straightforward array of bold fruit, spice, leather and tobacco-like aromas that emerge from the bouquet with energy and force. The aromas are complete and genuine. The palate, however, offers more space for interpretation and review. It is finessed and nuanced, thus requiring more time to fully comprehend and appreciate. Silky tannins are followed by fine textural smoothness and a long finish. The outgoing nature of the aromas make for a fascinating contrast against the inward and reticent nature of the mouthfeel." - Monica Larner, The Wine Advocate
"The 2008 Bolgheri Sassicaia is a wine without a winemaker. The last vintage made by Giacomo Tachis was 2007 and incoming enologist Graziana Grassini claims 2009 as her first vintage. Within the context of this retrospective, the 2008 vintage opens a new chapter, because it is the first wine to show evident tertiary definition and complexity. In fact, the wine performs beautifully with an exalted performance and ethereal aromas. They include cassis, wild berry, crushed mineral, licorice, petrol and grilled herb. This wine is really coming together now and is entering a very exciting moment in its drinking life. It boasts finesse, elegance and grace. Yet, it also shows unmistakable richness and structure that gives the wine an enormous presence in terms of mouthfeel. This was one of the top highlights of the retrospective." - Monica Larner, The Wine Advocate
Quintarelli, Recioto della Valpolicella Classico A Roberto
"This wine is dedicated to Roberto Ferrarini, the longtime consulting enologist who worked with Giuseppe Quintarelli and the Quintarelli family until his death in 2014. The beautiful 2007 Recioto della Valpolicella Classico A Roberto (packaged in a 375-millliter bottle) is a stunning and magical creation. The last vintage this estate made a Recioto was in 2004, and at the time of this tasting, there was no future vintage earmarked to follow this bottling. Those of you lucky enough to taste this bottle will be rewarded with carefully crafted aromas of plum and raisin with sweet baking spice, moist earth, campfire ash, fresh espresso and a touch of bitter chocolate. This wine was bottled in 2017 and therefore saw ten years of aging in a normal-sized barrique. The wine shows utter silkiness in terms of texture and is surprising light on its feet despite its 15.5% alcohol. This is a precious collectors' bottle." - Monica Larner
Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon
"The flagship is the 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon, 100% Cabernet Sauvignon mostly from Champoux with the balance from Palengat and Wallula vineyards. Crème de cassis, graphite, black licorice, unsmoked tobacco, and hints of chocolate and emerge from this beauty and it continues to gain depth and nuance with time in the glass. Full-bodied, deep, and layered with an incredible purity and elegance on the palate, it's already accessible but has more than enough tannin, depth, and balance to evolve for two decades or more." - Jeb Dunnuck
99 JD Order
Querciabella Batar
"Querciabella's 2015 Batàr (Chardonnay/Pinot Bianco) is very delicate and restrained, especially within the context of the year. Lemon confit, white flowers, orange peel and mint all develop nicely in the glass, but it is the wine's persistence that stands out most. The 2015 is one of the most polished, gracious Batàrs I can remember tasting." - Antonio Galloni
15 cases in stock
93 AG Order
Pol Roger, Cuvee Sir Winston Churchill
"Pol Roger’s 1996 Winston Churchill is fabulous. One of the most expressive, complete 1996s today, the Winston Churchill is in a great spot. Butter, spice, almond and lemon oil notes meld together effortlessly in the glass. In 1996, the Winston Churchill is a clear overachiever. Best of all, it remains reasonably priced vis-à-vis its peers." - Antonio Galloni
Philipponnat, Clos des Goisses
"The 2008 Clos des Goisses is just as impressive today as it has always been. Rich, dense and explosive, the 2008 exists in three dimensions, with remarkable textural depth and vertical intensity to burn. Clos des Goisses is notoriously slow to develop. Readers who can be patient will be treated to a spectacular Champagne. The blend is 55% Chardonnay and 45% Pinot Noir, which makes the 2008 a rare Clos des Goisses that favors Chardonnay. About 75% of the lots were fermented in oak. Disgorged April 2017. Dosage is 4.25 grams per liter." - Antonio Galloni
"Just bottled, the 2016 Ornellaia is a dense, powerful wine. Naturally, the 2016 is just at the beginning of its life, but I am struck by how polished the tannins are for such a young wine. Ornellaia is at its best starting around age ten, but there is little doubt the 2016 is a hugely promising wine. Black cherry, chocolate, plum, new leather and a range of spice notes all build into a veritable crescendo of aromas, flavors and textures." - Antonio Galloni
"I remember the first time I tasted the 2006 Masseto. It's that kind of wine. The 2006 is every bit as magnificent today. Dense, richly-textured and potent to its core, the 2006 is a wine for readers who can be patient. I love the brooding intensity and sense of gravitas the 2006 conveys. Tonight, it is stellar, but still so young." - Antonio Galloni
Luciano Sandrone, Barolo Le Vigne
"The 2014 Barolo Le Vigne once again shows the wisdom of blending fruit from different sites. If there is a vintage where blending has the potential to be the difference-maker, 2014 is it. So it is hardly surprising to find the 2014 Le Vigne in such great shape. The red cherry jam, mint, cedar and floral notes are all finely sketched. Medium in body and classy, the 2014 is beautifully textured and inviting from start to finish. All the elements are simply in the right place. Vineyard sources are Merli, Vignane, Villero and Baudana." - Antonio Galloni
Luciano Sandrone, Barolo Aleste
"The 2014 Barolo Aleste is a wine of exquisite finesse and grace. Soft, understated and classy, it is a terrific example of the vintage at its best. Bright red cherry and red plum fruit give the wine its vibrant feel. In 2014, the Aleste is decidedly medium-bodied and restrained, especially compared to recent past vintages. Readers should keep in mind that Aleste is the new name for the Cannubi Boschis Barolo." - Antonio Galloni
"The 2009 Cristal literally shimmers on the palate, showing great depth and purity in its sumptuous layers of fruit. It is a magnificent wine endowed with superb length and exceptional overall balance. The 2009 Cristal is 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay. The percentage of wine aged in oak is 15%, which is down slightly from previous vintages.
Note: as indicated by the score in parentheses, this was a pre-release tasting just before the wine was bottled." - Antonio Galloni
94-96 AG Order
Louis Roederer, Cristal Rose
"As hard as it may seem to believe, the 2002 Cristal Rosé (Re-Release) is even better than the Blanc. Utterly explosive in the glass, with soaring aromatics and tremendous palate presence, the 2002 dazzles from the very first taste. With time in the glass the 2002 grows effortlessly, showing myriad shades of nuance with each successive taste. I am reminded of the vertical I did of Cristal Rosé here a few years ago. Yes, the Rosé is expensive and rare. But it also delivers the goods. And then some." - Antonio Galloni
"Still a baby, the 2004 Cristal Rosé has begun to put on considerable weight over the last few years, which only serves to balance the focus and tension that have always been present. Even at eleven years of age, the 2004 Cristal Rosé remains tightly wound and a touch austere at times. Hints of orange peel, white pepper and cranberry add an exotic flair on the deeply expressive finish. Readers who can find the 2004 should not hesitate, as it is simply stunning by any measure." - Antonio Galloni
Louis Roederer, Cristal
"The 2005 Brut Cristal stands out for its exceptional inner perfume and elegance. Soft, delicate and pretty, the 2005 is relatively immediate Cristal with all of the signatures very much in the right place. The 2005 doesn't have the opulence of the 2002 nor the focus of the 2004, but it is a very pretty, if somewhat small-scaled version of this iconic Champagne. I would drink the 2005 while the 2002 and 2004 age. Although Cristal has an impeccable track record when it comes to aging, personally I would not push it with the 2005." - Antonio Galloni
"Rich, creamy and radiant, the 2009 Cristal captures all of the natural generosity of the vintage while also retaining a good bit of freshness and aromatic intensity. Immediate and totally sensual in its allure, the 2009 will drink well with minimal cellaring. All things considered, at this stage, the 2009 comes across as relatively restrained for a wine from a warm year." - Antonio Galloni
Le Petit Mouton
"The Le Petit Mouton 2014 is a blend of 93% Cabernet Sauvignon and 7% Merlot, a very high percentage of the former, partly due to the higher quality of Merlot that predicated “promotion” into the Grand Vin. It has an intense pencil shaving nose that does not hold back. If you don’t like Cabernet Sauvignon, don’t come near. The palate is medium-bodied with firm, grainy tannin on the entry. There is part of me wishing that there was some fleshy Merlot to alleviate some of the austerity coming through on the salty finish, though that dominance of Cabernet lends it a rather “old school” feel that I appreciate. Drink this not so small deuxième vin with a Cohiba! (N.B. Unlike the Grand Vin, in the second week the wine was showing a little more succulence on the finish and my scores takes account of this.)" - Neal Martin
Krug Vintage
"This is perhaps the best bottle of Krug's 2002 Vintage I have tasted. Expansive and creamy on the palate, with lovely finesse and brightness, the 2002 is quite expressive today. I don't see the depth or pedigree that might place this wine among the best examples of the year. Instead, the 2002 Vintage continues to be an underwhelming wine by Krug standards." - Antonio Galloni
Kistler, Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir
"Kistler's 2015 Pinot Noir (Sonoma Coast) is lifted and gracious, with expressive floral notes and bright red berry fruit. The purity of the flavors is quite remarkable. I thought, and frankly expected, the 2015 to retain a bit more of the exuberance it showed from barrel. Today, the Sonoma Coast Pinot has developed into a wine of finesse and understatement rather than raciness. Even so, it is very pretty." - Antonio Galloni
Joseph Drouhin, Montrachet Marquis Laguiche Grand Cru
"This is also quite aromatically restrained with its decidedly cool and relatively airy nose that mixes a dollop of wood toast with plenty of floral, citrus and white-fleshed fruit scents. The super-fine but intense and tautly muscular large-scaled flavors possess a subtle minerality that carries over to the gorgeously complex, persistent and balanced finish. As it should be, this is very clearly built-to-age and a wine that should enjoy an extended maturity curve." Allen Meadows, Don't Miss!
Il Poggione, Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Paganelli
"Here's a beautifully rich and succulent Brunello that drinks very nicely straight out of the gate. The 2012 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Vigna Paganelli delivers a warm, inviting and velvety presentation. This bold wine is redolent of black cherry and dried blackberry with sweet almond, toasted spice and balsam herb on the long finish. What stands out most, however, is the wine's rich texture that floods the mouth from front to back. That richness is fueled by the warmth of the vintage but also by the magnificent oak integration. This Riserva is aged in botti grandi for four long years. Bottle production is 45,000 strong." - Monica Larner, The Wine Advocate
Il Poggione, Brunello di Montalcino
"The 2013 Brunello di Montalcino lives up to the impeccable reputation garnered by this estate over the years. This is a profound and beautifully rendered Sangiovese that delivers bold and luscious fruit quality with black cherry and spicy plum at the start. The bouquet follows through with mild oak notes of smoke, tar and toasted nut. There is another aromatic component that includes crushed stone and dried herb or mint. This Brunello shows elegant evolution in the glass and promises a very long aging future ahead. Some 200,000 bottles were made, so it should be easy to locate this excellent wine." - Monica Larner, The Wine Advocate
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Home » NATIONAL NEWS » Reliance Jio to raise tariff by up to 39%; still costs 15-25% less than rivals
Reliance Jio to raise tariff by up to 39%; still costs 15-25% less than rivals
(Eds: Adding further details)
New Delhi: (PTI) Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio will raise mobile call and data charges by up to 39 per cent from December 6 through its all-in-one plans, which still will be an estimated 15 to 25 per cent cheaper than rivals’.
The all-in-one plans will provide at least 1.5 GB per day of data and increased number of offnet calls, the company said in a statement. The tariff hike, which is planned to match similar increases by rival Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea Ltd earlier this week, give 300 per cent more benefits, it said.
“Further to its last statement dated 1st December 2019, Jio…announced the new ‘All-in-One plans’. These plans will provide up to 300 per cent more benefits to the Jio consumers. These plans will go-live on 6th December 2019,” Jio said in a statement.
The company on December 1 has announced that it will raise mobile plans rates by up to 40 per cent.
According to the new tariff plans, Jio customers will have to pay Rs 555 for 84-day validity and 1.5 GB of data per day, which is 39 per cent higher than the earlier plan of Rs 399 offering similar benefits. The company has raised the price of Rs 153 plan to Rs 199; Rs 198 plan to Rs 249; Rs 299 plan to Rs 349; Rs 349 plan to Rs 399; Rs 448 to Rs 599; Rs 1,699 plan to Rs 2199, and Rs 98 plan to Rs 129. The Rs 199 plan, a 28-day validity plan that offers 1.5GB data per day, is about 25 per cent cheaper than the plans of rivals offering similar benefits at a price of around Rs 249.
Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea have already raised mobile services rates by up to 50 per cent effective December 3. Reliance Jio new plans come in line with expectation of market analysts that the company will price them lower compared to rivals.
“We think the incremental 300 per cent benefit which Jio is talking about is by offering more data allowances. In our view, it incrementally doesn’t entice users much beyond 1.5 GB. Even after these hikes, we believe Jio will continue to be 15-20 per cent cheaper than the incumbent operators,” Bank of America Merrill Lynch had said.
Telecom companies’ move to raise mobile tariff follows the Supreme Court judgement, on October 24 this year, upholding the government’s method of calculating revenue share that it should get from earnings of service providers. Vodafone Idea last month reported a consolidated loss of Rs 50,921 crore — the highest ever loss posted by any Indian corporate — for the September quarter on account of liability arising out of the Supreme Court’s order.
The company has estimated liability of Rs 44,150 crore post the apex court order, and made provisioning of Rs 25,680 crore in the second quarter this fiscal. Vodafone Idea which is reeling under massive debt of around Rs 1.17 lakh crore had earlier cited acute financial stress on the company behind the decision to raise mobile call and data charges. Bharti Airtel has posted a staggering Rs 23,045 crore net loss for the second quarter ended September 30, due to provisioning of Rs 28,450 crore in the aftermath of the SC ruling on statutory dues.
According to government data, the liabilities in the case of Bharti Airtel add up to nearly Rs 35,586 crore, of which Rs 21,682 crore is licence fee and another Rs 13,904.01 crore is the SUC dues (excluding the dues of Telenor and Tata Teleservices). The government is currently not considering any proposal on waiver of penalties and interest on outstanding licence fee based on adjusted gross revenue (AGR), or on extending the timelines for telecom companies to pay up their statutory dues. PTI
Also Read: Reliance Jio announces new ‘All In One Plans’ with high prices
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TagsReliance Jio Tariff
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First Team 1 Seven Acre & Sidcup 1
Dillon Palmer
On the back of a win in their last game, the first team returned to Greatness Park for their first game in the FA cup against Kent Invicta League side, Seven Acre & Sidcup.
Oaks got the game started and looked sharp, they moved the ball around well and played deep in the Seven Acre half for the first ten minutes. This led to a disallowed goal from Oaks striker Adrian Stone due to an offside call from the linesman. Sevenoaks then seemed to go into a slumber which they found difficult to get out of for the remainder of the half, conceding numerous fouls which resulted in a breakaway chance for Seven Acre that their number nine Anthony French put away calmly. 1-0 to Seven Acre with fifteen minutes played.
Sevenoaks allowed Seven Acre to gain confidence and attack them throughout the first half, although Seven Acre did not look in control of the game. The final five minutes of the first half saw two Seven Acre bookings, with Sevenoaks not taking advantage of the free kicks.
Sevenoaks came out for the second half, more fired up and showing a bit more energy yet still not seizing chances. On the hour mark Sevenoaks brought on Steve Camacho and Austin Gacheru. Immediately after, a dangerous ball was whipped into the Seven Acre box which Gacheru performed a diving header to reach but he missed and collided with the goalkeeper Charlie Martin, which forced Seven Acre into making a substitution. Seven Acre’s goal scorer Anthony French went into goal and Mike Samedi came on.
It was all Oaks for the last twenty minutes showing the creativity that had been lacking all game - perhaps trying too hard to get back into the game resulting in missed chances. Sevenoaks eventually got their reward when number nine, Adrian Stone, pulled off a fantastic finish bringing the game level in the 85th minute. The game finished 1-1 with Oaks providing a more exciting second half.
The replay is due to be played on Wednesday 19th August.
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https://www.sfgate.com/books/article/Fiction-review-Jessica-Z-3207144.php
Fiction review: 'Jessica Z.'
FICTION REVIEW
Kim Hedges, Special to The Chronicle
Published 4:00 am PDT, Saturday, July 5, 2008
Jessica Z.
By Shawn Klomparens
Delta; 340 pages; $12 paperback
Terrorism takes a back seat to boy woes in Shawn Klomparens' first novel, "Jessica Z." Sure, suicide bombers just blew up four buses in San Francisco, home of the titular 28-year-old copywriter Jessica Zorich, but who is Jessica supposed to go for - the sweet, dull, safe guy or the mysterious bad boy?
The book has barely begun when the buses are blown up one morning, but Jessica's and everyone else's reactions seem surprisingly rote. She claims to feel a little sick and nauseous at the news, but her words also indicate that all this is sort of old hat. Though we never actually find out why or when the bombings began, it's apparently been long enough for Jessica, the novel's narrator, to have developed a sort of routine about them: "I've come to expect, after things like this, that a sizable percentage of everyone I've ever known will call and leave a message, hope I'm okay, and ask me to call when I get a chance," she says, along with "[c]ell phones are a joke when these things happen." The terrorist bombings are sprinkled throughout the story as part of the backdrop. The real meat of the novel is Jessica's quotidian life.
The dull half of Jessica's aforementioned romantic dilemma is her upstairs neighbor Patrick, with whom she has an on-again, off-again quasi-relationship. Patrick is "nice enough and funny enough and cute enough, and, above anything else, harmless enough. As in: completely nonthreatening, almost disappointingly nonthreatening." It is no great surprise, then, when at a party she meets and instantly becomes intrigued with an edgy artist named Josh, who, yes, as a matter of fact, would like to come up and see her etchings sometime. (Actually, they're lithographs - Josh is a lithographer, and Jessica has a couple by a particular artist that he'd like to see.)
And so it goes: Jessica starts dating the passionate, mysterious artist and they have hot mysterious artist sex, with the requisite aloofness on his part: "Emotionally... there's always a sort of detachment that intrigues me," Jessica writes. Of course there is. There is also no shortage of oral sex and one particularly zesty interlude (complete with dirty talk) that throws Jessica for an almost disproportionately large loop.
Meanwhile, Jessica gabs about her job and Patrick and her new enigmatic man-friend to her brand new and yet already surprisingly good friend Gretchen (who may or may not be dating Patrick) and her sister Katie (with whom Jessica has the textbook close sisterly bond). Meanwhile, Jessica's mom worries in the traditional mom-like fashion about her daughter's well-being amid the nation's recent bombings. On top of all this are additional tangents of dubious interest, such as the road trip Jessica takes with Josh to Nevada to pick up big rocks (i.e. limestone) for his next art project; the time Jessica visits Josh's studio assistant, Gert, in the hospital after he accidentally cuts his hand, where Jessica also meets Gert's girlfriend; and another somewhat baffling, multiday road trip Jessica takes with Josh's troubled sister, whom Jessica barely knows, at the end of the novel.
In other words, aside from the strangely non-terrifying terrorist bombings, it's pretty much business as usual in "Jessica Z." So what keeps the reader going? A key but sometimes annoying factor driving our interest is how seemingly every other action or statement of Josh's - from his chatting with an employee at a Salvadoran restaurant to not having a cell phone - is shrouded in great mystery. Also helpful is the book's large amount of dialogue, which mostly seems natural but has its occasional moments of oddness. And there's Jessica's dry sense of humor, as when she muses to herself at Josh's apartment, "I've sort of come to the conclusion that we're going to have sex now."
"Jessica Z." is a brisk read. Reading it is like chatting with an amusing, easy-to-relate-to, but slightly long-winded friend.
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Published on SEMA (https://www.sema.org)
Home > Fast Facts
SEMA News—June 2019
Permatex promoted Jeff Morgan to national account manager of automotive groups for the United States. In his new role, Morgan will be responsible for developing and maintaining account relationships, growing sales, and creating promotional and advertising programs to drive business to group members. In addition to the major accounts, Morgan will also manage smaller, independent automotive buying groups. During his two decades with Permatex, Morgan served as account manager for the Southeast, account manager for key accounts, national sales manager for groups and key accounts, and district manager. Prior to joining Permatex, Morgan worked with Loctite Corp., Pet Dairy, Frito-Lay and Pepsico in a variety of distribution and sales positions.
Peter MacGillivray was named vice president for off-road and motorsports vertical leader for Bonnier Corp. MacGillivray will oversee a portfolio that includes Off-Road Expo, Sand Sports Super Show, 4Wheel Jamboree, Street Machine Nationals and Jeep Invasion. MacGillivray spent the past 17 years working as vice president of events and business development for the SEMA Show.
LTA Manufacturing LLC selected marketing and communications professional Jeffrey Lacina as the company’s director of marketing. In his new position, Lacina will be responsible for determining and implementing LTA Manufacturing’s marketing strategies, including producing literature, overseeing its website and its development, coordinating advertising, attending trade shows, maintaining industry relations, and brand management for all LTA brands. Lacina will also manage social media for all of the brands as well as direct dealer communications and support programs.
Tom Berger was also named as the new director of quality assurance for the brands and its four subsidiaries: ATC Truck Covers, Jason Industries, LoadMaster and Ranch Fiberglass. Berger was previously the sales and customer service manager for ATC Truck Covers. In his new role, Berger will devise and implement procedures to inspect and report quality-assurance issues. He will monitor all operations that impact and affect quality and supervise and guide inspectors, technicians and other staff. Berger has been with the company a total of 14 years.
Lumileds appointed Tracy Beecroft its senior retail sales manager for North America. Beecroft will be responsible for retail and e-commerce sales channels for Lumileds’ North America aftermarket. Beecroft comes to Lumileds from the J-B Weld Co., where she served as the director of sales for new business development. In that role, Beecroft headed strategy and new product innovation for OES channels and was responsible for the management of automotive retail segment customers. Beecroft’s additional experience in the aftermarket includes three years at Trico Products Corp. and 15 years at the Robert Bosch Corp.
R&R Marketing Consultants Inc. named Will Rowe its Northeastern region sales director. An automotive industry veteran with more than 25 years of experience, Rowe brings to the table a deep understanding of a wide range of spaces within the industry. Through his experience in retail, wholesale and executive roles, Rowe developed knowledge of commercial fleet needs and a background in the RV segment. Rowe identifies as a performance and off-road enthusiast.
Dana Inc. appointed Dan Griffin senior director of strategy, product planning and program management for commercial vehicles and the aftermarket. Griffin will be responsible for executing growth initiatives for Dana’s commercial vehicle and aftermarket businesses and global e-commerce platform—enhancing the company’s product portfolio. Bill Nunnery was named senior director of aftermarket sales, customer service and marketing. Nunnery assumes responsibility for driving global aftermarket sales and marketing strategies while leading global integration of customer operations teams. Nunnery joined Dana’s aftermarket team in 2017.
CRP Industries announced the promotion of Andrea Muscato to marketing communications manager. Muscato has been with CRP Industries since 2015 as marketing communications specialist. She will manage a wide range of marketing communication activities for both CRP’s automotive and industrial groups. Muscato will oversee tradeshow planning and logistics, managing CRP automotive’s “Inside the Brands” and CRP industrial’s “Go-To Videos” as well as general marketing activities, social-media programs and in-house graphics along with direct marketing programs and content management of the CRP websites.
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Version for people with disabilities info@sbras.ru Home Chinese English Russian
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Angela Adamo from Italy about her move to Stockholm Meet Angela Adamo
Research at the Faculty of Science is outstanding in many areas. It covers a wide range of fields - from elementary particles in the atomic nucleus, to the outer limits of the universe - from the amazing microcosm of the cell, to the complex ecosystems in the oceans.
Eminent research on flu antigens took Robert Daniels back to USA
Intellectual freedom and the opportunity to start his own research group once lured Robert Daniels to Stockholm University. After nine years of eminent academic research, he landed a prestigious job in the US. Still, his focus is the same: to apply basic membrane protein folding principles to modernize and improve the antigens in seasonal influenza vaccines.
More stringent regulations on chemical mixtures
Throughout life, humans are exposed to complex mixtures of chemicals of varying degrees of harmfulness. How does that affect us? Whose responsibility is this? Christina Rudén, professor of toxicology, was appointed by the government to investigate this matter.
New report on chemicals
Botox cousin can reduce malaria in an environmentally friendly way
Researchers at the universities in Stockholm and Lund, in collaboration with researchers from the University of California, have found a new toxin that selectively targets mosquitos. This can lead to innovative and environmentally friendly approaches to reduce malaria. The results are presented in an article published in Nature Communications.
A Rocky Road Decade – From Promising Lab Data to Growing Biopharma Firm
Xbrane Biopharma is a promising biotechnology company that started at Stockholm University. If everything goes as planned, the company’s first drug will be approved in 2021.
XBrane a growing biopharma firm
Almost 600 plants have already gone extinct
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Have a look at one of the plants here
The longest drill cores recovered from a ship offshore of West Antarctica
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Arctic Avenue: strategic cooperation between Stockholm and Helsinki
The two universities have decided to launch a new research spearhead in Arctic research called Arctic Avenue.
New cooperation in polar research
Glacial History of the Amundsen Sea, West Antarctica, to be recovered in IODP Drill Cores
An expedition to the Amundsen Sea will take off on January 23th with aim to determine how the ice in the region has behaved in the past in an area unaffected by other ice sheets and under climatic temperature changes in order to simulate computer models of how the region may change in coming decades.
Read more about the expedition
Increasing seal population will not harm largest fish stocks in the Baltic
Seals feeding on fish does not decrease fish stocks of Baltic cod, herring and sprat the most – climate change, nutrient load and fisheries do, shows a new study from Stockholm University.
Read more about seals
Don’t walk on the grass - do some science on it
In Iceland you need to be careful where you put your foot in the grass - the ground can get very hot! How grasses tolerate different temperatures fascinates Aelys Humphreys.
Aelys is soon off to a field trip to Iceland
Regional landscape change linked to local species loss
6733 historical maps over 1940s-60s Sweden, covering 175 000 km2, have been studied.
Important to protect and continue to manage the species-rich grassland
Drought hits rivers first and more strongly than agriculture
A new study by researchers from Germany and Sweden has revealed the development of drought impacts, like in this summer, across Europe
Gia Destouni is one of the authors
Astronomers see distant eruption as black hole destroys star
Researchers at the Department of Astronomy, Stockholm University, contributed to a new study, directly imaging the jet of material formed when a black hole rips a star apart. The results are published in the journal Science.
Protein can slow intestinal tumour growth
A new mechanism for regulating stem cells in the intestine of fruit flies has been discovered by researchers at Stockholm University. In addition, it was discovered that a certain protein can slow the growth of tumours in intestinal tissue. A better understanding of these mechanisms can teach us more about how diseases in human intestines occur, as well as contribute to the development of new medicine to cure them.
The results are now being published in the scientific journal Stem Cell Reports.
Molecular regulator keeps the immune system in balance
The immune system must be able to distinguish between friend and foe, therefore it has to be turned on and off quickly. A research group at the Department of Molecular Biosciences at Stockholm University has recently discovered a new mechanism that cells in the intestine use to increase or decrease the activation of the immune system.
Gas and brake function from the same gene
A saltier North Atlantic kick-started circulation at the end of the greenhouse world
A drastic change in ocean circulation patterns over 34 million years ago occurred because surface waters in the far North Atlantic became salty enough to sink. This start-up of Northern deep-water formation purged stagnant waters sourced from the Arctic resulting in a release of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere.
Read more about the study
Antarctic expedition heading towards Queen Maud Land soon
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Johan Seijsing is the winner of Skolar Award 2017!
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A song of ice sheets and fire
Past volcanic eruptions triggered abrupt melting events on ancient ice sheets, according to an article published in Nature Communications this week. The findings imply the deposition of ash on ice surfaces could result in an increase in the contribution of ice sheet melt water to global sea level rise.
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Inspirational examples of how to get a job in Sweden
Rodrigo Garay, founder of Working for Change is a social entrepreneur working to highlight the business benefits of cultural competence and diversity.
World leading researchers in Life Science spoke in Aula Magna
This year Knut and Alice Wallenberg foundation celebrates 100 years. A Symposium to celebrate the anniversary was held in Aula Magna on September 15 with several world-leading researchers. The whole symposium was filmed.
See the films
The underwater jungles of the sea give clearer water
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New study about better water quality
Bacteria from hot springs solve mystery of metabolism
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Fastest speciation event of a marine vertebrate, reported in the Baltic Sea
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New paper in PNAS
Dark matter comes closer to the light
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Pine oldest living inhabitant in Europe
A Bosnian pine (Pinus heldreichii) growing in the highlands of northern Greece has been dendrocronologically dated to be more than 1075 years old. This makes it currently the oldest known living tree in Europe. The millenium old pine was discovered by scientists from Stockholm University (Sweden), the University of Mainz (Germany) and the University of Arizona (USA).
Changing seasonality of the Baltic Sea
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Article in the Europen Commissions newspaper
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Expedition at Western Ross Sea, Antarctica
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Read the blogg here
New Swedish satellite to study waves in the atmosphere
The Atmospheric Physics Group at the Department of Meteorology, Stockholm University, leads the scientific work with a new Swedish satellite project called MATS. The satellite will be sent up in 2017 to investigate waves in the atmosphere.
New swedish satellite project
SWERUS-C3 Arctic expedition
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First documentary about NEO activities!
See the first of two documentaries about Navarino Environmental Observatory in Greece.
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Important to save the world’s largest Carnivores
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Read the article in Science
With Oden to the Arctic Ocean
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Methane bubbling from thawing seabed in Arctic Siberia
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Read more about the project
Physics Prize: Stockholm University researchers active at CERN
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Artificial enzyme makes fuel from water
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Flies and butterflies will reveal more about natural selection
By studying fruit flies researchers are hoping to be able to explain how different genes interact in order to produce a complete and adapted organism
Research expedition to the Russian Arctic
The research expedition to the De Long Islands in the Russian Arctic is the final piece in a research project that examines the tectonic evolution north of Siberia.
New insights into the Arctic permafrost carbon complexities
Permafrost thawing and the release of carbon stored in it can generate greenhouse gases that, in turn, reinforce global warming. However, the extent of this reinforcing effect has been heatedly debated over the years.
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Carbon dioxide levels pass 400 ppm
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Regional climate changes over the last 2,000 years mapped for the first time
The results were recently published in the scientific journal Nature Geoscience and reveal both large regional similarities and differences in the evolution of Earth's climate.
IceCube
IceCube is a neutrino observatory located at the South Pole. After six years of construction it was completed in December 2010. About 250 researchers are involved and among these researchers from Stockholm University play an important role.
New map of the sea floor around Antarctica
A new digital bathymetric model and map of the sea surrounding the Antarctic continent has been completed within the project "The International bathymetric Chart of the Southern Ocean (IBCSO)".
Institute for Solar Physics to be established at Stockholm University
With a Swedish telescope, researchers study the Sun from La Palma, the most north-westerly of the Canary Islands. As of 1 January 2013, the Institute for Solar Physics, which conducts the research, will be established at Stockholm University, which then takes over the running of the Institute from the Royal Academy of Sciences.
Unique study shows light’s (roundabout) way through galaxies
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World-leading Swedish telescope designed to study the Sun's upper atmosphere
Astronomers at Stockholm University are currently installing a custom-made filter on the Swedish Solar Telescope at La Palma in a search for answers to one of the unsolved mysteries of the Sun.
Education and research in a Mediterranean environment
The Mediterranean region is densely populated and has a sensitive environment. The area has a very long history of human environmental impacts, especially deforestation, and its climate is expected to get both warmer and drier in the future. Water quality and water supply are therefore important issues, as are human impacts on land use, the atmosphere and the marine environment.
Tarfala Research Station
Postgraduate studies at Stockholm University
Films about research at Stockholm university
Euraxess - Research in Sweden
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The Doll Factory
By Elizabeth Macneal
eBook Unabridged Audio Download Trade Paperback
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Rave and Reviews
The #1 International Bestseller
New York Times Editor’s Choice
The New York Public Library Best Books of 2019
“A lush, evocative Gothic.” —The New York Times Book Review
“This terrifically exciting novel will jolt, thrill, and bewitch readers.” —Booklist, starred review
Obsession is an art.
In this “sharp, scary, gorgeously evocative tale of love, art, and obsession” (Paula Hawkins, bestselling author of The Girl on the Train), a beautiful young woman aspires to be an artist, while a man’s dark obsession may destroy her world forever.
In 1850s London, the Great Exhibition is being erected in Hyde Park and, among the crowd watching the dazzling spectacle, two people meet by happenstance. For Iris, an arrestingly attractive aspiring artist, it is a brief and forgettable moment but for Silas, a curiosity collector enchanted by all things strange and beautiful, the meeting marks a new beginning.
When Iris is asked to model for Pre-Raphaelite artist Louis Frost, she agrees on the condition that he will also teach her to paint. Suddenly, her world begins to expand beyond her wildest dreams—but she has no idea that evil is waiting in the shadows. Silas has only thought of one thing since that chance meeting, and his obsession is darkening by the day.
“A page-turning psychological thriller” (Essie Fox, author of The Somnambulist) that will haunt you long after you finish it, The Doll Factory is perfect for fans of The Alienist, Drood, and The Historian.
The Doll Factory Silas Reed’s Shop of Curiosities Antique and New
Silas is sitting at his desk, a stuffed turtle dove in his palm. The cellar is as still and quiet as a tomb, aside from the slow gusts of his breath that ruffle the bird’s plumage.
Silas puckers his lips as he works and, in the lamplight, he is not unhandsome. He has retained a full head of hair in his thirty-eighth year, and it shows no sign of silvering. He looks around him, at the glass jars that line the walls, each labeled and filled with the bloated hulks of pickled specimens. Swollen lambs, snakes, lizards, and kittens press against the edges of their confinement.
“Don’t wriggle free of me now, you little rascal,” he mutters, picking up the pliers and tightening the wire on the bird’s claws.
He likes to talk to his creatures, to make up histories that have landed them on his slab. After considering many imagined scenarios for this dove—disrupting barges on the canal, nesting in a sail of The Odyssey—he has settled on one pretence he likes; and so he rebukes this companion often for its invented habit of attacking cress sellers. He releases his hold on the bird, and it sits stiffly on the wooden post.
“There!” he exclaims, leaning back and pushing his hair out of his eyes. “And perhaps this’ll teach you a lesson for knocking that bunch of greens out of that little girl’s arms.”
Silas is satisfied with this commission, especially given that he rushed the final stages to have it ready by the morning. He is sure the artist will find the bird to his liking; as requested, it is frozen as if in midflight, its wings forming a perfect “V.” What’s more, Silas has skimmed further profit by adding another dove heart to one of the yellowed jars. Little brown orbs float in preserving fluid, ready to fetch a good price from quacks and apothecaries.
Silas tidies the workshop, wiping and straightening his tools. He is halfway up the ladder rungs, nudging the trapdoor with his shoulder as he cradles the dove, when the consumptive wheeze of the bell sounds below him.
Albie, he hopes, as it is early enough, and he abandons the bird on a cabinet and hurries through the shop, wondering what the child will bring him. The boy’s recent hauls have been increasingly paltry—maggoty rats, aging cats with smashed skulls, even a half run-over pigeon with a stumpy claw. (“But if you knew, sir, how hard it is with the bone grubbers pinching the best of the trade—”) If Silas’s collection is to stand the test of time, he needs something truly exceptional to complete it. He thinks of the bakery nearby on the Strand, which made a poor living with its bulky wholemeal loaves, good only for doorstops. Then the baker, on the brink of debtors’ prison, started to pickle strawberries in sugar and sell them by the jar. It transformed the shop, made it famous even in tourist pamphlets of the city.
The trouble is, Silas often thinks he has found his special, unique item, but then he finishes the work and finds himself hounded by doubts, by the ache for more. The pathologists and collectors he admires—men of learning and medicine like John Hunter and Astley Cooper—have no shortage of specimens. He has eavesdropped on the conversations of medical men, sat white with jealousy in drinking holes opposite University College London as they’ve discussed the morning’s dissections. He might lack their connections, but surely, surely, one day Albie will bring him something—his hand trembles—remarkable. Then, his name will be etched on a museum entrance, and all of his work, all of his toil, will be recognized. He imagines climbing the stone steps with Flick, his dearest childhood friend, and pausing as they see “Silas Reed” engraved in marble. She, unable to contain her pride, her palm resting in the small of his back. He, explaining that he built it all for her.
But it is not Albie, and each knock and ring of the bell yields more disappointment. A maid calls on behalf of her mistress, who wants a stuffed hummingbird for her hat. A boy in a velvet jacket browses endlessly and finally buys a butterfly brooch, which Silas sells with a quiver of disdain. All the while, Silas moves only to place their coins in a dogskin purse. In the quiet between times, his thumb tracks a single sentence in The Lancet. “ ‘Tu-mor separ-at-ing the os-oss-ossa navi.’ ” The ringing of the bell and the raps on the door are the only beats of his life. Upstairs, an attic bedroom; downstairs his dark cellar.
It is exasperating, Silas thinks as he stares around the pokey shop, that the dullest items are those that pay his rent. There is no accounting for the poor taste of the masses. Most of his customers will overlook the real marvels—the skull of a century-old lion, the fan made of a whale’s lung tissue; the taxidermy monkey in a bell jar—and head straight for the Lepidoptera cabinet at the back. It contains vermilion butterfly wings, which he traps between two small panes of glass; some are necklace baubles, others for mere display. Foolish knick-knacks that they could make themselves if they had the imagination, he thinks. It is only the painters and the apothecaries who pay for his real interests.
And then, as the clock sings out the eleventh hour, he hears a light tapping, and the faint stutter of the bell in the cellar.
He hurries to the door. It will be a silly child with only tuppence to spend, or if it is Albie, he’ll have another damned bat, a mangy dog good for nothing but a stew—and yet, Silas’s heart quickens.
“Ah, Albie,” Silas says, opening the door and trying to keep his voice steady. Thames fog snakes in.
The ten-year-old child grins back at him. (“Ten, I knows, sir, because I was born on the day the Queen married Albert.”) A single yellow tooth is planted in the middle of his upper gums like a gallows.
“Got a fine fresh creature for you today,” Albie says.
Silas glances down the dead-end alley, at its empty ramshackle houses like a row of drunks, each tottering further forward than the last.
“Out with it, child,” he says, tweaking the boy under the chin to assert his superiority. “What is it, then? The foreleg of a Megalosaurus, or perhaps the head of a mermaid?”
“A bit chilly for mermaids in Regent Canal at this time of year, sir, but that other creature—Mega-what-sumfink—says he’ll leave you a knee when he snuffs it.”
“Kind of him.”
Albie blows into his sleeve. “I got you a right jewel, which I won’t part with for less than two bob. But I’m warning you now, it ain’t red like you like ’em.”
The boy unravels the cord of his sack. Silas’s eyes follow his fingers. A pocket of air escapes, gamey, sweet and putrid, and Silas raises a hand to his nose. He can never stand the smells of the dead; the shop is as clean as a chemist’s, and each day he battles the coal smoke, the fur-dust, and the stink. He would like to uncork the miniature glass bottle of lavender oil that he stores in his waistcoat, to dab it on his upper lip, but he does not want to distract the boy—Albie has the attention span of a shrew on his finest days.
The boy winks, grappling with the sack, pretending it is alive.
Silas summons a smirk that feels hollow on his lips. He hates to see this urchin, this bricky street brat, tease him. It makes him draw back into himself, to recall himself at Albie’s age, running heavy sacks of wet porcelain across the pottery yard, his arms aching from his mother’s fists. It makes him wonder if he’s ever truly left that life—even now he’ll let himself be taunted by a single-toothed imp.
But Silas says nothing. He feigns a yawn, but watches through a sideways crocodile eye that betrays his interest by not blinking.
Albie grins, and unmasks the sacking to present two dead puppies.
At least, Silas thinks it is two puppies, but when he grabs hold of the limbs, he notices only one scruff. One neck. One head. The skull is segmented.
Silas gasps, smiles. He runs his fingers along the seam of the crown to check it isn’t a trick. He wouldn’t put it past Albie to join two dogs with a needle and thread if it fetched him a few more pennies. He holds them up, sees their silhouette against his lamp, squeezes their eight legs, the stones of their vertebrae.
“This is more like it, eh,” he breathes. “Oh, yes.”
“Two bob for’t,” Albie says. “No less than that.”
Silas laughs, pulls out his purse. “A shilling, that’s all. And you can come in, visit my workshop.” Albie shakes his head, steps farther into the alley, and looks around him. A look almost like fear passes over the boy’s face, but it soon vanishes when Silas tips the coin into his palm. Albie hawks and spits his disdain on to the cobbles.
“A mere bob? Would you have a lad starve?”
But Silas closes the door, and ignores the hammering that follows.
He steadies himself on the cabinet. He glances down to check the pups are still there, and they are, clasped against his chest as a child would hold a doll. Their eight furred legs dangle, as soft as moles. They look like they did not even live to take their first breath.
He has it at last. His pickled strawberry.
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This reading group guide for The Doll Factory includes an introduction, discussion questions, and ideas for enhancing your book club. The suggested questions are intended to help your reading group find new and interesting angles and topics for your discussion. We hope that these ideas will enrich your conversation and increase your enjoyment of the book.
In 1850s London, the Great Exhibition is being erected in Hyde Park , and, among the crowd watching the dazzling spectacle, two people meet by happenstance. For Iris, an arrestingly attractive aspiring artist, it is a brief and forgettable moment, but for Silas, a curiosity collector enchanted by all things strange and beautiful, the meeting marks a new beginning.
When Iris is asked to model for Pre-Raphaelite artist Louis Frost, she agrees, on the condition that he will also teach her to paint. Suddenly, her world begins to expand beyond her wildest dreams—but she has no idea that evil is waiting in the shadows. Silas has thought of only one thing since that chance meeting, and his obsession is darkening by the day.
Topics & Questions for Discussion
1. When we think about obsession in the novel, Silas is most likely the first character who comes to mind. Yet many of the characters have something that drives them and that they obsess over. Think about who is obsessed with what. What do these obsessions have in common? Where lies the divide between healthy and harmful obsession?
2. Charles Dickens, a contemporary of the Pre-Raphaelites, is mentioned by characters early on in the novel. What themes does THE DOLL FACTORY share with novels written by Dickens? What writing techniques does Elizabeth Macneal employ that are similar to those of Dickens?
3. What are the different societal constraints our main characters work against to achieve their goals? Do any of these limits still exist in our era? Which ones seem to have stayed in Victorian times?
4. Of all the imaginary pieces of art described in the book, which one would you most like to see? What about it interests you?
5. Why does Iris feel such affection for Albie? Do you feel the same way about him?
6. How are mastery and control expressed in the novel? How do these concepts differ from each other, and which characters exhibit them?
7. How does the slow revelation of Silas’s true relationship to Flick affect the novel? At what point did you realize how dangerous Silas was? What details does Elizabeth Macneal give us early on to indicate that all is not what it seems with Silas?
8. While the painting of Guigemar’s queen is the most prominent example, many of the paintings described mirror the characters’ experiences. Google a few of the paintings and see how they are reflected in the characters’ arcs.
9. Do you sympathize with Rose? Does your opinion of her change throughout the novel?
10. Courtly love is a medieval literary tradition in which a knight proved his love for a noble woman through a series of tests, and the knight and his intended lady are presented as idealized figures. It has been an influence upon many artistic movements and was a key interest of the Pre-Raphaelites. Reread page 156, where Louis explains why he is beginning to tire of it. In what ways does courtly love play out within the novel? Who upholds its ideals and who counters them? How do you see the ideals of courtly love reflected in discussions of relationships and gender in our own times?
11. Women are consistently “captured” in the novel, whether literally or figuratively (Guigemar’s queen, Iris’s likeness in the painting, Flick and Iris by Silas, Rose by Mrs. Salter, even Guinevere the wombat). Discuss the various constraints put upon women in the novel and how they do or do not break free.
12. Considering the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood’s dedication to truth (“taking truth to nature”—or representing the world accurately—was one of their tenets), what do you think of Louis’s omission about his wife and child? Do you think Iris’s reaction was fair?
13. What did you make of Albie’s death? What were the narrative advantages of this?
14. With its emphasis on freedom, medieval culture, and courtly love, and the name itself, is there a place for women in the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood? To counter, consider how the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood also gave space to women, both in the novel and historically, to become artists and not just muses.
15. What do you make of the review of Iris’s painting at the end of the novel? What does it imply about the lives of Iris, Louis, and Rose? Why do you think Iris included Albie in it? How does it tie in with the themes of the novel, particularly of objects and symbolism?
Enhance Your Book Club
1. Research the history of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and its members. Choose one of their paintings described in THE DOLL FACTORY and give a report to your book group. Be sure to include its size, the materials used, any historical or mythological allusions in the work, qualities that make it pre-Raphaelite, and contemporary reactions to the artwork. Don’t forget to bring a photo to show everyone!
2. Iris’s story can be compared to the Pygmalion myth, in which the sculptor Pygmalion falls in love with one of his creations. Many writers have used this Greek myth in their work. One of the most famous works is George Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion. Have your book group read it, or watch the musical adaptation, My Fair Lady. Though THE DOLL FACTORY is set a few decades before Shaw wrote his play, there are many similarities in its exploration of class mobility and gender roles. Discuss how Iris is similar to Eliza Doolittle. How are Louis and Silas similar to Henry Higgins? In what ways do they differ? What other themes do you think both Shaw and Macneal explore?
3. The Pre-Raphaelite movement was not made up only of visual artists, but also writers, and especially poets. Pick a Pre-Raphaelite poet, such as Dante Gabriel Rossetti or his sister, Christina Rossetti, and analyze its language, themes, and symbols. As with the paintings you researched, what qualities make the poem pre-Raphaelite? Is there anything in it that reminds you of THE DOLL FACTORY?
Elizabeth Macneal
Born in Scotland, Elizabeth Macneal is a potter based in London, where she works from a small studio at the bottom of her garden. She read English Literature at Oxford University and completed the Creative Writing MA at the University of East Anglia in 2017. In 2018, she won the Caledonia Novel Award for her debut novel, The Doll Factory.
Publisher: Atria/Emily Bestler Books (August 13, 2019)
Fiction > Suspense
Fiction > Historical
5 Victorian Era Books for the Historical Fiction Fan
- Off the Shelf
Raves and Reviews
“When a book refuses to shy away from squalor and brutality while venerating the passionate and beautiful, it is always a memorable experience—The Crimson Petal and the White, by Michel Faber; The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver; Fingersmith, by Sarah Waters. Joining this list of haunting novels is Elizabeth Macneal's unapologetically lush debut, THE DOLL FACTORY... There is hardly an aspect of Victorian London that [Macneal] has not mastered.”
"A sharp, scary, gorgeously evocative tale of love, art and obsession."
– Paula Hawkins, internationally bestselling author of The Girl on the Train
"A stunningly confident first novel with a real sense of period and place . . . thoroughly engrossing."
– Ian Rankin, New York Times bestselling author of RATHER BE THE DEVIL
"Delightfully creepy . . . magical storytelling."
– The Washington Post
"Talented debut novelist Macneal drops readers right into a Victorian London that’s home to stinking squalor and chaos, but also significant beauty and possibility. Midway through, readers won’t know if they're holding a romance, tragedy, or murder mystery, but won’t pause long enough to wonder about it as Iris rails against the limitations of her gender and social status, and Silas’ creepiness comes into sharp focus…This terrifically exciting, chiaroscuro novel became an instant bestseller in England, with TV rights already sold, and will jolt, thrill, and bewitch U.S. readers, too."
– Booklist (starred review)
"A stunning novel that twines together power, art, and obsession. At every turn expectations are confounded - it’s a historical novel and yet feels incredibly relevant and timely. I loved its warmth, its wry humour, and the way each small thread leads into an unbearably tense and chilling denouement that had me totally gripped."
– Sophie Mackintosh, Man Booker Prize-longlisted author of The Water Cure
"An astonishingly good debut. The Doll Factory reminded me of The Crimson Petal and the White, Fingersmith and Vanity Fair but had a richness of tone that was uniquely its own. Macneal writes with utter mastery, creating a lushly intricate world peopled by living, breathing characters you can’t help but fall in love with and a plot that rattles like a speeding carriage to its thrilling conclusion. I couldn’t put it down. You won’t be able to either."
– Elizabeth Day, award-winning author of THE PARTY
"I lovedTHE DOLL FACTORY from the very first page and couldn’t do anything else until I’d read right to the end. An exquisite novel of obsession, delusion, resilience and love, Elizabeth Macneal really is a breathtaking new talent."
– AJ Pearce, internationally bestselling author of DEAR MRS. BIRD
"Engrossing and atmospheric. Fascinating real historical background (the Pre-Raphaelites) and super invented characters. I can practically see the TV version!"
– Adele Geras, award-winning author of THE BALLET CLASS
"With strong echoes of John Fowles' The Collector, The Doll Factory is at once a vivid depiction of a morally dubious world, and a page-turning psychological thriller, with a truly compelling villain."
– Essie Fox, critically-acclaimed author of The Somnambulist
"A gripping, artfully written historical novel with a highly contemporary sensibility. The setting - 19th century London full of pomp, grime and menace - plays just one part in an immersive and intellectually satisfying narrative that interrogates gender politics, classism, relationships, artistic obsession and erotomania with a painterly eye and gleefully dark heart. Part love story, part gothic novel and leading up to a truly breathless conclusion, this book is destined to be one of the biggest titles of 2019, deservedly so."
– Sharlene Teo, award-winning author of Ponti
"Fantastic - vivid, poignant, colourful, and elegantly horrifying."
– Bridget Collins, internationally bestselling author of THE BINDING
"This brilliant literary thriller gripped me from the opening page and didn’t relinquish its hold until I’d read the final sentence. The Doll Factory conjures 1850s London in all its grime and glory, possibility and restriction in absorbing, immersive detail. Elizabeth Macneal has created that rare thing: a beautifully researched historical novel with a plot to stop your heart. If this is her first book, I can barely wait to see what she writes next."
– Hannah Kent, award-winning author of BURIAL RITES and THE GOOD PEOPLE
"THE DOLL FACTORY is brilliant, with a refreshingly original quality, beautifully orchestrated narrative, great characters and some fascinating background detail."
– Andrew Taylor, No. 1 Sunday Times bestselling author of THE ASHES OF LONDON and THE AMERICAN BOY
"THE DOLL FACTORY is one of the best books I’ve read in ages – heartbreaking and evocative. Elizabeth Macneal draws a vivid picture of life in 1850s London, exploring the world of the pre-Raphaelites and examining the position of women through her unforgettable heroine. At the same time, Elizabeth creates a perfectly structured and page-turning story of love and passion; crime and obsession. A wonderful and intense novel. I loved it."
– Jenny Quintana, author of THE MISSING GIRL
"A remarkably assured and beautifully written debut, filled with sinister delights and intriguing themes of imprisonment and objectification. A truly captivating read."
– E C Fremantle, author of THE POISON BED
"A darkly beautiful exploration of the razor’s edge between creation and destruction."
– BookPage, "8 New Voices To Discover"
Book Cover Image (jpg): The Doll Factory
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Who said what to whom, and subsequent effects – that was also the theme of a multi-thousand-word investigative piece on Facebook and its executive team in the New York Times on 15th November.
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Dreaming in Cuban Quotes
"He used to write her letters every day, when he still had the strength, long letters in old-fashioned script with flourishes and curlicues...They were romantic letters, too...He called Abuela Celia his 'dove in the desert.'" ("Going South," 33)
Pilar is charmed by her grandfather's late-in-life attempts at romantic contact with her grandmother—as any teenage grandchild would be. She does not yet understand the origin and nature of her grandparents' relationship. In this way, her view of their union is as unrealistic as her dreams of Cuba.
"Gustavo returned to Celia's counter again and again. He brought her butterfly jasmine, the symbol of patriotism and purity, and told her that Cuba, too, would one day be free of blood-suckers. Gustavo sang to her beauty mark, the lunar by her mouth. He bought her drop pearl earrings." ("Palmas Street," 36)
We'd fall pretty hard for this kind of courtship, too. It also explains Celia's fervor for the Revolution.
"It surprised me how my heart jumped when I heard he'd been hurt...I discovered I loved him at that moment. Not a passion like ours, Gustavo, but love just the same. I think he understands this and is at peace." ("Letters: 1935-1940," 54)
Celia comes to the realization that her indifference to Jorge has been transformed to a steady love. At another point, she understands that her passion for Gustavo would likely have cooled over the years—so that makes her men about even, right?
"When Lourdes was a child in Cuba, she used to wait anxiously for her father to return from his trips selling small fans and electric brooms in distant provinces. He would call her every evening...and she would cry, 'When are you coming home, Papi? When are you coming home?' Lourdes would welcome her father in her party dress and search his suitcase for rag dolls and oranges." ("Grove," 68)
It's possible that Lourdes' love for her father was intensified by her fear of her mother's indifference and manic behavior. Or perhaps this is genuine love shared by two compatible souls. We expect that it's a combination of the two.
"Felicia approaches the bleached, crumpled heap that will be her husband. He looks like a colorless worm, writhing on his stomach in a synthetic tan suit with precisely matching socks, his steel glasses smashed against the pavement. Felicia is smitten." ("Baskets," 149)
We're not sure if Felicia's emotions are the sign of her desperation or if she really is just a highly charitable person, able to love the unlovable. She desperately wants a second husband, despite the dire predictions of the santero who told her she wouldn't be able to keep what she desired. Perhaps their intense passion burned itself up too quickly?
"Could her son, Celia wonders, have inherited her habit of ruinous passion? Or is passion indiscriminate, incubating haphazardly like a cancer?" ("Baskets," 157)
When Javier returns from Czechoslovakia a broken man, Celia can't help but recall her own brush with death after Gustavo left her. In this world where the unexplained and unusual happens all the time, it's not out of the question that emotional lives can be transmitted via DNA.
"...Neighbors had kept their distance, believing she was destined for an early death and anyone she touched would be forced to accompany her. They were afraid of her disease as if it were fatal, like tuberculosis, but worse, much worse. What they feared even more...was that passion might spare them entirely, that they'd die conventionally, smug and purposeless, having never savored its blackness." ("Baskets," 157)
Celia herself is clearly horrified by living a life of numb affections, as reflected in her question for Pilar and I Ching ("Should I live for passion?"). It's not a surprise that she is able to see this same fear in the eyes of the women around her.
"That girl [Lourdes] is a stranger to me. When I approach her, she turns numb, as if she wanted to be dead in my presence. I see how different Lourdes is with her father, so alive and gay, and it hurts me, but I don't know what to do. She still punishes me for the early years." ("Letters: 1950-1955," 165)
Jorge wants to punish Celia for loving Gustavo, so he has her tortured in an asylum and separated from Lourdes. Lourdes detests her mother for not loving her, so she clings to her father. Jorge clings to Lourdes because affection is not forthcoming from his wife. It's a vicious, vicious cycle.
"'After we were married, I left her with my mother and my sister. I knew what it would do to her. A part of me wanted to punish her. For the Spaniard. I tried to kill her, Lourdes. I wanted to break her, may God forgive me. When I returned, it was done." ("Changó," 195)
To be fair, Jorge hangs around for a long time after his death just to make this confession to Lourdes and set the record straight. In doing this, Jorge proves his love for both Celia and Lourdes—but it's too little and too late. Lourdes can't reach out to Celia and never delivers his message of contrition to her.
"'Your mother loved you,' Jorge del Pino repeats urgently. 'She loved me,' Lourdes echoes.'" ("Changó," 196)
Lourdes can repeat it, but it's only an echo. She doesn't own this fact and certainly doesn't believe in her heart that her mother loved her. The rejection in her infancy feels too big to overcome.
Memory & The Past
"[Lourdes] imagines her footprints sinking invisibly through the streets and the sidewalks, below the condensed archaeology of the city to underground plains of rich alluvial clay. She suspects the earth sheds its skin in layers, squandered of green." ("Going South," 18)
Dreaming in Cuban has a kind of historical syncretism working for it, where the characters elide their emotional states with the story of things around them. It's a variation of magical realism, in which the extraordinary or impossible works its way into everyday life. Here, Lourdes "makes her print" on the streets of New York as she patrols her beat. Perhaps this is her way of making the experiences of her life significant in the eyes of the universe.
"I was only two years old when I left Cuba but I remember everything that's happened to me since I was a baby, even word-for-word conversations." ("Going South," 26, Pilar)
It's an impossible situation, but let's say Pilar has a gift. She doesn't need anyone else to tell the story of her early life to her, since she can reach all the way back into infancy to grab those memories herself. On one hand, it's a good thing: she can interpret her life as she sees fit and doesn't need her mother to reconstruct her life in Cuba for her. On the other, it means that she doesn't need her mother to—already a problem in their strained relationship.
"If it were up to me, I'd record other things. Like the time there was a freak hailstorm in the Congo and the women took it as a sign that they should rule. Or the life stories of prostitutes in Bombay. Why don't I know anything about them? Who chooses what we should know or what's important?" ("Going South," 28)
Both Pilar (who is speaking here) and Herminia lament that other people get to decide what's important. Whether it has to do with cultural memory or political decisions, it's horribly frustrating to them to have to rely on the whims of those in power for something that feels so personal and personally defining.
"The air was different from Cuba's. It had a cold, smoked smell that chilled my lungs. The skies looked newly washed, streaked with light. And the trees were different, too. They looked on fire. I'd run through great heaps of leaves just to hear them rustle like the palm trees during hurricanes in Cuba. But then I'd feel sad looking up at the bare branches and thinking about Abuela Celia. I wonder how my life would have been different if I'd stayed with her." ("Going South," 32)
Pilar has romanticized the possibility of Cuba and her life in it, so her memories of her early days in New York are equally biased toward the negative. She's definitely not feeling like a native New Yorker and feels that her poor lungs (and the rest of her) would have thrived better on the tropical island. She has a different set of feelings when she later reaches Cuba.
"For twenty-five years, Celia wrote her Spanish lover a letter on the eleventh day of each month, then stored it in a satin-covered chest beneath her bed. Celia has removed her drop pearl earrings only nine times, to clean them. No one ever remembers her without them." ("Palmas Street," 36)
This is the first time we understand the importance of those pearl earrings. Celia defines herself by wearing them so persistently, and others come to identify her by the trademark jewelry. This is something to hold on to as you move into the ending of the book.
"She imagines [Jorge] swinging the broom round and round in a quickening circle...swinging so hard that the air breaks in a low whistle...then releasing the broom until it flies high above him, crashing through the window and shattering the past." ("Palmas Street," 43)
Celia relives her past as she walks through Havana and stops in front of the hotel where she and lover Gustavo used to meet. Time collapses for her as she stands there (as it so often does to the characters in this book), bringing the two men of her life together in a battle for her memory and heart.
"Memory cannot be confined, Celia realizes, looking out the kitchen window to the sea. It's slate gray, the color of undeveloped film. Capturing images suddenly seems to her an act of cruelty. It was an atrocity to sell cameras at El Encanto department store, to imprison emotions on squares of glossy paper." ("Palmas Street," 47-48)
We love the ambiguity of that second sentence, where it's either the sea or memory that is "slate gray." Let your mind play with the possibilities of those interpretations. Celia has a unique stance on the act of "fixing memory," and feels that the beauty of recollection lies in the ability interpret and rearrange the original experience at will.
"'Imagination, like memory, can transform lies to truths,' Felicia whispers in her son's ear. Nobody else teaches him that." ("Fire," 88)
Felicia may be in one of her hallucinatory stages, but this little bit of madness has wisdom in it. In either case (memory or imagination) the event or "truth" relies on the transformative power of the mind to give it meaning. In other words, whatever "really" happened in the past doesn't matter—it's how we choose to reassemble the memory that counts.
"All summer, it seems to her...she has lived in her memories. Sometimes she'll glimpse the hour on a dusty Canada Dry clock, or look at the sun low in the sky, and realize she cannot account for her time. Where do the hours go? Her past, she fears, is eclipsing her present." ("Fire," 92)
Celia does something that most older people do: reviews her life and continuously tries to find out what was important in it. Although it is a natural response to aging, we can see that it bothers her a bit here. The real problem may not be that the past is encroaching on the present. For Celia, the big question is whether or not the past will allow her to have a future.
"It's not just our personal history that gets mangled. Mom filters other people's lives through her distorting lens. Maybe it's that wandering eye of hers. It makes her see only what she wants to see instead of what's really there." ("Matrix," 177)
Pilar really has a problem with other people "making up" the important information of the past. She's really interested in getting at the things and events that are true or real. The difficulty is that all the characters have a "lens," distorted or otherwise, through which they view and interpret the world.
"The war that killed my grandfather and great-uncles and thousands of other blacks is only a footnote in our history books. Why, then, should I trust anything I read? I trust only what I see, what I know with my heart, nothing more." ("God's Will," 185, Herminia)
Here is another echo of the anger and dissatisfaction with being at the mercy of those in power, who make decisions about cultural memory and history. In this case, Herminia addresses the racial tensions that are so powerful (and yet ignored) in Cuba.
"As I listen, I feel my grandmother's life passing to me through her hands. It's a steady electricity, humming and true." ("Six Days," 222)
The relationship between Pilar and Celia has always been a special one, and we know that Celia believes her future is in Pilar's hands. That seems reasonable, as Pilar is the next generation. But it's more complicated than that. Pilar is Celia's future because she is the receiver of her memories, feelings and experiences of the past.
"'Your grandfather took me to an asylum after your mother was born. I told him all about you. He said it was impossible to remember the future.'" ("Six Days," 222)
There seems to be a perpetual stitching together of the fabric of space and time in this work, partly due to the intricate timeline of the narrative. Celia heightens this feeling for us her by "prophesying" a bit, looking forward to the time when Pilar would come and comfort her with her presence. Don't be too quick to brush this aside as generic future wisdom; magical realism is in play here, so Celia's actually being visionary.
"Women who outlive their daughters are orphans, Abuela tells me. Only their granddaughters can save them, guard their knowledge like the first fire." ("Six Days," 222)
Celia articulates her loss by turning the natural order of things upside down. How is it possible for a mother to be an orphan when she loses a daughter? Why should a granddaughter save her grandmother, when it should be the other way around? Because Celia is fragile and broken by Felicia's death (and Javier's disappearance)—and she is feeling the effects of age and loneliness—she needs to rely on Pilar's memory and strength to sustain her.
"My granddaughter, Pilar Puente del Pino, was born today. It is also my birthday. I am fifty years old. I will no longer write to you, mi amor. She will remember everything." ("Six Days," 245).
Celia can only relinquish her habit of recording her innermost feelings because Pilar can now be the receptacle of her memory and her present life. As Pilar so astutely observes in another part of the novel, she can actually feel the vitality of her grandmother's memories moving from Celia to herself. This moment, when Celia ends her dependence on the idea of Gustavo, highlights the importance in the lives of these women of a well-curated and preserved set of lifetime experiences.
"Her husband emerges from the light and comes toward her, taller than the palms, walking on water in his white summer suit and Panama hat." ("Ocean Blue," 5)
Jorge visits Celia in Cuba immediately after his death in New York. The mundane expression of this supernatural appearance would make it seem that such occurrences happen daily—or at least are expected.
"'The nuns told her it was like a Holy Ascension except Papi was dressed to go dancing. Then he shows up at my mother's house and nearly scares her half to death. I think she dove in the ocean after him.'" ("Ocean Blue," 12)
Note the sacred and otherworldly juxtaposed with earthly frivolity. Jorge experiences a miraculous spiritual transformation but his clothes still reflect his personality. Felicia misinterprets Celia's response as she recounts the story to Herminia.
"'Listen, girl, there's always new hope for the dead. You must cleanse your soul of this or it will trail you all your days. It may even harm your children. Just a small offering to Santa Bárbara...'" ("Ocean Blue," 12)
Herminia convinces Felicia that she has to take action to appease the negative energy she's generated from not making peace with her father before he died. Since Herminia is a santera she believes that such negativity will bring ill luck to Felicia if it lingers. Felicia is not thrilled about the idea of blood sacrifice, but Herminia brings her round.
"Against the back wall, an ebony statue of Santa Bárbara, the Black Queen, presides. Apples and bananas sit in offering at her feet. Fragrant oblations crowd the shrines of the other saints and gods: toasted corn, pennies, and an aromatic cigar for Saint Lazarus, protector of paralytics; coconut and bitter kola for Obatalá, King of the White Cloth; roasted yams, palm wine, and a small sack of salt for Oggún, patron of metals." ("Ocean Blue," 14)
Felicia is cornered into making a sacrifice of a goat to the gods in order to restore the balance in her life after Jorge's death. Here, she enters La Madrina's house and surveys the shrines of the Catholic saints-turned-gods.
"'When I went in, he was fully dressed, standing there erect and healthy, except that his head and hands glowed as if lit from within. It was a nimbus of holiness, I am certain." ("Going South," 19)
It seems that everyone encounters the supernatural in this book, yet the interpretations of such events are quite varied. In this case, Sister Federica—who has taken care of Jorge during his last illness—finds sanctity in the weird ghostly appearance of Jorge after death.
"Abuela Celia and I write to each other sometimes, but mostly I hear her speaking to me at night just before I fall asleep. She tells me stories about her life and what the sea was like that day. She seems to know everything that's happened to me and tells me not to mind my mother too much." ("Going South," 28-29)
Earlier in this chapter, Celia explains to us that she has been talking to Pilar in the night, their telepathic conversations overcoming the miles between Cuba and Brooklyn. It might have been easy to dismiss this as the claims of an eccentric and lonely person—until Pilar confirms the conversations. Eventually, the communications break off, but for Pilar, they are one of the strongest motivators to make the trip to Cuba.
"Fruit and coins are strewn by [the ceiba tree's] trunk and the ground around the tree bulges with offerings. Celia knows that good charms and bad are hidden in the stirred earth near its sacred roots. Tía Alicia told her once that the ceiba is a saint, female and maternal. She asks the tree permission before crossing its shadow, then circles it three times and makes a wish for Felicia." ("Palmas Street," 43)
So Celia doesn't believe in religious mumbo jumbo...but she does like to hedge her bets. In this case, her interaction with the supernatural is a spontaneous response, learned in her childhood from an unconventional aunt.
"Her body starts to sway, and her clasped hands rock beneath her chin until it seems she is all loose, swinging angles. And then, as Celia watches, the little santera's moist eyes roll back in her dwarfish head until the whites gleam from two pinpricks, and she trembles once, twice, and slides against Celia in a heap on the sidewalk, smoking like a wet fire, sweet and musky, until nothing is left of her but her fringed cotton shawl." ("Baskets," 160)
Yes, that's right. She spontaneously combusted. Again, the big surprise isn't that the santera evaporates; it's that Celia merely bends over and picks up her shawl. It's as though this kind of thing happened every day. (We're not even sure that next of kin were notified.)
"'Lourdes, I'm back,' Jorge de Pino greets his daughter forty days after she buried him with his Panama hat, his cigars, and a bouquet of violets in a cemetery on the border of Brooklyn and Queens." ("Grove," 64)
Far from being dismayed by her father's posthumous return, Lourdes takes great comfort in her father's company. Since he is the only person she feels sympathy with, it's really her only chance for real companionship and possible emotional healing.
"The santeras had made eight cuts on her tongue with a razor blade so that the god could speak, but Felicia could not divulge his words. When Obatalá finally left her body, she opened her eyes and emerged from the void." ("God's Will," 187)
Felicia's initiation ceremony into santería is as extreme and stomach turning as most of the experiences she's had up to this point in her life. Her complete compliance during these little trials shows her determination to find peace in her life, which turns out to be a misplaced hope.
"I light my candle. The bath turns a clear green from the herbs. It has the sharp scent of an open field in spring. When I pour it on my hair, I feel a sticky cold like dry ice, then a soporific heat. I'm walking naked as a beam of light along brick paths and squares of grass, phosphorescent and clean." ("Changó," 203)
Pilar literally wanders into a mundane practice of santería when she chances on a botánica in Brooklyn. She is searching desperately for an identity that blends the Cuban and American aspects of her life and for clarity where her motherland is concerned.
"The yanquis, rumors go, have ringed the island with nuclear poison, hoping to starve the people and incite a counterrevolution. They will drop germ bombs to wither the sugarcane fields, blacken the rivers, blind horses and pigs. Celia studies the coconut palms lining the beach. Could they be blinking signals to an invisible enemy?" ("Ocean Blue" 3-4)
The opening of this book may have you questioning just how reliable Celia's point of view will be in the coming pages. Is she delusional? Or has she just accepted the conditioning of the State? Perhaps the complicit coconut trees is just one step too far...
"The muscles in her right eye have been weak since she was a child, and every so often the eye drifts to one side, giving her a vaguely cyclopean air. It doesn't diminish her 20/20 vision, only skews it a bit." ("Going South" 17)
Lourdes prefers to think of her lazy eye as a super power, giving her the ability to take in more than the average Cuban mother. Pilar sees it as a weakness, the portal for every crazy political theory and prejudice to walk through.
"He took pride in never walking barefoot, even in his own home, and shuffled around in highly polished leather slippers to protect himself from microbios. The very word lit a fire in his eyes. 'They are the enemy!' he used to bellow. 'Culprits of tropical squalor!'" ("Going South," 21)
Much like Lourdes, Jorge sees Cuba as a dangerous place full of molecular predators and unsympathetic people. For Jorge, the danger gets down to the cellular level. After reading about the state of their refrigerator ("a bulk of rust") and seeing all the animal sacrifice, we can't help but side with Jorge on the microbios.
"In the final dialogue with her husband, before he took her to the asylum, Celia talked about how the baby had no shadow, how the earth in its hunger had consumed it. She held their child by one leg, handed her to Jorge, and said, 'I will not remember her name.'" ("Palmas Street," 42-43)
Celia's mental state is fragile at this point (thanks to Jorge's program to "break her"), as she has been living in an isolating and hostile family environment. This is also the kind of sentiment we are to hear from Felicia as she descends into delusions.
"Felicia del Pino doesn't know what brings on her delusions...She can hear everything in this world and others, every sneeze and creak and breath in the heavens or the harbor or the gardenia tree down the block. They call to her all at once, grasping here and there for parts of her, hatching blue flames in her brain." ("Fire ," 75)
Planes of existence collide for Felicia and really drag her down. The source of her madness is unclear: lingering syphilis? Emotional hardship? Domestic abuse? General failure to thrive? We can't say for sure. Her heightened perceptions and poetic language, however, make her movements away from general reality breathtaking.
"'Let's speak in green,' his mother says, and they talk about everything that makes them feel green. They do the same with blues and reds and yellows. Ivanito asks her, 'If the grass were black, would the world be different?' But Felicia doesn't answer." ("Fire," 84)
This moment of synesthesia happens after Felicia's world begins to contract down to just herself and Ivanito. The two develop new ways of interacting and communicating with each other—not all of them healthy. This particular brand of banter is the closest thing that comes to normal play for the mother-son pair, even though the scrambling of senses denotes something disordered and dire in their interaction.
"Her son would have been different. He wouldn't have talked back to her or taken drugs or drunk beer from bags like the other teenagers. Her son would have helped her in the bakery without complaint. He would have come to her for guidance, pressed her hand to his cheek, told her he loved her." ("Enough Attitude," 129)
There probably isn't a mother in the world who hasn't thought "What if..." Lourdes takes this normal maternal exercise all the way to eleven, claiming impossible feats for the boy who never was. She is inspired to think this because of the Navarro boy and her unsatisfactory relationship with Pilar. She clearly needs comforting, and she reaches out for the only person who could not be affected by the concerns of her family or the outside world.
"Rufino has taken to raising pigeons in wire-mesh cages in their backyard the way he saw Marlon Brando do in On the Waterfront. He prints messages on bits of paper, slips them through metal rings on the pigeons' legs, then kisses each bird on the head for good luck and lets it loose with a whoop." ("Attitude," 131)
Once Pilar catches him out with the "blonde bombshell" and promptly discards him from her mind, we don't hear much about Rufino. We can tell from this passage, however, that the alienation he feels from his family and the inability to assimilate to American society has started to take its toll on him.
"During the following week, Felicia begins to assemble bits and pieces of her past. They stack up in her mind, soggily, arbitrarily, and she sorts through them like cherished belongings after a flood. She charts sequences and events with colored pencils, shuffling her diagrams until they start to make sense, a possible narrative. But the people remain faceless, nameless." ("Baskets," 154).
Once again, Felicia can't locate herself in the world around her. She literally wakes up married to yet another man, completely unaware of how she got there—or who her husband really is. Interestingly, in her attempts to trace her past, Felicia is actually constructing her own life and identity. We never do get to see those diagrams and tables so we don't know how close she came to reality in this exercise.
"Sometimes I ask myself if my adventures, such as they are, equal experience. I think of Flaubert, who spent most of his life in the same French village, or Emily Dickinson, whose poems echoed the cadence of the local church bells. I wonder if the farthest distance I have to travel isn't inside my own head." ("Matrix," 178)
Pilar tries to formulate a universal concept of what it takes to have something important to say to the world. Her conclusion, as you can see, is mixed. She wants to live in the world so that she can have the authority of universal reality on her side, but she still understands that constructing her own personal narrative has value, too.
"I aim my radio at the farthest point in the sky and click it on. It pops and sputters like my mother's old car. I turn and turn the dial, half expecting to hear Mom singing in her deep-throated way, singing the sad words of her Beny Moré song." ("God's Will, 191)
Ivanito's desire and belief that he can contact his dead mother by using a pair of rabbit ears meshes well with the elements of magical realism in the work. But this incident also shows the level of desperation experienced by some of the characters who are confined against their will and can't find a way to fit in and thrive.
"I left her in an asylum. I told the doctors to make her forget. They used electricity. They fed her pills. I used to visit her every Sunday. She told me to turn on my electric brooms and then laughed in my face. She told me that geometry would strangle nature. She made a friend who had murdered her husband..." ("Changó," 195)
Lourdes gets schooled by her deceased father concerning the reality of Celia's life. She doesn't like what she's hearing because it doesn't mesh with her version of reality. If Celia really did love her and her beloved father was to blame for her alienation, that would really rock her world. In the end, she's really not willing to go there.
"In the library, nothing makes sense. The fluorescent lights transmit conversations from passing cars on Broadway. Someone's ordering a bucket of chicken wings on 103rd Street...Gandhi was a carnivore. He came of age in Samoa. He traversed a subcontinent in blue suede shoes. Maybe this is the truth." ("Changó," 202)
Pilar has just been violently attacked by a gang of 11-year-old boys and she's experiencing the kind of psychological break we would normally associate with Felicia. In this moment of parting from reality, Pilar picks up some interesting bits of trivia, which move her even further away from life as she knows it.
"A pair of frayed trousers stick out from beneath a '55 Plymouth. Magnificent finned automobiles cruise grandly down the street like parade floats. I feel like we're back in time, in a kind of Cuban version of an earlier America." ("Six Days," 220)
We've all had that "Twilight Zone" moment in our lives, when things look familiar but weirdly off-kilter. Pilar's first experience with Cuba is both charming and unsettling, a theme that will continue for the duration of her visit.
"A long time ago...Jorge boarded the plane for New York, sick and shrunken in an ancient wheelchair. 'Butchers and veterinarians!' he shouted as they pushed him up the plank. 'That's what Cuba is now!'" ("Ocean Blue," 6)
Jorge's reaction to his homeland illustrates the familial divide on this subject: Celia believes in the Revolution and wouldn't leave if she could, whereas Lourdes and her husband's family have suffered unspeakably from the political upheaval. Pilar makes the observation that life is hard in Cuba, but people have the basic necessities. In Jorge's case, it isn't enough to thrive on.
"Because of this, Celia thinks, her husband will be buried in stiff, foreign earth. Because of this, their children and their grandchildren are nomads." ("Ocean Blue," 7, Celia is referring to El Lider's frustration at not being a ballplayer).
Lourdes sees the move to America as an unequivocal good—especially since she doesn't have a strong relationship with the mother or sister she's left behind in Cuba. Celia, on the other hand, feels the break up of her family very deeply. She feels abandoned, and although she can see that Cuba doesn't offer much in terms of material comfort, she thinks it is where her family belongs.
"Pilar...writes to her from Brooklyn in a Spanish that is no longer hers. She speaks the hard-edged lexicon of bygone tourists itchy to throw dice on green felt or asphalt. Pilar's eyes, Celia fears, are no longer used to the compacted light of the tropics, where a morning hour can fill a month of days in the north, which receives only careless sheddings from the sun." ("Ocean Blue," 7)
Celia's sorrow resides in the knowledge that her own flesh and blood are now, to some extent, strangers to her. Even though Pilar is sympathetic and has a special connection to her, Celia feels that New York can't offer her granddaughter what she needs to grow up whole and well.
"Celia hasn't spoken to her son since the Soviet tanks stormed Prague four years ago. She cried when she heard his voice and the sounds of the falling city behind him. What was he doing so far from the warm seas swimming with gentle manatees?" ("Ocean Blue," 10)
Although we never know for certain why Javier leaves Cuba, we do learn of tensions between Jorge and his son over politics. Celia's maternal sadness at her son's absence is compounded by her feeling of helplessness at the political unrest and unhealthy environment she feels he's living in.
"Celia wanted to tell Jorge how his mother and sister, Ofelia, scorned her, how they ate together in the evenings without inviting her...They left her scraps to eat, worse than what they fed the dogs in the street." ("Palmas Street," 40)
Celia suffers more from personal estrangement than she ever does from the political exiles that afflict her family. The cruelty from her mother and sister-in-law is perhaps expected; the abandonment by her husband into the hands of those who would destroy her is the worst betrayal.
"I felt sorry for the Jews getting thrown out of Egypt and having to drag themselves across the desert to find a home. Even though I've been living in Brooklyn all my life, it doesn't feel like home to me. I'm not sure Cuba is, but I want to find out." ("Grove," 58)
Pilar has her own flair for the dramatic, comparing one epic diaspora to her personal exile. However, she gets extra points for empathizing in such a grand way. And maybe just a few more for taking such a moderate approach to Cuba.
"Solitude, Celia realizes now, exists for us not to remember but to forget. On the long train ride from the countryside, Celia lost her mother's face, the lies that had complicated her mouth. The life Celia was leaving seemed no longer significant." ("Fire," 92)
While Celia generally thinks fondly of living with Tía Alicia, there is a deep-seated ache in her at the loss of her natal family. Again, it is an issue of abandonment, a kind of familial exile from which she is never released.
"Most days Cuba is kind of dead to me. But every once in a while, a wave of longing will hit me and it's all I can do not to hijack a plane to Havana or something. I resent the hell out of the politicians and the generals who force events on us that rupture our lives, that dictate the memories we'll have when we're old." ("Attitude," 137-38)
Pilar is recovering from her teenage love affair with Cuba, but finds that her longing to know the land of her birth and be reconnected with her grandmother still remains. Her own indifference is a symptom of her inability to access the island—she is hoping to lose her longing for a place she cannot have.
"I felt that I was meant to live in this colder world, a world that preserved history. In Cuba, everything seemed temporal, distorted by the sun." ("Baskets," 146)
While his cousin Pilar is in a cold place thinking about how much she belongs in the tropics, Ivanito fantasizes (as Lourdes did) of a place that is the total opposite of Cuba. We're not sure why he believes the colder world does a better or more honorable job with history (other than the remarks made by his errant Russian teacher), but he clearly is a boy with ideas.
"Mom is fomenting her own brand of anarchy closer to home. Her Yankee Doodle bakeries have become gathering places for these shady Cuban extremists who come all the way from New Jersey and the Bronx to talk their dinosaur politics and drink her killer espressos. Last month they started a cablegram campaign against El Líder." ("Matrix," 177)
Pilar is not impressed by her mother's dinner-table anarchy—it's just another thing for her to dislike about Lourdes. It's this gathering of like-minded individuals and their tepid actions that "inspire" Lourdes to yell ridiculous things at El Líder when she's in Havana.
"...But I never made it to Cuba to see Abuela Celia. After that, I felt like my destiny was not my own, that men who had nothing to do with me had the power to rupture my dreams, to separate me from my grandmother." ("Changó," 199-200)
Pilar reflects on her interrupted attempt to reach Cuba as a young teen. She feels that she wasn't strong enough or determined enough to take what she wanted, despite the unfavorable climate. Pilar also deeply resents that her will is taken away from her by the political situation and feels that such freedom of personal movement should never be taken away from the individual.
"Cuba is a peculiar exile, I think, an island-colony. We can reach it by a thirty-minute charter flight from Miami, yet never reach it at all." ("Six Days," 219)
Does Pilar mean that she can never really understand Cuban culture, thinking, or politics because she is no longer a part of the island? Or is she saying that Cuba is a concept that is difficult to grasp and define? We'll leave this one for you to interpret.
"I could happily sit on one of those wrought-iron balconies for days, or keep my grandmother company on her porch, with its ringside view of the sea. I'm afraid to lose all this, to lose Abuela Celia again. But sooner or later I'd have to return to New York. I know now it's where I belong—not instead of here, but more than here." ("Six Days, 236)
After Pilar spends some time with her grandmother, she is torn about her intentions and her needs. Cuba does fulfill some of her longings and emptiness. But in the end, there's no Lou Reed on the island. In other words, she realizes that the bigger part of her identity cannot be accommodated by her motherland.
"Her father had been a fastidious man, impeccable, close-shaven, with razor-sharp creases pressed into his trousers. He took pride in never walking barefoot, even in his own home, and shuffled around in highly polished leather slippers to protect himself from microbios." ("Going South," 21)
We admit that the Jorge's personal phobia of germs borders on the pathological, but it certainly does make him easy to pick out in an interesting cast of characters. Lourdes recalls this personality quirk to express her gratitude that her father, a stickler for cleanliness, at least had a clean shave when he died.
"Another woman, an elderly mulatta, claimed that her hair was falling out from the menacing stare the baby gave her. Lourdes fired her after she found Pilar in her bassinet smeared with chicken blood and covered with bay leaves. 'The child is bewitched,' the frightened nanny explained. 'I was trying to cleanse her spirit.'" ("Going South," 24)
The mythology of Pilar's childhood becomes an important influence on how she and others view her character. Pilar uses it as a way to talk about her rebelliousness, her inability to fit into her mother's life and her desire for all things Cuba. Lourdes points back to these moments to find the roots of her conflict with her daughter, even though she defended her against the superstitions of the Cuban nannies.
"Celia has removed her drop pearl earrings only nine times, to clean them. No one ever remembers her without them." ("Palmas Street," 38)
Celia identifies herself by her passions: for El Líder and her long absent lover Gustavo. The pearl earrings become a sign for Celia herself because she is never parted from them. She cannot see herself without them and Pilar always thinks of her grandmother in terms of those earrings. More curious then, that she chooses to release them to the sea at the end of the book.
"...Luz and Milagro are always alone with one another, speaking in symbols only they understand. Luz, older by twelve minutes, usually speaks for the two of them. The sisters are double stones of a single fruit, darker than their mother, with rounder features and their father's inky eyes." ("Palmas Street," 38)
Felicia's twins really have very little character development, since they exist merely to deliver information about life in their mother's house. But they do have this one defining trait: they are a closed circuit. Because of their mother's mental illness, the girls cling to each other even more than twins normally do, and for longer. They become suspicious of everyone outside their "double helix" and it's pretty clear that neither Celia nor Lourdes and Pilar will be likely to reach them.
"Painting is its own language, I wanted to tell him. Translations just confuse it, dilute it, like words going from Spanish to English. I envy my mother and her Spanish curses sometimes. They make my English collapse in a heap." ("Grove," 59)
Language very much defines a person's character and represents them in a certain way to the people around them. Pilar is caught between her adopted language and the language of her grandmother, which is no longer her own. It's no wonder that she defines herself through a non-verbal language medium like painting.
"[Lourdes] ponders the transmigrations from the southern latitudes, the millions moving north. What happens to their languages? The warm burial grounds they leave behind? What of their passions lying stiff and untranslated in their breasts?" ("Grove," 73)
Lourdes prides herself on having adapted so well to her new country and new language and can't understand how other exiles who resist such change can survive. Although she doesn't cry much for Cuba, she does wonder where the identities of immigrants go after they transform to meet the expectations of their new country.
"Everything makes sense when they dance. Felicia feels as though she were in love again, at the center of the universe, privy to its secrets and inner workings. She has no doubts." ("Fire," 78)
Again, this is a triumph of non-verbal communication, which in Felicia's case, is probably the truest and best way for her to reach out to her family members. Her poetic and fragmented language frightens her children and leads to despair for Felicia, who cannot reach out to the world outside her shuttered house.
"Lourdes is herself only with her father. Even after his death, they understand each other perfectly, as they always have...He is proud of his daughter, of her tough stance on law and order, identical to his own." ("Attitude," 131-32)
Lourdes can never understand her mother's rejection of her in infancy, and she never does forgive her for it. But it hardly matters, because she finds a sympathetic soul in her father. Even after his death, Lourdes feels and hears his approval as she moves on with her life and looks for other places in her society to belong.
"Lou [Reed] has about twenty-five personalities. I like him because he sings about people no one else sings about—drug addicts, transvestites, the down-and-out. Lou jokes about his alter egos discussing problems at night. I feel like a new me sprouts and dies every day." ("Attitude," 135)
This may be the best articulation of teenage personality that we've ever heard. It may be the best and truest description of human experience altogether. Pilar identifies so closely with punk culture because she feels like she is "a mess," unable to cobble together a consistent identity to present to the world. She still has to learn that consistency isn't always the greatest good, at least in this sphere.
"I wonder how Mom could be Abuela Celia's daughter. And what I'm doing as my mother's daughter. Something got horribly scrambled along the way." ("Matrix," 178)
Most of us have felt like this at some point or other, perhaps wishing we'd miraculously find out that we were adopted at a young age from a richer, better, more stable family. In Pilar's case, her ability to sympathize and communicate with her grandmother exacerbates this natural adolescent feeling.
"...I feel something's dried up inside me, something a strong wind could blow out of me for good. That scares me. I guess I'm not so sure what I should be fighting for anymore. Without confines, I'm damn near reasonable. That's something I never wanted to become." ("Changó," 198)
Pilar finds herself moving away from the extreme behaviors and feelings that so defined her as a young teen and worries that this means she's settling. She doesn't yet realize that this natural part of maturation will open up more opportunities for personal crisis in the future.
"Celia reaches up to her left earlobe and releases her drop pearl earring to the sea. She feels its absence between her thumb and forefinger. Then she unfastens the tiny clasp in her right ear and surrenders the other pearl. Celia closes her eyes and imagines it drifting as a firefly through the darkened seas, imagines its slow extinguishing." ("Six Days," 244)
Because Celia is so closely associated with those pearl earrings, most readers will go straight to red alert when they see her discard them into the sea. Surely, this presages Celia's death. Well, you know what happens when you assume. Think about the other possibilities that this release of her former identity might signal before you go for the death option.
"He stops at the ocean's edge, smiles almost shyly, as if he fears disturbing her, and stretches out a colossal hand. His blue eyes are like lasers in the night. The beams bounce off his fingernails, five hard blue shields. They scan the beach, illuminating shells and sleeping gulls, then focus on her. The porch turns blue, ultraviolet." ("Ocean Blue," 5)
Gigantic blue spirit-Jorge strides over the ocean to say farewell to his wife in Cuba. The experience is almost circus-like, even a little absurd, but this moment of passage from one life to the next signals serious life changes for the entire Del Pino family.
"The continents strain to unloose themselves, to drift reckless and heavy in the seas. Explosions tear and scar the land, spitting out black oaks and coal mines, street lamps and scorpions. Men lose the power of speech. The clocks stop." ("Going South," 17)
In one of her more global moments, Lourdes' sleeping mind reaches out to little geographical apocalypses. These premonitory visions of a world in flux continue to visit both Lourdes and Pilar as they journey toward Cuba.
"The more she took her father to the hospital for cobalt treatments, the more she reached for the pecan sticky buns, and for Rufino. The flesh amassed rapidly on her hips and buttocks, muting the angles of her bones. It collected on her thighs, fusing them above the knees. It hung from her arms like hammocks." ("Going South," 20)
It's an old story, but one that García tells with poetry and compassion. Lourdes suffers from isolation and unhappiness as her father descends into sickness. She takes comfort in pleasures of the flesh, which physically turn her into a different woman. Her penchant for extreme action will lead her to wild swings in her appearance throughout the novel.
"Celia had been a tall woman, a head taller than most men, with a full bosom and slender, muscled legs. Soon she was a fragile pile of opaque bones, with yellowed nails and no monthly blood." ("Palmas Street," 36)
Celia's metamorphosis is extreme and complete, and proves that the power of the mind is greater than the will of the body.
"Lourdes considers herself lucky. Immigration has redefined her, and she is grateful. Unlike her husband, she welcomes her adopted language, its possibilities for reinvention...She wants no part of Cuba, no part of its wretched carnival floats creaking with lies, no part of Cuba at all, which Lourdes claims never possessed her." ("Grove," 73)
It seems that immigration has affected Lourdes' family in one of two ways—adaptation or destruction—but in either instance, the result is a fashioning of completely new identities for the characters in exile.
"My sister and I call our mother 'not-Mamá.' As in not-Mamá charred the chicken and is cursing in the kitchen. Not-Mamá is playing that record again, dancing by herself in the dark...She wants us to tell her we love her. When we don't, she looks right past us as if she could see another pair of girls just behind us, girls who will tell her what she wants to hear." ("Shells," 121)
Felicia's twin daughters have developed their own speech patterns, further isolating them from their mother's erratic behavior. In this case, they deny their relationship with their mother in an attempt to reshape their traumatic family experiences.
"And then, as Celia watches, the little santera's moist eyes roll back in her dwarfish head until the whites gleam from two pinpricks, and she trembles once, twice, and slides against Celia in a heap on the sidewalk, smoking like a wet fire, sweet and musky, until nothing is left of her but her fringed cotton shawl." ("Baskets," 159-60)
The spontaneous combustion of Celia's ancient santera wins the award for most dramatic transfiguration in the book. We're not totally sure what caused the little lady to evaporate, but it means nothing good for Celia and her family.
"It's been a month since she stopped eating, and already she's lost thirty-four pounds. She envisions the muscled walls of her stomach shrinking, contracting, slickly clean from the absence of food and the gallons of springwater she drinks. She feels transparent, as if the hard lines of her hulking form were disintegrating." ("Matrix," 167)
And here's Lourdes on her downward weight curve. She embraces the rejection of food as heartily as she previously took to pecan sticky buns. It's clear from the moment that she sits down to Thanksgiving dinner that Lourdes is not a woman who does things by halves, and that moderation in anything won't be a mantra for her life.
"I peel off Andy Warhol's banana sticker and put on the good, thumping, straight-ahead rock and roll. The thick strings vibrate through my fingers, up my arms, down my chest. I don't know what I'm doing but I start thumping that old spruce dresser of an instrument for all it's worth, thumping and thumping, until I feel my life begin." ("Matrix," 181)
Pilar has just suffered through the humiliation of finding her boyfriend in the arms of the whitest girl she knows and is trying to figure out who she is and where she belongs. Somehow, the acquisition of the huge bass guitar gives her someone to be and she draws strength from it.
"When you make a saint, the saint takes good care of you. But Felicia showed none of these blessings. Her eyes dried out like an old woman's and her fingers curled like claws until she could hardly pick up her spoon. Even her hair, which had been as black as a crow's, grew colorless in scruffy patches on her skull. Whenever she spoke, her lips blurred to a dull line in her face." ("God's Will," 189)
Things don't really go as Felicia hopes from the moment she chooses to marry Hugo Villaverde. Even when she does everything right and optimistically hopes for positive change, she's pretty well doomed to destruction. It almost feels like transformative suffering is a genetic thing in her family, as this passage mirrors very closely the moment when Celia takes to her bed over the loss of Gustavo.
"Later, they passed colorful handkerchiefs over Felicia's body, all the while grieving in low voices to purify her corpse. By the time they finished, the terrible lumps on Felicia's head had disappeared, and her skin was as smooth as the pink lining of a conch. Her eyes, too, had regained their original green." ("Six Days," 214)
Suffering is not particularly redemptive for Felicia, but somehow, she is granted a miracle of healing after her death. What is the use of this, you may ask? We're not sure, but perhaps it exists to prove to Celia that Felicia's religious beliefs have some validity, even if they don't save her.
"I've started dreaming in Spanish, which has never happened to me before. I wake up feeling different, like something inside me is changing, something chemical and irreversible. There's a magic here working its way through my veins." ("Six Days," 235)
Finally, we have the metamorphosis that gives the book its name. Pilar finds that a few days in Cuba is the only thing she needed to solidify her original identity within her. She feels like a new person after this happens, as though her mother tongue has truly taken root in her soul and brought her to a place of wonder and clarity.
"Rufino's body ached from the exertions. His joints swelled like an arthritic's. He begged his wife for a few nights' peace but Lourdes's peals only became more urgent, her glossy black eyes more importunate. Lourdes was reaching through Rufino for something he could not give her, she wasn't sure what." ("Going South," 21)
García has a heavy task in convincing her readers that Rufino can actually be suffering from too much sexual activity with his wife, but she does a pretty convincing job here. Above his physical suffering, however, is the desperation and pain that motivates his wife to seek him in such a way.
"Lourdes lifts her dead father's gnarled hands, his papery, spotted wrists. She notices the way his fingers are twisted above the first joints, stiffened haphazardly like branches. His stomach is shaved and tracked with stitches, and his skin is so transparent that even the most delicate veins are visible. The vast white bed obscures him." ("Going South," 21)
This is a virtuouso performance of description of Jorge's final struggle with cancer. His dead body is an archive of medical procedures and the depredations of old age and sadness.
"When Gustavo left her to return to Spain, Celia was inconsolable. The spring rains made her edgy, the greenery hurt her eyes. She saw mourning doves peck at carrion on her doorstep and visited the botánicas for untried potions." ("Palmas Street," 36)
In the ancient tradition of lovers who actually die of lovesickness, Celia is consumed by her thwarted passion for Gustavo. This is a pattern that will be repeated by Felicia, who will not have the same ability to recover from her disappointments and illness.
"When he finished, the soldier lifted the knife and began to scratch at Lourdes's belly with great concentration. A primeval scraping. Crimson hieroglyphics. The pain brought a flood of color back to Lourdes's eyes. She saw the blood seep from her skin like rainwater from a sodden earth." ("Grove," 72)
This description of Lourdes' rape highlights the cruelty and trauma that too often shapes the lives of the del Pino women. Her stubborn will to survive and thrive carries her family to success in the U.S., but also distances her headstrong daughter from her.
"Felicia remembers the moment she decided to murder her husband. It was 1966, a hot August day, and she was pregnant with Ivanito. The nausea had persisted for weeks. Her sex, too, was infected with syphilis and the diseases Hugo brought back from Morocco and other women." ("Fire," 82)
Felicia finds herself over her head with husband Hugo. After enduring abuse, abandonment and STDs, she finally snaps. When we see the situation from Felicia's point of view, as we do here, her actions seem just and pitiful. García also presents this incident from Luz's point of view in another section of the book, and it's clear that her daughters do not feel the same kind of sympathy—they don't know the whole story. This lack of sympathy and understanding on the part of her loved ones contributes to Felicia's suffering.
"Lourdes sends her snapshots of pastries form her bakery in Brooklyn. Each glistening éclair is a grenade aimed at Celia's political beliefs, each strawberry shortcake proof—in butter, cream, and eggs—of Lourdes' success in America, and a reminder of the ongoing shortages in Cuba." ("Shells," 117)
We're not sure if Lourdes intends to taunt her mother with her delicious success, but it comes off that way to Celia. This is really the only moment in which Celia shows any resentment or wistfulness about the difficulties imposed by the Revolution.
"The lines in his face look as if each one were put there by a distinct calamity rather than a slow accumulation of sorrow. His teeth are blackened and ground down with worry, and he eats only mashed foods like a baby." ("Shells," 121)
Luz has a very sympathetic approach to her father's decay, choosing to think that her mother is entirely responsible for his current hideousness. She doesn't yet realize that there is another side to the story.
"'Water cannot be carried in a basket,' the santero says, shaking his head. 'What you wish for, daughter, you cannot keep. It is the will of the gods.'" ("Baskets," 148)
This is the first indication that things are simply not going to go the way that Felicia wants in her life. She hopes to find herself a good husband because she is lonely and surrounded by family members who don't really understand her. But instead of performing the necessary cleansing rituals, Felicia falls hard for the unattractive Ernesto Brito. Tragedy, of course, ensues.
"Celia reaches up and feels a lump in her chest, compact as a walnut. A week later, the doctors remove her left breast. In its place, they leave a pink, pulpy scar like the one she discovered on her son's back." ("Baskets," 160)
Celia's discovery here is a double sorrow, since her own suffering allows her to understand better what has happened to her son Javier. She no longer has to wonder what the scar and lump on his body signifies.
"Lourdes sees the face of her unborn child, pale and blank as an egg, buoyed by the fountain waters. Her child calls to her, waves a bare little branch in greeting. Lourdes fills her heart to bursting at the sight of him. She reaches out and calls his name, but he disappears before she can rescue him." ("Matrix," 174-75)
Lourdes really has had a tough go of it, and no matter how much Pilar resents her mother's attitude toward the world, we realize that it is born from the massive trauma she has sustained during her life. The loss of her only son leaves her with lingering sadness and longing, as she is convinced that the baby boy would have been the answer to her loneliness and sense of failure as a mother.
"I guess you could say she adapted to her grief with imagination. Felicia stayed on the fringe of life because it was free of everyday malice. It was more dignified there." ("God's Will," 184)
Herminia's assessment of Felicia's approach to her life is spot on. Felicia really does live on a different plane from the rest of her family, dissolving into poetry and otherworldly observations when times get rough.
"She made no sound as she wept, as she bent to kiss Felicia's eyes, her forehead, her swollen, hairless skull. Celia lay with her torn, bleeding feet beside her daughter and held her, rocking and rocking her in the blue gypsy dusk until she died." ("God's Will," 190)
Most people would agree that the loss of a child, no matter how old, is one of the worst things a person can endure. Celia validates this opinion, showing here just how much she was connected to Felicia. It's a moment of total spiritual annihilation for Celia, who is as broken and bleeding on the inside as she is externally.
"What she fears most is this: that her rape, her baby's death were absorbed quietly by the earth, that they are ultimately no more meaningful than the falling leaves on an autumn day. She hungers for a violence of nature, terrible and permanent, to record the evil." ("Six Days," 227)
Like most humans, Lourdes wants the terrible moments in her life to have meant something—or at least to have been acknowledged and remembered by those she loves. Since most of her traumatic moments have been kept secret from her family, she's really looking for an external sign that something momentous happened to her in these places. She doesn't get that, but Jorge reassures her that he takes the knowledge of her suffering with him into the afterlife.
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Pokes Report
What We Want to Happen and Where the Cowboys Go Bowling
STILLWATER – Things could certainly change after this Friday and Saturday with the Power Five conference championship games, but here is what Oklahoma State fans should be rooting for in order to get the Cowboys in the best possible bowl scenario.
I know that nobody wants to back Oklahoma and I’m not telling you that you should. You can back Baylor or Oklahoma, although it doesn’t really matter. This is really six one, half dozen the other. Oklahoma has plenty of power as it is. Oklahoma State fans know that, but if Baylor wins the Big 12, then there is another team you are going to have to recruit against that is going to be bringing steam and momentum to the process.
Okay, either way, you want both Oklahoma and Baylor to stay in the Playoff/New Year’s Six bowl selections. It is more money for the conference and it frees the other four bowl eligible teams in the league for the next four bowls the Big 12 is tied into.
One team in the CFP and the other in the Sugar Bowl, or either OU or Baylor in the Sugar Bowl and the other in the Cotton Bowl to play Memphis, the top Group of Five team.
We want Oregon to beat Utah and that will send Oregon to the Rose Bowl and Utah to the Alamo Bowl. I would expect either Kansas State or Texas to be pegged to go play the Pac-12 team there. If by chance both Oregon and Utah stay up, then the New Year’s Eve game in San Antonio will likely by Baylor or Oklahoma against USC.
The Camping World Bowl on Dec. 28 in Orlando looks like they will have Notre Dame as their ACC team. The Camping World and Notre Dame want Texas for an all blue-blood match-up. If Texas isn’t available, then they want Oklahoma State. That is what we hear.
Next is the Academy Sports and Outdoors Texas Bowl, also on Dec. 28. This is the most likely bowl for the Cowboys against an SEC team. The bowl would like to get Texas A&M, but the SEC makes their own pairings and the word is the Aggies are begging to avoid a Big 12 team. It’s a little embarrassing to keep getting beat by teams from the conference you left.
It could be Mississippi State or since the SEC, like the Big 12 doesn’t have enough eligible teams to fill all their bowl tie-ins, it could be anybody. It could be Group of Five bowl eligible team. Not the best, but Houston is good for recruiting and good for fans, alumni, and most important, player’s families to get to.
Next is the Liberty Bowl and they will be looking for new blood after Oklahoma State beat Missouri there last bowl season.
If only one team stays up in the CFP and New Year’s Six, then the Big 12 will have a team for the Cheez-It Bowl in Phoenix, Arizona. I don’t think Oklahoma State would slide to Arizona, but if they did, it's a nice slide from a bowl trip standpoint.
We will know much more after the games on Saturday, but it looks good for either Orlando or Houston.
Ecm68
I think A&M is 2-1 against Big12 teams since departing.
CowboyBattalion
Rudy Rudy Rudy
SirPokesAlot
It’s going to be a crappy matchup against A&M. Not interested.
Cowboys Make Offers, Entertain Prospects with First of Back-to-Back Junior Days
Oklahoma State football welcomed the likes of CamRon Valdez and Jaeden Roberts along with a lot of other talented football prospects for Junior Day
Orange Tuono
Oklahoma State in Great Position With A Top 2021 OL Prospect
During Saturday’s ‘Cowboy Day’, the first of two junior day events for Oklahoma State, the staff hosted multiple high level recruits, both on the offensive and defensive side of the ball. One of the premiere prospects that spent his Saturday on campus was Galena Park North Shore high school offensive guard, Jaeden Roberts.
Marshall Levenson
scottsdalepoke
Five Expectations from OC Kasey Dunn Calling Plays
New offensive coordinator and play caller Kasey Dunn should add some variety and surprise to the Oklahoma State offense.
McCray Catches Trio of Passes in East-West Shrine Game and Ammendola Kicks in NFLPA Game
Former Oklahoma State wide receiver Jordan McCray caught three passes in the East-West Shrine Game
Cunningham Shines in Hoophall Classic Against IMG Academy
Cade Cunningham showcased his skills for the country as Montverde Academy rolled over IMG Academy, and he showed why he's going to shine at Oklahoma State in Stillwater.
Zach Lancaster
Chuba Hubbard's First Interview Since Announcing He's Back at Oklahoma State
Chuba Hubbard spoke to Sirius-XM Radio at the Walter Camp festivities in New Haven, Ct.
Cowboy Football: The Pulse is Racing
Pep rallies and more to dig and despise
John Helsley
Motivation by the Pine Sparks Pokes, but not Enough
Oklahoma State loses to Baylor and sees some improved performances from Cam McGriff and Thomas Dziagwa
Piccininni Scores 100th Win in Pokes’ First Top-10 Dual Victory of Season
Oklahoma State rolls to a 30-10 win over Pittsburgh as Nick Piccininni picks up his 100th career win as a Cowboy.
Report: Todd Monken Hired as Georgia Offensive Coordinator
The Oklahoma State/Todd Monken dream is over as he's been hired as the Georgia offensive coordinator.
McDaddy71
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The second largest city in Indonesia and the heart of the movement that ultimately gained the nation its independence, Surabaya gets short shrift on the international tourism scene. Tourists in a hurry to get from Jakarta to Borobodur or Bali miss this historical and multicultural metropolis, but it's worth a few days of your itinerary.
Like many Indonesian cities, Surabaya grew into itself as an important trading port and at its height drew officials, sailors and merchants from across Asia and Oceana. True to those roots, the international neighborhoods of Surabaya are one of its most compelling draws. The Chinatown district is a crumbling warren of historic buildings where most goods are carried to its atmospheric Pasar Pabean market via hand-drawn carts. On the east side of Chinatown, the Kong Co Kong Tik Cun Ong temple is a colorful example of a living holy site. Just to the north, the Arab Quarter feels like you've stepped into a medina in Cairo or Morocco.
Besides wandering the neighborhoods, Surabaya has a handful of activities for visitors. If you're planning an extended stay, make room in your itinerary for Bromo-Tengger-Semeru National Park, the Masjid al Akbar mosque, and the Monumen Kapal Selam military museum, which includes a cold-war era Soviet submarine.
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Wes Audio Dione
VCA Compressor With DAW Plug-in Control
By Hugh Robjohns
In the quest for ever more elegant ways to integrate analogue gear with DAW software, Polish manufacturers Wes Audio are leading the pack...
The one obvious drawback with external hardware signal processing, in comparison with the in-the-box workflows to which we’ve all become accustomed, is the lack of session ‘recall’. Any DAW project can be loaded in seconds with all the plug-ins in the right channels with the precise settings, but once you start routing signals to outboard you also need to start taking notes (or photos) of the routing configurations and all the control settings, and spend the time manually resetting everything should the need arise to work on a project again.
Thankfully, the last few years have seen the emergence of remote-controllable analogue gear, which can be used standalone or be configured (and often operated) from a dedicated DAW plug-in, thus providing the best of both worlds. One of the leading proponents of this approach is Wes Audio, a Polish company who have appeared often in the pages of SOS. I reviewed their Mimas FET compressor in SOS January 2016, an 1176-inspired design which was the first of their ‘ng500’ range. These 500-series modules can be controlled over USB from a bespoke plug-in using GCon interface technology. The second addition to the range is a stereo bus compressor with very obvious SSL-inspired design cues, and its associated remote-control plug-in is available in AAX, AU, VST2 and VST3 formats. I expect further modules will be announced before too long.
The Dione is a double-width, white-painted module with a moving-coil gain-reduction meter at the top, featuring the traditional white-on-black markings and spanning a 20dB range. Below the meter, five rotary encoders all have rings of LEDs to indicate current settings — white for the top three level-setting controls, and green for the time constants.
In the top-left position is a threshold knob marked with a ±20dBu range, although the manual claims ±15dB and the actual threshold range seems to vary with ratio selection. The centre-top position is held by a dry/wet mix knob, which allows simple parallel-compression effects to be established easily, while the gain make-up knob fills out the top-right position offering up to 20dB of gain.
Moving to the two lower controls, these adjust the attack time (0.1 to 30ms) and release time (0.1 to 1.2 seconds). The extreme clockwise position of the release control introduces a programme-dependent Auto time-constant mode, with a fast initial recovery which then switches to a slow release time for the final part of the gain reduction. The aim is to maintain the perception of a loud signal while avoiding obvious pumping effects.
The ratio is selected with a button which cycles between 1.5:1, 2:1, 4:1 or 10:1 settings, and a side-chain high-pass filter button is also available with 60, 90 or 150 Hz turn-over frequencies, as well as two ‘Tilt’ curves. The manual doesn’t give much away on the nature of these ‘Tilt’ responses, but they appear to alter the unit’s sensitivity to the mid range and HF, as well as the low end. So far so normal, but a decidedly unusual feature here is another button which introduces significant compression distortion, cycling between normal, medium, or high THD modes. With 4dB of gain reduction dialled in, I measured 0.19 percent THD in the normal mode, rising to 0.85 percent for the medium setting and 2.35 percent for the high setting (these figures align with the specifications’ claim of nominal THD amounts of one and three percent with zero gain reduction). The distortion is mostly the benign second harmonic, with the fourth becoming more evident in the high THD mode. It’s also worth noting that the overall gain through the unit is increased in the THD modes, with an extra 0.3dB on the medium setting and a significant 1.1dB on the high setting — as louder is always perceived as better, you need to be aware of this when making comparisons.
All of the hardware unit’s controls are touch-sensitive, and any setting changes can be captured and stored as automation in the DAW, if required. One of the key benefits of a digitally-controlled compressor like this is the ability to store different user settings internally, allowing them to be compared at the press of a button. In this case, a trio of buttons near the bottom of the front panel select local A or B memories, as well as a full relay bypass. The plug-in expands on this functionality with its own separate and unlimited presets, along with the ability to compare three settings.
The final front-panel facility is a mini-USB 2 port with a trio of status LEDs, one indicating a successful connection with a host computer (H-link), another showing data activity (Data), and the third (H-SC) indicating when the Host side-chain mode is active (see below). The Dione is fully compatible with all standard 500-series racks, and can be used in a stand-alone mode (without a USB connection) if required. In normal operation, though, it would be connected to a host DAW computer via the front-panel USB port — and not just for the remote control aspects, but also because it’s possible to send over the USB link a side-chain signal derived from inside the DAW, allowing a variety of side-chaining and ducking effects. However, some care is needed to avoid latency issues when working this way (or when using control automation), and the user manual advises that the control plug-in should be placed ahead of the side-chain audio send function in the DAW channel signal path.
For those that don’t like wires protruding from the front of their 500-series rack modules, Wes Audio have also made the USB control data available on secondary edge connectors at the rear of the module. This bespoke arrangement doesn’t affect use in a standard 500-series rack, but allows ng500 series modules to connect with a dedicated USB bus in Wes Audio’s own ‘Titan’ rack system, which went on sale as we were going to press. This incorporates an integrated USB interface capable of handling the data from any number of ng500 series USB-enabled modules, with a single rear-panel USB 2.0 or Ethernet connection to the host computer. SMDs are used extensively in the design, alongside through-hole THAT Corporation VCA chips in both the audio and side-chain signal paths.
Looking at the Dione’s construction, two separate audio boards mounted towards the rear of the unit carry the 500-series edge connectors (and the extra USB interfacing). Most of the circuitry is constructed with surface-mount components, but with through-hole electrolytic capacitors, a couple of THAT 2181 Blackmer VCA chips on each board, and six multi-turn trimmers. The audio paths employ NE5534 and NE5532 op-amps, while the function switching is mostly handled by DG411 CMOS analogue switches (and a sealed relay for the bypass mode). Mounted directly behind the front panel is a stack of three small boards that take care of all the physical and remote digital-control data, connecting with the main audio boards through a couple of ribbon cables.
The software plug-in install and setup procedure is identical to that of the Mimas module I reviewed previously, and worked with similar aplomb. The various v2.1 installation files are contained in bundle packages on the Wes Audio web site for Windows (7 and later, 32- and 64-bit versions) and Mac (OS 10.8 and later), both with VST2, VST3, AAX and AU plug-in formats . I ran the VST plug-ins on a Windows 7 64-bit computer, and used them within Cockos Reaper and Adobe Audition projects without any issues. A firmware updater and USB driver are also included. Wes Audio officially support Pro Tools (v10.3.5 onwards), Cubase (v5 onwards), Nuendo (v4 onwards), Reaper 5, Studio One 3, Ableton 9 and Logic Pro 9, but all DAWs which support the plug-in formats listed above should be fine. Having said that, the web site acknowledges that, for some reason, the digital side-chain feature doesn’t currently work in Studio One 3 with the VST3 format, but does with the AU option. Control via the plug-in is intuitive, with the GUI being laid out just like the hardware unit.
The plug-in control interface is almost identical to the physical hardware, but the hardware memory A/B buttons are absent and there’s a side-wing showing the connection status. Tabs across the top of the GUI provide three comparison selectors (in addition to the familiar VST/AAX preset library functions), as well as undo/redo buttons which log the last 20 parameter changes (although the undo/redo memory is cleared if one of the A, B or C preset stores is recalled).
For the purposes of this review, I connected the Dione as a stereo bus compressor into an analogue insert of my Crookwood mastering console, and used it as I would any other compressor to gauge its audible performance, and I also ran my usual battery of bench tests using an Audio Precision test set (see later). The first unit I tested had a faulty control board which caused some rather odd over-limiting effects. Thankfully Wes Audio were aware of this issue — they thought all the offending units had been found and fixed but of course Murphy’s Law dictated that a defective unit should accidentally be sent to SOS! Having identified the fault I was sent a set of replacement control boards, which took seconds to install and everything then worked as expected.
The 1.5:1 and 2:1 ratios have very soft knees and appear to share the same low relative threshold, and so ease into compression very gently and subtly. The 4:1 ratio is also soft-kneed, but if the threshold control is not adjusted the effective threshold point is automatically raised about 15dB above that for the two gentlest ratios, which maintains a sensible output level and moderates the amount of gain reduction. Finally, the 10:1 limiter mode has a hard knee and the threshold is about 3dB higher still.
Checking the side-chain filter options, they provide some useful and precise control over the way in which bass-heavy or low-mid signals are prevented from forcing compression pumping — or not — while the tilt modes seem to make the compressor more sensitive to transients and act to reduce the perception of HF brashness or harshness from sources like cymbals or close-miked strings. If even this isn’t enough then, as I mentioned at the outset, you can route whatever source you want to the side-chain direct from your DAW.
Said & Dione
Overall, this is a very competent variation on the popular SSL-style VCA compressor, and I found myself using it most as a traditional ‘glue’ compressor with relatively low ratios, low thresholds and modest amounts of gain reduction. The integration between classic analogue signal processing and full plug-in control works really, really well, too. As I said at the end of my Mimas compressor review, “someday, all new analogue hardware might work this way.” I still think Wes Audio are leading the field towards that very likely outcome.
There are several 500-series stereo compressors, including SSL’s own interpretation of their classic bus compressor, and several variations on that theme including the Dramastic Audio Obsidian, Serpent Audio SB4001, Alta Moda Audio Hippo, Smart Research C1LA, IGS Audio S-Type 500, and Elysia Audio Xpressor 500, to name just a few. But none of these boasts the integration with a DAW that the Dione does.
Some measurements captured during the review tests. This one shows the standard transfer plots of soft-knee compression slopes and hard-knee limiter with optimised relative thresholds.
THD plots of the standard THD mode with 4dB of gain reduction applied.
THD plot of the medium THD mode with 4dB of gain reduction applied.
THD plot of the high THD mode with 4dB of gain reduction applied.
Nicely engineered SSL-style bus compressor with integrated DAW plug-in control.
Useful side-chain filtering options and DAW side-chain source signal mode.
Real-time automation capability.
Neat internal USB connector for use with Wes Audio Titan rack chassis.
A well thought-out interpretation of the classic SSL bus compressor design that genuinely brings something new to the table.
£972 including VAT.
Funky Junk +44 (0)207 281 4478
sales@funky-junk.com
www.proaudioeurope.com
www.wesaudio.com
Zen Pro Audio +1 803 937 6012
www.zenproaudio.com
Buy PDF version
Published August 2016
In this article...
From the same manufacturer
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Wes Audio Timbre December 2016
Wes Audio Mimas January 2016
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Two PhD studentships to work on Zinc-Air flow batteries for elec-trical power distribution networks
The Department of Chemistry and the School of Engineering Sciences at the University of Southampton are working to develop a rechargeable zinc-air battery system for large scale energy storage applications.
The work is funded through the European Seventh Framework Program and will be carried out in collaboration with several industrial partners from across Europe. The concept of the project is to create a new class of electrical energy storage system with the unique combination of characteristics of high energy density, modularity, fast response and low cost. To achieve these aims, the project will radically extend performance of zinc – air batteries from small scale single pri-mary cells to rechargeable redox flow battery modules, which at production scale can be stacked to give powers of 20 kW to MWs.
The two PhD projects (one registered in each School) will focus on the develop-ment and testing of novel catalysts and support materials in combination with electrochemical cell design, operation and characterisation. Such catalyst materials and an efficient cell design are essential for reversible operation of the positive electrode within the metal-air battery. The two positions offer a unique opportunity to carry out fundamental scientific research that also has a direct industrial relevance. Key objectives for the work include:
Developing materials which are effective electrocatalysts for both oxygen evolution and oxygen reduction in alkaline media.
Examining potential high surface area supports for the electrocatalysts and to demonstrate stability under all conditions met in the Zn/air battery. Investigation of membranes and electrode coatings in the battery.
Design of stable electrode structures that permit both oxygen evolution and re-duction; these may be based on GDE, MEA or zero gap type structures.
Performance assessment of the system through experimental observation and mathematical simulation.
The studentships are only open to UK or EU Nationals as we are unable to fund overseas fees. A Masters or an upper second class honours degree, BSc. Hons, (or equivalent) in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering is required.
The earliest starting date is 1 December 2010 and full funding is available for 3.5 years for each of the studentships, subject to satisfactory progress towards the degree.
Further details may be obtained by contacting Prof. Andrea Russell a.e.russell@soton.ac.uk
Applications should be made via the Graduate School Office in the School of Chemistry by contacting Mrs. Chun Borodzicz c.borodzicz@soton.ac.uk.
Related Staff Member
Professor Andrea E Russell
Professor of Physical Electrochemistry
Andrea Russell is Professor of Physical Electrochemistry. Her research interests are in the application of spectroscopic methods to study the electrode/electrolyte interface, with particular emphasis on electrocatalysts and electrode materials for fuel cells, metal-air batteries, water electrolysers, and gas sensors.
Postgraduate studentships
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MI--Another Detroit predator priest is “outed” for first time
For immediate release: Friday, Nov. 13, 2015
Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those abused by Priests (314 566 9790, davidgclohessy@gmail.com)
In what may be the most terse and least compassionate church announcement of this sort we’ve ever seen, Detroit Catholic officials admit that a local priest is “credibly accused” of child sex crimes. Shame on Archbishop Allen Vigneron for his self-serving statement about Fr. Thomas J. Cain.
http://www.aod.org/our-archdiocese/newsroom/news-releases/2014/october/regarding-fr-thomas-j-cain/
Instead of minimizing Fr. Cain’s crimes or distancing himself from them, Vigneron should be aggressively seeking out his victims and working hard to warn parents, police, prosecutors, parishioners and the public about every each of the 64 publicly accused Detroit predator priests (See BishopAccountability.org).
(The real number of child molesting clerics in the Detroit area, we firmly believe, is at least twice that high.)
Vignernon should be exposing every one of them, living or dead, and every church employee who ignored or concealed their crimes. And he should do so now, not in a piecemeal fashion every time a victim, witness or whistleblower sufficiently pressures him to name one more predator. He should be prodding anyone with information or suspicions about clergy sex crimes or cover ups to call police and prosecutors. (Even if the predator is deceased, sometimes those who destroyed evidence, intimidated victims, threatened witnesses, discredited whistleblowers or helped a criminal evade apprehension can be charged.)
Pope Francis has said "Everything possible must be done to rid the church of the scourge of the sexual abuse of minors and to open pathways of reconciliation and healing for those who were abused." Is a cold, tiny announcement like this one about Fr. Cain honoring Francis’ pledge? We don’t think so.
We beg anyone who saw, suspected or suffered crimes by Fr. Cain to come forward, get help, expose wrongdoers, deter cover ups and start healing. We urge them to contact independent sources of help, not biased, self-serving church officials. And we ask Detroit Catholics to prod Vigneron to personally visit every parish where Fr. Cain worked, seeking out and helping others who may still be suffering in shame, silence and self-blame because of these horrific crimes.
Contact - David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell, davidgclohessy@gmail.com, SNAPclohessy@aol.com), Barbara Dorris (314-503-0003 cell, bdorris@SNAPnetwork.org), Barbara Blaine (312-399-4747, bblaine@snapnetwork.org)
Regarding Fr. Thomas J. Cain…
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Oct 27, 2014
For more information contact: Joe Kohn, Director of Public Relations, Kohn.Joseph@aod.org, 313-237-5943
Father Thomas J. Cain. (1919-1984). Ordained in 1945. Decades after his death, allegations of sexual abuse of minors were brought forward to the Archdiocesan Board of Review, considered, and are believed to be credible.
Parish assignments included serving as an associate pastor at St. Vincent de Paul, Pontiac; St. Mary, Monroe; St. Louis, Mt. Clemens; St. Patrick, Detroit; Christ the King, Detroit; and as pastor of St. Maurice, Livonia from 1960- 1984.
The Archdiocese of Detroit places no deadlines or time limits on reporting the sexual abuse of minors by priests, deacons, and other personnel and/or to speak to the Victim Assistance Coordinator c/o (866) 343-8055 or vac@aod.org.
MI--Another Detroit predator priest is “outed” for first time http://www.snapnetwork.org/mi_another_detroit_predator_priest_is_outed_for_first_time?recruiter_id=342
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HomeCHICAGOEntertainmentMade in Chicago 312 Review- An Evening of Innovative Contemporary Dance
Made in Chicago 312 Review- An Evening of Innovative Contemporary Dance
November 18, 2018 Debra Davy Entertainment 0
Composer/percussionist Glenn Kotche performing with Ate9 Dance Company in Danielle Agami's "calling glenn"; photo by Cheryl Mann
On Friday, November 16, 2018, three groundbreaking contemporary dance companies performed on the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University’s landmark stage in the “Made in Chicago” 312 Dance Series. Deeply Rooted Dance Theater presented Company Dance Education Director Nicole Clarke-Springer’s Until Lambs Become Lions, Kevin Iega Jeff’s Church of Nations and Co-Company Founders/Artistic Directors Kevin Iega Jeff and Gary Abbott’s Heaven. Visceral Dance Chicago presented Company Founder/Artistic Director Nick Pupillo’s Soft Spoken. Ate9 Dance Company presented Artistic Director Danielle Agami’s calling glenn with live music from Chicago-based percussionist Glenn Kotche. It was a full evening of exhilarating entertainment.
Deeply Rooted Dance Theater in Kevin Iega Jeff’s “Church of Nations”; photo by Ken Carl
– Deeply Rooted Dance Theater
The thoughtful pieces danced by this athletic and exciting ensemble are inspired by important moral/psychological/social questions. The dancers rarely touch each other, they perform individually, and each seems to be providing their own “take” on an idea or theme, in strong accord with the loud, rhythmic music. Special kudos to the sensual, fluid, floating costumes by Dereque Whiturs, Denise Nieemah Jeff and Nathan Rohrer; coupled with clarity of lighting by Christian Epps and Sarah Lackner, they dressed and brightened the action.
Nicole Clarke-Springer’s Until Lambs Become Lions, 2014, set to the Nina Simone anthem It’s a Pity and a Shame starred four women dancers in an intriguing and dramatic emotionally-charged punch to the gut. Raw, intense, earthy, strong, they dance through, to, beyond the music.
Church of Nations, created in 1991, is a graphic and poignant physical depiction of the psychological states brought on and brought about by war. Choreographer Kevin Iega Jeff has been quoted as describing his response to a news broadcast in which President George Bush stated his spiritual advisor had told him “it was okay to go to war”; Jeff wonders, “Can we say that it’s okay to kill people in the name of God?” Intriguing music by Ennio Morricone and The Art of Noise propelled the dancers through expressions of outrage, shame and anger; in long black unisex culottes, to chants and spoken words, they employ stylized robotic moves.
Jeff and Gary Abbott’s collaboration, Heaven, 2004, is a showpiece for the prowess of the company, uplifting, joyous, heartfelt. To the compelling, sexy beat of music by Raymond Jones updated by Sam Trump, the piece opens with a single dancer in a brightly colored gown; soon joined by the full company, amazingly alive, they use bold movements and celebratory gestures.
Visceral Dance Chicago’s Prince Lyons in Nick Pupillo’s “Soft Spoken”; photo by Michelle Reid
– Visceral Dance Chicago
Bookended between works with a definite political point of view and the sensory onslaught of Gaga taken to the extreme, Soft Spoken, 2018, was the centerpiece of the evening, a lyrically beautiful, gently humorous exploration of modern romance expressed in virtuoso technique. Choreographed by Nick Pupillo and commissioned in part by Pamela Crutchfield, this dance “explores the sensation of hesitating and holding back to what should be said in a series of relationships in different stages – beginning, middle and near end.”
Draped in subdued greenish kirtles by Moriah Turner, softly lit by the genius of Nathan Tomlinson, the women looked like creatures from folklore; the men were their standard-bearers. The music by Colin Stetson and Arvo Part is entrancing, the torch songs by Frank Sinatra and Irma Thomas sounded both whimsical and mood-altering; kudos to sound design by Nick Pupillo and Chicago sound star (musician, composer, music producer, as well as writer/photographer) Johnny Nevin for a super-fluid, crystal-clear mix.
The piece opens with the dancers running across the stage and leaping into unseen arms as if to signify the chances we dare to take with our hearts. Next, lovely couples dance entwined, improbably graceful duets- provocative, erotic, elegant, and always in sync- at times, the music and lyrics allow for a sense of caricature.
The piece ends with the company members striding off into the audience and back. As usual with Visceral Dance, there is a constitutional maturity coupled with a firm commitment to the structure of modern ballet, without taking the forms too seriously.
Caitlin Cucchiara, principal, Visceral Dance Chicago, partnered with Braeden Barnes, offered this observation about the sense of youthful innocence and possibility inherent in the piece, “Braeden and I talked early on about the relationship embedded in the dance. Was it a secret affair? We decided that it was a harking back to first love, a whisper from the past about what we are all longing for. After this performance, somebody told me I had been smiling while I was dancing with Braeden”.
Ate9 Dance Company in Danielle Agami’s “calling glenn”; photo by Cheryl Mann
– Ate9 Dance Company
Roselle-born drummer Glenn Kotche of the alternative band Wilco, dubbed the 40th greatest drummer of all time by Gigwise in 2008, formed the rhythmic backdrop for Israeli-born choreographer Danielle Agami’s Ate9 in Calling Glenn, 2017. On vibraphone, drum kit with multiple accessories, wielding a bullroarer, or striking his sticks on the stage itself, he was not always physically in the foreground, but he drove the attention on stage, his music calling the dancers to action- or inaction!
Sometimes they sat on chairs attending Kotche, often they crouched, collapsed and squirmed on the floor; in a clever send-up of traditional duets, they climbed through each other’s arms. Ultimately, they ended up in a mock fight at the microphone, pushing and shoving each other out of the limelight and also out of gender roles.
Ms. Agami, an aficionado of Gaga, the dance technique that focuses on expression of self over self-consciousness, has developed a talented company that, in this dance, demonstrated flexibility, showmanship, and an ability for dramatic posing but may have sacrificed intimacy and engagement. It simply felt like they were trying too hard- and for too long (70 minutes)- to be relevant and cute. Simple, stark costumes by Eli James of Ghost Apparel and lighting by Jeff Forbes on a black-decorated music studio set created a thoroughly high-tech feel.
For information and tickets to all the wonderful programming at The Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University, go to the auditorium theatre website.
Ate9 Dance Company
Deeply Rooted Dance Theater
The Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University
Visceral Dance Chicago
Miss Saigon Review – A Beautiful, Timely Reminder of the Human Spirit
Soweto Gospel Choir, Songs of the Free Review – Celebrating Nelson Mandela’s 100th Birthday
Visceral Dance Chicago Review- SpringFIVE a Triumph at the Harris Theatre, Chicago
April 9, 2018 Debra Davy Entertainment 0
Visceral Dance Chicago (VDC) presented SPRINGFIVE on April 7, 2018 at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 E. Randolph Drive in Millennium Park, Chicago. The second main stage Chicago performance of the company’s fifth […]
Ballet Folklórico de México Review- Gorgeous spectacle on stage at The Auditorium Theatre, Chicago
November 12, 2018 Debra Davy Music & Arts 0
On November 10th and 11th, 2018, Ballet Folklórico de México returned to the Auditorium Theater of Roosevelt University, 50 Ida B. Wells Drive, Chicago, in a sensational program reflecting various regions and folk music genres of Mexico. The […]
The Sleeping Beauty (La Belle) Review- Les Ballets De Monte Carlo at The Auditorium Theatre, Chicago
March 4, 2018 Debra Davy Music & Arts 0
Les Ballets De Monte-Carlo made their debut appearance at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University, 50 E. Congress, Chicago on March 3rd and 4th, 2018, bringing forth a striking re-creation of The Sleeping Beauty entitled […]
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RCS fills key roles
Jul 11, 2017 Michael Hallisey News, Schools
Brian Bailey
RAVENA — Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk School District has a new superintendent.
Effective Saturday, July 1, Dr. Brian Bailey stepped in as RCS superintendent, nearly a month after the school board voted unanimously to name him for the role in June
“I can’t be more excited to have your confidence to allow me to work for the RCS community,” Bailey reportedly said to the board after his appoinment. “The last seven years at RCS, with its challenges and accomplishments, have been very gratifying. I am so excited to see what this district does next.”
Bailey has served the district as assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction for the past four years, and previously served as its high school principal for three years.
Before coming to RCS, Bailey served as summer school and assistant high school principal in Guilderland and Schalmont. He began his teaching career in 1992 as a general music teacher and choral director at Farnsworth Middle School in the Guilderland School District.
New school principal
A.W. Becker Elementary’s Debra Neubart can remove “interm” from her principal role.
Debra Neubart
The school board appointed after having served as interim principal since February, following the untimely death of Tricia Carlton.
After graduating from the district, she came back as a substitute teacher during college and was then hired by the district in 1990 as an elementary and middle school teacher. She also held the positions of social studies coordinator, enrichment specialist, curriculum specialist and academic intervention provider, all at RCS.
Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk
Meads Lane from Route 32 to Van Dyke Road in Bethlehem closing for Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion project Bethlehem Town Board Republican candidate Jim Foster talks about his background, his views on town government and his decision not to run for town supervisor this time around
Michael Hallisey
Michael Hallisey is managing editor of Spotlight Newspapers.
SPOTTED: Ravena Coeymans Selkirk...
RCS residents approved school budget,...
Sheriff’s department preparing...
SPOTTED: RCS’s Class of 2018
South Colonie picks Assistant...
Delmar nursing home workers postpone...
Gun reported, police struggled to...
Town of Colonie got hacked; looks to...
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Rapid Response: More property taxes for schools?
Here's how the Rapid Response crew felt about an increase in property taxes to support schools.
Rapid Response: More property taxes for schools? Here's how the Rapid Response crew felt about an increase in property taxes to support schools. Check out this story on statesmanjournal.com: http://stjr.nl/2s34CZA
Statesman Journal Published 10:39 p.m. PT May 27, 2017
Students at McNary High School in Keizer walk in a crowded hallway.(Photo: ANNA REED / Statesman Journal file)Buy Photo
The Salem-Keizer School District recently learned the results of a commissioned telephone bond feasibility survey. The survey predicted a 59-percent chance of a bond measure passing based on voter turn-out.
Cost, as always, is a factor. The district estimates it needs $766 million, which would require an average property tax increase of about $3 per $1,000 of assessed property value over the life of the bond.
Melissa Martin of The Nelson Report and Jeanne Magmer of C & M Communications, reported the survey, which included 385 Salem-Keizer residents' responses, showed about 60 percent favored a $766 million bond measure, 35 percent opposed, and five percent weren't sure.
Following this month's voter approval of a property-tax increase to build a new Salem police headquarters, are you inclined to vote for another property-tax increase to support the community's school needs?
Here's what you said:
I need more info before supporting, but we definitely need our schools supported. Class sizes must be smaller, and limit charter schools. Do not create anymore. Fix what we have now. Online education at the high school level only with live teacher support at the teenagers school should be allowed. I need details to support or not support this bond. This is a large increase But if reasonable. We shall see.
— Ann Watters, Salem
I’d like to hear about what the bond measure would provide. I’m concerned about the process this time around. In the past, the Chamber of Commerce helped pass bond measures but only after some serious cutting to the original wish lists. It doesn’t seem that consideration and trimming took place this time. It will be interesting to see who leads the campaign in 2017.
— Richard Pine, Salem
Definitely yes. These needs were studied in depth by a committee of our neighbors. Salem-Keizer kids need us adults to step up and give them quality facilities for a quality educational environment. They are our future. We have short-changed them too long.
— Paul Krissel, Salem
I already pay $380 a year in property taxes to the school district and do not wish to add another $600 because "it's for the children". Throw in the police bond and the coming City Hall/Library bond and pretty soon I will be able to turn my enticement check back to the government. Do better. Enough is enough.
— Dwight Courtney, Salem
If you want a well educated population, it has to be "Yes". That is, until someone can come up with a well thought out, sensible alternative that I can consider. And if for no other reason, remember what our President said: "We won with poorly educated. I love the poorly educated." Let's not let that happen again.
— Lew Hundley, Salem
I don't vote for ANY tax increase. Our government has shown that they can't live with in their means no matter how much we give them. Therefore, my vote is to give them less. They should be looking to cut, not increase.
— Tony Weaver, Woodburn
No, I do not favor passing that bond measure. Our state government is on a spending binge and also has not solved the PERS issue. We are also paying way too much for schools and what are they teaching, mostly socialism and liberalism. We have a legislature that also wants to add much more in taxes and costs, and that on top of the bond measure would be excessive taxation.
— William K. Dettwyler, Salem
I would venture to say that those school district survey results are pretty well useless now. Chances of voters approving another major property tax proposal this year range from slim to none. I do not live in Salem, but I predict that if S-K voters are asked to approve a $766M school bond measure, it will fail, with 60% opposing, 35% in favor, and the same 5% still unsure, or unconscious.
— Woody Tiernan, Dallas
Citizenship is about meeting the obligations of a civil society. Oregonians (and Salem-Keizer School District homeowners) are part of this civic fabric. With non-sensical tax policy like the "Oregon Kicker" Oregonians fail to meet both the state and local needs for schools and public services. I support a bond measures that keep our school buildings from deteriorating and earthquake safe.
— Ken Simila, Salem
I will be voting "NO" on the school bond issue. It's not that I am against schools, it's just that I think the amount that they are asking for is too much.
— Larry R. George, Salem
I'm not really that interested in all these "bond issuses" (I have no kids, but I do know schools are important). It just seems to me that schools in this state seem to be unable to create and stick to reputable budgets. Seems like every year if the teachers don't strike, then the school boards ask for more money. What we need are people that can make honest budgets and stick to them.
— Kent Wilson, Salem
The school funding should've come before the police measure. Perhaps with a more adequately educated population, the police could eventually do their job with less resources.
— Thomas P. Krise, Salem
Absolutely not! We didn't support a new police station for cops who are absent on most occasions or chin wagging in the state fair parking lot, and we do not support public schools who do nothing to truly educate children. These people need to start living within their means as we all do.
— Cheryl Eby, Salem
In a word, no. Faced with a plethora of "wants" it is unfortunate that the only apparent funding mechanism is to additionally burden property owners. Such bonds have been the historical funding workhorse but that old grey mare ain't what she used to be. Is there an upper bound on just how much additional debt burden Salem homeowners can shoulder? Oregon needs a tax overhaul.
— Gregg, Salem
Want to have your say?
Interested in joining our crew of Rapid Responders? Email Opinions Editor Carol McAlice Currie at ccurrie@statesmanjournal.com with your full legal name, address, telephone number and email address. All applications are vetted for authenticity. Each Thursday afternoon we submit a question to the members of the Rapid Response team. They have until noon Friday to submit a response. All responses are published Saturday afternoon at StatesmanJournal.com; some are printed in the Sunday newspaper.
Read or Share this story: http://stjr.nl/2s34CZA
Letters to the editor: Homeless in Salem
Bill creating 1 million acres of wilderness harmful
Why we're launching 'Voting Because' |Opinion
We need to support healing of sex victims and offenders
Letters to the editor: Salem homeless situation, Iran
Our children aren't ready for inevitable consequences of climate change
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Welcome to St. Joseph
Contact Us & Location
Join Our Parish Family
Parish Job Openings
Emergency Closure Policy
About the Catholic Church
Our Parish School
Winter Hospitality Overflow
Councils and Boards
Stewardship of Time
Stewardship of Talent
Stewardship of Treasure
Growing an Engaged Church
Pastoral Reflections
Catholic News & Perspective
400 S. Andresen Road, Vancouver, WA 98661
Parish Office / Mailing Address
6600 Highland Drive, Vancouver, WA 98661
This past Monday we entered into Ordinary Time. The Church’s Universal Liturgical Norms describe this season in this way: “Besides the times of the year that have their own distinctive character, there remains in the yearly cycle thirty-three or thirty-four weeks in which no particular aspect of the mystery of Christ is celebrated,...
For the past week, the Catholic Church in the United States has been celebrating National Migration Week. The theme for this year’s celebration is “Promoting a Church and a World for All.” This is a call to all of us to stand in solidarity with care for those who are on the margins and excluded. I hope you will join us this...
Reflections from the Pastor
© 2017-2020 Saint Joseph Catholic Church
Location: 400 S. Andresen Road, Vancouver, WA 98661
Parish Office / Mailing Address: 6600 Highland Drive, Vancouver, WA 98661
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Roundup: The Top Nine Rebrands of 2019
Kim Lavia
January 8 | 11 min read
2019 was a big year for rebrands. From Slack to Sears, a lot of companies took the plunge and decided to give their brand a facelift (though a few ended up doing more of a faceflop).
When a company decides to do a rebrand, it should really come out of a well-researched need, not a whim. For example, when Dunkin’ Donuts dropped the “Donuts” in early 2019, they made the change to put emphasis on the fact that they’re now about more than just doughnuts—they also serve fancy drinks like nitro-infused cold brew and have digital ordering kiosks. Haters can hate, but it actually made a lot of sense. Similarly, Android knew that initially their brand was targeting a more niche developer community, but that all changed—their market share has since exploded, and they updated their brand to reflect that change.
In this blog we outline nine of the best rebrands from 2019, discussing why they stood out above the rest. For a lesson learned, we also examined a couple of not-so-successful and controversial 2019 rebrands. Let’s get to it!
The Best Rebrands of 2019.
1. Android rebrand
Designed by: Huge.
In August, Google’s Android operating system took on a fresh new look to reflect the shift in its target market. The most obvious change from the 2014 logo is the clean, all lower-case typeface, following suit with brands like Asana and AirBnb. Another major change is a simplified Android robot (also known as Andy), that is no longer full-bodied. Only Andy’s head now appears in the logo, a decision that was made to allow the robot to appear more expressive and resonate more easily with consumers.
“Initially the logo was meant for the developer community, but it quickly became consumer-facing.”
— Irina Blok, designer of the original Android logo
What went well:
Android looked into and firmly understood the shift in its target audience, leading to an effective rebrand that spoke to them. They shifted their original focus on developers to a wider consumer audience, and their new logo and brand reflect this.
Take a look at Androids new brand video:
2. Discovery Channel rebrand
Designed by: Roger.
With Netflix’s nature documentaries growing in popularity, Discovery has been stepping it up with a fresh take on its branding, opting for a simpler, more modern aesthetic. In April, the company swapped out the photo-realistic Earth for a smaller line-art style globe, neatly tucked into the letter D.
The open letter D in this design allows Discovery to use the letter as their main identifier, which works well in tight spaces like social media profile images, or website favicons. It also gives them the opportunity to be more playful in their ads by using the D as a sort of frame within an image.
Image from Brand New.
See here for more inspiration on environmental logo design.
The new brand is stronger than ever, projecting an image of authority and global presence. Their new logo puts emphasis on their company name, balancing the hierarchy in the design. Overall, it wins with simplicity.
3. Duolingo rebrand
Designed by: Johnson Banks.
Online language-learning platform Duolingo rebranded in September 2019, having been around since 2013. The rebrand afforded the company a way to unify its look and feel across all of its platforms and channels, from the website to the app. Inspired by Duolingo’s already cute and quirky in-app illustrations, their new logo adds some playfulness to the brand.
Images from Johnson Banks.
Duolingo did a great job of highlighting the ways in which their logo has evolved through visuals, which is something they likely have documented in a brand style guide. Style guides are super important, especially for a company that just rebranded. They will often caintain information on the color palette, brand story, logo rules and more.
The new wordmark logo’s typeface uses elements from the app’s owl mascot, further solidifying unity and consistency in the brand, making way for easier recognition. The green is also a bit more prominent, making it stand out more than the previous design.
4. Energizer rebrand
Designed by: DDW.
To stand out amongst competitors—especially one with an all-black and copper palette—in June Energizer decided to take a fun approach to rebranding (the first Energizer rebrand since 2008). Displaying the very opposite in its visual branding, they opted for a clean and lighthearted design. In a fresh take on the long-standing logo, the new logo text slants upwards to the right, translating a sense of movement and speed.
“We spent three years developing our new look, talking with consumers and researching their preferences to deliver an experience that’s both powerful and fun.”
— Lori Shambro, the vice president of global marketing at Energizer
And they added a more playful version of their iconic rabbit mascot (see below). Same cool shades, but a little more fun than the old one.
The white packaging jumps out at consumers from store shelves—as nearly all battery brands have darker color palettes in their branding, this new, lighter look visually separates the Energizer brand from the competition. And by putting more emphasis on the bunny, Energizer has tied their iconic commercials and ads into their new packaging.
5. Mastercard rebrand
Designed by: Pentagram.
In an ever-evolving world of payment methods and technology, MasterCard was eager to reflect a readiness and optimism about this shift in the financial industry. In January, the company underwent an evolution of its brand identity to reflect its part in modern technology. This began with a new, simplified and modern brand mark—their unmistakable overlapping red and gold circles are now a flat logo design, expressing confidence in its brand recognition with the removal of the wordmark. Though not implemented across all touchpoints, it’s still a bold and powerful move.
Image from Pentagram.
As an iconic and well-established brand, MasterCard had the option to remove its wordmark completely. But because they kept the similar two overlapping circles, the brand is still recognizable.
Overall the new logo is more fresh, the colors are more bright and inviting, and by removing the wordmark, MasterCard now has more flexibility to incorporate the brandmark into other marketing collateral. Overall, it's a strong brand identity that allows for Mastercard to continue to grow and expand their business.
6. Slack rebrand
Last January, Slack took a big risk by removing the beloved and relevant hashtag symbol from its logo. But the company had its reasons. The old logo was essentially useless. It was difficult to use on anything that didn’t have a white background, and was often used inconsistently, which is a big no-no in branding 101.
Making use of its existing vibrant palette, the company built upon that, establishing a consistent look across all visual touchpoints. As a digital brand it was crucial for Slack to nail it.
Ad design by Pentagram.
The new logo is fresh and modern. Its strong logomark uses shapes resembling chat bubbles—a smart way to help illustrate what the platform does.
Though the new brandmark is slightly different, it still resembles the old one, bringing comfort in familiarity.
7. Staples rebrand
Designed by: Unknown.
Staples was long due for a rebrand. Though the old logo was well-loved with its quirky bent staple “L”, it was moving quickly into outdated territory. It was time for a change. So, in April, the office supply corporation revamped its image while keeping the best of what came before.
The staple remains in the new logo and also resembles a desk, providing a double meaning. The choice of typeface says “friendly yet professional,” resonating with Staples’ target market. With the new logo refresh, they also announced new in-house labels including the new brand Tru Red, and a product catalogue called The Loop.
Images from Brand New.
The new staple/desk logomark can be used in a wide variety of collateral, allowing the brand to further create consistency and recognition across its marketing initiatives.
8. Volkswagen rebrand
Designed by: VW Design Chief, Klaus Bischoff.
With the goal of moving towards an electric car future, and plans to have 20 electric models by 2025, Volkswagen was in need of a brand refresh. To work well within digital platforms, in September they stripped down their iconic blue and silver chrome logo, and emerged with a flat minimalist logo design. The new navy color was introduced, giving the brand the fresh and modern look it needed.
According to the Volkswagen Newsroom: “The new visual language of the brand will be very different from that presented by Volkswagen to date—it will be bolder and more colorful. The focus will be on people. Volkswagen will no longer concentrate on perfectionism in vehicle photography. In future, the main objective will be to present realistic situations that customers can identify with.”
For the first time in the brand’s history, Volkswagen started using a female voice to present its vehicles in commercials, likely supporting #thefutureisfemale movement.
With a fresh logo that speaks to modern audiences and the decision to use a female voice in its advertising, Volkswagen demonstrates forward-thinking and relevance in today’s automobile market.
2019 Rebrands that didn't Go So Well.
9. Sears rebrand
One of the most memorable logo fails of 2019 was Sears, the iconic department store founded in 1893 (yes, you read that correctly). Already having a rough year with sales declining and trying to bounce back from bankruptcy, this early May rebrand should have been their shining star. The thing is, it's not that their new logo is bad—it's just that the house inspired brandmark looks a heck of a lot like Airbnb’s.
"Sears has a wealth of challenges facing them. And, I hate to use the expression ‘putting lipstick on a pig,’ but I think there were more critical issues to address than putting a new face on the store.”
— Jim Cusson, President of Theory House, quoted by CNBC
Sears' rebrand caused a lot of conversation on the internet, and tainted the new Sears logo and rebrand. Though some people defended the new brand and slogan, this was likely not the reaction Sears was hoping for.
Bonus: Looka rebrand
A lesser known company with an epic rebranding lesson to share is Looka, an online logo maker. Though their new brand is top notch with some really thoughtful design, the outcome of the rebrand wasn’t as peachy. Not even two years after its launch as a company, Looka underwent a massive rebrand in preparation for the expansion of its product offerings. Part of this rebrand involved changing the company’s name altogether from the former “Logojoy.” Below is a cool illustration of the meaning behind the new brandmark.
Image from Looka.
“Rebrand, they said. It’ll be great, they said.”
– Dawson Whitfield, CEO of Looka
Company-wide layoffs followed just six months after the rebrand because the company lost 80 percent of its website traffic and half its revenue. Since many of Logojoy’s customers had been converted off of organic traffic to the site, the impact of changing the URL and name was too much to recover from completely.
Had the company kept the name “Logojoy,” the rebrand likely would have had a dramatically different outcome. And Looka isn't alone — there are a lot more rebrand failures to learn from that cost companies more than the price of the rebrand itself (which can be steep).
2019 was a big year for rebrands! Here’s hoping that 2020 brings in even more fresh updates. As you can see, not all rebrands end up the way they were planned. Hopefully these rebrand examples have given you a better idea about the pros and cons of rebranding, along with some much needed inspiration if you're looking to do your own. While you're at it, check out our 2018 rebrand list for even more ideas.
We’re happy to say that Superside has helped brands big and small successfully rebrand (or just plain brand) its business. Heck, we did our very own rebrand this year!
If you’re in need of a rebrand and are unsure of where to start, check out our brand identity design service to learn more about how we can help you launch your brand to the world.
Kim is a writer and content strategist living in Toronto, Canada. She’s fluent in fashion, a dedicated dancer, and lover of handwritten notes.
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Forums > Survival - Preparedness - SHTF > Survival of the Fittest >
Will this be part of your next Cardiac Repair Plan?
Discussion in 'Survival of the Fittest' started by HK_User, Sep 1, 2015.
HK_User A Productive Monkey is a Happy Monkey Site Supporter
Research ArticleTISSUE ENGINEERING
Platform technology for scalable assembly of instantaneously functional mosaic tissues
Boyang Zhang1,2,*,
Science Advances 28 Aug 2015:
Engineering mature tissues requires a guided assembly of cells into organized three-dimensional (3D) structures with multiple cell types. Guidance is usually achieved by microtopographical scaffold cues or by cell-gel compaction. The assembly of individual units into functional 3D tissues is often time-consuming, relying on cell ingrowth and matrix remodeling, whereas disassembly requires an invasive method that includes either matrix dissolution or mechanical cutting. We invented Tissue-Velcro, a bio-scaffold with a microfabricated hook and loop system. The assembly of Tissue-Velcro preserved the guided cell alignment realized by the topographical features in the 2D scaffold mesh and allowed for the instant establishment of coculture conditions by spatially defined stacking of cardiac cell layers or through endothelial cell coating. The assembled cardiac 3D tissue constructs were immediately functional as measured by their ability to contract in response to electrical field stimulation. Facile, on-demand tissue disassembly was demonstrated while preserving the structure, physical integrity, and beating function of individual layers.
Tissue assembly
The aligned and integrated pseudolaminar syncytium of the myocardium is essential for electrical impulse propagation that translates into orchestrated cardiac fiber contraction and pumping of blood (1–5). The myocardium is also composed of multiple cell types, for example, cardiomyocytes (CMs), fibroblasts (FBs), and endothelial cells (ECs), precisely organized at the microscale level to achieve desired function (6). An ideal tissue culture strategy should therefore enable precise placement of different cell types, with the ability to control cell orientation in the x, y, and z direction. The tissue culture platform should also enable on-demand tissue assembly and disassembly with preservation of the structure and function of individual units so that independent treatment, follow-up analysis, or further coculture studies could be performed.
Recent technological advances in cardiac tissue engineering enable control of cell orientation in microfabricated anisotropic scaffolds (7–10), cell layering in hydrogels (11), and anisotropic cell orientation due to cell-gel compaction (12). Patterned scaffold meshes provided an anisotropic stiffness that mimicked the native myocardium (8, 9), but the assembly of multiple tissue meshes into thick tissues was not possible (13, 14). Bioprinting of cells in hydrogels was also used to study cell-cell and cell–extracellular matrix (ECM) interactions with high spatial and temporal control (15, 16). Although bioprinting enables control of cellular position in three dimensions (3D) (16), it is difficult to remove selected individual tissue units from the bioprinted tissues, without tissue destruction. Furthermore, forming tissues with organized anisotropic structures requires robust tissue-level remodeling achieved by a high degree of hydrogel compaction by the seeded cells. This process is accompanied by a dramatic change in tissue size, making it difficult to predict final tissue shape, structure, and consequently function when starting from an initial hydrogel-based bioprinted or cast material. Tissue culture methods such as embedding cells in a hydrogel on a paper-based scaffold with random pore distribution have been implemented to rapidly cast thick tissues by stacking multiple scaffold units together (17, 18), with the ability to perform the follow-up analysis by de-stacking the tissue layer. However, the combined ability to control cell orientation, mechanical anisotropy, and on-demand assembly/disassembly in a single system has not yet been achieved.
Therefore, we sought to develop a broadly applicable tissue culture system on the basis of a biodegradable and implantable material that enables (i) control of mechanical tissue anisotropy; (ii) coculture of different cell types with control of cell position; (iii) assembly in the z direction for construction of thick tissues; and (iv) on-demand, minimally invasive disassembly while preserving the structure and function of individual layers. These seemingly opposing goals were achieved by the development of Tissue-Velcro, a microfabricated biodegradable scaffold that provides structural cues to instruct cellular self-assembly into an organized x-y syncytium while enabling 3D tissue assembly and on-demand disassembly in z direction through a hook and loop mechanism similar to the conventional Velcro.
We envisioned designing living tissues that could be as easily and firmly assembled as two pieces of Velcro. Conventional Velcro (Fig. 1A) is composed of two sheets: one sheet is an array of hooks and the other is a sheet of fibers that form loops. When the two surfaces are brought into contact, the loops catch on the hooks and the layers remain attached until a sufficient pull-off force is applied. Not all hooks will attach to a loop, but when a sufficient number of hooks catch a loop over the contact area, significant adhesive force can be generated. Tissue-Velcro uses the same mechanical interlocking principle to lock two living tissue meshes together (Fig. 1A).
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Fig. 1 Fabrication and physical characterization of the Tissue-Velcro platform.
(A) The hooks and loops of the conventional Velcro system inspired the Tissue-Velcro design, based on a biocompatible and biodegradable polymer, POMaC. Red arrows indicate the built-in hooks. Scale bar, 1 mm. (B) Illustration of the fabrication process of the scaffold including a microinjection step followed by the stamping step. (C) Cell seeding process. A Matrigel-based cell suspension is allowed to gel on the scaffold, and when removed from the tissue culture, substrate holes are formed. After self-assembly, the compacted tissues can be handled and patterned. (D) SEM images revealed detailed scaffold architecture with the T-shaped hooks and an accordion mesh. Scale bar, 1 mm. Inset, high-magnification SEM of T-shaped hooks. Scale bar, 500 μm. (E) SEM image captures two scaffolds interlocking. The hooks from the bottom scaffold (dull gray) protrude above the struts of the top scaffold (white). Immediate detachment is prevented by these hooks of the bottom scaffolds catching on the struts of the top scaffold. Scale bar, 500 μm (left image); 300 μm (right image).
First, an accordion honeycomb mesh was fabricated through injection molding of a biodegradable elastomer, poly(octamethylene maleate (anhydride) citrate) (POMaC) (Fig. 1B). POMaC is a biodegradable (fig. S1) and ultraviolet (UV) photo-crosslinkable elastomer prepared through polycondensation reaction from the monomers (1,8 octandiol, citric acid, and maleic anhydride) under mild conditions (19). The bulk material exhibited a negligible drop in Young’s modulus from days 1 to 7 in culture medium in the presence of cells (fig. S1A). The bulk material mass loss was also negligible from days 1 to 14 (fig. S1B), whereas the initial mass loss could largely be attributed to porogen leaching during the rinsing step. The void spaces within the accordion honeycomb mesh function as the loops of the conventional Velcro system. Small T-shaped hooks were patterned by aligning and bonding a horizontal rectangular cap onto the posts on the base mesh (Fig. 1B). The cap was transferred with a poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) substrate, and the bonding was achieved by UV cross-linking (Fig. 1B). In the last fabrication step, the cap was incised to break the connection between the posts, establishing individually standing T-shaped hooks (Fig. 1B). Cell seeding was achieved by pipetting a cell suspension in Matrigel onto the scaffolds, allowing partial gelation (Fig. 1C), and then the scaffold was immediately lifted off the plastic tissue culture polystyrene substrate, allowing only the cells close to the scaffold struts to remain attached, thus producing small holes in the tissue (Fig. 1C). Overtime cells self-assembled around the scaffold structures (Fig. 1C). Subsequently, tissue patterning or stacking was performed with multiple tissues (Fig. 1C).
The microhooks of a single layer scaffold, which protrude through the void space of another scaffold mesh and anchor onto its struts, were imaged by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) (Fig. 1D). The SEM image of two tissues brought into contact shows the attachment mechanism whereby the hooks of the bottom scaffold protrude through the honeycomb mesh of the top scaffold and affix the two tissue meshes together (Fig. 1E). The maximum force recorded to pull off the scaffold was 6.2 ± 1.1 mN, or when divided by the area of the scaffold (2.5 × 5 mm), the pressure required was 0.5 ± 0.1 kPa. Typically 18 hooks (equivalent to 82% of total hooks) will successfully lock in place across the scaffolds when two 2.5 × 5–mm layers are brought into direct contact without offset. A 3D reconstruction from a confocal z-stack of an assembled two-layer scaffold construct shows the interlocking mechanism (movie S1). A representative plot of the pull-off test is shown in Fig. 2A (movie S2). The binding force between the two scaffolds is sufficiently strong to withstand manual manipulation such as stretching or compression (movie S3). The presence of cells on the scaffold or a short culture time between two layers (3 days) did not significantly affect the pull-off force (fig. S2). Thus, the hook and loop interlocking mechanism was primarily responsible for the mechanical stability of the assembled layers. The pull-off force was significantly higher when two scaffolds were overlaid by 100% (Fig. 2A, 6.2 ± 1.1 mN) in comparison to measurements in partially overlaid scaffolds (fig. S2B, 2.0 ± 0.9 mN, P = 0.001) as expected.
Fig. 2 Mechanical properties of Tissue-Velcro.
(A) Representative force curve from the mechanical pull-off test of the scaffold (n = 4). Inset scale bar, 5 mm. (B) Representative uniaxial tensile stress-strain plots of the scaffold in the x direction (xD) and y direction (yD) (n = 4). (C) Summary of the measured apparent modulus of the scaffold in the x direction (xD), y direction (yD), and the anisotropic ratio (xD/yD) (mean ± SD, n = 4). (D and E) Representative 3D renderings of profilometry data of the preassembled scaffold components. (D) Bottom mesh and post (n = 3); (E) top hook (n = 3). (F) Illustration of the cross-sectional view of an assembled scaffold labeled with measured heights (n = 3).
The accordion honeycomb pattern was chosen so that the scaffold exhibited spring-like elasticity, topographical cues for cell alignment, and anisotropic stiffness in the xy plane as described by Engelmayr et al. (8) (Fig. 2, B and C). In the linear region of the curve, the scaffold mesh displayed anisotropic mechanical properties with an anisotropy ratio of 1.3 ± 0.3. The apparent scaffold modulus was greater in the long axis (xD) direction (18.7 ± 2.5 kPa) compared to the short axis (yD) direction (14.4 ± 3.0 kPa, n = 4, P = 0.067). However, the scaffold strain expected from cell contraction is lower than the strain exhibited within the linear region (Fig. 2B). Within the physiological regime of scaffold strain of up to 15% as described (8), the scaffold mesh displayed anisotropic mechanical properties with an anisotropy ratio of 3.1 ± 1.6, and the apparent modulus was significantly greater in the xD (7.9 ± 1.8 kPa) compared to the y direction (2.6 ± 1.2 kPa, n = 4, P = 0.002). The feature heights of the scaffolds were measured using a profilometer, resulting in 53 ± 1–μm–tall hooks, positioned on top of 263 ± 5–μm–tall posts protruding off of the 132 ± 5–μm–thick mesh base for a combined total height of 448 ± 7 μm (Fig. 2, D and F).
The fibers of the mesh provided topographical cues to guide cellular assembly in the xy plane. Neonatal rat CMs were seeded onto the scaffolds with Matrigel, where the cells initially wrapped around the struts of the mesh and then remodeled the matrix by compacting and elongating around the struts over a period of 7 days (Fig. 3A and movie S4). After 4 to 6 days, the tissues displayed spontaneous contraction (movie S5). Cardiac tissue contraction was paced using an electrical stimulator (movie S6). As the tissue contracted, it compressed the scaffold in a spring-like fashion. Scaffold autofluorescence allowed for the deformation of the scaffold mesh under fluorescence microscopy to be tracked with image processing (movie S7). The degree of scaffold compression was characterized by tracking the decrease in the honeycomb area during contraction. A trend toward higher scaffold compression (percent area decrease at each beat) was recorded at day 6 compared to day 4 (day 4: 0.87 ± 0.27%, day 6: 1.44 ± 0.07%, n = 3) (Fig. 3B). On day 8, the linear percent shortening was higher in the short-axis (yD) direction than in the long-axis (xD) direction (P = 0.038) (fig. S3), consistent with the lower modulus in the short-axis direction allowing for greater deformability (Fig. 2B). Immunofluorescence staining of the cytoskeletal actin filament F-actin and the contractile protein sarcomeric α-actinin and SEM revealed formation of a tissue layer with elongated CMs around the scaffold struts and visible cross-striations (Fig. 3, C and D, and fig. S4). Cardiac tissue was also able to exhibit a positive chronotropic response upon exposure to 300 nM epinephrine (fig. S5 and movie S11).
Fig. 3 Cardiac Tissue-Velcro characterization.
(A) Cardiac cell assembly around a mesh over 7 days. Scale bar, 100 μm. (B) Area decrease (%) during 1-Hz paced contraction derived from scaffold deformation increased from day 4 to 6 (day 4: 0.9 ± 0.3%, day 6: 1.4 ± 0.07%, mean ± SD, n = 3). Representative plots of electrically paced (1-Hz) cardiac tissue contracting and compressing the scaffold on days 4 and 6 of culture (n = 3). (C) Immunostaining of cardiac Tissue-Velcro on day 7 with sarcomeric α-actinin (red) and F-actin (green) (n = 4). Scale bar, 30 μm. (D) SEM of a Tissue-Velcro showing tissue bundles (day 7); scale bar, 100 μm. Inset, high-magnification SEM of a segment of Tissue-Velcro; scale bar, 100 μm. (E) EC coating around 7-day-old cardiac tissue grew to confluence in 24 hours (CD31, red). Scale bar, 100 μm. (F) CFDA cell tracker (green)–labeled endothelial cells; scale bar, 50 μm. (G) Representative images of nuclear staining (DAPI, blue) overlaid with nuclear orientation vectors along the long nuclear axis (n = 3). Scale bar, 50 μm. (H) Normalized distribution of orientation angles for cell nuclei and scaffold struts, respectively (representative trace of n = 3).
The compatibility of Tissue-Velcro with conventional coculture techniques was demonstrated by coating an additional layer of endothelial cells (ECs) on heart cells compacted around the mesh. This was achieved by adding an EC suspension to the tissue mesh for 24 hours and cultivating in the EC culture medium. CD31 immunofluorescence staining revealed a near confluent coating of ECs with cobblestone-like morphology around the tissue (Fig. 3E). A cross-sectional view of the tissue mesh coated with ECs costained with live cell tracker (green) and CD31 confirmed that the ECs covered the surface of the tissue and the heart cells occupied the inner core (Fig. 3F). The EC coating provided an additional dimension in the coculture assembly, a beneficial feature if the entire tissue is to be perfused through its void spaces, where ECs can function as a barrier to shield the parenchymal cells from fluid shear stress. When culturing Tissue-Velcro in endothelial growth medium-2 (EGM-2) medium in an orbital flask bioreactor at 160 rpm with or without EC coating, EC coating helped to better maintain tissue structure (fig. S6). Scaffold guidance of cellular alignment was confirmed by comparing the normalized distribution of cell orientation measured from the main axis vector of the nuclei to the distribution of scaffold strut orientation (Fig. 3, G and H).
Individual tissues cultured in parallel were assembled simply by overlapping multiple tissues one on top of the other, allowing the hooks from one scaffold to grab onto the struts of the other scaffold (Fig. 4). This interlocking mechanism was achieved by a gentle compression of the two tissues together. Once affixed in place, each tissue could be separated by specifically peeling one off another; handling or manipulating the entire multilayer tissue did not disassemble the individual layers (movie S3). During assembly, different cell types cultured on different scaffold meshes were positioned strategically to stack the tissues in the z axis. To demonstrate this, we labeled rat cardiac FBs and rat CMs red and green, respectively, and affixed the layers together, instantaneously establishing coculture conditions (Fig. 4A). The two-layer stack had a thickness of 580 ± 5 μm, which was derived from the scaffold dimensions and based on the overlap configuration of two Tissue-Velcro scaffolds. Additionally, three cardiac tissue meshes labeled with two different fluorescent cell trackers were locked into one tissue construct (Fig. 4B and movie S8). The three-layer stack had a thickness of 712 ± 7 μm. High-magnification images show the hooks from the red tissue mesh penetrated through and locked onto the struts of the green tissue mesh on top (Fig. 4B).
Fig. 4 Tissue function and viability upon assembly and disassembly.
(A) Coculture conditions were instantaneously established in the z direction by assembling two layers of Tissue-Velcro (day 7): one consisting of cardiac FBs (red) and the second consisting of CMs (green). Scale bar, 800 μm. Tissue interlocking was visualized with high-magnification fluorescent images focusing on layer 1 (L1) and layer 2 (L2). Scale bar, 200 μm. (B) Assembly into a three-layer CM tissue construct. Scale bar, 800 μm. High-magnification fluorescent images focused on L1 and L3 confirm Tissue-Velcro interlocking. Scale bar, 200 μm. Arrowheads point to T-shaped microhooks protruding from the middle layer (L2) into the top layer (L1). (C) Electrical excitability parameters of the cardiac Tissue-Velcro (day 7) before assembly (mean ± SD, n = 8), after assembly (two-layer, mean ± SD, n = 4), after disassembly (mean ± SD, n = 8), and 1 day after disassembly (mean ± SD, n = 8). (D and E) Viability staining of CM Tissue-Velcro (day 4) (D) before (n = 3) and (E) after the tissue assembly/disassembly process (n = 4). Scale bar, 200 μm. CFDA, green; propidium iodide (PI), red. Scaffold struts exhibit autofluorescence in the red channel. (F) Quantification of tissue viability from LDH activity in tissue culture media collected before (mean ± SD, n = 8) and after the tissue assembly/disassembly process (mean ± SD, n = 4).
The electrical excitability properties of the cardiac tissues before assembly, after assembly (two-layer), after disassembly, and 1 day after disassembly were examined. Uniquely, the constructs contracted synchronously under electrical field stimulation, immediately after assembly (movie S9). We found that the excitation threshold (ET) increased slightly immediately after assembly and disassembly. However, the ET of the tissue decreased to its initial level 1 day after disassembly, likely due to tissue recovery (Fig. 4C). There were no changes in the maximum capture rate of the tissues throughout the process (Fig. 4C). Viability staining indicated the absence of appreciable tissue damage upon layer assembly and disassembly, with most of the cells staining positive for the viable dye carboxyfluorescein diacetate (CFDA; Fig. 4, D and E). Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) assay quantified the tissue viability at greater than 98% and showed no significant difference in cardiac tissue viability before assembly and after the two-layer disassembly (Fig. 4F). Assembled tissues were cultivated for 3 days after assembly to demonstrate tissue integration between layers. SEM revealed that the hooks from the bottom tissue layer attaching onto the struts from the top tissue functioned as bridges allowing cell spreading and physical integration of the two layers (Fig. 5, A to C, and fig. S7). Three days after assembly, tissues demonstrated synchronized spontaneous contractions, indicating that the cell-cell connections between the layers have been established (movie S10).
Fig. 5 Patterned mosaic tissue assembly.
(A to C) SEM of two cardiac tissues (day 4) assembled together and then cultured for an additional 3 days (n = 4). (B and C) White arrows indicate locations where cells spread through a pathway created by the hook and loop configuration linking the two tissues together. Scale bars, 1 mm (A); 300 μm (B and C). (D and E) Tissues (day 7) composed of cardiac FBs were labeled either green or red and arranged into (D) a 2D pattern (scale bar, 800 μm) and (E) an offset 2D pattern to extend the length of the construct (scale bar, 800 μm). (F) Two cardiac tissues (day 7) were labeled either green or red and assembled together approximately at 45° angle. Scale bar, 800 μm.
To demonstrate the versatility of coculture patterning, we also assembled rat CM Tissue-Velcro horizontally in a checkerboard pattern (Fig. 5D). The length of the scaffold network was extended by coupling three scaffolds in an overlapping end-to-end fashion (Fig. 5E). Two cardiac tissues were also stacked at 45°, demonstrating the feasibility of varying the cell orientation throughout the tissue depth (in z direction) using this technology to ultimately mimic the gradual change in myofiber orientation in the ventricular wall of the heart (20) (Fig. 5F). The design of Tissue-Velcro is not limited to the accordion-mesh scaffold shape. Other designs with spring-like features (fig. S8) were also produced. These designs could be used in future studies to enhance anisotropic tissue alignment and percent shortening at contraction.
To accelerate the spatially organized tissue assembly and on-demand disassembly process, we introduce a new platform technology termed Tissue-Velcro. We previously demonstrated cellular alignment and compaction along a simple surgical suture (21). Here, we scaled the same concept to a more complex scaffold mesh. Cellular alignment is mainly attributed to the tension generated from the remodeling and alignment of the ECM against a template during the tissue formation process (22). Here, the template was the primary scaffold mesh. The scaffold mesh was made of a synthetic elastic biodegradable polymer that provided mechanical stability and allowed manual handling and assembly. The scaffold also provided topographical cues for cellular orientation in the desired direction, as well as the anisotropic mechanical stiffness designed to mimic the native myocardium. Furthermore, by adding T-shaped hooks onto the scaffold mesh, we created a Tissue-Velcro system allowing multiple cell types to be cultured individually and then assembled together vertically or horizontally to instantly establish a 3D mosaic coculture system that could be disassembled on demand.
While novel bioprinting techniques enable creation of tissues with a remarkable control over cell position, they do not allow for the release of cells or cell clusters without the destruction of the primary tissue structure. Additionally, reassembly of the primary tissue units into a new structure is not possible, and extensive time in culture is needed for cell orientation to be established in the gel-based systems (12, 23). Elegant devices that pick, stack, and perfuse self-assembled cell structures have been developed, but the mechanical stability of these stacked structures was achieved only after ~48 hours when the cell-matrix remodeling resulted in the fusion of individual parts (24). Stackable polymeric scaffolds for scalable heart tissue engineering have been reported; however, they are created by sequentially stacking and solvent-bonding individual polymer layers followed by neonatal rat heart cell seeding and perfusion culture (25). Thus, the layers in the stacked device are not individually addressable and cannot be disassembled after the tissue is formed.
We adopted the general strategy of bottom-up tissue engineering using microfabrication techniques to generate a miniaturized scaffold that can guide tissue remodeling followed by the assembly, with immediate functionality, into 3D cardiac tissue while preserving the original tissue structure and topography. Injection molding of photo-crosslinkable POMaC enabled the fabrication of a variety of scaffold structures. POMaC was selected because of its biocompatibility as an implantable biomaterial, biodegradability, and the potential to tune scaffold mechanical properties and processability in a wide range through the dual (temperature and UV) cross-linking mechanism (19). The Young’s modulus of the base material was initially 552 kPa, then 510 kPa upon 1 week in the presence of the cells and culture medium (fig. S1). The Young’s modulus of the adult human myocardium was reported to to be in the range of 200 to 500 kPa in the contracted state (26–29); thus, the polymer has physiologically relevant bulk elasticity. Our novel microfabrication method allowed additional features to be patterned onto the 2D mesh to form intricate 3D structures, such as microhooks. The individual tissue meshes were assembled into functional 3D tissue with the use of a hook and loop mechanism, thus creating 3D functional tissues, for example, a cardiac tissue capable of macroscopic contractions. Although other cardiac tissue engineering techniques also provide tissues with a small percent of shortening at each beat (13), it is necessary to improve this functional parameter in order for the patches to become useful in the context of heart repair. If nonmyocyte layers such as FBs or EC-tissue layers were used for 3D assembly, the coculture effect would take more time to become apparent because these cells are not capable of contractile activity. In other coculture methods that may include spatially defined cell positioning using hydrogels, as in bioprinting or soft lithography, CMs are rounded and do not form interconnected syncytium immediately after seeding. Thus, they are not capable of immediate contraction upon tissue fabrication, and several days may be required for the cells to attach to the matrix, elongate, and connect so that they can exhibit a synchronous contractile function.
This tissue engineering strategy could also eliminate the need for a complicated perfusion bioreactor for in vitro culture of thick tissues. Each thin tissue mesh can be cultured separately without oxygen deficiencies and then assembled into a thick tissue construct before implantation. After assembly, the mass transfer of oxygen and nutrients could also be enhanced by the presence of void spaces within the tissue construct. An additional advantage of the Tissue-Velcro 3D scale-up is that each layer is prefabricated and fully functional with a completed cell/gel remodeling process. This prevents a large-scale size change and delay in functionality that is usually observed with remodeling of 3D cell/hydrogel systems.
Coculture is a tool used by cell biologists and tissue engineers for improving vascularization and cell survival by implementation of supporting signals that recapitulate an in vivo niche (6, 14). Because a cell suspension can easily penetrate through the mesh structure, this allows ECs to coat around the tissue fibers on the Tissue-Velcro scaffold mesh. ECs were previously demonstrated to support CM survival and viability in coculture (30, 31). In the native myocardium, ECs are organized in dense, branching tubular vascular structures with parallel capillaries in intimate contact with CM bundles, such that each CM is positioned no more than 20 μm from the capillary (32, 33). The described Tissue-Velcro geometry does not capture the complexity of the native EC arrangement in a tubular branching vasculature, but it provides two important aspects of the native EC-CM configuration. First, EC coating in direct coculture provides protection from shear because coated CMs are not directly exposed to the flowing media. Second, ECs and CMs are in close physical proximity on Tissue-Velcro, potentially enabling paracrine signaling between the two cell types, which usually decay rapidly as a function of spacing (34, 35). The ability to coat the tissue with ECs can be beneficial when implanting the tissue. For example, the presence of tissue modules coated with ECs has been shown to enhance in vivo anastomosis and tissue survival (36). Modular tissue coculture systems consisting of ECs and bone marrow–derived mesenchymal stem cells supported the survival and stable chimeric blood vessel anastomosis of ECs in vivo (37). Infiltration of cells from the host and implant integration could also be enhanced because of the macroporous tissue structure (38). Implanted cardiac cell sheets cocultured with ECs were observed to have improved anastomosis and neovascularization (39).
The described platform technology also allows coculture of multiple cell types in different tissue layers (such as CMs and cardiac FBs). The importance of FBs in cardiac tissue engineering has been well documented (40, 41). For example, a nonmyocyte preculture to support CMs resulted in improved cardiac organoid structure and function (35). Enhanced connexin-43 levels were achieved with the release of vascular endothelial growth factor secreted by precultured FBs (31). The Tissue-Velcro platform is compatible with sequential assembly of different cell types (for example, cardiac FBs followed by CMs) in a defined temporal sequence, thus potentially enabling preconditioning of the environment for the target cell type survival and optimized function. In the native myocardium, FBs are interspersed between CM (4). Alternating layers of CMs and FBs are used here to show the versatility of the technique and provide paracrine signaling. Stacking several CM layers has more physiological relevance than alternating CM/FB layers in the scaled-up tissue.
POMaC material is well suited for cardiac tissue engineering because it is an elastomer that can be dynamically stretched and return to its original shape over cyclic loading; the honeycomb design further enhanced this property. The honeycomb design was previously investigated using poly(glycerol sebacate) and excimer laser microablation, a technique that cannot generate complex hook-shaped structures in the z axis (8). The use of 3D stamping together with injection molding was critical for the formation of T-shaped hooks here. Furthermore, recreating a graft that will integrate with the host myocardium and provide maximal therapeutic benefit requires structural reinforcement (42, 43) and appropriate anisotropy (44, 45) from the grafts. The developed scaffold meshes have mechanical properties (Fig. 2B) similar to the native rat neonatal myocardium (4.0 to 11.4 kPa) (46) but still allowing for deformation and mechanical transfer of the CM contraction. Each layer of the current Tissue-Velcro design is thick compared to the individual laminar layers of the myocardium. Using soft lithography, we could create polymer layers as thin as 10 to 20 μm; however, the mechanical stability of the overall structure would decrease, necessitating the use of polymer composition with a higher Young`s modulus and denser spacing of the scaffold struts.
The stable polymeric structure makes Tissue-Velcro less susceptible to damage due to physical handling during delivery. The meshes were easily handled with forceps and assembled into a desired pattern or arrangement. Compared to techniques such as cell-sheet technology (47) or collagen-based tissue mesh (23), Tissue-Velcro maintained its own structure without external substrate support, and it was flexible enough to regain its shape after deformation.
Tissue-Velcro is a platform technology based on a biocompatible, implantable, and biodegradable polymer, which can easily be transferred, in future studies, to cell coculture in multiple settings (for example, for skin or liver tissue engineering). The ability to dynamically control both spatial and temporal culture parameters enables the potential use of this technology in cell differentiation, for example, timed application of growth factors and selective, timed cell-cell contact. Alternatively, individual cell layers could be separately treated with different survival factors before assembly of the tissue for implantation to maximize its ability to survive in inflammatory or hypoxic environments. The ability to disassemble the tissues on-demand may provide a tool for spatially defined follow-up studies, for example, to determine how cell viability, metabolism, or gene expression varies as a function of thickness in different culture or implantation conditions. These individual layers from different tissue depths and various cultivation conditions could then be strategically recombined to study the possibility that cells retain memory of their previous environment, with a view of optimizing cell survival and differentiation protocols for in vitro and in vivo studies.
POMaC prepolymer synthesis
The Tissue-Velcro scaffold was made out of an elastic, biodegradable, dual cross-linkable (heat and UV) elastomer (POMaC) as synthesized previously (19). Briefly, 1,8-octanediol, maleic anhydride, and citric acid were added to a 250-ml triple-neck flask at a molar ratio of 5:1:4, respectively. The reaction vessel was heated to 160°C and stirred until a clear solution was formed before subsequently decreasing the temperature to 140°C for 3 hours under nitrogen purge. Then, POMaC prepolymer was dissolved in ethanol and purified by drop precipitation into deionized water followed by 3 days of lyophilization. The purified POMaC prepolymer solution was then mixed with poly(ethylene glycol) dimethyl ether (PEGDM; Mw ~500, Sigma) at 60 and 5 wt % UV initiator (2-hydroxy-1-[4(hydroxyethoxy)phenyl]-2-methyl-1 propanone, Irgacure 2959). Poly(ethylene glycol) was used as a porogen to reduce the viscosity of the prepolymer solution during injection into the mold. The porogen was leached out in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) after scaffold fabrication.
POMaC degradation
Pre-POMaC strips (1.5 mm × 0.5 mm × 10 mm) were exposed to a UV (365 nm) dose of 8100 mJ/cm2. The strips were weighted in sets of 10 to determine initial mass. They were then soaked in PBS for 2 hours, followed by 70% ethanol overnight, and then washed two times in PBS. The strips were then placed into Transwell inserts (one strip per well) of a 24-well plate, with rat CMs seeded at the bottom and cultivated in the CM culture medium. Strips were collected at days 1 and 14, washed twice in deionized distilled water, and lyophilized for 3 days. Final mass was recorded and reported at each time point as percentage of mass lost compared to the immediately fabricated scaffold (day 0).
Scaffold fabrication
The device was fabricated using standard SU-8 photolithography techniques as previously described (48). Briefly, SU-8 photoresist was spin-coated on silicon wafers according to the manufacturer’s guidelines. SU-8 photoresist was exposed to 365-nm UV, using a mask aligner (Q2001, Quintel Co.) through transparency masks with features of desired shape. The multilayered device required proper alignment between the features on the first and second layers before exposure. The nominal width of the mesh and the hooks was 50 and 100 μm, respectively, whereas the height of the bottom layer (mesh), the middle layer (post), and the top layer (hooks) was 132 ± 5 μm, 263 ± 5 μm, and 53 ± 1 μm, respectively. Finally, the master mold was submersed in SU-8 developer solution until all the unexposed photoresist was dissolved from the surface. A negative of the mold was made by pouring PDMS elastomer with a curing agent (17.5:1 ratio) and curing at room temperature for 3 days (Fig. 1B). The PDMS molds were then capped with either a glass slide or a flat sheet of PDMS to form a closed network of channels (Fig. 1B). The POMaC prepolymer/porogen/UV initiator mixture was then slowly injected through the mold at the inlet and left overnight to allow trapped air bubbles to dissipate. The PDMS molds were exposed to 2400 mJ/cm2 (the exact UV exposure energy was fine-tuned for each batch of prepolymer solution) followed by peeling PDMS molds from either the glass or the PDMS cap. A PDMS mold and a glass slide with the scaffold were aligned and pressed together and exposed to 2400 mJ/cm2 to covalently bond the two layers together (Fig. 1B). The connections between each T-shaped hook on the scaffold were then cleaved with Vannas spring scissors (Fine Science Tools) (Fig. 1B). The T scaffold was then removed from the substrates and placed in PBS (Fig. 1B). Individually cultured tissues were then assembled with fine tweezers by manual manipulation at the specified time point.
Scaffold structure characterization
SEM was used to assess scaffold and tissue structure, using a Hitachi SEM S-3400 in secondary electron mode at the Microscopy Imaging Laboratory, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto. Before imaging, the tissues were fixed in a 1% glutaraldehyde/4% paraformaldehyde (PFA) mix overnight at 4°C, washed in PBS, and dehydrated in sequential washes of 50, 70, 95, and 100% ethanol, followed by critical point drying. Optical profilometry (Bruker Contour GT-K, 10× parfocal objective) was used to assess the height of the scaffold features.
Pull-off force measurement
The pull-off force of the scaffolds was measured in PBS with Myograph (Kent Scientific). One scaffold was first glued to the bottom of a petri dish or pinned down with two micropins to a PDMS base in a petri dish. If the scaffold was glued to the bottom of the petri dish, the second scaffold placed on the top overlaid the bottom scaffold by 100%. In the case of scaffolds cultivated with cells, glue could not be applied, and they were pinned down to the PDMS-coated petri dish. Then, the upper scaffold of tissue was applied in the partly offset configuration in order not to interfere with the pin. A microneedle connected to the 2-g force transducer was hooked onto the outer right strut of the top scaffold, and it was pulled rightward with a micromanipulator until the top scaffold layer was completely released. The force generated during the process was recorded, and the maximum peak force before release was the pull-off force. The last data point collected after complete scaffold release was used as the baseline for force measurement. The nominal area of the scaffold (2.5 × 5 mm) was used in calculation.
Mechanical characterization
The mechanical properties of the scaffold were measured in PBS with a Myograph (Kent Scientific) in the long- and short-edge direction. The slope of the uniaxial tensile stress-strain curve from the first 15% strain was used to approximate the physiological regime, and the linear portion was used to calculate the effective elasticity as described (8, 49–51). To determine the linear region, the entire data set was fitted using a least-squares regression followed by repeatedly dropping the lowest strain data point until the maximum R2 value was achieved. The anisotropy ratio was determined by dividing the effective elasticity in the long-edge direction with the effective elasticity in the short-edge direction. The initial scaffold length and width were measured with a caliper for stress calculations.
Tensile tests were also conducted on samples of cross-linked POMaC strips, prepared in the mold with dimensions of 1.5 mm × 0.5 mm × 10 mm, to determine the mechanical properties of the bulk material over time. Strips were prepared and treated as described in POMaC degradation. Strips were collected and tested 1 and 7 days after exposure to cells and culture medium. Tensile testing was performed by pulling POMaC strips, submersed in PBS, along the length of the sample with a Myograph (Kent Scientific). Stress and strain relationships were plotted, and the Young’s modulus was taken from the slope of the linear portion of the curve.
Neonatal rat heart cell isolation
Neonatal rat heart tissue was digested as described previously (13). Briefly, neonatal (1- to 2-day-old) Sprague-Dawley rats were euthanized, and the hearts were excised and placed in ice-cold Ca2+- and Mg2+-free Hanks’ balanced salt solution (HBSS) (Gibco). Before quartering the heart, the aortic and vena cava structures were removed. Heart sections were rinsed twice in ice-cold HBSS and digested in a 0.06% (w/v) solution of trypsin (Sigma) in HBSS overnight at 4°C. Collagenase II (Worthington, 220 U/ml) in HBSS was used to further digest the heart tissue at 37°C in a series of five 4- to 8-min digestions. After the collagenase digestion, cells were preplated for 40 min. The nonadherent cells were used as the enriched CM population. The purified cardiac FB population was obtained from the adherent cells. Cardiac FBs were cultured and passaged once before use.
Cell seeding and culture
Cell-hydrogel preparation was carried out as similarly described by Nunes et al. (21). Briefly, a desired number of freshly isolated CMs or cardiac FBs were first pelleted and suspended in a liquid Matrigel solution at a ratio of 1 million cells to 1 μl of Matrigel solution. Typically, a 20-μl cell/Matrigel mixture was made at a time. Before cell seeding, the scaffolds were coated in a 0.2 wt % gelatin solution in PBS at 37°C for 4 hours to facilitate cell attachment. Two microliters of cell suspension was pipetted onto the scaffold to cover the scaffold with cells in a six-well cell culture plate (Fig. 1C). Excessive gel was removed until only a thin layer of gel/cell suspension covered the scaffold. The plate was then placed in an incubator for 4 to 6 min to allow the Matrigel mixture to partially gel. Prewarmed culture medium was then added, and a cell scraper was used to gently scrape the scaffold off the bottom of the plate. After the scaffold (initially fully covered with cells) was lifted, holes were then formed at the center of each honeycomb of the scaffold mesh because of the lack of structural support (Fig. 1C). Cells located near the scaffold struts remained on the scaffold. The medium was changed every 48 hours. The tissue constructs were cultured for 1 week before assembling and imaging (Fig. 1C). Rat CMs and cardiac FBs were cultured in Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium (Gibco) containing glucose (4.5 g/liter), 10% (v/v) fetal bovine serum (FBS; Gibco), 1% (v/v) Hepes (100 U/ml; Gibco), and 1% (v/v) penicillin-streptomycin (100 mg/ml; Gibco).
Endothelial cell coating
Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were purchased from Lonza and cultured with EGM-2 (Lonza) according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Passage 3 to 5 HUVECs were used for all experiments. To coat the tissue meshes with endothelial cells, the tissues were immersed in 200 μl of endothelial cell suspension with 50 million cells/ml for 2 hours to allow endothelial cell attachment. The cell suspension was gently disturbed once every 30 min. Two milliliters of culture medium was then added, and tissue was incubated overnight to allow endothelial cell proliferation. EGM-2 was used for coculture conditions with rat CMs and HUVECs. Cocultured constructs were cultured for 2 days to allow for a confluent EC layer to form before imaging. Tissue-Velcro scaffolds coated with ECs or without ECs were also cultured in 25 ml of EGM-2 medium in 125-ml shaker flasks orbiting at 160 rpm, for an additional 3 days before imaging.
Functional characterization of cardiac tissues
Assessment of the contractile behavior of the cardiac sheets was measured using an S48 Grass Stimulator (Grass Technologies/AstroMed Inc.) as previously described (13, 35). At day 7 after seeding, cardiac sheets were placed into stimulation chambers and stimulated with a biphasic square 2-ms pulse duration at 1 Hz. The ET (in volts per centimeter) was determined by increasing the output from 0 V at 0.1-V increments until synchronous cardiac sheet contraction was observed in unison with the stimulator output. The maximum capture rate (in hertz) was determined by setting the output voltage to double the ET and increasing the frequency of stimulation in 0.1-pps (pulse per second) increments until the cardiac sheet beating could not keep pace with the stimulator output. Video analysis as shown in movie S7 was performed in ImageJ (version 1.47v) first by thresholding the video followed by outlining the scaffold to acquire a single tracer outline of the struts of the scaffold mesh. Using this outline, the change in the area of the honeycomb mesh was tracked overtime (movie S6). The degree of scaffold deformation was derived from the decrease in the honeycomb size due to tissue contraction. The shortening of the long and short axis was measured using image analysis to detect the percentage shortening. Cell orientation on the tissues was characterized with ImageJ from the confocal images of the tissues stained with 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI). Each section of the confocal z-stack was processed separately. The cell nuclei were selected from the images with thresholding and then turned into binary images. Nuclei that appeared merged together or out of focus were eliminated. The orientation of each selected nucleus was then plotted in MATLAB with the Quiver function. Orientation of the scaffold struts was quantified using an ImageJ plug-in, OrientationJ (52), from the same confocal z-stack images. The Erode function in ImageJ was used to filter out the small cell nuclei and leave out only the scaffold struts. The images were then processed and plotted with OrientationJ. To stimulate cardiac tissues with drugs, epinephrine was first dissolved in HCl (12.1 N) and was then diluted to 0.3 μM in CM culture medium. Drug solution was applied to spontaneously beating tissue, and the response of the tissue was recorded.
Immunofluorescence staining
Immunofluorescence staining was performed to assess the morphology of the cultivated tissues. The tissues were first fixed in 4% (w/v) paraformaldehyde in PBS for 15 min at room temperature. Then, the cells were permeated and blocked in 5% FBS and 0.25% Triton X-100 in PBS for 1 hour. Next, the tissues were incubated in primary antibody against sarcomeric α-actinin (mouse, 1:200, Abcam, ab9465), overnight at 4°C, followed by incubation with a secondary antibody, Alexa 488–conjugated anti-mouse immunoglobulin G (IgG) (1:200, Life Technologies, A21202) and a phalloidin 66–conjugated anti–F-actin (1:300, Life Technologies, A22285). Tissues were then washed and imaged with confocal microscopy (Olympus FV5-PSU confocal with IX70 microscope). To visualize the endothelialized coating, the tissues were fixed in 4% PFA and blocked in 5% FBS for 1 hour. Then, the scaffolds were incubated in primary antibody, CD31 (mouse, 1:200 dilution, MAB2148), followed by incubation with secondary antibody, Alexa 647–conjugated anti-mouse IgG (1:200 dilution, Sigma). To visualize the tissue in the coculture experiments, before assembly, each tissue was incubated in either CFDA–succinimidyl ester (CFDA-SE; 1:1000, Life Technologies, C1157) or CellTracker Red (CMPTX, 5 μM, Life Technologies, C34552) in PBS at 37°C for 30 min. Assembled tissue constructs were imaged immediately after assembly. DAPI was used to visualize cell nuclei.
Tissue viability and LDH assay
Tissue viability was visualized with CFDA-SE (1:1000, Life Technologies, C1157) and PI (Life Technologies, P3566) in PBS as shown previously (53). Cell death analysis was performed on culture media collected from tissues before assembly and after disassembly using an LDH Cytotoxicity Assay Kit (Cayman Chemical Company) as per the manufacturer’s instructions. Tissues were also lysed with 0.1% Triton X-100 to release all the LDH from the cells in a tissue construct as a baseline for 0% viability. The percentage of dead cells was determined by dividing the LDH measured in the media by the total LDH released upon cell lysis. To obtain the percentage of viable cells plotted in the graph, the percentage of dead cells was subtracted from 100%.
Error bars in figures represent SD. Statistical analysis was performed using SigmaPlot 12. Normality and equality of variance for the data were tested, and an appropriate statistical test was used. Statistical analysis in Figs. 2C and 3B and figs. S1B, S3A, and S6 (C and D) was done using Student’s t test. Statistical analysis in Fig. 4C and fig. S2 (B and C) was performed with one-way analysis of variance followed by the Tukey-Kramer test. For Fig. 4F and fig. S1, the Mann-Whitney rank sum test was used. A P value of <0.05 was considered significant. A minimum of three samples were used per data point, as indicated in the figure captions.
Supplementary material for this article is available at Supplementary Materials | Science Advances
Fig. S1. Base material physical properties under cell culture conditions.
Fig. S2. Hook and loop interlocking mechanism is a dominant factor governing the mechanical stability of the assembled two-layer structures.
Fig. S3. Cardiac tissue contractility.
Fig. S4. Immunostaining of cardiac Tissue-Velcro on day 7 for sarcomeric α-actinin (red) and F-actin (green) at various locations of the tissues.
Fig. S5. Drug response.
Fig. S6. Coculture of cardiac and endothelial cells.
Fig. S7. Scanning electron micrograph of the assembled two-layer cardiac tissue cultivated for 3 days.
Fig. S8. Scanning electron micrograph of an additional Tissue-Velcro design with spring-like structures that could potentially be used to enhance scaffold anisotropic mechanical properties and tissue anisotropic contraction.
Movie S1. The 3D confocal reconstruction of two interlocked scaffolds shows the hooks from the scaffold on the lower layer catching on the struts of the scaffold on the upper layer.
Movie S2. Recording of a mechanical pull-off test to measure the force required to detach interlocked scaffolds.
Movie S3. Two interlocked cardiac tissue layers were manipulated with tweezers, demonstrating that assembled multilayer tissue constructs can be handled and manipulated.
Movie S4. Time lapse of seeded CMs remodeling and compacting over a 3-day period on a single layer scaffold mesh (no hooks).
Movie S5. Contraction of cardiac tissue mesh after tissue remodeling, day 4.
Movie S6. Electrical field stimulation applied to a single scaffold mesh (no hooks) seeded with CMs, after 7 days in culture.
Movie S7. Autofluorescent scaffold contraction recorded and processed to measure fractional shortening.
Movie S8. Vertical scan of a three-layer Tissue-Velcro.
Movie S9. Electrically paced cardiac tissues contracting before assembly, after assembly, after disassembly, and 1 day after disassembly.
Movie S10. Spontaneous contraction of a two-layer cardiac tissue cultured for an additional 3 days after assembly.
Movie S11. Response of Tissue-Velcro (day 5) to epinephrine (300 nM) stimulation.
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Acknowledgments: We thank G. Vunjak-Novakovic for helpful feedback on the manuscript. Funding: This work is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Operating Grant (MOP-126027), Heart and Stoke Foundation GIA T6946, the NSERC Discovery Grant (RGPIN 326982-10), NIH Grant 2R01 HL076485, McLean Fellowship (to M.R.), and Steacie Fellowship (to M.R.). M.M. is supported by NSERC Vanier Graduate Scholarship. Author contribution: B.Z. and M.M. envisioned the Tissue-Velcro concept, designed and performed the experiments, analyzed the data, and prepared the manuscript. L.D.-H. performed polymer synthesis, polymer degradation measurement, polymer mechanical testing analysis, LDH assay, and contributed to the editing of the manuscript. A.K. performed polymer mechanical testing. M.R. supervised the work and prepared the manuscript. Competing interests: M.R. and B.Z. are cofounders of TARA Biosystems and hold equity in this company.
Copyright © 2015, The Authors
Been there, done that,
HK_User, Sep 1, 2015
alaskachick and Airtime like this.
Airtime Monkey+++
That is interesting. Get the process of growing the tissue Velcro from days down to hours and cardiac surgery replacing damaged tissue after an myocadio infarction becomes a viable concept. Very cool. Thanks.
Airtime, Sep 2, 2015
alaskachick and HK_User like this.
This is of special interest to me. Although it is still in the experimental stage it offers a hope that we may see a new way to repair the most important muscle of our body.
The special interest I have is that I have a Gore-Tex sleeve in my heart, once unknown. When my condition was first found there was no hope for a repair. I remember the Doc saying. "You'll just have to live long enough and hope a new repair process is developed!
Along the way and due to experiments in heart transplants they also developed a way to repair the mitral heart valve. My type of valve repair is much preferred to a man made valve as it last longer and does not suffer from rejection or damage to the blood cells.
I doubt I'll ever need the graft as listed above, but I hope it is developed quickly as it would save many of our Vets as well as others that have Heart trauma.
Never give up, live well,and prosper.
alaskachick, duane, oldawg and 7 others like this.
alaskachick A normally quiet snow monkey
Well, this RN needs more edumacation about this. From what I gather from this, there is indeed hope for heart repair in the near future. I started this article thinking, " I am an educated nurse, I can understand almost anything given the time" . This article is going to take more time
In the meantime I think more rigorous walking is in order for this out if shape semi- retired nurse.
To your health!!!
alaskachick, Oct 20, 2015
HK_User and Ganado like this.
alaskachick said: ↑
I doubt what I am about to mention to alaskachick will be a surprise, but when this trip of Heart Problems started years ago my only hope was better medicine and better repair devices.
For now I have been the recipient of a couple of tricks of the trade/profession, without which I would be dead.
1. A couple of Stints this time.
2. Mitral Valve Repair some years back along with a couple of bypass veins from my own leg.
In mitral valve repair, the surgeon does not replace the mitral valve, but rather "reshapes" it in order to reduce or eliminate mitral regurgitation.
Several techniques have been devised for performing mitral valve repair, but applying any of these techniques is as much an art as a science. So if you are having this procedure, you are much better off going to a surgeon who does mitral valve repairs frequently. (This is the case for mitral valve replacement as well, but it applies doubly to mitral valve repair.)
Death due to surgery is generally lower with mitral valve repair than with replacement, and long-term survival also appears better. So, if repair is an option, it is generally chosen over replacement. Whether repair is feasible depends on the cause and severity of your MR, and the specific anatomy of your mitral valve mechanism. In each case, a careful pre-operative evaluation needs to be done (with the echocardiogram being the most important test) to decide whether repair is an appropriate option.
The above also used Goretex, a material not even known until the late 50s.
Stay well, exercise, keep your weight down and find a good Doc.
HK_User, Oct 20, 2015
alaskachick likes this.
All good news, here.
Had a stress test the other day, no ischemia noted, all walls of the heart in good and "normal" condition.
METs was at 7.9 so I fatigued out before they would have liked. EF was 50>.
VA did the test and I made sure we had a Doc in the room and a Crash Cart on hand, plus we were on the cardiac floor.
Y'all take care, mitral valve regurgitation is a real killer if not found in time.
HK_User, Mar 18, 2016
kellory likes this.
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Flank at the Cow in Brighton - Restaurant review
PUBLISHED: 11:52 09 August 2016 | UPDATED: 12:00 09 August 2016
Ox tongue and cheek with beetroot served by Flank at The Cow Brighton
As he takes his pop-up restaurant Flank to new pastures, Thomas Griffiths talks to Duncan Hall
“It’s quite offally,” confides Flank founder Thomas Griffiths to Sussex Life as he personally introduces his dish of fried ox tongue and slow-cooked ox cheeks with roast beetroot and mustard shoots. That personal touch and the notion of nose-to-tail eating are big parts of pop-up restaurant Flank’s mission – to encourage diners to try the lesser-used cuts of meat. Speaking after Sussex Life’s visit to their new home at The Cow, in Brighton’s Seven Dials, Thomas says he believes a short rib or ox tongue can taste better than a ribeye steak or pork medallion. “There is a problem in this country that we don’t use all the available cuts of meat,” he says. “A lot of it goes into dog food, or gets thrown away.”
Both my main course of ox tongue (£14) and my partner’s East End meat suet pie with traditional liquor (£10) were evidence that all it takes is a chef of Thomas’s calibre to make an unforgettable dish from what can be dismissed as leftovers. The deep-fried tongue was juicy and delicious. The ox cheeks melted in the mouth, as did the meat in the tasty and rich suet pie, which was topped by a gorgeous salty crust. Both dishes were well complemented by dishes of flashed greens and triple-cooked chips (£3 each).
Both starters of roast and pickled beetroot with smoked goat’s curd, rye and beer (£6), and pig in a blanket with apple, chive garlic oil and pan stock (£6.50) were perfect introductions – packed with flavour but small enough portions not to detract from the main event. It would be hard to imagine anyone would need dessert, but gelato is always available.
As spring turns to summer Thomas is using the nose-to-tail approach on his vegetable dishes too – offering more unusual vegetables and using everything from leaves to roots. He built the Flank name at The Royal Sovereign in Brighton’s Preston Street, but that was more of a drinker’s pub. The Cow is a better fit, with plenty of tables and chairs, but it still doesn’t feel quite right. That said the craft beers on tap are a good accompaniment, and the new summer menu – mixing barbecued meat and fish and increased vegetarian options – is a nod towards his pub clientele. With another new venue planned to join his residency at The Cow this may just be a launchpad for one of the Brighton food scene’s brightest new talents.
Flank at The Cow, Dyke Road, Brighton, 01273 772370 www.flankbrighton.com
• Eating out in Sussex - best restaurants - Whether you’re looking for fine dining, pub food, a romantic meal for 2 or a taste of something from further afield, eating out in Sussex really has something for everyone. Here’s our guide to the best local restaurants and pubs
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Ted’s Achievements
Previous postLabor Breaks Key Election Promise
LNP moves to keep rego costs downNext post
Hervey Bay’s Two New Artificial Reefs Ready For Guests To Move In
by Ted Sorensen
Hervey Bay's Two New Artificial Reefs Ready For Guests To Move In
Member for Hervey Bay, Ted Sorensen welcomed the news that the building blocks that will make up two new artificial reefs in Hervey Bay, have now been laid on the sea bed. The 30 modules weigh a total 690 tonnes and left Gladstone by barge late last week and were gently lowered to the sea bed over the weekend.
The $1.5 million project announced by the previous LNP government is set to see an 80 hectare reef built in waters 10 metres deep near the Outer Banks. A second reef will be built at a depth of 16 metres, north-east of Little Woody Island.
“Artificial reefs provide marine life with protection from predators, shelter from ocean currents, breeding opportunities and a rich supply of food,” Ted said.
“We expect divers to see interesting creatures around the structures within months of completion and fishing should have improved substantially within 18 months.
"In fact, when we passed over one of the structures you could already see on the ship's depth-sounder a number of fish swimming around. There was even quite a large fish seen on the sounder have a look at the new underwater infrastructure."
Hervey Bay Boat Club president George Duck welcomed the announcement of the reef last year given the recent population growth within Hervey Bay and the popularity of fishing at the existing Roy Rufus Artificial Reef.
“The Roy Rufus Artificial Reef East of Big Woody Island is testament to the success of artificial reefs in our area, with thousands of divers and angler visitors throughout the year attracted by the huge numbers and variety of fish,” Mr Duck said.
“Boat club members, especially dive and fishing club members, will be thrilled to know that the reef has finally been laid."
Both reef sites will receive 15 reef concrete modules, each five metres high and weighing 23 tonnes with three modules grouped together.
“Australian-designed Reef Temple is a purpose-designed offshore artificial reef that modifies current flows through upwelling, while increasing its stability,” Ted said.
“The reefs have multiple openings, some large enough to allow diver access and great swim throughs and these openings will allow maximum light penetration while offering great protection for various species of fish.”
Ted said the reefs have been named after the region’s early lighthouse keepers – Woody Island’s first head lighthouse keeper John Simpson, who manned the light house from 1867 to 1870 and Peter Hardie who was in service from 1870 to 1897.
Ted Sorensen
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Is this the world's most spectacular Christmas tree topper?
The Christmas star designed by Daniel Libeskind for Swarovski Credit: Courtesy of Diane Bondareff/AP Images for Tishman Speyer
Jessica Doyle
7 December 2018 • 8:00pm
Ever since it made its first appearance almost 90 years ago, the Christmas tree at the Rockefeller Center in New York has been a symbol of hope. First officially installed in 1933, when America was in the depths of the Great Depression (an unofficial tree was set up by construction workers building the Center two years previously), it has grown bigger and glitzier in the decades since, becoming a much-loved festive icon.
In 2004, Swarovski upped the glamour by producing a crystal star to crown the tree, and this year it has gone one better, unveiling a new design by the architect Daniel Libeskind that is surely the world’s most spectacular tree-topper. Libeskind is known primarily for designing the master plan for the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site, so one would think a Christmas star would be a simple undertaking for him. But, he says, ‘the technology at the core of the star, which radiates the light, was a creative adventure.'
He started with ‘intuition: a crazy sketch. I never start by asking what can be built, I just draw something. If you start with the impossible, you might make it possible.’ His design for the star was inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s geometric drawings and took two years to realise in its finished, 3D form. Comprising 70 glass spikes, fitted with 200 LEDs and embedded with three million individual Swarovski crystals, it weighs in at 900lbs and measures 10 feet in diameter.
‘It was a beautiful thing to work on, because it’s not just the form of the star, but what it communicates with its light,’ says Libeskind. ‘We are stars: the elements of our bodies are made out of stardust. It’s a mystery and a wonder.’
The tree, which was lit last week, will be in place until 7 January. And for those without their own 72ft spruce, Swarovski has reproduced the star in miniature, laser-etched within a collection of crystal ornaments for the tree, table or mantelpiece.
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Opinion: Letters to the Editor
Have lawmakers forgotten their oath? and more letters to the editors
December 17th, 2019 |
I have endured the impeachment hearings in the U.S. House of Representatives and would ask that all members of the House and U.S. Senate public reaffirm to the American people the oath of office for which they undertook:
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God."
I think many are forgetting or ignoring the oath that they took.
James Hughlett
Impeachment could pose greater danger
Trump's looming impeachment threatens us in ways that have been largely overlooked.
First, Trump's impeachment means that he cannot be pardoned for any crimes his impeachment covers. This means that any future president, Pence, for example, cannot pardon Trump for what he is impeached for.
Second, Trump surely faces a host of investigations and indictments at both the state and federal levels for criminal violations while he was in office. Once out of office, he cannot claim "executive privilege" or immunity to prosecution.
Third, assuming that he is defeated on Nov. 3, 2020, Trump will still hold office until Jan. 20, 2021. This "lame duck" period leaves Trump 88 days in which he can exercise the full powers of the presidency knowing that he will lose the protections his office now affords.
For these reasons, if he is defeated in 2020, Trump's lame duck period could pose a great threat to our democracy. A president Trump who knows he cannot be pardoned, who faces multiple indictments at the end of his term, and who will lose prosecutorial immunity will be tempted to challenge our institutions in ways unprecedented even for him.
Trump's impeachment and electoral defeat may put our freedoms in as much danger as they ever have been.
David C. Redheffer, Ringgold, Georgia
Walden grocery plan still faces challenges
The controversial Walden supermarket project is far from a done deal.
The developer's talk about starting construction is premature. The Walden ordinance approving the rezoning sets forth various conditions applicable to the proposed development.
One condition addresses the significant issues relating to wastewater treatment. Middle Creek, located just behind the proposed supermarket site, is part of a fragile ecosystem with a thin layer of topsoil resting on top of limestone which is laced with mine openings and air shafts belonging to a number of abandoned coal mines.
The developer must provide the town with a complete soil analysis showing that onsite sewage treatment is possible and also provide the town the required permit 45 days before "soil disturbance of any kind." The developer must also prove to the town that wastewater will not impair the headwaters of Middle Creek or any other receiving waterway
Significant challenges lie ahead for this proposed development.
Elizabeth Willingham Schmidt, Walden, Tennessee
When outright lying isn't effective and more letters to the editors
Redouble efforts to expand Wreaths Across Chattanooga and more letters to the editors
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Chaos in Eilat as airport, roads closed following massive rainfall
Hotels flooded, cars stranded as city sees 140% of its annual rain descend in one night; meteorologists warns of flash floods, more bad weather to come
By TOI staff 28 October 2016, 10:55 am 2 Edit
A road in Eilat that partially collapsed on October 28, 2016, following massive rainfall (screen capture: YouTube)
Israel’s southernmost resort city of Eilat was in chaos on Friday morning, with the first storms of the winter season bringing massive rainfall, forcing the airport to close and blocking many roads.
The Israel Meteorological Service said Eilat saw some 32mm — 140 percent of the annual average — of rainfall by 7a.m. The weather agency predicted that the amount of rain would rise, and warned of possible flash floods in the south that have in the past trapped drivers and hikers. Meteorologists feared the rains could quickly overwhelm dry riverbeds in the Negev Desert and areas around the Dead Sea.
Israel’s Arkia airline, which handles domestic flights into Eilat, suspended all flights for at least 12 hours on Friday morning. The Airports Authority said the nearby Ovda airport would absorb incoming flights, while Eilat’s airport would reopen once the rain stops.
According to Haaretz, police said many of the roads in the city were blocked due to the rain, and that several had collapsed entirely. Some 20 kindergartens were flooded, forcing the pre-schools to either send the children home or divert them to other facilities in the city.
Channel 2 television said several cars were stranded in the floods, and that one of them had caught fire. The Ynet news website reported that at least two seafront hotels — the U Coral Beach Club and the Club Hotel — also experienced flooding.
The Yotvata Hai-Bar Nature Reserve, just outside the city, was also closed due to the weather, Haaretz said.
The first rain of the new year fell very early Thursday morning, and had been expected to continue throughout the weekend as a storm system moved through the country, leading to fears of flash floods in dry desert areas.
Thursday’s rain, which began in the south and east, was expected to spread to the rest of the country along with heavy thundershowers, ending the several-month dry period.
Temperatures were expected to begin to drop to seasonal levels Friday as the rain gradually tapered off, though flash flood warnings would remain in effect for dry riverbeds in the eastern and southern parts of the country.
Eilat airport
weather in Israel
rainfall in Israel
Israel Meteorological Service
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Shireen Honmode
5th March 2018 • 2 min read
7 Bollywood Stars And Their Relationships With Their In-Laws
in Emotional Support
Who doesn’t love the glamorous lifestyles of celebrities! We find ourselves feeling absolutely amazed with them, be it on screen or off screen. They have a special charm which makes us go gaga over them. With all that glitz, glitter and glam, they have a personal life which is as simple as your life.
Just the way you have a special relationship with your in-laws, they too share something very beautiful and meaningful with their in-laws. Here’s a sneak peek into the personal lives of these leading Bollywood stars:
1.Rani Mukherji
She married Aditya Chopra in 2014 and has been very low key about her personal life. It is said that she had a rocky relationship with her mother-in-law, Pamela Chopra. But later, Pamela went on to praise her and said that she began adoring her a lot more after Rani gave birth to Adira, who is the first child in their household after 42 years!
2.Aishwarya Rai Bachchan
The former Miss World, shares a deep connection with her in-laws and it is very evidently seen! Recently, a video surfaced where Amitabh Bachchan was seen asking Aishwarya to stop behaving like Aaradhya when she cheered and jumped when he won an award. The actress can be seen hugging the veteran actor and telling him how proud she is!! Isn’t that an adorable father-in-law – daughter-in-law duo?
3.Saif Ali Khan
The most popular couple in the B-town share an interesting connection with each other’s in-laws. Saif’s mother Sharmila Tagore has worked with Kareena’s uncle Shammi Kapoor in a lot of films! Since then their families have been very closely knit together and often are spotted at each other’s parties and holidays.
4.Mira Rajput Kapoor
Shamira, as they’re fondly called since 2015. Their low key wedding caught a to of attention as they have an age gap of a whopping 14-years! In an interview, Mira fondly said how lucky she is to have 2 motherly figures referring one of them to her mom-in-law. Her mother in law- Supriya Pathak is in complete awe of the newlywed couple!
5.Shahrukh Khan
B-town’s Badshah and his wife are an evergreen pair. The couple has a beautiful love story which will instantly restore your faith in love, all over again. In an interview, Gauri Khan shared that Shahrukh jokingly calls his mother-in-law ‘sexy’! Now you can just imagine how fun-tactic their bond with each other must be!
6.Genelia D’souza Deshmukh
The cutest couple in B-town, Genelia and Ritesh Deshmukh have fairytale ending to their love life. The couple was blessed with two baby boys and have been happy ever since. But after the passing of Vilasrao Deshmukh in 2012, life was a bit turbulent for them. Later, the couple posted a cute picture of the entire family and his late father in the frame right behind them.
7.Akshay Kumar
The doting father of 2 kids proved to be the best son-in-law Dimple Khanna could ever dream of having. From supporting her in the court cases for her deceased husband’s property to calling her his BFF in the Bolly-town, the actor never leaves a chance to praise his mother-in-law!
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Days of Our Lives - rants, spoilers, laughs
Discussion in 'Now Playing - TV Show Talk' started by SoBelle0, Aug 8, 2005.
May 23, 2006 #101 of 1096
BeanMeScot Sci-Fi Junkie
cwoody222 said:
PS Trivia... the winner of the most recent Survivor is McDonald Carey's grandson.
No kidding. I never heard that. McDonald Carey was da bomb! Aras was good looking but he should never have won Survivor.
trainman Nice to see you
Sherman...
DancnDude said:
Just popping in to say I love reading the updates. I havn't watched since the end of the faux-Salem island thing but it's funny reading the stuff that happens even though much is the same.
Same here...haven't watched in a year (because it's been a year since I stopped closed-captioning it).
I will point out that "Kate is furious that Sami is engaged to name of one of her sons" isn't much of an update.
JYoung Series 3
Chris, thanks for the recap.
So how many times has Jack been declared legally dead?
And add Chelsea to the list of fast growing children (she should really be about 10)
Jun 12, 2006 #104 of 1096
So, I assume that the guy with the eyepatch that Jack is calling "Steve" is Patch?
cwoody222 Well-Known Member
JYoung said:
They're brothers. Jack was orphaned and adopted by the Deveraux family (corrupt politicans... a Senator) as an infant but the two of them were reunited by the help of their sister (who Patch knew about) Adrianne.
Complicating matters was the fact that at one point Jack was also in love with Kayla... who Patch ended up marrying.
(and who's also returning any day now)
Poogie Well-Known Member
OK. I haven't watched in years. But upon hearing that Patch and Kayla were returning, I gave it a spin.
What is Jack dying of?
Frankie is back?!?!? And a lawyer?!?!? He's still short.
Hope looks... well... anorexic. Apparently she hasn't been eating any of Mrs. Horton's famous donuts.
And most perplexing... Kayla's a doctor?!?!?
Jack is dying of an incurable (until now) serious life-threatening illness
Seriously - they've never specified.
He also went off a bridge into a freezing, raging river (last he was seen in Salem) so that didn't help matters. We don't really know how he got from there to the "hospital".
Before he "died" he asked Frankie to stay and take care of Jen so she wouldn't be alone without him. Jen knows about this and therefore the two of them have fallen in love and are already engaged.
cpalma New Member
Well, Kayla (and Kimberly) are Bo & Roman's sisters. So Kayla's important 'cause she's a Brady.
Both her and Kimberly were married and have kids from Shane Donovan (Charles Shaunasey ? from the Nanny) so they have that ISA connection.
Kimberly and Shane had children (Jeannie and Andrew) but Kayla had a daughter (Stephanie) by Steve aka Patch.
Patch was sorta like Bo - a bad boy, turned hearttrob, turned good guy in the 80's.
Patch has been "dead" for years. Kayla only returns to the Brady Pub for holidays sometimes. Something about him dying but then someone poisoning him. Lawrence Alamain, perhaps?
Steve was pronounced dead and you're right Lawrence Alamain did have something to do with it. But after his funeral his casket was whisked away by 'henchmen'. He may be the only 'brought-back-from-the-dead' character that actually was set up to be brought back from the dead, 15 years ago.
Patch (can't remember his first name) is also related to Jack somehow. He's a "Johnson". I think he's Jack's half-brother or something?
Steven Earl Johnson, is full brother to both Jack and Adrienne. Duke was their father. He was a drug addict/scum bag. I'm not sure I remember how Jack wound up being raised by Senator Devereaux. He was probably stolen or sold on the black-market by Duke Johnson. Jo Johnson is their mother. The original actress who played Jo Johnson has passed on, but every once in a while another actress plays her, so the mother is alive and well and babysits in Salem. Duke Johnson is dead on the show.
I'm too young to remember it all but know it from hearing about it. Do I need to get out my Anniversary DOOL book today
I guess I've been watching too long, myself!! LOL
Isn't Jo married to Vern... Jack's old editor at the Spectator?
So sometimes (rarely) we hear them say that "Jo and Vern" are going to babysit?
Poogie said:
News to me too.
Have they ever said what she did while living in LA? (along with Kimberly)
Yes she is.
So who remembers the debacle that was Shane and Kayla?
The viewers were so repulsed by the pairing that it was short lived. You don't take 2 of the most beloved super couples and mix them up! What were they thinking?
Anyone care to guess who EJ really is? Some of the speculation (not a spoiler--I'm a spoiler hater) on the net is he is (just in case)
Elvis (son of Stefano DiMera and Kristen's twin)!!
cpalma said:
well then, he'd be another rapidly aging child as he should only be about 9 or 10 in real life.
Ugh, Hope becomes more and more shrill, bitchy, and unlikeable every day.
My SP will not last the month at this rate.
And that would be a problem for DOOL writers because...??? Never heard of
SORAS
unicorngoddess Wooooonicorngodess
You know, Abby must not have inheirted the SORAS gene, because her character is probably the only one that hasn't goen victim to it. I think Abby is actually suppose to be older than Philip and somehow Philip zoomed by Abby in age.
I had stopped watching Days for a long while. Personally, I can't stand this Bo/Hope thing going on any longer. But I had to start watching again this week for the Steve/Kayla reunion. I have to tell you, I loved the flashbacks the other. It just reminded me why Steve and Kayla are my all-time favorite couple.
I was wondering if Soap Net was planning on doing a special on Steve and Kayla. They did one on Bo and Hope through the years a while back ago. It would be great to see some of the essential Steve and Kayla episodes...including that beautiful cruise ship wedding
I don't mind the rapid aging but I do mind when younger people are suddenly older than people they're not supposed to be.
Philip was, indeed, born after Abby. And suddenly he's older than her.
mgar New Member
San Joaquin...
For some reason I find all this craziness entertaining. Like when Abby shows up for a jury trial and the judge just decides he is going to forgo the jury and come up with a verdict on the spot. Completely unrealistic, but part of the reason why I watch this show.
The "trial" was ridiculous!
They could have had a semi-decent story for a few weeks and actually have had a trial.
Not on DOOL, though... they just move right along, getting it over with in a single show...
Which is really out of character for Riely because he loves to just drag things out forever. In fact, this whole progression with Steve and Kayla's return is really surprising to me.
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Prosperity has transformed the world. Defined as the ability to afford goods and services beyond basic necessities, prosperity is now a way of life for most residents of developed countries—so commonplace that few people realize what a rare and recent phenomenon it is.
A mere two centuries ago, most people lived at a subsistence level, in or near the edge of poverty, as the overwhelming majority had since prehistoric times. Then the Industrial Revolution began and per capita income shot up. It is still rising today.
But the story of prosperity is far from simple—or complete. Many people in the developed world fear that their children will be less prosperous than they are. Meanwhile, new economic titans such as China and Brazil enjoy year after year of rapid growth and an ever-rising standard of living. Elsewhere in the world, millions are still trapped in poverty, despite the best efforts of organizations such as the World Bank to help lift them out of it.
Fostering and sustaining economic prosperity—whether at the individual, national, or global level—is a multilayered endeavor that reaches far beyond economics into the political and social spheres. The complexity of the phenomenon raises equally complex questions:
Why is prosperity distributed so unevenly?
Why isn’t the path to prosperity predictable?
What, if anything, can be done to lift more people out of poverty?
Foundations of Economic Prosperity gives you an unrivaled overview of one of the most pressing issues of our day, in 24 half-hour lectures taught by Professor Daniel W. Drezner of the prestigious Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Professor Drezner takes you behind the headlines and into the debates to dispel some common myths about prosperity and get at deeper truths.
In this stimulating, wide-ranging course, Professor Drezner shows that achieving prosperity involves more than economics. Psychology, sociology, political science, and history also come into play. By taking this broad view, he leads you to fundamental insights about how the modern world works and a deeper understanding of the functioning of the U.S., European, Chinese, and other major economies, as well as an appreciation for the special problems faced by underdeveloped nations.
Mysteries and Myths of Prosperity
Foundations of Economic Prosperity begins with an explanation of basic economic concepts. These are then applied to an increasingly wider sphere, covering prosperity on individual, national, and global scales. Noting that prosperity is surprisingly difficult to understand, Professor Drezner addresses some of the mysteries that surround the subject, including these:
Why England? The Industrial Revolution started in England, but scholars disagree about why, since other nations were also primed for change. Was England’s position in world politics the key factor? Or its institutions? One theory argues that the distinctive demography of the British gave them a crucial edge.
Riddle of the two Koreas: Few nations vary so radically in prosperity as North and South Korea. Yet both have the same natural resources, ethnicity, and culture. For the first 25 years of their existence, both countries showed remarkably similar growth patterns. What caused them to diverge so dramatically?
Easterlin paradox: A controversial finding by economist Richard Easterlin shows that there is no correlation between increasing prosperity and happiness in the developed world. How accurate is this conclusion? Does the effect change with levels of affluence? How much happiness can money buy?
In his quest to uncover the principles that guide the accelerating improvement of material life, Professor Drezner also refutes widely believed myths about prosperity, among them:
Myth—China is prosperous: China is economically powerful, but the view that it is prosperous is mistaken. By several different standards, China is still a developing country, ranking with nations such as Jamaica, Turkmenistan, and Belarus in per capita income, health, education, and other measures of prosperity.
Myth—Character is all: While individual behavior matters a great deal, people can’t entirely control their own economic destiny. National and global conditions matter. For example, Steve Jobs could not have built Apple Computer in a country that did not offer educational opportunities and a technology infrastructure.
Myth—Prosperity is self-sustaining: The idea that once achieved, prosperity is self-sustaining is a misconception. Many factors can derail prosperity, from pandemics to financial crises. Professor Drezner uses Argentina as a case study of a once-prosperous nation that went into a prolonged economic decline.
Foundations of Economic Prosperity follows dozens of case histories that illustrate what works and doesn’t work in the drive to increase economic growth. A superb storyteller, Professor Drezner reaches back to examples such as the statue-building culture of Easter Island that prospered centuries ago, until its mammoth public-works effort destroyed the island’s ecosystem—a cautionary tale to all developed societies. In another lesson from the past, Professor Drezner describes the economic policy called mercantilism that trapped European powers in growth-killing trade practices from the 16th to 18th centuries.
You will also learn about the following intriguing examples of prosperity won or lost:
Financial bubbles: The Dutch tulip mania in 1637 saw the value of a single tulip bulb rise to 45 times Holland’s per capita income. The price soon crashed in a boom/bust scenario that has been replayed many times, for instance in the “dot com” bubble in 1999–2000 and the housing bubble that led to the 2008 financial crisis.
Globalization: The trend toward an integrated world economy is not a recent phenomenon. The era of globalization that started in the 1850s and ended with World War I brought far more dramatic changes than those seen today—in communication, transportation, productivity growth, and financial innovation.
Politics versus prosperity: After the breakup of the Soviet Union, many economists predicted a bright economic future for Ukraine—because of its well-educated workforce, heavy industry, and productive farmland. But Ukraine did not do well. The missteps made by its politicians illustrate the enormous power of the state to get things wrong.
Prosperity Tips You Can Use
How can individuals capitalize on long-term trends in the growth and distribution of prosperity? Professor Drezner—whose experience extends beyond academia to include positions with the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the RAND Corporation, as well as extensive international travel and consulting—is full of insight on this question. He suggests, for example, that developments since 1980 underscore the increasing importance of human capital over physical capital—the value gained from investing in people over physical assets. Human capital is the product of education in all its forms, from elementary literacy to job training to undergraduate and graduate studies, and it is more important than ever to a person’s economic prospects.
As a start on your own road to greater prosperity, take this step to invest in an unparalleled explanation of the prerequisites to achieve it in the Foundations of Economic Prosperity.
The Foundations of Economic Prosperity
Begin the course by contrasting the relative prosperity of North and South Korea. What explains the marked disparity in a region with the same geography and culture? Next, define prosperity and examine some widespread myths about how and why individuals and countries achieve affluence. x
Does Economic Prosperity Make You Happy?
Explore the connection between income and happiness, focusing on the Easterlin paradox, proposed by economist Richard Easterlin in 1974, which holds that no correlation exists between happiness levels and per capita income across the developed world. Evaluate evidence for and against this conclusion. x
Varieties of Entrepreneurship
Examine three types of entrepreneurship: productive, which includes innovation and expansion into new markets; destructive, which involves coercion or violence; and unproductive, such as monopoly-seeking. Today, the first is universally seen as the most desirable, but the other two were long regarded as legitimate or even prestigious. x
Individual Prosperity—The Developed World
Probe the most effective strategy for ensuring individual prosperity in the developed world. First, study how wages and income are determined in a free market. Then, learn why the developed world puts a premium on human capital, which is synonymous with education. x
Individual Prosperity—The Developing World
Developing countries vary widely in affluence, but common characteristics of their economies make it difficult for individuals to escape from poverty. Learn how the rule of law and modern capital markets are preconditions for fostering productive entrepreneurship in these nations. x
Foundations of National Prosperity
How can countries as a whole prosper? Evaluate the ways that incentives for individuals often work against sustainable national prosperity. Study the limitations of gross domestic product as a measure of economic strength, and review the steps that propelled China into its present phase of rapid growth. x
Perils to National Prosperity
Survey three popular explanations for the failure of many nations to prosper, discovering that counterexamples cast doubt on these theories. Then investigate the distinction between public goods that enhance growth, and public “bads” that inhibit it. The latter category includes overtaxation, excessive regulation, protectionism, and war. x
Political Foundations of Prosperity
Turn from economics to politics, investigating the truth behind the view that democracies tend to contribute more to prosperity than autocracies. While authoritarian political institutions can, at times, lead to short bursts of prosperity, democracies have the advantage over the long term. Learn why here. x
Mysteries of the Industrial Revolution
The graph of per capita income over time remained flat throughout human history, until 1800 when it took off due to the Industrial Revolution. Why was England the seedbed for this radical transformation? Study theories that try to explain why the English were in the right place at the right time. x
Sources of Poverty
Probe the challenges facing the world’s estimated 1.25 billion poor people. Some economists believe that a “poverty trap” condemns the poorest nations to the bottom of the economic ladder. What is the evidence for this theory, and are there effective measures to break the cycle of poverty? x
Reducing Poverty with Economic Development
Trace some of the big ideas that have guided the World Bank in its promotion of economic development in poor nations. Despite a wide range of approaches, no broadly effective formula has yet been found. This suggests that the developed and underdeveloped worlds obey fundamentally different economic models. x
National Prosperity in the Developing World
Most economic development formulas fail miserably, but there are two proven pathways to prosperity. Learn how natural resource exploitation and export promotion allow some countries to break through to prosperity. Focus on the pitfalls that must be avoided for these approaches to work. x
National Prosperity in the Developed World
As societies become developed, socioeconomic and sociopolitical changes create new impediments to continued economic growth. Investigate the challenges presented by four big problems: a decline in innovation, a demographic slowdown, a shift away from income maximization, and the paradoxical drawbacks of political stability. x
Can Prosperity Be Lost?
Once attained, can prosperity be lost? Probe the circumstances that cause a developed country to lose economic ground. Focus on Argentina, which a hundred years ago was one of the ten richest countries in the world. What precipitated its decline, and what other factors threaten any nation’s hard-earned prosperity? x
Inequality and Prosperity
Intuitively, one would expect that poverty and economic inequality go together, but history suggests that the opposite is true. Survey the rise and fall of inequality in a range of nations, including the United States. Is there a tipping point after which inequality can harm mass prosperity? x
Globalization and Global Prosperity
Globalization is a cluster of technological, economic, and political innovations that have transformed the world economy. Investigate why globalization is not a new phenomenon and why it leads to greater prosperity. Then probe some of the myths about globalization, and analyze its role in promoting economic growth. x
Great Powers and Global Prosperity
Address the importance of global public goods, which are services provided to other nations without profit, typically by a superpower, or hegemon. Great Britain played this role during the height of its empire. More recently, the United States has been the guarantor of global public goods. x
The Washington versus the Beijing Consensus
Weigh the strengths and weaknesses of two competing forms of capitalism: the Washington consensus, developed by the United States during the cold war; and the Beijing consensus, which represents China’s approach to economic development since the 1980s. Which model better promotes global prosperity? x
Political Challenges to Global Prosperity
Begin a series of lectures on challenges to global prosperity. The biggest threat to any nation’s prosperity is war. Look at three broad explanations for why war is now on the wane and what could reignite conflict on an economically ruinous scale. x
Financial Challenges to Global Prosperity
As an example of financial challenges to global prosperity, focus on the housing bubble that triggered the 2008 financial crisis. Study different asset bubbles, including the 17th-century tulip mania. Also learn the five phases in the life cycle of a bubble—from the enthusiastic takeoff to the inevitable clean-up. x
Will the Developed World Stagnate?
In the past few decades, the developed world has seen a general slowdown in per capita income growth. Is this a permanent trend? Review the factors that boost prosperity, then examine how each of these drivers of growth reaches a point of diminishing returns. x
Global Prosperity and the Environment
Probe the environmental challenges of prosperity, focusing on the concept of negative externalities, which are costs not transmitted through price and which arise when dealing with environmental effects. Explore strategies for correcting externalities with market forces. In this context, address the problem of climate change. x
Ideological Challenges to Global Prosperity
Study the critics of prosperity, who object to key elements of capitalist society. Investigate the four “R’s”: the romantics, the reactionaries, the revolutionaries, and the radicals. Among the thinkers you examine are Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Karl Marx, Friedrich von Hayek, and Ayn Rand. x
The Ethics of Global Prosperity
Review the key conclusions reached in the course. Then close by looking at the ethical dimension of prosperity: What, if anything, do the globally prosperous owe the global poor? Test your own views against libertarian, contractarian, and cosmopolitan approaches to this question. x
Daniel W. Drezner, Ph.D.
Dr. Daniel W. Drezner is Professor of International Politics at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He earned his B.A. in Political Economy from Williams College and his M.A. in Economics and Ph.D. in Political Science from Stanford University. Beyond academia, Professor Drezner served as an international economist in the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of International Banking and...
Special Collection - 36 Big Ideas
36 Books That Changed the World
(Set) Foundations of Economic Prosperity & Money and Banking: What Everyone Should Know
(Set) Foundations of Economic Prosperity & Understanding Inve
(Set) Foundations of Economic Prosperity & Thinking about Capitalism
(Set) Foundations of Economic Prosperity & America & the NGE
(Set) 36 Big Ideas & The Joy of Ancient History
(Set) Great Ideas of Philosophy & 36 Big Ideas
(Set) International Economic Institutions & Foundations of Economic Prosperity
(Set) Capitalism vs. Socialism & Foundations of Economic Prosperity
Foundations of Economic Prosperity is rated 4.5 out of 5 by 32.
Rated 5 out of 5 by jerryg from Good job with a topic worth covering This is one of few economics courses that tries to draw lessons from economics for countries and individuals. This isn't perfect--it's sometimes repetitive, and sometimes he has to acknowledge disagreements among economists. He even points out changing fads in what economists want to believe. But overall he pulls out more than you might expect about what rational behavior ought to be. So I think Mr. Drezner deserves appreciation for a good job with a difficult topic
Rated 5 out of 5 by RioM from Clear, concise, evidence based. This course was exactly as I expected. So far, this is the best economics course I have heard on TGC; better than the economic history lecture series, better than capitalism vs socialism; because it is just so CLEAR. I am happy to recommend the course. Does exactly what it sets out to do.
Rated 4 out of 5 by Gharmjo from Bu…Bu…But ! Overall, this is a wonderful course for someone who is trying to get started thinking about economic prosperity. BUT those who expect sophisticated insights from a man who “has served as an economist in the US Dept of the Treasury’s Office of International Banking and Securities Market” may be disappointed. Overall, this is a wonderful course for someone who is trying to get started thinking about economic prosperity. BUT those who expect sophisticated insights from a man who “has served as an economist in the US Dept of the Treasury’s Office of International Banking and Securities Market” may be disappointed. L4 Drezner’s point regarding financial advantage of advanced degrees is obvious BUT he ignores any consideration that degrees have become “labels” and are often otherwise useless to an employer. These labels come at increasingly onerous price eroding the margin of financial usefulness (see L10). Drezner attributes “luck” to success stories within large economies BUT ignores Washington insider effects. L5 Drezner notes that corruption in the developing world creates “difficulty collecting taxes” but ignores FANG stocks that don’t pay significant taxes. He correctly notes that in small countries, “legal business becomes difficult because of the need to bribe officials” BUT he ignores lobbying by powerful global corporatists as a sophisticated equivalent in developed countries. Ask a mall storeowner whether bribes or tax-free, federal-insider FANG globalists are harder to compete with. L6 Drezner correctly states that GDP = C + I + G + (X-M) “measures the total value of all final goods and services and then subtracts the cost of producing those goods and services.” He notes that GDP can grow while per capita income remains stagnant BUT he doesn’t explain what happens when stagnant per capita income becomes negative relative to inflation. Unlike other economists, Drezner does not discuss whether GDP is a valid measure when both Government goods (G) and Consumer spending (C) are driven primarily by debt. For example, from 2008-2016, there was an immediate, persistent $1.25T/year increase in federal debt: double the historic rate. If the cost of producing government goods (G) suddenly radically increased, BUT what revolutionary item was produced to allow G to remain positive after subtracting out its costs? Certainly it could not have been redistribution, healthcare, or subsidy - these would be redundantly represented under C. G is supposed to be a distinct final good or service (such as air traffic control or the military – both of which were being reduced at that time). If no new tangible G good or service has been produced then why did the debt behind G suddenly double? Or is debt now considered to be a good/service because the Federal Reserve purchased it? In other words, is the G in GDP really just expanding nontangibles or, worse, money diverted? Given the size of the numbers, the subject is important. Drezner then compounds confusion about GDP by stating it is a measure of “flow not stock”. A “total value of all final goods” equation such as GDP requires quantity variables and has them. BUT a “flow” equation requires a rate variable or a second equation including GDP as a time variable. However, I believe that Drezner’s “flow not wealth” concept is a correct macroscopic inference inadequately justified by his short-shrift presentation. L8: Drezner actually favors autocracy in developing countries while noting autocratic “failures are pretty epic”. He describes the democratic system’s ability to vote out incompetents BUT fails to consider a partisan electorate focused on political favors over national survival. Instead, he sadly wallpapers over political favor by saying: “Consumption subsidies to the “selectorate” to ensure their loyalty might ensure better health care and access to better schools” while supplying no data to prove such an obtuse theory. L16-17 Globalism: Drezner describes cautions from Milton Friedman and others as myth. His arguments include “capital has been rushing from emerging markets to mature markets”. BUT he neglects discussing whether rushing capital has been drawn in by Fed easy money policy. As I write, the newest Federal Bonds are no longer eagerly purchased overseas. L22-24 An excuse for Federal inefficiency: “because an economy is so complex, it is extremely difficult for the gov’t to limit its interventions without causing unforeseen complications”. BUT the obverse argument is that the unforeseen complications ARE the interventions – ask most healthcare providers. Drezner’s conclusion argues against those free-marketers who “are so fervent that they threaten to subvert the…system” seems overwrought. Doing away with the gov’t is no realistic person’s goal BUT Drezner does not afford a healthy concern gov’t size. According to Gallup currently 17% of the US workers are Fed, State, or local and these workers influence the “free market” (via contracting prejudices) to the tune of 21% of GDP (FRED data 2/28/18, Fed Net Outlays). Drezner needs to quantitate not editorialize.
Rated 5 out of 5 by Jerry Smith from Foundations of Economic Prosperity The course was interesting. He presents points of view that he has learned over the years and points of views of others. At the end of most lectures he discusses the weaknesses of these points of view. In the final lectures he presents a few points of view but leaves it up to the student to think about them. I suppose this is because Economic theories will change over time.
Rated 5 out of 5 by Mandjou from The best explanation of the world economy Best presentation of the developing economy and the reasons they are struggling the improve and change they economy. Inside explanation of the poor countries underdevelopment. better than economist explanations.
Rated 2 out of 5 by lee2253 from not what I expected I have only started, but I believe I will finish it. It seems like a high school course taught by a life long teacher with too many degrees and not much life experience
Rated 2 out of 5 by Eddie P from Too much telling us what doesn't drive economic prosperity. Just tell me what does.
Rated 5 out of 5 by Video Junkie from Fantastic! There was not a dull moment throughout. I was engaged from start to finish while the "secrets" (common sense reasons, comparisons, historical backup, etc.) were laid out.I am better equipped to participate in discussions relating to our relative wealth and why it is so.
Foundations of Economic Prosperity Reviews - page 2
Money and Banking: What Everyone Should Know
Michael K. Salemi
International Economic Institutions: Globalism vs. Nationalism
Ramon P. DeGennaro
Capitalism vs. Socialism: Comparing Economic Systems
Edward F. Stuart
Thinking about Capitalism
An Economic History of the World since 1400
Donald J. Harreld
The Economics of Uncertainty
Why Economies Rise or Fall
Peter Rodriguez
Unexpected Economics
Crashes and Crises: Lessons from a History of Financial Disasters
Behavioral Economics: When Psychology and Economics Collide
Scott Huettel
America and the New Global Economy
Modern Economic Issues
Robert Whaples
Critical Business Skills for Success
How the Stock Market Works
The Art of Investing: Lessons from History’s Greatest Traders
John M. Longo
Economics, 3rd Edition
The Surveillance State: Big Data, Freedom, and You
Paul Rosenzweig
The Industrial Revolution
The Modern Political Tradition: Hobbes to Habermas
Lawrence Cahoone
The Science of Energy: Resources and Power Explained
Michael E. Wysession
The Conservative Tradition
Privacy, Property, and Free Speech: Law and the Constitution
Jeffrey Rosen
Thinking like an Economist: A Guide to Rational Decision Making
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Legacies of Great Economists
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Black Artists of Atlanta
Lee Ransaw
Fine artist and art professor Lee Ransaw, was born on March 24, 1938, in Little Rock, Arkansas, to Sylvia and Lee Lester. In 1955, Ransaw received his high school diploma from Shortridge High School in Indianapolis, Indiana. He later attended Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana where he earned his B.A. degree in art education in 1962 and his M.A. degree in fine arts in 1966. In 1973, Ransaw received his Ed.D. degree from Illinois State University.
While Ransaw was a graduate student at Illinois State University, he travelled to Nashville, Tennessee where he met artist and scholar David Driskell. This visit inspired Ransaw to begin collecting artwork for his private art collection. After taking courses at Pratt Institute in New York, Ransaw moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where he taught African art and Afro-American art at Emory University. In 1979, Ransaw was hired at Morris Brown College as an art professor where he painted the Centennial Mural which depicted the history of the college. The mural was considered to be a national project and was commissioned by the Atlanta Coca Cola Bottling Company. In 2002, Ransaw along with Lamar Wilson, director of Ruth Hall Hodges Art Gallery, founded The National Alliance of Artists from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (NAAHBCU) on the campus of Morris Brown College. Ransaw, then dean of arts and letters, and chair of the fine art department at the college, initially held a statewide exhibit that featured the artwork of the art faculty from Georgia based HBCUs. NAAHBCU held its first major traveling exhibition entitled Visions From Within at the James Kemp Gallery at The Black Academy of Arts & Letters in Dallas, Texas and featured thirty artists. In 2004, Ransaw was hired as an adjunct art professor at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia. Ramsaw retired as president of NAAHBCU in 2010 and served as chairman of the organization.
Among his many honors and awards were The Distinguished United Negro College Fund Scholars Award in Washington, D.C., The Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, The Ford Foundation Fellowship, and a Bronze Jubilee Award for artistic achievement given by PBS in Atlanta, Georgia.
Lee Ransaw was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on April, 19, 2011.
Ransaw
Fine Artist
Art Professor
National Alliance of Artists from Historically Black Colleges
National Conference of Artists
African-Americans for the Arts
National Art Education Association
College Art Association of America
Shortridge High School
George Washington Carver Elementary School 87
Pulaski Elementary School
ArtMakers:Visual Artists
RAN09
Be Well, Do Good Work, And Keep In Touch.
A2011_026_Ransaw_Lee_EAD.pdf
A2011_026_Ransaw_Lee_EAC.pdf
Fine artist and art professor Lee Ransaw (1938 - ) was the dean of arts and letters and chair of the fine arts department at Morris Brown College and founder of The National Alliance of Artists from Historically Black Colleges.
Morris Brown College
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Tape: 1 Story: 1 - Slating of Lee Ransaw's interview
Tape: 1 Story: 2 - Lee Ransaw lists his favorites
Tape: 1 Story: 3 - Lee Ransaw describes his father's upbringing and education
Tape: 1 Story: 4 - Lee Ransaw remembers his stepfather
Tape: 1 Story: 5 - Lee Ransaw describes his mother's upbringing
Tape: 1 Story: 6 - Lee Ransaw remembers moving to Indianapolis, Indiana
Tape: 1 Story: 7 - Lee Ransaw talks about his maternal grandmother
Tape: 1 Story: 8 - Lee Ransaw describes the sights, sounds and smells of his childhood
Tape: 1 Story: 9 - Lee Ransaw remembers living with his maternal relatives
Tape: 1 Story: 10 - Lee Ransaw recalls attending East Pulaski School in Gary, Indiana
Tape: 1 Story: 11 - Lee Ransaw talks about his early interest in art
Tape: 1 Story: 12 - Lee Ransaw describes his earliest memories of religion
Tape: 1 Story: 13 - Lee Ransaw describes his neighborhood in Gary, Indiana
Tape: 1 Story: 14 - Lee Ransaw talks about housing segregation in Indianapolis, Indiana
Tape: 2 Story: 1 - Lee Ransaw recalls attending George Washington Carver Elementary School 87 in Indianapolis, Indiana
Tape: 2 Story: 2 - Lee Ransaw remembers his favorite subjects in school
Tape: 2 Story: 3 - Lee Ransaw recalls attending Shortridge High School in Indianapolis, Indiana
Tape: 2 Story: 4 - Lee Ransaw talks about his childhood interests
Tape: 2 Story: 5 - Lee Ransaw recalls attending University United Methodist Church
Tape: 2 Story: 6 - Lee Ransaw describes his neighborhood in Indianapolis, Indiana
Tape: 2 Story: 7 - Lee Ransaw recalls his teachers and classmates
Tape: 2 Story: 8 - Lee Ransaw describes race relations in Indianapolis, Indiana
Tape: 2 Story: 9 - Lee Ransaw talks about African American representation in the media
Tape: 2 Story: 10 - Lee Ransaw recalls his decision to attend John Herron Art Institute
Tape: 3 Story: 1 - Lee Ransaw describes his mother's family background
Tape: 3 Story: 2 - Lee Ransaw recalls transferring to Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana
Tape: 3 Story: 3 - Lee Ransaw describes race relations at Indiana University
Tape: 3 Story: 4 - Lee Ransaw remembers his professors at Indiana University
Tape: 3 Story: 5 - Lee Ransaw describes his art education at Indiana University
Tape: 3 Story: 6 - Lee Ransaw recalls his experiences at Indiana University
Tape: 3 Story: 7 - Lee Ransaw remembers his appointment to cryptologic linguist in the U.S. Army
Tape: 3 Story: 8 - Lee Ransaw recalls being stationed with the U.S. Army in Venice, Italy
Tape: 3 Story: 9 - Lee Ransaw describes his role as a cryptologic linguist in the U.S. Army
Tape: 4 Story: 1 - Lee Ransaw recalls his first teaching job
Tape: 4 Story: 2 - Lee Ransaw remembers the deaths of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and President John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Tape: 4 Story: 3 - Lee Ransaw describes his dissertation on the Wall of Respect
Tape: 4 Story: 4 - Lee Ransaw recalls his introduction to African American art
Tape: 4 Story: 5 - Lee Ransaw describes his early knowledge of the black aesthetic
Tape: 4 Story: 6 - Lee Ransaw talks about his dissertation committee, pt. 1
Tape: 4 Story: 8 - Lee Ransaw describes his children
Tape: 4 Story: 9 - Lee Ransaw recalls being hired at Morris Brown College in Atlanta, Georgia
Tape: 5 Story: 1 - Lee Ransaw recalls becoming department chair at Morris Brown College in Atlanta, Georgia
Tape: 5 Story: 2 - Lee Ransaw remembers receiving a fellowship from the Rockefeller Foundation
Tape: 5 Story: 3 - Lee Ransaw recalls starting his art collection
Tape: 5 Story: 4 - Lee Ransaw describes living and working in New York City
Tape: 5 Story: 5 - Lee Ransaw talks about some of his art exhibits
Tape: 5 Story: 6 - Lee Ransaw describes his improvements to the art department at Morris Brown College
Tape: 5 Story: 7 - Lee Ransaw recalls painting murals for Morris Brown College
Tape: 5 Story: 8 - Lee Ransaw describes his artwork, 'Dance of the Chicken Thieves'
Tape: 5 Story: 9 - Lee Ransaw recalls receiving a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
Tape: 5 Story: 10 - Lee Ransaw describes Atlanta's artistic renaissance
Tape: 5 Story: 11 - Lee Ransaw talks about strategy behind collecting art
Tape: 5 Story: 12 - Lee Ransaw recalls the founding of the National Black Arts Festival
Tape: 5 Story: 13 - Lee Ransaw describes his work at Morris Brown College in the late 1980s
Tape: 6 Story: 1 - Lee Ransaw talks about organizing an exhibit for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia
Tape: 6 Story: 2 - Lee Ransaw recalls founding the National Alliance of Artists from Historically Black Colleges and Universities
Tape: 6 Story: 3 - Lee Ransaw reflects upon his accomplishments and fellowships
Tape: 6 Story: 4 - Lee Ransaw recalls helping Dan Moore, Sr. to establish the APEX Museum in Atlanta, Georgia
Tape: 6 Story: 5 - Lee Ransaw remembers painter Benny Andrews
Tape: 6 Story: 6 - Lee Ransaw describes the exhibit 'Coming by Force: Overcoming by Choice'
Tape: 6 Story: 7 - Lee Ransaw talks about his plans for the future
Tape: 6 Story: 8 - Lee Ransaw describes his wife
Tape: 6 Story: 9 - Lee Ransaw shares a message for future generations of artists
Tape: 6 Story: 10 - Lee Ransaw reflects upon his legacy
Lee Ransaw recalls being stationed with the U.S. Army in Venice, Italy
Lee Ransaw recalls his decision to attend John Herron Art Institute
So I got my assignment. Everybody got their assignments at Fort Gordon [Georgia]. Mine didn't come through. Everybody got their assignments. Some went to Vietnam and some went every place, and they didn't come to me. And they had a list of the top five or six graduates for crypto school[cryptologic school]. I was number four. The top five was supposed to go to Paris [France]. And, and four of 'em went, and I didn't go. They kept me there on post. And so I didn't know what it was, so I went to the IG, the inspector general and said, you know, "This is racism. Why didn't I get my assignment," which was a civilian status job in Paris. He said, "Well, I'm gonna look into this, we're gonna look into this and find out why you didn't get this school." So they came back with the excuse that they wanted me there on post to play basketball and play baseball. I said, "But you guys didn't know I play basketball. How you gonna put me on basketball team?" Said, "We'll cut you another assignment." So two or three weeks later--they didn't tell me where they were sending me, they put me on a plane to New York. And I ended up in New York at the fort up there, I can't remember the fort. But I went there. And they had APO 221 on my, for my mail. And so I went to the post office 'cause mother [Sylvia Hall Ransaw] and everybody was asking me, "Where are you going?" And I couldn't tell 'em. So I went to APO 221, and that was Italy. I was supposed to go to Italy, and I said, "Well, that's a pretty good assignment." But in this crypto school, which is interesting, they give you a lie detector test as I said. And on this test, they'll ask you a lot of questions, and then one of the questions they came to, they said, "Have you ever cheated on a college exam before?" I said, "No." Then they went down and asked some more questions. And they came back to that same question, "Have you ever cheated on a college--," they asked it a different way. My heart started jumping, and I remembered the time that I had looked on somebody else's paper for something, and I said, "No." So we got through the test, and he unstrapped me. He got me up, and he said, "Do you have anything to say?" I said, "Oh, yeah, on that college exam, you asked me one question, I remembered I had looked on somebody else's paper." He said, "I'm glad you told me that 'cause we were about to kick you out of school" (laughter). I was about to be gone. But I got a very nice assignment in Venice, Italy, Venezia, Italy, in crypto--and where I wanted to be. That's because it's a center of art, Venice, Venezia, Florence [Italy], Rome [Italy] and I stayed over there for several years playing basketball and finished up [U.S.] military.$$Because this is the time of Vietnam, you have this really nice assignment in Italy, but did you understand about the Vietnam War? At that time, did you understand what was going on?$$I understand--I understood when I got to Italy because several of my friends that were over there got killed. And I did crypto so Red Cross would send me messages, and I'd see their names come across. And I knew these people, a lot of these people that were getting killed over there. They were down at Fort Gordon, Fort Leonard Wood [Missouri] with me. And I knew the gravity of that situation over there, and it's just fortunate I didn't get sent over there.$$Okay, and so how long were you in Italy?$$I was there for about three years.$Who helped you prepare for college? Did you know that you were definitely gonna go to college?$$I knew a long time ago that I was gonna go to college, yes, I did. I knew. And I think my role model for that, it was interesting. I had, was out playing basketball one day with the guys on the, in the community center. And one of the guys who was playing, he was very good. And I was guarding him, and we started talking, and I said, "What do you do?" And he said, "I teach at a college." And he named the college out in California that he taught at. And I said, man, this guy plays basketball and doing real well, and he's teaching at a college, a young guy like this. You know, I think I might wanna do that, you know. And that was one of the things that got in my head early in life that I wanted to do. And the other thing, I was watching a television program. And I can't think of the actor's name, but he was, the scene of his, his series was that he was a college professor. And he used to wear a sweater all the time. And he was very mild mannered, and he spoke in a very mild mannered. And I said, "Man, that's an idea. I'd sure like to do what he's doing," you know. Well, those two things kind of stuck in my head, you know, for a long time. And I said, "Well, you know, I think I'd like to go to college," you know. And I always worked towards that at that point, you know. And then the things that I learned at Shortridge [Shortridge High School, Indianapolis, Indiana] kind of more or less cemented that desire to go and, go to college.$$How did you decide what college you would go to or apply to?$$Well, the most popular college in Indiana was Indiana University [Bloomington, Indiana]. Everybody, 'cause everybody started talking it up, kids from other areas, friends, and they wanted to go to IU. And so I was in art, and I wanted to go to IU too, but my mother [Sylvia Hall Ransaw] said, "No, you're not going down there your first year. We're gonna send you here to the extension, and you can take your art courses or take some courses over to John Herron [John Herron Art Institute; Herron School of Art and Design] or someplace like that." Well, John Herron was a very fine art school. It was located there too, in Indianapolis [Indiana]. Hale Woodruff and some of the other well known artists had gone to, had been a John Herron. So that's what I did. The first year I decided--and I worked. I went out to the, the state fair, got my first job at Allis Chalmers [Allis Chalmers Manufacturing Company], shining tractors. And I'd jump over the fence, go over there, go to work every day, and that gave me my first paycheck, all went toward college. Everything I started doing was directed toward college. So Mother could see that I was putting in and wanted to go that badly, she was gonna send me, but she wasn't gonna send me down on campus the first year. And it's a good thing she didn't because once I started going down there, I went down there, a lot of my friends who had gone down there partying and playing was coming back. They had flunked out. So when I went down, you know, I was pretty much prepared.$$And so what courses did you take at John Herron?$$I took still life painting, how to paint an apple so that if you put a fly on it, or paint a fly on it, it looks like it's real and all that stuff or one would be attracted to it. Those were the kind of courses I took, very varied (laughter). Then we'd go out sometimes and paint old sheds or old houses, draw 'em, and that was, that was very nice.
Read more about Lee Ransaw
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>About us>Policies>Complaints Policy
The John Berne School’s Complaints Handling Policy
The John Berne School welcomes feedback from all members of the school community and takes all complaints or concerns that may be raised seriously. This Complaints Handling Policy is designed to assist you to understand how to make a complaint.
What is a Complaint?
A complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction made to The John Berne School, related to our services or operations, or the complaints handling process itself, where a response or resolution is explicitly or implicitly expected.
Complaints and allegations of staff misconduct or reportable conduct are managed separately to other complaints. Refer to the section at the end of this policy – Complaints and Allegations of Staff Misconduct or Reportable Conduct for more information.
The John Berne School’s Commitment
The John Berne School is committed to handling complaints effectively and efficiently. To manage complaints effectively, we have established a Complaints Handling Program in line with both the international complaints handling standard (ISO 10002:2018 Quality management – Customer satisfaction – Guidelines for complaints handling in organizations), and the Australian/New Zealand complaints handling standard (AS/NZS 10002:2014 Guidelines for complaint management in organizations).
Our Complaints Handling Program includes the establishment of an online complaints management system which allows us to effectively capture, manage and report on complaints. Regular analysis of complaints received and the implementation of rectification action, where deficiencies are identified, are key to the School’s commitment. Our internal complaints handling process are available at no cost.
We ask that, where appropriate, you first raise the matter directly with the relevant staff member. If that is not appropriate or the issue was not addressed to your satisfaction, please contact our Complaints Manager on 9560 9260 or at [email protected]
If you have been unable to resolve a matter informally, or simply wish to make a formal complaint you can do so by any of the following means:
Sending an email to [email protected]
Writing a letter to the School addressed to “The Complaints Manager”.
Telephoning the School and asking to speak to your child’s Stage Co-ordinator.
Complaints and Allegations of Staff Misconduct or Reportable Conduct
Complaints and allegations of staff misconduct and/or reportable conduct are managed by the School in a different manner to other complaints. This is because the School has legal obligations to report certain staff conduct to external authorities. Staff misconduct is a broad term that could include breaches of professional boundaries, codes of conduct or standards of behaviour, whereas reportable conduct is a term defined in law and includes:
any sexual offence or sexual misconduct, committed against, with or in the presence of a child (including child pornography offences, sexual touching or an offence involving child abuse material) including grooming behaviours
any assault, ill-treatment or neglect of a child
any behaviour that causes psychological harm to a child (whether or not, in any case, with the consent of the child).
If your complaint relates to alleged staff misconduct or reportable conduct please make your complaint to the Principal [email protected] or if this person is the subject of your complaint please notify the Stage Coordinator [email protected]
For more information about School’s complaints handling procedures regarding allegations of staff misconduct or reportable conduct, please refer to our Procedures for Handling Allegations of Staff Misconduct and Reportable Conduct document.
I’m Phoebe Mitsak, School Counsellor (psychologist) at The John Berne School. I feel blessed to be in this role, as I have the opportunity to work with students to assist them to address their struggles and empower them to make changes. The John Berne School is a unique work environment because it is a small community and implements a flexible learning environment. This allows me to forge trusting relationships and work creatively to assist each student to address their individual needs. I love working here because I am able to see how the students make positive changes to their lives and flourish in this environment to meet their full potential.
Phoebe Mitsak
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