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__label__wiki	0.729829	0.729829	Vicky Sanderson Updated: July 8, 2019 Consentino products some 70,000 samples a day for showrooms around the world. A tale of technology and tradition If every stone tells a story, the jagged mountains and rock-strewn valleys of Spain’s Andalusia region hold a million tales — metamorphic, historical, and economic accounts. There are even pop culture chronicles; filmmakers used the desert landscape to stand in for the American West and the Arabian desert. The particular narrative I’m following begins at a sun-soaked marble quarry just outside of Cantoria in the province of Almeria, where Francisco Martinez-Cosentino Justo launched Mármoles (Spanish for marble) Cosentino in 1979. There have been lots of plot twists since then. Marble is still being extracted from the site but it’s mostly now for export, as Cosentino’s focus has shifted to manufactured stone and mineral surfaces used in residential and commercial projects. (I’m here as one of several design writers Cosentino invited to their headquarters. Cosentino paid for my travel and accommodations, but they did not review this piece prior to publication.) In 1990, the company came out with Silestone – a manufactured stone made predominately from imported quartz. Used in kitchen and bathroom surfaces, on walls, floors, stairs and cladding, it’s stain-, impact-, and scratch- resistant. Available in more than 90 colours and in three textures, it has a 25-year warranty, and can be used in large piece without joints. They also produce natural stones — slates, basalts, Brazilian granites, and travertines — as well as Sensa, a natural stone surface coated with a protective treatment. Starting to outstrip sales of other lines in several markets is Dekton, an ultra-compact mineral surface launched in 2013. It’s highly resistant to scratching and because it’s almost impervious to liquid, pretty much stain resistant. Colour remains stable over a long period of time, even under UV light, and it’s thermal-shock resistant, making it highly suitable for outdoor use. Architects and designers like that it can be manufactured in very large panels and in thicknesses from 0.8 to three centimetres. The process is fascinating. Some ten trucks a day bring 20 natural minerals that are fed into hoppers, mixed with water and ground for a few hours. There are no resins or fillers, but pigment is added to the wet mix. Without getting too technical, the material is compressed under extreme pressure and high heat to mimic — and accelerate — the metamorphic changes that natural stone undergoes over millions of years. Slabs are then decorated with an industrial-level high definition printer. For a better explanation, check out Cosentino’s YouTube video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2FnhX6Fa4U If it all sounds very high tech, it is. In 2017, Consentino invested some €22.5 million in research and development, up about 30 per cent over 2016. At the same time, there’s a push to develop flagship showrooms for both commercial and residential customers. In Canada, beautifully-appointed “Consentino City” spaces exist in Toronto and Montreal. For a full list of distributors, go to www.cosentino.com/en-ca/ Future focuses will include environmental issues, such as managing water use. The company used 27 per cent less water per square metre of product mix in 2017 than they did in 2016, and the percentage of water that’s reused now stands at 99 per cent. This is especially important in Almeria, which – like other arid, dry areas — is being affected by desertification, a form of land degradation that can cause health problems, biodiversity decline, and catastrophic demographic and economic consequences. The human pain of economic upheaval is fresh in the minds of both the management and workforce of Cosentino. Before the global downturn of 2008, there were some 120 quarries operating in Almeria; now there are about 15. At the time, unemployment rose to 27 per cent unemployment across Spain; in Almeria, it stood at 37 per cent. Before we finish our tour, the group is met by Martinez-Cosentino Justo, who’s asked what keeps him motivated after four challenging decades. “I like my job,” he says. “I like to improve. I like to play. I like to show what you can achieve by working together as a team. That’s always been our story.” Growing Concerns: If you didn't kill them as grubs, drown Japanese... Growing Concerns: Tomato cages good way to support peonies	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line864
__label__cc	0.502509	0.497491	Thursday Mashup (10/10/13) Cal Thomas of Fix Noise decided to weigh in recently on the supposed virtues of five different Republican governors across this country (here); I thought it best to offer excerpts of his commentary followed by my response… (Oh, and never forget that, according to the Foxies, it’s not a “shut down,” but a “slim down” – I’m sure the parents and kids dependent on food services and immunizations, as well as low-income people who need help with their utilities, to say nothing of our veterans on active duty wondering if their spouses can obtain day care for their kids, among many others, don’t look at it that way.) Here are the excerpts from Thomas’s column… Bobby Jindal (Louisiana) who wants you to know that his state’s GDP has grown by $36 billion since 2008, nearly twice the national rate. That puts Louisiana eighth best in the country and third best in the South. …Jindal (also) says his state has become a “national leader” in charter schools with 80 percent of New Orleans students enrolled in them. Actually, as noted here, the majority of the schools cited in a report that Jindal presented on “Meet the Press” received C, D, and F grades (with many F grades showing as “No Action” instead). Jindal also said here that racism is the fault of minorities for supposedly not being “American” enough here; also, this presents more “cold light of day” stuff in response to Jindal’s supposed successes, including his support of tax cuts for the wealthy and tax hikes for everyone else (of course) and his refusal to provide health care for his state’s poorest citizens. Back to Thomas… John Kasich (Ohio) closed an $8 billion shortfall without raising taxes and cut taxes by $3 billion. He eliminated the “death tax,” modernized Medicaid, eliminated the bureaucratic Department of Development and created a private, nonprofit corporation — JobsOhio — to “respond to job creators’ needs at their pace instead of at ‘the speed of statute.’” It should also be noted from here that Kasich, along with “Goodhair” Perry of Texas, denied $731 million in unemployment funds for their states (and under Kasich’s supposed “jobs” program, unemployment actually went up; no word on whether or not these events took place “at the speed of statute”). Oh, and did you know that, according to here, Ohio is 47th in private-sector job creation? Susana Martinez (New Mexico) boosted funding for education and Medicaid without raising taxes; cooperated with a Democratic legislature, passing the New Mexico Jobs Package, which reduced the tax rate on businesses from 7.6 percent to 5.9 percent; moved the state from 38th in the nation in export growth three years ago to first today; turned a structural deficit into a surplus and enacted comprehensive tax reform. Martinez also vetoed a minimum wage increase (here) and cut in half the budget for the only agency in the entire state devoted to recruiting businesses for jobs (here). And as noted from here, Martinez overstepped her authority when she fired two members and the executive director of Public Employee Labor Relations Board, as ruled by the state supreme court. She also vetoed a business tax increase that the state’s businesses actually lobbied for to shore up the state’s unemployment compensation fund (so much for “comprehensive tax reform”). Nikki Haley (South Carolina) pushed through tax reform on small businesses, which she claims, resulted in South Carolina having the fastest growing manufacturing sector on the East Coast and creating 38,000 new jobs, which have contributed $9 billion in new investment. Of the five governors on this supposedly “got it right” list, Haley may be the most hilarious citation of them all (unintentionally so, I realize). As noted here, South Carolina is basically #35 in job growth (they were 46th in August 2012, so I guess that’s some progress…don’t know whether they still have the third-highest youth unemployment rate of nearly 20 percent). Also, this tells us how unemployed residents of her state took to sending Haley postcards as a gesture not to forget about them while she traveled all over the country on behalf of Willard Mitt Romney. Haley’s response (one of them, anyway)? As noted here, she ordered state workers to act “cheerful” on the phone (uh huh). And here are some more numbers telling you the awful story of a state whose residents apparently have decided to give Not Your Father’s Republican Party every single thing they want… Here in SC unionization is actually illegal. As you all can see, SC is a vibrant, thriving, beacon of hope for all states to look up to: –41st in age 25 and over with High School diploma –1st in the country in mobile homes as a % of total housing –42nd in disposable personal income –9th in families below poverty –9th in individuals below poverty –38th in median family income And back to Thomas one last time… Scott Walker (Wisconsin) reversed a $3.6 billion deficit he inherited and turned it into a surplus. He provided nearly $1 billion in tax relief for families and businesses that sparked a two-year job growth, which he says is the best in the state under any governor in 10 years. Yes indeed, what would a list like this be without Hosni Mubarak Walker? For starters, this is what Politifact said about Walker’s “two-year job growth” claim (too funny – actually, as noted here, Wisconsin was 11th in job creation before Walker took over, but now they’re 38th). And if the state was really generating jobs, then why would Walker be so desperate that he’s blaming the stuff in Syria for its puny growth (here)? Also, if Walker is supposed to be so smart with the money, how come Wisconsin keeps increasing its long-term borrowing (here – this and a lot more stuff on the guy who, more than anyone else, embodies the Koch Brothers method of “governance” can be found here). And while we’re on the subject of Republican governors, this tells us (returning to the BLS link) that, at best, the land of “Governor Bully” is 41st in the country when it comes to unemployment (50 is the worst). However, you wouldn’t know that from this bit of fluffery from Matt Katz of The Philadelphia Inquirer here… WAYNE, N.J. – In the first debate between candidates who disagree on just about everything, Gov. Christie on Tuesday presented a positive view of an economically strong New Jersey recovering from Hurricane Sandy while his challenger, State Sen. Barbara Buono, described a state struggling under “Romney-style” economics and far-right social conservatism. The one-hour debate at William Paterson University, aired live on CBS3, began with a heavy focus on gay marriage, which Buono, a Democrat, supports and the Republican governor opposes, before moving on to property taxes, the minimum wage, and the Affordable Care Act. Buono sought to frame Christie as a governor committed to running for president – an assertion that Christie didn’t exactly deny – while Christie described Buono as a tax-and-spend partisan in the mold of former Gov. Jon S. Corzine. On that issue, Buono did not respond to Christie’s challenge to walk back one of the 154 tax and fee increases she voted for as an assemblywoman and later as a state senator. Buono is down as much as 33 points in polls and suffering from a severe cash disadvantage, so the debate was seen as her best opportunity to introduce herself to voters and land punches on the popular incumbent. Although she dropped a few zingers, Christie didn’t commit gaffes, and the debate lacked the sound bites that can go viral via social media. Yes, I know the odds are long here, but there’s no percentage at all if we do nothing; to do what you can to help Barbara Buono and Milly Silva, please click here. Next, it looks like former Bushie Ari Ari Bobari is leaving CNN (awwww) to spend more time propagandizing and spewing bilious garbage with his family, or something (here – and don’t you know that “Tiger Beat on the Potomac” is ON IT, PEOPLE??!!). Well, given this career change/detour/whatever, I thought that it was a good time to look back on some of his most notorious lowlights: Here, he told a mother whose son died in his former boss’s Not-So-Excellent Adventure in Iraq that “there are going to be a lot more mothers” like you (nice guy – Ari being a member of “Freedom’s Watch,” a bunch of Iraq war cheerleaders including Ed Snider, owner of the Philadelphia Flyers). He once called for the late Helen Thomas to be fired for supposedly hateful comments, though when it comes to Flush Limbore and Glenn Beck, silence is golden, as the song goes (here). He also falsely claimed that Obama had a proposal to eliminate charitable deductions here, for which he wasn’t called out by Wolf Blitzer (shocking, I know). And did you know that Fleischer secretly worked to undermine the relationship that the Susan G. Komen foundation once had with Planned Parenthood, as noted here? Despite all of this, I’m sure Ari will never want for clients, as noted here when golfer Tiger Woods hired Fleischer to help “repair” his image, though they quickly parted ways because Fleischer’s reputation was so bad that it harmed Woods’ rehabilitation (here…God, worse than a philandering husband? Nice one, Ari!). And how thoughtful of Ari to provide this bit of idiocy to make this post even more timely. Continuing, I give you more nonsense from Tucker Carlson’s Crayon Scribble Page that appeared on 10/08 (here)… After meeting with Wall Street executives to discuss the impending debt ceiling crisis last week, President Obama appeared on CNBC. He said that not lifting the debt ceiling would lead to catastrophic results. The White House appears determined to drum up fear to achieve their goal of increasing the limit without concessions. Inciting panic in the financial sector only benefits the White House in their apparent pursuit of general hysteria. It seems, however, that the financial sector chose not to play along. What appears above is a snapshot of the Dow Jones Industrial Average from last Tuesday (lather, rinse, repeat…). Further, we have Mikey the Beloved trying to burnish his imaginary “centrist” bona fides by supporting “one-at-a-time” legislation to fund particular areas of government that he likes (here). How decent of him. However, as noted by Kevin Strouse, running for the Dem nomination to challenge Fitzpatrick next year (from here)… Strouse, a former Army Ranger and CIA officer, said that the bills are piecemeal solutions and that veterans in particular should not be used as leverage. He highlighted the work the Veterans Benefits Administration has done to attack the 12-month backlog of claims submitted by veteran soldiers. The continued shutdown threatens to erase the office’s efforts to process the paperwork, Strouse said. Also, I’ll let you in on the little “con” that Mikey and his pals are trying to pull; the language they use is “well, we’ll vote for a ‘clean’ CR to fund the government when the bill is brought to the floor for a vote”…but our wet noodle PA-08 rep won’t support such a vote. If you’re as fed up with this crap as I am, then click here to support Kevin Strouse, which would be a step in the right direction; our goal is to retire Mikey to private live once and for all in 2014 (…and getting mocked by the Taliban, as noted here – every time I think we can’t sink lower on this, we do). Finally, I came across this item from clownhall.com and Dennis Prager… Rejection of the old is a reason the left has contempt for the Bible. To progressives, the idea of having 2,000 and 3,000-year-old texts guide a person’s behavior today is ludicrous. The wingnuts really do make it too easy sometimes; I give you the following verses from here (yes, the holy book of my faith does inform my opinions and, I think, provides the appropriate context for political developments – I hope that the Bible informs my actions too, but I guess that’s debatable)… Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. 4 Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked (Psalm 82:3-4). My response is here. Better a poor man whose walk is blameless than a fool whose lips are perverse (Proverbs 19:1). The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern (though I guess the above quote would fit also – Proverbs 29:7). Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. 13But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” (Luke 14:12-14) And finally, from here… For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also (James 2:26). My response is here (and here). Leave a Comment » \| "Culture Wars", 8th District, Education, Faith, Financial, Fox "News", George W. Bush, Health Care, Iraq, Labor, Military, Mitt Romney, New Jersey Politics, Politics (General), Pundit Ponderings (Bad), Sports \| Tagged: "Goodhair" Perry, "slim down", Ari Fleischer, Barbara Buono, Bobby Jindal, Cal Thomas, Chris Christie, Dennis Prager, Ed Snider, education, Fox "News", Freedom's Watch, George W. Bush, Glenn Beck, Helen Thomas, Iraq, John Kasich, Kevin Strouse, Koch Brothers, labor, Medicaid, Mike Fitzpatrick, Milly Silva, Mitt Romney, Nikki Haley, PA-08, Planned Parenthood, Rush Limbaugh, Scott Walker, Shut Down, Susan G. Komen Foundation, Susana Martinez, tax cuts, Tiger Woods, U. S. House, unionize, Wolf Blitzer \| Permalink With the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers having just played another Super Bowl (the Ravens won, of course)…well, you just knew there would be a story like this (a little late here, I know)… The Parents Television Council urged the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Monday to take action against CBS for airing a curse word during its coverage of Sunday’s Super Bowl. Immediately after the game ended, an exuberant Joe Flacco, the Baltimore Ravens’s quarterback, could be heard saying “f—ing awesome” to one of his teammates. “Despite empty assurance after empty assurance from the broadcast networks that they would never air indecent material, especially during the Super Bowl, it has happened again,” Tim Winter, the Parents Television Council’s president, said in a statement. “No one should be surprised that a jubilant quarterback might use profane language while celebrating a career-defining win, but that is precisely the reason why CBS should have taken precautions,” he said. “Joe Flacco’s use of the f-word, while understandable, does not absolve CBS of its legal obligation to prevent profane language from being broadcast — especially during something as uniquely pervasive as the Super Bowl.” I should let Tim Winter know that, when the Phillies won the World Series in ’08, the team held a party at Citizens Bank Park, and everyone on the team as well as the coaches and the announcers spoke to the fans. In the course of the festivities, Chase Utley unleashed an “F” blast heard all over the place, and I don’t recall that anyone fell down and died or turned into a pillar of salt. Simply put, this is just another excuse for a “values” freeloader like Winter to let everyone know he’s still around (“I’ll take ‘Desperately Trying To Remain Relevant’ for 100, Alex!” – more here). And here is more on the Parents Television Council, including the fact that it was founded by the perpetually angry Brent Bozell. In other Super Bowl news, this tells us who was upset over the performance of Beyoncé at halftime, and this tells us that at least one person was upset by the performance of the national anthem by Alycia Keys because she was sitting down, even though she was apparently quite good also (full disclosure: I saw a few minutes of the second quarter, including the fake field goal and Dwayne Johnson’s milk commercial, both of which I thought were pretty cool, and that was about it). You know what, people? If you don’t like what you’re watching, then change the channel and tune into something else. Or, if you want to do something really “cutting edge,” try reading a book or a newspaper instead (or maybe this blog :-)). Next, I’m going to go for more “low-hanging fruit” here with Kristol Mess on the nomination of Chuck Hagel for Secretary of Defense (here)… Our brave men and women in uniform deserve better than Chuck Hagel. Are there any courageous liberal voices who will find it within themselves to say so? Are there a few courageous Democrats in the United States Senate who will announce that they will not consent to a secretary of defense unqualified for that high office? Is there even one Democratic senator who will hearken to President Kennedy’s admonition, “Sometimes party loyalty asks too much”? I’ll admit that I really don’t have a lot to add, only to point out from here that Hagel earned two Purple Hearts, an Army Commendation Medal, the Vietnamese Gallantry Cross and a Combat Infantryman’s Badge for his military service. And when it came to the prospect of serving our country, the only thing Kristol did was run away with all speed (here). And Kristol is the one trying to invoke courage… I understand that there are substantive disagreements people have with the Hagel nomination. But let’s make them on a fair appraisal and not on the partisan spin of one side or another (including more on Kristol’s ridiculous charge here that Hagel is “anti-Israel” and said that Iraq was a war for oil…Hagel didn’t say that last part either, though that is most definitely correct). Aside from Number 44’s sometimes ridiculous attempts to be “post-partisan,” I don’t know why he could not have settled for a Democrat as Secretary of Defense instead. But I have no substantive disagreement with Hagel; his service is commendable, and at least he recognized that we needed to stop digging the proverbial hole in Iraq and said as much. So I’m inclined to give him a chance. Which of course means that the Repugs in the U.S. Senate will do everything possible to obstruct Hagel even more (here). Continuing, I give you more corporate media tut-tutting from Howard Kurtz here… Now it’s true that Fox or Rush can boost or batter any lawmaker, and that they can help drive a controversy into the broader mainstream media. But we’re talking here about the president of the United States. He has an army, a navy and a bunch of nuclear weapons, not to mention an ability to command the airwaves at a moment’s notice. And he’s complaining about a cable channel and a radio talk show host? Sooo…as far as Kurtz is concerned, Number 44 is supposed to just shut up and take any nonsense doled out by The Roger Ailes BS Factory? But Kurtz of course has no issue with attacking Fix Noise himself, and rightly so, calling out Sean Inanity here for defending a typically scurrilous race baiting mess from The Daily Tucker. Also, the Foxies couldn’t wait to report the ruling by The Supremes that the health care law was unconstitutional last June…of course, the problem is that such a ruling was never handed down (here). And Kurtz called out Bill Orally here for not apologizing for messing up on the health care ruling in particular (if O’Reilly apologized for all of his screw-ups, he wouldn’t have time to do anything else, though he did issue a mea culpa the next day). Media Matters provided a better take-down of Kurtz here; I guess Kurtz thinks the Repugs are supposed to run the show, he and his media pals are supposed to be the referees, and the Dems are supposed to retreat to a neutral corner and be quiet (a perfect formula for electoral losses by our side, by the way). Further, somebody named Chris Edwards over at Irrational Spew Online concocted the following from here (there’s a lot I could get into from his joke of an opinion column, but I’ll focus on the following for now)… High-speed rail represents another federal effort to create a one-size-fits-all solution for the country. The economic justification for high-speed rail is weak, yet the Obama administration is trying to impose its grand rail vision on the whole nation. Such infrastructure decisions should be left to the states. If California wants to blow its own money on a boondoogle (sp) rail system, it can do so, but the federal government shouldn’t foist the costs on the rest of us. Yeah, don’t you hate it when the federal government engages in its “boondoogle” projects (if you’re going to be snarky, learn how to spell first, OK?). To begin, this tells us that Repug Governors Lex Luthor Scott, John Kasich and Scott Walker all turned down high speed rail funds (in Scott’s case, to the disappointment of John Mica, U.S. House Repug and Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee). Also (and taking a page out of Edwards’ playbook I’m sure), Erick (“Son of Erick”) Erickson cropped comments by former Obama Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to make it sound like the latter supported the Chinese over this country on infrastructure (uh, no). More to the point, this tells us why the federal government should have a role in infrastructure projects, along with the attendant benefits (for example, does anything think we actually would have our highway transportation system from coast to coast if it had been left up totally to the states?). And this tells us how the Repugs have blocked transportation infrastructure projects, thus hindering our recovery (though they have no trouble with funding infrastructure in places like Afghanistan, as noted here). And as long as Edwards decided to take a shot at the “Big Dig” project in Massachusetts, the following should be noted from here… The Big Dig is a marvel, even considering the construction problems that have surfaced since the project officially concluded in 2007. Traffic jams still occur in Boston but nothing like those on the elevated Central Artery and en route to and from Logan Airport when the only access was through the Sumner and Callahan Tunnels. A trip from the South Shore to Logan, which on weekdays was a crawl and stall through the tunnel, is now a breeze. The birth of a new Boston waterfront is not just a boon for tourists. The Seaport District finally is taking off. A few years ago the Institute of Contemporary Art was a lonely addition near the federal courthouse. Now the area is filled with new restaurants, a neighborhood of galleries and 1,700 new apartments built or planned. The new housing is a lure for young college grads especially; they have been leaving Boston in large part because of expensive housing costs and a dearth of apartments close to downtown offices. All this means more business – housing and entertainment dollars that add more money to the state’s bottom line. A good chunk of that money goes back to the cities and towns in the form of local aid, something lawmakers conveniently forget when they rail against what they call a Boston project. The capital city will always be the state’s primary economic engine, so what’s good for Boston is good for residents from Plymouth to the Berkshires. And as if we need another reality check on this issue, allow me to provide the following from here. Finally, it looks like former Repug U.S. House Rep and (still, to my knowledge) deadbeat dad Joe Walsh is forming his own Teahadist Super Pac for the 2014 midterm congressional elections here (dear God, are we in this cycle already??!!). So let’s backtrack for a minute and look at where we are, OK? The name of Walsh’s former peer in the House, Steve King of Iowa, gets floated around a bit as the potential Repug candidate for the U.S. Senate seat in Iowa formerly held by the departing Dem Tom Harkin (here). Karl Rove responds with this. And now, Joe Walsh responds also here (aren’t circular firing squads fun?). All of which makes me want to say the following (for the primary election anyway)… GO STEVE, GO! Leave a Comment » \| "Culture Wars", Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Congress, Fox "News", Infrastructure, Karl Rove, Military, News Biz, Obstruction, Pundit Ponderings (Bad), Sports, Teahadists \| Tagged: "Big Dig", Baltimore Ravens, Barack Obama, Bill O'Reilly, Brent Bozell, Chris Edwards, Chuck Hagel, confirmation, Defense, Erick Erickson, FCC, Fox "News", high-speed rail, Howard Kurtz, Infrastructure, Joe Flacco, Joe Walsh, John Kasich, John Mica, Karl Rove, NRO, Parents Television Council, Ray LaHood, Rick Scott, Roger Ailes, Rush Limbaugh, San Francisco 49ers, Scott Walker, Sean Hannity, Senate, Steve King, Super Bowl, Tim Winter, U.S. House of Representatives, Wiliam Kristol \| Permalink Leave it to a former Bushie to throw cold water all over a good idea (here)… High-speed-rail executives from around the world gather in Philadelphia this week, hoping to boost support for bullet trains in the United States, where momentum has been slowed by high costs and political disputes. The new national transportation funding act signed by President Obama on Friday contained no money for high-speed rail, although the administration had sought about $8 billion a year. And Republican governors of Florida, Wisconsin and Ohio have spurned federal money for high-speed rail projects, sending the money back to Washington. “There’s no federal money, there’s no private money, and states are not in a position to finance it,” said Ken Orski, a transportation adviser to several Republican presidents, including George W. Bush. “The conference in Philadelphia will be high on rhetoric and talk of things going on in Europe and the Middle East . . . but in the domestic situation, their only hope is California.” Meanwhile, I give you the following (here)… High-speed rail does not exist in the U.S. And the fact that the new congressional budget deal completely eliminated high-speed rail funding for 2011 may lead many to believe it never will. Who can forget the headline-grabbing declarations by governors Rick Scott of Florida, John Kasich of Ohio and Scott Walker of Wisconsin that high-speed rail is a no-go in their states? Between their refusal of federal funds, the political posturing on Capitol Hill and the endless debates in the editorial pages of newspapers, it’s easy to get the sense that high-speed rail is dead. But while the fast train indeed has been dealt a serious blow, the fact remains that it’s coming: Illinois will spend more than half a billion dollars this year on upgrading existing tracks to accommodate speeds of 110 mph, while California officials plan to break ground next year on the $42 billion Los Angeles-to-San Francisco high-speed rail link. Notwithstanding the congressional budget cuts, there was still $2 billion up for grabs this year — thanks to Florida. Twenty-four governors — 12 Democrats, 11 Republicans and one Independent — applied for that money. The Federal Railroad Administration dedicated the $2 billion to 15 states and Amtrak in May. And from here… By 2017, the fastest train in America will zip through Central New Jersey at 160 m.p.h… In two decades: New York to Philadelphia in 37 minutes. To D.C. or Boston in 94 minutes. Does that work for you? I hope so. Particularly since, as noted here, it is vital that our public transportation system do all that it can to connect workers to jobs (and even though I realize high-speed rail may cater to higher earners than many people living in cities, I’m quite sure it will return more “bang for the buck” than building more highways, hastening further sprawl and congestion). As that noted philosopher Mongo pointed out in “Blazing Saddles,” “got to do with where choo-choo goes”… Next, leave it to the Murdoch Street Journal to accuse Obama Attorney General Eric Holder of “Jim Crow”-style politics (here)… Speaking to the NAACP in Houston on Tuesday, Mr. Holder assailed the Texas law that requires voters to show some identification, using terms redolent of Deep South racism before the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. “Many of those without IDs would have to travel great distances to get them—and some would struggle to pay for the documents they might need to obtain them,” he said. “We call those poll taxes.” The nation’s first black Attorney General knows exactly what he is doing by citing the fee that some Southern states used after Reconstruction to disenfranchise blacks. Poll taxes were made illegal by the 24th Amendment in 1964. Oh, and as far as the Journal is concerned, that automatically means that no such thing as a real or potential violation of the 24th Amendment could ever occur, right? Would that that were true – this tells us how the IRS under Bushco tried to find out the political affiliation of taxpayers in 2006 (also a violation of the amendment). And in response to that paragraph in the Journal editorial about Texas voters being allowed to use their gun permits as acceptable ID for voting (figures), I give you this… In South Texas, the region with the richest tradition of voter fraud in the state, few election officials believe a new law requiring all voters to have photo identification will do much to curb voting chicanery. And that’s because more of a potential for actual fraud exists with mail-in ballots than in-person ballots, with 18 percent of Texas voters lacking proper ID as noted here (I don’t have any numbers on the percentage of mail-in ballots nationally from Democrats versus Republicans, but I would venture to guess that mail-in ballot voters typically are not the ones being targeted by ALEC and the Koch Brothers). In conclusion, the Journal tells us the following… As for the “poll tax” canard, the law says the Texas Department of Public Safety will issue a free Election Identification Card if requested. Umm, OK…of course, the Journal happily discounts the fact that voters most likely to be affected probably don’t know that they’re non-compliant with the law as it currently stands (also caring not to admit that there would be a huge burden put on state workers responsible for mailing out the proper ID to everyone, that is, if the affected voters realized something was wrong – and Heaven forbid that the “yellow rose” state, among all the others with onerous new voter ID laws, would educate in advance those who would be turned away on Election Day). The Journal also referred to Holder’s characterization of the Texas Voter ID law (and by extension, laws across the country, including our beloved commonwealth) as “buncombe,” which, I suppose, is French for horse dookey (thanks to the Journal for expanding my word power). Update 7/14/12: More here. Finally, did you know that African American voters could actually cost President Obama the election? OK, you can stop laughing now. No, really, you can stop, OK? I mean, Edward Klein of Fix Noise says so here, so he must be right…right?… And do you know why? Well… Many socially conservative church-going blacks are deeply upset with Obama’s endorsement of gay marriage. In response, I give you the following (here)… The expected backlash among blacks to President Obama’s endorsement of same-sex marriage has yet to materialize. And a new Washington Post-ABC survey suggests that black opinion is very quickly moving the other way, with a majority of African Americans now saying they support same-sex marriage. Fifty-nine percent of blacks now say they support same-sex marriage, an 18-point jump since the president’s announcement of his own support two weeks ago. Fifty-three percent of Americans now believe that same-sex marriage should be legalized, which also marks a substantial spike since 2006, when just 39 percent of those polled thought it should be legalized. And as noted here from Ben Jealous of the NAACP… “If you go to the board, you’ll see a lot of religious leaders,” Jealous told The Huffington Post last month. “All of the religious leaders on our board, except for one, were for marriage equality.” That one happens to be William Owens, who of course was also quoted at length in Klein’s piece. And if anyone thought Obama’s support of gay marriage was going to hurt him among African Americans, the following should be noted from here… As Gallup itself reported in early May, Romney led Obama among non-Hispanic white voters by 54 to 37 percent, while the president had the support of more than three-quarters of non-white registered voters (77 percent). Obama’s support among African Americans on Gallup’s tracking poll stood at 90 percent. Oh, and let it be known that a certain Willard Mitt Romney hasn’t exactly endeared himself to African Americans lately (here and here). As noted here, though, Klein has been wanking away with fact-free punditry for some time now, infamously in his tome “The Truth About Hillary” (here). And the Tucson Citizen referred to Klein’s book on Obama called “The Amateur” as “the literary equivalent of a backed up-septic tank.” Well then, I’ve suppose we’ve identified Klein’s area of subject matter expertise at long last (buncombe, anyone?). Leave a Comment » \| Activism, Barack Obama, Front Groups, Infrastructure, Mitt Romney, Politics (General), Pundit Ponderings (Bad), Race, Stupid Voting Tricks, Technology \| Tagged: 24th Amendment, ALEC, Amtrak, Barack Obama, California, Edward Klein, Eric Holder, high-speed rail, John Kasich, Ken Orski, Koch Brothers, Mitt Romney, Poll tax, Rick Scott, same sex marriage, Scott Walker, voter ID \| Permalink	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line865
__label__cc	0.505893	0.494107	Civil Courts in Bradley Courts in Bradley, Illinois Find the right Litigation attorney in Bradley, IL Litigation Lawyers in Bradley The court system in Bradley, Illinois is a government institution of Illinois to settle disputes involving residents of, or events that occurred in, Bradley. It's extremely likely that you will have to deal with the court system in Bradley, Illinois, in one way or another, at some point. The local court system of Bradley, Illinois can handle virtually every legal dispute, civil or criminal, that comes through its doors. Attorneys who specialize in civil litigation in Bradley, Illinois have an intimate knowledge of their local courthouse, its unique rules, and often, the personalities and preferences of judges and their staff members. However, most people see the courts as very complicated. Here are some of the scenarios which are most likely to take you into court in Bradley, Illinois: Events Leading To Exposure To The Courts In Bradley, Illinois Jury Duty: If you're a citizen of the United States, and live in Bradley, you've probably already dealt with the court system of Bradley, Illinois by being called to jury duty. The law requires you to show up for jury duty if you are called to do so. This involves receiving a letter informing you that you have jury duty, and telling you when and where you need to show up. On the appointed day, you will be placed in a "juror pool," where you will wait to be called into court for an upcoming trial. The lawyers for both sides of the case will then engage in jury selection. If you are eliminated from the juror pool, your service is complete. If you are selected to serve on a jury, you will have to show up for the entire trial, or you might face criminal charges. Filing a lawsuit: When you sue a person or company in a Bradley, Illinois court, it's a given that you will have to deal with the courts, to one degree or another. At the very least, you'll probably have to attend some hearings, deal with discovery disputes, and attend case management meetings. Even if your case never goes to trial (which it probably won't, statistically), you will probably become very familiar with Bradley, Illinois's courts. Being Sued: If you face the unenviable prospect of getting sued in Bradley, Illinois, you'll be spending a good deal of time dealing with the courts. You will have to file an answer to the complaint, discovery requests, motions, and many other documents with the court. Most of these will occur whether or not the case even goes to trial. Divorce: If you and your spouse are divorcing, hopefully you can do it amicably. If there are disagreements over child custody, or other issues, a Bradley, Illinois family court is going to have to settle them. How Can A Bradley, Illinois Tort Lawyer Help? Most people don't have to go to court in Bradley, Illinois unless they're dealing with some complicated legal issues. You will probably need help navigating these legal issues. You should definitely consider retaining the services of a qualified litigation lawyer in Bradley, Illinois if you believe that you are going to have significant contact with the court system sometime soon. Bradley Civil Depositions Attorneys Bradley Commercial Litigation Lawyers Bradley Punitive Damages Attorneys Bradley Civil Procedure Lawyer Bradley Filing a Lawsuit Attorney Bradley Tort Lawyers Lawyer in other Illinois cities and towns Litigation Lawyers in Glendale Heights Litigation Lawyers in Joliet Litigation Lawyers in Fox River Grove Litigation Lawyers in St. Joseph Litigation Lawyers in Zion Litigation Lawyers in Olympia Fields Litigation Lawyers in Orland Hills Litigation Lawyers in Dolton	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line871
__label__wiki	0.566599	0.566599	Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope that, wherever you are, whoever you’re with, you’re having a good time, and sharing the love. Because the characters in today’s movie, Captain America: Civil War, definitely aren’t doing either of those things. Yes, instead of talking about a Holiday classic, like It’s A Wonderful Life, A Christmas Story, or Miracle On 34th Street, I’ve decided to review a film wherein superheroes fight each other because of disagreements over regulatory oversight. Why? Simple; I didn’t see it in theaters, and it only came out on Netflix today. Yeah. Anyway, concerning the film itself; this is a picture that I’ve heard nothing but good things about. Everyone I’ve ever talked to ever has told me that its the greatest superhero movie ever made. And hearing this instantly made me not want to go see it. See, I’m not a big fan of Marvel. Never have been. I find Captain America to be an outdated piece of racist wartime propaganda, and Iron Man to be an alcoholic, womanizing jerk. I do admire Spider-Man (thanks, in large part, to the Sam Raimi trilogy that came out when I was a kid), but, beyond that, I just don’t have any real emotional connection to the characters. And besides my own dislike of the Marvel brand, I’m also someone who likes to take the side of the underdog. I’ve been a diehard Cubs fan all my life, mostly because of their reputation as lovable losers, and fostered a deep-seated hatred for the Yankees since I was a kid, precisely because of the fact that they were always winning, and bragging about it. Marvel Studio’s repeated financial and critical success, and the fact that they haven’t exactly been humble about it, has made me resent them, and not want to watch their movies. But then again, every belief system I subscribe to–kindness, honesty, intersectional feminism, racial, religious and ethnic tolerance, and inclusion of the disabled–has been politically defeated this year, and every movie I wanted to be good–Batman V Superman, Suicide Squad, Passengers–has turned out to be terrible. Maybe I should just give up on what I think, and join the winning team. That’s what I was thinking when I sat down to watch Civil War. Now that I’ve seen it, I have a few new thoughts. In terms of the writing–meaning the dialogue, character motivation, and scene construction–I do think Civil War is more competently crafted than Batman V Superman and Suicide Squad. Those latter two films had tons of exposition in them, meaning long scenes where everyone’s thoughts and backstories get spelled out to the audience. There are scenes in Civil War where characters tell us what they think and feel, but it feels more earned, more appropriate, in this picture. The reason is that the characters in this movie bring up their feelings in conversation, as opposed to just turning to the audience and saying, “let me explain who X is.” The dialogue in Civil War also feels more natural, and specific to each individual character, than BVP and SS. If you’ve read my review of Suicide Squad, you know that I feel the characters in it sound too similar to one another, and that I think that’s a problem. If everyone sounds the same, how are the actors supposed to create compelling characters? How is the audience supposed to decide who to care about? I cared about the protagonists of BVP and SS when I first watched the movies, not because the films themselves did a good job of setting up their unique personalities and voices, but, rather, because I’d read the comics and watched the TV shows they came from. Imagine if I didn’t have that background with the mythology. How would I react then? But perhaps the biggest difference in terms of writing is the fact that the characters in Civil War have much clearer reasons for acting the way they do than the individuals in Batman V Superman and Suicide Squad. To this day, I’m still not quite sure why Lex Luthor hated Superman, why he made Doomsday, or why Enchantress wanted to blow up the Earth with a sky beam. That’s not good. If your characters’ reasons for acting aren’t clear, the audience won’t care about what they’re doing, and won’t want to watch your movie. Now, to be fair, Batman V Superman and Suicide Squad were only the second and third films in their cinematic universe, and therefore had to introduce lots of previously unestablished characters and plot threads. Civil war, by contrast, had over a dozen earlier films to build off of. It didn’t need to explain everything. Still, there are smooth, skillful ways of introducing new people and things in a movie, and Civil War used them to a greater degree than BVP and SS. Spider-Man and Black Panther didn’t exist in the Marvel Cinematic Universe until Civil War, and yet, their introduction felt more natural, and the film spent enough time with them for me to care about them as characters. BVP and SS were never able to balance who and what got the most screen time, and this left me feeling kind of empty and wanting as a result. I also think Civil War has much better acting than BVP and SS. Don’t get me wrong, Ben Affleck as Batman, Gal Godot as Wonder Woman, Viola Davis as Amanda Waller, Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, these actors are all superb in their respective roles. It’s just, in both BVP and SS, there are performers who stand out as being pretty terrible. Jessie Eisenberg as a twitchy, adolescent version of Lex Luthor, and Jared Leto as an over-the-top, Jim Carrey-like Joker are what come to mind when I say this. No one in Civil War stands out as “the bad one.” They’re all pretty good. But, of course, just because something is better than another thing doesn’t mean that it’s without flaws. And Civil War certainly has flaws. For starters, the movie has these obnoxiously large title cards that pop up whenever the story changes location. These get really annoying to look at after a while. The action is also really hard to follow. True, the set pieces are creative, and the directors make good use of props and locations. But the way these scenes are shot is so incredibly ugly, with everything being super shaky, and frequent cuts making it very difficult to follow what’s happening. There are also certain characters who feel out of place and unnecessary. Hawk Eye, for instance, is only in the movie for two scenes, and doesn’t contribute to the plot at all. Honestly, for how little he matters to the overall narrative, you could have left him out entirely. The same could even be said of Baron Zemo, the film’s main villain. The heroes are already angry, and fighting each other, by the time he shows up. His overly complex plot just hastens something that’s already happening. I also think its kind of a cheap cop out to have everything actually be the work of super villains. The comic the film was based off of didn’t do that. There, the heroes were angry at each other, and they fought one another because of that. Not because some grand puppeteer was pulling the strings from the shadows. I wish the movie had done the same thing. And that brings me to my final problem with the movie, the ending. For all the marketing hype about this being a “clash between heroes” that would “change everything,” nothing really did change. Yeah, a few more characters get added, but no one important dies, Captain America makes it clear to Iron Man that there are no hard feelings, and even the crippling of War Machine gets undone by the end with some BS technology. (As a disabled person who has a condition that there is no cure for, that last one kind of pissed me off for how it wrote off our pain and suffering as a mild inconvenience that can be fixed with some metal and wires). The film’s ending demonstrates a larger problem with Marvel; their unwillingness to take chances or go outside their established formula. You know going into a Marvel movie that no one is going to die, and that everything will be okay in the end. That’s because the franchise was created by TV writers, and in television, you need to return everything to the status quo by the end of the episode or season so that you can keep the story going. Take some chances, Marvel! Kill off Captain America. Have Iron Man die of alcohol poisoning. Do something edgy or unique. Still, I did enjoy Civil War, and have decided to give it an 8 out of 10. If you haven’t seen it, give it a look. Posted in Film Review, Uncategorized \| Tagged Action, Captain America, Fantasy Adventure, Iron Man, Marvel, Marvel Comics, Sci-fi, Superheros \| Leave a reply	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line872
__label__wiki	0.50215	0.50215	The Carignan-Salières Regiment, etc Posted by michelinewalker in Canada Canada, Carignan-Salières Regiment, France, Franco-Spanish War, Louis XIV of France, Madeleine de Verchères, New France, Noble savage Jean Talon, Bishop François de Laval and several settlers welcome the King’s Daughters upon their arrival. Painting by Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale The “Filles du Roy” or King’s Daughters From the story of Madeleine de Verchères, we know that among Amerindians, there were “Noble Savages” and “Savages” who were not so noble. We know moreover that Madeleine’s father was a member of the Carignan-Salières Regiment. However, the story of Madeleine de Verchères has not told us about the Carignan-Salières Regiment itself, whose members started to protect New France in 1665. Nor has it told us that, during the 1660s, France sent women to Canada. This matter was discussed in a post entitled Richelieu & Nouvelle-France, but is again relevant. We therefore require more information. In the above-mentioned post, I wrote that “between 1663 and 1673, 500 to 900 Frenchwomen, the King’s Daughters (les filles du Roy), were given a dowry by king Louis XIV and sent to Nouvelle-France, if they were deemed sufficiently healthy to survive the crossing of the Atlantic Ocean.” (please click on the picture to enlarge it) The Sovereign Council, Charles Walter Simpson The Sovereign Council: the 1660s in New France The 1660’s were the early years of Louis XIV’s reign and he became interested in France’s North-American colonies. Since 1628, the Company of One Hundred Associates had ruled New France, but it was forced out of business in 1663 and Louis took charge. He in fact created a “Royal Government whereby France would run the government of New France through a Sovereign Council.” The Sovereign Council comprised a GOUVERNEUR (governor), a bishop, an INTENDANT and 5 councillors.[i] In other words, to quote the Canadian Encyclopedia, [i]n 1663 Louis XIV equipped the colony with a complete administrative system modelled on those used to govern French provinces. However, hostile Amerindians, the Iroquois, were threathening the life of settlers. Attacks, such as the attack that would make Madeleine de Verchères a heroine in 1692, were becoming a genuine obstacle to the growth of the colony. How would the Filles du Roy and their husbands survive? The remedy consisted in the deployment of the Carignan-Salières Regiment. Le Régiment Le Régiment de Carignan-Salières The Carignan-Salières Regiment combined two regiments, the Régiment de Carignan and the Balthasar Regiment. However, after the death of Balthasar, in 1665, the Régiment became the Régiment de Carignan-Salières. These were informal mergers. (Carignan-Salières Regiment, Wikipedia) The Régiment de Carignan-Salières had fought against the Ottoman Turks in Hungary in 1664, but its main enemy as Régiment de Carignan-Balthasar had been the Spanish However, after the Treaty of the Pyrenees, which ended Franco-Spanish War (1635–1659), France no longer needed a large military force. Consequently, in 1665, the soldiers of the Carignan-Salières Regiment were deployed to New France to protect the settlers from attacks by not-so-noble “savages.” Rémy de Courcelle & the Marquis de Tracy Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Louis XIV’s finance minister and chief member of the Conseil d’en haut[ii] suggested that a mere 100 soldiers be sent to Canada, but Louis was of a different mind. In June 1665, some 1100 men, perhaps more, were sent to New France. Twenty companies left from France and four, from Martinique. This was a formal merger. They would serve under Daniel de Rémy de Courcelle, Sieur de Montigny, de La Fresnaye et de Courcelle (1626 – October 24, 1698) who was governor of New France from 1665 to 1672. It would also serve under Lieutenant General Alexandre de Prouville, Marquis de Tracy (1596 or 1603–1670) a military man who had driven the Dutch out of the West Indies in 1664. The Regiment Engages the Iroquois By November 1665, forts had been built along the Richelieu River, considered as the main invasion route. The French and Canadiens attacked the Mohawk Country in February 1666. Men were ambushed and the expedition had to retreat losing some 60 men on its return journey to Quebec City. It was midwinter, which seriously jeopardized the success of military operations. The French attacked again in September 1666, but no Iroquois was to be found in Mohawk Country. Soldiers of the Carignan-Salières Regiment burned the villages and cornfields and took possession of the Mohawk Country. Alexandre de Prouville, Marquis de Tracy was ruthless. He forced the Iroquois to convert to Roman Catholicism and to speak French as taught by the Jesuit missionaries. A mission village was set up for Catholic Mohawks at Kahnawake, south of Montreal.[iii] According to the Canadian Encyclopedia “[i]n July 1667 the Iroquois finally came to terms. The regiment was recalled to France in 1668, but some 400 officers and men chose to remain and settled on seigneuries along the Rivière Richelieu, greatly strengthening the colony’s defences, military ethos, and economy.”[iv] Back to Madeleine de Verchères Those 400 officers and men proved a godsend to a previously feeble New France. It protected the colony, but they also settled New France. François Jarret de Verchères, Madeleine de Verchères’s father, was among the 400 officers and men who decided to stay behind. He was given a seigneury, married Marie Perrot, and built the fort his daughter defended on 22 October 1691.[v] The Iroquois were defeated, but a defeated Iroquois may well be a more dangerous enemy than a victorious one. Richelieu & Nouvelle-France (1st March 2012) Cartier, Champlain, Missionaries, or New France, a Chronology, (16 March 2012) Madeleine Jarret de Verchères: a Canadian Heroine (15 November 2012) Photo credit: Wikipedia & Civics Canada Online (Simpson) [i] Civics Canada Online http://www.civicschannel.com/textbook/6canadian.php [ii] The king’s Council were called “d’en haut,” because they lived upstairs at the king’s castle. [iii] Alexandre de Prouville de Tracy, Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandre_de_Prouville [iv] W. J. Eccles, “Carignan-Salières Regiment” Canadian Encyclopedia http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/carignansalieres-regiment [v] Madeleine de Verchères, Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madeleine_de_Verch%C3%A8res composer: Jean-Baptiste Lully (28 November 1632 – 22 March 1687) piece: Marche pour la cérémonie des Turcs (Le Bourgeois gentilhomme) performers: Skip Sempé (b. 1958) ensemble: Capriccio Stravagante Madeleine Jarret de Verchères: a Canadian Heroine Posted by michelinewalker in Aboriginals, Canada Carignan-Salières, Filles du Roy, Grace Lee Nute, Iroquois, New France, Noble savage, Pierre Jarret de Verchères, Pierre-Esprit Radisson Madeleine de Verchères Photo credit: Wikipedia My next post is a continuation of the Noble Savage, but I will pause briefly and deal with not-so-noble Amerindians by telling the story of Madeleine de Verchères[i] (March 3, 1678 – August 8, 1747). Given the discrepancies between versions of this story, it is somewhat difficult, but not impossible, to tell. In 1691, the Iroquois, the most ferocious among Amerindians and allies to the English, grew particularly aggressive. On 22 October 1692, at eight o’clock in the morning, the Iroquois captured about twenty settlers who were working in the fields, as was Madeleine. One caught up with Madeleine who was wearing a scarf around her neck. Madeleine lost her kerchief but she got away. Madeleine was the fourteen-year old daughter of a seigneur. According to one account, she lived in a castle, but it appears she lived in a fort with other settlers, soldiers and cattle. Her father, François Jarret de Verchères[ii] had been a soldier with the Régiment de Carignan-Salières and would have built a fort, not a castle. On the day of the attack, 22 October 1692, only one soldier was at the fort. Madeleine’s mother is described as a 33-year old widow in one account, but according to another account, she and her husband were not at the fort on the infamous day. They had gone to purchase supplies. Having entered the fort, Madeleine went to the bastions where there was a cannon. Madeleine fired the cannon to warn others and to call for reinforcement. (Madeleine de Verchères, Wikipedia) She then asked the settlers and the soldier to make a huge noise so the Iroquois would be fooled into thinking the fort was well protected and she started firing. She drove the Iroquois away, but they took with them the men they had captured. According to Wikipedia, at one point, Madeleine noticed that settlers, the Fontaine family, were in a canoe returning to the fort. The soldier was too afraid to run to the landing dock and lead the Fontaine inside the fort, so Madeleine ran out and took them in. In the Wikipedia entry, it is also reported that, when evening came, the cattle returned. Fearing that Iroquois were behind the cattle, Madeleine and her two brothers went out of the fort, under cover of darkness, to make sure there were no Iroquois dressed as cattle. The cattle had returned on their own and walked into the fort. As for the captured settlers, they were subjected to torture à la Iroquois, which means that they were burned. It appears that these unfortunates were saved by a party of friendly Amerindians who found them in the region of Lake Champlain. It was possible to survive torture, depending on the severity of the wounds, the length of time the victim was tortured and resistance on the part of the victim. Pierre-Esprit Radisson was captured and tortured by Amerindians and survived.[iii] However, an alternate and merciful account has a different ending. The day after the attack, reinforcement arrived and the settlers were released. Madeleine reported that there were two deaths. Despite differences, the accounts of Madeleine de Verchères tell of a young woman who saved a fort. Madeleine Jarret de Verchères is a Canadian heroine. Madeleine’s story was recorded by historian Claude Charles Le Roy de la Potherie.[iv] [i] André Vachon, “Jarret de Verchères, Madeleine,” Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online. http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=1418 [ii] Céline Dupré, “Jarret de Verchères, Pierre,” Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online. http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=858 [iii] Grace Lee Nute, “Pierre-Esprit Radisson,” Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online. [iv] Léon Pouliot, “Le Roy de la Potherie, Claude Charles,” Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online. French Canadians in the United States Posted by michelinewalker in Canada, United States, Voyageurs Cajuns, Canada, French Canadian, Gabriel Franchère, John Jacob Astor, Migration to USA, New France, Quebec, United States, voyageurs Jolliet, Louis: Mississippi River exploration with Jacques Marquette, S. J. Photo credit: The Encyclopædia Britannica[i] Yesterday, I went to my Gmail account and read posts written by people who are following my blog. It was an education and I am not finished. At least two of my readers are investigating their French-Canadian and French ancestry. The story of the French in North America is a lengthy tale and although Quebec is home to the largest concentration of French-speaking North Americans, French Canadians are everywhere in North America and a large number are in the United States. Let us raise that curtain. The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes The first to leave New France and find a home in the United States are the Huguenots (Reformed Church of France or Calvinist Protestants). There were many Huguenots in New France. They left when Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes, in October 1685.[ii] For instance, whenever the Bourbeau family, my mother’s family, has a reunion, most “relatives” comes from the United States. The Bourbeau family was a Huguenot family. Three Bourbeau families found refuge in Canada, but two left for the United States in 1685 so they could remain Huguenots. One Bourbeau family converted to Catholicism. They stayed in New France and are my ancestors. In an early edition of his Histoire du Canada, written between 1845 and 1848, François-Xavier Garneau expressed the view that New France was weakened when the Huguenots left. However, he had to delete these comments to avoid condemnation on the part of the Church. His Histoire would have been à l’Index, or on the List of Prohibited Books. The Voyageurs The Tonquin in 1811 (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Many Canadiens who worked as voyageurs were employed by German- and Waldensian– born John Jacob Astor (July 17, 1763 – March 29, 1848).[iii] Upon retirement, they settled in Minnesota, but many moved to other parts of the United States. Gabriel Franchère In fact, John Jacob Astor so trusted one of his voyageurs, Gabriel Franchère (3 Nov. 1786 in Montreal – 12 April 1863 in St Paul, Minn), that he asked him to take voyageurs from New York to Fort Astoria, at the mouth of the Columbia River, in the Oregon Country. These voyageurs, some of whom were employees of the North West Company, based in Montreal, traveled on the Tonquin around Cape Horn. The Tonquin was purchased by American John Jacob Astor on August 23, 1810, the day John Jacob founded the Pacific Fur Company. It left New York on September 8, 1810 and reached its destination on March 22, 1811. Gabriel Franchère returned to Montreal, married and wrote his memoirs for his family and friends. However his manuscript was edited and published by Michel Bibaud in 1820. After spending several years in Montreal, Franchère went back to the United States and died in St Paul, Minnesota. It is possible to follow the path of Canadiens voyageurs who worked for John Jacob Astor. They gave French names to rivers, forts and other locations. For example, it has been suggested that Ozark comes from aux arcs, at the arches, because of bends in a river. I heard this on A&E. Acadians of the Great Expulsion (1755-1763) Other inhabitants of New France who became Americans are Acadians deported in 1755. Some boats did not sail down the Thirteen Colonies, but some did. The deportees stayed aboard until one of the colonies, Georgia, allowed them to leave their ships. A few of these Acadians found their way back to Canada’s current Atlantic provinces, but many traveled from Georgia to Louisiana, another province of New France, and are known as Cajuns. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (27 February 1807 – 24 March 1882) immortalized the Great Expulsion (le grand dérangement [the great disturbance]) by creating a fictional Évangéline whom Acadians transformed into their héroïne. The mythic Évangéline is alive in the mind of Acadians. French Canadians and Acadians: US Migration Moreover, close to a million French Canadians and Acadians left Quebec or Acadie because they could not find employment in Canada. This period of Canadian history, the USA Migration FR (1840-1930), is often referred to as l’Exode. I have an American grandfather. He could not find work in Canada. My grandmother stayed in Canada, but my grandfather rebuilt his life in Massachusetts. I would never have met him had my mother not decided that her children would have at least one grandfather. Her father had died. In fact, many of the voyageurs were French Canadians or Canadiens who could not find employment on the shores of the St Lawrence. The thirty acres of land they had rented from a seigneur since the seventeenth century could no longer be divided. Some retired near the Red River in Manitoba, but the voyageurs who had been in the employ of John Jacob Astor became Americans. These could be considered exode French-Canadians. The above seem the main groups of Canadiens who became Americans. But there may be others. For instance, the people of Louisiana, other than the Cajuns, were also French, but traditionally Canada and Acadie have been considered the provinces of New France. Until recently, Louisiana was not looked upon as a province of New France. Therefore, the French-speaking inhabitants of Louisiana are the descendants of the French who settled in Louisiana and did not return to France after the Louisiana Purchase (1803). They are not descendants of French-Canadians. Acadiens, called Cajuns, are the descendants of Acadiens who were deported and settled in or near Baton Rouge when Louisiana was still a French colony. Other French-Canadians are descendants of voyageurs, or French-speaking Canadians who left New France to avoid religious persecutions or migrated south because they could no longer earn a living in Canada. I will conclude by saying that French Canada and the United States are inextricably linked because of migrations from New France and Canada to the United States. Many, if not most, Americans of French-Canadian descent do not speak French, but we share cultural affinities and a collective memory. Historical events have linked Americans and French-Canadians. There is a brotherhood among us, a brotherhood I celebrate. [i] Jolliet, Louis: Mississippi River exploration with Marquette. Photograph. Britannica Online for Kids. Web. 13 Nov. 2012. <http://kids.britannica.com/comptons/art-101193>. [ii] The Edict of Nantes, an edict of tolerance, was issued on 13 April 1598, by Henri IV, king of France and Navarre. Henri IV had been a Huguenot. He is famous for have said that “Paris (being King) was well worth a mass” (Paris vaut bien une messe). The first expeditions to Canada, Acadie to be precise, were undertaken during his reign by Pierre Du Gua de Monts (c. 1558 – 1628) a Huguenot, and Champlain, also a Huguenot but less visibly. [iii]John Jacob Astor founded the American Fur Company (1808) and the Pacific Fur Company (June 23, 1810). Pierre Du Gua de Monts “Lest We Forget” & the News, 11 November 2012 Posted by michelinewalker in Canada, Sharing Giovanni Antonini, Le Monde, Lest We Forget, President Obama, The New York Times, Treaty of Versailles, Veterans, WordPress Poppies, by A. J. Casson (1919-1920) A. J. Casson (Group of Seven): (May 17, 1898 – February 20, 1992) Photo credit: The National Gallery of Canada The Veterans It is November 11th. Many of us lost dear ones to a battle fought during WW I and WW II. My grandfather lost his brother. One of my uncles “survived” D-Day, but he was sick for years. The Canadian government provided him with the little house he still lives in. I believe that for him, that house is like a security blanket. He does not know how he survived. I may have told you that I visited all the D-Day beaches with another survivor. We also have dear ones who died in Vietnam, in the Middle-East and elsewhere. Somehow WW II is the one war I find particularly atrocious. Hitler is responsible for the death of 6 million Jews. But Hitler was also a dictator who harmed the people of Germany using the war reparations imposed on Germany under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles (28 June 1919). Fortunately, this mistake was carefully avoided after WW II. I am pleased to see that President Obama is looking after the veterans of wars fought in the wake of 9/11, as if these brutal attacks had not made enough victims. I am also pleased that President Obama was re-elected. He did not have the funds Mr Romney could use, but he went to the people and there were last-minute endorsements from influential sources. I wish to thank my WordPress colleagues and followers who clicked the “I like” button and those who did not. It was magical. A little compassion goes a very long way. You were very helpful. If you are the victim of fraud, I will be there for you and will not suspect carelessness on your part. We all experience difficulties we keep to ourselves because we consider these personal. However, fraud is an exception. One tells so others are warned. The advice I gave you is advice that was given to me. The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/ The Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ Le Monde diplomatique: http://mondediplo.com/ EN CNN News: http://www.cnn.com/ The Globe and Mail: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/ The Montreal Gazette: http://www.montrealgazette.com/index.html CBC News: http://www.cbc.ca/news/ CTV News: http://www.ctvnews.ca/ Le Monde: http://www.lemonde.fr/ Le Monde diplomatique: http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/ Le Devoir: http://www.ledevoir.com/ La Presse: http://www.lapresse.ca/ Die Welt: http://www.welt.de/ composer: Henry Purcell (10 September 1659 – 21 November 1695) piece: Chaconne in G minor from Fantasies and In Nomines (1680) (Z 730) performers: Il Giardino Armonico Alessandro Tampieri, Enrico Onofri, Giovanni Antonini, Marco Bianchi, Riccardo Doni. Micheline Walker© WordPress: please get in touch with me Posted by michelinewalker in Art, Music, Sharing Credit card, Marin Marais, Micheline Walker, Nicolas Poussin, PayPal, Small business, WordPress The Four Seasons: Summer, or Ruth and Boaz, 1660–1664, Louvre Museum Nicolas Poussin (15 June 1594 – 19 November 1665) I have just destroyed my Credit Card. It was a new Credit Card, a third card because I had already destroyed two cards. Yesterday, a person from the Credit Card Company phoned to inform me that all the money available on my Credit Card had been spent. They were suspicious because the money was used by a company located in France, which was unusual. Normally, my card is used to pay for groceries or cat food. To my surprise, someone authorized these expenses, but it was not me. My money will be returned to me, but I must now involve the police. I can think of only two ways in which they could have accessed my Credit Card number. First, they could have done so when I paid WordPress for an update. I did not use the Credit Card on the internet other than to pay WordPress money I owed. Second, they may have entered my online bank account. They are hackers. My money will be returned to me, but the items will show on my next statement and I am now alarmed. Two weeks (approximately), I received comments from a French site calling itself Référencement gratuit (Free reference). Référencement would mean cataloguing. I replied to these comments by explaining that if my posts were quoted, a source had to be given as the writer would otherwise be in violation of copyright laws. I also feared they would make money using my posts. A student would kill to have access to the blog I published yesterday. It may not be popular with most readers, but for a student preparing a term essay it is very valuable. So are my voyageur posts. But we have left the realm of copyright violation. That is bad enough, however… using WordPress (the name, the ability to leave comments, etc.) to defraud me is just as serious a matter, and I cannot exclude the possibility that WordPress was used to defraud me, even though WordPress does not keep a Credit Card number. The police will have to deal with this matter, but I need to contact WordPress. Please tell me. How does one contact WordPress? If one phones WordPress, no one answers. One leaves a message, but one’s call is not returned. If you write a message to WordPress, again you will hit a brick wall. I can reach the President of the United States and the Prime Minister of Canada. I believe I can also reach the Pope. However, I cannot reach WordPress. Nor can I reach most online businesses. I have to talk to someone at WordPress. It is an URGENT MATTER. I have to secure my site. WordPress is an honest platform, but hackers are not honest. They are criminals. If any of you could help reach WordPress, I would be most thankful. By the way, change your password often. Moreover, when you bank on the internet and your password is not accepted, please take that matter very seriously. Do not use PayPal, unless you can authorize a payment and they have hired investigators. Credit Card companies have professional investigators. But it is best not to give your credit card number to anyone on the internet, including our above-suspicion WordPress. Your Credit Card number will nevertheless be in cyberspace for a few minutes and cyberspace is not safe. I have been removing what I considered harmless personal information from the internet. It is not harmless. In fact, if I post a lovely picture, I soon find that an internet company has chosen to put it in its inventory. If they do this, they should pay me. This keeps happening. Moreover, Micheline Walker’s pictures are on the internet. I have obtained or purchased permission to use art from certain sources, but some of these pictures are on the internet and not on my site. P.S. If I am late reading your posts, it has to do with the above-mentioned fraudulent activity. composer: Marin Marais (31 May 1656, Paris – 15 August 1728, Paris) piece: Spectre de la Rose Marie Knight – baroque violin, Alison Crum – treble & bass viol, Susanna Pell – treble & bass viol, Elizabeth Liddle – bass viol, Paula Chateauneuf – theorbo, Timothy Roberts – harpsichord (updated on November 12th, 2012) Refus Global (Total Refusal) & the CBC Posted by michelinewalker in Art, Quebec Alfred Pellan, André Breton, CBC, Index, Jean-Paul Riopelle, Paul-Émile Borduas, Quebec history, Refus global Bénédicte – Les beaux fruits (The Lovely Fruit), by Paul-Émile Borduas Paul-Émile Borduas Here are links to the complete Refus global. Refus global (l’intégral, en français) Refus global or Total Refusal (text in English) Refus global (The Canadian Encyclopedia‘s entry) Images: please click on Paul-Émile Borduas Photo credit: Paul-Émile Borduas (a fine website) Signatories: Paul-Émile Borduas, Magdeleine Arbour, Marcel Barbeau, Bruno Cormier, Claude Gauvreau, Pierre Gauvreau, Muriel Guilbeault, Marcelle Ferron, Fernand Leduc, Thérèse Leduc, Jean-Paul Mousseau, Maurice Perron, Louise Renaud, François Riopelle, Jean-Paul Riopelle, Françoise Sullivan EN=English FR=French Two CBC documentaries on Refus Global I found two CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation/ Radio-Canada) documentaries concerning Refus global (Total Refusal). I kept expecting to view a video, but there was no video just words. Therefore, in order to listen to the recordings one must scroll down to the bottom of a black space and press on the start button, the triangle. There are no pictures, but there is a text. However, before listening, it would help to read the following comments. I had to listen two or three times to understand some of the words. The Manifesto was launched at a bookstore: Henri Tranquille‘s FR[i] bookstore. The second floor of the bookstore was a large area where artists could exhibit their work. Their art was becoming less and less figurative or representational. Alfred Pellan,[ii] is the artist who had studied in Paris and returned to Montreal transporting a large quantity of works demonstrating that art could follow new paths. The signatories of Refus global learned about André Breton‘s “pure psychic automatism.” André Breton, the founder of Surrealism, wrote the Surrealists’s Manifesto in 1924 (Manifeste du surréalisme). Borduas had also traveled to France and was acquainted with various “isms:” Cubism, Fauvism, the work of Joan Miró and Breton’s Surrealism. According to one of the narrators, the Great Depression was a catalyst in Borduas’s rapid shift from representational art to non-figurative art. Poverty is unbelievably humiliating. In Refus global, Borduas makes a list of the fears of Québécois, one of which is poverty. “In the vain hope of erasing their memory, I will name the things we feared: fear of prejudice, fear of public opinion, fear of persecution and general disapproval fear of being abandoned by God and by a society that invariably leaves us to our lonely fate fear of ourselves, of our brothers, of poverty fear of the established order, of the mockery of justice fear of new relationships fear of the irrational fear of needs fear of the floodgates that open onto our faith in man, of the society of the future fear of anything that could inspire in us a transforming love blue fear – red fear – white fear: each one another link in the chain that binds us.” It would be my opinion that Borduas’s use of the word “Christianity” refers to a powerful and then repressive human institution. Jesus of Nazareth was a Jew who lived in Palestine, which, at the time, was controlled by Rome. Jesus is not the founder of a Church; a Church was founded in his name. Borduas: un penseur (a Thinker) In the second documentary, one of the narrators calls Borduas “un penseur,” a thinker, an intellectual who attracted students to his house, rue Napoléon. One of the institutions named in the documentaries is le Collège Sainte-Marie, a fine Jesuit school where theater was promoted: le théâtre du Gesù. Jansenism & Society “We are a small people, the product of a Jansenist colony, isolated, defeated,left a powerless prey to all those invading congregations from France and Navarre that were eager to perpetuate in this holy realm of fear (in-fear-is-the-beginning-of-wisdom!) the blessings and prestige of a Catholic religion that was being scorned in Europe. Heirs of papal authority, mechanical, brooking no opposition, past masters of obscurantist methods, our educational institutions had, from that time on, absolute control over a world of warped memories, stagnant minds and misguided intentions.” Paul-Émile Borduas refers to Jansenism (4th paragraph). My posts on Phèdre tell that story. Many of the early settlers of New France were Jansenists. They arrived on the North-American continent during the seventeenth century, the Jansenist era. Predestination was a tenet of Jansenism. Like Jean Racine’s Phèdre, many Québécois felt they had been abandoned by God: “fear of being abandoned by God.” However, French-Canadians had also been abandoned by society, by France, and many of the “Patriotes” of the 1837-1838 Rebellion EN had died. A dozen or so were hanged and 58, deported to Australia, then called Nouvelle-Hollande. They were soon returned to their homes, but exile had nevertheless transformed them into martyrs. The French-language Wikipedia entry on the Rebellion of 1837-1838 FR provides a more detailed account of the events of 1837-1838 than the English-language entry. I have written a short biography of Paul-Émile Borduas. It is still a draft, but it will be posted. The art displayed in this post is not yet the abstract l’Étoile noire and Froissement (Wrinkling), shown at the very bottom of this post. One of the persons interviewed by the CBC/ Radio-Canada states that the Refus global signatories rejected everything. Global or Total is Global, Total. But there is some expression of hope. Borduas speaks of a “future collectivity” (near the end of the document). He expresses “hope” as does his art and that of his students, not to mention Refus global/ Total Refusal itself. Refus global clears the table (Descartes‘s tabula rasa). “A new collective hope will dawn. It is already demanding the passion of exceptional insights, anonymous union in renewed faith in the future, in the future collectivity.” There is fear, but “in-fear-is-the-beginning-of-wisdom!” (fourth paragraph) The CBC Documentaries Refus global.1 http://www.cbc.ca/archives/categories/arts-entertainment/visual-arts/le-refus-global-revolution-in-the-arts/launching-of-le-refus-global.html http://www.cbc.ca/archives/categories/arts-entertainment/visual-arts/le-refus-global-revolution-in-the-arts/the-automatists.html Marie-Pierre – Les fruits merveilleux (The Marvellous Fruit), by Paul-Émile Borduas [i] There is a CBC/ Radio-Canada) documentary, an interview, about Henri Tranquille. The interviewer speaks European French and Henri Tranquille has a Quebec accent. It is a precious testimonial which should be translated. Among other things, Tranquille speaks about the Index or List of Prohibited Books. The police could investigate. http://archives.radio-canada.ca/arts_culture/litterature/clips/15809/ [ii] Alfred Pellan and Borduas were not friends. Pellan had received the first scholarship allowing a Quebec artist to study in Paris. Refus global: the Index librorium prohibitorum (November 6, 2012) A Glance at Refus global & the News (November 4, 2012) Phèdre’s “Hidden God” (October 8, 2012) Jean Racine, Gabriel Fauré & Alexandre Cabanel: a Canticle (October 6, 2012) The President of the United States & the Art of Mary Cassatt Posted by michelinewalker in Art, United States CNN, Gazette, Le Devoir, Le Monde, Le Monde diplomatique, Mary Cassatt, National Post, United States Mary Cassatt (American, 1844–1926). The Fitting, 1890–91. Drypoint and aquatint etching on off-white, moderately thick, moderately textured laid paper. Brooklyn Museum, Dick S. Ramsay Fund, 39.108 Exhibitions: Japonisme in American Graphic Art, 1880–1920 Barack Hussein Obama II: The President of the United States of America Yesterday, I was too tired to write a blog. I had stayed up to watch the results of the election. As usual, CNN covered the event thoroughly. When Wolf Blitzer referred to President Obama, he called him the President of the United States and he called Mr Romney, Governor Romney. In the end, President Obama remained Barack Obama, President of the United States of America. As for Mr Romney, he was gracious in defeat and he seemed freed of the constraints of extremists in the Republican Party. President Obama spoke with Governor Romney and they may speak again. It is too soon to tell in what capacity Mr Romney could help his country, but discarding talent or humiliating people is not the President’s approach. Remember my little blog on the Five Presidents. But to return to Mr Romney, according to a close friend, he “would be willing to work for Barack Obama.” (The Telegraph, UK). This link may be corrupt as well as links listed under NEWS. I inserted them yesterday, but they may lead to today’s news. I am featuring Mary Cassatt (May 22, 1844 – June 14, 1926). Artist Mary Cassatt was born in the United States, but lived in France for most of her adult life. She ended up befriending Edgar Degas, joined the Impressionists, and was influenced by Japonisme. Mary Cassatt did not marry. She felt she could not be a wife, a mother, and an artist. However she painted women, especially women as mothers and she made lovely portraits of children. Being a woman proved an obstacle to Mary Cassatt’s career. She could not enter schools such as France’s École des Beaux-Arts, in Paris. However, the Impressionists opened a few doors for her and her art remains. She has left a precious legacy. In 1894, Mary Cassatt was described by Gustave Geffroy [i] as one of “les trois grandes dames” of Impressionism alongside Marie Bracquemond and Berthe Morisot. Women called “grande dame” are very rare. This list was compiled yesterday, before I realized I had exceeded my limits and had to sleep. I suspect these links will probably take you to today’s news. The Washington Post: http://www.nationalpost.com/index.html The National Post: http://www.nationalpost.com/index.html [i] Gustave Geoffroy (1894), “Histoire de l’Impressionnisme”, La Vie artistique: 268. (Quoted in Mary Cassatt, Wikipedia.) composer: Beethoven (baptized 17 December 1770 – 26 March 1827) piece: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61, II. Larghetto accompaniment: piano (The music, Beethoven’s only Violin Concerto, ends somewhat abruptly) Refus Global & the Index Librorum Prohibitorum Posted by michelinewalker in Art, History, Quebec Fernand Leduc, Henri Fantin-Latour, Index Librorum Prohibitorum, Jean-Paul Riopelle, Marcelle Ferron, Paul-Émile Borduas, Pierre Gauvreau, Poète maudit, Refus global, Signatories Bégonia, by Paul-Émile Borduas (1924) NGC/GNC[i] Paul-Émile Borduas (November 1, 1905 – February 22, 1960) The above painting is an early work, by Paul-Émile Borduas. In fact, it is a study and, to a certain extent, a child-like study. Consequently, looking at this painting (watercolour on graphite), one does not suspect that Borduas would ever publish Refus global (Total Refusal), an “anti-establishment and anti-religious manifesto released on August 9, 1948 in Montreal by a group of sixteen young Québécois artists and intellectuals that included Paul-Émile Borduas and Jean-Paul Riopelle.” (Refus global, Wikipedia). Other than Borduas, only one of the signatories of the Refus global, Jean-Paul Riopelle, achieved international renown. A number of his works were exhibited at the State Hermitage Museum, in Saint Petersburg in 2006. “We are a small people huddling under the shelter of the clergy, who are the only remaining repository of faith, knowledge, truth, and national wealth; we were excluded from the universal progress of thought with all its pitfalls and perils, and raised, when it became impossible to keep us in complete ignorance, on well-meaning but uncontrolled and grossly distorted accounts of the great historical facts.” Unless otherwise indicated, all quotations are from Refus global (Total Refusal), The Canadian Encyclopedia.[ii] How knowledge was concealed or “distorted” I have already quoted the above paragraph. It is an indictment of the Church. According to Borduas, the Church excluded Québécois from the “universal progress of thought,” or it “distorted” the truth. However, just how was knowledge concealed or “distorted.” For one thing, in the Quebec of my childhood, books had to be approved by the Church before they were put on the shelves of libraries or sold to students. The book was acceptable if in contained the words “nihil obstat” or imprimatur. Before the Révolution tranquille or Quiet Revolution, one could not buy or borrow books that were prohibilited under the List of Prohibited Books, the Index Librorum Prohibitorum. “The magical harvest magically reaped from the unknown lies ready in the field. It was gathered by all the true poets. Its powers of transformation are as great as the violence practised against it, as its continued resistance to attempts to make use of it (after more than two centuries, there is not a single copy of the Marquis de Sade* to be found in our bookshops; Isidore Ducasse [le comte de Lautréamont],[iii] dead for more than a century, a hundred years of revolution and slaughter, is still too strong for queasy contemporary stomachs, even those accustomed to present-day filth and corruption.” If you are a sensitive person, reading le Marquis de Sade could make you sick. The Index was promulgated by Pope Paul IV in 1559 and its first version is called the Pauline Index. The list of publications prohibited by the Catholic Church underwent modifications. For instance, the Council of Trent‘s Tridentine Index was less severe than the Pauline Index, but even the more relaxed forms of the Index were an obstacle in the “freedom of enquiry” (Index Librorum Prohibitorum, Wikipedia). The list, or Index, was abolished by Pope Paul VI, in 1966. Obviously, Quebec was not threatened, in the manner Galileo was. Catholic cosmology would not accept heliocentrism, sometimes called Copernicanism, the theory put forth in Copernicus’s De revolutionibus orbium cœlestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres). Copernicus (19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) died the year he published his findings, in 1543, but Galileo Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642), was not so fortunate. Galileo Galilei was found guilty of heresy by the Roman Inquisition in 1615. He was forced to recant, and spent the rest of his life under house arrest (Galileo Galilei, Wikipedia). trips, studying abroad & “sexual experience” “Foreign travel became more common, with Paris as the main attraction. Too distant in time and space, too lively for our timid souls, a trip to Paris was often just an excuse to spend a holiday acquiring some long-overdue sexual experience and enough of the polish provided by a stay in France to intimidate the masses back home. With very few exceptions, our physicians, for example, whether or not they had actually made the trip, began behaving scandalously (we-have-a-right-to-make-up-for-those-long-years-of-study!). In many cases, these trips also served as an unexpected wake-up call. Minds were growing restless, and more people began reading forbidden books, which brought some small hope and comfort.” However, in 1948, the Index was still in force but it was losing ground in Quebec, partly because of trips and studies abroad. Paul-Émile Borduas had travelled to France and died in France. At the time, Québécois often went to Europe to complete their studies as Quebec universities had yet to offer complete programs. Even now, persons who wish to do a Doctorate in Law or another degree travel to Europe. After earning his law degree at the Université de Montréal (1943), Pierre Trudeau obtained a master’s degree in political economy at Harvard University‘s Graduate School of Public Administration. He studied in Paris, France in 1947 at the Institut d’Études Politiques de Paris. He also enrolled for a doctorate at the London School of Economics, but failed to finish his thesis (Pierre Trudeau, Wikipedia). Les Poètes maudits: Verlaine (far left), Rimbaud (second to left) depicted in an 1872 painting, by Henri Fantin-Latour Les Poètes maudits or Accursed Poets “Our minds were energized by the poètes maudits, who, far from being monsters of evil, dared to give loud and clear expression to feelings that the most wretched among us had always shamefully repressed for fear of being swallowed alive. The example of these men, who were the first to come to grips with everyday concerns about pain and loss, showed us the way. Their answers were so much more challenging, precise, and fresh than the age-old bromides being fed to us in Québec and in seminaries around the world.” Borduas also mentions les poètes maudits (accursed poets).[iv] He is referring to François Villon (c. 1431–1464), Charles Baudelaire, Paul Verlaine, Arthur Rimbaud and, to a lesser extent, to Lautréamont and Alice de Chambrier. Paul Verlaine published a book entitled Les Poètes maudits and the term has been used to describe works written in countries other than France. Sir Alfred Hitchcock has been described as “the only poète maudit to encounter immense success.” (film director Jean-Luc Godard, in Poète maudit [Wikipedia]). I should think the list of Poètes maudits would now include Sir Salman Rushdie (1947-). Gérard Bessette’s Le Libraire (1960) To understand to what degree Québécois bookstore owners were afraid of selling books listed in the Index, Gérard Bessette‘s Le Libraire (1960) is the novel one must read. It is short, beautifully structured and clever. [i] Photo credit: National Gallery of Canada (Borduas) & Wikipedia (Fantin-Latour, Poète maudit) [iî] Unless otherwise indicated, all quotations are from Refus global (Total Refusal), The Canadian Encyclopedia. [iii] dates: Index Librorum Prohibitorum: 1559 (Pope Paul IV) – 1966 (Pope Paul VI) Lautréamont, le comte de: (4 April 1846 – 24 November 1870) Sade, le marquis de: (2 June 1740 – 2 December 1814) [vi] French poètes maudits of the nineteenth century abused drugs and alcohol. piece: « Hymn: Urbs Jerusalem, 4. AM 694b » performers: Monastic Choir of the Abbey of Saint Pierre de Solesme, director: Dom Joseph Gajard Géranium, by Paul-Émile Borduas (1923) NGC/GNC (please click on picture to enlarge it) A Glance at “Refus global” & the News (michelinewalker.com) The Art of Fantin-Latour & Canadiana (michelinewalker.com) A Note, a Portrait by Peter Paul Rubens & Books of Hours Posted by michelinewalker in Sharing Book of Hours, Book of Kells, France, National Gallery, Peter Paul Rubens, Refus global, Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, WordPress Portrait of Susanna Lunden, by Peter Paul Rubens Photo credit: The National Gallery, London UK *When he was 53, Rubens married 16-year-old Hélène Fourment. Susanna Lunden, née Fourment, was Hélène’s sister. Just a few words before I continue to write about Refus global or Total Refusal Yesterday I received an e-mail in which I was informed that my e-mail account would be closed because I had exceeded the limit. I thought the writer was referring to my personal e-mail account, but the bulky account was my gmail account. I started reading the comments and realized I would be reading, approving and deleting for a long time. I therefore deleted a large number of comments, many of which had also been published by WordPress. But in the process, I learned who had subscribed to my blog. These e-mails have not been deleted. The moral of the story is that one should look at one’s gmail account on a regular basis. I apologize to my readers whose comments may not have been posted. Peter Paul Rubens: a Flemish Master Peter Paul Rubens (June 28, 1577 – May 30, 1640) was active at a turning-point in European history. Before the Renaissance, the Franco-Flemish lands were the cultural hub of Europe. Adrian Willaert (1490 – 7 December 1562) went to Venice to teach music to the Italians! Moreover, extraordinary miniaturists had illuminated (enluminures) books of hours that chronicled an entire era. The Limbourg brothers ‘s Très Riches Heures de Jean de France, duc de Berry, or Belles Heures de Jean de France, is their foremost achievement. I have written posts on Books of Hours (see list below), a lay version of the Canonical Hours kept by monks whose Gregorian chant is extremely rich. Vatican II, the Council that promulgated a degree a laicization of liturgy, such as using a modern language instead of Latin, had to make exceptions. Gregorian chant was protected. music: Thomas Montgomery Newman (born October 20, 1955) Les Très Riches Heures de Jean de France, duc de Berry (17 November 2011) The Book of Kells (November 18, 2011) Music for the Très Riches Heures and the Book of Kells (19 November 2011) The Fitzwilliam Book of Hours: comments, palimpsests (20 November 2011) A Glance at “Refus global” & the News Posted by michelinewalker in Art, Canada, United States André Breton, Canadian Encyclopedia, Jansenism, Jean-Paul Riopelle, Paul-Émile Borduas, Refus global, United States, Wikipedia Borduas’s Black Star Refus global (Total Refusal) I am working on perhaps two posts dealing with Refus global (1948). Its author was Quebec artist Paul-Émile Borduas (November 1, 1905 – February 22, 1960). There were 16 signatories, listed in Refus global (Wikipedia). Only 400 copies were published, selling for a dollar a piece, half of which did not sell. Refus global says little about abstract art and André Breton‘s surrealist automatism, or stream of consciousness. It’s about Quebec. Here are links to the complete and very short text. Refus global (Total Refusal) “was an anti-establishment and anti-religious manifesto released on August 9, 1948 in Montreal by a group of sixteen young Québécois artists and intellectuals that included Paul-Émile Borduas and Jean-Paul Riopelle.” (Refus global, Wikipedia) I will quote a section (one paragraph) of Refus global that describes Québécois as the “priest-ridden” and economically downtrodden province it was called (the Church was rich, the people were poor). The Church being the “repository” of “faith, knowledge, truth, and national wealth,” Québécois were kept unaware of “the universal progress of thought,” or in “complete ignorance” of the “progress of thought” or may have learned about it in an expurgated or “distorted” manner. The paragraph I am quoting provides a mere glance at Refus global, in its totality, but it is revealing. However, the “establishment” is not confined to the Church. Moreover, the manifesto mentions the influence of Jansenism and addresses such questions as ethnocentricity and fear (see the video). “We are a small people huddling under the shelter of the clergy, who are the only remaining repository of faith, knowledge, truth, and national wealth; we were excluded from the universal progress of thought with all its pitfalls and perils, and raised, when it became impossible to keep us in complete ignorance, on well-meaning but uncontrolled and grossly distorted accounts of the great historical facts.” (Refus global in The Canadian Encyclopedia) Early comments I was a child in the province condemned by Borduas and fifteen other signatories. At the time, nuns (sisters) were our teachers and boys and girls attended different schools. The nuns, many of whom came from France, ours did, were so devoted to us. They did not work from nine to five. They were always preparing learning material for us and often used innovative teaching approaches. They made sure we could study music for little or no money, and provided practice-rooms. They played baseball with us. They took us on outings: factories, etc. They fed the children who arrived at school famished and, on cold days, they made sure we returned home dressed to face a blizzard. The American Presidential Election Thousands of New Yorkers must find temporary lodgings. Sandy was the storm of a lifetime and a wake-up call regarding the environment. How will voters get to polling stations? It could well be that, compared to the Quebec of my childhood, a Republican administration might soon invite a much sterner Total Refusal than Borduas’s Refus global. However, I would not dare underestimate the citizens of the United States of America as I would insult some of the finest minds in the world, beginning with President Obama. The New Yorker: http://www.newyorker.com/ CBC News: http://www.cbc.ca/news/ ←	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line874
__label__wiki	0.939889	0.939889	Forget What You Know 2001 Like a Movie Living Well Is the Best Revenge 2002 Knew It All Along Punk Goes Acoustic 2003 Empty Like the Ocean Spider-Man 2 (Music from and Inspired By) 2001 Is It Me? Is It True? To Our Savior So Long As We Keep Our Bodies Numb We're Safe About Midtown Formed in November 1998 by three Rutgers students, Midtown soon became an energetic quartet comprised of Gabe Saporta (vocals/bass), Rob Hitt (drums), Tyler Rann (guitar/vocals), and Heath Saraceno (guitar/vocals). Taking advantage of the fertile New Jersey punk scene to develop a unique sound that combined elements of emo and hardcore, Midtown began recording shortly after their formation. Their debut EP, Sacrifice of Life, was issued by Pinball Records in 1999. Their first full-length, Save the World, Lose the Girl, was released in early 2000 by their friends at Drive-Thru Records and was soon picked up for distribution by MCA. Midtown spent five months starting in the fall of 2001 recording their follow-up album; Living Well Is the Best Revenge appeared in April 2002. Nonstop touring followed, including a headlining tour throughout the U.S., Japan, and U.K. Midtown played a slew of European dates with the likeminded Jimmy Eat World as well. Back at home by January of 2003, tensions that had been growing between the band and Drive-Thru over feelings of unfair treatment came to a head. Unhappy throughout the drama, Midtown finally managed to extricate themselves from their contract with the label. Down but definitely not out, the guys got together with producer Butch Walker to record the songs that would become their next album, the moodier Forget What You Know, in November. After the band shopped it around to various labels, the record was picked up by Columbia and released in June 2004. ~ Stacia Proefrock & Corey Apar New Brunswick, NJ Get Up Kids	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line880
__label__wiki	0.759705	0.759705	Film: The Girl Who Played with Fire Written by Marcus Campbell on September 15, 2010 Directed by Daniel Alfredson Starring Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace When the first Swedish adaptation of the late Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo humbly slid into cinemas around the world, it was several things. Firstly it was a brilliant film. Its sinister plot writhed and twisted its way through a darkly-lit modern world where we glimpsed the terrifying double lives of sadistic rapists, merciless serial murderers and corporate tyrants through the eyes of both their victims and the fascinating heroes who stand against them. Secondly, it shone a light on the much deserving Swedish film industry by making over 100 million dollars worldwide. But what this film really did, as most fans should tell you, is that it put onto the screen a powerful female heroine who isn’t a superhero, is never given special treatment and who didn’t need saving by the masculine knight in shining armour. In fact, Lisbeth Salander is the one who saves Mikael from a horrifying death. The key to this time round, just as the first time is Noomi Rapace’s Lisbeth. Once again the young actress is dynamite as the bi-sexual, tattooed computer hacker who has gone even further underground since helping Mikael clear his name and brought down a corporate empire. She exposes herself to deal with her cruel guardian once again and is suddenly implicated in the callous murder of pair of Millennium journalists who were investigating a sex trafficking operation. As Lisbeth is on the run from the law, as well as thugs and murderers, journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) is thrown back into serious action as he tries to track down the real murderer to clear his friend and return the favour. Unfortunately this time around, the storytelling-style of new director Daniel Alfredson slightly pales when held up to the first (directed by Niels Arden Oplev). It may be unfair to compare the two but most readers of the series found the second book superior to the first and would expect the films to follow suit. But don’t be mistaken, The Girl Who Played with Fire is still a thrill ride that is rewarding on many levels, but this is due mostly the power of the two protagonists along with the foundations of the original story. Most of the elements that made the original are there, but the difference is in the energy of the film as a whole. It acts like Alfredson has a hard time shifting gears up and down seamlessly, leaving the viewer shaken up but not really moved. While a few cheesy moments seem out of place with nudity and sex scenes playing off the allure of the reclusive Lisbeth (it feels so much like Hollywood it’s hard not to feel a little manipulated), ultimately the film retains the elements that made the original work. There are still the cool-as-hell 21st century technological power plays that have tipped the balance in favour of such characters as ex-security analysts with tendencies for eccentric methods of revenge and violent behaviour. The politics of individual freedoms and moral dilemmas caused by the evils that penetrate all levels of society are there, along with some realist social commentary on the sex trafficking problem in Europe. Scenes such as Blomkvist’s scathing interview with a prominent community member who is also the customer of trafficked girls are perfectly brutal. Lisbeth’s interrogation of a similar man, while wearing gothic war paint and calmly explaining the man’s options is just as satisfying. Ignoring the extraordinary international phenomenon that the late Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series has become in both literary and cinematic circles in the past few years, there is enough evidence in Australia alone that this Scandinavian crime wave is more than just the flavour of the month. The first instalment The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo lasted 14 weeks in Australian cinemas and became one of the biggest grossing foreign language films in Australia’s history. Riding on the back of this unexpected hype, The Girl Who Played with Fire now comes just 6 months after the first was released. If you want to continue on the Millennium rollercoaster before the looming Hollywood remake takes a meat cleaver to this gripping series, go and see another great work of Swedish cinema. You will love this if: You believe that a stylish, intelligent film can actually be produced from a bestselling book adored by millions if the treatments can boast all the essential elements. You will hate this if: You Larsson purists need to get a grip. Rapace and Nyqvist inhabit these roles so completely that their presence rebuffs anything you have to say about the finer points of this film! The Girl Who Played with Fire will be released on the 23rd of September to selected cinemas Sydney Underground Film Festival ProgramThe artRiot has begun – Art or radical social change	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line881
__label__wiki	0.600272	0.600272	Tag Archives: The Forester Sisters Album Review: The Forester Sisters – ‘I Got A Date’ Leave a comment Posted by Occasional Hope on June 24, 2019 What was to prove to be the girls’ final secular album was released in 1992. ‘What’ll You Do About Me’ is a vivacious up-tempo song written by Denis Linde. It had been recorded by a number of artists before, most notably Randy Travis on his best selling Always And Forever album, and as an early single for Steve Earle, but had not been a hit when the Forester Sisters tried it as the lead single for this album. Their version is entertaining but feels a little lightweight, and it was largely ignored by country radio. The song was revived a few years later to become a hit at last for Doug Supernaw, who got it to #16. The title track was the only other single, although again it had limited success. Written by Dave Allen and Tim Bays, it is a rather contemporary jazzy pop tune with little to do with country music, but one with a lot of individuality as the newly single protagonist embarks on dating again. I could imagine this song doing well if someone like Shania Twain had recorded it a few years later. While not to my taste musically, it is well performed and the lyric is nicely observed. Another up-tempo track with radio potential was ‘Show Me A Woman’, written by the legendary ‘Doodle’ Owens and Doug Johnson. It was later covered by Joe Diffie. The Foresters’ version is rattled out very fast: Show me a woman who left a man And I’ll show you a man with a drink in his hand Doing all he can to survive I’ll show you a man You better not let drive ‘Redneck Romeo’ (written by Craig Wiseman and Dave Gibson and later covered by Confederate Railroad) is a tongue in cheek portrait of a good old boy looking for love: He’s got a hundred keys hangin’ off his jeans He knows they fit somethin’ But he don’t know what He’s no cheap date Spend his whole paycheck Buyin’ drinks and playin’ that jukebox Out on the floor he ain’t no square He’s a romancin’ slow dancin’ Fred Astaire The Caribbean-tinged story song ‘Wanda’ was written by K T Oslin and Rory Michael Bourke, and is about a women getting over a breakup by going on vacation. As they often did, the girls included an old pop standard, in the shape of ‘I Only Have Eyes For You’. Much more to my taste is ‘Another Shoulder At The Wheel’, a lovely ballad written by Gary Burr and John Jarrard which is the best track on the album. ‘Help Me Get Over You’, written by Lisa Angelle and Walt Aldridge is another ballad, delicately sad. ‘Their Hearts Are Dancing’, written by Tony Haselden, is a sweet story of an elderly couple whose love has endured. ‘She Makes It Look Easy’ is an admiring, empathetic portrait of a single mom’s life. This is perhaps my least favorite Forester Sisters album personally, but there are some attractive ballad and the rest is undoubtedly fun, and well done for what it is. Album Reviews, Retro Reviews, Spotlight Artist A. L. "Doodle" Owens, Confederate Railroad, Craig Wiseman, Dave Allen, Dave Gibson, Dennis Linde, Doug Johnson, Doug Supernaw, Gary Burr, Joe Diffie, John Jarrard, K.T. Oslin, Lisa Angelle, Randy Travis, Rory Michael Bourke, Shania Twain, Steve Earle, The Forester Sisters, Tim Bays, Tony Haselden, Walt Aldridge Classic Rewind: Forester Sisters – ‘Hammer And Nail’ Classic Rewind, Spotlight Artist The Forester Sisters Album Review: The Forester Sisters – ‘Talkin’ ‘Bout Men’ Leave a comment Posted by Paul W. Dennis on June 20, 2019 Talkin’ ‘Bout Men was the Forester Sisters’ eighth studio album for Warner Brothers, although it should be noted that this includes a Christmas album an a religious album. Released in March 1991, Talking About Men momentarily broke the downward slope of the previous four albums, reaching #16 on the charts. Four singles were released from the album, with only the sassy title track receiving much traction at radio, reaching #8 each reaching the top ten but none getting any higher than #7. The album opens with “A Step In The Right Direction” a spritely mid-tempo number written by Rick Bowles, Robert Byrne and Tom Wopat (yes – that Tom Wopat). This track would have made a good follow up to “Men”. The song had previously been released as a single by Judy Taylor about a decade earlier, but that version barely cracked the charts: Everybody knows that love’s like a swingin’ door Comes and goes and we’ve all been there before But you can’t get none till you’re back out on the floor Well, that’s a step in the step in the right direction Everybody knows that practice makes perfection So, come on, let’s make a step in the right direction “Too Much Fun” was the second single released and the actual follow up to the title track. It tanked only reaching #64. Written by Robert Byrne and Al Shulman, this is not the same song that Daryle Singletary took to #4 a few years later. This song is also a good-time mid-tempo ballad about a woman enjoying being free of a relationship. I would have expected it to do better as a single, but when as Jerry Reed put it, ‘when you’re hot, you’re hot and when you’re not, you’re not’. Rick Bowles and Barbara Wyrick teamed up to write “That Makes One of Us”, the third single released from the album. The single did not chart. The song has acoustic instrumentation with a dobro introduction, and is a slow ballad about a relationship that is ending because only one is trying to keep it going. The song sounds like something the McCarter Sisters or The Judds (in their earlier days) might have recorded: You’ve made up your mind We don’t want the same thing And that we won’t change things Wishing there were ways And there’s no use staying together That’s what you say And that makes one of us not in love And that makes one of us who can’t give up If you can walk away from the life we’ve made Then that makes one of us I still believe we’ve got something worth saving I keep hoping and praying for another chance You’ve held my heart and your gonna break it Cause you wanna make it A part of your past Byrne and Shulman teamed up to write “Men”, the first single released from the album and the laast top ten single for the group, reaching #8. The song succeeded despite not truly fitting in with the ‘New Traditionalist’ movement that had taken over the genre. “Men” is a smart song that likely would have charted higher had it been released a few years earlier: They buy you dinner, open your door Other then that, what are they good for? Men! I’m talkin’ ’bout men They all want a girl just like the girl That married dear old dad, they make me so mad Well, you can’t beat ’em up ’cause they’re bigger then you You can’t live with ’em and you just can’t shoot ’em They love their toys, they make their noise Nothing but a bunch of overgrown boys Men! I’m talking ’bout men If you give ’em what they want, they never fall in love Don’t give ’em nothin’, they can’t get enough “Sombody Else’s Moon”is a nice ballad written by Beth Nielsen Chapman and Kent Robbins. This is not the same song that would be a top five hit for Collin Raye in 1993. “It’s Getting Around” was written by Sandy Ramos and Bob Regan is an mid-tempo song with dobro leading the way for the acoustic accompaniment. It is a nice track that might have made a decent song. What’s getting around, of course, is goodbye. Next up is “You Take Me For Granted”, a classic written by Leona Williams while she was married to Merle Haggard. It’s a great song that Haggard took to #1, and that Leona recorded several times over the years. The Forester Sisters have a nice take on the song, but it is not a knock on them to say that they are neither a nuanced as Haggard, nor as soulful as Leona Williams: My legs and my feet Have walked ’till they can’t hardly move from tryin’ to please you And my back is sore From bendin’ over backwards to just lay the world at your door. I’ve tried so hard to keep a smile on a sad face while deep down It’s breakin’ my heart And as sure as the sun shines I’ll be a lifetime Not knowin’ if I’ve done my part ‘Cause you take me for granted And it’s breakin’ my heart As sure as the sunshines I’ll be a lifetime Not knowin’ if I’ve done my part. “The Blues Don’t Stand A Chance” is a slow ballad written by Gary Burr and Jack Sundred. The song is about a strong relationship that endures despite separation. Tim Nichols and Jimmy Stewart combined to write “Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled”, the third single released from the album. The song did not chart, and I’m not sure the reggae beat helped matters with country audiences. The lyric could be described as folk-gospel. I like the song but would have not chosen it for single release. “What About Tonight” closes out the album. Written by John Jarrard and J.D. Martin, the song is a slow ballad that I regard as album filler. The highlight of the song is some nice steel guitar work by Bruce Bouton. Talkin’ ‘Bout Men would prove to be the last big hurrah for the Forester Sisters. The title track would not only be the last top ten single but would also be the last single to crack the top fifty. Noteworthy musicians on the album include Bruce Bouton on steel and dobro, Rob Hajacos on fiddle, and Guy Higginbotham on saxophone. I liked the album but it was definitely going against the prevailing trends at the time of its release. My favorite song on the album is “Step In The Right Direction” followed by “Men”. I would give the album a B+. Album Reviews, Retro Reviews, Spotlight Artist Al Shulman, Barbara Wyrick, Beth Nielsen Chapman, Bob Regan, Bruce Bouton, Collin Raye, Daryle Singletary, Gary Burr, Guy Higginbotham, J.D. Martin, Jack Sundred, Jerry Reed, Jimmy Stewart, John Jarrard, Judy Taylor, Kent Robbins, Leona Williams, Merle Haggard, Rick Bowles, Rob Hajacos, Robert Byrne, Sandy Ramos, The Forester Sisters, The Judds, The McCarters, Tim Nichols, Tom Wopat Album Review: The Forester Sisters — ‘Come Hold Me’ Leave a comment Posted by Jonathan Pappalardo on June 19, 2019 The girls released their seventh album in 1990 amidst an upheaval of change in the commercial country music landscape. Longtime acts from the 1980s were seeing their commercial fortunes diminish as a wave of hot, young, and mostly excellent talent became the focus of music row. That being said, the lead single was a version of John Hiatt’s “Drive South” as a duet with Bellamy Brothers. While the song itself is excellent, Suzy Bogguss took it to #2 in 1992, it fails as a duet, couldn’t recapture the magic of “Too Much Is Not Enough,” and peaked at #63. They rebounded creatively with the next single, “Nothing’s Going to Bother Me Tonight,” which is delightful, bluegrass-infused, and wonderfully uptempo. It, too, stalled at #63. One final single “Old Enough To Know,” a beautiful ultimatum, failed to chart. In terms of the album cuts, I truly can’t praise them enough. The title track, a brilliant torch song led by the sisters’ exquisite harmonies, is spellbinding. “I Struck Gold” and “You’ll Be Mine” are both delightful mid-tempo ballads. “Between My Heart and Me” and “Better Be Some Tears” give the album some pep, Martina McBride subsequently recorded “Born To Give My Love To You,” a slower ballad, in 1995, and “You Can’t Have A Good Time Without Me” is a striking take on Western Swing. The most notable aspect of Come Hold Me, in addition to its exceptional quality, is how it updates The Forester Sisters’ sound for the new decade. The arrangements, complete with steel, fiddle, and twangy guitars are perfectly early 1990s but still manages to sound fresh to modern ears. I wouldn’t categorize this as a commercial country album, but more in the alternative vein popularized by Kelly Willis. I very strongly suggest seeking it out if you’re only familiar with the girls’ more popular work from the 1980s. Album Reviews, Retro Reviews, Spotlight Artist John Hiatt, Martina McBride, Suzy Bogguss, The Bellamy Brothers, The Forester Sisters Classic Rewind: Forester Sisters – ‘Men’ Album Review: The Forester Sisters – ‘All I Need’ The Forester Sisters grew up singing in church, and as their career progressed, they wanted to share their faith with their fans. In 1988 they released a side project double album of hymns entitled Family Faith on Heartland Music, and the following year came All I Need on their main label Warner Brothers. There was even an official single, ‘Love Will’, written by Don Pfrimmer and Byron Gallimore. This is a really sweet idealistic song backed with a string arrangement. It had in fact appeared on their previous album, Sincerely. Nothing can be everlasting Or send an Iron Curtain crashing But love will… Love will not forsake you on the last day that you live ‘Cause you can take it with you when you go… I don’t wanna be there if we all wake up too late Love’s the only weapon that is strong enough for hate The title track is a mellow ballad which could be read as a secular love song, but in the context of this album is clearly directed at God. It was written by Steve Bogard and Rick Giles. The bright and airy ‘Still In The Spirit’ was written by John Scott Sherrill and Thomas Cain. Christian Contemporary songwriter (and later an artist in that genre himself) Chris Rice wrote ‘Already There’, a beautiful tender ballad about heaven. ‘This Old House’ is not the Stuart Hamblen classic but a pleasant mid-paced song about a real home, written by Greg Davis and John Randall Dennis. ‘Peace Within’ is a Christian country standard, written by Dickey Lee, Allen Reynolds and Susan Taylor. The girls had previously released their delightful version of this song on their Family Faith album, together with gospel favorite ‘Precious Memories’ and the uplifting hymn ‘Love Lifted Me’. Also repeated is a gorgeous soulful reading of ‘Amazing Grace’, performed as a duet with Larnelle Harris, a Southern gospel singer with a rich voice. The album closes with the traditional ‘Motherless Child’, performed as an ethereal accappella tune. Some of the production is a bit dated now, but it is not unpleasant. The girls are in great voice and this is an excellent religious album with some country elements. Album Reviews, Retro Reviews, Spotlight Artist Allen Reynolds, Byron Gallimore, Chris Rice, Dickey Lee, Don Pfrimmer, Greg Davis, John Randall Dennis, John Scott Sherrill, Larnelle Harris, Rick Giles, Steve Bogard, Stuart Hamblen, Susan Taylor, The Forester Sisters, Thomas Cain Classic Rewind: Forester Sisters – ‘Old Enough To Know’ Abum Review: Forester Sisters – ‘Sincerely’ Sincerely was the Forester Sisters’ fifth studio album for Warner Brothers, although it should be noted that the fourth album was a Christmas album. Released in July 1988, Sincerely continued the downward trend of charting lower than each previous (non Christmas) album, reaching only #30 on the charts. Three singles were released from the album, each reaching the top ten but none getting any higher than #7. The album opens up with “I’ve Just Seen A Face” which was written by Paul McCartney & John Lennon an album track for the British version of the Beatles Help! album. The song has been covered and performed by many country and bluegrass groups over the years and Calamity Jane released it as a low charting single (#44 in 1982). The Forester Sisters give the song a slow intro but then launch into the standard tempo for the song. It’s nice but nothing special. Byron Gallimore and Don Pfrimmer wrote the next song, “I Will”, a slow ballad that was released as the third (and highest charting) single from the album, reaching #7. It’s a nice song: Nothing grows in the driest places, the bitter cold, or children’s faces, like love will, love will… “Letter Home” is up next and was the first single from the album. It only reached #9 but in my opinion this Wendy Waldman composition was the best song on the album Dear mama, I hope that you’re alright I can hear the thunder rollin’ Across the Southern sky tonight The kids are asleep and the T.V.’s on And I’m sittin’ here alone So I thought I’d write this letter home I was the one you were counting on The family’s high school star Jimmy and me ran off that summer Must have broken your and daddy’s heart We didn’t need nobody’s help We were 18 years and grown That’s why there was no letter home Letters home I wrote them in my dreams Askin’ if I know what I know now Would it even have changed a thing The hardest part of looking back Is the mistakes are all your own I just couldn’t tell you So there was no letter home Doug Stone would have a #5 hit in 1990 on Harlan Howard’s “These Lips Just Don’t Know How To Say Goodbye”. The Foresters do a pleasant enough job on the song, but it seems more effective from a male perspective. Stone’s version was deservedly a hit, this version is nothing more than album filler. Next up is the title track “Sincerely”. This song, written by Harvey Fuqua and Alan Freed, was originally recorded by Moonglows, the group of which Fuqua was a member. The Moonglows’ version reached number 1 on the Billboard R&B chart and number 20 on the Billboard Juke Box chart in the early months of 1954. Later during the year the song was covered by the McGuire Sisters. The song reached #1 in 1955 and sold well over a million records. The Forester Sisters version of “Sincerely” is pretty, albeit over-orchestrated and a bit bland. The song reached #8 and was the second single released from the album. The next track “Things Will Grow” is filler. “Some People”, written by Carol Chase and Dave Gibson, speaks a lot of truth and is perhaps more than simply filler – I can envision a string voiced singer making a hit out of the song. Russell Smith and Susan Longacre combined to write “On The Other Side Of The Gate”, a song given a more hard country treatment than most of the songs on the album, with steel in evidence and fiddle breaks. I really liked this song. “You Love Me” from the pens of Matraca Berg and Ronnie Samoset is a really interesting song with a different feel than anything else on the album. At points the arrangement reminds me of John Anderson’s “Seminole Wind” although the lyrics are entirely dissimilar The last song on the album is Karen Staley’s “Matter Of Time”, a slow ballad about loss of love and the slow passage of time. The Forester Sisters were bucking the emerging “New Traditionalist” movement with this album. While I like the album a lot, it has more of a 50s-60s easy listening vibe to it than a modern/traditional country vibe. As a easy listening album I would give it an “A” but as a country album I would downgrade it to a “B”. Album Reviews, Retro Reviews, Spotlight Artist Alan Freed, Byron Gallimore, Calamity Jane, Carol Chase, Dave Gibson, Don Pfrimmer, Doug Stone, Harlan Howard, Harvey Fuqua, John Anderson, John Lennon, Karen Staley, Matraca Berg, McGuire Sisters, Moonglows, Paul McCartney, Ronnie Samoset, Russell Smith, Susan Longacre, The Beatles, The Forester Sisters Classic Rewind: Forester Sisters – ‘(I’d Choose) You Again’ Album Review: The Forester Sisters – ‘You Again’ 2 Comments Posted by Jonathan Pappalardo on June 10, 2019 The girls’ third album was released in 1987 following their successful duet with the Bellamy Brothers and subsequent Brothers and Sisters concert tour. Without a strong contender for a follow-up single from their previous album, Warner Brothers went ahead and started issuing singles from this set, which was released in the Spring. “Too Many Rivers,” written by Harlan Howard was originally recorded and released by Brenda Lee in 1965, where it charted modestly on the country chart but was a major #2 pop hit. The girl’s version, which updates the torch ballad with a modern arrangement peaked at #5 and is quite wonderful. They would return to #1 with the album’s title track, which was penned by the incomparable Paul Overstreet and Don Schlitz. It’s an excellent and perfectly produced ballad about an undoubted love: Looking in my life Through the eyes of a young girl growing older all the time, Maybe just a little wiser I can clearly see All my mistakes keep coming back to visit me Pointing out the roads not taken So much I’d like to change but one thing I’d do the same I’d choose you again, I’d choose you again If God gave me the chance to do it all again Oh, I’d carefully consider every choice and then Out of all the boys in the world I’d choose you again Times weren’t always good Seems like the Lord gave all the easy parts away But every time the road got rocky You’d look at me and say Had all you needed long as I was there with you You’re the reason I kept going If I could start my life anew The first thing that I would do Their artistic winning streak continued on “Lyin’ In His Arms Again,” the album’s third and final single. The mid-paced ballad, which isn’t quite as strong as “(I’d Choose) You Again,” is still very good and peaked at #5. The girls open You Again with “That’s What Your Love Does To Me,” a twangy up-tempo number about an irresistible partner. “Before You” is an excellent mid-tempo ballad and one of the more traditional-leaning songs on the album. One of the record’s highlights is a tender ballad “My Mother’s Eyes,” which follows the captivating tale of a woman raising her kids after their father has abandoned the family. “Sooner or Later” is an uptempo change of pace with a synth-heavy arraignment that dates it to the time period. They continue in that vein on “Wrap Me Up,” but with less synth and more percussion. “I Can’t Lose What I Never Had” is forgettable while “Down The Road” is a sweet tale of life back home with mom and dad. I apologize for not having much information about the album so I wasn’t able to identify which sister sang lead on which songs. That being said, You Again is a very pleasant listen with some pretty great tracks. Album Reviews, Retro Reviews, Spotlight Artist Brenda Lee, Don Schultz, Harlan Howard, Paul Overstreet, The Bellamy Brothers, The Forester Sisters Classic Rewind: Forester Sisters – ‘Mama’s Never Seen Those Eyes’ Leave a comment Posted by Occasional Hope on June 7, 2019 Album Review: The Forester Sisters – ‘Perfume, Ribbon & Pearls’ 2 Comments Posted by Occasional Hope on June 7, 2019 The girls’ second album was released in 1986, recorded at Muscle Shoals with Terry Skinner and J L Wallace producing. It was not quite as successful as their debut, with only one hit single, but it is a strong effort overall. The sole single, ‘Lonely Alone’, is a nice regretful ballad written by J D Martin and John Jarrard with a pretty melody, featuring Kim Forester on lead vocals and her sisters relegated to the chorus. The production now sounds a bit dated with synthesizer and strings, but it did well at the time, peaking at #2. Kim also took the lead on three other songs, including ‘Heartache Headed My Way’, the mid-paced song which provides the album’s title. Written by Bob and Barbara Morrison, this should have been a single as it has an intriguing mix of youthful confidence and the willingness to take a few risks rather than mom’s good advice: Mama get out those shiny black shoes and the dress you cut too low Get out the perfume and ribbons and pearls and tell this girl what she should know I’ m tired of wasting my youth and my time On men going nowhere fast The ones with neatly combed hair and striped ties Their future’s as dull as their past Yes, I’m looking for a hard time of romance and fun And I’m hoping to find it tonight with someone I’m looking for trouble and blues on the run And a heartache’s headed my way I’ll say A heartache’s headed my way I know I’ve got years yet to settle for less For a home and a dog and a white picket fence Roast in the oven and clothes on the line And a life that’s full of good common sense Forget everything you advised me to do I need some excitement not a lesson or two After it’s over I’ll listen to you Mama please listen to me ‘Somebody’s Breakin’ A Heart’, written by the album’s producers, is well sung by Kim and has an interesting lyric about overhearing a couple breaking up, but the heavy beat of the arrangement makes it sound like filler. The up-tempo ‘Drawn To The Fire’ was written by a pre-fame Pam Tillis and Stan Webb; Pam actually released the song herself as the B-side of several of her Warner Bros singles in 1986-7. June and Christy got one lead vocal each. June sings ‘Heartless Night’, a fine song by Craig Bickhardt and Michael Brook which was later covered by Baillie & The Boys. Christy takes on the Supremes’ Motown classic ‘Back In My Arms Again’; it is pleasant enough filler although with little country about it. The sisters’ strongest vocalist, Kathy, took lead on the remaining four tracks, including the best track. ‘That’s Easy For You To Say’ is a beautiful measured ballad written by Bob McDill and Paul Harrison, a gentle reproach to the man breaking her heart: You say “sit down” and you reach for my hand You’re trying your best to be kind You say “it’s goodbye but it’s all for the best These things just happen sometimes” You tell me that life will go on And we’ll both forget before long Well that’s easy for you to say With the lonely nights that I’m gonna face It’s so hard to see it that way You tell me that we’ll both be okay That’s easy for you to say ‘Blame It On The Moon’ is quite nice and opener ‘100 % Chance Of Blue’ is okay. The Randy Albright song ‘You Were The One’ is pretty sounding with a pointed message to an ex. The album as a whole makes for very pleasant listening. Album Reviews, Retro Reviews, Spotlight Artist Baillie and the Boys, Barbara Morrison, Bob McDill, Bob Morrison, Christy Forester, Craig Bickhardt, J.D. Martin, John Jarrard, June Forester, Kathy Forester, Kim Forester, Michael Brook, Pam Tillis, Paul Harrison, Randy Albright, Stan Webb, The Forester Sisters, The Supremes Album Review: The Forester Sisters – ‘The Forester Sisters’ Leave a comment Posted by Paul W. Dennis on June 5, 2019 Not many realize it, but the Forester Sisters were the first all-female group (defined as three or more members) to have sustained success on Billboard’s Country Singles charts. In fact, they are still the female group boasting the most top ten singles with fifteen. The Forester Sisters’ first foray came with the eponymous album The Forester Sisters, released in August 1985. The album opens up with the first single “(That’s What You Do) When You’re In Love” which made its chart debut on January 28,1985.The song would reach #10, the first in a string of fourteen consecutive top ten county singles, five of which reached #1. The song is a mid-tempo ballad about forgiveness, written by Terry Skinner, Ken Bell and J. L. Wallace. Well, the door’s unlocked and the lights still on And the covers turned down on the bed And you don’t have to say that you’re sorry anymore ‘Cause honey I believe what you said If there’s anybody perfect, well, I ain’t seem ’em yet And we all gotta learn to forgive and forget That’s what you do when you’re in love, in love That’s what you do when you’re in love Next up is “I Fell In Love Again Last Night” , a mid-tempo ballad from the pens of Paul Overstreet and Thom Schuyler. This song was the second single off the album and the group’s first #1 record. I fell in love again last night You keep doing everything just right You’ve got me wrapped around your fingers And every morning the love still lingers “Just in Case”, written by J.P. Pennington & Sonny LeMaire of Exile, first saw the light of day on Exile’s 1984 Kentucky Hearts album. An up-tempo ballad, The Forester Sisters released it as their third single and saw it sail to #1: I saw you walkin’ down the street just the other day Took one little look at me and turned the other way Can’t say I blame you but I’d like for you to know How wrong I was to ever let you go Just in case, you ever change your mind If you suddenly decide to give me one more try I’ll be waiting in the wings, just lookin’ for a sign Just in case you change your mind “Reckless Night” by Alice Randall & Mark D. Sanders is a slow ballad about a single mother – the baby the result of a reckless night. “Dixie Man” by Bell, Skinner & Wallace) is an up-tempo tune with an R&B vibe to it. The song might have made a decent single but with four singles on the album, the group had pushed the limits of the time. Next up is “Mama’s Never Seen Those Eyes” by Skinner & Wallace, the fourth single from the album and third consecutive #1 record. The song is a mid-tempo ballad and the song that immediately comes to my mind when anyone mentions the Forster Sisters to me. Mama says I shouldn’t be going with you Mama says she knows best You’ll take my heart and break it in two ‘Cause you’re just like all the rest She says that you’re just a one night man And you’ll end up hurting me Aw But I’ve seen something that mama ain’t ever seen Mama’s never looked into those eyes, felt the way that they hypnotize She don’t know how they make me feel inside If Mama ever knew what they do to me I think she’d be surprised Aw Mama’s never seen those eyes Mama’s never seen those eyes “The Missing Part” was written by Paul Overstreet & Don Schlitz and covers a topic that the sisters would revisit from a different slant on a later single. This song is a slow ballad. “Something Tells Me” from the pens of Chris Waters & Tom Shapiro) is a mid-tempo cautionary ballad about rushing into a relationship The next track is “Crazy Heart” written by Rick Giles & Steve Bogard. The song is a mid-tempo ballad that I regard as nothing more than album filler, albeit well sung. The album closes with Bobby Keel & Billy Stone’s composition “Yankee Don’t Go Home”, a slow ballad about a southern girl who has lost her heart to a fellow from up north. Judging to feedback from friends who have heard this song this might have made a decent single The Forester Sisters would prove to be the group’s most successful album, reaching #4 on Billboard’s Country Albums chart. In fact the album would prove to be their only top ten album, although another seven albums would chart. The album has traditional country lyrics and vocals although the accompaniment has that 80s sound in places, particularly when it comes to the keyboards. The musicians on this album are Kenny Bell – acoustic guitar, electric guitar; Sonny Garrish – steel guitar; Owen Hale – drums; Hubert “Hoot” Hester – fiddle, mandolin; Lonnie “Butch” Ledford – bass guitar; Will McFarlane – acoustic guitar; Steve Nathan – keyboards;J. L. Wallace – acoustic guitar, electric guitar, keyboards; and John Willis – acoustic guitar. Terry Skinner and J.L. Wallace produced the album and co=wrote two of the singles. I should note that my copy of the album is on vinyl so the sequence of the songs may vary on other formats. Anyway, I would give this album an A- Album Reviews, Retro Reviews, Spotlight Artist Alice Randall, Billy Stone, Bobby Keel, Butch Ledford, Chris Waters, Don Schlitz, Exile, Hoot Hester, J L Wallace, J.P. Pennington, John Willis, Ken Bell, Kenny Bell, Mark D. Sanders, Owen Hale, Paul Overstreet, Rick Giles, Sonny Garrish, Sonny LeMaire, Steve Bogard, Steve Nathan, Terry Skinner, The Forester Sisters, Thom Schuyler, Tom Shapiro, Will McFarlane Classic Rewind: Forester Sisters – ‘Just In Case/I Fell In Love Again Last Night’ Spotlight Artists: The Forester Sisters and The McCarters This month we are spotlighting two groups comprising sisters who both started out in the 1980s on Warner Brothers Records. There were four of the Forester Sisters: Kathy, June, Kim and Christy. They grew up in the small town of Lookout Mountain in Georgia, close to the Tennessee border, and starting singing in their church choir. Kathy and June trained as teachers in the 1970s and sang together in a band. They were joined by Kim, and eventually Christy after her graduation from college. They signed a deal with Warner Brothers in 1984 and enjoyed immediate success with their sweet harmonies, pretty melodies, and mellow sound which had appeal to the pop-country fans of the mid 80s while incorporating some more organic elements. A string of top 10 hits ensued between 1985 and 1991, and they also released some religious material. All four women were capable of singing lead on occasion, but Kathy had the best voice, followed by Kim, and they got the lion’s share of lead vocals and all the singles. They are now retired from music. The McCarters were younger, but their music was much more traditional. Hailing from Dolly Parton’s hometown, Sevierville, Tennessee, they comprised lead singer Jennifer (born in 1964) and her younger sisters Lisa and Teresa (born in 1966), who were twins. Their mountain harmonies were exquisite, but proved to be a bit too traditional even in the neotraditional revival of the late 80s and with the boost provided by opening for Randy Travis on tour. their early singles were reasonably successful, but the label pushed to modernise their sound a little, and rebilled them as Jennifer McCarter and the McCarters for their second single. They stopped performing for some years after losing their Warner Brothers’ deal, but after raising their own families, Jennifer returned to music without her sisters. In 2017 she released an album as part of a new trio, Them Rubies, with Donna Beasley and Etta Britt, and she has a brand new solo single, ‘Love Will’. Spotlight Artist Christy Forester, Dolly Parton, Donna Beasley, Etta Britt, Jennifer McCarter, Jennifer McCarter and the McCarters, June Forester, Kathy Forester, Kim Forester, Lisa McCarter, Randy Travis, Teresa McCarter, The Forester Sisters, The McCarters, Them Rubies Week ending 10/7/17: #1 singles this week in country music history 1 Comment Posted by Razor X on October 8, 2017 1957 (Sales): Fraulein — Bobby Helms (Decca) 1957 (Disc Jockeys): Fraulein — Bobby Helms (Decca) 1967: Turn The World Around — Eddy Arnold (RCA) 1977: Daytime Friends — Kenny Rogers (United Artists) 1987: You Again — The Forester Sisters (Warner Bros.) 1997: How Your Love Makes Me Feel — Diamond Rio (Arista) 2007: Take Me There — Rascal Flatts (Lyric Street) 2017: Body Like a Back Road — Sam Hunt (MCA) 2017 (Airplay): Small Town Boy — Dustin Lynch (Broken Bow) Charts Bobby Helms, Diamond Rio, Dustin Lynch, Eddy Arnold, Kenny Rogers, Rascal Flatts, Sam Hunt, The Forester Sisters Week ending 12/24/16: #1 singles this week in country music history Leave a comment Posted by Razor X on December 25, 2016 1956 (Sales):Singing the Blues — Marty Robbins (Columbia) 1956 (Jukebox): Singing the Blues — Marty Robbins (Columbia) 1956 (Disc Jockeys): Singing the Blues — Marty Robbins (Columbia) 1966: There Goes My Everything — Jack Greene (Decca) 1976: Sweet Dreams — Emmylou Harris (Reprise) 1986: Too Much Is Not Enough — The Bellamy Brothers with The Forester Sisters (MCA/Curb) 1996: Little Bitty — Alan Jackson (Arista) 2006: Want To — Sugarland (Mercury) 2016: Blue Ain’t Your Color — Keith Urban (Capitol) 2016 (Airplay): Song For Another Time — Old Dominion (RCA) Charts Alan Jackson, Emmylou Harris, Jack Greene, Keith Urban, Marty Robbins, Old Dominion, Sugarland, The Bellamy Brothers, The Forester Sisters Week ending 6/25/16: #1 singles this week in country music history 4 Comments Posted by Razor X on June 26, 2016 1956 (Sales): Heartbreak Hotel/I Was The One — Elvis Presley (RCA) 1956 (Jukebox): Heartbreak Hotel/I Was The One — Elvis Presley (RCA) 1956 (Disc Jockeys): Crazy Arms — Ray Price (Columbia) 1966: Take Good Care of Her — Sonny James (Capitol) 1976: El Paso City — Marty Robbins (Columbia) 1986: Mama’s Never Seen Those Eyes — The Forester Sisters (Warner Bros.) 1996: Time Marches On — Tracy Lawrence (Atlantic) 2006: Summertime — Kenny Chesney (BNA) 2016: H.O.L.Y. — Florida Georgia Line (Republic Nashville) 2016 (Airplay): Humble and Kind — Tim McGraw (Big Machine) Charts Elvis Presley, Florida Georgia Line, Kenny Chesney, Marty Robbins, Ray Price, Sonny James, The Forester Sisters, Tim McGraw, Tracy Lawrence Week ending 2/6/16: #1 singles this week in country music history Leave a comment Posted by Razor X on February 7, 2016 1956 (Sales): Sixteen Tons — Tennessee Ernie Ford (Capitol) 1956 (Jukebox): Sixteen Tons — Tennessee Ernie Ford (Capitol) 1956 (Disc Jockeys): Love, Love, Love — Webb Pierce (Decca) 1966: Giddyup Go — Red Sovine (Starday) 1976: Convoy — C.W. McCall (MGM) 1986: Just In Case — The Forester Sisters (Warner Bros) 1996: (If You’re Not In It For Love) I’m Outta Here — Shania Twain (Mercury) 2006: Jesus, Take The Wheel — Carrie Underwood (Arista) 2016: Die a Happy Man — Thomas Rhett (Valory) 2016 (Airplay): Die a Happy Man — Thomas Rhett (Valory) Charts C.W. McCall, Carrie Underwood, Red Soine, Shania Twain, Tennessee Ernie Ford, The Forester Sisters, Thomas Rhett, Webb Pierce Leave a comment Posted by Razor X on September 27, 2015 1955 (Sales): I Don’t Care — Webb Pierce (Decca) 1955 (Jukebox): I Don’t Care — Webb Pierce (Decca) 1955 (Disc Jockeys): I Don’t Care — Webb Pierce (Decca) 1965: Is It Really Over — Jim Reeves (RCA) 1975: Daydreams About Night Things — Ronnie Milsap (RCA) 1985: I Fell In Love Again Last Night — The Forester Sisters (Warner Bros.) 1995: I Like It, I Love It — Tim McGraw (Curb) 2005: A Real Fine Place To Start — Sara Evans (RCA) 2015: House Party — Sam Hunt (MCA) 2015 (Airplay): Crash and Burn — Thomas Rhett (Valory) Charts Jim Reeves, Ronnie Milsap, Sam Hunt, Sara Evans, The Forester Sisters, Thomas Rhett, Tim McGraw, Webb Pierce	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line884
__label__wiki	0.589524	0.589524	Home News Breaking News South Korean President Says North Isn’t Insisting On American Troop Withdrawal South Korean President Says North Isn’t Insisting On American Troop Withdrawal U.S. President Donald Trump welcomes South Korean President Moon Jae-in to the White House in Washington, U.S., June 29, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will not demand the withdrawal of the American military from South Korea as part of a denuclearization deal, the South’s president said Thursday as preparations for their meeting next week proceeded apace. The Kim regime has long insisted that it needs its nuclear weapons to protect itself from the United States’ “hostile policy” and that any deal must guarantee its security. That process must include the complete pullout of American troops from the peninsula, the regime has repeatedly stated. But Moon Jae-in, who will meet Kim in the demilitarized zone that separates their two countries next Friday, said North Korea has signaled a major shift in its stance. “North Korea is expressing its intention for complete denuclearization,” Moon said during a lunch meeting in the presidential Blue House with top executives from 48 media companies. “And it is not making demands that the U.S. cannot accept, such as the withdrawal of the U.S. forces in Korea,” he said, according to the JoongAng Ilbo, one of South Korea’s biggest papers and one that had a representative at the lunch. The U.S. military has 28,000 troops stationed in South Korea, with backups in Japan and on Guam – the legacy of the standoff that has ensued since the Korean War ended in 1953. Every spring and fall, U.S. forces conduct drills with the South Korean military, preparing for various scenarios on the peninsula, including the sudden collapse of North Korea and “decapitation” strikes on the North Korean leadership. North Korea strongly protests the drills, viewing them as a pretext for an invasion and emblematic of what it considers the U.S. policy to destroy the regime. But Moon, who is vigorously promoting diplomacy as the solution to the North Korean nuclear problem, said Thursday that the Kim regime wants an “end to the hostile policy” and a “guarantee of its security” in return for abandoning its nuclear and missile program. (c) 2018, The Washington Post · Anna Fifield {Matzav.com} Previous articlePhotos: The Pshevorsker Rebbe Davening at the Kever of Rav Yeshayele Kerestirer zt”l (JDN) Next articlePhotos: The Belzer Rebbe Delivering a Pesichas Hazeman Shmuess (JDN) Watch: Yankeloo Performs at an Event with MBD in Attendance Rav Elimelech Biderman on the Parsha Mexican President Calls El Chapo’s Life Sentence ‘Inhumane’	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line886
__label__cc	0.736034	0.263966	Cosma, Flavia About the poet: Flavia Cosma was born and raised in Romania. She took her Master’s in electrical engineering at the Polytechnical Institute of Bucharest, and then studied drama. After working in Romania as a radio and television sound director, she emigrated to Canada in 1976. She continues to work in this field and is also an independent producer/director/writer for TV documentaries. Her work has appeared in magazines, and she has several previous books, including The Fire that Burns Us, 47 Poems, Fairy Tales by Flavia Cosma, and Wormwood Wine. Wormwood Wine 2000 0-7734-3416-X Translated from Romanian by Don Wilson with the author	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line894
__label__cc	0.577816	0.422184	Tag Archives: Catalan Recounting: Antagony Book I – Luis Goytisolo (translated by Brendan Riley) The Catalan “Ulysses”? In recent months I have come across a plethora of references to James Joyce’s novel, with comparisons to numerous world literature works, must be the circles I mix in on social media! As frequent visitors here would know, I have recently reviewed part of Oğuz Atay’s “Tutunamayanlar” (“The Disconnecte d”), referred to as the Turkish “Ulysses” and today I look at Luis Goytisolo’s “Antagony”, more precisely “Recounting: Book 1”. Here’s a few snippets of other reviewer’s thoughts, one taken from the publisher’s foreign rights page, the other from a site I visit often to explore world literature. In whatever way, like Joyce’s Ulysses or Proust’s In search of lost time, like many others—or few others—you shouldn’t die without having read it (Antonio Martínez Asensio, blog Tiempo de silencio, Antena3.com) In Spain, it is considered as one of the great works of 20th century literature, compared both to A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and À la recherche du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time; Remembrance of Things Past). The comparison are certainly valid. Like the Joyce it is a Bildungsroman while, like the Proust, it is a long exploration of the artistic development of a young man. From the site “The Modern Novel” (although a great review it should come with a spoiler warning) And then we have Mario Vargas Llosa (thanks to The Untranslated for this snippet ): Besides being an ambitious and complex book, difficult to read due to the protoplasmic configuration of the narrative matter, it is also an experiment intended to renew the content and the form of the traditional novel, following the example of those paradigms which revolutionalised the genre of the novel or at least tried to do so — above all Proust and Joyce, but, also James, Broch and Pavese –, without renouncing a certain moral and civic commitment to historical reality which, although very diluted, is always present, sometimes on the front stage, sometimes as the novel’s backdrop. Structurally this book does have a Proustian bent, following the life of Raúl Ferrer Gamide, a middle class Catalan, from childhood through army service, law studies, romantic interludes but more importantly his desire to be a writer. All against the political backdrop of Barcelona. I won’t be putting any spoilers in my thoughts here, rest assured if you decide to tackle this massive book I’ll allow you to discover the narrative yourself. However, it is not the plot that is the main attraction here, it is the novel’s structure, grand sweeping exploration of Catalan society after the Spanish Civil War and the political luminosity that drags you along, through 648 pages. A difficult book to read, we have ten page paragraphs, generally consisting of a single sentence, dialogue that forms part of the main text, so it is a challenge to understand who is speaking, a cast of hundreds, all with nicknames, some with code names and then broad philosophical debates, including political manifestos. For example there are three page explanations as to why a door was locked at 3pm precisely, another three pages observing the eating of a ham sandwich, but it is the microscopic examination of Barcelona and the middle class that brings the richness to this novel. A wonderful example of the craft is the beginning of Chapter IV, where the paragraph opens with “Coming down to Las Ramblas…”, an area of Barcelona, and ends with “their fitful procession heading up Las Ramblas.” In between there are descriptions of all the alleys, the crowds, the flowers, “confusing alleys and side streets with their little dives which stank of hashish, alleys where, as it grew dark, the shining lights isolated the ground floor businesses, the red doorways, the worn, narrow pavement, the filthy paving stones, high-heeled shoes, bulging hips, necklines, long manes of hair, painted eyes, a succession of bars, of turf marked off and intensified by cigarette smoke.” Each of the players circle in and out of focus, and as we move through Raúl’s maturation from childhood to schooling, to army service, to his involvement with the socialist/communist party, his distribution of clandestine pamphlets, his legal work and dreams of being a writer, we learn more and more about Catalan society. Classic references to things such as the “caganer”, the defecating figurine in Catalan nativity scenes, blend with discussions on Catalan poetry, literature, its demise and subsequent rise, and further discussions on Spanish speaking Catalonians, this is a detailed expose of cultural life. In one section we have many pages describing the Sagrada Familia, Raúl simply walking in there to hide from the police, when suddenly the text lapses into descriptive explanations of the iconic Church: And to the right, the Portico of Faith, enraptured altarpiece centred on the presentation of Jesus in the temple, with an outline of images now solemn and impassive, now violent, like the one of John the Baptist preaching in the desert, foretelling the coming of the Messiah, all that upon an embroidered background of wretchedness and suffering, of an interwoven framework of thorns and flowers, buds, corollas, thalamus, sepals, petals. Stigmata, honeybees drawn to pollen, and superimposed on the bramble-crag crenellations, the lantern, a three-peaked oil lamp, eternal triangle, base of Immaculate Conception, dogmatic effigy rising in ecstasy, like an ejaculatory prayer from within a large cascade of sprigs and grape clusters, all those details one can spot carefully from any one of the points of the belfry towers, as you climb the airy spiral staircases, from the doorways, from the enclosed balconies sinuously integrated on the projections of architraves and cornices of the frontispiece, balconies with bulbous wrought iron railings, small contoured galleries, catwalks, small steps, intestinal cavities, twisted corridors of irregular relief, passages conjoined in a coming and going from the belfries to the façade, four intercommunicating bell towers, harmonically erect. Which, if near their bases appear rather strangely compounded with the parameters of the porticoes, as the separate, each acquiring its own shape, they becomes curving parabolic cones, the two outer pairs equal in height, the two center towers taller. The more you read of this complex work, the more you realise it is an homage to Barcelona. Richly packed with snippets of historical data, with references to cultural icons and other books, there are also brilliantly referenced cultural scraps, for example when one character’s father suspiciously dies and the subsequent legal action over his business interests hots up, there is a reference to Goya’s “Trágala, perro”, “depicting some raving monks with a giant syringe about to forcibly administer an enema to a trembling man in the presence of his veiled wife.” Suddenly an obscure etching has made itself into my sphere, and now my consciousness. We also have a number of references to Marcel Proust, one of my favourite sections talking about a literary endeavour: …we have a good example of that in Manolo Maragas, with his remembrances and reflections, with the magnified profiles of his memory, when he talks about Alicia and Sunche, when he talks about Magdalena’s grandmother as if she were the Duchess of Guermantes and as if Grandpa Augusto were the duke, and Doña America were Madame Verduin, and that crazy Tito Coll a sort of Charlus, while he, Manolo Moragas, the narrative I, an apathetic Marcel, too sceptical to take the trouble to write anything, the only reason for him not already having withdrawn into his cork-lined cell, becomes a chronicler of Barcelonan society, the literary transcription of whose avatars, for any reader not directly implicated in that world, would awaken the same interest, probably, as the prose of one of those stylists in the Sunday edition of a provincial newspaper who’ve achieved a certain notoriety by the agreeable character of the collaborations, stylists who philosophize like a sheep chewing its cud before the ruins of the Parthenon, not in service of the validity of the ideas developed, but rather, to please his readers’ palates, of the originality of the focus and the graceful exposition, as well as this stylist’s prose, the interest of the specific problems of that world, of the characters capable of inhabiting it, grazing and watering among the ruins of the culture, with the grace and subtlety and elegance of a bull’s head that, like Narcissus, gazes at itself in a puddle. In a few lines, the depth of characters take on a new meaning, readers of Proust suddenly having another layer to the already complex players. But we are not restricted to Proust, the is a whole section questioning scholars and them not giving enough time to Dante’s Canto 34 in Inferno. Through drunken debates, scholarly discussions, a whole playing field of the author’s views can be spread on this massive canvas. I must admit, there were many political sections where I tired of the proletariat debate, the roles of the bourgeois, the eternal struggle of the worker, however these political rants were more than adequately balanced with crystal clear observations of daily life, of the existentialist struggle. A Menippean satire? Possibly. A Catalan “Ulysses”, less likely, for a start it isn’t a single day… A massively complex but thoroughly engaging work, unfortunately we have to wait until August 2018 for Book II to be released in English, and by that time it may mean a re-reading of “Recounting” is required, a novel that would reveal so much more upon every re-read, and so little time!!! I am hoping to get to a few other world literature “Ulysses” over the coming months, I may tire of that journey but a few books I do have set aside are: “Leg Over Leg” by Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq (all four volumes) “Three Trapped Tigers” by Guillermo Cabrera Infante “Adam Buenosayres: A Critical Edition” by Leopoldo Marechal “All About H. Hatterr” by G.V. Desani “Berlin Alexanderplatz” by Alfred Döblin And of course I need to post my thoughts on the remaining section of Oğuz Atay’s “The Disconnecte d” I am sure there are many many more books that fall into the “Ulysses” category, hopefully I get to discover their riches over the coming years. Stone In A Landslide – Maria Barbal (Translated by Laura McGloughlin and Paul Mitchell) This week I am going to look at three books published by Peirene Press, of course all by female authors, given we are still participating in Women In Translation Month. Peirene Press specializes in contemporary European novellas in English translation. Part of their “charter” is to only publish books of less than 200 pages, which are best-sellers and/or award winners in their own countries. They publish three titles per annum in a “theme” and today I’m going to look at a novella from their first series “Female Voice: Inner Realities”, their second book actually published, “Stone in a Landslide”, by Maria Barbal, translated from the Catalan by Laura McGloughlin and Paul Mitchell. Maria Barbal was born in 1949 in the region of Pallars Jussà, and moved to Barcelona in the 1960’s graduating with an Arts degree from the University of Barcelona. In 1984 this work, (“Pedra de tartera”), won the Joaquim Ruyra prize and this was simply the start of a string of literary awards including the National Catalan Literature Prize in 1993 for “Càmfora”. For an article by Maria Barbal, “Who I am and why I write?” go to Catalan Literature Online here. http://www.lletra.net/en/author/maria-barbal “Stone in a Landslide” covers a lifetime in only 126 pages. Our story opens with our first person narrator, Conxa, explaining the realities of being female and the fifth of six children in a small village. At age thirteen this unsure young girl takes her first ever trip away from her village to a neighbouring village to go and live with her mother’s sister, Aunt Tia, who is childless. Conxa is an extra pair of hands to help on the land. I closed my eyes and those first days of my new life seemed very far away: the nights I cried myself to sleep remembering each and every person from home, the times I would wake with a start, and the anxiety that didn’t leave me all day. How quickly I got used to such a great change! But if I counted it up, I’d already been away for half a year. And now I felt, not fully, but almost as if I’d been born in Tia’s house. When you knew Tia well, you came to love her, because she didn’t begrudge what she gave you as long as you followed her orders to the letter. Decide, then act, that was her, and she didn’t likfe to be contradicted. Like my mother, she was not demonstrative, but in her own way she showed affection. A glass of fresh milk, still warm from the cow, beside my plate, without a word. I knew they saved it for the calves, or if there was more than enough, they took a few litres to the Augusts’ to earn a peseta or two. Oncle kept quiet, like that first day on top of the mule, but he wasn’t bad-tempered. I wore myself out helping him. He worked and worked. I learnt to do everything, outside the house as well as in. Exactly as they had shown me, without any touches of my own which they might think showed a lack of respect. The passage of time is handled in an interesting way with this work, what may seem like minor events (having a glass of milk six months after arriving) show the development of the character over great stretches of time. Conxa marries, and has a child, a girl, both events themselves not appearing in the story itself but happening in between the chapters. We learn of Conxa expecting a second child A boy will be a man. And a man has the strength to deal with the land, the animals, to build. But I didn’t see it so clearly. When I thought about the families I knew well, I saw the woman as the foundation stone. If I thought about my home, it was my mother who did all the work or organized others to do it. Not to mention Tia. The woman has the children, raised them, harvested, took care of the pigsty, the chicken coop, the rabbits. She did the housework and so many other things: the vegetable garden, the jams, the sausages…What did the man do? Spent the day doing things outside. When a cow had to be sold. When someone had to be hired for the harvest. It wasn’t obvious that the man did more or was more, but everyone said, What is a farm without a man? And I thought, What is a house without a woman? But what everyone had always said weighed on me. I only knew that I wanted a boy. The development of our narrator is smooth however the innocence of only living in two small villages is retained throughout. This is a personal tale, of one woman living in a small secluded region, and that naivety shines through as the Spanish Civil War breaks out, events happen to Conxa without her having an iota of understanding why. As a beautiful counterpoint to numerous Spanish and Catalan works highlighting the Civil War where the politics are played out throughout, this is a fresh voice of the personal impact of those events. Quite simply a story of a woman with three young children who had never moved beyond two villages being impacted by the War. As mentioned earlier, the passage of time here is very smooth and years disappear with the turning of a page, however this doesn’t leave you at all confused or grasping for an event that may have been significant. Our narrator Conxa has a simple life and therefore the simplicity is repeated whilst we turn the page. Not a complex tale, nor a political tale, this is a personal rural tale, one which captures the lives of so many people who would have been in similar situations in Spain in the 1930’s.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line897
__label__wiki	0.979739	0.979739	Mitchell pens new Pears deal metrowebukmetroFriday 26 Sep 2008 9:10 am Worcestershire opening batsman Daryl Mitchell has signed a new three-year contract which will keep him with the Pears until the end of the 2011 campaign. Mitchell, a product of the county’s academy, scored 922 first-class runs in 2008 – his first full season of senior cricket – to play a leading role in helping the county gain promotion to Division One of the LV County Championship. Mitchell’s opening partner, Stephen Moore, put pen to paper on a new three-year contract last month despite attracting interest from 11 counties. “I was disappointed not to get to 1,000 runs by the end of the season,” said Mitchell. “But I averaged over 40 and we won promotion in the Championship and stayed in Division One of the Pro40 League and now I have got a new contract – so it’s not been a bad year.” He is one of four players to commit their future with Worcestershire. All-rounder Gareth Andrew, signed from Somerset last winter, has signed a new two-year deal until the end of the 2010 campaign. Paceman Chris Whelan, recruited from Middlesex at the end of last season, and reserve wicketkeeper Josh Knappett have signed new 12-month contracts. Have a whale of time this summer: Try these ideas to keep the kids entertained Home › Sport	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line899
__label__wiki	0.555164	0.555164	The Madness Of Benjamin Netanyahu The recent sober assessment of Arnaud de Borchgrave—the distinguished editor-at-large of The Washington Times and of United Press International—is worth reading and reflecting on: U.S. three-star generals and admirals, Defense Intelligence Agency and CIA sources, along with three former CENTCOM commanders and the three former chiefs of Israeli intelligence services who retired last year—a formidable array of military and civilian experts who share impressive expertise on the Middle East—are all waving a red flag against unilateral Israeli or bilateral U.S.-Israeli bombing of Iran’s nuclear installations. They can see such actions triggering a wider conflict spreading to the entire Middle East and the rest of the Arab world. A three-star with much recent experience in the Middle East says an Israeli strike could move the entire region in the wrong direction. Iran can close the Strait of Hormuz, not just for a few hours, as the Israelis say, but long enough to drive oil prices into the stratosphere. An admiral with years of experience in the region at different times of his career said privately Iran can sow thousands of mines in an area that handles one-fifth of the world’s daily oil requirements. They are below the surface and can be detonated by remote control as a warship sails over them. Iran’s shore line, which covers the entire eastern side of the Persian Gulf, is pock-marked with concealed missile sites. The Iranians would also use hundreds of small boats in a swarming configuration that U.S. warships are prepared to cope with—but one or two are bound to get through a curtain of fire and punch a hole in the hull of a U.S. or NATO minesweeper. Such a small boat in Aden harbor in October 2000 punctured the hull of the USS Cole, a $1 billion Arleigh Burke class destroyer, killing 17 sailors, and putting the warship out of service for 18 months with a $220 million repair bill. Cost of the operation to al-Qaida: $10,000 plus three volunteer suicide bombers. The response of Israeli naysayers is that such tactics would hurt Iran far more than any of its intended targets. U.S. generals and admirals respond that the Iranian leadership wouldn’t be averse to cutting off its nose to spite its face. The Iranians can also absorb temporary belt-tightening far more readily than Western Europeans. And with gas at the pump suddenly selling at $10 to $15 a gallon, U.S. President Barack Obama’s updated resume wouldn’t look too appealing at the ballot box in November. U.S. Navy 5th Fleet headquarters in Bahrain is vulnerable; two-thirds of its population is Shiite Muslim and rooting for Tehran in the current conflict. Most Iran watchers in the intelligence community say that one Israeli or U.S. bomb on Iran would push Iran’s youthful protesters right into the arms of the government they despise. More important than his meeting with Obama is Netanyahu’s speech to the annual AIPAC convention. The endorsement of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Washington’s most powerful lobby, is tantamount to solid congressional approval.[2] By attacking Iran, Netanyahu and Israel will stir up a hornet’s nest in the Islamic world, and achieve little or nothing militarily. Israel does not have the means of destroying Iran’s nuclear capabilities; and it is likely that the mission would end in failure. Also, what Arnaud de Borchgrave neglected to mention in his fine article is that in the Middle East, in Europe and worldwide, Israelis and other innocent Jews can be targeted by Islamic fascists; and there is nothing that Israel or its Mossad can do to prevent it. A “silent” holocaust might take place globally, which would be unstoppable. There are 1.3–1.65 billion followers of Islam worldwide, while Iran’s total population is approximately 78 million; and there are 14–18 million Jews worldwide, of which 6 million live in Israel.[3] It is the Narcissistic demagogue Netanyahu who must be stopped, before he triggers actions in the Middle East and elsewhere that might be truly catastrophic. His goal is to provoke an American attack on Iran, which is outrageous, reprehensible, and similar to the pressures that were brought to bear before the United States invaded Iraq. There are no limits to his arrogance, or the extremes to which he will go to provoke the American attack. He and Iran’s Ahmadinejad and Russia’s Putin are “moral equivalents.”[4] America is not Israel’s surrogate; the two countries are not tied at the hip; and Iran is not America’s fight. The American people are bone-tired of fighting wars in the region, and want out. And our valiant and heroic military forces have been stretched far enough.[5] The New York Times has reported: Thomas E. Donilon, Mr. Obama’s national security adviser, . . . spent two days [in Jerusalem] recently, along with a team of intelligence and defense officials, meeting with Mr. Netanyahu and his lieutenants. Both sides contended that the meetings were highly successful. The Israelis were told that the administration not only says it would use military force if sanctions against Iran failed, it is also doing the planning for it.[6] Not a single drop of American blood should ever be spilled to protect or defend Israel, period.[7] It is on its own, sink or swim. It is a pariah state worldwide because of Netanyahu, who continually seeks to dictate and distort U.S. foreign and national security policies. Barack Obama was right in reaching out to the Islamic world—and he must block all warmongering actions by Netanyahu. An Israeli attack on Iran would undoubtedly draw fury from Islamic nations and the followers of Islam around the world. America is not at war with Islam; and Netanyahu must not be allowed to provoke this. On some level Obama views the Israelis as the oppressors, or the “enemy,” and the Palestinians as the oppressed—reflecting his deep-seated beliefs about Apartheid in South Africa, which he viewed as pure evil. If one has any doubts, read his book, “Dreams from My Father.”[8] Hence, there is no kinship whatsoever between Obama and Netanyahu; and it is not surprising that Obama would treat him with outright disdain and contempt. Viewed in this context, one can understand what Obama is doing and why he is doing it. To him, it is likely that Netanyahu personifies that oppression. The following bears repeating: [Netanyahu] was hated by former Israeli Prime Ministers Ariel Sharon and Yitzhak Rabin—and especially by Rabin’s wife Leah, who blamed Netanyahu for her husband’s assassination. She saw “only doom for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process” with Netanyahu at Israel’s helm; and her views were prescient.[9] Perhaps most surprising—and disturbing—is that the Israeli people have not ousted Netanyahu before now, despite the warnings of Sharon, the Rabins and others. One of my Jewish friends who follows Israeli politics closely is convinced that the problem lies in its fractured parliamentary democracy. Small splinter groups, such as Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu party, are allowed to dictate Israeli domestic and national security policies. It is a case of the “tail wagging the dog,” and Netanyahu has skillfully maneuvered this political system to his benefit. Indeed, there appears to be little likelihood of change, certainly before he marches his fellow Israelis—and potentially Jews worldwide—to the edge of an abyss, of unfathomable depths. In advance of Obama’s meeting with Netanyahu, the Los Angeles Times reported: Obama said he plans to tell Netanyahu that he will order military strikes against Iran’s nuclear program if the current international sanctions are not successful in deterring its pursuit of nuclear weapons. “I think that the Israeli government recognizes that, as president of the United States, I don’t bluff,” Obama said. . . .[10] This is absurd, and simply political theater. Obama has cut and run from Iraq, like a dog with his tail between his legs. He is in the process of doing the same thing in Afghanistan, and losing the Middle East to Islamic fascists. And he is trying to “gut” our great nation’s military might.[11] The idea that America’s “Hamlet on the Potomac”—and “Jimmy Carter-lite”—would all of a sudden reverse course and launch the United States into a potentially devastating war with Iran and the Islamic world is nonsensical. He is a political actor, pure and simple, and not much more. Any notion that he has “Israel’s back,” and will protect it, must be viewed in the context of how he has protected the Iraqis, the Afghans, and dissenters in both Iran and Syria—which is not at all.[12] The path on which Netanyahu is leading the Israelis is fraught with peril for their tiny Jewish nation . . . and potentially for Jews worldwide. He is determined to take the United States and the American people on the “joy ride” with him, which is utter madness. [2] See http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Analysis/de-Borchgrave/2012/03/01/Commentary-Geopolitical-maelstrom/UPI-88241330603862/ (“Geopolitical maelstrom”); see also https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2010/02/20/israels-senseless-killings-and-war-with-iran/#comment-1880” (“Is Netanyahu’s Next Irresponsible Adventure An Attack On Iran?”) [3] See, e.g., http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_religious_groups” (“Wikipedia: Major religious groups”) and https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2010/02/20/israels-senseless-killings-and-war-with-iran/#comment-2002 (“New Attacks On Israelis Have Begun, Which May Spread To Other Jews Worldwide”) [4] See, e.g., https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2010/02/09/russias-putin-is-a-killer/; see also http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/9125129/2012-is-not-1944-Netanyahu-invokes-Auschwitz-in-warning-to-Obama-over-Iran.html” (“‘2012 is not 1944’: Netanyahu invokes Auschwitz in warning to Obama over Iran”) [5] See, e.g., https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2010/02/20/israels-senseless-killings-and-war-with-iran/#comment-2027; see also http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/06/opinion/iran-israel-and-the-united-states.html?_r=1” (“[T]here must be no illusions about what it would take to seriously damage Iran’s nuclear complex, the high costs and the limited returns”) [6] See http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/02/world/middleeast/for-obama-and-netanyahu-wariness-on-iran-will-dominate-talks.html” (“For Obama and Netanyahu, Wariness on Iran Will Dominate Talks”) [7] Many Americans will never forget the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty. As stated at a memorial to those who died and were injured: On June 8, 1967, US Navy intelligence ship USS Liberty was suddenly and brutally attacked on the high seas in international waters by the air and naval forces of Israel. The Israeli forces attacked with full knowledge that this was an American ship and lied about it. Thirty four Americans were killed in the attack and another 174 were wounded. See www.gtr5.com [8] See https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2009/12/05/is-barack-obama-a-racist/ [9] See https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2010/02/20/israels-senseless-killings-and-war-with-iran/ [10] See http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-obama-interview-iran-20120302,0,7234351.story (“Obama on Iran: ‘I don’t bluff'”) [11] See, e.g., https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2010/12/03/barack-obama-is-a-lame-duck-president-who-will-not-be-reelected/#comment-1959 [12] See https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2010/12/03/barack-obama-is-a-lame-duck-president-who-will-not-be-reelected/#comment-2028 and https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2010/12/03/barack-obama-is-a-lame-duck-president-who-will-not-be-reelected/#comment-1959 and https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2010/12/03/barack-obama-is-a-lame-duck-president-who-will-not-be-reelected/#comment-1883 Tags: Ahmadinejad, AIPAC, Al Qaeda, al-Qaida, America, American Israel Public Affairs Committee, American politics, Americans, Apartheid, Arab, Ariel Sharon, Arnaud De Borchgrave, attorney, Avigdor Lieberman, Bahrain, Barack Obama, Benjamin Netanyahu, Berkeley, Brooke, California, CENTCOM, Central Intelligence Agency, CIA, counsel, courage, De Borchgrave, Defense Intelligence Agency, demagogue, demagoguery, DIA, economy, Edward W. Brooke, Europe, Georgetown University, God, government, governmental, Hamlet, human suffering, inhuman, inhumanity, Internet, Iran, Islam, Israel, Israeli, Jew, Jimmy Carter, Joint Service Commendation Medal, lawyer, Leah Rabin, Lieberman, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Times, Middle East, military, Mossad, Muslim, Naegele, national security, NATO, Netanyahu, Obama, Pentagon, Persian Gulf, politics, president, President Barack Obama, President Jimmy Carter, President Obama, President of the United States, Putin, Senate, Senate Banking Committee, Senate staff, Senator, Senator Brooke, Shiite, South Africa, Strait of Hormuz, suffer, Syria, Tehran, The Washington Times, Thomas E. Donilon, Tim Naegele, Timothy D. Naegele, tragic, U.S., U.S. Committee on Banking, U.S. government, U.S. Navy 5th Fleet, U.S. Senate, U.S. Senate Banking Committee, U.S. Senate staff, U.S. Senator, UCLA, United Press International, United States, United States Senate, UPI, USS Cole, Vietnam, Vietnam War, Vladimir Putin, Washington Times, World War II, Yisrael Beiteinu, Yisrael Beiteinu party, Yitzhak Rabin	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line901
__label__wiki	0.503297	0.503297	SQ College Football Top-25 Preview: #21 Texas A&M By Erik Weiss The 2015 college football season is almost a month away, which means we’re getting closer to figuring out who the king of the crop will be. We’ve assembled our own list of the NCAA’s best teams here at SQ in anticipation of the new season. Today, we take a look at #21 Texas A&M. Team: Texas A&M SQ Ranking: 21 2014 Record: 8-5 Finish in AP Poll: Not Ranked Head Coach: Kevin Sumlin (4th year) Key Arrivals: DT Daylon Mack, QB Kyler Murray, WR Christian Kirk, DE James Lockhart, S Justin Evans Key Departures: OT Cedric Ogbuehi, OG Jarvis Harrison, RB Trey Williams, CB Deshazor Everett, K Josh Lambo Previewing the Texas A&M Offense: The Texas A&M offense will start and end with sophomore quarterback Kyle Allen. Due to the inconsistency at the position last year, Allen was thrown into the mix quite a lot, and performed well. In the last 4 games of the season (Auburn, Missouri, LSU, and West Virginia), he averaged 20 completions on 31 attempts (good for a 65% completion percentage), 3 touchdowns, and only 1 interception. Allen was able to find success at the end of last season and now that he has an entire offseason under his belt, I expect his efficiency will only go up. The offensive line has been a bright spot for the Aggies throughout the past couple of seasons. Although they lost key pieces in Ogbuehi and Harrison, look for guys like Germain Ifedi and Mike Matthews to step up and become leaders in the trenches. Allen’s favorite receiver from last year, Josh Reynolds, is back for another season. He was significantly productive in 2014, finishing 4th in the nation last year in receiving touchdowns. But, the two x-factors for the Aggies will be the other two returning receivers: Speedy Noil and Ricky Seals-Jones. Both wideouts showed flashes of greatness in 2014, but nothing much outside of that. Each guy possesses a ton of talent athletically, but neither has been able to transfer that to consistency on the football field. Seals-Jones is a freak of nature, a prototypical NFL-like number one receiver. He’s 6’5 220 lbs., surprisingly fast and aggressive. Noil is a playmaker, a ball of energy just waiting to explode. He’s capable of scoring every time he touches the ball. If these two receivers can turn potential into production, the Aggie offense could reach an elite level. If they falter, the talented freshman Christian Kirk will be breathing down their necks for that starting spot. Previewing the Texas A&M Defense: Texas A&M has a superstar on their hands. Sophomore DE Myles Garrett may be the best defensive player to put on an Aggie uniform when it’s all said and done. For now, he’s the greatest thing to happen since Von Miller. Garrett broke the SEC freshman record for sacks with 11 (previously held by Jadeveon Clowney), received All-SEC Second Team honors and was named a freshman All-American. He is a pass-rush specialist and a leader of the defense. Along with Garrett, freshmen recruits Daylon Mack and James Lockhart will look to make immediate contributions. The Aggies will have not only the youngest, but arguably the most talented defensive front in the SEC, something that they have been craving for in College Station for quite a while. The most underrated, and arguably most important, addition to this Texas A&M defense won’t ever see the field. That is because he is Defensive Coordinator John Chavis. The Aggies have been able to recruit top talent the past couple years, and now they have found their ring leader. Chavis spent 6 years at LSU, shaping them into one of the best defenses in the nation year in and year out. The Aggies will need Chavis to do the same thing for them if they wish to compete in the SEC. Three Key Games: 1. Texas A&M vs. Alabama, October 17th – Simply put, in order to be the best, you have to beat the best. Alabama is the unquestioned best team in the SEC entering 2015. This young and upcoming Aggie team is going to have its work cut out for them, but if they are able to pull out an upset at home, there’s no reason to say why they can’t win the conference. 2. Texas A&M at LSU, November 28th – Every year Texas A&M is able to compete with the Tigers, yet they can never seem to pull out a win. This game will most likely be a one-sided battle between the Aggie offense and the Tiger defense. Whoever cracks first will end up losing. 3. Texas A&M vs. South Carolina, October 31st – Every team has a trap game in their schedule. Well, this is Texas A&M’s trap game. The Aggies shocked the world on opening day last year when they blew out South Carolina by 24 points. There’s no reason to doubt that an improved Gamecock squad would want nothing more than to come into College Station and return the favor. Final Analysis: This is going to be a statement year for Texas A&M in one way or another. The Aggies have all of the pieces necessary for a great 2015 campaign. However, they fell way below expectations last year, which still leaves room for doubt. We already know that the offense will be one of the top in the country, especially considering the fact that they have one of the deepest receiving cores in football. This team is Kyle Allen’s to lose, and I think that he will be able to take the helm and run with it. The Aggies’ weakness has always been the defense. But with guys like Myles Garrett, Daylon Mack, JUCO transfer Justin Evans and new coordinator John Chavis, this defense has a chance to make a big change for the better. If all of the pieces come together, this team has New Year’s Six Bowl written all over it. If they don’t, then we’ll see the same thing as last year: flashes here and there, but only 8 or 9 wins at best. Texas A&M is one of the hardest teams to predict, so only time will tell if this squad is ready to make the jump to greatness.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line903
__label__cc	0.601183	0.398817	Husband, Father Of American Residents Held In Cameroon Dungeons, Denied Trial. 7 days ago Africa, News Leave a comment By Eric Tataw – Friday July 12, 2019. Dr. Takwi Eric Tita is held in a prison in Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde for two years but trial. Dr. Takwi Eric Tita, popularly known as Eric Tita Moh-Takwi, was born in Nkwen of the Mezam Division in Cameroon’s restive North West Region now referred to the Northern Zone of Ambazonia. Dr. Eric is an American Trained Clinical/Counseling Psychologist, National Telegraph has learned. At the time of his arrest two years ago, he was a Level 5 Lecturer at ENSEC under the University of Bamenda. He’s known for the role he played not only in uniting the different factions of a popular pressure group that advocates for Independence of the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon; Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC) in the United States, but for the marks of leadership he exhibited. Apart from being one of the very first persons to assume the Southern Cameroonian Citizenship, and proclaiming it at the top of his voice before an American Immigration Court in 2004, as Chairman of SCNC – USA, he rallied and assembled the largest crowd of Southern Cameroonians, at the United Nations Plaza in New York during Commemorative celebration of the Independence of the Southern Cameroonians, on October 1, 2007. He also led and successfully staged a demonstration against the signing of the Green Tree Treaty, between Obasanjo of Nigeria, and Paul Biya of Cameroon. It was at the peak of his involvement and contribution in building the consciousness that is today sustaining a struggle for the total and unconditional liberation of Ambazonia, that Dr. Eric, left Washington DC, for California, when he decided to rather move on in order to actualize and educate himself. It is this selflessness that took him back to Cameroon, when his technical know-how, his Solution-oriented disposition, his well thought and perceived vision of what it would take to transform the Lawyers and Teachers Strike actions to the Movement for the Liberation and Restoration of the Statehood and Sovereignty of Ambazonia. As a hero in his own right, despite Education and Status, Dr. Eric was able to put all else aside in order to answer present at this hour of peril and need. In fact, like very few, he took the risk, and shared every moment of distress with the people of Ambazonia. It is thanks to his meticulous contributive presence, and organization that with many, known and unknown the brutality of Yaoundé met its match. While many in flight were succumbing to fear of the eminent pain Yaoundé is known to administer, Dr. Eric Tita Moh-Takwi, fortified by the enduring awareness that nothing is possible till someone commits himself to get it done regardless of whatever risk involved, he took the bull by the horns, prepared to pay the ultimate price, for a course he has a passion for, an outcome he believes shall be for the good and welfare of every Ambazonia regardless of class or status. As proof of the silent umbrage Yaoundé is holding against him, Dr. Eric, has been in detention for two years, but is yet to be charged, or presented before a Judge. Interestingly, his immediate family all are permanent residents and most of his friends, US citizens. Dr Eric is presently at the Kondengui Principal Prison in Yaounde, capital of the Central African country of Cameroon. Dr Eric’s arrest is related to an armed conflict in the country. Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions are engulfed in a deadly armed conflict and elements of the armed forces and mobile police have taken advantage to target innocent civilians and loot goods and chattels of the civilian population, sources say. The unrest in the two English-speaking regions since October 2016 that has turned into an armed conflict with a demand by majority of Anglophones in the North West and South West for a separate state called Ambazonia. Previous Burkina Faso: Journalists, Activists Decry New Amendments In Criminal Law. Next Somali’s FV Marwan Holds 15 Kenyan Fishermen At Gunpoint.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line905
__label__wiki	0.818381	0.818381	Pistons owner Tom Gores will address Joe Dumars’ fate swiftly after season By Dan FeldmanMar 24, 2014, 9:45 AM EDT Before the season, Pistons owner Tom Gores said the playoffs were minimum goal and Joe Dumars’ job was safe. Well, barring a miracle, Detroit will miss the postseason for the fifth straight season. Is Dumars’ job still safe? David Mayo of MLive: Whether there is a front-office overhaul or not, Gores said it not a decision that will be allowed to fester. “Yeah, after the season, we’re going to address it right away,” he said. “We have to. We have to let the season play out, then we’ve got to get it done.” The last time Gores said he’d make a decision quickly after the season, he fired Lawrence Frank. At this point, it would be shocking to see Dumars return. His contract expires after season, and he’s really stumbled these last several years. Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva were disastrous signings in 2009, and Dumars sent what could be a prime lottery pick to the Bobcats to escape Gordon’s deal one year early. He used the resulting cap space on Josh Smith, who might require a lottery sweetener of his own attached to any trade that sends him out. Gores also addressed Maurice Cheeks’ firing, making this the first time he or Dumars has spoken publicly about it. “I feel it was the right thing to do and I feel good about it,” Gores said in his first public comments on the firing, save for a press release. “This is a very young team, a very young team. So we have to put them in a position grow as much as possible, and I felt like they were not in a position to grow as much as possible. So I feel good about it.” Gores said interim coach John Loyer is “doing a great job,” even if that hasn’t been reflected in the standings. “The team is better than their record,” Gores said. “They just are. They’re better than their record. So I wouldn’t say they didn’t respond. I would say that they’re just doing their best right now. I believe in these guys. I believe in this team.” Gores seemingly went over Dumars to fire Cheeks, further indicating Dumars is on his way out. That Gores still stands by the firing so resolutely shows he’s not exactly re-thinking his plan in order to give Dumars more control. In so many ways, the writing is on the wall. To give Gores credit, it was good for the franchise he addressed the Cheeks firing – even if the circumstances were eye-roll-inducing. Gores never should have gone this long without speaking to the media about Cheeks, and it shouldn’t have take a game a month-and-a-half later in Los Angeles, where Gores lives and the Pistons played the Clippers Saturday, for it to happen. But the Pistons are honoring the 25th anniversary of their first championship when they play the Heat on Friday. It would have been poor taste to distract from those festivities to address Cheeks (and even poorer taste to keep ignoring it). By getting it out of the way, Gores can put the attention back on members of that 1988-89 team and those celebrating them Friday. Though that might backfire. I suspect Dumars – and, if he’s introduced to the crowd, Gores – will be be booed heartily by Detroit fans. Tags: Charlie Villanueva, Detroit Pistons, Josh Smith	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line906
__label__wiki	0.588694	0.588694	THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION OXFORD WORLDS CLASSICS Download The English Constitution Oxford Worlds Classics ebook PDF or Read Online books in PDF, EPUB, and Mobi Format. Click Download or Read Online button to THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION OXFORD WORLDS CLASSICS book pdf for free now. The British Constitution Now Author : Ferdinand Mount In this book the former head of Mrs Thatcher's policy unit looks at the state of the British Constitution at a crucial time in its history, arguing that recent years have seen an increased willingness to monitor itself on the part of the Establishment, but that more audacious reforms are needed to restore full confidence in Parliament, government and the legal system. Repairing British Politics Author : Richard Gordon The constitutional crisis of 2009, sparked by the 'expenses scandal', led rapidly to the questioning of our entire political order. This book presents a major new constitutional analysis of the way we are governed. At the heart of the crisis lay an absence of accountability at the core of government. Repairing British Politics presents some key arguments for constitutional reform focused around a draft written Constitution underpinned by a new principle of constitutional supremacy. This would replace parliamentary sovereignty, which makes accountability more difficult. A written Constitution is not merely desirable; it is a constitutional necessity if Britain is to have true representative democracy. It would change our lives for the better by defining the over-arching values which we consider inviolable. The result would be a more rational, humane and inclusive society based on greater citizen involvement. Without a clear focus, constitutional reform will not happen. The approach taken here is therefore essentially practical and designed to provide a focal point around which a wider debate might be centred. Written in an easily accessible style and including a Glossary of Essential Terms Repairing British Politics is intended as much for the intelligent general reader as for those professionally interested in law and politics. Part 1 sets out a number of arguments in favour of a written Constitution, as well as the most common objections. Part 2 presents a working draft in the form of one possible model for a Constitution. Observations and explanatory notes are attached to each section of this draft Constitution. This model Constitution is intended as the first stage in a public debate, designed to provoke further discussion about the content and method of legislating into law a written Constitution. Part 3 contains the draft of the Act of Parliament that would be needed to introduce any form of constitutional change. We are currently facing a crisis of trust in British politics. Whichever party forms the government the questions raised in Repairing British Politics will not go away. The Separation Of Powers In The Contemporary Constitution Author : Roger Masterman In this 2010 book, Roger Masterman examines the dividing lines between the powers of the judicial branch of government and those of the executive and legislative branches in the light of two of the most significant constitutional reforms of recent years: the Human Rights Act (1998) and Constitutional Reform Act (2005). Both statutes have implications for the separation of powers within the United Kingdom constitution. The Human Rights Act brings the judges into much closer proximity with the decisions of political actors than previously permitted by the Wednesbury standard of review and the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty, while the Constitutional Reform Act marks the emergence of an institutionally independent judicial branch. Taken together, the two legislative schemes form the backbone of a more comprehensive system of constitutional checks and balances policed by a judicial branch underpinned by the legitimacy of institutional independence. Voices Of Victorian England Contemporary Accounts Of Daily Life Author : John A. Wagner Ph.D. The Victorian age was a period of transition as Britain industrialized and society underwent profound changes. Here, contemporary voices provide students with an up-close look at this pivotal time. • Presents and comments on 68 excerpts from primary documents of the Victorian era, 1837–1901 • Details selected topics—such as Victorian Ireland, Social Darwinism, the marriage market, and homosexuality—in numerous sidebars • Points readers to books and websites that can expand their understanding of a document and relate it to themes and issues in modern life • Suggests methods students can use to successfully incorporate the documents into school research and reading projects • Includes a chronology listing important dates and events from the birth of Princess Victoria in 1819 to the end of the Boer War in 1902 Artefacts Of Writing Author : Peter D. McDonald Genre : Literary Criticism Some forms of literature interfere with the workings of the literate brain, posing a challenge to readers of all kinds, including professional literary critics. In Artefacts of Writing, Peter D. McDonald argues they pose as much of a challenge to the way states conceptualise language, culture, and community. Drawing on a wealth of evidence, from Victorian scholarly disputes over the identity of the English language to the constitutional debates about its future in Ireland, India, and South Africa, and from the quarrels over the idea of culture within the League of Nations in the interwar years to UNESCO's ongoing struggle to articulate a viable concept of diversity, McDonald brings together a large ensemble of legacy writers, including T.S. Eliot, James Joyce, and Rabindranath Tagore, putting them in dialogue with each other and with the policy-makers who shaped the formation of modern states and the history of internationalist thought from the 1860s to the 1940s. In the second part of the book, he reflects on the continuing evolution of these dialogues, showing how a varied array of more contemporary writers from Amit Chaudhuri, J. M. Coetzee, and Salman Rushdie to Antjie Krog, Arvind Krishna Mehrotra, and Es'kia Mphahlele cast new light on a range of questions concerning education, literacy, human rights, translation, indigenous knowledge, and cultural diversity that have preoccupied UNESCO since 1945. At once a novel contribution to institutional and intellectual history and an innovative exercise in literary and philosophical analysis, Artefacts of Writing affords a unique perspective on literature's place at the centre of some of the most fraught, often lethal public controversies that defined the long-twentieth century and that continue to haunt us today The English Constitution Author : Walter Bagehot ISBN : OCLC:220362597 Genre : Constitutional history Category: Constitutional history The Republic And The Laws Author : Cicero `However one defines Man, the same definition applies to us all. This is sufficient proof that there is no essential difference within mankind.' (Laws l.29-30) Cicero's The Republic is an impassioned plea for responsible governement written just before the civil war that ended the Roman Republic in a dialogue following Plato. Drawing on Greek political theory, the work embodies the mature reflections of a Roman ex-consul on the nature of political organization, on justice in society, and on the qualities needed in a statesman. Its sequel, The Laws, expounds the influential doctrine of Natural Law, which applies to all mankind, and sets out an ideal code for a reformed Roman Republic, already half in the realm of utopia. This is the first complete English translation of both works for over sixty years and features a lucid Introduction, a Table of Dates, notes on the Roman constitution, and an Index of Names. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more. The Constitution Of The Criminal Law Author : R. A. Duff The third book in the Criminalization series examines the constitutionalization of criminal law. It considers how the criminal law is constituted through the political processes of the state; how the agents of the criminal law can be answerable to it themselves; and finally, how the criminal law can be constituted as part of the international order. Addressing the ways in which and the grounds on which types of conduct can be justifiably criminalized, the first four chapters of this volume focus on the questions that arise from a consideration of the political constitution of the criminal law. The contributors then turn their attention to the role of the state, its institutions and officials, and their role not only as creators, enactors, interpreters, and enforcers of the criminal law, but also as subjects of it. How can the agents of the criminal law also be answerable to it? Finally discussion turns to how the criminal law can be constituted as part of an international order. Examining the relationships between domestic laws of different nation-states, and between domestic criminal law and international or transnational law, the chapters also look at the authority and jurisdiction of international criminal law itself, and its relationship to other dimensions of the international order. A vital examination of one of the most important topics in modern criminal legal theory, this volume raises new questions central to the study of the criminal law and offers new suggestions for addressing them. Government And Parliament In Britain Author : John Palmer ISBN : UCAL:B2821683 Genre : Great Britain Category: Great Britain Corporate Character Author : Eddy Kent The vastness of Britain’s nineteenth-century empire and the gap between imperial policy and colonial practice demanded an institutional culture that encouraged British administrators to identify the interests of imperial service as their own. In Corporate Character, Eddy Kent examines novels, short stories, poems, essays, memoirs, private correspondence, and parliamentary speeches related to the East India Company and its effective successor, the Indian Civil Service, to explain the origins of this imperial ethos of “virtuous service.” Exploring the appointment, training, and management of Britain’s overseas agents alongside the writing of public intellectuals such as Edmund Burke, Thomas Malthus, Thomas Babington Macaulay, and J.S. Mill, Kent explains the origins of the discourse of “virtuous empire” as an example of corporate culture and explores its culmination in Anglo-Indian literature like Rudyard Kipling’s Kim. Challenging narratives of British imperialism that focus exclusively on race or nation, Kent’s book is the first to study how corporate ways of thinking and feeling influenced British imperial life. GCSE English Text Guide - Of Mice and Men The Fasting Prayer Big Green Book of Beginner Books The Lego Power Functions Idea Book, Volume 2 Baby Crochet The Quisling Legacy My Dark Places Overwatch: Hardcover Ruled Journal With Pen Interactions Level 2 Reading Student Book Melting the Ice When Nietzsche Wept Animal Skulls: A Guide to North American Species Thursday Night Confessions The Puglian Cookbook Fox in Socks Book & CD Chemistry: The Central Science (11th Edition) Small Island Broken Legions Understanding Self-Harm Growing Great Girls The Nature and Properties of Soils, 13th Edition Derrida and Lacan Winter Stories Alexis Ffrench - the Secret Piano Estrategias de Ventas Ganadora The Smart Girl's Guide To Privacy For the Love of Marriage Servamp: Vol. 4 Don't Get Eaten By Anything Beyond Freedom's Reach Railway Day Trips The House of Hope Tom Sawyer Detective Aircraft Carriers - Volume 2 Dogs and Goddesses Gorillas Up Close The Secret Adversary (Classic Reprint) Recipes for Longer Life Moto GP - a photographic celebration Carry On, Warrior The Letters of Charles Dickens Volume 1 Cars: Go, Go, Go! A Little History of Philosophy (Little Histories) For Every Solution, A Problem Works. Uniform Edition; Volume 2 Confessions: The Paris Mysteries Pretty Little Secrets Trinity Seven, Vol. 9 Winterwunder A Clash of Kings: The Graphic Novel: Volume Two Honey for a Woman's Heart Oxford Handbook of Sport and Exercise Medicine British Generals in Blair's Wars Devil's Daughter Otp 9-Copy Floor Display (No Giveaway)	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line909
__label__wiki	0.56625	0.56625	Don’t Blame All Germans for the Euro Crisis. Just Blame Merkel. By James Angelos Berlin, Germany—Germany is at the center of the European financial crisis that is threatening to sink Europe, and much of the rest of the world, into a double-dip recession, but you would hardly know it in Berlin. But for the relatively small protests this past weekend in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement, there have been few signs here of the discontented masses who have recently assumed control of city squares in Madrid, or threatened to storm the parliament in Athens. But if Germans are rather stoic in the face of the euro’s roiling crisis, that’s not to say they are confident their government has a grasp on it. Rather, among those who are not simply disinterested, the prevailing sentiment is one of confusion and dissatisfaction with the policies their government has so far proposed, not simply because those policies involve handing over German money, but because the measures taken so far offer no enduring solution. International commentators are mistaken when they suggest an obstinate German public is standing in the way of political resolutions to the crisis. Instead, as the lack of protest and anger over the bailouts indicates, the German electorate is more uncertain than adamant, and perhaps most of all, looking for their political leaders to chart a clear way forward. “I’m very, very skeptical,” Dieter Weber, a 72-year-old retired translator, told me on a street in the leafy Berlin district of Zehlendorf, a conservative bastion, when I asked him and three members of his family about Germany’s bailout of countries like Greece. While Greece could not necessarily be abandoned, he said, the German government seemed to be throwing money at an intractable problem. “The solution is not to continue to inflate the umbrella and keep giving more and more money,” he said with a hint of stridence in his voice, reflecting a widespread attitude in Germany at the moment. Yet the euro crisis is only one issue among many political concerns for Weber. In the regional election in Berlin last month, he voted for Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, but the European debt crisis did not play a big factor in his decision. It was not the main theme,” said Mr. Weber. “National themes are in the foreground.” He and his family then listed some of those issues they found more pressing: health insurance, the fate of nuclear energy in Germany, employment. This was hardly the emphatically anti-bailout German that one has been taught to expect. Many Germans approach the European debt crisis less with an attitude of fervor than puzzlement, and, often, a degree of apathy. It is true that if you ask Germans whether they support giving more money to Greece or other indebted nations, chances are they'll say no. But ask if this makes for a pivotal election issue, and many will respond simply with a shrug. German opinion might prove somewhat ambivalent because the economics of the debt crisis are difficult to understand. In one poll, three-quarters of Germans said they did not support the expansion of the bail out fund recently passed in the German parliament. Yet many Germans don’t necessarily want to accept the consequences of not paying. In another poll taken around the same time, when Germans were asked if Europe should continue to support Greece or let it go bankrupt, slightly more than half said Greece should continue to receive support. Those German parties that have tried to cash-in on bailout fatigue have not reaped much reward for their efforts. In the recent Berlin election, the pro-business Free Democrats, part of Ms. Merkel's ailing national parliamentary coalition, campaigned against “unlimited assumption of debt”. Yet the Free Democrats won only 1.8 percent of the vote in Berlin. (To put that result in perspective, even the extreme-right National Democratic Party, referred to as the neo-Nazi party, fared slightly better with 2.1 percent of the vote.) Meanwhile, the center-left Social Democrats and Greens have experienced gains in several regional votes despite the fact that both parties claim a greater willingness to adopt sweeping—and potentially expensive—measures to curb the debt crisis. Sigmar Gabriel, the chairman of the Social Democrats, has argued in support of euro bonds—bonds backed by the entire euro zone rather than any one nation—the kind of move that might offer a more sustainable solution to the crisis, but that also may lead to higher bowering costs for Germany. The Social Democrats have also called for programs to spur growth in Greece, rather than just choking Greece with austerity. Appearing on a Sunday talk show recently, Chancellor Merkel defended the Greek bailout, characterizing the measure as necessary to ensure the stability of the euro as well as “buying time” for Greece to recover. At the same time, she has often railed against the notion of a “debt union.” It would not be the first time that Merkel, who is often characterized as more pragmatic than visionary in her leadership style, has sought the political middle ground, but in this case, her cautious approach has hindered prospects for a broad and durable solution, one the German public could be convinced to support. “What people want concerning this crisis would be the chancellor to stand up and give a great speech—Churchill style—to explain what's going on and what we need to do,” says Carsten Koschmieder, a lecturer at Freie Universität Berlin. “Merkel is not doing this, and this is why people aren’t satisfied with the way the government is handling the crisis.” As Koschmieder points out, one poll recently showed that only 27 percent of Germans think the government is making the right decisions regarding the crisis. Merkel’s inability to offer more decisive leadership may have a great deal to do with the restiveness within her own conservative coalition. So far, that coalition is holding together, but its appetite for more aggressive measures is questionable. Yet, if Merkel's coalition were to collapse—and the current unpopularity of her partners the Free Democrats’ indicates that it will—it could well be replaced by a center-left regime willing to support stronger action to solve the debt crisis. For now, the German parliament voted overwhelmingly to dig deeper into the nation's pocket and fork over an additional 88 billion euros, adding to the 123 billion it has already contributed toward to the bailout fund, known as the European Financial Stability Facility. Despite polls that showed most Germans opposed that move, no large protests—like those seen recently in opposition to nuclear power or local infrastructure projects—followed. Even those Germans most inclined to be skeptical about Europe have not been much exercised by the latest bailout vote, indicating Merkel has more political wiggle room than often supposed. Earlier this month in Berlin, I saw a group of visitors from Bavaria reveling around town, seeing the sites in traditional lederhosen and green dirndls. Bavarians are known for their conservatism as well as an independent streak that, as the cliché goes, makes them hesitant to involve themselves with the rest of Germany, much less nations like Greece. As this particular group of Bavarians waited at a train station for a ride toward the domed Reichstag building, where the German national parliament is housed, I asked one of them, a gray-haired man with a yellow flower in his wide-brimmed hat, if the parliament should have voted to expand the bail out fund a few days earlier. “Actually, no,” he replied. However, he confessed, he had not given the subject all that much thought, nor had it ever been a subject of discussion between him and his co-revelers. He told me “infrastructure” was a more important political issue for him. As for the debt crisis, “It's important,” he said before boarding his train for the Reichstag, “but not so important.” James Angelos is a freelance writer in Berlin, Germany. World, Berlin, Athens, Madrid, Germany, Greece, Zehlendorf, Angela Merkel, Carsten Koschmieder, Dieter Weber, James Angelos, German government, German Parliament, Christian Democratic Union	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line910
__label__wiki	0.727284	0.727284	Interpreting a Low-Turnout Election by Frank Newport President Barack Obama made an interesting comment in the middle of his post-election press conference last Wednesday. He said: "Still, as president, I have a unique responsibility to try and make this town work. So, to everyone who voted, I want you to know that I hear you. To the two-thirds of voters who chose not to participate in the process yesterday, I hear you, too". Then, later he came back to the theme saying: "…part of what I also think we've got to look at is that two-thirds of people who were eligible to vote just didn't vote." The president's remarks were technically not quite correct. The latest estimate from the United States Elections Project and its director Dr. Michael McDonald is that about 36.3% of the voting-eligible population voted in the midterm elections, a little more than one-third. The voting-eligible population excludes those who are 18 and older but ineligible to vote, including non-citizens, and those in prison, on probation or on parole who are ineligible felons. About 33.6% of all voting-age population voted, which is closer to the third mentioned by the president. But the 36% is the more reasonable estimate, given that those who are not eligible shouldn't be counted in the denominator when the voting turnout is estimated. But the general idea is correct. Turnout was low. In fact, McDonald estimates that this will be the lowest turnout in a midterm election since World War II. At any rate, what do we assume was the president's motivation in pointing out this low turnout figure, regardless of what it was precisely? One motivation behind his comments, no doubt, was an effort to downplay the significance of the election outcome. That's evident from a comment he made later in his press conference, when he talks about the higher levels of turnout achieved during his successful election as president in 2008 and 2012, saying, "One of the things that I'm very proud of in 2008 and 2012 when I ran for office was we got people involved who hadn't been involved before. We got folks to vote who hadn't voted before, particularly young people." In other words, Obama is reminding the nation that these midterm election results, while certainly legal in the way in which representatives are elected, are not necessarily reflective of the thoughts, feelings, desires, attitudes and opinions of the entire population. That helps him reduce dissonance over the results, of course, although it was his party that failed to reproduce the type of turnout that characterized 2008 and 2012. But it does bring up an important philosophic point about the role of elections and the public at large, and most importantly, the job description of elected representatives. Political scientists and theorists have researched and analyzed this line of thought in highly complex ways for years. The essential point is that, in the U.S., with its very low-turnout elections, a relatively small segment of the population can be responsible -- particularly in midterm elections -- for electing individuals to office who may represent their (the voters) positions and attitudes, but who don't necessarily reflect the positions and attitudes of the entire population of the district or state they are elected to represent. Who it is that elected representatives should represent when they arrive in Washington -- the segment of the population who elected them or the entire population back home or in the nation at large? Some argue that representatives should represent the voters who came out to vote, essentially saying that the burden lies on the population who want their positions represented to get that accomplished by voting. And if they don't get out and vote, they lose their chance to have their positions represented. The other position is that, regardless of who votes, the representative owes it to him or herself and his or her country to represent all of the people back home. This latter perspective is akin to what Obama is getting at -- that he is "hearing" the "two-thirds" of Americans who didn't vote, and presumably that this means that the low turnout mitigates the perceived idea of a "mandate" for the Republican agenda. Obama's remarks were also reflective of his fundamental focus on the underprivileged and less successful and minorities, whose causes he champions, emphasizing that while they may not have voted in proportionate numbers to their population percentage, their issues and concerns must be taken into account. But the bottom line is that about 36% of eligible voters voted. Since that calculation is across all districts and states, the percentage is actually much less in some states and in some districts. The United States Elections Project, for example, estimates that just 28% of eligible voters turned out in Indiana, apparently the lowest statewide turnout in the nation. Voters sent politicians to Washington to represent…whom? That's the central question. To the degree that the elected leaders want to represent all Americans, we certainly can make available to them the information detailing exactly what problems the people want them to fix. In fact, our just completed, post-election assessment of the most important problem facing the country shows that the people view the biggest issues as 1) the economy, 2) dysfunctional government and 3) immigration -- with healthcare, the deficit, education, terrorism and poverty coming in behind those. These assessments of problems are essentially similar to what we found when we more directly asked Americans what it was they wanted the newly elected Congress to do. The big two concerns in all these surveys are the economy and the way government works/doesn't work, with specific issues coming in behind. How the new Republican majorities in the two Houses will interpret their representational responsibilities in light of these national priorities will be an important factor to watch when the new Congress gets going in January. Frank Newport, Ph.D., is a Gallup senior scientist. He is the author of Polling Matters: Why Leaders Must Listen to the Wisdom of the People and God Is Alive and Well. Twitter: @Frank_Newport Blog Election 2014 Election Issues Politics Polling Matters Democratic Party Favorable Rating Falls to Record Low Americans' favorable rating of the Democratic Party plummeted to a record-low 36% after the party lost control of the Senate in the midterm elections. The GOP's rating remained steady at 42%. Majority in U.S. Want GOP in Congress to Set Nation's Course A majority of Americans (53%) want the Republicans in Congress to have more influence than President Barack Obama over the direction the nation takes in the coming year. Americans Want New Congress to Fix Itself, Focus on Economy Americans want their newly elected representatives to Congress to focus on improving the way Congress works and to address economic concerns. Smaller percentages name specific issues as Congress' top priority. Why Are Americans Less Involved in This Year's Election? As noted by my colleague Jeff Jones in his recent review, Americans' collective thought given to this election is lower than has been the case in the two most recent midterm elections in 2010 and 2006. Likewise, enthusiasm and self-reported motivation to vote are also down. The differences are particularly large compared with 2010, with a drop of 13 percentage points in thought given to the election, 18 points in motivation to vote and a drop of nine points in enthusiasm. Gallup https://news.gallup.com/opinion/polling-matters/179342/not-vote.aspx	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line911
__label__cc	0.550285	0.449715	HIEMIS – “Nachtstücke” Album Review (dark ambient/neo-classical) From Gradual Hate Records comes a digital-only release that is both deeply immersive and lush. Nachtstücke is the latest release from Hiemis. From Bandcamp: “Nachtstücke” is a look at that universe where disturbing characters live that become oracles, supposedly trivial images that contain a mystery, as well as threatening inventions that never cease to amaze us.” Much of the majesty of this recording in all of its depth and immersion lies in some reverb-drenched, multi-layered ambient drones that often are progressively built up. There seems to be some subtle nuances of field recordings which give some of the tracks in the album a very slight cinematic effect. Track 1, “Der Magnetiseur” is a good example of that. However, a more experimental angle is going on with “Die Automate” where we have some high-speed wind-like ambient planes with some very low-end pulsating bass noise. Then the piece opens up, experimenting with some string plucks and found object strikes to a very moving, vast and uplifting composition. It becomes a very picturesque dark ambient track suitable for the soundtrack of someone peering out a sea-side window. “Der Sandmann,” however, starts off with a flurry of environmental activity and seems to leave the ambient piece in the backdrop, however briefly. Some beautiful piano and string sounds are now incorporated giving more of a nostalgic, melancholic, yet neo-classical feel, rather than dark ambient/drone. “Vampirismus” is an extremely vast-sounding with an unending reverb-soaked base and is yet another great example of why this album has no problem swallowing the listener whole. For a release that is predominantly dark ambient/drone in its foundation, there indeed is quite a bit of flexibility and experimentation with Nachtstücke. The album seems to want to tell a story rather than simply provide accompaniment for a long journey. With that said, fans from neo-classical to dark ambient will find something to love herein. https://gradualhaterecords.bandcamp.com/album/nachtst-cke https://www.facebook.com/GH-Records-118222174406/ https://www.facebook.com/hiemisband/ http://www.gh-records.com/ ambient, Dark Ambient, drone, Gradual Hate Records, Hiemis, Neo-Classical Interview: Christian Death (St. Louis, 11.2.2017) (goth/death rock) Failure To Appear – “Shwarz Nacht” Album Review (harsh noise)	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line914
__label__cc	0.651949	0.348051	Thelma & Louise By NorthStar News Staff POSTED: November 12, 2012, 7:00 am The election is now over and the nation has spoken, and President Obama is now faced with the first challenge of his second term even though his first has two months remaining. As the nation faces the dreaded “fiscal cliff” that could plunge it into further economic disarray if the deficit is not addressed by the end of the year, there are clear distinctions between the President’s approach and that of Republicans in Congress. The outcome of this initial face-off will not only have long-term consequences, it will define the relationship of the White House to Republicans, and more specifically, the House Republican Caucus, for the duration of his second term. In the first iteration of this fight the President compromised on the very issue most Democrats felt should have been the line in the sand: the Bush era tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. For most on the left, the tax benefits for the wealthy are the most odorous symbol of the Republicans’ disregard for the majority of Americans. When President Obama capitulated for the sake of striking a temporary deficit deal, it left many of his supporters bewildered and questioning his resolve to take up the fight they viewed as the most important of his presidency; restoring some sense of equity in our economy. Now, the President has a “do over” and an electoral mandate to boot. Further buttressing the President is solid evidence in polling (yes, after Election Day we might want to pay more attention to the math) that shows the American public overwhelming in support of his approach to tackling the deficit – a mixture of spending cuts and a recalibration of the tax code. House Speaker John Boehner has channeled Mitt Romney by using language to deceive the American public by suggesting the President wants to increase taxes. Nothing can be farther from the truth. President Obama has rightly proposed that the tax rates be restored to the Bush level era, prior to the tax gift to the wealthy that was neither justified nor sought for by affluent Americans. The Bush tax cuts combined with spending on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, all under the 43rd President’s administration, created the deficit crater we are now trying to climb out of. Some of the nation’s wealthiest citizens have supported the President’s approach out of conscience and civic responsibility. Last week, in his first public comments since his Election Day victory, the President stated unequivocally that he wants the Bush tax cuts to expire. That’s great news. Now, the task ahead is to hold his position and for us to make our voices known. This is the difficult part of democracy. The euphoria of an electoral victory is intoxicating but we must now tend to the hand-to-hand combat that is the real essence of politics in America. The outcome of this debate has real fiscal consequences along with the political impact. If a compromise cannot be struck, automatic cuts will go into effect on January 1 and huge cuts in spending on the military and some domestic programs will be enacted. That is the so-called “cliff.” We hope the President will hold his ground if Republicans obstruct progress and if need be let the Capitol Hill version of Thelma and Louise, House Speaker Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, drive the nation over the cliff. It will finally put in clear terms the true intention of the Republican Party. The President has to continue his campaign fire and hit the road and rally Americans to the cause of fiscal sanity. There was an election and his electoral vote landslide gives him the mandate to push an agenda that works for the majority of Americans who are neither wealthy nor even closely approximated to the middle class. He need not react to the nonsensical, racist and resentful rhetoric of his detractors; they have been revealed for what they are after this election and their apologists on the Fox News Channel have been discredited. We believe Americans, beyond even those who voted for him, will support the President if he continues to educate them on the stakes and makes the case for the restoration of “fairness” as part of our policy discussion. By standing tall on his deficit reduction plan President Obama will begin his second term firmly embracing economic justice as the foundation of his presidency.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line916
__label__cc	0.615459	0.384541	Drunken ravings By: JdanS on May 15, 2009, 6:30 p.m. [ Go to the page: 1, 2, 3, 4, , 114 ] By: Mic Jan. 2, 2018, 8:07 a.m. Terms of Use and Rules for the NSMB Bulletin Boards By: norman on April 8, 2005, 3:11 a.m. By: norman No soliciting on the boards By: stuart@nsmb.com on Jan. 7, 2005, 9:46 a.m. By: cam@nsmb.com Jan. 10, 2005, 1:08 p.m. Someone said Hoverboard? By: aShogunNamedMarcus on July 14, 2019, 2:04 p.m. By: Sethimus By: ReductiMat on Sept. 19, 2017, 8:41 p.m. [ Go to the page: 1, 2, 3, 4, , 6 ] By: Madman [ Go to the page: 1, 2 ] By: JBV Wikileaks freaks..... By: tungsten on May 30, 2012, 11:28 a.m. By: tungsten Trump. [ Go to the page: 1, 2, 3, 4, , 97 ] By: chupacabra By: chupacabra on July 3, 2019, 9:26 a.m. By: switch The NSMB Random Conspiracy Theory Thread By: Gran-Torino on Aug. 8, 2012, 7:53 p.m. By: aShogunNamedMarcus Climate Change - so I'm starting to panic a bit By: syncro on May 20, 2019, 10:49 p.m. By: Brocklanders on Dec. 13, 2018, 8:48 a.m. 5G APPEAL By: tungsten on May 5, 2019, 11:12 p.m. By: Brocklanders Canada grovels By: tungsten on Feb. 6, 2019, 11:54 a.m. *NSFW* Freedom-loving GIF, PIC, and VID Thread By: Zedbra on March 13, 2013, 3:43 p.m. By: Stuminator By: Zedbra on May 8, 2015, 6 p.m. By: DemonMike Cancer, Before I die By: Rosscofat on July 9, 2015, 10:44 p.m. 2018 F1 thread. By: Stuminator on March 26, 2018, 9:01 p.m. Can you sum yourself up in one word? By: aShogunNamedMarcus on June 26, 2019, 1:56 p.m.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line919
__label__wiki	0.541762	0.541762	Zika Virus Update In this month’s “Hot Topic,” D. Jane Hata, Ph.D., provides an overview of the epidemiology of Zika virus, as well as the possible clinical features of disease and the recommended laboratory tests to assist in the diagnosis of Zika virus infection. By Jane Hata, Ph.D. • September 18, 2017 Preparation of Platelet-Poor Plasma for Special Coagulation Testing In this months “Hot Topic,” Christopher Desens, MLS(ASCP) discusses the preparation of platelet-poor plasma for coagulation testing. By MCL Education • September 17, 2017 Mate-Pair Testing for Targeted Chromosome Rearrangement In this “Hot Topic,” Nicole Hoppman, Ph.D., discusses mate-pair sequencing, which is the first clinically available test that can characterize almost any chromosomal rearrangement, helping to establish pathogenicity, and, in a neoplastic setting, assist in diagnosis, prognosis, and identification of optimal therapeutic options. By Nicole Hoppman, Ph.D. • September 5, 2017 The Prostate Health Index (phi) in Prostate Cancer Risk Assessment In this month’s “Hot Topic,” Alicia Algeciras-Schimnich, Ph.D., will provide you with valuable information regarding the utility of the prostate specific antigen test, and how the calculation of a prostate health index, or phi, can help to stratify a patient’s risk for prostate cancer and reduce unnecessary biopsies. By Alicia Algeciras-Schimnich, Ph.D. • August 14, 2017 Pregnancy-Related Venous Thromboembolism In this month’s “Hot Topic,” Ariela Marshall, M.D., provides an overview of venous thromboembolism in the pregnant population, including its risk factors, treatment, and prevention. By Ariela Marshall, M.D. • July 17, 2017 Diabetes Mellitus Expanded Evaluation Diabetes mellitus type 1 accounts for most juvenile-onset diabetes. In this “Hot Topic,” Andrew McKeon, M.D., discusses a new diabetes evaluation that is now available to help detect disease, differentiate between diabetes type 1 and type 2, and aid in the risk assessment for future diabetes risk. By MCL Education • July 3, 2017 Multiple Myeloma Testing In this month’s “Hot Topic,” Dragan Jevremovic, M.D., Ph.D., reviews the diagnostic criteria for multiple myeloma and discusses the laboratory tests, including the use of next-generation sequencing, that can be used to help diagnose and manage patients with this disease. By MCL Education • June 5, 2017 Mammographic Microcalcifications In this “Hot Topic,” Daniel Visscher, M.D., discusses the Mayo Clinic experience in identifying biopsy specimens that demonstrate mucocele-like lesions of the breast and the associated risk of breast cancer. By MCL Education • May 22, 2017 Hypersensitivity Reactions and Peanut Component Testing Millions of Americans suffer from allergies with peanut allergies being of particular interest. In this “Hot Topic,” Melissa Snyder, Ph.D., discusses the diagnosis of allergic disease and the role of component allergen testing. By MCL Education • April 17, 2017 Laboratory Testing for Chronic Granulomatous Disease In this “Hot Topic,” Roshini Abraham, Ph.D., will the discuss the complexity of diagnosing chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) and the DHR/Dihydrorhodamine (DHR) Flow Cytometric Test, blood assay as the most commonly used assay for diagnosis. By MCL Education • March 20, 2017 Laboratory Diagnosis of Clostridium difficile Clostridium difficile is an important cause of health care-associated infections. C. difficile infections (CDI) present with a wide range of symptoms, from diarrhea to toxic megacolon. In this “Hot Topic,” Audrey Schuetz, M.D., covers several methods for diagnosing CDI, including molecular NAATs, EIAs, and culture. By MCL Education • March 6, 2017 Patient Satisfaction in the Nursery In this “Hot Topic,” Darci Block, Ph.D., will explain how a team from Mayo Clinic evaluated collecting blood from infants using the practice of warming the heel prior to puncture, using venipuncture instead of heel puncture, and infant distress as a result of either heel puncture or venipuncture. By MCL Education • February 20, 2017 PD-L1 Testing in Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer Programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) is a protein that can be expressed on tumor cells and immune cells. In this “Hot Topic,” Anja Roden, M.D., discusses the role of PD-1 – PD-L1 interaction in the immune system and the challenges of PD-L1 testing. By MCL Education • February 7, 2017	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line920
__label__cc	0.566321	0.433679	The Art of Peace: Performative and Arts Based Peace Practices in Contemporary Fiji Clery, Tui Nicola Cite this item: Clery, T. N. (2013). The Art of Peace: Performative and Arts Based Peace Practices in Contemporary Fiji (Thesis, Doctor of Philosophy). University of Otago. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10523/3739 This thesis seeks to address the relative absence of literature about grounded and localised approaches to peacebuilding in contemporary Fiji. It documents how and why Fiji artists, activists and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) are increasingly using participatory, storying and arts-based approaches to engage communities in creative processes of imagining possibilities for peace. The case studies offered explore how arts-based methods were being used as both pedagogy and process for peace work within Fiji’s diverse communities; to communicate messages of peace, and to create safe spaces for dialogue in contemporary Fiji. This thesis focuses on arts-based peacebuilding practices which were being undertaken by Fiji CSOs between July 2009 and August 2010. These stories of creative praxis contribute a better understanding of the relationships between peace, education, and the arts in contemporary Fiji. These arts-based approaches to peacebuilding include creative activism on intersecting themes such as; family and gender-based violence, religious and interdenominational conflict, racism, homophobia, and issues of stigma surrounding mental health and wellbeing. Arts-based processes are presented as a way of engaging with social, cultural and political conflicts in contemporary Fiji. Through the arts people can explore issues playfully and creatively, develop empathy with others, and learn about themselves. Teu le va (Anae 2007; Anae 2010) is the grounding conceptual framework which unifies the diverse qualitative research methods used within this thesis. To teu le va is to attend to, care for and nurture the relationships and relational spaces among and between people, to ensure that the quality of relationships and the process of research are recognised and respected. This research extends talanoa and tiko (Nabobo-Baba 2006) as methodological tools for research in multi-cultural Fiji, offering performative methods and processes as necessary tools for peace research which seeks to support communication, empathy and dialogue as key constituents of peace. Performative research methods complement the talanoa and tiko by helping ensure that understandings and insights gained within research can be communicated across Fiji’s diverse multi-cultural communities. These stories about peacebuilding in Fiji reveal the creativity, diversity and dynamism of grounded and creative peace education practices. Moving away from dominant militarised stories of conflict and war, the thesis celebrates and explores alternative stories; stories of peace praxis and peacebuilding, feminist stories, and the stories of women and girls. I argue that there is a need to become aware of the gendered and conflict-centred narratives that tend to be told about the past, and how these stories can continue to powerfully impact on our understandings in the present. Creative possibilities and visions for peace generated by writers and artists through storytelling are offered as a pathway for ensuring that there is balance between the need to remember, the need to heal past traumas and conflicts, and the need to look hopefully and creatively towards the future. Advisor: Bryant-Tokalau, Jenny; Leckie, Jacqueline Degree Discipline: Te Tumu Keywords: Peace; Education; Fiji; Art; Performance Indigenous Studies [28] Pacific Islands Studies [7] Te Tumu School of Māori, Pacific and Indigenous Studies collection* [101]	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line924
__label__wiki	0.593872	0.593872	Home Article American Lawyer James Comey's Longtime Married Relationship With Wife Patrice Failor; Parent Of Five Children; Served As FBI Director Before Getting Fired By Donald Trump American Lawyer James Comey's Longtime Married Relationship With Wife Patrice Failor; Parent Of Five Children; Served As FBI Director Before Getting Fired By Donald Trump Updated On 23 Jan, 2019 Published On 25 May, 2018 James Comey is a well-known American lawyer, former director of FBI and an author. In April 2018, Comey published his tell-tale book titled 'A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership'. People would like to know the details about Comey's Family and Children. We got you covered with the information about his marital life with wife Patrice Failor Comey and details of his children. James Comey Enjoying A Happy Life With His Wife Patrice Failor Comey James Comey became popular all over the world in 2017 when he was ousted as FBI director by American President Donald Trump. His role in the 2016 US Presidential election, reopening an investigation into Hilary Clinton's Email controversy and public communications is claimed to have had an impact on Hilary's chance of being President. James Comey photographed during his hearing 57 years old lawyer James Comey has been married to his beautiful charming wife Patrice Failor Comey for 30 years and counting. James met Patrice for the first time during his freshman year in 1978. Click To Know More; Brenda Lorraine Gee Dating Anyone After her Separation With Husband Dale Earnhardt Sr? At the time of their first meeting, Patrice was also a student at William and Mary College in Virginia. James and Patrice have shared differential account of how they met for the first time, in an interview. Patrice claims to have met Comey in a Daiquiri (cocktail) party while James claims to have met her when she suggested him to run for President of his dorm council. Apparently, their mutual friend introduced them and urged them to sit down and talk. After conversing with each other for a mere three hours, the pair hit it off and decided that they were indeed made for each other. James Comey and his wife Patrice Failor Source: CT Post Remembering their early encounter, James recalls; "She let me talk about myself for three hours. Naturally, I walked away deeply in love with her, because she let me talk about myself, a habit which she has since fixed." As per the report, James and Patrice tied the nuptial knot in the year 1987; after graduating from college in 1982. In their 30 years of marriage, they haven't shown a sign of weakness, conflict, and controversy. They love, respect, support, help and motivate each other in every step of the way. James Comey with his wife Patrice and Back Obama Their marital relationship is still going strong and their love seems to be deepening more and more. They value time and moments spent with each other dearly. They give couple goals to those celebrity power couples; who either compromise in their relationship or split with each other, after facing adversaries. Discover; Retired Golfer Nancy Lopez is Single after after Two Divorces; She is a proud Mother of Three Daughters In an interview, James revealed that he felt very sad when he had to break a date with his dear wife; due to his appointment with Trump. In the same interview, he was quoted; "I love spending time with my wife—I wish I had been there that night." James and Patrice support each other during times either good or bad. Their love story has been strong since their first official pairing in William and Mary College. Great wine tasting today outside Charlottesville. A post shared by James Comey (@comey) on Nov 18, 2018 at 1:23pm PST The couple gave birth to 4 daughters and two sons. In total, they became proud parents of six children: Maurene Comey, Brien Comey, Abby Comey, Collin Comey, Claire Comey, and Kate Comey. Unfortunately, they lost their son Collin to strap infection; nine days after his birth. Comey Family photograph Source: Claire Comey Initially, James and Patrice lived in New York; but moved to Virginia in the 1990s to raise their children. They found Virginia suitable place to raise their children well. James Comey is a family man and cares a great deal about his family. All of their children have grown up and are working in various professions. Maurene Comey went to William and Mary School and attended Harvard Law School. She became Assistant US Attorney. You May Like; Cougar At It Again! Model Heidi Klum confirms Relationship with Tom Kaulitz Their son Brien Comey played basketball in high school in Kenyon, Ohio; just like his father. He aspires to become law enforcement officers and interned with the Virginia Police Department. James Comey's Claire Comey photographed during an event in her College Claire Comey was appointed as editor-in-chief of University of Richmond's student newspaper in March 2017 and sees herself working in American media. Despite being so much in his professional career, he never misses a single chance to spend a quality moment with his lovely wife. A post shared by James Comey (@comey) on Nov 6, 2018 at 7:09am PST We can say that the lovely duo is living a blissful life and definitely will go far so long. Career Highlights and Controversy of James Comey James Comey started his career as a government prosecutor after graduating from the University of Chicago Law School in the year 1985. In the same year, Comey graduated and earned a degree from the University of Chicago Law School. Following graduation from the law school, Comey clerked for a New York District judge and joined the firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. He showed his mettle as a future lead prosecutor after successfully performing well in a high-profile case against crime boss John Gambino. Comey joined the Virginia-based law firm of McGuireWoods, LLP in 1993, rising to the rank of partner. James Comey photographed during one of his hearings Source: CNBC In 1996, he investigated the Whitewater real estate dealings of President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton. In the same year, he also oversaw the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia. The then American President Barack Obama decided to appoint him as the director of FBI in June 2013. He was enjoying a successful career as FBI director until he meddled in the US Presidential elections in 2016 and reopened investigations into Hillary Clinton Email Controversy. Comey was embroiled in a controversy after reopening an investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while she was Secretary of State on July 10, 2015. In October 2016, the same issue was reopened again by Comey after an allegation of Russian interference in the election came in the media. He was broadly criticized for his actions from both the right and the left. Apparently, his decision to reopen closed case contributed to the loss of Hilary Clinton's Presidential race. On May 9, President Trump abruptly fired Comey as FBI director. As per the source, Comey was fired by Trump after he accused him of allying with Russia to tip election results in his favor. Another report indicates that Comey was fired due to his involvement in reopening of Hilary Clinton's closed case about leaked private emails. Trump later told reporters at the White House that he had fired Comey “because he wasn’t doing a good job,” and he told Lester Holt in an NBC News interview that his decision was not solely based on recommendations from Sessions and Rosenstein. On May 11, it was claimed that Mike Pence had a hand in Comey's dismissal. James Comey: Wiki Source: Pinterest/ Mk Born as James Brien Comey Jr. to father J.Brien Comey and mother Joan Marie Comey on December 14, 1960. He was born in Yonkers, New York. His father was a corporate real estate worker and his mother was a computer consultant and homemaker. He belongs to Irish descent. Attended William and Mary High School. Comey and his younger brother were held at gunpoint in their parents' home by a man suspected of a series of rapes in the area in 1977. As a US Attorney, Comey created a unit devoted to prosecuting international drug cartels. Was promoted to acting AG when Deputy Attorney General Josh Ashcroft was hospitalized in 2004. His net worth in 2017/18 is estimated to be around $15 million. #wife #barack obama #american lawyer #james comey	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line929
__label__wiki	0.5551	0.5551	One Movie, Our Views www.onemovieourviews.com – Movie Reviews & More #TIFF18 Reviews Review: The Favourite By John Corrado ★★★★ (out of 4) Yorgos Lanthimos, the Greek auteur behind such singular works as Dogtooth, The Lobster and The Killing of a Sacred Deer, crafts his most widely accessible film yet with The Favourite, without losing any of his usual bite. Set in England in the early years of the 18th century, and released at the height of awards season, The Favourite might sound like a pretty typical costume drama, at least on a surface level. But in the hands of Lanthimos, what we get instead is a darkly comic and sometimes twisted look at the reign of Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) from 1702 to 1714, and the lesbian love triangle that she allegedly found herself in the middle of, that turns the usual costume drama formula on its head. Queen Anne is depicted here as a somewhat weak and indecisive leader with a hot temper, made worse by the fact that she is suffering from a very painful case of gout and has become frail. With England at war with the French, the country is essentially being governed by her close friend and confidante Lady Sarah Churchill (Rachel Weisz), the Duchess of Marlborough. But things take a turn when Sarah’s estranged cousin Abigail Masham (Emma Stone), a former society lady who has since fallen from grace after being sold out by her father and is desperate to regain her place up the social ladder, arrives at the palace to work as a servant. Abigail aligns herself closely with Queen Anne and is quickly promoted to lady-in-waiting, and eventually starts to overtake Sarah’s place as both the Queen’s closest advisor and secret bedmate, leading to intense rivalries between them. There is a romantic component to the relationships that Sarah and Abigail have with the Queen, which is kept secret from those around them, but these are not just affairs of passion. There are deeper political motivations behind their jostling for Queen Anne’s attention, centred around the partisan rivalries between the ruling Whigs and opposition Tories. This is very much a story of two women jockeying for control of the country, with whoever is in Queen Anne’s bed essentially holding the balance of power. Sarah is closely aligned with her husband Lord Marlborough (Mark Gatiss) and the Whigs, who are pushing for Queen Anne to approve a tax hike on landowners to help finance the ongoing war, while Abigail’s friendship with the opposition leader Robert Harley (Nicholas Hoult) allows her to pull the Queen’s governance more in the direction of the Tories, who are staunchly opposed to an increase in the tax. The Queen is easily swayed, depending on who appeals to her desires. The writing here is fiendishly clever, and there is no mistaking this for a stodgy period piece. The film is bolstered by a brilliantly witty script by Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara, which provides the actors with plenty of sharply acerbic dialogue exchanges that are delivered with the dryest of tones. Who knows if these historical figures actually spoke in such an acid-tongued way – and several other dramatic (or comedic) liberties have been taken – but this approach makes every conversation feel engagingly fresh and gives the film a sort of modern relevance that carries through to the current era. The film is carried by marvellous performances from its trio of leads, who are all brilliant in their own unique ways. Colman brings multiple layers of depth to her portrayal of an incapacitated and deeply self-conscious monarch who is desperate to appear as if she is still in control, and Weisz is exceptional at illustrating her own character’s shades of grey. Lady Sarah schemes to get ahead, and is clearly using her place in the palace for her own personal and political gain, but deep down she does seem to genuinely care about Queen Anne, and Weisz captures these nuances extremely well. Last but certainly not least, Stone does an excellent job of portraying Abigail, delivering one of her best performances. At first, Lady Sarah seems like the more antagonistic of the two, especially compared to the initially charming and likeable Abigail. But we soon come to realize that Abigail’s own Machiavellian tendencies run deep, and that she is using her seeming naiveté like a mask to hide a cold and ruthless streak buried underneath. As she goes to increasingly great lengths to regain her place in the social hierarchy, Stone handles her character’s transition into psychotic territory brilliantly. Lanthimos directs this all with a carefully measured tone that will be familiar to followers of his work. While he somewhat surprisingly doesn’t share a writing credit on The Favourite, making it the first one of his films in quite some time that he didn’t co-write, this is still unmistakably a Lanthimos film, and it features many of his signature touches. The director brings his usual deadpan style to the proceedings as he scathingly satirizes aristocratic society folks, while also playing around on a larger canvas and allowing for moments of broader physical comedy. Robbie Ryan’s cinematography is frequently astounding, with several shots utilizing fisheye lenses that work to heighten the film’s more eccentric flourishes, distorting the shape of the Palace rooms to make them appear both larger and more claustrophobic. The production design offers a sumptuous feast for the eyes, and Sandy Powell’s costumes are beautifully crafted. The film looks positively regal, which just makes the ironic juxtaposition of the catty behaviour and backstabbing going on within these royal halls all the more pleasurable for us to observe. The film plays as a perfectly pitched and sometimes absurd comedy of manners, offering a highly entertaining sendup of the personal and political machinations of the royal court, yet at the same time it is also a deeply sad look at women yearning for love but lusting for power. As we reach the confounding and brilliantly composed final scene, we are left wondering if what we are watching is a comedy or a tragedy. As it turns out, like all of Lanthimos’s films, it’s both and it’s neither. The humour is found in the suffering, with nary a dividing line between the two. from → All, Movie Reviews ← Review: Vox Lux Review: If Beale Street Could Talk → Categories Select Category All Animation Articles Awards Books Canadian Cinema Christmas Movies Contests Documentaries DVDs & Blu-rays Film Festivals Foreign Cinema Interviews Movie Reviews Music Special Events Three Views TV Shows Archives Select Month July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 July 3rd: July 5th: July 18th:	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line937
__label__cc	0.709665	0.290335	OC Anesthesiologist Pleads Not Guilty June 15, 2011 Rachel Smith Medical Abuse 0 via LA Times Yashwant B. Giri, the OC Anesthesiologist accused of molesting patients while they were unconscious, has pled not guilty to two felony counts of sexual assault. The judge in the case also ordered Dr. Giri to cease practicing medicine. Giri faces up to eight years in prison if convicted of the crimes. He is accused of sexually assaulting two victims, a 16 year old girl and 36 year old woman, while they underwent surgery at the Placentia-Linda Hospital The first incident occurred in 2009, and a nurse reported it immediately but hospital officials never reported the crime to the police. It is unknown what internal disciplinary action occured. The apparent failure of Placentia-Linda officials to report the 2009 incident is disturbing and certainly could form the basis of a lawsuit against the hospital. As the spokesperson for the Orange County District Attorney’s office has stated, had the hospital come forward with this information in 2009, it is likely that the 2011 incident (and perhaps many others) would not have occurred. There seems to be a real potential that there are many other victims of abuse by Dr. Giri,and that many of the victims may not even know they were victimized because they were under anaesthesia at the time. Our firm handled a very similar case several years ago in which a respiratory therapist at a convalescent hospital had sexually molested a number of severely brain-damaged children. These children could not speak and could not tell anyone of the abuse that they were forced to endure. It was only because the therapist ended up confessing to the abuse that some of the victims were able to be identified. In the case of Dr. Giri, one hopes that hospital employees and/or patients will eventually be able to fill in some of the missing pieces of evidence that will allow law enforcement to seek the appropriate level of criminal punishment against this person who horribly abused the trust that his patients (and fellow doctors) had placed in him. Authorities suspect that there are more victims and are asking those with information call Supervising Investigator Lour Gutierrez at (714) 347-8794. Information from: CBS, Los Angeles california personal injury lawsuits, California sexual abuse, California sexual abuse victims, medical abuse lawsuit, Yashwant B. Giri	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line938
__label__wiki	0.592431	0.592431	Current: Senator Crisco and DPH Announce Grant Recipients for Biomedical Research into Chronic Diseases FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Connecticut Department of Public Health January 6, 2012 Contact: William Gerrish Hartford —Senator Joseph Crisco (D-Woodbridge) and the Department of Public Health (DPH) today announced the recipients of state funding for biomedical research into diseases associated with tobacco use and other chronic illnesses. A total of $943,004 was awarded this year by the Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) from the state’s Biomedical Research Trust Fund. These funds will support three research projects conducted by researchers from the University of Connecticut, UCONN Health Center, and Yale University (see last page for summary of award recipients). Governor Dannel P. Malloy spearheaded initiatives designed to spur the state’s biomedical research with his Bioscience Connecticut proposal last session. Yesterday, the Governor signed an agreement with Jackson Laboratory to bring a $1.2 billion dollar personalized medicine project to Connecticut. A PriceWaterhouseCoopers study estimates that the personalized medicine industry is worth $284 billion in U.S. sales annually. The institutions receiving the DPH awards are part of Connecticut’s new research triangle. “These grants awarded today – part of an annual program to help underwrite cutting edge, health-related research – are consistent with what seems to be a growing and accelerating emphasis on comparable projects in Connecticut,” Senator Crisco said. “We have recently agreed to invest in an overhaul of the UConn Health Center and provide economic development funding for Jackson Labs – it’s gratifying to know Connecticut plans to continue setting the pace in health-related research throughout the foreseeable future.” “These projects were selected from a field of highly competitive applications received in response to a Request for Proposals issued by the department last Spring,” stated DPH Deputy Commissioner Lisa Davis. “The funds made available through the Biomedical Research Trust Fund represent an investment in Connecticut-based research that is providing new insight into how to treat and prevent leading causes of death and disability.” With this seventh round of proposals funded by DPH, over eleven million dollars have been awarded to Connecticut research institutions for the purpose of funding biomedical research into tobacco-related diseases, Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes. In 2000, the Biomedical Research Trust Fund was established by the Connecticut General Assembly to fund biomedical research into tobacco-related illnesses such as heart disease and cancer. The trust fund may accept transfers from the Tobacco Settlement Fund. Non-profit, tax-exempt academic institutions of higher education or hospitals that conduct biomedical research are eligible to apply for these funds. In 2010, P.A. 10-136 expanded the scope of research funded by the trust fund to include Alzheimer's disease and diabetes research. According to state health officials, tobacco is the single most preventable cause of mortality and morbidity in our society. In Connecticut, tobacco use is associated with over 5,000 deaths per year. These deaths are primarily caused by cancer, heart disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. An estimated 6.9% of the Connecticut adult population or approximately 186,000 adults age 18 years and older have been diagnosed with diabetes. An additional 93,000 Connecticut adults are estimated to have undiagnosed diabetes. Alzheimer’s disease is one of the top ten leading causes of death in the United States. It is the 6th leading cause of death among American adults, and the 5th leading cause of death for adults aged 65 years and older. The Connecticut Department of Public Health is the state’s leader in public health policy and advocacy with a mission to protect and promote the health and safety of the people of our state. To contact the department, please visit its website at www.ct.gov/dph or call (860) 509-7270. Connecticut Department of Public Health Biomedical Trust Fund Awards UConn Health Center, Daniel Rosenberg, PhD $356,250 We predict that we will be able to detect specific smoking-induced changes in the colon that will enable us to identify patients at increased risk of developing colorectal cancers. The early detection of smoking-induced aberrations will enable patients to be treated efficiently through lesion excision, chemoprevention and/or behavioral modification. For example, the identification of BRAF-positive ACF in a smoker may suggest an increased risk for subsequent disease. The patient may then be persuaded to begin a smoking cessation and screening program to determine whether colon lesions have disappeared. Instead of waiting a decade or longer to see whether a cancer develops, the use of early, smoking-associated biomarkers would provide immediate feedback and serve as a reinforcement of modified behavior. University of Connecticut, Bradley Bolling, PhD $417,076 Goal of this project is to evaluate whether chokeberry extract containing antioxidant polyphenols will have cardio-protective effects in former smokers who are susceptible to atherosclerosis development due to previous exposure of smoking-induced oxidative stress. Completion of this work will significantly advance understanding of the mechanisms by which dietary polyphenols and their metabolites reduce biomarkers of cardiovascular disease. This knowledge is critical to develop evidence-based nutrition recommendations for health and nutrition professionals. Yale University, Kevan Herold, MD $169,678 This proposal involves the development and testing of a novel approach to measure beta cell death in vivo, which is not now possible but would have important implications for treatment of diabetes. The assay will have immediate application for patients with and at risk for T1D but may also have value for treatment of islet and pancreatic graft rejection and management of Type 2 diabetes.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line941
__label__wiki	0.946171	0.946171	A second repeating fast radio burst has been tracked to a distant galaxy By admin On Jan 10, 2019 SEATTLE — Astronomers have spotted a second repeating fast radio burst, and it looks a lot like the first. The existence of a second repeating burst suggests there could be many more of the mysterious signals in the cosmos. The burst, called FRB 180814.J0422+73, is one of 13 newly discovered fast radio bursts, or FRBs — brief, bright signals of radio energy that come from distant galaxies. The FRBs were detected over a few weeks last year by the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment, or CHIME, in British Columbia. Astronomers reported the discoveries at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society on January 7 and in the Jan. 9 Nature. Most such bursts erupt once, last for a few milliseconds, and are never seen again. So astronomers have puzzled over what causes them for years (SN: 8/9/14, p. 22). “If you have something that flashes for a millisecond in the sky, and theres nothing that happens for many years, its really hard to study,” says astronomer Shriharsh Tendulkar of McGill University in Montreal, a member of the CHIME team. But then in 2016, astronomers discovered the first repeating FRB when they realized that a series of bursts all came from a single source, called FRB 121102 (SN: 4/2/16, p. 12). Astronomers tracked the signal to its host galaxy (SN: 2/4/17, p. 10) and determined it was coming from an extremely magnetic environment, such as the region surrounding a black hole (SN: 2/3/18, p. 6). Researchers didnt know if FRB 121102s repeating signal was unique. Of the more than 60 FRBs detected, no other was known to repeat — until now. Having spotted a second one, scientists are searching for more. “Imagine you saw a unicorn,” Tendulkar says. “Then suddenly you discover another one. You know now there is a population of these. There is hope for discovering a lot more.” The CHIME team detected the first of the repeating FRB signals on August 14, with four more coming over the next two months from the same spot on the sky. It wasnt until the third burst, on September 17, that the team realized they might have a repeater, Tendulkar says. “Somebody pointed out, hey look, these three bursts seem to have the same properties,” he says. “Everybody got really excited.” Calculations show that the new repeater is about 1.6 billion light-years away. The CHIME team also saw an odd similarity between the two known repeating bursts. Most FRBs are just a sharp blip, akin to a single note being played on a trumpet. But some of the individual bursts in both repeaters were made up of multiple sub-bursts that descended in frequency, like the “wah wah wah wah” of a sad trombone. “Weve seen this in 121102, and we cant explain it,” says astronomer Emily Petroff of ASTRON, the Netherlands Institute of Radio Astronomy, who was not involved in the new work. “Up until now weve only had the one repeater, and its given us more questions than answers.” But the fact that both repeaters behave similarly could suggest they have similar origins, she says. Astronomers may have already caught a third repeating burst, too. FRB 110523, discovered in 2015, has some similar features to the first known repeating FRB, so it was worth checking to see if it also repeats, said astronomer Allison McCarthy of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Together with Andrew Seymour of the Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia, McCarthy analyzed more than 41 hours of observations of FRB 110523 taken at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. They found one potential repeat burst, McCarthy reported January 9 in a poster at the AAS meeting, but theyre not declaring victory just yet. “It wasnt strong enough for us to be very sure we had detected one,” McCarthy said, adding that theyre about 60 percent certain. “But its still a promising candidate.” Astronomers theories for what causes FRBs are almost as numerous as known FRBs themselves. At one point, astronomers even considered the idea that FRBs could be signals from intelligent aliens. But its unclear if the repeating bursts and single bursts both come from the same kinds of sources, or even if one-offs might also repeat if watched for long enough. “Its the wild, wild west out there,” Tendulkar says. “We have tantalizing clues, but its hard to make definitive conclusions.” CHIME is likely to catch a lot more of these fast radio bursts. The telescope was still being tested when it caught the 13 new ones, so was not operating at peak performance. “They just barely turned on the telescope,” Petroff says, “and theyre already finding things.” Everything you need to know about the foldable Royole FlexPai phone – CNET 5 ways the UKs health plan falls flat	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line944
__label__cc	0.582662	0.417338	Whose Regulatory Interests? Outsourcing the Treaty Function New York University Journal of International Law and Politics (JILP), Vol. 45, P. 1037, 2013 U of Penn Law School, Public Law Research Paper No. 12-51 26 Pages Posted: 11 Dec 2012 Last revised: 25 Sep 2014 See all articles by Stephen B. Burbank Stephen B. Burbank In this article I describe the status quo in the area of foreign judgment recognition, with attention to the tension between domestic interests and international cooperation. Precisely because the future of the status quo is in doubt, I then consider current proposals for change, particularly the effort to implement the Hague Choice of Court Convention in the United States. Prominent among the normative questions raised by my account is whose interests, in addition to the litigants’ interests, are at stake – those of the United States, those of the several states, or those of interest groups waving a federal or state flag. A related question is whether, if the uniformity we seek is to be found in state rather than federal law, we can be, and be seen by other countries to be, serious about international cooperation. I describe in some detail the sequence of events that led to the Uniform Law Commissioners (“ULC”) becoming involved in the process of drafting legislation to implement the Choice of Court Convention. I also explore reasons why the ULC has been successful in securing the lion’s share of attention for its preferred approach to implementation, which the ULC calls “cooperative federalism,” but which has come to resemble cooperative redundancy. Recounting how, and offering suggestions why, the ULC ultimately rejected a package of compromises proposed by the State Department’s Legal Adviser, even though almost all compromises were in favor of the ULC, I conclude with observations about the ULC’s ambitions in the international arena. My argument is that, if the ULC were successful in taking over the negotiation or implementation of private international law treaties, international cooperation would be if not a fortuity, then not a priority, because we would have regressed to a position of privileging not just federal but state law uniformity over international uniformity. And the state law we privileged would be anything but “indigenous.” Keywords: procedure, litigation, arbitration, private international law, The Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements, transnational contracts, forum selection, choice of court, recognition & enforcement of judgments, international cooperation, National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws Burbank, Stephen B., Whose Regulatory Interests? Outsourcing the Treaty Function (2013). New York University Journal of International Law and Politics (JILP), Vol. 45, P. 1037, 2013; U of Penn Law School, Public Law Research Paper No. 12-51. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2187936 Stephen B. Burbank (Contact Author) University of Pennsylvania Law School ( email )	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line946
__label__wiki	0.564916	0.564916	Medium and soft for GP2 in Russia; medium for GP3 For its second visit to Russia, the GP2 Series will have the medium and soft tyre (the same nomination as last year) while the GP3 Series will use the medium tyre (compared to the soft in 2014). Effectively, the GP3 nomination for Russia is actually the same this year, because the 2015 tyres are all a step softer than their 2014 equivalents anyway. Last year’s GP2 title was won by Jolyon Palmer in Russia, while Alex Lynn took a decisive step towards the GP3 title, so this has been a very significant race for both championships previously. The Sochi track contains a smooth surface and a wide variety of mostly medium-speed corners, providing a number of overtaking opportunities. The low abrasion of the asphalt means that tyre wear and degradation has traditionally been low. However, with the potential for unexpectedly warm weather and an increased race length on Sunday for GP3, the drivers will have to think carefully about tyre management. Pirelli’s racing manager says: Mario Isola: “As Russia was a brand new circuit last year we didn’t have much real circuit information. Now that we have some real data from the race last year, we’ve been able to fine-tune the nomination to match the specific demands of the track. Although it was brand new last year, the track surface has not evolved over the winter, so we’re expecting low wear and degradation once more. Also, the circuit has not been used much since last year, and this is one of the main reasons why the surface is not very different. The weather is generally quite mild, which should help to reduce the effects of thermal degradation, but there is the possibility of unexpectedly hot weather too. While the surface is in no way abrasive, a number of drivers were surprised last year by the amount of grip available.” The challenge for the tyres: Turn 3 is actually inspired by the famous turn eight in Istanbul Park. In Russia it is a very long left-hander that takes more energy out of the tyres than any other part of the lap. This is the biggest challenge, with the other specifics of the track only becoming evident over the course of the weekend. The track varies in width from 13 metres at its narrowest point to 15 metres at the start-finish line, providing a number of overtaking opportunities. Running in a clockwise direction, the layout consists of 12 right-hand and six left-hand corners and combines both high-speed and technical sections. The 5.853-kilometre track will be the third longest of the year, behind Spa and Silverstone. Around 1.7 of those kilometres are run on public roads, meaning that it has relatively little in common with any other circuit on the GP2 or GP3 calendar. However, it has a few points in common with the Valencia street circuit, which was used up to 2012. The race and the rules: GP2 Every car will have five sets of dry tyres and three sets of wet weather tyres available for the GP2 race weekend. The five sets of dry tyres comprise three sets of the medium compound and two sets of the soft compound. The drivers can use their tyre allocation in any way they like, but at least one set of each compound must be used in the feature race (unless it is a wet race). One set of the harder compound must be returned after free practice. Qualifying takes place at 16.00 on Friday after practice at 12.00. Race One on Saturday is run at 16.40 over 30 laps and each driver must complete one compulsory pit stop. This cannot take place within the first six laps. Unlike Formula One, the drivers do not have to start the race using the tyres they qualified on. The grid for Race Two on Sunday at 11.05 is determined by the finishing order of the first race, with the top eight positions reversed. Race Two is run over 21 laps, with no compulsory pit stops. GP3 Every car will have three sets of dry tyres and two sets of wet weather tyres available for the GP3 race weekend. Only one compound is nominated: medium for this weekend. The drivers can use the tyre allocation in any way they like. Drivers are normally allowed to carry over one tyre set from the previous round for use in free practice only. This will also be the medium compound, from Monza. There is one practice session, one qualifying session and two races in GP3. Qualifying takes place at 09.30 on Saturday after a single free practice session on Friday at 17.00. Race One starts at 13.30 on Saturday and lasts for 20 laps, followed by Race Two at 10.00 on Sunday (lasting 15 laps). The grid for Race Two is determined by the finishing order of the first race, with the top eight positions reversed. Copyright-free videos, photos and media news are available for editorial use from: www.pirelli.com/f1pressarea Follow us on Twitter: @pirellisport or Facebook: Pirelli Motorsport. Please also visit the Pirelli website: www.pirelli.com. For further information please contact: Anthony Peacock • +44 7765 896 930 • anthony@mediaticaworld.com	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line949
__label__wiki	0.950456	0.950456	Dillinja www.facebook.com/dillinjavalve www.instagram.com/dillinjavalve... www.twitter.com/Dillinjavalve www.dillinja.co.uk Nick Reddick Moshope Osinibi dillinja_hires.jpg There are few producers on the drum'n'bass scene who are as respected and revered as Dillinja. With his trademark combination of dirty stomach-churning basslines and tighter than tight beats, his reputation has been secured as one of the most influential producers in drum'n'bass history, as well as one of the scene's most called-upon remixers, having worked with everyone from David Bowie to Bjork and Basement Jaxx. A true connoisseur of sound, Dillinja's mighty 96k Valve Sound System is recognised the world over as being second to none. Dillinja was reared on a musical diet of funk, jazz, reggae and rare groove, genres which proved to influence him enormously, but it was the 1980s hip hop and electro explosion which really captured his heart. His hunger for hip-hop was well satisfied in South London, as local parks hosted free events where hip-hop, soul, rare groove and reggae could be consumed in vast quantities. The influence of these events on Dillinja, where the likes of King Tubby's Hi Fi and Jah Shaka made their presence felt with their mighty earth-shaking reggae sound systems, was huge. Dillinja began to shadow a local guy who had made Jah Shaka's amps, and not long after, at the age of fifteen, he was making his own custom built amps and bass bins; a hobby that soon became obsession, with his teenage bedroom so full of audio equipment, he had no choice but to put his mattress atop the speaker cabinets and sleep there. However, when the infamous Criminal Justice Bill was introduced, seriously clamping down on sound systems and the events where they were played. Dillinja decided that rather than compromising his system, he would call it a day, sell of its components, and enter the heady world of music production. With musical experience gained at school playing both the drums and violin, Dillinja easily picked up the required skills, hanging around the Digidub Studios in Camberwell to get a feel for the engineering side of the process. He began to furiously produce tracks, so many at one point that he was putting out two releases a week, plunging any money earned straight back into the kitty for mastering and pressing costs, as well as bus and train fares for self-distribution to all the specialist records stores. Dillinja: "I wasn't making any money for years, I just had such a love for the music. I was knocking tunes together in my room, getting a hundred white labels pressed and running around with them to record shops myself. It was a great learning process and I loved it". It is an often cited fact that by the age of 23, Dillinja already had 50 releases under his belt. His initial records were all on white label, including his first ever release 'Tear Off Your Chest', produced with Batmix, but within a couple of years he went on to form a myriad of labels such as Cybotron, Logic, Target, IQ and Deadly Vinyl, the latter being home to such Dillinja early classics as 'Sovereign Melody' and 'Deadly Deep Subs'. As well as his own label, Dillinja went on to record for many other drum'n'bass labels, including Bryan Gee and Jumpin' Jack Frost's V Recordings and Philly Blunt labels, Hardleaders, Prototype and Goldie's pioneering Metalheadz imprint. Dillinja used these labels to show his unique musical versatility; while labels such as Philly Blunt and Lionheart Records showcased some of Dillinja's more raw jungle based sounds, as in 'Muthafucka' and the reggae-fuelled basslines of 'Lionheart' (produced with Bert), his seminal 1994 Blade Runner-sampling release 'The Angels Fell' was at the helm of the new wave of drum'n'bass encapsulated in the cutting edge Metalheadz sound. It is this fusion of dark basslines and tightly produced beats that has become Dillinja's trademark sound today, a sound that has resulted in Dillinja being called to remix for the likes of David Bowie, Bjork, Faith No More, Soul II Soul, Basement Jaxx, Amon Tobin, Artful Dodger and Jeru the Damaja. The various aliases under which he has recorded include Trinity, Capone, Cybotron and The Specialist. Dillinja's introduction to Kevin King aka Lemon D in the mid 1990s through a mutual friend resulted in a partnership which soon gave birth to Valve Recordings in 1997, so named after the old Shaka pre-amps used in reggae sound systems. Starting as it meant to go on, the label's first release was Dillinja's brutal 'Violent Killa', backed with Lemon D's '12.01'. Test Recordings was set up as a subsidiary label at around the same period a more anonymous, dancefloor-based label. In between these various releases on his Valve labels, Dillinja signed an album deal with London Records in 2000, a move that resulted in the production of the classic 'Cybotron' LP in 2001, an album highly acclaimed by the dance music establishment which cemented Dillinja's position as one of the true leaders in his field. Nowhere has this been more apparent than with the Valve Sound System. Fed up with playing on second rate club sound systems which they felt didn't do their tracks justice, Dillinja, utilising his vast knowledge and experience in the field, decided, with Lemon D, to build his own system the Valve Sound System the world's first sound system designed and built specifically for drum'n'bass and its frequencies of deep bass which were all too often ignored by most club systems. The mighty 96k Valve Sound System made its mind blowing club debut at London's Fabric nightclub in May 2001, and since then it has extensively toured the UK, with plans for the system to be taken overseas in the near future. In May 2002, Dillinja co-produced Valve Recordings' debut album 'Big Bad Bass' with Lemon D, an LP which aimed to reflect the ethos of the Valve Sound System and included dancefloor smashers such as Dillinja's 'Thugged Out Bitch' and Valve Sound System anthem 'It Ain't Too Loud'. 'The Killa-Hertz' followed in September 2003, including a Valve documentary and cover art by legendary photographer Dennis Morris, responsible for taking some of the most iconic photos of Bob Marley, the Sex Pistols and King Tubby, among others. A retrospective LP 'My Sound 1993 2004' was released in 2004, featuring some of the biggest tracks from the Dillinja back catalogue, including 'Acid Track', 'The Angels Fell' and 'Friday'. As head of Valve Recordings, he has continued to find and develop new talent for the label and has commissioned several compilation albums, including cuts from the likes of TC, High Contrast and Breakage. Dillinja is currently working on new material for his Valve imprint, as well as touring extensively with the Valve Sound System and DJing internationally. Dillinja: At The Boiler Room, New Dehli Jungle and Drum & Bass legend Dillinja laid down a set so incendiary the Boiler Room party was closed down, with a little help from the New Delhi police. Dillinja: Unreleased Tracks On Deep Jungle Two more previously unreleased gems from Dillinja's esteemed back catalogue have finally seen the light of day with an official vinyl and digital release on Deep Jungle Records. The A side 'Another Dimension', originally from 1994, shows us Dillinja's softer melodic side on the intro, before unleashing the Reese danger on the drop. This moody roller is perfect for those of you who have been craving some more of his 94 era productions, that really takes you on a journey straight back to that time... The AA side features the 1995 dance floor killa 'Humanity'. This one's been making it's way around the dance floors on a select few dubplates for some time now, about 22 years to be precise. Finally unleashed from the vault for all the heads out there. www.deepjungle.bandcamp.com/releases	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line950
__label__wiki	0.625207	0.625207	Pro Bono: A transformation issue for South Africa’s legal fraternity “Unless lawyers accommodate the needs of those who cannot afford their fees, society runs the risk of either tyranny or anarchy” By: Andy Bester The majority of South Africans cannot afford legal representation. In 2011 the average monthly household income in South Africa was R9 962. The average household income of a black family was R5 803 and that of households headed by a woman, black or white, R5 903. However much these figures may have improved, consider the cost of legal services: in Johannesburg, members of the bar typically charge from R6 000 to R8 000 per day immediately after pupillage. Two decades after the dawn of democracy, the majority of South Africans cannot afford legal services and race and gender still substantially determine access to the justice system. The inability of millions to access legal services is not only unjust; it also perpetuates inequality, thus maintaining an untransformed society. The definition of transformation remains the topic of much debate. I suggest that, at least, transformation is about improving the lives of those persons who still bear the brunt of discrimination, relative to those who face no such disadvantage, whilst still pursuing a better life for all. As advocates, we hold ourselves out as forensic specialists, professionals who focus on finding the best way of improving a client’s position relative to others. How well we are suited to effect transformation! Unless lawyers accommodate the needs of those who cannot afford their fees, society runs the risk of either tyranny or anarchy. The Constitutionally enshrined goal of access to justice for all cannot be realised without a hands-on commitment thereto by the legal profession. What role, then, do pro bono legal services fulfil in attaining a transformed society? Pro bono publico bears two meanings. It follows the literal meaning of the term – ‘what is good for society’ – when referring to activities primarily motivated by a desire to serve the interests of society. That does not mean that the work is done for free, although it is often done at reduced rates. Generally this type of work is referred to as public interest litigation. Much of public interest litigation, especially cases referred to as ‘impact litigation’, cannot practically be done for free, as it requires the commitment of substantial resources. There are always takers for this type of work, often at a lower than usual fee. Shaping the law and ensuring an alignment of society’s and Government’s actions with the laws of the land are, however, not sufficient to improve the lives of individuals faced with a myriad of crises on a daily basis: a mother battling to obtain payment of maintenance from a delinquent father, a grandmother who can’t produce paperwork to lay claim to the place she has called home for many years, and an unschooled worker whose loss of a menial job means children going to bed with empty stomachs. These are the people who cannot wait for the right test case to come along; and judicial pronouncements will not miraculously solve the hurdles they face in asserting their rights. They need immediate, effective and personal assistance – pro bono services in the narrow sense. In the latter sense (the provision of free legal services to ordinary clients) our profession still has to show its commitment. The GCB Constitution is silent on the duty to render pro bono services, as are most, if not all, of the constitutions of the local bars. Only in 2002 was a reference to the duty to do pro bono work included in the Uniform Rules of Ethics. I do not suggest that advocates have not rendered pro bono services in the past; I do however suggest that our profession does not have an ethos of rendering pro bono legal services. There is hope, though. Over the last few years the law societies have adopted detailed pro bono rules, and so have the bigger bars, with the smaller bars relying directly on the Uniform Rules of Ethics to regulate their efforts. Most, if not all, of the large law firms have dedicated pro bono units and several law clinics work in dedicated areas where there are particularly pressing daily needs, such as realising housing, education and women’s and children’s rights. Nowadays there are actually colleagues who ask for pro bono work. Nevertheless, much more work still has to be done before we can call ourselves committed. The fundamental challenge in rendering pro bono assistance is effectively to match a particular need, as and when it arises, with an appropriate available resource, and to do so expeditiously. On the demand side of this equation, the main difficulty is that the people in need of assistance are usually also those who are the least likely to know where and how to ask for assistance, or to persist with their efforts to obtain assistance in the face of what often seem to them to be insurmountable hurdles. Someone who is used to being ignored easily gives up hope. If they find help, it is very often at a stage when the claim is about to or has prescribed, time periods have lapsed or are about to lapse, or it is too late to do something about an unfortunate history of events that could so easily have turned out for the better if adequate assistance had been rendered timeously. On the other side of the equation, two principal problems have to be addressed: obtaining and retaining commitment from practitioners over time, and implementing an easily maintained, low cost system efficiently to match an available advocate with the requisite skills for the particular problem of a client in need. An efficient distribution system requires administrative infrastructure of a size and complexity that is traditionally anathema to the Bar. Outsourcing therefore seems very attractive. It is thus no wonder that the larger bars, in particular, are forming closer relationships with organisations able to serve as match-makers. The two largest organisations with whom bars have built up such relationships are Legal Aid South Africa and ProBono.Org. The aim of Legal Aid SA is to make legal aid available to indigent persons, within its financial means, so as to give content to the rights to legal representation at State expense.2 Legal Aid SA requires that a household must show that it has a net monthly income of R6 000 per month or less to be considered for completely subsidised legal aid. Budgetary constraints prevent Legal Aid SA from significantly expanding its assistance in civil matters. Its focus thus remains on representation in criminal matters. At the initiative of Legal Aid SA some bars have entered into formal co-operation arrangements with Legal Aid SA, in terms of which members are to make themselves available to render pro bono services in cases where Legal Aid SA is unable to subsidise legal representation in civil cases. This mechanism is still in its infancy but holds promise as an effective way of exposing advocates to opportunities to do pro bono work. We should, however, take care that the State does not abdicate its responsibility in this regard by letting individual practitioners pick up the tab for an underfunded statutory body. ProBono.Org grew from little more than the vision and dedication of a handful of individuals at the beginning of 2007, to an organisation with offices in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Durban, opening in excess of 11 000 files in 2015. Its main activity is that of a clearing house which matches indigent clients’ needs with appropriate legal expertise. Its training and education functions and awareness campaigns have expanded substantially over the years. ProBono.Org maintains helpdesks at several courts, including the Gauteng High Courts in Pretoria and Johannesburg in co-operation with the Office of theJudge President and the Law Society of the Northern Provinces. With the assistance of attorneys from a wide range of firms, the organisation interviews clients at its offices, clinics, seminars and helpdesks. This includes applying a means test similar to one used by Legal Aid SA. If they qualify, clients are assisted there and then, referred elsewhere or processed for further assistance, depending on the nature of the problem. Further assistance usually entails finding an attorney from the extensive panel of firms accepting referrals from ProBono.Org and obtaining a commitment from a member of the Bar to assist in the matter. Advocates render pro bono services pursuant to these referrals on brief from an instructing attorney, although each office of ProBono.Org is also a Law Clinic and sometimes gives instructions directly to advocates. Many further stumbling blocks remain in the way of expanding the Bar’s pro bono efforts. The following points give an idea of what needs to be addressed. A major obstacle in matching the need for legal services with willing and able practitioners is the discord between the areas where the greatest need exists and the areas of the law in which most practitioners earn a living. The majority of pro bono matters pertain to family law, women’s and children’s rights, estates, housing and residential property rights, labour disputes, refugees, access to grants and pensions and other social security related issues. This puts a disproportionate burden on members practising in these areas. To avoid rendering pro bono services on the grounds that the seniority of the work does not accord with a member’s experience, or that the skills required fall outside of a member’s area of specialisation, is often sought to be justified on the basis that these are legitimate reasons for not accepting a brief. This attitude should not be tolerated. Whilst a pro bono brief should be executed in the same manner as any other brief, it does not follow that the basis upon which an instruction is accepted should follow the usual rules. Specialist practitioners should pick an area in which they will do pro bono work. Too little use is made of contingency arrangements. In between impact cases and the run-of-the-mill cases there are many matters requiring more resources than can easily be mustered. A trial can seldom be run on a pro bono basis. In many matters the opposite party is able to pay an adverse costs order. A simple mechanism, catered for in the rules of ethics, is to conclude a contingency agreement on the basis that counsel shall be paid fees as allowed on taxation and when collected from the other party. The most junior members are generally very willing to do pro bono work, but lack the experience to deal confidently with some matters. On the other hand many senior practitioners do not often receive requests to do pro bono work. An area that has not been explored sufficiently is the combination of two counsel on one brief, with the more senior member serving as advisor and mentor to the more junior colleague over the period of execution of the brief. In this way, more people can obtain effective legal assistance, junior members with available time can gain experience under the guidance of an experienced practitioner and more senior members will be able to render pro bono services effectively. It is in the nature of an advocate’s practice that the bulk of the administrative work is done by an attorney. In pro bono matters the lay client is often not even able to afford the basic costs associated with legal assistance. This situation is exacerbated by the fact that sometimes attorneys try to avoid carrying these costs in pro bono matters by pushing the burden onto counsel. Junior members, who are still struggling to build up their practices, find it difficult to fund typing, printing and copying costs, as well as travel costs, from their own pockets. With no mechanism to assist with these costs, pro bono work becomes burdensome and unattractive to more junior members. Ideally a fund should be created from which disbursements could be recovered in circumscribed instances. One of the fundamental advantages of a split profession is that skills in every area of the law are available to every lay client. In pro bono matters it often happens that a law firm has to return a pro bono instruction referred to it because of a conflict of interest. Entities that litigate often, such as banks, have numerous firms on their panels. That immediately excludes all of these attorneys from assisting in, for instance, foreclosure matters, a familiar topic in pro bono work. Advocates are not as easily conflicted as attorneys, yet, because we work on referral, delays occur before counsel is instructed in these matters because cases have to be referred more than once to find an attorney who can take on the matter. Perhaps the Bar should be more willing to accept instructions directly from law clinics in matters where conflict of interest is a common problem. Section 29 of the Legal Practice Act 28 of 2014, provides that the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, after consultation with the Legal Practice Council, must prescribe requirements for community service. The Minister must also prescribe a minimum period of recurring community service by practitioners upon which continued enrolment as a legal practitioner is dependent. Pro bono work should feature strongly on the Minster’s list, thus giving statutory impetus to the rendering of pro bono services. Irrespective of the ultimate form and place of the Bar as a professional organisation in the new dispensation, advocates should not take their place in society for granted. We should realise and appreciate that the privilege of pursuing such a noble profession carries obligations that cannot be avoided or disavowed. A failure to provide pro bono services projects a profession indifferent to the Constitution, insensitive to the needs of Society and unable to regulate its own affairs. About this piece: The piece was first published in Advocate, the official journal of the General Council of the Bar of South Africa. About the author: Andy Bester, BProc LLB MBA, is a member of the Johannesburg Bar. He is the Chairman of ProBono.Org and a member of the GCB Pro Bono Committee and the Johannesburg Bar Pro Bono Committee. 1 Statistics South Africa, Income and Expenditure of Households 2010/2011 Stats SA P0100, 6 November 2012. The results of the 2015/2016 survey are likely to be available only in 2017. 2 Legal Aid Guide 2014, 13th edition Pingback: South African lawyer wins International Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year award \| UJUH Pingback: Lawyers asked to sign the ‘Procurement Protocols’: An attempt to transform the legal industry \| UJUH Halied. 6 Feb 2018 at 18:45 I have very large case worth millions, very senior and very well known counsel in South Africa confirmed the strength of the case and expressed comfort in taking it on, expressed comfort of proving the fraud committed. The fees for the advocate and to cover the entire are paralyzing me, as I am financially stranded. Any assistant would be very greatly appreciated. Pingback: Why South Africa needs formal rules for class action lawsuits \| UJUH Pingback: Why SA needs formal rules for class action lawsuits \| Refinery Capital Management	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line951
__label__wiki	0.699299	0.699299	Jalen Lecque Jalen Lecque Biography Facts of Jalen Lecque 2000, June 3 University Team No. of Twitter Followers No. of Instagram Followers 6 feet 4 inches Jalen Lecque is an American basketball player who last played college basketball player for North Carolina State. Jalen declared for the 2019 NBA Draft Combine and signed with the Phoenix Suns as an undrafted free agent. Jalen's athletic ability has earned him a title of 'Baby Westbrook'. He is currently signed under a 4-year contract with 2 years guaranteed and might earn around $645,000. So, how much net worth does he have? Scroll down to know about his in details. How much is Jalen Lecque Salary, Net worth? The No. 1 pick of the 2018 NBA draft is slated to earn $6.75 million during the 2018-19 season. Rookies do have the ability to sign for as low as 80-per cent to as high as 120-percent of their scale amount within a year. NBA rookies earn good money, but there is a sizable difference with what many of the top players will eventually be able to earn. However, Jalen was signed to the NBA as an undrafted free agent so, he will reportedly earn around $645,000 as his annual salary. Jalen Lecque Body Measurements Jalen is 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighs around 85 kgs. He has dark brown eyes and shiny brown hair. Jalen is blessed with a perfect body mass Like any player, his first love is his game basketball but, other than that he loves hanging with his friends. Also Left Undrafted: Jontay Porter Who is Jalen Lecque's Girlfriend? Jalen is a young stud who has gained huge popularity at such a tender age. He is having a great fanbase for such an excellent performance. Anything about his past affair is not known. Jalen must be having his lady love. But he has not brought his relationship in limelight. As a teenage guy, Jalen likes hanging around with his friends. His first love is basketball but, other than that, he also likes playing soccer and video games. Also Read: Who is Zion Williamson currently Dating? Know about his Girlfriend and Family Jalen Lecque's Early Life and Education Jalen was born on June 13, 2000, is in Manhattan, New York and lived in The Bronx until he was three. Both of his parents worked in Harlem. Jalen's father works at a saloon and his mother is employed in a hospital. Lecque attended his middle school from Teaneck New Jersey after which his parents moved to New York. Jalen attended the Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. Also an Undrafted Free agent: Luguentz Dort Jalen Lecque Career Jalen attended the Monsignor Scanlan High School for having a superior basketball program rather going for Teaneck high school. Jalen is performing excellently in the game, for that he has thanks to his mentors from NC state college. He averaged 11 points per game in the 2016-2017 season. in 2018-2019 class, Lecque was drawn to the school for not only basketball but also academics. he had an average of 20.1 points leading his team to the 3A North Carolina Independent School Athletic Association (NCISAA) state semifinals. On April 20, 2019, Lecque declared for the 2019 NBA draft. On May 8, 2019, Lecque was named one of 77 total players participating in the NBA Draft, later in the month. Jalen Lecque N.B.A N.B.A. Draft	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line955
__label__wiki	0.693394	0.693394	Daniel Greenfield: Gunter Grass and the Left’s Red Flags By Daniel Greenfield A few days after September 11 I saw a quote from Gunter Grass on a Manhattan lamppost. In those dark days, the lampposts and walls that weren’t covered in missing persons posters were decorated with the hysterical pamphleteering of the left urging us to blame ourselves for the attacks. The quote has long since been lost to memory, buried under smoke and ash, a green parrot perched on an empty staircase and crowds thronging on foot across the bridge. The quote itself, like the latest Grassian screed, does not matter. Grass, like Gandhi and King, was one of the favorite go-to guys for the left’s sticky sheets of paper. When you want to write a suicide note, then you reach for a line from Sylvia Plath or Emily Dickinson, but when you want to write a national or civilizational suicide note, there’s always Gunter Grass. As a writer, Gunter Grass is a blacksmith, hammering together graceless and shapeless lumps that aren’t good for much except hitting people over the head with leaden angst and guilt. Being a bad artist or writer, a shameless egotist who hammers his own pedestal and waits for the adoring crowds to gather, does not make one a Nazi, though Gunter had been a Nazi. But it doesn’t help either. Neither does the resentment over the war poorly fitted into a pacifist t-shirt which hangs over the paunches of the German and Japanese left. That adds a vindictive tone to their denunciation of American, British and Israeli warmongering. Grass, like so much of the German left, saw Nazis everywhere but in the mirror. The only lesson that he and his comrades had drawn is that they were wrong to march right, when they should have marched left. It did not occur to them that they should not have been marching at all and that the marching under red banners was the whole problem to begin with. On the thirty-first anniversary of Kristallnacht, the progressives of the German terrorist left plotted to bomb a Berlin synagogue where a Kristallnacht commemoration was taking place. They didn’t succeed, but their colleagues on Air France Flight 139 did, staging their own Aktzion, separating the Israelis from the non-Israelis and deciding who would go to the left or to the right. Bose, the leader of the German Entebbe hijackers, who had told the hostages that he was not a Nazi, just an idealist, had proposed assassinating Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal. That plot, like bombing a synagogue’s Kristallnacht commemoration, seemed more like it might be up a Nazi’s alley. Another symptom of how the German left could not help goosestepping right. The answer to the conundrum and the unspoken thing that Gunter Grass dared not speak of may lie in a letter from the leader of another German leftist terrorist cell, Dieter Kunzelmann, who while sipping coffee with Muslim terrorists in Jordan, wrote home that, “The German left must overcome its Judenknacks” or hangups about Jews. By this little Dieter did not mean that the German left should stop hating Jews, he meant that it should learn to feel good about hating Jews. Bombing the synagogue on Kristallnacht would help Germany get rid of its “Vorherrschaft des Judenkomplexes“, he wrote, which means something like the Supremacy of the Jewish Neurosis, Bombing a synagogue would help Germans break through their feelings of guilt and emancipate the German left from feeling any hesitation about killing Jews. The provocateurs of the left who had dedicated themselves to the war against bourgeois hangups about orgies and communal property would help break one more wrongheaded bourgeois taboo. Much like an icon of the German left confessing to having served in the SS and writing a poem that features him working out his own “Judenknacks” right on the page. Gunter Grass was more of a moderate than Dieter Kunzelmann. Rather than tackling the Judenknacks head on by bombing a synagogue on Kristallnacht or shooting Simon Wiesenthal in the head, he took the hack’s route by treading the well worn ground of spinning the wheel of history until the Jews became the new Nazis. They have uniforms don’t they, and an army and bombs. Grass volunteered to serve during the war to escape his bourgeois middle-class home like a Peter Pan flying away to a Nazi Neverland. The left’s anti-American andanti-Semitic hiccups have little to do with the red, white and blue or the blue and white, but with how impressive all the speakers are in taking on the Great Satan and the Little Satan. Down with General Electric, down with the A-Bomb, down with the Synagogue. Up with whoever is shouting through a megaphone about boycotting Israeli walnuts or American rockets. It’s not about the left being Anti-Semitic, it’s about it being socially acceptable for the left to be Anti-Semitic. And it’s about the “courage” of leftists who dare to take on the bourgeois post-Holocaust hangups and switch them around so that the Jews become the Nazis, the Nazis become the Jews and the Mullahs become the Uberjews. The Jews are irrelevant except as a means for the left to rid itself of all rules and morals on the path to total revolutionary commitment. In Cologne, Muslims wanted to distribute a Koran to every household in the country. But too many are still reading from Das Kapital and Mein Kampf. Like the boat captain in Die Lorelei, they can’t see the cliff, they are too enraptured by the revolutionary songs of the red Lorelei. The Wagnerian thunder of all the old revolutions reborn again out of the dead earth, spotted with the blood of martyrs, the sharp uncompromising red of revolution. “Raise high the red flags,” the Battle Hymn of National Socialism went, “For German labor we will clear the path to freedom.” Those red flags have not changed much since. The Blutfahne, the blood flag covered in the vital fluids of dead Nazis killed during the Beer Hall Putsch under which Nazis swore in new recruits. Or the red flag of Soviet Union memorializing the blood of the martyrs of revolution. Or the red tulips of the Iranian flag which represent the blood of martyrs. It’s all the same in the end. Red faces hiding behind red flags. Red Gunter mixing his poison with sugar, closing the circle of his life even as the international left goes back to smashing Jewish windows and crowds gather with megaphones outside Jewish stores. It’s not really about the Jews, it’s about the men and women with megaphones who have spent too long looking in mirrors and waiting for the applause to begin. It isn’t the size of the stone, it’s the breaking of taboos. And when enough taboos have been broken, then the red flags can freely wave again. Follow Daniel Greenfield’s daily blog Sultan Knish. Daniel Greenfield is a blogger and columnist born in Israel and living in New York City. He is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center and a contributing editor at Family Security Matters. Daniel's original biweekly column appears at Front Page Magazine and his blog articles regularly appear at Family Security Matters, the Jewish Press, Times of Israel, Act for America and Right Side News, as well as daily at the Canada Free Press and a number of other outlets. He has a column titled Western Front at Israel National News and his op eds have also appeared in the New York Sun, the Jewish Press and at FOX Nation. Daniel was named one of the Jewish Press' Most Worthwhile Blogs from 2006-2011 and his writing has been cited by Rush Limbaugh, Melanie Philips, Robert Spencer, Daniel Pipes, Judith Klinghoffer, John Podhoretz, Jeff Jacoby and Michelle Malkin, among others. Daniel's blog, http://sultanknish.blogspot.com, is a daily must-read. Obama’s JV Team: Expanding Its Footprint into N. Africa & U.S. Border VIDEO: WHY Are Students Supporting Hillary in 2016? (Ugh…)	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line956
__label__wiki	0.581291	0.581291	Justia Patents Demand Based MessagingUS Patent Application for SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR TRANSMISSION OF DATA Patent Application (Application #20140156775) SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR TRANSMISSION OF DATA Feb 6, 2014 - SimpleAir, Inc. A system and method for data communication connecting on-line networks with on-line and off-line computers. The present system provides for broadcast of up to the minute notification centric information thereby providing an instant call to action for users who are provided with the ability to instantaneously retrieve further detailed information. The notification centric portions of information is wirelessly broadcast to wireless receiving devices which are attached to computing devices. Upon receipt of the information at the personal computer, the user is notified through different multimedia alerts that there is an incoming message. Wirelessly broadcasted URL's, associated with the data, are embedded in data packets and provide an automated wired or wireless connection back to the information source for obtaining detailed data. Latest SimpleAir, Inc. Patents: RELATED APPLICATION INFORMATION This patent is a continuation of application Ser. No. 13/905,393, filed May 30, 2013, which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,656,048, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 11/409,396, filed Apr. 21, 2006, which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,489,707. Application Ser. No. 11/409,396 is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09/350,467, filed Jul. 9, 1999, which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,035,914. U.S. Pat. No. 7,035,914 was subject to reexamination, Control No. 90/009,906, in which the patentability of all subject claims was confirmed. Application Ser. No. 09/350,467 is a continuation of application Ser. No. 08/788,613, filed Jan. 24, 1997, which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,021,433. U.S. Pat. No. 6,021,433 was subject to reexamination, Control No. 90/009,904, in which the patentability of all subject claims was confirmed. Application Ser. No. 08/788,613 claims the benefit of: Provisional Application No. 60/010,651, filed on Jan. 26, 1996; Provisional Application No. 60/014,341, filed on Mar. 29, 1996; Provisional Application No. 60/014,735, filed on Apr. 1, 1996; and Provisional Application No. 60/026,471, filed on Sep. 23, 1996. Application Ser. No. 09/350,468 filed Jul. 9, 1999, abandoned, claims priority from Application Ser. No. 08/788,613. Application Ser. No. 11/409,396 has four other continuations: application Ser. No. 13/018,420 filed Jan. 31, 2011, which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,572,279; application Ser. No. 13/018,421 filed Jan. 31, 2011, which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,601,154; application Ser. No. 12/871,684 filed Aug. 30, 2010, which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,090,803; and application Ser. No. 13/906,645 filed May 31, 2013, which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,639,838. A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. This patent document may show and/or describe matter which is or may become trade dress of the owner. The copyright and trade dress owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright and trade dress rights whatsoever. The present invention relates generally to communication systems, and more particularly to both wired and non-wired data transmission communication systems. Undoubtedly, computers, communications and information are driving forces in society today. The most significant advances in computers, communications and information have been in the areas of multimedia, wireless and on-line services, respectively. Each of these technologies have produced significant benefits and have effected nearly everyone's life in one way or another. In particular, more than 100 million personal computers are equipped with multimedia hardware and software and nearly every new personal computer manufactured today is shipped with some form of multimedia. Multimedia has made the computer much more than a number crunching, word processing tool. Rather, multimedia has turned the computer into an indispensable educational, entertainment and information tool. By combining the realism of sound, graphics and video, multimedia applications have revolutionized the way individuals work, entertain and stay informed. Multimedia has also helped drive the computer industry to provide tools which can be used by the most novice computer user making computers almost as prevalent in our society as television or radios. Also, multimedia has driven manufacturers to build smaller and more powerful and mobile systems—leading a technological revolution not matched in our history. Moreover, wireless communication technology has allowed individuals to be notified anywhere and anytime of information. Wherever an individual is, i.e. whether away from the office or in the car, he or she can be informed of information, such as new meeting schedules, dinner plans or even life or death emergencies. Additionally, on-line services have revolutionized the distribution of information in our society by making available, to individuals throughout the world, endless amounts of information on every subject imaginable. The Internet and on-line services have brought together the world through a linkage of interconnected computer systems which can share information almost instantaneously. These technologies suffer from numerous disadvantages, however. The benefits of wireless technology have only been utilized for personal messaging offering limited message lengths and have never been utilized as a computer peripheral, limiting the benefit of instant anytime anywhere to personal messages of limited length and value. Consequently, information which is sent is typically old and historic. Moreover, while popular in education and business markets, multimedia has yet to find widespread application in the consumer market. While valuable in education and business circles, the average home user has little use for sound and full motion video. As the number of information providers continue to expand throughout the world, the amount of time and effort required to find information becomes exponentially longer. In particular, the interface to on-line services is often difficult and intimidating to novice computer users. As a result, the benefit of this valuable source of information is thus not available to them. For example, despite the wealth of information available, users are required to search through the myriad of information, rather than having the information come to them. Consequently, information is often missed. Furthermore, immediate notification of information is not available. For example, users who use computer related services, such as electronic mail (E-mail), do not receive instant notification when new mail is received. As a result, urgent E-mail will sit unnoticed in an electronic mailbox. Another major problem is that data transmitted over existing wireless broadcast networks suffer from inevitable degradation. Traditional paging, being a one-way transmission, can use only forward error correction (FEC) on data packets. Many existing paging networks use Motorola's FLEX™, POCSAG or other wireless protocol's error correction/detection capabilities. Although these industry standard protocols provide error detection capabilities, many of them are not able to deal with burst errors or errors due to loss of synchronization. Since these protocols cannot correct all possible errors, some of the data packets will arrive with errors or simply get lost. In most cases, truncated packets and lost packets account for the vast majority of errors after decoding. Similar problems exist with other forms of wireless communication systems as well. What is needed therefore is a system and method for data transmission, which combines the benefits of multimedia, wireless and wired on-line services while addressing and overcoming their limitations. The preceding and other shortcomings of prior art methods and systems are overcome by the present invention which provides a system and method for data communication connecting on-line networks with on-line and off-line computers. In particular, the present system provides for broadcast of up to the minute notification centric information thereby providing an instant call to action for users who are provided with the ability to instantaneously retrieve further detailed information. Throughout the day, various pieces of information happening around the world are currently available in a sender initiated paradigm where individuals have to seek out the information. In accordance with the present invention, the notification centric portions of that information that lives in an electronic medium is wirelessly broadcast on a nationwide basis to wireless receiving devices which are attached to personal computers or other computing devices. Upon receipt of the information at the personal computer, the user is notified through different multimedia alerts that there is an incoming message. Wirelessly broadcasted URL's, associated with the data, are embedded in data packets and provide an automated wired or wireless connection back to the information source for obtaining detailed data. The present invention unlike other wireless systems provides for a combination of broadcast, narrowcast and pointcast transmission. That is, information can be transmitted wirelessly to everyone (broadcast), to a subset of users (narrow cast) or to one user (pointcast). The present invention furthermore provides multiple viewers which listen to the airwaves and have the ability to filter against the broadcast with specific action. A message server provides different types of filters with the ability to parse data. Additionally, the message server is designed such that third party developers can write different types of multimedia viewers which can easily be downloaded to the user system and automatically registered with the message server. The viewers can thus be controlled through the interface of the present invention and multiple viewers and multiple controllers of such viewers can dynamically be added and controlled. Moreover, since the messages are encoded for multimedia events, the viewers of the present invention have capability to do different things for multimedia, such as sound, video, animation and so forth. In operation, data parsed from a plurality of incoming data feeds from existing information sources is prepared for optimized wireless transmission and then transmitted nationwide to connected and non-connected computing devices thereby extending the reach of existing information sources, such as Internet and on-line services. On the user end, once data is received, a global communications server recombines, decodes, decrypts and decompresses the incoming data. When a complete data message is formed, the communications server sends a message to the user interface alert panel causing an animated icon to fly to the alert panel notifying a user that a new message has arrived. Upon clicking the icon, the appropriate viewer is launched. Users can then display the context of the data on their computers. Based on preferences set by the user with respect to sound, video and animation, users can be alerted to incoming messages. Wirelessly broadcasted URL's and on-line addresses, associated with the data, are embedded in multimedia viewers and provide an automated wired connection/link back to the information sources to obtain detailed information. Information, such as advertisements and promotional broadcasts, can be embedded in a multimedia viewer as well as automatically activated on a scheduled or triggered basis. Information is thus modified and updated instantaneously and wirelessly. Additional information services can be activated wirelessly through broadcast activation codes which can enable or disable services. The present invention also provides a method based on Reed-Solomon code which is used to derive redundant data packets thereby minimizing redundancy, and maximizing flexibility and packet recovery ability. In accordance with another embodiment of the invention, the information provided from the information sources and transmitted to the central broadcast server to be consolidated in accordance with the present invention and then transmitted wirelessly nationwide to personal computers and other computing devices can also be sent simultaneously via a wired connection to the same personal computers and computing devices having Internet/World Wide Web (WWW) access (direct or via on-line service providing Internet and Web access). The foregoing and additional features and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the detailed description and accompanying drawing FIGUREs that follow. In the figures and written description, numerals indicate the various features of the invention, like numerals referring to like features throughout for both the drawing figures and the written description. FIG. 1 is schematic diagram of a wireless communication network including information mirroring, selection addressing, bandwidth optimization, message server design and URL broadcast and hotlinks in accordance with the present invention; FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the wireless communication network illustrated in FIG. 1; FIG. 3(a) is a block diagram of the head-end high-level software architecture for communication over a paging network in accordance with the present invention; FIG. 3(b) is a block diagram of the head-end high-level software architecture for communication over a Vertical Blanking Interval (VBI) in accordance with the present invention; FIG. 3(c) is a block diagram of the head-end high-level software architecture for communication via satellite in accordance with the present invention; FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating the transfer of data from the content manager to the wireless broadcast network; FIG. 5(a) is a table illustrating the 8-bit binary format for information notification data blocks; FIG. 5(b) is a table illustrating the 8-bit binary format for information notification data blocks as illustrated in FIG. 5(a); FIG. 6 is a table illustrating the 8-bit binary format for personal alert notification data blocks; FIG. 7 is a table illustrating the 8-bit binary format for messages; FIG. 8 is a table illustrating the 8-bit binary format for packets; FIG. 9 is a table illustrating the 8-bit binary format for single packet data blocks; FIG. 10 is a detailed schematic diagram of the message server design illustrated in FIG. 1; FIG. 11 is an illustration of a user remote interface for controlling the computer interface in accordance with the present invention; FIG. 12 is a flow chart of an algorithm for extracting and processing the Internet source URL for messages broadcast over the wireless communication network illustrated in FIG. 1; FIG. 13 is a flow chart of an algorithm for generating and processing E-mail alerts in accordance with the present invention; FIG. 14 is a flow chart of an algorithm for address and message filtering in accordance with the present invention; FIG. 15 is a detailed flow chart of the algorithm illustrated in FIG. 14 for targeting data to a user utilizing physical and virtual addresses; FIG. 16 is an illustration of the columns of a data group encoded by an encoder using a modified Reed-Solomon code for deriving parity-check packets; FIG. 17 is a flow chart of an algorithm for deriving parity-check packets as illustrated in FIG. 16; FIG. 18(a) is a flow chart of an algorithm for data compression which combines-Huffman compression and dictionary-based compression in accordance with the present invention; FIG. 18(b) is a flow chart of an algorithm for data decompression of the compression algorithm illustrated in FIG. 18(a); FIG. 19(a) is a flow chart of an algorithm for data compression using differencing in accordance with the present invention; FIG. 20 is an illustration of a user interface alert panel as seen by a user; FIG. 21 is a flow chart of an algorithm for implementing the initialization procedure for the user interface alert panel illustrated in FIG. 20; FIG. 22 is a flow chart of the algorithm for implementing process EMIT messages procedure for the user interface alert panel; FIG. 23 is a block diagram illustrating how star feed messages are processed in accordance with the present invention; and FIG. 24(a) is a depiction of a market scoreboard viewer; FIG. 24(b) is a depiction of a football viewer; FIG. 24(c) is a depiction of a newspaper viewer; FIG. 24(d) is a depiction of a stock ticker viewer; and FIG. 25 is a flow chart of the algorithm for multiplexing a data message. In the description that follows, like parts are marked throughout the specification and drawings with the same reference numerals, respectively. The drawing figures might not be to scale, and certain components can be shown in generalized or schematic form and identified by commercial designations in the interest of clarity and conciseness. Referring to FIG. 1, a wireless communication system 10 including selection addressing 28, connecting on-line information sources 12 with on- and off-line computers, such as personal computer 14, is illustrated. In accordance with the present invention, the wireless communication system 10 turns a personal computer 14 or other computing device into a personal wireless information and messaging center. Although the present invention may be used to interact wirelessly with any computing device, for illustrative purposes, the present invention will be described and illustrated utilizing a personal computer 14. One skilled in the art will recognize that computing devices may include consumer electronic devices including computing capabilities. The data/information which is transmitted in accordance with the present invention may be in the form of voice (audio), video, data or a combination thereof. In particular, the present system provides for broadcast of up to the minute notification centric information thereby providing an instant call to action for users who are provided with the ability to instantaneously retrieve further detailed information. Throughout the day, various pieces of information happening around the world are currently available from information sources 12 in a sender initiated paradigm where users have to seek out the information. In accordance with the present invention, the notification centric portions of that information that lives in an electronic medium is wirelessly broadcast on a nationwide basis to wireless receiving devices 32 which are connected to personal computers 14 or other computing devices. Upon receipt of the information at the personal computer 14, the user is notified through different multimedia viewers 20 that there is an incoming message. The message can be of something that is happening at the present moment anywhere around the world. Included with the broadcast that is wirelessly sent to the user is the Internet address and location of the detail of that message. By clicking on a button within the multimedia viewer 20 that notified the user that a message came in, the present invention will automatically make a wired connection to the information source 12 utilizing the user's preferred on-line browser which will direct the user to the particular location on the Internet service provider where the user can receive detailed information. The information source 12 may be a private Internet provider such as Quotecom, corporate Internet provider or an on-line service provider such as America On-Line, Compuserve, Prodigy, the Microsoft Network, and the like. A browser is a known software tool used to access the information source 12 via the providers. Known browser software includes Netscape, Netscape Navigator, Microsoft Explorer, Mosaic and the like. The present invention is designed to operate with any of these known or developing web browsers. Additionally, the present invention unlike other wireless systems provides for a combination of broadcast, narrowcast and pointcast transmission. That is, information can be transmitted from a central broadcast server 34 wirelessly to everyone (broadcast), to a subset of users (narrow cast) or to one user (pointcast). One skilled in the art will recognize that the central broadcast server 34 operates effectively as a network operations center. The present invention furthermore provides multiple viewers 20 which listen to the airwaves and have the ability to filter against the broadcast with specific action. A message server provides different types of filters with the ability to parse data. The filters control which messages are handled by a particular viewer 20. Additionally, the message server is designed such that third party developers can write different types of multimedia viewers 20 which can easily be downloaded to the user system and automatically registered with the message server. The viewers can thus be controlled through the interface of the present invention and multiple viewers 20 and multiple controllers of such viewers can dynamically be added and controlled. Moreover, since the signals are encoded for multimedia events, the viewers 20 of the present invention have capability to utilize multimedia capability. As will be described in detail below, data parsed from a plurality of incoming data feeds 16 from existing information sources 12 is wirelessly transmitted by the central broadcast server 34 nationwide through a commercial wireless carrier 36 to connected and non-connected computing devices 14 thereby extending the reach of existing information sources 12, such as Internet and on-line services. On the user end, once data is received, the message server design 18 recombines, decodes, and decompresses the incoming data. When a complete data message is formed, a communications server 38 in the message server design 18 notifies a user interface alert panel 50 which presents an icon, which when clicked, notifies appropriate viewers 20 which are registered to display particular data. Users can then display the context of the data on their computers 14. Based on preferences set by the user with respect to sound, video and animation, users can be alerted to incoming messages. Wirelessly broadcasted Uniform Resource Locator's (URL's) 22, associated with the data, are embedded in multimedia data packets and provide an automated wired or wireless connection or link 22 back to the information source 12 for obtaining detailed data. A network path to an information source 12 is identified by the URL having a known syntax for defining a network. Data, such as advertisements and promotional broadcasts, can thus be embedded in a multimedia viewer as well as automatically activated on a scheduled or triggered event. Moreover, an advantage of the present invention is that data can be modified and updated instantaneously and wirelessly. Additional services can be activated wirelessly and existing services disabled through broadcast activation codes which can enable or disable addresses thus turning services on and off. Another advantage of the present invention is that a remote computer 14 can receive information instantly—even while it is off-line (i.e. not connected to the Internet or some other on-line service). Thus, a user has the ability to receive “on-line” information even when the user is “off-line”. In accordance with another advantage of the present invention, a user can simultaneously, using the same computer 14, work on a conventional application, such as a spreadsheet or word processing program, and monitor information which is being transmitted wirelessly. The user computer 14 of the present invention includes a microprocessor connected to a system bus and supported by read only memory (ROM) and random access memory (RAM) which are also coupled to the system bus. The RAM is the main memory into which the operating system and application programs are loaded. The RAM may also support Internet services, including but not limited to the file transfer protocol (FTP) and simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP) or E-mail. A CD ROM, which is optional, is connected to the system bus and is used to store a large amount of data. Various I/O controllers, including but not limited to the video controller, audio controller and mouse controller may also be connected to the system bus. A modem enables communication over a network to other information sources or computers. The operating system of the computer may be Windows '95™, WINDOWS NT™ or any other known and available operating system. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the user computer has a 486 PC or higher processor, 16 MB of RAM, Windows 95 operating system, at least 20 MB available on hard disk for storing the executable programs, support files and databases, sound and video cards, monitor, mouse or other equivalent pointing device, an ISA slot for receiving an internal 16 Bit ISA receiver card, or serial port. The receiver card installed in the ISA slot in the user computer 14 interacts with the wireless receiver 32. The wireless receiver may also be accessed via the serial port. One skilled in the art will recognize that the present invention is not limited to the particular configuration discussed above. Rather, the present invention may be implemented on other computer systems and configurations, including but not limited to Macintosh or Unix computers, televisions, telephones, appliances and so forth. The wireless communication system 10 of the present invention includes information mirroring 26, selection addressing 28, bandwidth optimization 30, receiving means 32, message server design 18 and URL broadcast and hot links 22. Information Mirroring. As is illustrated in FIG. 1, information sources 12, such as the Internet, on-line services and other information sources, provide data feeds, including real time data feeds, to a network of servers 33 in the central broadcast server 34. These data feeds, once they have been parsed, compressed, encrypted and packetized based on feed and data type, provide the basis for outgoing broadcast sent immediately or on a scheduled basis. The data feeds include but are not limited to, electronic mail (E-mail) and other personal alert notifications, news, sports, and financial stories, premium and special event feeds, advertisements/promotions, graphics, sounds, and scheduled updates. The data feeds generated by the information sources 12 are in digital form and divided into one or more data packets. Referring to FIG. 2, a block diagram 100 of the software architecture for communications between the information sources 12 and central broadcast server 34 prior to transmission to users is illustrated. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, information sources 12 provide data feeds to the central broadcast server 34 which performs selection, scheduling and addressing 28. In particular, real time data feeds from the Internet 13 in the information source 12 are provided to a network of servers 33 in the central broadcast server 34, such as the FTP server 102 and the SMTP server 104 illustrated in FIG. 2. The data, which can include but is not limited to stock quotes, weather, lotto, E-mail, etc. is then respectively parsed by parsers, such as the stock quote parser 106, weather parser 108, lotto parser 110 and mail parser 112, and then transmitted to the content manager 114 located in the central broadcast server 34. Data is also provided to the central broadcast server 34 by sources 116 which provide software and hardware for a mainstream connection, via FM radio, with the source 118. This kind of data is also parsed by various parsers, such as Reuters 120, COMDEX 122 and TSN 126. The present invention is not limited to the information sources or parsers described herein. Rather, any type of information source and corresponding parser may be used. The parsed data is then transmitted to the content manager 114. The central broadcast server 34 also provides a registration/subscription processor 128 via the World Wide Web (WWW) database or alternatively, other means. The WWW is a collection of servers of the Internet that utilizes the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). Through the registration/subscription processor 112, a user can register and subscribe to receive broadcasts provided by the present invention via the user computer 14. The information provided by the user is transmitted to a subscriber database 130 which is utilized by the central broadcast server to determine which subscribers receive which types of content. Referring to FIG. 2, the content manager 114 determines how different types of information are handled. In particular, it specifies priorities for different types of information, and decides which pieces of information will be transmitted and which will be rejected. It also applies scheduling rules 132 to determine when messages should be scheduled to be transmitted to the user. In addition, the content manager 114 is responsible for determining what format the information should be sent in, what compression method to use, and who information should be sent to. The compression method and format are determined by the type of information. When and if the information should be sent, who it should be sent to, and the priority of the information are determined based on the type of information, the time of day, the day of the week, and the specific date. So, for example, these rules could be used to specify that certain news feeds go to premium subscribers only except during certain hours of the day. Or it could be used to say that stock quotes are a low priority during hours the stock exchanges are closed, on Saturday and Sunday, and on market holidays. The content manager 114 also has the ability to detect and remove duplicate messages. The content manager 114 communicates with the information gateway 134 which is responsible for resolving logical information inside the system to physical information needed for the wireless gateway 136. In particular, the information gateway's 114 duties include, but are not limited to: resolving service identifications (ids) and addresses from a logical address and managing the content budget rules 138 to ensure that the total content quota is not exceeded. The content budget is based on the number of bytes which may be transmitted in an hour. The algorithm used manages the budget by evaluating the total bytes allowed in the hour, the priority of the information, the total bytes sent so far in the hour and the maximum instantaneous rate at which information may be sent to determine whether to send a message. The goal being to ensure that sending low priority information early in the hour will not prevent high priority information from being sent late in the hour. Since the input to the information gateway 134 is primarily logical, it could be exchanged for an information gateway 134 which could send the information to be transmitted over another medium, such as the Internet. In addition, the information gateway 134 enforces priorities to ensure that higher priority information is sent before lower priority information. In accordance with the present invention, the wireless gateway 136 prepares data blocks for transmission over a wireless broadcast network, including but not limited to transmission via a paging network (FIG. 3(a)), Vertical Blanking Interval (VBI) (FIG. 3(b)) or satellite (FIG. 3(c)), narrow and broadband PCS, GSM, VSB television, cellular and other developing wireless technologies. One skilled in the art will recognize that the data blocks can be transmitted by a digital, analog or FM subcarrier. The present invention is designed to operate with any of the above known or developing transmission networks. In particular, referring to FIG. 3(a), a block diagram of the head-end high-level software architecture for transmission over a paging network 37 in accordance with the present invention is illustrated. The paging network 37 allows information to be transmitted over paging frequencies to paging receivers 32 which are connected to a user computer 14. The wireless gateway 136 transmits information to a plurality of paging terminals 39 which transmit the information to paging transmitters 41. In turn, the paging transmitters 41 transmit the information to receivers 32, which only receive information having specific addresses as noted in detail below. The paging terminals 39 and transmitters 41 are preferably located nationwide to provide information access to all users. Paging terminals communicate with one another via the Inter and Intra System Protocol (TNPP). Information is typically received at a paging terminal 39 and eventually transmitted to a separate paging transmitter 41 through a radio control link. One skilled in the art will recognize that the link between the paging terminal 39 and the radio controlled link to the paging transmitters 41 can be a satellite link. In particular, information from the paging terminal 39 is transmitted to a satellite via an uplink. The information is then modulated onto the carrier of the radio control link for transmission to the paging transmitters 41. One skilled in the art will recognize that any commercial paging carrier which can transmit information wirelessly can be utilized in accordance with the present invention. Referring to FIG. 25, in accordance with an advantage of the present invention, to overcome the paging network limitation on the amount of data that may be sent to a single address, or capcode in paging terminology, messages are sent on groups of pooled addresses and received at the user end on corresponding pools of addresses. Thus, information is multiplexed over multiple addresses but is reassembled at the user end as if sent to a single address. This allows utilization of available network bandwidth that could not be utilized with a single address. In particular, the data to be transmitted over a paging network 37, such as that illustrated in FIG. 3(a), first goes through a process of packetization, encryption, compression and forward error correction methods, as described in detail below. The output of this process is 1 to n number of data packets, depending on the level of error correction, and type of compression/encryption applied to the data. The paging network addresses an individual or group by broadcasting on a particular address or capcode. By programming a paging device to listen to the individual capcode, the device is then capable of receiving the particular message. The inherent problem with the FLEX protocol which is used by major paging carriers is that there is a limit to the number of messages which can be sent to any one particular capcode at a time. In accordance with FLEX encoding rules, only 2 messages per capcode can exist at any one time in a particular FLEX frame, which is approximately 1.875 seconds. A typical data message sent over a paging carrier is broken down into 16 individual data packets. If only one capcode is transmitted, it would take (16 packets/message)(½ frame/packet)(1.875 sec/frame)=15 seconds/message. This is a relatively slow rate and only utilizes a small fraction of the FLEX frame. A FLEX frame is capable of transmitting on four different phases or channels at a particular time, hosting several messages per frame. The FLEX encoding rules only specify the maximum messages per capcode frame, but there is no limit set to the number of capcodes. Referring to FIG. 25, in accordance with an advantage of the present invention, the data message is multiplexed over a number of capcodes (i.e. uses multiple capcodes to send one message). Using the previous example, the present invention would send the 16 packets of the data message to 8 different capcodes. Thus, it would take (16 packets/message)(½ capcodes/message)(⅛ frame/capcode)(1.875 sec/frame)=1.875 sec/message. The data rate is approximately 8 times faster and fully utilizes the FLEX frame. Although the relationship between the capcode and the packet id number is arbitrary, the server software assigns the packets in a “round-robin” fashion, assigning packets 1-8 to capcodes 1-8, respectively, and packets 9-16 to capcodes 1-8, respectively. At the user end, the software decodes the messages in a similar manner. A user would subscribe to a particular service, which essentially translates into a set of capcodes which are programmed into the receiving device 32 (FIG. 3(a)). The receiving device 32 then receives the packets which are transmitted to that particular set of capcodes. Thus, for example, the user software would initialize the receiving device 32 with the same 8 capcodes as on the transmit side. The packets received with those 8 capcodes would then be combined into the original data message. Referring to FIG. 3(b), a block diagram of the head-end head-level software architecture for transmitting data over a Vertical Blanking Interval (VBI) of a television signal 135 in accordance with the present invention is illustrated. The wireless gateway 136 transmits information through a standard RS232 interface 137 and modem 139, which through a telephone line 141 communicates with a modem 143 at a television network broadcast transmission site. The information is forwarded from the modem 139 to a VBI encoder 145 which combines the VBI data with a standard television video signal 153. The encoded data is then forwarded to a satellite uplink transmitter 147 which transmits the television signal 153 to a satellite antenna/receiver 151 via satellite 149. A VBI decoder 155 then extracts the data from the television video signal and performs physical device addressing. The VBI encoder and decoder may be any commercially available encoder and decoder designed for VBI transmission. The communications server 38 is modified to interface with the driver for the VBI decoder 155 which is provided by the manufacturer of the decoder hardware. Referring to FIG. 3(c), a block diagram of the head-end high-level software architecture for transmission via a satellite-based system 157 in accordance with the present invention is illustrated. The wireless gateway 136 transmits information through a standard RS232 interface 159 and modem 161, which through a telephone line 163 communicates with a satellite modem 165. The information is forwarded from the satellite modem 165 to an uplink transmitter 167 which transmits the data to a satellite dish or antenna 171 via satellite 169. In particular, the satellite dish or antenna 171 receives the RF signal from the satellite 169. A standard satellite receiver PC card 32 converts the RF signal into PC compatible data. The communications server 38 is modified to interface with the receiver card driver provided by the manufacturer of the receiver PC card 32 to receive data from a standard satellite data receiver. The content manager 114 utilizes a content programming station 140 to control the content of programming. The content programming station 140 allows a programming manager (not shown) to alter the rules used by the content manager 114. The content programming station 140 will also be used to review and alter content schedules and schedule ad hoc messages. For example, if there are news feeds which must be manually filtered to locate acceptable content, the news feeds would appear at the content programming station 140 for the program manager to review. A flowchart illustrating the algorithm for implementing the processing of data prior to transmission is illustrated in FIG. 4. Information from the content manager is initially applied to the information gateway 134 (step 115) which resolves its logical destination address to a physical wireless address based on information in the subscriber database (step 117). The data is then applied to the wireless gateway 136 which creates the data block, performs packetization, compression, encryption, and so forth to prepare the data block for transmission over the wireless broadcast network (step 119). The data block is then transmitted over the wireless broadcast network by the commercial carrier 26. Data is transmitted from an information source to the central broadcast server 34 as discrete message blocks using E-mail or a well-known high speed protocol such as the Transport Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). (See Corner, D. E., “Internetworking with TCP/IP, Vol. 1: Principles, Protocols, and Architecture, Second Edition”, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J. (1991).) In particular, each data packet transmitted by the information source 12 includes a header, packet data and information to ensure proper transmission to the central broadcast server 34. Additionally, an error correction code is typically added to each packet prior to transmission. The data block is broken down into messages and messages are broken into packets. Each packet is accompanied by a message id and a sequence number. All packets belonging to the same message contain the same message id. A sequence number denotes the position of the packet inside the group. Some packets will also carry the total number of packets belonging to the message. Each packet header includes the following: packet type (4 bits), total packets included (1 bit), message identifier (11 bits) and packet sequence number (1 byte). Although the preferred transmission protocol from information source to the central broadcast server 34 is TCP/IP, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that many other standard or application specific protocols, such as the Open Systems Connection (OSI), may be used as well. The information sources 12 thus provide the information basis for outgoing broadcast transmitted by the central broadcast server 34 through nationwide wireless broadcast network immediately or on a scheduled basis to both on- and off-line computers 14. When the central broadcast server 34 receives the data packets from the information source 12, it pre-processes the data packets and wirelessly transmits the data packets to both on- and off-line computers 14. Consequently, computer users receive real time notifications of information, including but not limited to breaking headlines, sport scores, weather disasters, financial information and even the arrival of new electronic mail. It will be understood by one skilled in the art that the information consolidated at the central broadcast server 34 may additionally be sent via a wired connection to a personal computer or computing device. Referring to FIG. 1, information sources 12 also receive requests from remote personal computers 14 or other computing devices for more detailed information. Wirelessly transmitted URL's 22, associated with incoming information, are embedded in the broadcast message from the central broadcast server 34, which is displayed in the multimedia viewers 20 and provide an automated direct wired or wireless line connection 22 back to the information source 12 such that detailed data may be automatically downloaded to the user's computer 14. As illustrated in FIG. 1, data generated by the information sources 12 is fed to the central broadcast server 34, which processes the incoming data packets by parsing the feeds 16 against specific filters, encoding the data and creating desired broadcast feeds for wireless transmission as described in detail below. Selection Addressing. As is illustrated in FIG. 1, the data packets generated by the information sources 12 are transmitted to the central broadcast server 34, where they are internally processed before being wirelessly transmitted through a carrier 36 to one or more personal computers 14 or other computing sources via selective receivers 32. When the packets arrive at a user receiver 32, they are reassembled by the communications server 38 in the message server design 18 into the original message. One skilled in the art will recognize that the carrier can be a local, regional, nationwide or worldwide carrier. Information from the content providers is first formatted according to the proprietary EMIT protocol before being prepared for transmission over the wireless broadcast network. In the EMIT format, information feeds include a number of parts, each separated by the tilde (.about.) character. Each part begins with a tag (keyword) followed by an equal sign (=) and the data for that part. The tag determines how to interpret the data in that part. Most tags are single characters to minimize network traffic. Also, tags are case sensitive to allow more single character tags. Tags 1 5 are reserved for information category and sub categories. Other tags generally are derived from the first character in a name, such as, H for headline. An example of an EMIT format information feed is provided below: 1=S.about.2=B.about.H=Dodgers Win World Series.about.D=Nov. 2, 1989 9:30 pm where the primary category (1=) is S (which stands for sports), the first sub category (2=) is B (which stands for baseball), the news headline (H=) associated with this feed is Dodgers Win World Series, and the date/time (D=) is Nov. 2, 1989 9:30 pm. Data from the information sources is packed into 8-bit binary format data blocks in the central broadcast server 34. The two basic data block types are illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6. In particular, FIG. 5 defines the 8-bit binary format for “information” notification data blocks while FIG. 6 defines the 8-bit binary format for “personal alert” notification data blocks. Information notification data blocks, illustrated in FIG. 5, contain general information targeted to all users, including but not limited to news headlines and stories, sports scores, financial market data, and so forth. Personal alert notifications, illustrated in FIG. 6, contain alert information targeted to specific users, including but not limited to notifications regarding E-mail arrival, stock prices reaching specified values, Internet telephone calls, chats or meeting notices. Prior to transmission, at the central broadcast server 34, the data packets are encoded using a protocol suitable for the transmission of information. Data blocks are packetized for transmission over the wireless broadcast network using transmission protocols. In the preferred embodiment, which uses the paging network as the means of wireless broadcast or transmission, Motorola's FLEX™ protocol is utilized. Alternatively, other protocols, such as traditional Post Office Code Standardization Advisory Group (POCSAG) protocol, Motorola's REFLEX™ and INFLEXION™, AT&T's protocol derived from CDPD or other developing protocols may be used as well. Most wireless transmission protocols, including POCSAG, provide random error correction as well as error detection capabilities, thereby adding error detection and correction capabilities to the information link. Depending on the type and amount of information contained, a data block may be enclosed in a single packet, or parceled into messages which in turn are subdivided into one or more packets. The message format protocol is illustrated in FIG. 7. Large data blocks are divided into messages for efficiency in transmission. The data block header is sent as part of the message. The header type item is used to distinguish between the data block and message headers. The basic unit of transmission is the packet. Each packet includes a header and contents. The information contained in the header defines the packet's contents. In accordance with the present invention and as illustrated in FIGS. 8 and 9, two basic types of packets in the 8-bit binary format are utilized. The first 4 bits in the packet define the packet type. Standard packets are used for transmitting data blocks too large for a single packet. In this case, each packet contains the ID of the message to which it belongs, and the packet number denoting the position of the packet inside the message. This allows the software at the user receiving end to rebuild the original messages and data block from the individual packets. Prior to transmitting the packets in a message, forward error correction packets are added as described in detail below. The single packet data block is used where the complete data block can fit into one packet. In this case, the packet header is followed by the data block header and data block contents. Binary alert packets are a special case of the single packet data block and are reserved for the predefined alert notifications described above. At the receiving end, as described in detail below, the reverse of the data packetization process described above occurs. In the case of multiple packet data blocks, individual packets are combined to form messages based on packet sequence number and message ID included in the packet header. Error correction is performed as required. Individual messages are then combined to form data blocks based on message sequence number and data block ID in the message header. The central broadcast server 34 performs the following processes on the incoming data: compression, forward error correction, encryption, packetization and wireless broadcast format encoding. After internal processing, the formatted data packets are queued for wireless transmission to their respective destinations which could include one or more remote personal computers 14 or computing devices. In accordance with the present invention, the formatted data packets are either immediately wirelessly transmitted to their respective destinations or stored into available memory for subsequent wireless transmission to their respective destinations. For the latter, i.e. delayed transmission, the central broadcast server 34 includes a non-volatile storage medium for longer term storage of data programmed for subsequent wireless transmission to one or more users. a. Encryption. To minimize unauthorized use of broadcast data, the data is encrypted prior to wireless transmission so that anyone surreptitiously coming into possession of the data would not be able to convert the data to clear form for use. The user software is designed such that it can properly decrypt the data once it is received on the user end. In the preferred embodiment, data is encrypted using the Data Encryption Standard (DES) algorithm. (See “Data Encryption Standard”, Federal Information Processing Standards Publication No. 46, January 1977; “DES Modes of Operation”, Federal Information Processing Standards Publication No. 81, December 1980.) Alternatively, other known reversible encryption algorithms may be used for data encryption. Prior to transmission, the data is also encoded with a data signature. The National Institute of Standards in Technology (NIST) Digital Signature Standard (DSS) algorithm is preferably used for signature verification. Alternatively, other known methods of signature verification may be used. (See “Announcing a Digital Signature Standard”, Federal Information Processing Standards Publication, Draft 19 Aug. 1991, front page and pp. 1 4; “Specifications for a Digital Signature Standard (DSS)”, Federal Information Processing Standards Publication, Draft 19 Aug. 1991, pp. 1 11.) In operation, DSS is used to authenticate the origin of the data (i.e., establish the identity of the signer) and to check the integrity of the data (i.e., confirm that the data has not been altered after it has been signed). b. Forward Error Correction. To compensate for transmission errors during wireless broadcast, forward error correction algorithms, such as Fire Codes and various forms of Reed-Solomon Codes, are applied to the outgoing data packets. Reed-Solomon and other coding systems are discussed in, for example, Theory and Practice of Error Control Codes, Richard E. Blahut, Addison Wesley, 1983, at pages 174 and 175. A feature of the forward error correction used here is that the ideal packet size is dynamically computed so as to minimize total over the air size while maximizing error correcting capability. c. Derivation of Redundant Data Packets. Referring to FIGS. 16 and 17, as shown in detail below, the columns of a data group 150 are encoded by an encoder using a Reed-Solomon (RS) code for deriving parity-check packets 152 i.e. redundant packets. In accordance with the present invention, the RS code, conventionally used for error detection and correction, is utilized in a novel manner with respect to reconstructing packets that arrived with errors. As described in detail above, the data transmission in the present invention is based on a wireless protocol, such as Motorola's FLEX™ protocol or the POCSAG protocol which provides error detection capabilities. However, these protocols cannot compensate for burst errors or errors due to loss of synchronization, which often results in truncated or lost packets at the receiver. In the present invention, each information packet 154 which arrives with an error or errors is considered a lost packet. Therefore, an information packet 154 either arrives without error or is lost. The present invention is thus directed to compensating for such truncated or lost information packets by sending redundant packets. Instead of sending each packet twice or thrice, the present invention utilizes a modified RS code in a novel manner to transmit packets with redundancy as explained in detail below. For example, for a message which is split into 200 information packets sent over a paging network with a packet loss rate of 1%, the probability of a successful reconstruction of the message is only approximately 13.4%. If every information packet is sent twice, i.e. 400 total packets, the probability of a successful reconstruction of the message increases to approximately 98.2%. In accordance with an advantage of the present invention, by using a modified RS code to derive redundant packets, only 5 extra packets, i.e. 205 total packets, need to be sent to achieve the same approximate 98.2% successful reconstruction probability. Thus, the present invention provides an improvement over conventional methods, which utilize additional error correction and detection capabilities on a per packet basis. In the present invention, Reed Solomon parity check packets 152 effectively compensate for lost information packets. As a result, redundancy and packet loss rate are minimized, and flexibility and packet recovery rate are maximized. In accordance with the present invention, data received from an information source is encoded into data blocks at the broadcast server. Each data block is then parceled into one or more messages so that each message can be parceled into information packets 154. Each data packet is accompanied by a message identifier and a sequence number. As described in detail above, all packets which belong to the same message contain the same message identifier. The sequence number denotes the position of the data packet inside the message. Some packets will also be accompanied by information regarding the total number of packets belonging to a message. When enough packets arrive at the user receiver 32, they will be reassembled into the original message by the communications server 38 in the message server design 18 as explained in detail below. Referring to FIG. 16, in accordance with the present invention, a Reed Solomon code is computed down the columns of the block of data packets, thereby creating Reed Solomon parity-check packets. The most general case (n,k) is adopted where 1.ltoreq.n.ltoreq.255 (1) 1.ltoreq.k.ltoreq.n (2) where [0101] k=number of information packets generated by parceling the input message, [0102] n=total number of transmitted packets. The total number of transmitted packets is determined based on the degree of protection requested. By allowing for the arbitrary combination of n and k, maximal flexibility is achieved. In particular, n and k are chosen during run-time, instead of design-time. For example, (255,223), (255,251), (7,3), (16,1) Reed Solomon codes, used column-wise are all possible combinations for generating Reed Solomon parity-check packets. In a typical operation, by using a (255, 223) Reed Solomon code column-wise, 32 parity-check packets are generated for a group of 200 information packets to be transmitted. Thus, even if 32 arbitrary packets out of 232 total data packets were lost during transmission, a successful reassembling of the information can still be achieved at the receiver end. In accordance with the present invention, to minimize the number of lost messages, the information packets are sent with redundancy using a method based on Reed-Solomon code to derive Reed Solomon parity-check packets. Utilizing an 8-bit Reed-Solomon code, the maximum number of data packets (including both information packets and Reed-Solomon parity-check packets) is 255. There is no limitation on the number of symbols in each data packet as long as they are acceptable by the wireless carrier. In accordance with the present invention, the modified RS code encodes the data over a Galois Field GF(2.sup.8) (hereinafter GF(256)) whose field elements are represented by their coordinates with respect to the canonical basis {1,a, a.sup.2, . . . a.sup.7} where a is a root of the primitive monic polynomial: f(x)=x.sup.8+x.sup.4+x.sup.3+x.sup.2+1 (3) Parity-check packets are generated by encoding k data packets column-wise in accordance with the following generating polynomial g(x) equation: g .function. (x)=I=1 P .times. (x+a i) (4) ##EQU1## where [0105] g(x)=generating polynomial[0106] a=primitive element of GF(256) [0107] p=number of parity check packets Multiplication and inversion in GF(256) are implemented by table lookup or by algorithm depending on performance requirements. In the preferred embodiment, the encoder for encoding k data packets column-wise is a software simulation of polynomial division using linear feedback shift register (LFSR), with n and k being changeable. The coefficients of the generator polynomial g(x) are saved in the order of ascending power. Alternatively, the LFSR may be implemented in hardware, with n and k fixed. (See William Wesley Peterson, “Error Correcting Codes”, Edition One, pg. 150.) A series of data packets including both information packets and parity-check packets are formed. The number of symbols in each data packet is limited only by the wireless broadcast system. In accordance with the present invention, no extra error correction is added to each data packet. The number of parity-check packets, n-k, must be in the range [1, 254] and the number of erasures, i.e. errors whose locations are known, must be in the range [0, n−k]. The erasure locations must be all distinct and sorted in ascending order. In the present invention, RS error correction is performed on each column. Each error in the column corresponds to a lost packet. Since it is known which packet is lost, the locations of all errors prior to RS decoding are known. Thus, in accordance with an advantage of the present invention, the location of the errors is known before RS decoding, thereby providing for maximal error correction. In contrast, conventional applications of RS attempt to find both the magnitude and location of an error. As shown in FIG. 16, each data packet (including information packets and RS parity-check packets) is parceled into many codewords. The length of each codeword is 32 bits, where 21 bits are for information and 11 bits are for error correction/detection. The data packets, i.e. information packets and parity-check packets, are then transmitted to the message server unit via the user receiver. FLEX™ provides information regarding whether the packets were correctly received or not. As a result, any error locations are detected prior to applying RS decoding. Decoding is then implemented by syndrome evaluation with known error locations. (See Hasan, Bhargava, and Le-Ngoc, “Reed-Solomon Codes and Their Applications”, pg. 79 81.) In accordance with the present invention, the number of information packets k and the number of Reed-Solomon parity-check packets p can be arbitrarily chosen depending on the transmission condition and the desired accuracy rate. The only condition is that the number of information packets k and the number of parity-check packets together total no more than 255. The restriction p+k.ltoreq.255 (5) is imposed by the use of the finite field GF(256). As stated earlier, each data block will thus first be split into several messages so that each message can be split into k packets that satisfy the above restriction. Up to p packets can be lost without compromising successful reconstruction of the message. In accordance with the present invention, even if some data packets are lost, the full message can be recovered using the redundancy data packets generated by the present invention. Referring to FIG. 17, a flow chart 160 of the algorithm for deriving RS parity-check packets is illustrated. The data block is initially parceled into one or more incoming messages (step 162), and the messages are then parceled into k information packets 154 (step 164). The number of RS parity-checks packets p is then selected (step 166). The information packets are then encoded column-wise with a modified RS code in accordance the generating polynomial: g .times. (x)=I=1 P .times. (x+a i) ##EQU2## and parity-check packets are generated (step 168). The data packets, which include information packets and RS parity-check packets, are parceled into codewords (step 170). After the data packets have been parceled into codewords, error correction/detection is performed on the codewords (step 172). The data packets are then transmitted to the users (step 174). At the user end, the number of codewords which have error(s) is counted (step 176). Then it is determined whether each packet has any errors (step 178). If a packet does not have an error, then it is saved (step 180). However, if a packet has one or more errors, it is discarded (step 182) and the present invention-waits for more packets (step 188). When there are enough packets (step 184), a message is assembled (step 186). If not, the present invention waits for more packets (step 188). Finally, when there are enough messages, the data block is assembled (step 192). d. Compression/Bandwidth Optimization. FIG. 18(a) is a flow chart of an algorithm for data compression which combines Huffman compression and dictionary-based compression. In accordance with the present invention, the data blocks are compressed at the central broadcast server 34 end prior to transmission so that maximum amounts of information in compressed or bandwidth reduced form can be transmitted to the selected user or users. As discussed in detail below, at the user end, the data blocks are correspondingly decompressed (FIG. 18(b)). In the preferred embodiment, the current compression algorithm for English language articles saved in ASCII text format combines the Huffman compression and the dictionary-based compression, such as LZ77 and LZ78 based algorithms. In operation, as the compression algorithm scans the input texts, it not only tries to search for the next item in the previously seen text, but also tries to search for the next item in a static Huffman dictionary, and it chooses a method which produces a better result. After the data is received at the user end, it is correspondingly decompressed. In particular, referring to the algorithm 200 for implementing data compression in FIG. 18(a), the Huffman dictionary is loaded from the disk storage, the address pointer is positioned to the start of the uncompressed input data in memory and a memory buffer for storing the compressed output data is allocated (step 202). Next, it is determined whether the address pointer is moved to the end of the data input (step 204). If so, bit b=1 is written to the output data and the end-of-data token from the Huffman dictionary is written to the output data (step 206) and the compression routine is done (step 208). If in step 204, it is determined that the address pointer is not at the end of the input data, the compression algorithm scans the input texts, searching for the next item in the previously seen text (step 210) and the static Huffman dictionary (step 212), and chooses the method which produces a better result (step 214). In particular, in step 210, the data is compressed using the previously seen text. A token T1 is generated by comparing the input data at the input pointer to the previous input data. T1 denotes an index to the previously seen data that has the maximum length match with the current data. L1 correspondingly denotes this maximum length. In step 212, the data is compressed using the Huffman dictionary which was loaded in step 202. A token T2 is generated by looking for the maximum match of the input data at the input pointer to entries in the Huffman dictionary. T2 denotes an index to the dictionary entry for the maximum match. L2 correspondingly denotes the length of the match. In step 214, the optimum result (T,L) from (T1,L1) or (T2,L2) is chosen depending on which is larger, L1 or L2. If (T1,L1) is chosen, b is set to 0 (b=0), else b is set to 1 (b=1). b is initially written to the output data followed by the optimal result (T,L). The input data pointer is then advanced by L bytes. After the data is received at the user end, it is correspondingly decompressed in accordance with the algorithm 220 illustrated in FIG. 18(b). The Huffman dictionary is initially loaded from the disk storage, the address pointer is positioned to the start of the compressed input data in memory and a memory buffer for storing the decompressed output data is allocated (step 222). One bit from the input data is read and saved in b (step 224). Next, it is determined whether b=0 (step 226). If so, the data is decompressed using the previously seen text (step 228). The next token (T,L) is initially retrieved, followed by L bytes of decompressed data from the output buffer at a location denoted by T. The retrieved bytes are denoted by txt, which are then written to the output buffer (step 230). The input data pointer is then advanced by the length of the token (T, L) in bits. The p rogram then returns to step 224 and repeats the steps until the Huffman end-of-token is detected (step 232). If, in step 226, b is not set to 0, it is determined whether the next token is the Huffman end-of-data token. If so, decompression has been completed (step 234). If not, the data is decompressed using the Huffman dictionary (step 236). The next token (T,L) is retrieved, followed by L bytes of decompressed data from the Huffman dictionary using T as an entry into the dictionary. The retrieved bytes of data are denoted by txt, which as noted previously, is written to the output buffer (step 230). The input data pointer is advanced by the length of the token (T,L) in bits and returns to step 224. e. Differencing. FIG. 19(a) is a flow chart of an algorithm 240 for data compression utilizing differencing. In accordance with another advantage of the present invention, a differencing algorithm 240 is additionally used to compress the coded data, thereby significantly reducing the number of bytes sent with each transmission. In particular, a dictionary-based compression algorithm, such as LZ77 and LZ78 based compression, can be adapted for this application. File two is described with reference to file one in a minimum number of bytes. In such an algorithm, file one is used as the dictionary. In particular, the precomputed standard hash table HT for file 1, the dictionary file, is loaded from mass storage (step 242). The minimum match length L from the length used in creating the hash table HT and the maximum match length U from the limits on contiguous data block transmission size are set. The memory address pointer to the stream of input data (file 2) to be compressed by differencing with file 1 is retrieved and a memory buffer for the compressed output data is allocated. The algorithm 240 next determines whether the end of the input data has been detected (step 246). If so, the compression is complete (step 248). If not, the hash value H of the next input data substring of length L bytes with the same hashing algorithm used to compute HT is calculated (step 250). The optimal match length ML is then set to 0 and the optimal position MP is set to −1 (step 252). For each position P in HT corresponding to H, the best match length PML at position P in file 1 such that L<=PML<=U is determined (step 254). If PML is greater than ML, then ML is set such that ML=PML and MP is set such that MP=P. If in step 256, ML=0, the bit value 0 is written to the output buffer (step 258). The byte at the current input buffer pointer is written to the output buffer and the input buffer is advanced by one byte. The algorithm 240 returns to step 246 and continuously iterates until the end of the input data is detected (step 248). If in step 256, ML is not equal to 0, the bit value 1 is written to the output buffer (step 260). The optimal match length ML and the optimal match position MP are written to the output buffer. The input buffer pointer is then advanced by ML bytes. The algorithm 240 returns to step 246 and continuously iterates until the end of the input data is detected (step 248). As discussed in detail below, at the user end, the data blocks are correspondingly decompressed in accordance with the algorithm 262 illustrated in FIG. 19(b). The dictionary file, file 1, is initially loaded from mass storage (step 264). The memory address pointer to the stream of compressed input data and retrieved and the memory buffer for the decompressed output data is allocated. It is next determined, whether the end of the input data has been detected (step 266). If so, the decompression routine is complete (step 268). If not, one bit b from the input buffer is read (step 270). It is then determined whether b=0 (step 274). Is so, one byte from the input buffer is copied and written to the output buffer. The input buffer pointer is then advanced by one byte. The algorithm 262 returns to step 266 and continuously iterates until the end of the input data is detected (step 268). If in step 274, b does not equal 0, the match length ML and the match position MP is retrieved from the input buffer (step 278). ML bytes are copied from file 1 at position MP to the output buffer. The input buffer pointer is advanced by the sizes of ML and MP in bytes. The algorithm 262 returns to step 266 and continuously iterates until the end of the input data is detected (step 268). f. Wireless Data Format Encoding. Where the method of transmission is paging, all outgoing messages are preferably encoded to 7/8 bit data or true 8 bit data for broadcast over paging networks. After the data is received at the user end, it is correspondingly decoded. With respect to VBI and satellite transmission, all outgoing messages are preferably encoded to true 8 bit data. g. Addresses. In accordance with the present invention, outbound data will be segmented and sent to the user by way of the user receiver 32 utilizing common and unique addresses. Addresses are numbers used by wireless receiving devices to identify messages targeted to a user. Addresses are usually stored in programmable read only memory (PROM) in the receiver hardware 32. If the address to which a message is transmitted matches a address stored in the receiver 32, then the receiver 32 will process the message. Otherwise, the message will be ignored. In a typical configuration, general “basic services” are wirelessly transmitted on global common addresses, electronic mail and point-to-point messages are transmitted on personalized or unique addresses, and combined premium services and pay-per-view events are grouped together and transmitted on common addresses. Alternatively, the combined premium services and pay-per-view events may be sent on unique addresses as well. h. Request for Additional Services. The central broadcast server 34 additionally includes telephone and/or modem interfaces for receiving remote request from users to obtain additional or modify existing services. For example, a user from a personal computer 14 or other computing device, can request additional services or modify existing services by telephoning or modeming the central broadcast server 34, which automatically and wirelessly transmits the new or modified services. Modification of subscribed services may also be performed via the Internet and World Wide Web. i. Simultaneous Wired Transmission. In accordance with an alternate embodiment of the invention, as explained in detail below, the information provided from the information sources 12 and transmitted to the central broadcast server 34 to be consolidated in accordance with the present invention and then transmitted wirelessly nationwide to personal computers 14 and other computing devices as described in detail above can also be sent simultaneously via a wired connection to the same personal computers 14 and computing devices having Internet/World Wide Web access (direct or via on-line service providing Internet and Web access). In particular, the data processed at the central broadcast server 34, in addition to being transmitted wirelessly, is simultaneously made available through wired connection to a specific web site on the Internet. A user can thus connect to the Web via the Internet and receive information through wired means. Receiving Means. Referring to FIG. 1, a user receiver 32, connected to a personal computer 14 or computing device, receives wireless transmissions sent by the central broadcast server 34. The user receiver 32 preferably includes an Industry-Standard Architecture (ISA) board with a I C interface to an external wireless receiver and utilizes on-board POCSAG, Motorola's FLEX™ protocol or other wireless receiving device receiving and decoding. In accordance with an advantage of the present invention, Motorola's FLEX™ decoding allows for upgradeability to future receiver protocols without requiring replacement of the internal ISA board. The user receiver 32 also includes an indicator, such as a flashing LED, which indicates reception of incoming messages. As described in detail below, the user receiver 32 includes physical addresses for filtering data prior to being transferred to the personal computer 14. The user receiver 32 may be a specially designed or commercially available receiving unit. Filtering. In accordance with the present invention, filtering of information can be accomplished both at the user receiver 32 and personal computer 14 or computing device. Messages are electronically sent to nationwide and local wireless broadcast networks using both physical and virtual addresses. Physical addresses are tags which reside in the hardware portion in the user receiver 32. In addition to standard physical addresses, the present invention implements a virtual address as illustrated in FIG. 14 and described in detail below. In particular, the virtual addresses reside in the software of the user computer 14. Virtual addresses provide additional filtering of incoming data from the user receiver 32. For example, a message may be received by all receivers 32, but if the message is targeted to a specific virtual address, then only those installations in which that virtual address is activated will process the message. In accordance with an advantage of the present invention, virtual addresses may be activated and deactivated through the broadcast network, allowing for external control over the reception of services in a particular installation. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that information filtering can be accomplished utilizing virtual addresses only. Virtual addresses can allow for unlimited filtering of messages on the user end. However, this may increase the resource usage of the personal computer 14. Correspondingly, information filtering can be accomplished by utilizing physical addresses only. A higher level of filtering based on message category and content is also provided. Users can set various filters based on a variety of preferences at information category or specific content levels to allow for automated filtering of incoming information. At the category level, users can control which categories of information received from the broadcast network are processed and which are discarded. For example, if a user were not interested in sports, all sports information categories, such as baseball, football, golf, etc. can be selected for discarding. At the specific content level, a user can select which subcategories of information within a particular information category will be processed. The user selectable subcategories depend on the type of information contained in that category. Subcategories may include, but are not limited to, source providers for headline news stories, specific industry segments (e.g., electronics, computers, communications, industrial, etc.) for business news, specific teams for sports categories, particular states and games for lottery results, and stocks for which quotes are displayed. For example, a user that wishes to have scores displayed only for baseball games involving the New York Yankees or New York Mets can set the filter for the baseball viewer to discard game results for all teams except those two. Filtering is accomplished prior to information being transferred to the personal computer's hard drive 14, therefore conserving the personal computer's resources. Referring to FIG. 14, a flow chart of an algorithm for message processing using filtering in accordance with the present invention is illustrated. An incoming message from the central broadcast server end 34 after processing as described above is applied to the receiver hardware 32 (step 200). Physical address filtering in the receiver hardware is then used to determine whether the message should be passed on for further virtual address filtering (step 202). If the message passes physical address filtering, the message is applied to virtual address filtering (step 204). Otherwise, the message is disregarded (step 206). Virtual address filtering is then used to determine whether the message should be passed (step 208) on for further message content filtering (step 210). If not, the message is disregarded step 212). Message content filtering then determines (step 214) whether the message should be stored in the message database (step 216) for further processing and transmission to the user or disregarded (step 218). The process of targeting data to an user utilizing real and virtual addresses is illustrated in FIG. 15. Data blocks are built in the information gateway 134 and all applicable real and virtual addresses are determined based on the type of information in the data block and user subscription data from the subscriber database 130. If a data block is to be targeted to a specific virtual address, the virtual address is inserted by the information gateway 134 into the virtual address field of the data block header and the virtual address flag is set. The wireless gateway 136 provides the interface to the wireless transmission network. It prepares data for transmission over the network and implements real addresses in the proper data frames as specified by the standard transmission protocol that is used. At the receiving end, arriving data is first filtered via real addresses in the wireless receiver 32 followed by virtual address filtering in the communications server 38. The communications server 38 first checks the virtual address flag in the data block header. If it is not set, then the data block is passed onto the alert panel 50 for storage and display. If this flag is set, the communications server 38 determines if the virtual address in the data block header matches one in the virtual address database. If there is a match, then the data block is passed onto the alert panel 50. If there is no match, then the data block is discarded. Message Server Design. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 10, the message server design 18 includes a communications server 38, user interface alert panel 50 and viewer server 58. a. Driver. As is illustrated in FIG. 10, the driver 44 is preferably a Windows 95 driver for the wireless device hardware 42, although another compatible device may be used as well. The driver 44 provides an interface to access received data and control the hardware 42, as well as inform applications as to the status of the receiver hardware 42. b. Interface. The interface 46 for the wireless device is preferably an AmFlex DLL 46, although another compatible device may be used as well. The interface 46 is used to pass the data received from the wireless device to the communications server 38 for processing and distribution to other software components. It also provides a means by which the communications server 38 can program the device hardware to receive specific messages and also allows the communications server 38 to determine hardware status. c. Communications Server. The communications server 38 receives data from the wireless device via the interface 46, extracts the different types of data blocks (messages), passes public data blocks to the user interface alert panel 50 and processes private data blocks locally. The communications server 38 is also responsible for initializing the wireless device and maintaining the address database which determines which received messages will be processed. In addition, it provides diagnostic data on received messages for software debug purposes. In operation, the communications server 38 is notified of incoming data packets by the driver 44 via the interface 46 through a software callback function. Once data packets are received by the communication server 38, it recombines, decompresses, decrypts, filters via virtual addresses as previously discussed, and error corrects the data packets using techniques corresponding to the processing done at the central broadcast server 34 end. In particular, the communication server 38 initially verifies the integrity of the data packets received using common error correction techniques. After error correction, the data packets are unpacketized and entire messages are assembled. After assembly, the communication server 38 verifies once again that the integrity of the message is maintained. The message is then decrypted using the common password previously established. The data signature on the message is also checked to verify the integrity of the data. The messages are uniquely encoded so that it is known which data packet belongs to which message. The messages are stored in a database and when a complete message is formed, it is transmitted to one or more devices that are registered with the communication server 38. As shown in FIG. 10, the complete message may be transmitted to the user interface alert panel 50, shown in detail in FIGS. 3 and 4 and discussed in detail below. Thus, once the data packets are successfully read off the driver 44, the data is error corrected, decompressed, decrypted and assembled into a complete message. The communications server 38 then notifies the user interface alert panel 50. d. User Interface Alert Panel. Referring to FIG. 10, the user interface alert panel 50 is the main user interface for the applications software. The user interface alert panel 50, which appears to a user as shown in FIG. 20, is the liaison for messages broadcast from the communications server 38 and delivered to the viewer server 20. The user interface alert panel 50 performs all message archiving to the messages database. The main functions of the user interface alert panel 50 are (I) initialization, (ii) processing EMIT messages, and (iii) timing events. The user interface alert panel 50 is run when the user double clicks on a specific icon or selects the application from a start menu, such as the Windows 95 start menu, and is responsible for other applications, such as launching the communications server 38 and viewer server 20 and passing messages received from the communications server 38 to the viewer server 20. The user interface alert panel 50 also displays “fly-in” graphics and icon buttons to alert the user that a new message has been received, allows the user to open a viewer 48 to examine a received message by clicking on the viewer icon button for that message, and maintains the received messages database. The latter includes saving new messages in the database and deleting old messages after a certain period of time, as explained in detail below. The user also accesses the remote control 54 from the user interface alert panel 50 by clicking a remote control icon. (I) Initialization. FIG. 21 is a flow chart of an algorithm 300 for implementing the initialization procedure for the user interface alert panel 50 in accordance with the present invention. In step 302, during initialization, the user is prompted for database management (compress the message database). In particular, the user interface alert panel 50 will determine if there are more than a predetermined number of messages written into the database 51. In the preferred embodiment, the predetermined number of messages is 2000+, although one skilled in the art will recognize that any number of messages may be used. If the predetermined number is exceeded, records which have been previously marked for deletion are removed from the database 51. Marked records are typically records which have been read by a viewer and are not targeted for any of the other viewers or applications, yet physically remain in the database. These records are removed when the predetermined number of messages is met, thereby only leaving those records which need to be read. Following database management, the databases 51 are opened for non-exclusive read/writes (step 304). In accordance with the present invention, the three mains databases are the (a) messages database which holds all the messages, (b) SYSAPPS database or systems applications database which holds the viewer specific information such as what is executable, what needs to be run for that viewer to be launched, etc. and (c) V groups database which contains a list of all viewers, their alias names and descriptions. The next step during initialization involves reading the tool bar initialization information from the registry keys (step 306). In particular, the docking location of the user interface alert panel 50 is determined. The user interface alert panel 50 is dockable at all the corners of the display and can also be floated at the center. The animation defaults are also determined because in the customization for the user interface alert panel 50, the user can turn off the fly-in sequence, buttons animated and/or sound files being played. Which winsock ports need to be used to talk to the communications server 38 and viewer server 20 are also determined at initialization. The next step is during initialization is to launch the communications server 38 and viewer server 20 (step 308). After the executables for the communications server 38 and viewer server 20 have been launched, the communications server 38 is logged into as a client and the viewer server 20 is logged into as a server such that each knows about the user interface alert panel 50. Then, buttons are created in the user interface alert panel 50 for messages marked as not read (step 310). For example, some records in the message database 51 are not read because the user closed the user interface alert panel 50 before reading them. In accordance with the present invention, buttons are created on the user interface alert panel 50 for those messages. Finally, the communications server 38 is queried for valid service plans which include but are not limited to E-mail, premier services and power up services (step 312). (II) Process EMIT Messages. FIG. 22 is a flow chart of the algorithm for implementing process EMIT messages procedure for the user interface alert panel 50. A message or feed from the communications server 38 via the winsock port is initially applied to the user interface alert panel 50. In step 1, the user interface alert panel 50 determines what feed type is present, i.e. whether the message is a binary, star or EMIT type feed. A typical binary type feed is an E-mail message. The binary feed is, as discussed in detail below, decompressed into a common EMIT feed and processed as a normal feed. A typical EMIT type feed involves common user information such as messages for football, scoreboard viewers, horoscope, lottery etc. A typical star type feed involves a registry value change which creates or updates the appropriate registry key(s). In many cases, a star feed involves a visual change to one of the viewers 48. For example, a star feed will create/write registry values to reflect a change in advertisement on a particular viewer 48 (step 2). Star feeds are thus special feeds in that they can change register keys which point to bitmap files, source names, URL sources and so forth. In particular, referring to FIG. 23, star feeds are received by the communications server 38 and passed to the user interface alert panel 50 for processing. The registry values updated by star feeds are read by other components and the changes programmed by the star feeds are then put into effect. In operation, the user interface alert panel 50 first determines if a message is a star feed by checking the message tag to determine if it contains the star feed indicator, preferably “=”. It then parses the star feed extracting the component code and the registry key values to be updated. The updated key values are then written to the registry 49 where they are accessed by other components, such as the remote control 54 and the viewers 48. The basic structure of a star feed message is shown as follows: [0170] FEED_TAG_V=COMPONENT_CODE_P=REGISTRY_KEY_VALUES where [0171] FEED_TAG=the message tag code (“=” for star feeds) [0172] COMPONENT_CODE=a two letter code indicating to which component the star feed applies (e.g., BB for baseball viewer, RC for remote control, etc.) [0173] REGISTRY_KEY VALUES=one or more sequences of the following parameters for the specified component: registry key, full file path name flag (0 or 1) if the key value contains a file name, and the registry key value. In a typical example, bitmaps for the Internet-baseball score button are changed as well as the URL for the source: [0174] =.about.V=BB.about.P=Ad1;0;shared\bmps\SprtNet.bmp\|TV B;0;shared\bmps\SprtNetU.bmplAdb;0;shared\bmps\SprtNet.bmp\|ADB;0;shared\bmps\SprtNet U.bmp{cube root}Ad1U;2;http://www.sportsnetwork.com: 80 In the example, new bitmap files SprtNetU.bmp, SprtNet.bmp and new URL http://www.sportsnetwork.com are added to the registry settings for the Baseball viewer. Where a new bitmap or other file name is specified in a star feed, the new file will have been previously received from the wireless broadcast network by the communications server 38 via the binary file transfer capability. This process is transparent to the user. If in step 1, it is determined that the feed is a binary type feed, the binary feed is converted to a common EMIT string format (step 3). When the message is in the EMIT string format, a record is added to the message database by first determining the preferred viewer for the feed (step 4) and then by parsing out the EMIT string to common viewer fields (step 6). In particular, to determine the preferred viewer for the feed (step 4), a filter field from the SYSAPPS table is compared to the EMIT string (step 5). In a typical configuration, approximately thirty viewers 48 are available and the user interface alert panel 50 determines which viewer 48 will be able to read the information. The preferred viewer is the actual icon which will fly up to the user interface alert panel 50. To obtain a viewer alias match, the user interface alert panel 50 obtains the necessary information by looking at the systems applications (SYSAPPS) table or database. By comparing a filter field from the SYSAPPS database to the EMIT string, the user interface alert panel 50 determines which viewer 48 is the preferred viewer and which viewer 48 should fly up to the user interface alert panel 50. For example, for a football related message, the filter fields from the SYSAPPS database would be reviewed against the football related message to determine the viewer alias match. In accordance with the present invention, level tags further define the EMIT message so when the comparison is executed in SYSAPPS table, it can be determined which feed is for which viewer (level tag 1 5). A typical sample preferred filtering string is as follows: 1=N,2=N,N=,R!=,1=N,2=N,h=,R!= Under the sample preferred filtering string, the level tags are 1=N, 2=N. By comparing 1=N, 2=N against the sample EMIT feed, it knows that this is a news marquee feed. After a viewer alias match is achieved, a “Q” time flag or time flag reflecting the local time at which the message arrived at a user is created (step 6). The EMIT string is then parsed into common viewer fields and written to a message database 51 (step 8). The common fields include but are not limited to level tags, data and time, titles, source and content. In the VGROUPS, there is a description for each viewer—a text typed out in a particular field. If you put the mouse over one of the buttons on the alert panel, on the bottom, it will say what this is. That description is pulled from VGROUPS (step 8). After the EMIT feed is recorded to the message database 51 (step 8), the message is broadcast to the preferred viewer via the viewer server (steps 9 14). Initially, it is determined whether the viewer is running (step 9). If the viewer is running, e.g. football viewer is already running, the message is sent directly to the viewer server (step 10). If the viewer is not running, it is determined whether the viewer should be auto launched (step 11). If auto-launch has been turned on for this viewer, then the viewer with message playback is launched. For example, for a football type feed, the viewer preferences are reviewed and if the user is setup for automatic launch of football, the football viewer with message playback is launched (step 12). If the preferred viewer is not running, the fly-in sequence comprising a) creating a fly-in animation object, b) playing a viewer specific wave file, c) animating a button on the user interface alert panel 50, and d) placing a static button on the user interface alert panel 50, is initiated (step 13). In particular, a fly-in animation object is initially created. The fly-in animation object is an actual icon shown flying in from the opposite edge to the user interface alert panel 50. In accordance with an advantage of the present invention, fly-ins alert the user that new data is available for viewing. Fly-ins are small windows displaying animated graphics representing a particular message type, e.g. E-mail, which moves from the bottom right part of the user display screen to the user interface alert panel 50 whenever a new message of that particular type is received. If the user interface alert panel 50 is in a floating state, then the fly-in animation objects flies in from a random edge. At the same time the fly-in occurs, a viewer specific sound wave file is initiated. A button is then animated on the user interface alert panel 50. Finally, a static button which the user can press to launch the viewer is placed on the user interface alert panel 50 (step 13) and when depressed (step 14), will launch a viewer with message playback (step 12). For example, for a football feed, a fly-in animation object in the form of a football lands on top of the user interface alert panel 50, a trumpet will play followed by a button animated on the alert panel 50, which typically spins around and finally a static button appears on the alert panel 50. Fly-in graphic and default sound effects reflect message type. For example, for a golf feed, a golf tournament fly-in includes an image of a golf ball and the sound of a golf ball falling into a cup. When the static button on the user interface alert panel is pressed (step 13), the viewer with message playback option is launched (step 12). The message is sent to the viewer server 20 which is the actual application which physically launches the viewer 48. (iii) Timely Events. The user interface alert panel will periodically and automatically perform the following functions: (1) check messages that require a mark for deletion, (2) check for valid service plans, (3) check for delayed broadcasts, and (4) implement fly-in graphics for new messages, each of which is described in detail below. (1) Check Messages that Require a Mark for Detection. Each viewer has an entry in the SYSAPPS table that specifies the lifetime of the messages. A comparison is made to the message database and if a record needs to be marked for deletion, an “X” is placed in the MSG_READ field. In a preferred embodiment, this function is performed every 24 hours. The user interface alert panel 50 will decide, based on the information in the SYSAPPS table, how long a message should be kept for a particular viewer 48. For example, for a football viewer, if it is only desirable to see messages 2 days old, the user interface alert panel 50 will check against that field and when 2 days has transpired, proceed to mark those records for deletion. (2) Check for Valid Service Plans. The user interface alert panel 50 will also periodically check for valid service plans. Service plans typically dictate what kinds of feeds are available to a user. All valid plans are recorded in the registry so that other modules can read the information. The service plan checking preferably occurs at initialization and every 5 minutes thereafter. The user is also prompted with “plan expiration reminders.” (3) Check for Delayed Broadcasts. The user interface panel 50 also checks for delayed broadcasts which allow messages to be submitted for future broadcast. If a date and time has arrived for a delayed message, the MSG_READ field will be changed from “B” to “N” and a button will be placed on the user interface alert panel 50. Delayed broadcasts are preferably checked every five minutes. The user interface panel 50 thus checks every 5 minutes for special records that need to be shown to the user and then will change a particular field in the message database—the “B” to “N” so that next time it will not rebroadcast the same message again. (4) Implement Fly-In Graphics Means for New Messages. The user interface alert panel 50 performs fly-in graphics for new messages received from the communications server 38 if this option has been selected by the user. e. Viewer Server. Referring to FIG. 10, the viewer server 20 provides the means by which other components can initiate the execution of viewers 48 to display messages received from the broadcast network. This includes launching a particular viewer 48 upon command, parsing messages, and providing data extracted from the messages to the viewers 48 for display. The viewer server 20 also acts as the interface between the viewers 48 and the messages data base 51. Functionality of the viewer server 20 is accessed through the Viewer Server Applications Programming Interface (VSAPI). The viewer server 20 serves the global control preferences across all viewers and allows common controls to be shared by viewers requiring similar functions. In accordance with the present invention, three different classes of user interface are present. One class, the viewer class, views a particular type of information, such as baseball or electronic mail. A second class, the viewer controller, is able to start and stop the other class, the viewers class. For example, in operation, the viewer controller resembles a remote control and enables a user to turn the viewers on and off. By utilizing the remote control, a user can thus automatically bring up a baseball viewer and baseball information will be automatically displayed in that viewer. For illustrative purposes, FIGS. 24 (a), (b), (c) and (d) are depictions of a market scoreboard viewer, a football viewer, a newspaper viewer and stock ticker viewer, respectively. In particular, in accordance with the feed format of the present invention, information is broken into logical information categories at the central broadcast server 34 end which matches viewers 48 which exist on the user end. The viewer server 20 ties into the viewers 48 so that an actual feed, such as an electronic mail notification feed, baseball sports feed or headline feed, is established. In accordance with the present invention, the data at the server end is classified into various formats to be able to indicate what type of a feed is present. This is accomplished by placing tags in front of various words that break it up into a type of information, such as a headline story, electronic mail story, financial story, and the like. This is the basis of the EMIT format which was described previously. When this data arrives on the user side, the viewer server 20 reads the message including the codes and determines what type of message is being sent. Thus a viewer that is capable of displaying baseball information only receives baseball information. In accordance with an alternative embodiment of the invention, another viewer controller which enables both incoming information as well as past information to be viewed can be utilized. Thus, for example, a user can bring up a baseball game that occurred earlier in the day. In operation, the viewer controller talks to the viewer server 20 and indicates that it wants to bring up a particular viewer. The viewer server 20 then activates and launches that particular viewer. Preference viewers enable each of the viewers in a common user interface to show any preference information it has. The preferences viewers can be programmed to provide various kinds of information. For example, the preferences viewer can be directed to information relating to baseball teams. Another preferences viewer can be directed to stock market information. The preferences viewer can be further programmed to provide indication of events which are currently happening. For example, if the price of a stock, such as IBM, goes above a certain amount, such as $100.00 per share, a stock market crawl viewer will come up to the foreground immediately and flash a red light. f. Remote Control. The remote control 54, as shown in FIG. 7, provides a user interface for opening, closing and controlling viewers (viewer management), for maintenance of user settings and preferences, and for viewing the latest broadcast network news. It also maintains a message history log which allows the user to view previously received messages. Viewer control functions include mute, pause and volume level control for the viewer audio device. The remote control 54 is launched through the user interface alert panel 50. g. Viewers. Viewers 18, opened through the user interface alert panel 50 or remote control 54, are the means by which data received from the broadcast network is displayed to the user. There are separate viewers for each of the different types of information provided over the network. Viewers 48 are capable of reading and displaying various message formats and contain preferences governing viewer actions. Viewers generally include, but are not limited, to graphics, data, sound files, and launch icons. When each of the viewers 48 is installed, it goes through a registration process with the viewer server 20 and the viewer server 20 stores entries in the database that keep track of each of the viewers by way of the viewer table. A filtering means is provided for each viewer for filtering particular types of messages a viewer can look at. For example, a baseball viewer who wants to look at messages relating to baseball information has two filtering means-one for saving information in a database and another filter for indicating that this is the type of information that should immediately be brought up to the viewer. Thus, if a viewer is interested in Dodger baseball games, such games would instantly be brought up by the second filter. Moreover, if a viewer desires to save all of the games in the national league, the filter for saving such information would be implemented h. User Preferences Dynamic Link Library DLL). The User Preferences Dynamic Link Library (DLL) 53 allows the user to precisely specify what information is to be displayed by the Viewers 48 and how this information will be displayed and enters various related information, such as, the name of the user's Internet browser and activation codes for activating service plans. For example, the user can select the teams for which baseball or football scores will be shown, the sources of news stories, and the speed at which text is scrolled in Marquee type viewers. The User Preferences DLL 53 is accessed via the remote control 54 or through any open viewer 48. i. Address Reprogramming and Activation Code Parsing DLL The address reprogramming and activation code parsing DLL 57 parses and validates service plan activation codes received over the wireless broadcast network or entered by the user and address reprogramming messages received over the network. Activation codes and address reprogramming messages control what broadcast network messages the user is allowed to receive. The code parsing DLL is used by the communications server 38, remote control 54 (FIG. 11) and user preferences DLL 53. j. Error Logging. Error Logging 55 provides a means by which all other components can record the occurrence of errors or potential problem conditions in a log file. The error log can be a valuable aid to technical support in diagnosing problems a user may encounter in running software: The log file is preferably in ASCII text format and can be viewed by any word processor or text editor, such as, Microsoft Word or Notepad. k. Operation of Received Message Data Flow. In operation, when a new message is received from the broadcast network, the communications server 38 receives a new data block from the wireless device 42 via the driver 44 and wireless interface 46. Depending on the data block type, the communications server 38 either processes it locally or passes it to the user interface alert panel 50. The user interface alert panel 50 receives a data block from the communications server 38, stores it in the messages data base 51, displays an icon for the particular message type and generates a fly-in or other means for notification such as an audio and/or visual alert for the new message if that option is selected by the user. If the user clicks on the icon for the new message, the user interface alert panel 50 sends a command to the viewer server 20 to open the appropriate viewer 48 to display the contents of the message. Alternatively, a viewer 48 to display the new message can be launched through the remote control 54. Upon receiving the command to open a viewer 48, the viewer server 20 parses the message, launches the viewer 48 and passes to it the data to be displayed. The viewer 48 displays the message data received from the viewer server 20 and commands the viewer server 20 to mark the message as “read” in the data base. At any step in the process, if an error condition is detected, it is recorded in the error log 55. 1. E-mail Alerts. FIG. 13 is a flow chart of an algorithm for generating and processing E-mail alerts in accordance with the present invention. In accordance with the present invention, a user may be instantly notified of E-mail messages without being connected to an E-mail service provider. Referring to FIG. 13, when a user receives an E-mail message (step 240), the user's provider sends an E-mail notification to central broadcast server (step 244). Upon receiving this notification, the central broadcast server transmits an E-mail alert message to the user's computer through the broadcast network (step 246). When the alert message is received by the software application in the user's computer, an animated visual and/or audio notification is triggered, or the e-mail viewer automatically pops up, depending on the mode of operation selected by the user (step 248). In the first case, an E-mail alert icon appears on the alert panel and the E-mail viewer can be launched in the same manner as viewers for news alerts (i.e. by clicking the icon or through the remote control). An E-mail alert contains the provider ID code number and the “From” name (E-mail address of the sender). One skilled in the art will recognize that the alert is not limited to the provider ID code number and name. Rather, the E-mail alert could include a header, whole message etc. The E-mail viewer displays an icon corresponding to the provider ID, the date and time the alert was received, and the sender's E-mail address. To read an E-mail message, the user simply clicks the associated icon (step 250) which causes the E-mail program for the particular provider to be launched (step 252). The user's E-mail can then be retrieved through a wired connection to the E-mail provider (step 254). One skilled in the art will recognize that E-mail alerts may be received from more than one source. For example, a user may receive an E-mail alert from an Internet E-mail provider and America On-Line or CompuServe. User Wireless On-Line Guide. In accordance with the present invention, a wirelessly transmitted on-line guide provides a detailed schedule of when certain information, such as upcoming events, forums and chat sessions, will be transmitted. With ongoing wireless broadcasts, the information in the on-line guide is maintained up-to-date. In particular, the on-line guide can notify a user just before an event is about to happen on the Internet, therefore eliminating the need to manually keep track of upcoming events. The user indicates which events are important, and the on-line guide reminds the user via an alarm including a visual and sound alert of the events at a predetermined time, such as minutes, before each occurs. The user can then click on the event and a connection to the event's location on the Internet is made through the user's standard Internet browser and Internet service provider. Alternatively, a user can specify that a connection to the event location via the user's Internet browser and Internet service provider be made automatically when the selected event is about to occur. URL Broadcast and Hot Links. Referring to FIG. 1, the URL broadcast and hot links 22 back to the information source 12 is shown. In accordance with the present invention, very short notification centric messages such as news headlines from information sources 12, such as Internet, on-line services and other information providers, are transmitted to the computer 14 by wireless transmission. A user, from a computer 14, can make a wired connection 24 back to the information source 12 to obtain more detailed information. In accordance with the present invention, attached to each of the notification centric messages is a universal resource locator (URL) code 22 as well as related Internet address information. This allows the user, by clicking on an icon that is embedded in the message, to make a wired or wireless connection 24, either through a modem, TC/IP or LAN-type connection, and automatically establish a link back to the information source 12. The user can thus go directly to the specific site that the information came from. In a typical example, the specific site can be ten pages deep. Thus, in accordance with an advantage of the present invention, information sources 12 such as the Internet and other on-line services, which are typically overwhelming particularly with respect to locating a story, are easily accessible. The present invention allows a user to pinpoint and locate the specific information the user was alerted to. The user can thus hit one button which establishes the connection 24 and takes the user directly to the location where the information is located. FIG. 12 is a flow chart of an algorithm for extracting and processing the Internet source URL for messages broadcast over the wireless communication network illustrated in FIG. 1. In accordance with the present invention, the Internet source for a news item alert is broadcast as part of the alert message itself (step 260). The message contains a number of tags delineating the various parts of the message. In the preferred embodiment, tags “S=” and “U=” identify the Internet source where detailed information about the news alert may be found. For those messages which always originate from the same list of default sources, the “S” tag only applies (step 264). Following the “S=” tag is a letter code corresponding to the Internet URL. For example, the letter code for an alert from the Reuters News Service is “W”. The actual URL, http://www.reuters.com, is obtained by using the letter code as an index into the alert source database of the present invention (step 266). URL's in the alert source database may be updated by Star Feed messages in case changes in the default URL's are necessary (step 268). For messages whose sources are not limited to a default set, the “U” tag conveys the Internet source (step 272). Following the “U=” tag is the actual URL source of the message (e.g. U=http://www.universalnews.com). Wireless throughput is conserved by transmitting the full URL only in those cases where the source is not restricted to being a member of a fixed set. The source URL is displayed at the end of the alert message text (step 270). A user with a wired or wireless connection to the Internet can go directly to the alert source simply by clicking the URL (step 270). A connection to the alert source on the Internet is thus provided. Over the Air Programming. Services received and various operational characteristics at the user end can be programmed by the central broadcast server 34 through the wireless broadcast network. This is accomplished primarily through Star Feeds and service activation/deactivation codes. Star Feeds, which have been described in detail above, are special messages which allow parameters controlling viewer operation to be modified from the central broadcast server 34. Activation/deactivation codes determine which services a user is allowed to receive. For example, if a user subscribes to e-mail alerts, this service can be turned on for that specific user through an e-mail alert activation code message transmitted to the user site via the wireless broadcast network. Conversely, if a user stops subscribing to a service, that service can be turned off through a deactivation code message. Additionally, the capability exists for binary file transfer from the central broadcast server 34 to add new executable files or replace existing ones with newer versions. In this way, new or updated viewers can be installed directly through the wireless broadcast network. Billing and Activation Server. Referring to FIG. 1, users may remotely request additional services or modify existing services from the personal computer 14 or other computing device through a billing and activation server 64 which communicates with the central broadcast server 34. By telephone or modem communication, a user can contact the billing and activation server 64 which in turn communicates with the central broadcast server 34. Once such a request has been processed by the central broadcast server 34, the server 34 wirelessly transmits an activation code directly to the message server 18 to activate additional or modify existing services. By matching the serial number contained in the broadcast message with the users serial number, the user software will program a receiver board in the user receiver 32 to begin receiving additional or modified services. Thus according to an advantage of the present invention, users can remotely adjust services from their personal computers 14 or other computing devices. Simultaneous Wired Transmission. In accordance with an alternate embodiment of the invention, the information provided from the information sources 12 and transmitted to the central broadcast server 34 to be consolidated in accordance with the present invention and then transmitted wirelessly nationwide to personal computers 14 and other computing devices as described in detail above can also be sent simultaneously via a wired connection to the same personal computers 14 and computing devices having Internet/World Wide Web access (direct or via on-line service providing Internet and World Wide Web access). In particular, the data processed at the central broadcast server 34, in addition to being transmitted wirelessly, is simultaneously placed on Web pages on the Internet. A user can thus connect to the Web via the Internet. In operation, to access data sent by the central broadcast server 34, a user makes a connection via the Internet to the World Wide Web server and delivers its URL request. The request is acknowledged by the Web server, which then sends the requested data to the user. Thus, a user can receive real time data/information in the form of voice, video data or a combination thereof by accessing the World Wide Web. It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to what has been shown and described hereinabove, nor the dimensions of sizes of the physical implementation described immediately above. 1. A method for transmitting data from an information provider to selected remote computing devices, wherein the information provider provides one or more categories or subcategories of information to remote computing devices for viewing on the selected remote computing devices, the method comprising: the information provider communicating with a central broadcast server; the information provider providing data to the central broadcast server for the central broadcast server to parse by one or more parsers, build data blocks, assign addresses, and transmit data to be viewed by a viewer specific to the information provider in each of the selected remote computing devices. 2. The method for transmitting data to selected remote computing devices of claim 1 further comprising: the information provider receiving requests from at least one of the viewers for more detailed information responsive to receipt of the data by the viewers and the information provider transmitting the requested detailed information to the requesting viewers. 3. The method for transmitting data to selected remote computing devices of claim 1 wherein the viewer specific to the information provider is adapted to receive only data based upon data from the information provider. 4. The method for transmitting data to selected remote computing devices of claim 1 wherein the data includes information to cause an automated connection back to the information provider for obtaining additional information. 5. The method for transmitting data to selected remote computing devices of claim 4 wherein the data includes information to cause a connection back to the information provider for obtaining additional information. 6. The method for transmitting data to selected remote computing devices of claim 4 wherein the data includes information to cause a connection back to the information provider for obtaining additional information in response to a single user action. 7. The method for transmitting data to selected remote computing devices of claim 6 wherein the single user action consists of a click on an icon. 8. The method for transmitting data to selected remote computing devices of claim 1 wherein the viewer specific to the information provider is adapted to receive data based upon data from plural information providers. 9. A method for transmitting data from an information provider comprising: the information provider providing one or more related categories or subcategories of information as to selected remote computing devices for viewing on the selected remote computing devices; the information provider providing data of the one or more categories or subcategories of information to the central broadcast server for the central broadcast server to parse by one or more parsers, build data blocks, assign addresses, and transmit data to a viewer specific to the information provider in each of the selected remote computing devices, whether the selected remote computing devices are online or offline to the information provider. 10. The method of claim 9 comprising the information provider providing the viewers to the selected remote computing devices. 11. The method of claim 9 further comprising: the information provider receiving requests from at least one of the viewers for more detailed information responsive to receipt of the messages by the viewers; and 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the viewers can be configured to play at least one of sound, video and animations, and the information provider transmitting the requested detailed information including at least one of sound, video and animations in accordance with the configuration. 13. The method of claim 9, wherein the viewers can be configured to play at least one of sound, video and animation stored on the selected remote computing devices. 14. The method of claim 9, wherein the information provider causes the viewers to play at least one of a predefined sound, a predefined video and a predefined animation upon a predefined action on the selected remote computing devices. 15. The method of claim 9, wherein the information provider causes the viewers to play at least one of a user-defined sound, a user-defined video and a user-defined animation upon a predefined action on the selected remote computing devices. 16. A server system for causing data to be transmitted to selected remote computing devices comprising: a first software subsystem configured to receive data from one or more information providers, wherein each information provider comprises a provider of one or more related categories or subcategories of information; one or more parsers configured to break or divide data into components whose content or format can be analyzed, processed, or acted upon; a second software subsystem configured to build data blocks from data, and to assign addresses to the data blocks, wherein the data blocks include sufficient information to be effectively communicated to a third software subsystem configured to prepare the data blocks for transmission as messages to the selected remote computing devices to be viewed by viewers respectively specific to the information providers in each of the selected remote computing devices. 17. A system for transmitting data to selected remote computing devices comprising: a server system including: a first software subsystem configured to receive data from one or more information providers, wherein the information providers comprise providers of data for the selected remote computing devices for one or more related categories or subcategories of information; one or more parsers configured to break or divide data into components whose content or format can be analyzed, processed, or acted upon; a second software subsystem configured to build data blocks from data, and to assign addresses to the data blocks; a third software subsystem configured to prepare the data blocks for transmission as messages to the selected remote computing devices; a transmission gateway for transmitting the messages to the selected remote computing devices for instantaneously notifying the selected remote computing devices of receipt of data whether the selected remote computing devices are online or offline to the information providers of the data, wherein the messages corresponding to the data received by the first software subsystem are transmitted to the selected remote computing devices identified by the content of the received data. 18. The system of claim 17 wherein the data comprises at least one of notifications regarding E-mail arrival, stock prices reaching specified values, Internet telephone calls, chats and meeting notices. 19. The system of claim 17 wherein the information providers consist of online information sources. Filed: Feb 6, 2014 Applicant: SimpleAir, Inc. (Plano, TX) Inventors: John M. Payne (Newport Beach, CA), Tim Von Kaenel (Coto de Casa, CA), Jeffrey Odell (Newport Beach, CA), David Starr (New York, NY), Jason Katz (New York, NY) Current U.S. Class: Demand Based Messaging (709/206); Accessing A Remote Server (709/219) International Classification: H04L 29/08 (20060101); H04L 12/58 (20060101);	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line957
__label__cc	0.501637	0.498363	Posts Tagged ‘scat’ Free Max Hardcore! Posted in Uncategorized, tagged 2257, abuse, act, acted, acting, actor, age of consent, all fours, anal, anger, angry, appeal, art, artist, bad boy, barely legal, brutal, brutality, brutalization, brutalize, Bush administration, bush gore, case, censor, censored, censorship, charged, charges, child pornography, choke, choked, chokes, choking, cinema, community standards, consent, consenting adults, court, court of law, crime, deep throat, deep throated, deep throating, deepthroat, deepthroated, deepthroating, degradation, degraded, degrading, Department of Justice, detainees, direct, directing, director, disgust, disgusted, disgusting, disturb, disturbed, disturbing, DOJ, dominance, dominant, dominated, domination, edge, edgy, expression, extreme, fake rape, FBI, film, film maker, fist, fisted, fisting, fists, force, forced, forces, forcing, free will, freedom, gag, gag reflex, gagged, gagging, gags, gape, gaped, gaping, gonzo, gore, gory, gross, hardcore, humiliate, humiliated, humiliation, illegal, imprisonment, injustice, involuntary, Justice, Justice Department, land of the free, law enforcement, liberty, lipstick, lollipop, lollipops, master, max, max hardcore, misogynist, misogyny, mister, molest, molestation, molested, money shot, obscene, obscenity, offend, offended, offense, offensive, offfender, pain, Paul Little, pedophilia, persecution, pig, pigtails, playground, political prisoner, porn, porn star, porn stars, porno, pornography, prison, prosecution, prude, prudence, puke, rape, rectum, repulse, repulsed, repulsive, role, roleplay, S&M, sadism, sadist, sadomasochism, sadomasochist, scat, schoolgirl, schoolgirls, sex, sex film, sex films, sex flick, sex flicks, sick, slap, slapped, slapping, slaps, slave, slut, sodomy, speculum, spit, spread, stretch, taste, throat, torture, tyranny, urine, vagina, victim, victims, video, violate, violated, violation, violence, violent, voluntary, vomit, whore, XXX on 2008.11.04\| 4 Comments » http://www.maxhardcoretv.com/FreeMaxHardcore.htm As you have probably heard by now, the groundbreaking and legendary adult film maker Max Hardcore, was recently found guilty for the production of “Obscenity,” and sentenced to 46 months in federal prison, and fined Eighty-Five Thousand Dollars! Other artists who have been convicted of Obscenity in the past include comedian Lenny Bruce and author James Joyce. Max Hardcore’s films were found to be illegal because they “violated community standards.” With the assistance of the judge, the prosecutor inflamed the jury as they painting Max Hardcore as a violent predator – even though there was no real violence at all! Thoroughly prejudiced, the jury ignored the fact that Max’s scripted and staged productions involved only willing and well paid participants of legal age. The jury even ignored the glowing praise by one of his so-called victims who starred in three of the five movies on trial. Take a quick look at history and you will find that most truly great art violates community standards. Max Hardcore was sentenced to prison because he is a creative, brilliant, groundbreaking pornographer. Instead of being tried in Los Angeles, where he lives and works, he was tried in a conservative part of Florida, because some of his internet servers happened to be located there. This sets a very dangerous precedent to all those who have blogs or websites no matter where you live! Humanity progresses through offensive ideas. Socrates was sentenced to death for corrupting the youth of Athens. Copernicus and Galileo were arrested for proving that Earth was not the center of the universe. Jesus was crucified for teaching a religion of peace and acceptance. The freedom of speech is the right to pursue and develop ideas, and to share those ideas with the world. It is the right to pursue greatness and truth. It is the right to do art, to do science. It is to express yourself with the help of others, so long as everyone is participating of their own free will. By jailing a truly groundbreaking artist, the government has not just taken away one man’s freedom. They have taken away the right to pursue new ideas, to challenge and improve the accepted ways of doing things, to seek artistic greatness. And they have taken this right not only from Max Hardcore, but from every one of us. Stanton Audemars Rattled Films You Can Do Something About this! Max Hardcore was never a rich man, but has financed this case up to this point, and spent nearly all his money. To carry it onward to the appeals process, Max now needs the help of all people who know the importance of Freedom of Speech, and the Sanctity of one’s own home. Now is the time to show you mean business, and contribute whatever you can, be it $20, $100, $1,000, or more, every dollar counts! Max has set up a fund so he can mount a robust appeal, and get this case thrown out, for so many good reasons, that it shows the conservative elements of the Justice Department that people aren’t going to stand for being treated like unpatriotic citizens anymore! Here’s what you can do: Contribute by Check or Money Order: Make checks Payable, and Send them to: Sirkin, Pinales & Schwartz, LLP 920 Fourth & Race Tower (Memo Note on check that it’s for the Max Hardcore Defense Fund) Contribute using a Credit or Debit Card! Call them at: 513 721-4876 (Say you want to contribute to the Max Hardcore Defense Fund) True, not everyone is fond of Max. Max Hardcore (born Paul F. Little on August 10, 1956 in Racine, Wisconsin, U.S.A.) is a controversial male porn star and producer whose films usually feature him engaging in a variety of sexual acts with young women who dress and act like prepubescent girls. Although Hardcore often depicts his actresses as young and sometimes beneath the age of consent, they are not actually under 18. In his film Max Extreme 4, an actress over the age of 18 was portraying a character who states that she is 12 years old. Based on these movies, the city of Los Angeles in 1998 charged him with child pornography and distribution of obscenity. The fact that the actress was over the age of 18 was not disputed; they brought charges based solely on the fact that the actress was portraying a character who was under eighteen years of age. Just before the case was brought to trial in 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the statute prohibiting adults from portraying children in films and books was unconstitutional (See Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition). Based on this ruling, the child pornography charges against Hardcore were dismissed. The misdemeanor charge of distribution of obscenity was retained, but the jury failed to reach a verdict. An additional obscenity charge was subsequently levied against him by L.A., again resulting in a hung jury. Hardcore commented that “it was a frivolous waste of public resources.” On October 5, 2005, the offices of Max World Entertainment were raided by the FBI. Five video titles and the office’s computer servers were seized, ostensibly for research toward a federal obscenity indictment or a charge related to the 2257 record-keeping law. In response to this action, Hardcore released the following statement: “Once again, the government is wasting tax dollars and otherwise invaluable law enforcement resources to try to force a minority view of morality on all of America. Five of my movies have been targeted by the Federal Prude Patrol. There is no indication of any crime to be alleged except obscenity. If indicted, I will fight to protect my liberty, as well as the liberty of consenting adults to watch other adults engage in lawful, consensual, pleasurable sexual action. Shame on the Bush Department of Justice. I am proud of the movies I make and proud of those who buy and sell those movies.” In 2007 Max Hardcore was indicted by the United States Department of Justice Obscenity Prosecution Task Force on 10 counts of federal obscenity charges in Tampa, Florida and was found guilty on all charges in June 2008. He has been sentenced to 46 months in prison. Also on October 3 2008 the official Max Hardcore domain was forfeited, making the current official website http://www.MaxHardcoreTV.com. Glenn Greenwald writes in Salon, So, to recap, in the Land of the Free: if you’re an adult who produces a film using other consenting adults, for the entertainment of still other consenting adults, which merely depicts fictional acts of humiliation and degradation, the DOJ will prosecute you and send you to prison for years. The claim that no real pain was inflicted will be rejected; mere humiliation is enough to make you a criminal. But if government officials actually subject helpless detainees in their custody to extreme mental abuse, degradation, humiliation and even mock executions long considered “torture” in the entire civilized world, the DOJ will argue that they have acted with perfect legality and, just to be sure, Congress will hand them retroactive immunity for their conduct. That’s how we prioritize criminality and arrange our value system. this site suggests that some of Max’s scenes really were rape. However, if that is the case, why were no charges of rape ever filed, with the evidence being so easily available? Susannah Breslin writes, In Max Hardcore movies–“Anal Agony,” “Hardcore Schoolgirls,” “Max! Don’t Fuck Up My Mommy!”–women are verbally and physically degraded in an unprecedented myriad of ways. They are choked, slapped, throat-fucked, penetrated with fists, given enemas, pile-driven, urinated upon, vomited upon, and in some instances instructed to drink from glasses the money shots that have been delivered into their rectums. Most of the time, Little as Hardcore is the perpetrator of these acts. Not infrequently, his scenes are fraught with pedophilia themes, beginning when he stumbles upon his subjects in playgrounds, where they sit alone, in pigtails, talking baby-talk, and sucking on lollipops. Mostly, the sex scenes end with his latest costar a mess and Hardcore triumphant. Even for the most jaded porn watcher, Little’s ouevre is over the top. Watching Little’s work is less like watching a porn movie than it is akin to witnessing a vivisection. On the screen, Hardcore bends over the female bodies before him, sometimes with speculum in hand, as if attempting to get at something within her at which he can never quite get, and so to which he is doomed to return, his methods more and more hardcore. She continues, Because if you’re going to talk about how far we’ve come when it comes to porn, if you’re going to posit Paul “Max Hardcore” Little as the latest victim of the Bush administration, if you’re going to lament one more strike against your First Amendment rights, you should bear witness as to what a porn star drenched in vomit looks like. Fair enough. I’ve watched dozens and maybe even hundreds of Max’s films, going back over a decade. I’ve certainly watched hundreds that have been inspired by his work. Unless and until there is evidence of actual rape proven in a court of law, I tend to agree with Greenwald as reported in his exchange with Breslin: I really don’t care what consenting adults do with one another in order to entertain themselves or please themselves sexually–I’m not a busy body trying to sit in judgment of what other adults choose to do with themselves, especially in their sex lives. Not even the Government claimed that these films involved minors or non-consent, so as far as I’m concerned, it’s nobody’s business what they do, and whatever they do isn’t going to change my mind in the slightest. Breslin reports, In 2005, the Bush administration launched its so-called “War on Porn,” forming the Obscenity Prosecution Task Force, a Department of Justice outfit dedicated to pursuing obscenity prosecutions, and the FBI began recruiting for a “porn squad,” otherwise known as the Adult Obscenity Squad, focused on “manufacturers and purveyors” of pornography. She also finds irony in the following: Little’s defense, Greenwald points out, is the same defense the Bush administration has used to defend interrogation techniques used on detainees: “because the acts in question didn’t involve the infliction of severe pain, they weren’t illegal.” In the case of Little’s videos, he asserts, “There was no suggestion that any serious violence was ever inflicted or that the adult actors in the film were anything other than completely consensual.” In conclusion, he proclaims: “So, to recap, in the Land of the Free: if you’re an adult who produces a film using other consenting adults, for the entertainment of still other consenting adults, which merely depicts fictional acts of humiliation and degradation, the DOJ will prosecute you and send you to prison for years. What’s ironic about that? The Bush gang tortured people who did not consent. Max either tortured women who did consent – not a crime, and not even wrong – or he tortured women who did not consent. In which case, the Bush gang should have charged him with rape. They did not. Is it because they did not have a case? If they did have a case, why didn’t they charge him? And why is the same bunch who makes excuses for non-concensual torture so willing to go after concensual torture – because they wish to monopolize the act, or keep it out of sight and out of mind? Where is all of this leading? Delaware Libertarian offers a clue: From News.com.au: THE Federal Government is planning to make internet censorship compulsory for all Australians and could ban controversial websites on euthanasia or anorexia. Australia’s level of net censorship will put it in the same league as countries including China, Cuba, Iran and North Korea, and the Government will not let users opt out of the proposed national internet filter when it is introduced. Broadband, Communications and Digital Economy Minister Stephen Conroy admitted the Federal Government’s $44.2 million internet censorship plan would now include two tiers – one level of mandatory filtering for all Australians and an optional level that will provide a “clean feed”, censoring adult material. Despite planning to hold “live trials” before the end of the year, Senator Conroy said it was not known what content the mandatory filter would bar, with euthanasia or pro-anorexia sites on the chopping block. “We are talking about mandatory blocking, where possible, of illegal material,” he told a Senate Estimates Committee. Previously the net nanny proposal was going to allow Australians who wanted uncensored access to the web the option to contact their internet service provider and be excluded from the service. So… Australia is going to have mandatory, state-instituted internet filtering, which is basically designed to eliminate anything the Australian government decides would be bad for its citizens to see, a list which apparently includes at this point any website discussing anorexia or euthanasia. But, as my non-Libertarian friends never tire of telling me: there is no such thing as a slippery slope. There is no such thing as a slippery slope. Thereisnosuchthingasaslipperyslope. As Majikthise points out, However, the CIA interrogators who videotaped the torture and degradation of non-consenting prisoners are still free. The same Justice Department that defended the legality of “enhanced interrogation” methods has named mainstream adult pornography a top enforcement priority.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line958
__label__wiki	0.780602	0.780602	Honk If You Support Immigrants Cindy Casares Community groups launch billboard ad campaigns that urge compassion for the undocumented. As 2011 draws to a close, the immigration situation in the U.S. remains a mess. Arizona's infamous SB 1070, which required law-enforcement officials to check immigration status during routine encounters if there was "reasonable suspicion" someone was in the country illegally, sparked a nationwide outcry when it was passed in 2010. But in the past year, lawmakers in Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Utah, and South Carolina have followed suit, passing a host of copycat bills. In Alabama, schools are even required to check the immigration status of students, which has resulted in hundreds of Hispanic children being kept home from school. But there is a quiet backlash taking shape. Across the country, a number of grassroots organizations have recently kicked off awareness campaigns that welcome immigrants. Uniting NC, a grass-roots group in North Carolina, has raised funds online for billboards all over the state featuring images of smiling immigrants and the headline, “Community, we’ll get there together.” “Today, Uniting NC is announcing the start of a statewide billboard campaign intended to create a vision of a united, inclusive North Carolina where all people are given a fair chance, no matter where they were born,” said United NC director Kristin Collins at a press conference held in Raleigh on December 13. In her speech, Collins pointed out the tendency for citizens to scapegoat immigrants in difficult economic times and told the audience that anti-immigration legislation doesn't just hurt immigrants—it hurts the whole community. “We don’t want to see North Carolina go down the same path [as places like Alabama]. This holiday season, let’s heed the instructions in all faiths to welcome the stranger and to treat our neighbors with kindness and respect.” Uniting NC is just one of 19 affiliated groups throughout the United States under the grassroots umbrella organization Welcoming America, founded in Atlanta in 2007. Felicia Escobar, Senior Policy Advisor at the White House Domestic Policy Council, recently wrote about Welcoming America on the White House website: By connecting immigrants and U.S. born residents, and by highlighting local contributions made by immigrants, Welcoming America is transforming relationships in these communities and working with others, including community leaders, practitioners, and academics to support strategies that engage all Americans in understanding and promoting more integrated communities. Religious leaders are well represented among the ranks of Welcoming America and other immigrant-advocacy groups, which could be the key to opening the hearts of conservative voters. Two weeks ago, 33 Hispanic/Latino Catholic Bishops of the United States published an open letter welcoming immigrants into the Church: The economic crisis has had an impact on the entire U.S. community. Regretfully, some in reaction to this environment of uncertainty show disdain for immigrants and even blame them for the crisis. We will not find a solution to our problems by sowing hatred. We will find the solution by sowing a sense of solidarity among all workers and co-workers—immigrants and citizens—who live together in the United States. The same week, Catholic nuns from 10 religious communities in Iowa erected billboards in preparation for the January 3 Republican caucuses. The billboards contain biblical verses such as Matthew 25:35—“I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”—but with word “stranger” replaced with “immigrant.” The campaign is running in Des Moines, Dubuque, Cedar Rapids, Sioux City, Clinton and the Quad Cities and includes prayer services to accompany the awareness campaign. Whether they’re motivated by faith or simply a sense of right and wrong, grassroots movements have proven they can enact change. Take Citizens for Arizona, which ousted Russell Pearce, president of the Arizona state senate and author of the state’s infamous SB 1070. That Pearce could be run out of town by an unknown politician—earning him the honor of becoming the first sitting Senate president in the nation to lose a recall election—is proof that even in conservative Arizona, people have had enough. Grass-roots action mirrors a more broad response from the federal government. The Department of Justice (DOJ) recently released a report accusing the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office of racially profiling Hispanics. U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel recently blocked key parts of an immigration bill in South Carolina that were set to go into effect January 1, enjoining sections of the law that would require immigrants to carry their registration documents and make it a crime to harbor or transport an illegal immigrant. Since the South Carolina law was modeled after Arizona SB 1070, which is being considered by the Supreme Court this coming term, Gergel’s decision could factor in the Court's review. Immigrant-rights advocates have filed similar suits in Georgia, Utah, Indiana, and Alabama, and have been successful in stopping the most draconian provisions of these anti-immigration bills from going into effect. Besides marginalizing undocumented immigrants and subjecting minorities to racial profiling, the raft of anti-immigration laws have had larger, more devastating effects on states' economies. In Alabama, workers fled in the middle of the night when HB 56 was upheld in a federal court in October. Acres of crops sat rotting on the vines for lack of manpower to pick them. "Sadly, this law is still wreaking havoc across [Alabama], creating a humanitarian crisis," said Mary Bauer, legal director for the Southern Poverty Law Center . Thanks to the efforts of grassroots publicity campaigns, Americans are slowly waking up to the devastating effects of living in communities overrun by fear and paranoia. Approaching Peak Bitch on Television TV is overrun with unflattering portrayals of women—where's the uproar? Cindy Casares is the founding editor of Guanabee and a columnist for The Texas Observer. 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__label__wiki	0.820832	0.820832	Improving the transition from school to work Contents Appendix 4: Note of Focus Group: Tuesday 27 October 2015 On 27 October, the Committee met with eleven people aged between 19 and 24 to discuss a number of key issues in relation to the focus of the inquiry. The session was facilitated by UpRising, a UK-wide charity which runs leadership and employability programmes for 16-25 year olds. The participants in the focus group were invited from the Cardinal Hulme Centre, the Carers Trust, the Prince’s Trust, St Christopher’s Fellowship and the Young Women’s Trust. Format of the focus group The participants were split into three random groups, and were joined by two or three members of the Committee, and a member of the secretariat. They were asked to discuss four questions as groups and then to feed back to the group as a whole. The following reflects the points made in the discussion, and identifies the participants only when they have given their express permission to do so. The questions the participants were asked to consider were: 1.Do you feel there are a wide variety of options for school leavers? Did you feel supported in this decision? 2.How do you feel this has affected your career options? What part did work experience play in this? 3.What are the jobs and employers for school leavers in your local areas? What do you need to get one of these jobs? How did you find out about them? 4.What skills do you think employers look for in recruits? Where do you think you can access these skills? Discussions on the tables 1.Do you feel there are a wide variety of options for school leavers? Did you feel supported in making decisions when leaving school? Vincent, 22, lived in a young people’s hostel. He thought that the options you had depended on the area in which you went to school and the background. The school he went to in Walthamstow did not have a wide variety of options. Vincent used to go to a school which has now been closed down. The standards of the school were bad and it was considered one of the worst schools in the country. He was severely bullied and because of this was pulled out of the school system by his parents in year 9. He then received private tuition at home. This gave him time to focus on what he would like to study–which led to him developing an interest in art. He spent five to six hours a day learning about art history, art movements and artists. Now he has gone on to have a successful career in art. He would not have been able to do this in the state education system due to the amount of time spent on other things. At school he felt there was constant disruption in every lesson and no learning took place. Friends of his who completed the same curriculum are all working on building sites or are unemployed, and he is the only one who has gone on to do something creative. Sonic, a young adult carer, thought that there was not a wide choice of options available to him. He found that there was not enough support at school to get the grades required to go to university. Despite this he did pass his GCSESs, but did not pass his A-Levels. He felt that this was due to the large gap between GCSE and A-Levels and that there was no support system in place in schools where he could speak openly and confidentially about his situation. As a result, he felt disillusioned and let down by the education system. He took a Level 2 diploma at college one day a week in tiling and plastering. This fitted in around his work and caring role. He put everything he could into his work and if he had not, the lack of support would have resulted in him not succeeding. “If I didn’t plough everything into work I’d end up crumbling because there wasn’t any sort of support there for me, personally. I wish there was someone … it doesn’t have to be often, but there was no one there who could pick up on anything.” Sonic, a young adult carer Teachers picked up on his dropping grades, but because of his caring background he did not have the time to complete homework. Sofia, a care leaver who is living independently, was in care and had a carer who was mentally abusive. As a result, she missed a lot of school. Her school did not care or try to find out why. She would miss class because of her mental state and the school would not find a way of helping her to catch up on what she had missed. When she finished school she was forced to join sixth form. Cardine, a carer aged 22, stated that she was in the same position that she was in at the age of 16, and that there was no realistic choice for her to make. Her ambition was to work in mental health care, or to be a midwife but the qualifications available to her did not meet her ambitions. “I feel like a chess piece in a game because someone is making the moves for me” Cardine, a carer aged 22 Balqis left school after not being able to go onto sixth form and only being offered a place on a beauty course. She had a child at the age of 17 and found returning to work and education difficult. As a French citizen, she had no access to help and childcare support which made it more difficult to get a qualification. She did use Connexions advisers, but her childcare responsibilities were a barrier to employment. Following support from the Prince’s Trust, she is a secretary for Standard Life and works in the Gherkin in London. Both her children go to school, and she can afford to pay her childcare. “I still had the barrier of having children which prevented me from going back to college. I was in a limbo where I really wanted to go back but my kids were too young to go to school, and I would have to wait until they were 5. I asked myself what am I going to do until then? I left school when I was 16/17 and I’m going to start fresh again back when I’m 23 (the age I am now).” Balqis, aged 23, a young mother Khiry felt that his options at the age of 16 were not good, and were not in line with his aspirations. He completed a four week placement of work experience with Tesco’s, and for the past three months has been permanently employed. He said at times it could be a little bit stressful, but all in all he likes the environment and everyone was friendly. Khiry had a bereavement early in his life, and although his guardian supported him as much as they were able to, he felt he did not have a suitable support network around him. Following the closure of Connexions, he felt that career options were disappearing for young people. “Apart from the Prince’s Trust, when I was looking for work at 19 years old there was no support work. I remember going to the Job Centre at the start, and they were not supportive. In terms of career options available to me, Connexions (around about 2011) had just shut down and career options available to help young people were shutting down so it was quite a challenging time for me.” Khiry Cardine said that she needed funding to get on to an access course, and that the current system prevents her from participating on courses without certain experiences or qualifications. “I cannot get funding to get onto an accesss course, and without that access course, I cannot go to college, and cannot go onto university. You have to have certain experiences and qualifications to get onto courses, which you cannot get if you are caring for somebody.” Cardine, a young adult carer, aged 22 Tomas, 21, completed secondary school but failed most of his exams. Initially when he left school, he went to a sixth form college but was asked to leave the first college he attended after three months, and the second college after four months, because he lacked motivation. He was not sure about what he wanted to do and did not receive any careers advice. He attended the Jobcentre but found that the service was not very personalised and that his choices were limited. Tomas felt that there were limited options and a lack of information for young people. “[On sixth form] I wasn’t motivated. I just felt like it wasn’t me or what I wanted to do. It wasn’t very practical, it was more academic. I’m a practical person, and a practical learner.” Tomas, Administrator at Systech International, aged 21 Kristyn, 23, moved to the United Kingdom from Venezuela in 2011. She wanted to go to university in the United Kingdom but the fees were too expensive. When she arrived in the United Kingdom, she worked as a waitress but did not really enjoy it. Amber attended a girl’s grammar school. She did not particularly enjoy school but got relatively good grades. She left school at 16 and completed a one-year media course at a further education college. Amber said that the only advice she received at school was that you have to go to university and get a degree. All of her friends went on to higher education but Amber chose to do an apprenticeship in digital marketing, which she found online on the Government apprenticeships website. Her first apprenticeship (a Level 2) was terrible; she was not enrolled in any training and left after six months. Her second apprenticeship (a Level 3) at YouTube was much better and enabled her to get her current job at a small company. “Where I grew up, we were told you have to go to university—all of my friends are at university. I chose to do an apprenticeship instead. There was no advice on apprenticeships, it was just seen as something only bricklayers, only plumbers do”. Amber felt that having only a handful of GCSE’s affected her career options on leaving school because there were so many people seeking work with higher qualifications. Amber said that her work experience at school was terrible. She spent one week at a stables, sweeping the floor, and a week at her school library, making cups of tea for the librarian. As she lived in a small town in rural Lincolnshire, there were not very many businesses in the local area that could offer a wide variety of work experience. Her school maintained a database of local employers that you could choose from but if you wanted to go beyond that you had to organise it yourself. Kristyn found it difficult because she did not have any work experience in the United Kingdom and English was not her first language. She tried to get experience in retail but struggled to get work. She recently started the Prince’s Trust Enterprise Program, which includes a series of workshops on how to start and run your own business and provides mentoring, and would like to run her own retail fashion business. Tomas was born in Lithuania and moved to the United Kingdom when he was 8 years old. At first, he did not speak any English and had to adjust to a different culture. He said that now knowing different languages is an advantage. He was bored by secondary school and did not take it very seriously. After he was asked to leave college, he completed a railway engineering course but lost his job as his drink was spiked at a university campus. He thought that his life was over and that he had no career choices. Tomas completed a two-week ‘Get into Admin’ course with the Prince’s Trust which completely changed his life. A week after he completed the course, he started working as an administrator for a construction consultancy, Systech International. “I left school at 16 and the options were not great for me. I did not have anyone who could sit down with me and go through the options available to me. If I had had the help, I might have been able to make a decision. In that time, I was in my shell. Maybe I could have asked for help, but I was insecure and didn’t feel able to ask.” Balqis emphasised that the Prince’s Trust did not hand her things on a plate and that she had to work hard to make the most of her options. The Prince’s Trust did give her the confidence to believe in herself, and to appreciate that she had more to offer than she had previously recognised. Cardine felt that a lack of work experience has limited her options, as she was given few options and was not in a position to participate in many of them. Khiry felt that there was not enough jobs available for school leavers. Sofia was affected quite a lot as she wanted to be an animal psychologist. There was no support and when she left school and tried to go to college there were not any courses suitable for her to study animal psychology as she just had GCSE. Because of her mental health she found it hard to stay in classes and the college did not understand why. She left school when she was 15. Sonic could not do what he wanted to do. He wanted to become a doctor but as did not get the grades couldn’t go to university because of the grades he got. There is no way to become a doctor without going to university. He said he has a good job now and worked full time as a salesman and cannot complain with what he has got, but he felt it was not what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. But he was stuck with what he was doing. He was still caring for his mum. He worked full time, normally 40 plus hours per week, plus his caring role. Vincent said because he was pulled out of the system, at GCSE and A-Level time he was not on the register at any school and that meant he would have had to pay for test privately–each test was around £500. He was therefore not able to take exams due to the financial circumstances of his family. The school tried to take his parents to court for taking him out of school. He now worked quite a lot in his art career. It took a long time to develop to get to the stage he was at, and galleries were starting to become interested in his work. He tried to link in with a lot of charities. He was now happy with where he was but a lot of obstacles got in the way. He went to college to try to get the grades to get into university, but dropped out due to universities tripling their fees, and this led to him becoming an alcoholic. Sofia said because she left her carer she had no income so once she turned 18 she had to provide for herself. Her rent was expensive so she did not have enough time to work and to go to college to get the amount of money she needed. Sonic said he would like to find himself something else to do. He would go back to college if he had the money. He said if you got over the age of 21 no one supported you financially and when you were running your own house it became increasing more difficult to warrant paying out for a course at college. “I feel like I’ve been given a spade and told to dig and left in that hole, and there’s no one there to pick you out.” Vincent, Sofia and Sonic felt unsupported and on their own. Khiry said that developers and local councillors should have the responsibility and duties to create jobs for local people. He felt that although it is often said that this will happen, more could be done to make it the reality. There are a lot of opportunities in his borough, but they seem to rarely go to people who live there. “They need to create more opportunities for more local people as they know the area better. No discrimination, but local people should be considered first and any jobs which are left over should then be offered to people outside of the borough.” Khiry, on local employment opportunities Balqis told us about the scheme offered by Standard Chartered in Edinburgh, called the Edinburgh Guarantee Scheme. Under this scheme, the Company recruits school leavers to give them exposure to the corporate world. They take on approximately 16 people a year for six months, and if they make a positive impact whilst there, their contract can be extended. Balqis felt that this was an excellent opportunity for these school leavers, and that more companies should look to do similar. Cardine said that most jobs require six months formal experience at least–in particular for care jobs. She was a carer and had personal experience, but jobs such as ones available in care homes, require formal, hands-on experience. She has personal experience and knows how to wash, clean and control medication but felt that there is a limit on how much personal experience can be used in an interview. “Basically, most of the jobs require six months experience at least–particularly with care jobs. I’m based in Ipswich. I am a carer and have personal experience, but jobs in care homes for example, require formal, hands on experience. I’ve got years of personal experience and I know how to wash and clean, and medicine control. There is only so much you can talk about yourself and your personal experience in an interview. At the end of the day, the recruiters are always going to go for someone who has experience of similar jobs. I’ve applied for so many apprenticeships. I always seem to get missed: I think this may be to do with my age as I’m 22 and have no prior work experience. I saw an apprenticeship for £400 a month, and that’s all I’m asking for–just to get me started somewhere. I don’t ask for anything else.” Khiry said that a lot of young people he spoke to wanted to do an apprenticeship but that it was hard to actually get into an apprenticeship. When they went to college, the college would say: you need an employer. He wondered how these young people could find an employer without an apprenticeship. In her home town, Amber said that there were a few apprenticeships for school leavers but these were mostly low-level apprenticeships in a fish and chip shop or packing flowers or food in a factory (Customer Service (Level 2)). Her sister, who is 16, is currently working in McDonalds and can’t find real apprenticeships. Sonic said that jobs in his local area were all part time and zero hours contracts. Full time jobs did not exist. He was lucky to start working part-time at 16 that was part-time weekend work and progressed with the same company. All three said their lack of education was a big stumbling block. “If only one person is for you and everyone is against you, you end up breaking down and believing that people are against you.” Sofia, a care leaver living independently Vincent said that when he was doing art around age 18 he would attend the job centre, but the job centre viewed an art career as unrealistic as he had no qualifications. They would ask him why he did not get a ‘proper job’. The job centre recommended a part time voluntary job on a recycling plant, which was not what he wanted to do. He wondered why the job centre could not find him anything useful to do. He had no careers advice. Sofia had a really good careers advisor who supported her but the whole school was against him in the decision to get her into college. Sonic said careers guidance was limited. Unless you actively sought their help, they would not come to you. He went to a workshop at Connexions who helped him with his CV and help with interviews, which he had not had before. Sofia told us charities try to help her now because she lives in a hostel. She was now with a charity called Jobs in Mind, which specialises in supporting people with mental health issues. She said that they understood and supported her, and that a worker would travel with her to her meetings if she felt panicked. Some charities are really good but difficult to get in to. Job centres are not supportive. When she wanted to go back to college the job centre worker said ‘who is going to pay your bills?’ so she did not go back to college. “The interviewer was not looking for experience, he did not care that I did not have qualifications: he wanted me to be able to learn from the experience I was going to get. He liked my personality and said that he felt that I was hungry to learn and that my personality came across well in the interview.” Balqis Balqis’ job interview for her current job was arranged by the Princes Trust. On the day, her son was unwell and she arrived at the interview with her children. She received feedback on the interview before she was told she had been successful. She was told that the interviewer felt that attending the interview with her children was a demonstration of her commitment. She felt fortunate that the interview was not looking for experience, or for qualifications, but was looking for the ability to learn from the experience the job offered. The interviewer liked her personality and felt that she was hungry to learn. Khiry felt that determination was important, and doing research on what the job entails before an interview. Cardine said that organisation skills, people skills and Life Skills are important but it depended on what kind of job was being applied for. “I try to apply the Life Skills to the scenarios. Life skills are useful because they mean you can think about the perspective of the employer.” Cardine Balqis felt that her Life Skills helped her get her job. She felt that the skills she had as a mother were identified by the interviewer and translated into the workplace. Her role as a secretary is a first step in her career, and she hopes to use in her future career the Level 3 qualification in education and training she completed whilst volunteering for the Prince’s Trust. “I’ve got the skills, I’ve got the qualifications to be a team leader and I need to just find the opportunity to be one. I just need the door to open one day.” Khiry initially wanted to do something in horticulture, and then something in customer and retail services. People around him have told him he should be a politician as he speaks with passion about certain issues. Cardine said that she was really interested in midwifery. She would also like to volunteer with young carers, as similar support helped her when she was younger. If she cannot do this, she would like to work in mental health or social work. Tomas felt that the level of Life Skills required depended on the job. Employers look for qualifications on CVs and think if someone is capable of study, they are capable of learning on the job. He said that qualifications made the initial sift easier when recruiting. Tomas said that if he could go back he would work harder at his GCSEs and get a degree because it opened more doors. He did want employers to see the other side though. Kristyn said, depending on what job you were applying for, the most important thing was work experience in the sector. Amber said that there are now apprenticeships in everything that meant you could be paid £3 per hour. In her first apprenticeship, the whole company, from marketing to payroll, apart from the Managing Director were apprentices. Vincent said a lot of employers look for qualifications. There was a common misconception that youth are not interested in politics but he has been interested from a young age but three is no information or access. There is no information about the skill set needed to get into politics. Employers like to see A-Levels or that you come from a good school. Someone from Oxford or Cambridge. Sofia did not believe that employers looked for skills over qualifications. She said employers say recruits need work experience. She did not have any work experience when she was first applying for jobs as she had just left school. Lots of young people complain about not having enough experience and the voluntary experience they have does not count. She had been to a few job interviews recently to help her get over her anxiety. Employers were starting to do interviews with big groups and that was intimidating for some people. She said she was a hard worker when she was in work but at an interview she was quiet and she usually does not stand out. Vincent said at home he had access to internet and a computer. His school did not do anything to help. The company who managed the school were receiving money for each child attending the school. Sonic said he had support from his family. Sofia said there was support available in the hostel but a lot of people needed support and some workers were quite judgemental. Group feedback 5.What would you like to see changed? Broadly, or in reference to any of the questions? Sonic felt that that there needed to be more support for people through the education system. He thought that many of the people participating in the focus group felt they were let down by the education system, and did not have support from teachers or carers, and that this needs to change. “There needs to be someone there that we should be able to go to and speak to confidentially, with the confidence that they are going to be able to help us.” Khiry supported this, and felt it needs to change so that the next generation coming through gets a better quality of support when moving from 16-18 and 19 and upwards. Cardine said that young people need more awareness in order to make good decisions, and that people like those participating in the focus group should go and speak to schools and colleges. They have had the experiences, and passion, and young people would be interested in hearing from them as they know where they are coming from. “We are all passionate about these issues, and we are going to talk to them on their level and we’ve been in their situation. We want to make it right.” Khiry felt that advertisement of possible career paths had decreased and a lot of the young people he has spoken to do not know what they wanted to when they leave school. Some felt that they were under pressure to attend university, and others wanted to do an apprenticeship but found it hard to get on to one. “The society we live in is demanding and puts a lot of pressure on young people nowadays.” Sofia said it was only when she left school and looked into career options that she found different careers, but she still had no idea of how to get there. She said schools did not have knowledge of different careers. There was nothing very different from the ‘norm’ in school in terms of options, she had to wait until she went to college but then it is extremely scary. Tomas said that a lot charities work with people after they have left school but it is too late. It is good that they provide support but a lot of it lacks personal development. There isn’t much practical learning in schools, it is mostly theory, and there is not much choice. It is how to build someone else’s business. You need someone to sit down with young people, in a confidential manner, and ask what they want to be. Teachers can see whether students are more practical or theoretical but because teachers don’t have a choice they tell students to get back into the classroom. Vincent said that whilst he was at school, a lot of people wanted to go on and do something great with their lives: they wanted to be artists, or musicians, something in the creative sector. He felt that the state education system does not support these creative career paths. Instead, the school shut down these options saying they were not viable careers. 6.Was it difficult to get on career paths when you left school? Khiry felt that it was hard. When he was 19 years old and looking for work, the cuts started. This was when he started to feel the pain of looking for work. He would send his CV and never hear anything. He wanted to do horticulture when he left school. He was passionate about it, and looking for a role in this field at the age of 18 and 19. He used to send his CV into hundreds of employers and some of them would never get back to him. “I used to send in my CV hundreds of times, and some of them would never get back to me. It was heart breaking, at least you’d want some feedback.” Balqis felt that as people mature, they realise that their confidence has been broken down by schools. Schools segregate students into three categories: lower level, intermediate level, and then the higher level. “In my school all the teachers were only interested in the students who were getting A’s and A*s. the ones who were going to pass 100 per cent. They just left the rest to themselves and so that is what breaks the confidence and self-belief of these people.” Cardine felt that she did not have choices at school and she was told what to do effectively. She feels that this has still affected her now. She is 22 and left school when she was 16. The advice she was given made her think because she was a carer that was all she could do. This knocked her confidence and she felt that caring is her only thing as she is known as someone who cares for her mother. She felt that she should not be made to feel like that. She felt that it affects people if they do not have the right choices in places and the right support in life. The repercussions of these choices will have a long term impact. “You get to a cutoff point at 19 or 21 and then bish bash bosh, that’s it, you’re done.” Sofia said that a lot needed to be changed in the Jobcentre. She felt that they were worse than schools in suppressing people. When she went to the Job Centre, and wanted to go back to college, they said to her “what are you going to do about money, isn’t this a stupid decision?” This tore her down and made her think they were right that she should not go back to college. Vincent is working as an artist, and has got quite a good career going as an artist. When he went to the Jobcentre and looked to apply for jobs in the arts sector, there were none available and he was told by advisers that it was not a viable career. Instead he was told to look to recycle tin cans. He was offered job placements sorting through trash at a recycling centre. Khiry felt that dealing with the Jobcentre was depressing. He said that they should not be giving the advice they are giving as it can damage someone. It starts from the top and works its way down. He felt that when you go in, they need to sit down with you and ask what is going on. They see only a small circle of your life. They get you on their books and want you off them. This is where he has a lot of respect for charities like the Prince’s Trust. They sit down with people, understand what their life was and where they are coming from, and ask what they can do to help that individual. A lot of people had told him about bad experiences with the Job Centre. When you go in there they don’t want to sit down with you and ask what the problem is. He saw it as two circles. The small one was what you want in your life. The big one was outside problems. He felt that the Jobcentre did not care about the big circle and your outside problems. All they cared about is their job and what they have to realise is that people have outside problems, and once that gets fixed, you can start focusing on other things. Khiry felt that local employers and job opportunities in local areas are essential. He lives in Haringey, and right now they are trying to regenerate it. It is meant to give local jobs for local people but he thinks that this not going to happen. Those local jobs will not go to local people. They will most likely go to people outside of the borough. There is not much local opportunity in Tottenham. Tomas said that they tend to outsource them like in East London and the Olympic Village. He felt that there was a focus on London and it is a problem that people there cannot get local jobs but you cannot only focus on it. He said you feel so far away from starting yourself a career if you are outside of London. Amber grew up in Lincolnshire. All the jobs there are factory jobs, field jobs or retail jobs (McDonalds, Costa). She works in marketing and could not do this in her home town. She has to be in London to do what she does. Amber said that there was a massive job shortage outside of London for career jobs. Tomas felt that jobs need to be outsourced from London and connected somehow. Khiry said he sees a lot of job losses in factories. Once it has gone, where are the jobs locally for those people? There are no opportunities outside of London. At the same time, when you are in London, there needs to be more opportunities in the local area, because he did not think there was enough. Vincent got pulled out of the state education system in year 9 and put his time and energy to focusing on building career as an artist. He did not get a lot of support from the education system. “Where I got to where I am now is through my own determination, and dedication towards it. It has taken a long time now and now I’ve got galleries interested in my shows and I’m selling my paintings for a reasonable amount of money. It has taken a long time for me to get here and I’ve received little to no support whatsoever.” Tomas got onto an administration course with the Prince’s Trust, and a year and three months later he is still at Systech International (Construction Consultancy). He continues to develop his skills, he plans on studying and getting into internal recruitment. He believes that timing is important and with confidence, professional and personal development will come naturally.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line961
__label__wiki	0.580619	0.580619	Court of Appeals Dismisses Recreational Boating Industry Concerns About E15 by editor \| Oct 22, 2014 \| News \| The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Tuesday dismissed the recreational boating industry’s challenge of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) rule regarding misfueling mitigation plans surrounding the sale of E15. The case specifically challenged the EPA’s plans to prevent misfueling, including the use of what the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) believes is a highly inadequate pump warning label and other insufficient means. The court held that those bringing the case, including the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the Engine Products Group (EPG), which includes NMMA, failed to establish Article III standing because they “cannot show members have suffered or are suffering an injury in fact (due to sales of E-15) that is traceable to the misfueling regulation and redressable by a favorable decision.” With this decision the court has set an extremely high bar for industry challenges to regulatory action and fails to fully comprehend the seriously flawed misfueling rule by the EPA. In 2012, this same group of industry stakeholders, including others such as the Grocery Manufacturers Association, legally challenged the EPA’s authority to grant a partial waiver permitting the sale of E15. That case was also dismissed on procedural grounds including a “lack of standing.” This latest decision not only continues to allow the potentially dangerous E15 at gas pumps across the country, but continues to put consumers and retailers at extreme risk. The EPA’s rule does not make provisions to ensure that low ethanol fuels like E10 remain at the pump for consumers who may require them, nor does it take any actionable steps towards educating consumers about how to choose the correct fuel for their needs. EPA has done little to no work towards consumer education to prevent misfueling. E15 fuel was approved by the EPA in 2011 for use in a subset of on-highway motor vehicles including model years 2001 and newer. However, marine engines and other non-road engines such as snowmobiles, lawn and garden equipment remain unapproved, inevitably leading to concerns of widespread misfueling and confusion. In 2012, NMMA at its own cost distributed labels for the marine industry to warn against fueling marine engines with E15. This year, NMMA joined the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute in supporting the Look Before You Pump campaign, again focused on helping consumers understand how to prevent hazards at the pump. “NMMA will be working on behalf of the boating industry to do everything we can to prevent misfueling through education and to take the necessary actions to ensure that compatible, low ethanol fuels remain available and affordable for the 89 million boaters enjoying our waters across the United States.” said Nicole Vasilaros, director of federal and legal affairs for NMMA. “And while this decision is disheartening, the matter is far from over. NMMA continues to actively seek Congressional action that will reform the Renewable Fuel Standard and protect recreational marine products and consumers.”	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line963
__label__wiki	0.937731	0.937731	After 159 years, ‘Harrods of SA’ shuts shop JOHANNESBURG – Department store Stuttafords, the 159-year-old “Harrods of South Africa”, is closing down, a victim of a global shift to online retail and a domestic economic slump that has put brands such as Ted Baker and Gap beyond its customers’ reach. Mirroring the fortunes of once-mighty department stores in Europe and the United States, the doyenne of the South African high street during apartheid and the two decades since applied for protection from creditors in October. However, attempts to revive its fortunes proved futile and creditors voted in June to wind up the unlisted firm by 1 August, with closing-down sales at its nine stores in South Africa, two in Botswana and one in Namibia. In its flagship store in Johannesburg’s Sandton financial district, piles of naked mannequins lay in heaps next to bare shelves as the last few bargain hunters picked through trays of heavily discounted perfumes, make-up and clothes. “We don’t know what’s going to happen – if we will still have jobs,” said one employee, who did not want to be named for fear of hurting her chances of staying on. “We only heard that maybe this shop will be one that will not close.” Listen to the interview in the audio below (and/or scroll down for quotes from it). For South Africa, it is the end of a piece of retail history. The first shop was opened in Cape Town in 1858 by Samson Rickard Stuttaford with the vision of creating a Harrods-like department store in what was then Britain’s Cape Colony. Its main Cape Town store, opened in 1938, was designed by in-house Harrods architect Louis David Blanc and echoed the British store’s famous frontage in London’s exclusive Knightsbridge district. Through various changes of ownership, it never lost its focus on the middle and upper-class South African market, despite the economy’s failure to recover fully from a deep recession in 2009 sparked by the global financial crisis. Chief Executive Robert Amoils could not be reached for comment but has defended his approach to the tough conditions. “I believe the path we set was correct,” he told business website Fin24. “We ran out of time. The market downturn was so swift, so severe.” John Evans, a lawyer overseeing its closure, said he had received a last-minute approach that could salvage two Johannesburg outlets, in Sandton and Eastgate, which would save the jobs of 300 of the group’s 950 staff. “There’s a chance we’ll save Sandton and Eastgate. If we do, we should be able to save 300 jobs,” he said. 'FALL FROM GRACE' Nearly all retailers in Africa’s most sophisticated economy have struggled as consumer sentiment has hit multi-year lows, a result of high unemployment and inflation gnawing at disposable income. The economy is now back in recession. The slump is piling pressure on President Jacob Zuma, who faces increasing calls to resign due to a slew of corruption scandals and accusations of mishandling the economy. Macy’s and Nordstrom in the United States have also hit tough times, suggesting Stuttafords’ woes are not unique to South Africa, Sasha Naryshkine of local asset manager Vestact said. The main squeeze has come from cheaper retailers such as South Africa’s Woolworths, Sweden’s H&M and Spain’s Zara. “The fall from grace in all these department stores is that people can get the same stuff online and there is a rise of other quality brands at a cheaper price,” Naryshkine said. “In an economic downturn, people are going to shop down.” Nor is Stuttafords alone. Footwear and accessories chain Nine West, owned by US buyout firm Sycamore Partners, and Spanish fashion chain Mango, whose local licences are held by House of Busby, have closed stand-alone outlets due to poor sales. “The brands did not meet the required return on invested capital hurdles,” House of Busby Chief Executive Mark Sardi said. Edcon’s Edgars, another clothing retailer ubiquitous in South African shopping malls, was taken over by creditors last year and had to restructure debt. In May, no-frills retailer Mr Price posted its first annual drop in profits in 16 years, while rivals Woolworths and Truworths flagged lower or stalling earnings last week. Jeff Bezos: Amazon founder overtakes Bill Gates to become world’s richest individual – for less than a day A rally in e-retail behemoth Amazon’s share price on Thursday propelled founder Jeff Bezos to the top of a list of the world’s richest individuals—for less than a day. Mr Bezos, who is also chairman and chief executive of the Seattle-based company, was worth almost $91bn (£70bn) after Amazon’s share price rose more than 1 per cent in morning trading in New York. That put his fortune ahead of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates'. The latter has a net worth of around $90.7bn and has been at the top of Bloomberg’s rich list since 2013. But Mr Bezos slipped back into second place later in the day. Amazon is due to report quarterly earnings later on Thursday. Amazon’s share price has endured a meteoric rise in recent years, surpassing the $1,000 apiece mark, partially helped by its Prime shopping club, media streaming services and the launch of products like the Alexa home assistant. Back in April, the company reported that net sales rose 23 per cent to $35.7bn for the first quarter of 2017. On Thursday, analysts and investors will particularly be monitoring the performance of the company’s cloud-computing division, Amazon Web Services, which accounts for about 10 per cent of revenue, as well as how Prime has progressed. Mr Bezos, who founded the company in 1994, owns around 17 per cent of Amazon’s shares. They’ve gained around 40 per cent in value so far in 2017 helping Mr Bezos’s net worth increase by over $24bn. Kiddicare opens first store since Dunelm acquisition at Peterborough One The retailer has taken an 888 square metre unit at the park. Steve Barton, Dunelm’s director of property, said: “We’re delighted to be opening our first new Kiddicare store at Peterborough One Retail Park. The family-oriented tenant mix at the retail park is complimentary to a physical store presence for the brand in support of Kiddicare’s powerful on-line offering.” Targetfollow acquired what was formerly known as Peterborough Garden Park in December 2016 and has now rebranded it as part of an expansion and modernisation programme. George Craig, associate director at Targetfollow, said: “We’re very pleased that Dunelm has chosen Peterborough One Retail Park for its first new Kiddicare store in the UK. Securing Kiddicare immediately after rebranding the park is the beginning of a number of exciting new tenant initiatives.” Peterborough One is anchored by a 4,645 square metre Van Hage garden centre and has 16 further retail units including Cotswold, Pavers, The Edinburgh Woollen Mill, Bonmarché, Pets Corner, Maidenhead Aquatics, Roman, The Works, Granite Transformations and Hammond Furniture. American Eagle to pull out of UK less than three years after opening first shop American Eagle Outfitters has around 950 stores in the US and targets 15 to 25-year-olds with affordable, preppy fashion US fashion retailer American Eagle Outfitters is pulling out of the UK less than three years after opening its first stores on British soil. Of its three UK shops, the company is said to have closed one – in Bluewater shopping centre in Kent – and ceased trading in the remaining two, which are based in Westfield Shepherds Bush and Westfield Stratford. According to Retail Week, American Eagle – which is one of the biggest fashion retailers in the US – has struggled to gain a foothold in the competitive UK fashion market since it arrived in November 2014. <img src="/content/dam/business/2017/07/26/TELEMMGLPICT000135793984-small_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqWZZ9520Qrn8RyVs0byqFfxdYxsWUQUCtgJX18DpO5X4.jpeg" alt="American Eagle Outfitters store front and entrance" width="320" height="199" class="responsive-image–fallback"/> An American Eagle Outfitters store Credit: Roberto Machado Noa/LightRocket At the time, the firm said it was aiming to have between 20 and 30 stores in the UK and would also look to roll-out its Aerie underwear brand. The Pittsburgh-based company has around 950 stores in the US and targets 15 to 25-year-olds with affordable, preppy fashion. Other American brands that have more successfully crossed the pond and entered the UK fashion market include Hollister, Urban Outfitters and Forever 21. Property agency Harper Dennis Hobbs, which has been advising American Eagle in the UK, declined to comment when approached by The Telegraph. However, an American Eagle Outfitters spokesperson said: “As of July 15, American Eagle Outfitters will be closing our three retail stores in the UK. "Our valued UK. customers will still be able to shop for American Eagle products online.” American Eagle Outfitters isn't the only retailer to struggle amid turbulent economic conditions in the UK. Many of Britain's biggest fashion brands including Next, Marks & Spencer and Debenhams have been struggling to keep up with their online-only rivals, due in part to the higher overheads they must pay that chip away at their profits. Boden to open bricks-and-mortar store The 1,821 square foot shop will offer Boden adult ranges as well as special collections such as Boden Icons and Mini Boden for children. Boden founder and creative director Johnnie Boden said: “I’m so excited to be going into retail. This is a new chapter for Boden. At last our customers will be able to see the brand in all its glory. I would like the shop to feel like you’re walking into my home.” Due to open in October, the store will be part of a line-up that includes Cos, Joseph, Trilogy, Whistles, Monica Vinader and Zara. Hugh Seaborn, chief executive of Cadogan, said: “The Boden brand has so much personality and is an ideal fit for Duke of York Square – we’re delighted that they have chosen Chelsea for their first physical UK store.” UAE clothing retailer Sana to shut stores, cut 1,000+ staff Gulf clothing retailer Sana is shutting down its 35 shops and making more than 1,000 staff redundant, according to reports. UAE newspaper Gulf News cited a senior executive as saying the company’s stores in the UAE, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar and Saudi Arabia will close by the end of August. He said senior staff were informed of their dismissal at the company’s headquarters in Dubai’s Al Quoz on June 28 and asked to work one month’s notice. The decision came just days after the June 22 opening of a new flagship store in Dubai’s BurJuman mall, which has now been closed. There has been no communication to the employees from the company’s owners, according to the publication, and many are concerned they will not be paid their owed salaries and end of service benefits when they leave. Sana, which has operated in the UAE since 1987, announced two years ago that it was targeting 100 stores across the region by 2020 through an initial investment of Dhs200m. The company’s website indicates it has 14 stores in the UAE, one in Qatar, 10 in Oman, two in Bahrain and eight in Saudi Arabia. It was unclear why the company was closing its operations, although many Gulf retailers have struggled in recent years due to a reduction in consumer spending linked to the lower oil price. Regional retailers have also been made less competitive for tourists in markets like Dubai due to the strength of the US dollar and are being pressured by increasing online sales. LVMH’s Louis Vuitton launches e-commerce website in China French fashion brand Louis Vuitton, part of luxury giant LVMH , said on July 21st it had launched an e-commerce website in China to tap a booming online shopping market. Louis Vuitton, which opened its first store in Beijing in 1992, said the website offered leather goods, small leather goods, shoes, accessories, watch and jewellery, luggage, and the newly launched Les Parfums Louis Vuitton. Payments can be made via UnionPay, Alipay and WeChat, the statement said. The website will be available in 12 cities – Beijing, Shanghai, ChongQing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Shenyang, Dalian, Haerbin, Wuhan. More cities will be added later on. It is the 11th e-commerce market for Vuitton since it launched its first site in France in 2005. Subway launches Fresh Forward design concept Restaurant chain Subway is rolling out the Subway Fresh Forward design, transforming the guest experience. The new store concept is a distinctive and welcoming restaurant space that highlights an amplified guest experience surrounding its fresh ingredients. The bright colour palette is inspired by fresh vegetables. 'We’ve created a modern design that gives our guests choices, from how they order to how they pick up their food, to how they enjoy their meal,' says Trevor Haynes, vice president of operations at Subway. 'We’re bringing fresh forward, and the reactions from our guests, our franchisees and their sandwich artists has been incredibly positive.' Robyn Novak, vice president and creative managing director at FRCH that is behind the new design, says: 'With an outlook on the food’s inherent freshness, we sought to establish a contemporary design that inspired new and recurring customers by elevating what Subway is known for: their customised experience. The restaurant revolves around a bright and energetic footprint by creating greater awareness with a new presentation that brings freshly baked bread forward, highlights fresh-prep ingredients and provides the guest with choice in dining experiences.' Digital self order kiosks have been installed in select locations, alongside digital menu boards and Apple and Samsung Pay. The restaurant design features a veggie display with whole tomatoes, green peppers, onions and cucumbers that are sliced daily in the restaurant, plus new bread and cookie displays on the front of the line. Subway Fresh Forward restaurants are also testing new menu items, starting with pico de gallo, new sauces and gluten-free bread. For those dining in, the bright and playful decor is accompanied by curated music and comfortable seating with USB charging ports and complimentary Wi-Fi creating a welcoming environment for guests. The new restaurant design is the next phase of Subway’s evolution. The company created Subway Digital in 2016 including a new logo, choice mark and color palette, designed by Turner Duckworth, as well as bright and bold new packaging, uniforms and signage started rolling out this spring in North America and will be worldwide by the end of 2017. Amazon announces 450 new UK head office jobs Amazon has confirmed its commitment to maintain a diverse workforce even after Brexit as the online retail giant opened its new UK head office and announced plans to create 450 new research and development jobs. The internet behemoth is set to move in to all 15 storeys and 600,000sq ft of the Principal Place building in Shoreditch, east London, so it can double the capacity of its research and development centre from 450 to 900 staff. The roles include software development engineers, user-interface experts, data analysts and graphic designers who will work on building new technologies for Amazon’s Prime Video service. Principal Place will also house other corporate roles from across the company, and it is part of Amazon’s investment in the UK, whereby the company has pumped more than £6.4 billion in building and running its operations here since 2010. Amazon has so far pledged to create around 5000 new permanent roles across the country, bringing its total workforce to 24,000 across its head office, three development centres as well as its fulfilment and customer service centres. Of that total workforce, 5000 roles will be based in London across three offices in Shoreditch, Holborn and Barbican. “London is one of the world’s truly great cities and home to some of the most talented, creative people on the planet, and we are delighted to provide our teams of innovators with a new, purpose-built workplace,” Amazon UK country manager Doug Gurr said. “While we open a new development centre to house today’s innovators, we also want to help foster the next generation of inventors by funding a million healthy breakfasts to give schoolchildren the fuel to learn, and expand our bursary programme to help more women get university educations for high tech roles.” Gurr later added that his company employs a large number of EU citizens, and he was happy to see their status is being prioritised in Brexit talks. “In common with any large organisation here, we have a large number of EU citizens, and we love that, we’ve always celebrated diversity in the workforce,” he said. “We benefit hugely from a diverse workforce, we’re very optimistic and hopeful that will continue to be the case going forward.” Tesco to extend same-day online delivery service across UK Service will cover more than 99% of UK households, says supermarket as fears grow over amazon Tesco is going head to head with Amazon by extending its same-day online grocery delivery service across the UK. Britain’s biggest supermarket chain said on Monday that the service, which is only available in London and rest of the south-east, will now be rolled out across the country, covering “over 99% of UK households”. Tesco claimed this would give it the “biggest reach of any retailer in the UK, stretching from the Shetland Islands in Scotland to Cornwall in south-west England”. Customers can order by 1pm to have their shopping delivered from 7pm onwards and receive an unlimited number of items, with the rolled-out service priced between £3 and £8. The retailer has also recently extended its same-day click and collect service to 300 UK locations and last month launched a one-hour delivery service in central London. Adrian Letts, managing director of Tesco Online, said: “Customers tell us they like getting their shopping delivered quickly and conveniently.” He said the popularity of the same-day delivery service had grown since being launched in London and the south-east, adding: “We’re really excited to be rolling it out to customers nationwide.” The move comes after the launch of AmazonFresh, which entered the UK market last year, raising fears that the dominance of the so called big four supermarkets – Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Asda – could be further eroded. Amazon, which has also teamed up with Morrisons in the UK, operates its service across London, Surrey and parts of Hampshire. In the US, Amazon is also acquiring the supermarket chain Whole Foods in a $13.7bn (£10.7bn) deal, its biggest foray into the grocery sector to date. The acquisition is being viewed as a signal of intent by Amazon to wade into the grocery business. Tesco, along with the other established players, has also been hammered by the emergence of the German discounters Aldi and Lidl, whose entrance onto the grocery scene has sparked a bitter price war that has eroded profit margins. First Look: Beauty giant Sephora launches new store concept Sephora continues to experiment with store formats, and this time it's going smaller. The beauty retailer has opened a new concept, called Sephora Studio, on Newbury Street in Boston, designed to provide a very customized shopping experience, one that drives personal connections with customers. At 2,000 sq. ft., it is the brand's smallest store in North America, and features a variety of digital tools to optimize customer experiences before, during and after their visit. Among them are digital welcome and service menu screens for easy navigation and self-help, and mobile-equipped sales assistants ("beauty advisors") who can quickly assist customers with appointment check in, look up their rewards status, and retrieve Sephora.com ratings and reviews on any product throughout the store. The Studio promises a high level of service, with all sales assistants having the highest level of certification employees can earn from Sephora. The space includes a "beauty studio" that offers on-demand, one-on-one services, including 45-minute makeovers and 15-minute mini-facials. Additionally, it is the first Sephora to offer two new services: a a 75-minute custom makeover that includes either a skincare consultation or mini facial; and a Studio Concierge, a specially appointed store consultant who, among other things, will match a customer with the appropriate consultant based on beauty need. The store also features two omnichannel product delivery options: order in store, and same day pick up, With order In store, sales assistants can place a customer order through Sephora.com, with complimentary standard shipping or reduced next day shipping. For those who want products faster, the store will partner with Sephora's location at nearby Prudential Center to offer same day pick up. Starting in October, Boston area consumers can purchase on products their device via the Sephora app and pick it up at the Prudential Center location the same day. "In today’s retail environment where very little is constant and clients’ expectations are ever-evolving, one thing has remained true for Sephora: There is no better way to create meaningful connections with clients than through personalized experiences and a customized approach to beauty," said Calvin McDonald, president and CEO of Sephora Americas. “The Studio merges the best of an inclusive neighborhood retail environment with best-in-class digital tools that enable our expert beauty advisors to customize recommendations on an individual basis." The Boston store comes on the heels of the opening of Sephora's largest store in North America on Manhattan’s 34th Street. More than 63,000 people have signed a petition demanding that Macy’s drop Ivanka Trump’s brand Ivanka Trump's clothing line is still being sold at Macy's. Macy's More than 63,000 people have signed a petition urging Macy's to drop Ivanka Trump's clothing line. The petition, which was set up by women's rights organization UltraViolet, had 30,000 signatures within 24 hours of being posted online last Thursday, the Huffington Post reported. It was launched during President Trump's "Made in America" week last week, during which the president hosted companies from 50 states across the US to showcase their products that have been made in America. The idea, according to the White House, was to honor " the incredible workers and companies who make 'Made in America' the world standard for quality and craftsmanship." Ivanka Trump stepped down from her clothing label in January to take on her role as first daughter and adviser to the president. But she was noticeably absent during "Made in America" week. Three days prior, The Washington Post released an exposé revealing the appalling conditions of factory workers who were manufacturing products for her brand. These workers were barely making enough money to live, The Washington Post reported. Macy's already removed Donald Trump merchandise from its stores in 2015, after he referred to Mexican immigrants as "rapists," but has not yet responded to The Washington Post's investigation into Ivanka Trump's clothing line. "If thousands cause another outcry with this latest news, Macy's will drop Ivanka Trump — dealing a huge blow on her falsely-crafted image as an advocate for women," the petition reads. Macy's has already faced pressure from its shoppers to drop the line after a #GrabYourWallet campaign was launched in October 2016, urging retailers to drop Trump brands. Several retailers like Nordstrom had already stopped selling Ivanka Trump's clothing line. Macy's did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Michael Kors buys Jimmy Choo for $1.35bn Michael Kors has successfully reached an agreement that will see it acquire luxury footwear maker Jimmy Choo. The board of directors at both the retailers have approved the deal, which will see Jimmy Choo shareholders receive 230p per share, leading to a total value of $1.35 billion (£1.04 billion). Jimmy Choo, which trades from an estate of 560 stores worldwide, put itself up for sale in April with its largest shareholder JAB Luxury supporting the move. In early May it was reported that Coach also expressed interest in the brand, tabling a £1 billion offer after hiring Jimmy Choo’s former boss Joshua Schulman as its new chief executive. Michael Kors’ chief executive John D. Idol has stated that both chief executive Pierre Denis and creative director Sandra Choi will maintain their current roles at Jimmy Choo. READ MORE: Coach eyes takeover of Jimmy Choo “Mr Denis, Ms Choi and the rest of the highly-talented management team have done a tremendous job, and this continuity of leadership will ensure that the DNA of Jimmy Choo is maintained as we work together to continue to grow the brand globally,” Idol said. Denis added: “It is a privilege for our management team to lead Jimmy Choo and to preside over such an exciting period for our company. “We are convinced that there is so much more that can be delivered in the years ahead. We look forward to working closely with the leadership and team at Michael Kors Holdings Limited to further develop our iconic brand. “Our two companies share the same vision of style and trend leadership. Our luxury heritage is the foundation of Jimmy Choo and we will continue to bring our brand vision to consumers globally.” Abercrombie & Fitch to launch on Alibaba’s Tmall Tmall has carried the Hollister brand since 2014 and from 26 July will also include a full offering of Abercrombie & Fitch and Abercrombie Kids products. In a statement, Abercrombie said the fact that 75% of Alibaba’s users are under the age of 35, and around 80% of its gross merchandise value takes place on mobile, the demographics on Alibaba’s China retail marketplaces align well with its updated brand target of consumers in their twenties. Abercrombie currently has ten physical stores in mainland China and a local site at Abercrombie.cn. The brand said it is exploring with Tmall how to provide additional omnichannel capabilities to shoppers. Fran Horowitz, chief executive of Abercrombie & Fitch, said: "Alibaba Group places a strong emphasis on consumer engagement, which aligns with our focus on creating a unique online brand experience for our customers, as well as facilitating a seamless and frictionless shopping experience. Building on our Hollister brand's successful partnership with the leader in China's online retail space, we are excited to bring our A&F brand experience to the broader Chinese market, beyond the reach of our physical stores through Tmall." B&M shares jump 4% on reports Asda is considering £4.4bn takeover bid Ben ChapmanMonday 24 July 2017 10:59 BST Shares in discount retailer B&M jumped 4 per cent after reports that Asda is reportedly eyeing up a £4.4bn takeover bid. Asda is understood to be attempting diversification to combat the threat of cut-price rivals, Lidl and Aldi. Walmart-owned Asda, Britain’s third-biggest supermarket chain, has seen sales fall over the last three years amid fierce competition in the groceries sector. FTSE 250-listed B&M could give Asda 500 extra stores through which to sell products such as its George clothing range. The takeover target counts former Tesco chief executive Sir Terry Leahy as its chairman. Asda is in the early stages of assessing a potential bid for B&M, having commissioned external research into the company, the Sunday Times reports. Asda did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A move for B&M would follow similar deals by larger rivals Tesco and Sainsbury’s. Tesco is in the middle of a £3.7bn takeover attempt of wholesaler Booker, with the deal currently being assessed by the Competition and Markets Authority amid fears that the combined firm could have too much power in the sector. Sainsbury’s completed its acquisition of Argos owner Home Retail for £1.4bn last September and has begun installing Argos concessions inside its supermarkets. B&M sells a broad range of products ranging from furniture to home appliances to food. Asda, which has positioned itself at the cheaper end of the big four supermarkets, has been hardest hit by the rise of the German discount chains, having reported its 11th straight quarter of declining sales in May. M&S reports 2.7 percent increase in Q1 sales Marks and Spencer Group (M&S) said that the revenues increased 2.7 percent or 1.8 percent in constant currency, in the 13 weeks to July 1, 2017 to 2,531.5 million pounds (3,259 million dollars). Revenues in the UK were up 2.6 percent to 2,259.2 million pounds (2,910 million dollars) but like-for-like sales declined 0.5 percent. Commenting on the results, Steve Rowe, M&S Chief Executive said in a media release: “Trading in the first quarter was in line with our expectations and we are on track with delivery of the plan we announced last year. I am pleased that we continue to grow full price sales in Clothing & Home, with reduced discounting and no clearance sale in the quarter.” Q1 full-price sales increased 7 percent The company’s Clothing & Home revenue was down 0.5 percent during the quarter to 852.1 million pounds (1,097 million dollars), while like-for-like sales were down 1.2 percent. The company said, in line with the strategy, full price sales were up 7 percent, as the number of promotions was reduced and there was no clearance sale in the quarter compared with one last year. M&S has commenced its summer sale today, a week later than last year, with terminal stock for the season significantly down. International revenue increased 3.8 percent but declined 4 percent in constant currency to 272.3 million pounds (350 million dollars). The company’s retained owned and franchise revenue was up 9.4 percent or 1.4percent in constant currency. Consistent with the plans set out in November 2016, M&S closed 28 of 53 stores in the markets it is exiting. McDonald’s scales back its Irish head-office team A NUMBER of roles at McDonald’s Ireland corporate headquarters have been cut as part of a global cost-reduction, the Irish Independent has learned. The ‘Sunday Independent’ reported at the weekend that McDonald’s is scaling back its head-office operations in Ireland, with the business set to be managed from the UK. The managing director of the Irish business, Adrian Crean, is to leave the business this month and sources have said he will not be replaced. Other staff at the head office in Clonskeagh, Dublin, were notified of the risk of redundancy in March of this year, according to a source close to the matter. Through a series of redundancy consultation emails and meetings following the initial announcement, a number of employees were informed that their positions were “being removed from the structure”. In an email sent on Friday, June 9, staff were told that McDonald’s Ireland MD Adrian Crean would be stepping down from the role on July 31 after a period of “gardening leave”. The source told the Irish Independent that the original team in the head office of around 40 – “most of whom had worked with McDonalds for 15-30 years” – was being reduced to just six. The senior staff were told that the changes to the Irish structure were originally put in motion in 2015 by CEO Steve Easterbrook, who had just taken over from Don Thompson. “He identified a plan to achieve returns (to ensure continued investor support)… and alongside it a reduction in the cost of running the McDonald’s global business. “A large part of these running costs is made up of salary costs. “This means that we are identifying a number of roles which will be at risk of redundancy.” The source said staff were offered alternative vacancies “in the restaurants in Ireland” or ‘outplacements’, meaning jobs based in the UK. The affected employees are understood to be bound by confidentiality agreements that they are disinclined to break “or they will not receive their redundancy pay”. McDonald’s opened its first Irish store in Grafton Street in May 1977 and operates in 92 stores nationwide. McDonald’s Ireland said it was committed to its customers, franchisees and the 5,000 people who work in the restaurants across the country. “For over a decade, the Irish business has been part of the UK and Ireland business unit and we have recently made some operational changes to reflect that structure,” said a spokesperson. “In a planned restructuring, operations at the Dublin office are being scaled back. “We are currently in a consultation process with our employees and are not able to give specific details while the new corporate structure is being finalised. “However, McDonald’s staff and franchisees are already aware that Adrian Crean will be stepping down as McDonald’s’ Restaurants of Ireland managing director at the end of July.” H&M to open six more stores in SA The news follows on the group’s interim results, which showed a 32% rise in sales in rand terms in SA. The rise came at the expense of local retailers such as Mr Price and Edcon. “We see a lot of potential in SA,” said H&M South African country manager Pär Darj. Three stores will be opened in Cape Town from September to November. The remaining three will open in Witbank, Richards Bay and Durban during the course of the year. The Canal Walk store in Cape Town – to be opened on November 18 – will cover more than 4,600m² on two levels. “We are extremely excited to be opening yet another flagship in the western part of the country,” said Darj. H&M’s expansion comes at a time when local and international fashion brands are finding it harder to eke out sales gains as consumers come under increased pressure. International fashion brands Mango and Nine West, which were brought to SA by House of Busby, closed their stand-alone stores in March. British retailer River Island, which has a presence in Rosebank Mall, Sandton City and Mall of Africa in Gauteng, Canal Walk in Cape Town and elsewhere has exited the country in the past month. Analysts have warned it is going to become even tougher for clothing retailers. Since the beginning of 2017, retailers of textiles, clothing, footwear and leather goods have experienced sharp declines. The Statistics SA retail trade sales report for April showed this segment of goods recorded a 4.7% drop after a 5.1% decrease in March. Store Twenty One goes into liquidation with loss of 900 jobs West Midlands-based discount fashion retailer to close its 122 stores after battling losses for several years Store Twenty One, Waterlooville, Hampshire, UK Struggling fashion chain Store Twenty One is being liquidated with the loss of 900 retail jobs. The value clothing retailer, which was based in Solihull in the West Midlands, has entered compulsory liquidation and its 122 stores which ceased trading on Friday will not reopen. The company had been in a precarious financial situation since April when HM Revenue & Customs issued a winding-up notice over unpaid tax. Store Twenty One, which was owned by Indian textiles company Alok Group, had a chequered financial history and had struggled to adapt as low-cost fashion rivals such as Primark expanded across the UK. In recent years its turnover had declined from £95m to £57m, a performance that was accompanied by sustained losses. “It is very sad that matters have got to the stage where all the stores were closed by management on Friday following a prolonged period of uncertainty leading up to the liquidation,” said Simon Bonney, a partner at Quantuma, the corporate recovery and business advisory firm that is handling the liquidation. “We are now in the process of conducting an orderly wind-down and would welcome contact from any interested parties who may wish to purchase assets of the company.” Store Twenty One started in the 1930s as a manufacturing business supplying retailers including Marks & Spencer. It subsequently opened its own branches, selling seconds, but in the 1980s changed tack, rebranding the chain as QS. In 1990 QS floated on the London Stock Exchange and went on to acquire sister chain Bewise. It was taken private in 2002 and sold again, to Alok, five years later. It rebranded again as Store Twenty One nearly a decade ago after a restructuring that involved the closure of 140 shops. But it had been fighting for its survival since management failed to secure fresh investment following a company voluntary arrangement – a type of insolvency proceeding – in July 2016, which saw the closure of about 80 shops. After twice flirting with administration in recent months, the court finally issued a winding-up order this week. “The traditional retail sector continues to face significant challenges, not least with the changes in business rates,” said Bonney. “The company was founded in 1932 and unfortunately it is another example of the difficulties arising in the current economy.” Converse to open store at London Designer Outlet Owned by Nike, the brand is famous for its All Star sneakers. The shop will be its first physical store in the UK. The outlet centre has also announced that Dr Martens has signed a long-term lease for a 1,350 square foot unit following the success of a pop-up trial store. Meanwhile, Vans is taking a 1,800 square foot shop. Christine Grace, Realm’s leasing director for LDO, said: “Converse and Vans are great additions to the range of top brands LDO offers and we’re proud to be the centre of choice for Converse’s first-ever store in the UK. Furthermore, the move from temp-to-perm by Dr Martens shows the confidence top brands have, not only with this location but also with an urban outlet option as part of their go-to-market mix.” Quintain owned LDO said overseas tourists are increasingly seeing the outlet centre as an important part of their trip to London. Tax-free sales rose by 36.8% year-on-year in the first five months of the year. Of the visitors from outside of the EU, some 22.6% were from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Other brands at the centre include the likes of Superdry, Jack Wills, H&M, Gap, Lee Wrangler, Kurt Geiger, M&S, Guess and Hamleys. Apple’s redesigned Fifth Avenue retail store to reopen around November 2018 Earlier this year, Apple began renovations of its Fifth Avenue retail store with the goal of more than doubling its size. Details on the project have been somewhat unclear throughout the project, but a new report today from MacMagazine says that Apple’s flagship retail location will reopen towards the end of 2018… The report explains that construction is currently slated to come to an end on October 31st, 2018, that’s according to signage posted around the construction site. As with all construction projects, however, there is of course room for error and that date could certainly be pushed back. With construction on track to end on October 31st, 2018, it’s likely that Apple will reopen its Fifth Avenue location sometime in November. That would mean that the retail store would be open in time for the United States holiday shopping season, one of the busiest times of the year for both Apple and New York City. Apple commenced renovations on its Fifth Avenue retail store in January of this year. The company is working to more than double the size of the store, from around 32,000-square-feet to 77,000-square-feet. The new retail store will also feature a dedicated Beats 1 broadcasting booth, allowing for hosts to broadcast straight from the retail store. To make the renovation job easier, Apple has removed the iconic glass cube that normally encompasses the Fifth Avenue location. In the meantime, Apple has opened a temporary replacement location adjacent to the normal Fifth Avenue store. The temporary store is right next door and was formerly occupied by toy retailer FAO Schwarz. Apple last updated the store in 2011 when it reduced the number of sheets of glass in the cube design from 90 pieces to 15 pieces. With today’s report, we now know that the iconic store should reopen to the public, redesign and all, in late 2018 in time for the holiday shopping season.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line967
__label__cc	0.622068	0.377932	More companies form alliances due to financial problems You are here: Home > News > More companies form alliances due to financial problems Container Shipping Companies forming major alliances is an increasingly common phenomenon. They do this in order to reduce costs. Japanese companies have announced plans to work together next year. Companies NYK Line, MOL and “K” Line are involved in such negotiations. Forming alliances to survive Working together has become necessary because sea freight prices have fallen sharply over the last 3 years. This has lead to companies running heavy losses. The alliance between the three Japanese companies is not the first and most likely will not be the last in shipping. Others have already gone ahead, for example, the alliance between 2M and Ocean Alliance. The low rates are the result of a substantial decline in exports from Asia, but also the increase in vessel capacity in which fleet expansion plays a role. This left plenty of unused capacity aboard ships, further ensuring low prices and more losses. To bring a change in this tight financial situation, companies are forming alliances. In addition, they are taking ships out of service, which creates a capacity shortage. In this way, a higher price for sea freight can be sought. Japanese companies turning billions of losses NYK Line, MOL and “K” Line wrote red figures last year. NYK Line recorded a loss of $2.2 billion in the first half of 2016. In 2015, MOL recorded losses of about $1.5 billion and “K” Line $475 million. Through this cooperation the companies can save around one billion dollars per year. The new company will be set to earn a market share of 7%. Thus they will be the sixth largest container carrier at sea. From April 1, 2017 the new joint company officially starts. Consequences for sea freight New alliances, losses due to the decline in exports from Asia and limiting capacity will contribute to raising ocean freight rates. The loss of shipping company Hanjin, also adds to the impact. In addition, diminishing competition has led to less freedom of choice. Due to the adverse conditions faced by container shipping companies, the need to raise rates looks likely to persist.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line975
__label__cc	0.584844	0.415156	Research and Education Advancing Children’s Health 90% of proven behavioral and mental health interventions have yet to be used by practitioners in public and private health sectors. The ASU REACH Institute is changing that! IOM, 2009 The ASU REACH Institute, within the Department of Psychology, bridges the gap between university-based research and practice to advance education, health, and well-being of children and families. We partner with scientists, policy makers, and community stakeholders locally and globally and across diverse service sectors, including schools, community mental health agencies and child welfare. Scientists at the ASU REACH Institute are leaders in prevention science who have led the way in the development and implementation of evidence-based prevention and treatment worldwide. Learn more about REACH Family Check-Up The Family Check-Up is a brief, parent-centered intervention designed to reduce children’s problem behavior by supporting positive parenting practices. The FCU is used in public schools, community mental health, and primary care for children and families. New Beginnings Program is a cost-effective parenting program that engages families dealing with issues of divorce and separation. It has been shown to have long term positive impacts on the mental health and social adaptation of children of divorced parents. The Family Bereavement Program addresses the complex needs of children and families after the death of a parent. It has shown to have long term effects on mental health outcomes for parents and children. FBP has been implemented in collaboration with family hospice providers. Bridges to High School Bridges/Puentes is a school-based universal prevention program shown to promote school engagement and success and reduce high-risk health behaviors such as early age substance use. combined years of research countries involved in research families have participated in REACH programs Measures & Assessment Tools Education, training, and programming for national and global communities The ASU REACH Institute has partnered with a number of organizations to implement effective prevention and intervention programs. The ASU REACH Institute offers needs assessments and training for evidence-based interventions. The ASU REACH Institute also trains scientists interested in conducting community-based research. Community Health Centers and Hospitals	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line978
__label__wiki	0.5243	0.5243	Tag Archives: imadoki Imadoki! Nowadays! Series Review Posted on April 14, 2017 by Rayna Title: Imadoki! Nowadays! Series: 5 volumes Author: Yuu Watase Publisher: Viz Media LLC Genre: Manga – Shoujo For Tanpopo Yamazaki, life at the elitist Meiô Academy seems way out of her league. The daughters of wealthy families snub her; other students make light of the fact that she actually tested into Meiô instead of relying on family connections, and the cute boy she saw tending a dandelion the day before wouldn’t even acknowledge her existence. Hoping to make friends and have some fun, Tanpopo starts up a gardening committee, but will this help her survive in a school where superficiality and nepotism reign supreme? IMADOKI follows the trials and tribulations of a budding horticulturist as she makes her way down the winding road to friendship. From Yû Watase, one of Japan’s most beloved shôjo artists, IMADOKI packs comedic charm and heartfelt antics into an adorable bouquet of whimsical fantasy. As this is a series review there may be spoilers! I’m going to start this off by saying: I’m biased when it comes to this series and several other Yuu Watase works. I read a lot of her works many years ago and they were some of my favorite series at the time, and still are. So of course upon rereading this series all the way through again, I loved it, but there were some things I didn’t remember that happened and when I read about them it was like I was reading with fresh eyes. This series follows Tanpopo, a happy-go-lucky girl who moves from Hokkaido to Tokyo to join this elite school to make more friends and experience more in the world. When she first arrives, the day before school starts for the year, she runs into (more like crashes into) Koki, who was minding his own business taking care of a plant. From there it takes off and we learn many things about Koki, Tanpopo, and her serious desire to make friends. Tanpopo is kind of a clueless person who just wants those around her to be happy because she knows what it’s like to be in a lot of pain and really sad. She’s cheerful even when she’s being bullied for being the new girl and trying to talk to Koki – who acts like a totally different person when he’s at school surrounded by others than when he was alone tending to plants. I think that she’s a very loveable character, and that she really shows her genuine feelings on the surface almost all the time. I think that’s why so many people change around her and become more friendly to her and to others, including themselves. She’s kind of the beacon of hope in this series and I think that she is a great person. Koki is from one of the elite families in the school, and he hates it. He had a lot of responsibility dumped on him when his older brother, Yoji, runs out on the family with no hint as to where he was going. He finds that everyone in the school only wants to be close to him because of his status, and he hates that. He finds solace in plants and tending to flowers and that’s really where he shows his true colors. I think that he has a great sense of responsibility, but also a great load of guilt because he takes on the tasks of his brother that he didn’t want to take on. Flippy is a hacker and kind of a crazy guy who can flip on anyone at any time without warning, but he’s also a fun character because not only does he cause mischief, but he really believes in what Tanpopo is trying to do and supports her as a great friend. Tsukiko is first interested in joining the Plant Committee with Tanpopo just so she could destroy Tanpopo’s image in front of Koki, but then we learn that she just wants to be with Koki for his status and power – the way it’s handled, though, is very funny and I think that it brings a lot of hilarity to some more serious moments in the series. Also, I ship her and Flippy. Just saying. Arisa is the last of the group to really join in and she was unwilling at first, but once Tanpopo really showed her that it was okay to do things for herself, Arisa decided to be friends with them. Also, she has a secret that they all quickly figure out, and I think that she deals with it in a very mature way. And then there’s Erika who… I really don’t like. At all. I don’t feel sorry for her and I know she was just there to create drama, but dammit, whyyyyyyy. Ugh. She’s just… not a good person. I don’t like her. I don’t have much to say about her. I’m just glad Tanpopo doesn’t really give up on her, even after all of the crap that she puts Tanpopo through. As for the plot, it’s a pretty simple high school drama (ahahahaha, simple?) with developing feelings of romance, budding friendships, real life problems, and more. I think that the plot is pretty simple in comparison, but it’s one that draws you in along with the characters because you want to know what happens next with them all. I love being able to see Japanese culture represented so much through manga and this is just one of those examples. I love seeing the blossoming romance between Koki and Tanpopo, and the humor used in moments that really needed it. I also love Yuu Watase’s drawing style. It’s honestly one of my favorites of all time, so again, I’m biased in that way. But she just makes all of her characters so pretty and memorable. ;-; If you’re looking for a fun shoujo manga with drama, romance, friendship, and fun times, then check out this series. Overall series rating: 4.5 stars Click on the individual covers below to be brought to their Goodreads page! Posted in Book Review / Tagged book, imadoki, manga, nowadays, read, reading, review, romance, series, shoujo, volumes, yuu watase / 1 Comment	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line979
__label__wiki	0.568617	0.568617	Central Parking Planning Gets it Wrong in New York The economic slump has thrown thousands of commuters out of work in New York City. One of the byproducts is opening up coveted commuter parkings spaces at various rail stations. The New York Times reports that hundreds of spaces are now left vacant. “If owning a car in New York City demands the daily contortions of alternate-side-of-the-street parking, then the bane of suburban car ownership is securing a spot at the train station. But the recession, with all the commuters who are getting laid off, has introduced a flicker of hope, and a good deal of confusion, into this struggle. “From Ronkonkoma on Long Island to Darien, Conn., riders are doing double takes at the vacancies in the station lot, and the empty spots, in turn, have sparked efforts to free them up for parkers without permits. In Connecticut, there is even a push to let permit holders “rent” their permits. “Consider Westchester County. Roughly 100 of the 573 spaces at the parking lot in Dobbs Ferry were free at 3 p.m. on a recent Tuesday. Over in Hartsdale, Stephanie Kavourias, executive director of the public parking authority, figures that about 90 of the station’s 900 permit spaces are empty on an average day now. And Robert Meehan, the supervisor of the town of Mount Pleasant, which includes Valhalla (191 spaces) and Hawthorne (355), has also seen growth in vacancies.” But, here’s the kicker: hundreds of people want to use these empty spaces them but they can’t. The spaces are held by permit holders and there is an 8-10 year waiting list. So, even if you are out of a job, you won’t give up the permit! This scarcity is artificial, an artifact of poor planning and market coordination. Parking privatization would increase the number of spaces and probably increase transit use. Can anyone say public-private partnership? New York MTA owns the land around the rail statioins, but local cities and villages could probably enable the construction of parking garages by loosening up zonning and planning, an ideal opportunity for the private sector to step in and build the capacity needed for a win-win solution. Everyone expects the vacant spaces to be filled up once the economy starts growing again. Then, the shortage will be real again–simply too few spaces for too many users. Nowhere in the article is there any discussion of increasing capacity to meet demand. With waiting lists of 8-10 years, surely there are ways capacity could be expanded by adding more spaces or even building parking garages to meet needs.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line981
__label__wiki	0.641689	0.641689	UFC Heavyweight Walt Harris Tests Positive for LGD-4033 Walt Harris used a contaminated dietary supplement that did not list the banned performance-enhancing drug on its label. Walt “The Big Ticket” Harris, a mixed martial arts (MMA) athlete competing in the heavyweight division of Ultimate Fight Championship (UFC), has been suspended after testing positive for a prohibited performance-enhancing drug (PED). Harris tested positive for LGD-4033. LGD-4033 is classified as a selective androgen receptor modulator (SARM). SARMs act like anabolic steroids by exerting their effects via the androgen receptor. However, SARMs are structurally different than traditional anabolic steroids. The LGD-4033 positive resulted from a urine sample collected by drug testing officers employed by the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) at UFC 232 on December 30, 2018. Harris defeated Andrei Arlovski by split decision at UFC 232. But the victory was declared a “no contest” after Harris was disqualified following his failed drug test. “The Big Ticket” was the unwitting victim of the contaminated supplement Bio-Genix Test Shock. The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) determined that Harris did not intentionally use LGD-4033 in violation of the UFC Anti-Doping Policy. Harris provided USADA with evidence of supplement contamination as the culprit. USADA independently obtained two unopened containers of the dietary supplement used by Harris. The dietary supplement in question appears to be Bio-Genix Test-Shock. The Test-Shock samples were submitted to the Sports Medicine Research and Testing Laboratory (SMARTL) in Salt Lake City for chemical analysis in March 2019. SMARTL is a WADA-accredited laboratory. SMARTL detected the presence of LGD-4033 and 2-Amino-5-mehtylhexane (DMHA) in the samples. Bio-Genix Test Shock as added to the USADA Supplement 411 High-Risk List on April 15, 2019. USADA reduced Harris’ suspension to 4-months in light of the evidence of supplement contamination. Harris was retroactively suspended from December 30, 2018. His period of ineligibility will conclude at the end of April 2019. USADA. (April 22, 2019). Walt Harris Accepts Sanction for Violation of UFC Anti-Doping Policy. Retrieved from ufc.usada.org/walt-harris-accepts-doping-sanction/	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line988
__label__cc	0.516372	0.483628	10/31/16 Academic Symposium: Probabilistic Modeling in Engineering and Science On Monday, October 31, Lehigh University is hosting a symposium to advance the understanding and usage of probabilistic modeling across science and engineering academia, especially across in the U.S. Midlantic region. Probabilistic modeling provides essential tools for analyzing vast amounts of data that have become available in science, scholarship, and everyday life; increasingly, it is becoming an important skillset for all scientists and engineers. Organized by Lehigh's Probabilistic Modeling Group, the symposium will gather researchers with expertise in theoretical and applied probability to share experiences from different fields of science and engineering. According to organizer Dr. Paolo Bocchini, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Lehigh, the symposium will also underscore the probabilistic approach as a pillar of scientific curricula at all academic levels. "Three keynote speakers from different scientific fields will be on hand to make the case for probabilistic modeling," says Bocchini, who leads an interdisciplinary, NSF-funded Lehigh project at Lehigh entitled Probabilistic Resilience Assessment of Interdependent Systems (PRAISys). "All of them are renowned leaders in the theory and application of these techniques." Keynote speakers include: After a remarkable career at UC Berkeley, Dr. Armen Der Kiureghian is now President of the American University of Armenia and a member of the US National Academy of Engineering, among many other honors. With his students — leaders in their own rite across academic and professional institutions worldwide — he has contributed greatly to the development and adoption of probabilistic tools for safety and reliability analysis in engineering practice. Dr. Jeffrey Rosenthal is an award-winning Professor in the Department of Statistics at the University of Toronto, where he received his tenure at the record age of 29 for his outstanding scientific accomplishments. His bestselling book Struck by Lightning: The Curious World of Probabilities was published worldwide in sixteen editions and ten languages. Dr. Rosenthal has also dabbled as a computer game programmer, a musical performer, and improvisational comedy performer. Dr. Katja Lindenberg is Distinguished Professor of Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of California, San Diego. She was Interim Director of the Institute for Nonlinear Science and Chair of the Chemistry and Biochemistry Department at UCSD. She is currently Director at the BioCircuits Institute, and Executive Editor of the journal Fluctuations and Noise Letters (World Scientific). Dr. Lindenberg is a world-renowned expert in the field of stochastic processes and statistical mechanics. The symposium will also include a panel discussion and question/answer session on the future of research and education in probability. The symposium is FREE for all the participants, yet registration is required by October 25, 2016. Lunch will be provided. Although not required, all researchers and students who register are encouraged to bring a poster describing their research work in probabilistic modeling and to share their approach and results with other attendees. The symposium will be held in the Wood Dining Room of Iacocca Hall, on Lehigh's scenic Mountaintop campus, 111 Research Drive, Bethlehem, PA 18015. For more details and to register, please visit http://www.lehigh.edu/probability/symposium/index.html. Chris Larkin, Lehigh University @lehighu http://www.lehigh.edu Sink your teeth into this: How the three-part jaw evolved Modeling shifting beliefs in a complex social environment ‘Arapuca’, a device developed in Brazil for international neutrino… Advancing therapy by measuring the ‘games’ cancer cells play Is quantum computing scalable? Can we trust scientific discoveries made using machine learning? UCI researchers’ deep learning algorithm solves Rubik’s Cube faster… Scienmag Jul 15, 2019 Work is step toward advanced AI systems that can think, reason, plan and make decisionsCredit: Steve Zylius / UCI… Uncovering the secrets of ancient rock art using ‘X-ray… Scientists decode opium poppy genome	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line992
__label__wiki	0.772319	0.772319	‘Bad Boys 3’ in Negotiations With Two Potential New Directors When director Joe Carnahan bowed out of the possible third film in the Bad Boys franchise a year ago, we all wondered what the Bad Boys were gonna do. But it looks like you can’t keep a bad boy down for too long, and Bad Boys 3 — otherwise known as Bad Boys for Life — has found two potential new co-directors to pick it back up. Sony is in early negotiations with the directing duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The two directors helmed a few episodes of FX’s drama Snowfall last year and their third feature, Gangsta, is coming out this year. El Arbi and Fallah were both born in Morocco and studied film in Belgium before making their way to the U.S. A third Bad Boys installment has been in the works for years, with directors hopping on and off repeatedly every few months. Martin Lawrence, one half of the buddy cop duo that also includes Will Smith, said a few months ago that he really didn’t have much hope for the series at all, though he said he was ready to do it if the studio called him. “If they wanted to do it, I’m ready, but I don’t have control of that. That’s the studio’s decision.” So, did this s--- just get real? Better stay tuned. Gallery – 15 Sequels That Claimed To Be Final and Weren't: A ‘Bad Boys’ TV Series Is Happening With Gabrielle Union’s Character Filed Under: Bad Boys 3, Martin Lawrence, Will Smith	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line993
__label__wiki	0.980768	0.980768	Sarah Michelle Gellar Joins Robin Williams in CBS' 'Crazy Ones' Comedy Pilot Last year, news surfaced that Robin Williams was considering a full time return to television, nearly 30 years after his starmaking turn on Mork & Mindy. The energetic comedian is teaming with Ally McBeal creator David E. Kelley on a new workplace comedy pilot at CBS called Crazy Ones, and now a female lead has been found. After turning into a cult-classic TV star on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and failing to return to The CW in the shortlived Ringer, the lovely Sarah Michelle Gellar will star in the pilot for 20th Century Fox's TV department after another of their spec TV comedy projects with the actress failed to move forward. Jason Winer, who has directed 30 episodes of Modern Family and a handful of episode of New Girl and 1600 Penn, will be at the helm of the new comedy which is set in the world of advertising. Robin Williams plays Simon, a top-notch advertising executive at an agency where his daughter also works. As you might have guessed, Deadline says Gellar is playing Williams' daughter Sydney, the creative director of the ad agency. In addition to writing, Kelley will also produce the series, which will be Kelley’s first time crafting a half-hour program since Doogie Howser, M.D. In the meantime, his new medical drama Monday Mornings is currently airing on TNT. Here's hoping this comedy is a return to form for the TV creator after failing to find runaway success with Harry's Law and his failed Wonder Woman pilot. With the exception of Ringer, Gellar has remained low key on TV since Buffy, and this kind of straight-up comedy is something mostly new for the actress on the small screen. The example above shows Gellar holding her own with Will Ferrell on Saturday Night Live, but in a lead role, she'll likely have more of a strong comedic presence alongside Williams. On the big screen, Gellar has rarely partaken in comedy with the Scooby-Doo films being the "best" example, but on TV she's lent her voice to series like The Simpsons and Robot Chicken. However, this will be her first full fledged live-action comedy series. As of now, CBS is only working on the pilot for Crazy Ones, and we likely won't hear about a series order until the upfronts take place this summer. Stay tuned for more updates on the new comedy series hopeful. Tags: crazy ones Fargo Season 4 Full Cast & Characters Revealed	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line994
__label__wiki	0.738544	0.738544	'Under the Dome': Yearbooks Don’t Lie by Kevin Yeoman – on Jul 22, 2014 in TV Reviews, TV News [This is a review of Under the Dome season 2, episode 4. There will be SPOILERS.] Normally, Under the Dome comes off as a goofy, half-baked hour of television that features dialogue and plot devices so hackneyed and contrived they have actually become the primary reasons for watching. But during 'Revelation' the show drops a truth bomb on its unsuspecting audience that opens up the world of the dome in such a way one can't help but think this seemingly insignificant nugget of harsh reality is what the show has been striving towards since episode 1. Early in the episode, amidst all the lingering questions about the dome itself, Angie's murder, Surface tablet Wi-Fi capabilities, and the crayon-scribbled post cards of Junior's mom, supposed teenager-in-mourning Joe effectively shuts down any argument on whether or not Melanie Cross is a resurrected teenager from the '80s or just a delusional teen who fits right in with the rest of the town's population, by telling Norrie, "yearbooks don't lie." That's an incredibly compelling statement and I for one am happy Joe finally found his place on the show as the one guy who has his head screwed on straight. With any luck, Joe's battle against the yearbook deniers will feature prominently in the rest of the season, and Under the Dome will finally be able to deliver the epic storyline it has been promising viewers for so long. But there's more to 'Revelation' than Joe's demonstration of his intellectual superiority and steadfast belief in the innate veracity of high school yearbooks. Chester's Mill is now essentially forced to be a self-sustaining ecosystem complete with pigs, bifurcated cows, and crops that are mighty tasty to caterpillars, and yet it's not enough to feed the town's entire population that seems to fluctuate anywhere between 20 to 500 people, depending on whether or not there's going to be a public execution or funeral service. (Basically, if it involves death, the people of Chester's Mill will turn out in droves - otherwise, they've got better things to do.) To solve this problem, World's Greatest Science Teacher Rebecca Pine decides the only thing to do is unleash swine flu on the townspeople and not look back – just like Joe did when he unleashed the truth about yearbooks and left Norrie to wallow in the kind of shame only non-believers feel. Rebecca's hard-line position on population control and her unfeeling, science-y demeanor creates a longing for a spin-off show in which Ms. Pine conducts a series of parent-teacher conferences that inevitably end with her convincing her student's parents that the true test of their child's fundamental worth is whether or not he or she can survive being exposed to a particularly virulent strain of swine flu. One would have to believe she'd be a convincing lead, since it takes her all of three minutes to get Big Jim committed to the idea of wiping out 25 percent of the town's population. But 'Revelation' doesn't stop there, it also reveals further evidence of a conspiracy involving Sam, Lyle, Melanie, and Pauline (Jim's wife who was previously believed to have killed herself) and their mid-'80s discovery of a meteorite containing the egg that may or may not be the key to the dome and everything else that's been going on. The disclosure also hints at the mysterious town of Zenith – which so happens to be Barbie's hometown – and paints Lyle or Sam (probably Sam) as a homicidal maniac who killed Melanie decades earlier and then came out of retirement to kill Angie – the motive for which may or may not have something to do with a high school locker that can dramatically improve the Surface tablet's Wi-Fi reception. In the end, even with all the supposed suspense and intrigue, it seems like every character is actively campaigning to be the worst thing on Under the Dome. Perhaps this is the show's form of population control: making everyone so unlikable that, in the event of his or her demise, the inevitable response will be not unlike Rebecca's chilly matter-of-factness. If they've gotta go, they've gotta go. Under the Dome continues next Monday with 'Reconciliation' @10pm on CBS. Check out a preview below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7BiGvsrHI4 Tags: under the dome More in TV Reviews Top Gear Season 27 Review: New Hosts Usher In A New Era Of Epic Car Tours Apollo: Missions To The Moon Review: Captivating Space Doc Retells The Race To The Moon Stranger Things 3 Review: A Wildly Fun Season Delivers On Its ‘80s Blockbuster Ambitions Legion Season 3 Review: A Visual Treat That Careens Gleefully Off The Rails	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line995
__label__cc	0.529996	0.470004	SCRE-19 Main Page Scripture-Explanations SCRE-19 ← Chapter → Chapter 19 - John 14:18 - “I shall not leave you orphans - I am coming to you!” Written down through Jacob Lorber on January 19th, 1844 1. “I shall not leave you orphans - I am coming to you!” 2. This text, again, describes the same, what lies before you, and what I always tell you, and what I now confirm again with this new gift, truthfully and in a living manner. 3. 'I shall not leave you orphans' instead, as also stated... 'I remain with you until the end of time', but certainly not in your worldly wisdom and great learnedness, which disgusts Me, but rather in the love and humility of your heart. 4. 'I shall not leave you orphans' does not mean... 'I want to provide you with books of all kinds, and, next to that, with prayer houses full of carved images and portraits of Me, painted and carved in every possible situation, which belong into the kingdom of paganism!' Because any external conception belongs to the world and prevents the opening of the inner vision, just as the person who does not close his eyes, is not able to sleep, and even less will he have a dream during his sleep, which is an internal view of what belongs to the spirit world. 5. Therefore, I do not want to leave you behind as orphans, if I allow it by My approval, that you can work out a lot of outer spectacles, which, at best, relate to Me, and, at the same time write a great amount of books out of your intellect, in which they will seek for the truth, in the same way as you set your numbers in the lottery, where nobody knows, if the number will be picked, which he has set, but rather, where everybody is setting on luck. And if his number will be picked, he will neither know the reason how and why it happened, and, on the contrary, why it did not happen, for everyone thinks, that his number is the best; otherwise, he wouldn't have set it anyway. Only the aftermath shows him a different light; namely, that another number was better than his. He certainly will say... 'I had that number already on my paper, why did I choose another one?' 6. So you see, this example fits exactly the large number of writers! Everyone thinks, that he has hit the nail on the head. But it will not be long until another one comes and proves to the first one, that he has made a big mistake. And so it goes on and on, and at the end, the last one knows as little as the first one, if he has hit the nail on the head or not. 7. If one or the other comes across the truth in this or that subject, he still doesn't completely know, if he has really found it. The only criteria for him is, that he has elicited a general applause from the world for his work, but it does not mean, that there needs to be a lot of effort to achieve such an applause. 8. I mean, the way the lottery people do it before the number is picked, so can it also be done with the writings, namely to shuffle everything, so that no one will understand, what the writer has actually wanted to say with it. In this way, all criticism remains quiet before such an elaborate piece of work, and thereby, the writer has cashed in an applause from the world with his work. 9. Question... 'Is the promised Holy Spirit present in such works?' - Oh no! Indeed, they are orphans... I'm not with those! The current text does not apply to those! 10. But perhaps it fits the painters, engravers, sculptors and gilders, which especially have a lot to do with the pictorial illustration of the so-called sacred objects, - but if they are paid, they also deliver battle pieces and all sorts of other obscene illustrations? - I say, these are orphans as well, and the current text has nothing to do with them! 11. But maybe it fits the sermon- and prayer-book poets, as well as the musical composers for the so-called church music? - Oh no! For those, the text does not apply; because these too float with the tide and they do everything for money. The first writes a sublime song, a prayer, a psalm, which would not even have put David to shame, if he had written it... looking at it from an outer perspective. But tomorrow, when he is paid, he writes, with the same enthusiasm, a sublime poem about the whore of a great one, as well as a sublime epitaph for a deceased lapdog of a princess. The second one, however, composed an oratorio today - however, when he is paid, he also writes a ballet or an even lower dance music. 12. Question... Can we see the virtue of the Holy Spirit there? I can't find it. And if I cannot find it, you'll find it certainly even less likely - and even if you'd like to find it with lanterns, in which burns a central sun instead of a bad candle! 13 But the Holy Spirit will be present in the wise state laws, in the laws of war, all kinds of regulations and even in the sharp, manifold ecclesiastical discipline laws? - Indeed, I can't find him! 14. Why not? - Because I'm not in any of those things, but rather the only reason for them are worldly ruler benefits! Everything wants to rule, the emperor and the king, the prince, the count, the baron, the knight, the lord 'of', the merchant, the citizen, and also the farmer, and down from the emperor of course all his officials also, as if they were the personality of the emperor themselves. 15. There must be an emperor, a king or a prince; but they shall not exist, because of the ruling, but rather as guides, so that the nations by their guidance would be led to Me! But now, more often than not, they are derived from Me and turned to the world, and they won't become strong, but rather are only made weak, so that they are even easier to dominate in their weakness! 16. Question... Is this the Virtue of the Holy Spirit, if the ruler perceives his subjects only as serfs, which his word can destroy at any time, should he utter it? - The ruler is supposed to be a leader and a comforter for his people, and he shall give them laws which are not of the heathen, but derive only from My Laws in an explicable way; then he would be a just leader, and the Holy Spirit would work with him, just as he has done with David and other worthy rulers. 17. But in the inventions of all kinds of machines, which made all those poor human hands dispensable, in the advancement of the industry, in the construction of railways, and in the formation of large war powers, the Holy Spirit does not operate ever! Because all of this was pretty normal also before the flood of Noah's time, through the force of the worldly spirit, which is the devil in its entirety. It was the same in Sodom, Gomorrah and Babylon. 18. But who will assert, that this had been the work of the Holy Spirit?! Therefore, after this conduct, which was running straight contrary to the Holy Spirit, a mighty judgment followed. An equal judgment I have ready right now, to show you, that My Holy Spirit is not present anywhere in the current conduct of the world. Therefore, the entire world stands there as an orphan. But I will let it spiral upwards for some more time, until it reaches the right drop height, - and then a flash of lightning from sunrise to sunset - and it will become apparent in this light, how many of the Holy Spirit's Virtues are now present in the world! 19. Well however, if so, where are those, which I will not leave behind as orphans? 20. I say... They do exist now and then, but they have become almost more rare and precious as great diamonds. They live a simple life, separated from the world as much as possible, and I am their joy, as well as the subject of their conversations! Why? Because the mouth overflows with whatever the heart is full of! Therefore I am also the topic which dominates their heart, and everything else in the world is an empty shell to them. 21. These are indeed no orphans; because I am there, in the midst of them. I talk to, instruct and draw them every day. These always hear My Voice and they also recognize that voice as the one of the true shepherd, and not as one of a hired man, which they do not follow, because it is the voice of a hired man. These are the ones, for which this current text is meant for. 22. Therefore, I need no scholars, no poets, no creators and no composers, no machine inventors and no worldly lawmakers. I only need humble hearts who love Me. Wherever I'll find these, I'll add everything else, and for sure in a better way as the world invents it. And then, everything will be a virtue of the Holy Spirit, and there won't be any orphans in the world! But there are oh so very few, whose ear is receptive to My voice. Retrieved from "https://search.jesus-comes.com/index.php?title=SCRE-19&oldid=5497"	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line997
__label__cc	0.650623	0.349377	Theft and Shoplifting Crimes The crimes of theft and shoplifting defined, plus case examples. By Sara J. Berman Theft (or larceny) is an umbrella term that applies to various methods of stealing another’s personal property with the “specific intent to permanently deprive them of possession” — in other words, you’re not just borrowing the item. (See General Intent Crimes vs. Specific Intent Crimes.) Theft offenses can range from shoplifting a candy bar, to stealing a car, even to embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars. When theft involves large amounts of money, certain types of property, or property that is taken in a certain way, it might be classified as grand theft. Read on to learn more about theft and related crimes. Theft vs. Embezzlement vs. Fraud In addition to the standard form of theft — simply carrying off someone else’s property — two other common forms of theft are: embezzlement, in which an employee or other personal representative diverts money or property intended for the employer or principal to the employee’s or personal representative’s personal use, and fraud (or false pretenses), which typically occurs when a thief tricks a victim into voluntarily handing over money or property. To learn more about embezzlement and fraud crimes, including state specific information, see Embezzlement Crimes and Penalties, and Fraud and Financial Crimes. Theft: Case Example 1 Facts: Joy Rider sees a new Lexus parked on a residential street. The doors are unlocked and the keys are in the ignition. Never having driven a Lexus, Joy impulsively gets behind the wheel. Joy drives around for about ten minutes and leaves the car a block away from where she found it. Verdict: Joy is probably not guilty of car theft. To convict Joy of theft, a prosecutor would have to prove that Joy took the car with the specific intent of permanently depriving the car’s owner of possession. Since Joy returned the car near to where she found it a short time after taking it, she probably had no such intent. Most states have enacted a less serious crime of joyriding (or operating a vehicle without the owner’s consent) to cover these types of situations. Facts: N. V. Uss is furious to learn that his ex-girlfriend has become engaged to another man. One day, Uss sees his ex-girlfriend sitting at a table in a restaurant, showing her engagement ring to a companion. Uss rushes up to the table, grabs the ring, runs outside, and throws the ring into a sewer pipe. The ring is never found. Verdict: Uss is likely guilty of theft of the ring. The fact that Uss did not keep the ring for himself is irrelevant. The gist of theft is permanently depriving a victim of the property that was stolen. Since Uss’s actions suggest that Uss intended his ex-girlfriend to do without the ring permanently, Uss is guilty of theft. Facts: Em Bezzler works behind the counter at an ice cream shop. Over a period of weeks, Em pocketed part of the money that customers gave her. Em hid her activities from the shop owner by failing to ring up some ice cream sales. Finally, the shop owner catches on, fires Em, and starts to call the police. Em immediately offers to return all the money that she took, with interest. Verdict: Even if Em fully pays back the shop owner, Em is still guilty of embezzlement. Returning stolen property may count in a defendant’s favor at the time of sentencing, but it is no defense to a theft or embezzlement charge. Em is guilty of theft because the circumstances suggest that she intended to permanently deprive the shop owner of the money at the time she took it. Grand theft is the equivalent of first degree theft. Theft can be categorized as grand theft — and therefore deemed a more serious offense — for a variety of reasons. Laws in many states consider a theft to be grand theft when: The property taken is worth more than a minimum amount, perhaps $500-$1,000 depending on the state. Property is taken directly from a person, but by means other than force or fear. (If force or fear were used, the crime would be robbery.) An example would be picking the pocket of an unsuspecting victim. Particular types of property are taken. For example, the theft of cars and some types of animals is often grand theft regardless of their actual market value. A theft that does not qualify as a grand theft is petty, or second degree, theft. Theft Involving Lost or Stolen Property Lost property. Keeping lost property can qualify as theft if the finder could reasonably return the property to its owner. For example, if Sue is bicycling along a deserted lane and sees a $100 bill floating on a puddle next to the curb, Sue would not be guilty of theft if she kept it. However, it’s different if, as she’s bicycling, Sue sees Charles drop a $100 bill as Charles is getting out of the car. Charles is unaware that he has dropped the money and begins to walk away. If Sue rides over, picks up the $100 bill and keeps it, Sue has committed theft. Since Sue knows that the money belongs to Charles, and she has a reasonable opportunity to return it to him, Sue commits theft by not attempting to return the money to Charles. From a legal standpoint, Sue’s keeping the money when she could easily return it to its rightful owner is what is known as a “constructive” taking. Stolen property. Buying or keeping stolen property usually translates into a crime popularly known as receiving stolen goods. To convict a defendant of receiving stolen goods, the government has to prove that property in the defendant’s possession was stolen, and that the defendant acquired the property knowing that it was stolen. As is typical when a statute requires proof of knowledge and other state of mind elements, the government usually has to rely on circumstantial evidence to try to prove a defendant’s knowledge that property had been stolen. Usually, the government’s case relies on evidence that would have alerted any reasonable person that the items were hot. Receiving Stolen Property: Case Example Facts: Hu Gnu is an avid collector of rock-and-roll memorabilia, and he subscribes to a number of computer websites devoted to such items. A few days after a theft of rock-and-roll items from a museum is widely reported on TV and in newspapers in Hu’s hometown, Hu receives an email message offering to sell a collection of Beatles memorabilia at a very low price. The seller claims that a quick sale is necessary because the seller has suffered a number of business losses. In fact, the Beatles items were stolen from the museum. Hu buys the Beatles items. verdict: Hu could be convicted of receiving stolen property. That’s because circumstantial evidence suggests that Hu knew that he was buying hot merchandise. Hu is an experienced collector, the prices were very low, and the offer came on the heels of a widely reported museum theft. Finding a Good Criminal Law Attorney One good way to find a criminal defense lawyer is to ask friends, acquaintances, or other lawyers for referrals — and then interview the candidates. In addition, Nolo provides a personalized Lawyer Directory with information about each lawyer’s experience, education, and fees, and perhaps most importantly, the lawyer’s general philosophy of practicing law. By using Nolo’s directory, you can narrow down candidates before calling them for a phone or face-to-face interview.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1002
__label__wiki	0.549243	0.549243	Biopharmaceuticals Personnel News Release - August 5, 2008 Panacea Pharmaceuticals Announces Appointment of Suzanne Sensabaugh as Vice President, Regulatory Affairs GAITHERSBURG, Md., Aug. 5 (HSMN NewsFeed) -- Panacea Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced the appointment of Suzanne Sensabaugh as Vice President, Regulatory Affairs. Ms. Sensabaugh will assume responsibility for formulating strategies and managing all U.S. and foreign regulatory filings for the Company's therapeutic and diagnostic products. This role is of critical importance as the Company prepares to file applications with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for approval of its prostate and lung cancer diagnostic tests, and to begin clinical trials of its cancer and neuroprotectant therapeutic products within the next 12 months. "We are very pleased to welcome Suzanne to the team at Panacea", commented Hossein Ghanbari, Ph.D., Chairman, CEO and Chief Scientific Officer at Panacea Pharmaceuticals. "Suzanne brings a breadth of regulatory experience related to therapeutic products and particularly monoclonal antibodies, in industry and with the FDA. Her experience is particularly important as we progress PAN-622, our lead cancer therapeutic which is an all-human sequence monoclonal antibody, toward Phase I clinical trials in early 2009." Just prior to joining Panacea, Ms. Sensabaugh held the position of Vice President, Biopharmaceutical Development, MDS Pharma Services, where she was responsible for managing and directing the consulting group in Development & Regulatory Services and providing professional guidance to clients. She has more than 10 years of experience with the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) within the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a researcher, product reviewer, and inspector for biologics. She also was involved in the development and implementation of SOPs, guidance, regulations, and laws. Ms. Sensabaugh began her industry career as Associate Director, Regulatory Affairs, at Genzyme Corporation where she directed, planned, and implemented global regulatory activities. She has held senior positions as Vice President, Regulatory Affairs & Quality, at SICOR Inc., Biotechnology Division, where she was responsible for global regulatory affairs, quality assurance and control, and Vice President, Regulatory Affairs, and Senior Director for Global Biogenerics, at Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., where she developed regulatory strategy and submissions for biotechnology products. Ms. Sensabaugh received her MBA from Duke University, MS in Biotechnology from Johns Hopkins University, and BS in Zoology from the University of Maryland. She teaches clinical development of drugs and biologics at Johns Hopkins University. "I am excited to add Suzanne to our team. Her expertise and experience will be critically important as we move toward clinical development of our cancer and CNS therapeutic products," commented Stephen N. Keith, MD, MSPH, President and Chief Operating Officer. "We will continue to strengthen our management team, looking to add scientific and managerial staff with experience in biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. I am confident that Suzanne will play an important role in facilitating the success of our therapeutic and diagnostic products." About Panacea's Oncology Platform In addition to the cancer therapeutic PAN-622, Panacea offers: PC Detect®, a diagnostic test used in conjunction with PSA and digital rectal exam to identify patients with prostate cancer; LC Detect(sm), a diagnostic test to aide in the detection of patients with lung cancer; BC Detect(sm), a diagnostic test to aide in the detection of recurrence of breast cancer; CC Detect(sm), a diagnostic test to aide in the detection of colo-rectal cancer; and TK Sense®, which determines whether white blood cells from patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) are sensitive or resistant to imatinib, the therapy of first choice for CML patients, prior to initiation of therapy. Each of these tests is offered as a laboratory service performed by Panacea Laboratories (www.panacea-labs.com), a division of Panacea Pharmaceuticals, Inc. About Panacea Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Panacea Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a privately-held biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of therapeutics and diagnostics for diseases with substantial, unmet clinical needs. The Company's product development strategy is based on novel therapeutic agents and approaches for cancer treatment, as well as acute and chronic neurodegenerative conditions, such as hypoxia-induced neurological insult, Parkinson's disease, and Alzheimer's Disease. Panacea has an extensive patent portfolio covering its neurodegenerative and oncology technologies. Panacea Laboratories is a division of Panacea Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Additional information about the Company is available at http://www.PanaceaPharma.com. Except for historical information presented in this press release, matters discussed herein may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward- looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management only as of the date of this release and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. Factors that might cause such a difference include, but are not limited to, uncertainties related to our access to capital, the progress, costs, and results of any clinical trials undertaken by us, progress of our research and development projects, and uncertainties related to whether our product candidates would ultimately achieve commercial success. We do not undertake any obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise unless required by law. Source: Panacea Pharmaceuticals Search: Panacea Pharmaceuticals	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1005
__label__cc	0.512887	0.487113	Desserts You Love From The Kitchens of Sara LeeТМ Chocolate Coconut Bread Pudding with Almonds Preheat oven to 350°F. Cut pound cake into 1-inch cubes. Whisk together eggs, coconut milk, milk, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl until blended. Stir in pound cake, chocolate chips and coconut; let stand 10 minutes. Pour mixture into a greased 8×8-inch square baking dish. Bake 50-60 minutes or until knife inserted in center […] White Chocolate Ganache Lemon Glazed Pound Cake Place chocolate chips, whipping cream and butter in a medium microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on High 1 minute. Stir until chocolate chips are melted and mixture is smooth. (Note: if needed heat 10-30 seconds more in microwave to melt chips.) Stir in lemon peel. Let cool 5 minutes. Drizzle ganache over pound cake. Refrigerate until ready […] Top New York Style cheesecake with chopped pecans. Drizzle with fudge and caramel ice cream toppings. Garnish with chocolate dipped pecans, if desired. Chocolate-Hazelnut Filled Pound Cake Slice pound cake horizontally into 3 layers. Spread bottom layer with 1/4 cup chocolate hazelnut spread. Top with second layer. Spread with remaining 1/4 cup chocolate hazelnut spread. Top with remaining cake layer. Frost entire cake with thawed chocolate whipped topping frosting. Sprinkle top with shaved chocolate, if desired. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Cut […] Sara Lee’s founder, Charles Lubin, at the age of 32, and his brother-in-law, bought a small chain of neighborhood bakeries called Community Bake Shops. Working together, the business grew in popularity and success and the original three stores increased to seven. Charlie had strong entrepreneurial desires, so he parted ways with his brother-in-law. He named his first product, a cream cheesecake, after his then eight year old daughter and changed the name of the business to Kitchens of Sara Lee. At this point, the bakery had “fresh Charlie was always working on new products to market. Since he was a man who took great pride in the quality and taste of his products, it wasn’t until 1951 that the soon-to-be famous All Butter Pound Cake was introduced. A buyer from Texas, on a visit to Chicago, was so impressed with the Sara Lee products that he asked Charlie to ship them to him in Texas. Lubin knew he couldn’t ship fresh product that far and his fresh product didn’t freeze well. Charlie perfected a reformulated frozen line of products, which met his extremely high standards for taste and quality. By 1953, Sara Lee led the food industry by developing a process for freezing baked goods that retained product quality while offering mass distribution capabilities. This same year, he designed foil baking pans. Using this type of packaging to bake, freeze, and distribute the product to consumers in the same pan, both reduced production costs and costs to the customers. This was a revolution in the food industry. The concept of being able to do all of this in one pan was one of our earliest “firsts Lubin franchised fresh routes to a 300-mile radius of Chicago. The demand for Sara Lee products was increasing and the ability to ship frozen was about to make its mark. One year later, Kitchens of Sara Lee expanded its delivery to 48 US states. As the Sara Lee name grew, other corporations were taking interest in frozen products. Kitchens of Sara Lee was becoming so well known that Consolidated Foods Corporation acquired it in 1956 and Charlie continued on as the Chief Executive Officer. This same year, another company, destined to become a major part of Sara Lee, opened its doors. Chef Pierre, Inc., founded by Peter C. Dendrinos in Muskegon, Michigan, was the makers of high-quality frozen pies. By the late 1950s television had proven to be an effective advertising medium and in 1960 Charlie started using it. As people were made more aware of the high quality that went into the making of Sara Lee products, the business continued to grow. The Deerfield plant began production in 1964. As imagined in Charlie’s vision, there were extensive research and development labs, a test bakery, complete machine shop, and a beautiful Home Ec kitchen complete with all types of home-cooking and baking equipment to test in-home preparation and cooking times. On May 12th, 1965, Factory Magazine (a McGraw-Hill publication) named the Sara Lee Deerfield facility one of the ten top new manufacturing plants in the United States. The Deerfield facility was the largest and most modern bakery in the world. That year, Sara Lee decided to expand further. That decision led to the development of the Food Service Division, initially targeted to service airlines, larger restaurants, and institutions, such as hospitals and colleges. On August 15, 1965, after a long career filled with innovation and many successes, Charlie Lubin retired. Television advertising was still doing well, but Sara Lee thought it needed something more. In 1968, Mitch Lee, creator of the Broadway musical, “Man of La Mancha Sara Lee presented a cake to the City of Chicago to commemorate the 100th birthday of the Chicago Public Library. The cake was in the form of an enormous book with the Chicago Public Library emblem on the cover. On July 4th, 1976, Sara Lee presented the United States with its bicentennial birthday cake. The cake was approximately four stories tall and filled Freedom Hall in Philadelphia. Chef Pierre, Inc. was acquired by Consolidated Foods Corporation in 1978. In July of 1983, Sara Lee displayed a “dummy In 1985, Consolidated Foods Corporation was renamed Sara Lee Corporation. In conjunction with this, Kitchens of Sara Lee was renamed Sara Lee Bakery. Chef Pierre and Sara Lee merged together in 1988, combining Sara Lee’s technological leadership in laminated doughs with Chef Pierre’s expertise in fruit-based technologies. A line of Sara Lee fresh-delivered products was introduced in 1993, first to the California markets. These baked good items can now be found in about one-third of the country. It is from these locations, scattered across the world, that our company continues to grow, prosper and carry on the high ideals set forth by Charles Lubin. Ideals that require us to rise above all others to produce the highest-quality product possible. The company began executing a bold and ambitious multi-year plan to transform Sara Lee into a company organized around its customers, consumers and geographies to better serve the ever-changing global marketplace. Sara Lee opened The Kitchens of Sara Lee, a 120,000-square-foot innovation campus in Downers Grove, Illinois, that serves as North America’s research and development center of excellence. It houses more than 100 research and development professionals, including chefs, scientists, engineers and packaging designers. This marks the first time the company has had all of its North American food and beverage research and development capabilities under one roof. The new innovation campus was named “The Kitchens of Sara Lee	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1008
__label__cc	0.65105	0.34895	SBC senior makes sweet product Posted on February 2, 2009 May 5, 2017 by Suzanne Ramsey Some might say Sweet Briar College, with its pink-and-green color scheme and Vixen mascot, is sugary enough, but Micaela Weiss ’09 is trying to make the all-woman’s college and the world a little sweeter still. Soon, the 22-year-old business management major from Portsmouth, Va., will begin marketing Free and Sweet, an all-natural sweetener she developed that’s derived from the stevia plant, a shrub that grows in South America. The product will be packaged in pink and green with a daisy flower logo — an homage to Daisy Williams, daughter of the College’s founder. It all started several years ago when Weiss was just trying to be a good big sister. On Weiss’ 16th birthday in October 2003, she and her family were out to dinner when her younger sister, Natasha, suddenly fell ill. Thinking it was a migraine, they took Natasha home. They couldn’t have been more wrong. “For the next six months, she would fight for her life and go undiagnosed repeatedly,” Weiss recalled. “Halloween night, we thought for sure we were going to lose her. The doctors had prepared us that she probably was not going to live. She could not walk [or] eat, and could barely speak. She was on so many medications she was hallucinating. “That night my father, who is a physician, had flown to New Orleans for an important conference. My mom and I sat Natasha up to watch Charlie Brown’s ‘It’s the Great Pumpkin,’ as was tradition, when my sister turned purple and swelled twice her body size.” Throughout the night, Weiss and her mother kept vigil, moving Natasha to and from the garage, hoping the colder temperature would reduce the swelling and slow her heart rate. Believing his daughter was dying, her father telephoned, saying, “Be strong. She is going to a better place.” But Natasha didn’t die that night or any night following. After massive amounts of intravenous antibiotics, many nights in the hospital and lots of prayer, Natasha, who Weiss calls her “best friend” and “ying to my yang,” survived. She is now a sophomore at Sweet Briar studying engineering. However, the disease, which Weiss and her family suspects was the deadly dengue fever carried by mosquitoes brought in with a recent hurricane, left Natasha with rheumatoid arthritis and new food allergies, including one to artificial sweeteners. “Talk about tough,” Weiss said. “You almost die your freshmen year [of high school] and now you cannot eat anything fake as far as sugar. Moreover, you cannot exercise because you are constantly in pain and now have rheumatoid arthritis. “I started doing some research and came across stevia, an all-natural [sweetener] with no calories, no carbohydrates and no fat. It was a complete shot in the dark but I ordered some in from China for her to try. It was a success. She had no problems with it whatsoever.” Over the next two years, Weiss experimented and added natural fibers to the powdered stevia to make it fit into a one-gram sweetener packet. Otherwise, she said, “it is just so sweet that either a sugar packet would have only a tiny amount of stevia or, at one gram of stevia [per package], a person would have to save the packet for future use.” She also tested it on friends and other family members, with rave reviews. “Plenty of my own friends have dietary problems and they had no adverse effects, and all the research shows diabetics can use it,” Weiss said. During her junior year at Sweet Briar, she decided to produce and market the product herself. Weiss, who said she’s “in charge of everything from Web site to ordering to insurance and sales,” is in the process of getting a patent. She has formed a limited liability company, Free and Sweet will soon be a registered trademark, and she’s hoping the product will be certified both organic and kosher in the next six months. She also worked on the Free and Sweet business plan this year for senior seminar. It was a timely project, according to associate professor Tom Scott, who taught the class. “As the business department begins to move toward its vision of creating entrepreneurial women, Micaela’s budding business provided an excellent opportunity to jump start this process,” he said. For the first batch of 100,000 packets, Weiss mixed the Free and Sweet at her dad’s Virginia Beach doctor’s office and then shipped it in bulk to a manufacturing company in Washington State for packaging. The manufacturer, First Priority, is packaging the Free and Sweet and will mail it back to Weiss for distribution. Her plan is to eventually have everything, from mixing the raw products to shipping, done in Washington State. Although the immediate plan is to market one-gram packets in 50-count boxes, her three-year plan includes offering the product in one-pound bags for cooking and baking. Weiss recently launched a Web site and is accepting pre-orders for shipment in mid-February. She plans to market the product to hair salons and spas where coffee is served, and health food stores and other places that serve people with special dietary needs. Sweet Briar College, with its catering and dining services, also is on her target list. A taste test on campus is tentatively planned for mid-February. “The company is just getting started officially and although it has been a challenge, it has become a great learning lesson,” she said. “The reason I bring all of this up is that Coca-Cola and Pepsi have synthesized stevia and have created a new product. They are beginning to produce it in their soft drinks, as well as in separate individual packages.” Another stevia product, Truvia, also recently started advertising on television, but Weiss isn’t worried about the competition. “There is, of course, room in the market for more than one company and I just want people to know they have options,” she said. “Stevia could change the way Americans eat, because now they have a healthy and safe alternative to artificial sweeteners. Free and Sweet is based on family, and although we are the little guys we have big hearts.”	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1009
__label__wiki	0.831457	0.831457	Transcript of "When I Say 'Steal,' Who Do You Think Of?": Part Two But what does it take to change the system? When I was a teenager, growing up in Centreville, I longed in my body, without words, to leave behind me the hopeless poverty I saw when I rode with my mother, who was a social worker, on her home visits—when I saw other children, white children, Black children, in rags or running naked in the dust beside their houses of weathered or tar-paper pine boards, their homes leaning as if they might blow over in the next big storm. The poverty pierced with me with terrible pain, and I didn't know what to do about it. The only answer I'd ever been given to that poverty was to hope in another world, to work for the treasure in heaven. So I sat waiting for Mama in the car, reading the Bible, opening the book of Revelations, longing for the place after death where there would be no weeping, nor sorrow. That was my only answer then. But then I was still alone. I didn't know, as I do now, how other people have struggled to make a different life on earth. I didn't know there was a place for me in that struggle. I, along with so many others before and after me, had to learn exactly where I was located, had to overcome the forcible blanking out of our struggle history in the US, the history that was whited out of my education under segregation. It was ironic, really, to hear my cousin talking of others taking our money, when he and I are both from a family that settled in River Bend, Bibb County, on land seized from the Creek Nation during the so-called Indian Wars under Andrew Jackson. My great-grandfather Williams, whose daughter I'm named for, claimed his acreage on the Cahaba River as a "bonus"—as in for doing something good—for fighting native nations in those wars. And from the time of settling there in the 1830s until the end of the Civil War, our family were slave-owners, holding African American people as property, enslaving them to farm cotton on that river land. Our history is not unusual in the US—to be white people descended from Scot-Irish, emigrants, fleeing poverty in Europe, moving from the eastern seaports of the US further south and east, looking for cheap land — sometimes unwitting, and sometimes conscious in our complicity with the seizure and occupation of the land from native people, complicity with the racist ideologies propagated to justify colonization, to justify the enslavement of people to work the land. White people offered a parcel of land, a promise of safety, a fantasy of superiority and supremacy, an illusion of security, if we allied ourselves with the big landowning interests, the big money interests, against people of color in the land. Eddie and I both had graduated from a high school where our sports teams were, and still are, called the Fighting Choctaws—where we'd learned virtually nothing of the history of native people, nor of the Choctaw, Creek, Chickasaw, Cherokee still living in the South, in the US We came up through segregated schools, and when Brown vs. Board of Education was finally implemented completely in Alabama in the 1970s, much of the equipment and physical assets of the so-called "white" schools were taken by white-controlled school boards and sent into the newly-established "Christian" academies. And that racist agenda is still in our hometown in its latest twist, like the two columns published side by side recently in the Centreville Press—one announcing Martin Luther King's commemoration on January 19, and right next to it, "General Robert E. Lee Remembered on January 19." On that page, the struggle continues still over our collective history. On a following page was an announcement of a meeting for all those who wanted to learn the "true history" of the state, to counteract the Alabama history taught in the high school now, which was dismissed as "nothing but civil rights"—a meeting for those hanging on to the old racist interpretation of history, re-labeled "white southern heritage." In Tuscaloosa, just thirty miles from my home, people at the University of Alabama have been going through their own struggle about history and culture. In early 2004 there was a hate crime against the NAACP office, then an action by the Renewed Alliance for Cultural Education to counter that hate and forge solidarity for anti-racist work in the student body, and then the attacks on "multiculturalism" in the letters to the editor of the Tuscaloosa News ("An Office"; Hallman). It's significant that one of those hate-filled letters linked "multiculturalism" to "globalization"—and complained about the outsourcing of "good" US jobs overseas and the "influx" of immigrants into the country. The writer glorified "white Southern heritage," once again using the racist and divisive tactic of making other working people, here and in other countries, the enemy. How do we counter this tactic? How do we break through to the understanding that there are more of us working here at the bottom, than there are in the class at the top that enforces inequality and reaps the benefit from our work? If we are divided from each other, the injustices continue—the unequal distribution of wealth, and justice, continues. Let's consider just one way to build solidarity between working people — support for the movement for reparations for slavery. On the Tuscaloosa campus, Professor Alfred L. Brophy, in the Law School, raised reparations in relation to the fact that some of the University's antebellum "faculty owned slaves and advanced pro-slavery teachings in the classroom." He also pointed out that there is reason to believe that enslaved people's labor built some of the campus, in addition, surely, to other, not yet known, connections of the University to slavery. And, of course, Professor Brophy's call is part of a national movement toward reparations, which raises the important question of how to redress the injustice of hundreds of years of slavery in the US (Cruz). Surely by now, because of the great Black civil rights struggles that have been fought—so many of them right here in this state — we comprehend the horrendous injustice of slavery, the kidnapping of millions of people from Africa, the stealing of their lives from them, and then the theft of their labor for hundreds of years, with no recompense. But, all too often, a discussion of reparations for this loss of life and loss of recompense can be trivialized and rejected with comments about how long ago slavery occurred, how people now (that is, white people) aren't responsible for the sins of their fathers, and so forth. But if we look at the economic consequences of slavery, as those consequences have accumulated in the lives of subsequent generations, including through this very moment, the seriousness of the issue of reparations becomes more apparent. And a call for reparations raises an important challenge to the current economic structure based on profit. The economic consequences of slavery on people of the African diaspora did not end with the Emancipation Proclamation. Instead, during the period called "the Reconstruction" in the southern US—1860-1880—freed slaves struggled to make a revolution in this country—a revolution that would have meant legal, social and economic equality with their former owners. This "unfinished revolution" was stopped by a counterrevolution that followed in 1877—the consequences of which endured legally until the civil rights movement of the 1960s and economically to this day. When, in 1865, Union troops began to move into the defeated slave states of the Confederacy, under the auspices of a few Union generals, freed people who had been held as slaves began to occupy and farm independently some of the land of the white slavocracy. For instance, the 10,000-acre plantation of Jefferson Davis, former President of the Confederacy, was declared a "home colony," placed under the protection of a Black regiment, and the land was farmed cooperatively by newly freed people who set up self-government (Allen, 48). The ability to claim and farm land was central to freedom for Black people in the US after slavery, most of whom lived in the South, and in the rural South. There were few towns, and few non-agrarian jobs available, and most Black people were farm workers. After Emancipation, the newly freed people needed land simply to survive—to feed themselves and their families—and to move out of servitude. But the southern white slavocracy, though defeated militarily, was determined not to be subdued economically. Immediately after the War and the passing of the Thirteenth Amendment that formally emancipated all slaves, the Southern white governments of the former slave states began to pass a series of laws that attempted to return freed slaves to a de facto bondage. Beginning in Mississippi in 1865, these so-called "Black Codes" appeared to grant Black people certain legal rights for the first time, such as the right to marry. But in reality the Codes "were promulgated to control a newly fluid Black labor force" (Wunder 819). Through these laws, and the vigilante violence of white terror that enforced the Codes, the southern plantation owners attempted to keep freed slaves bound to their land, in a kind of legal peonage. Their aim was to prevent freed slaves from becoming free labor, people able to sell their labor as workers. The passing of the Codes was an attempt to continue slavery. In the post-war landscape, this meant an attempt to impose the most extreme form of wage-slavery possible. But just as enslaved Africans had fought back from the moment they were kidnapped and landed on the shores of the New World, newly freed Black people resisted the re-imposition of slavery. In the revolutionary period of Reconstruction, they developed new tools of resistance—the Union Leagues with its local Councils, armed citizen's militias, and people's assemblies that developed into state constitutional assemblies in the late 1860s (Allen 73-78, 91-95, 166-122; DuBois 680). For the ten years after the end of the Civil War, there was battle after battle in the countryside and small towns of the South, as the African American population, and some white allies, tried to liberate their land. Every act toward freedom was a struggle—one witness recounted Black women and men in Mississippi marching to the voting polls "after the manner of soldiers, armed with clubs and sticks, some of them with old swords and pieces of scythe blades" (Allen 96). The control of the larger state legislatures, and public resources and economic destinies, depended on these smaller battles (Pratt, "Black Reconstruction"). But the greatest significance in these struggles lay in the fact that the battle of African Americans for their basic democratic rights (the right to vote, to testify in court, to form civil contracts such as marriage) was completely, inextricably, and openly linked to their fight for economic justice. If they could not win re-distribution of land, through outright occupation—or through reparations legislation such as the "forty acres" grants proposed by abolitionists like Thaddeus Stevens—then newly freed Black people would have no material basis for survival, and no way to stand against the seizure of their newly won rights by a resurgent slavocracy. And the southern slavocracy was not fighting these battles alone. Northern capital had its own agenda in the waging of the Civil War and also in the establishment of peace. In the earliest days of the American colonies, fortunes had been made in the North on slave-trading. This was the money that seeded the ultimate rise of such corporations as FleetBank, Aetna Insurance, CSX Railroad—or USX, which had merged with US Steel, which had merged with Tennessee Coal & Iron, an Alabama corporation that used the de facto slavery of the convict lease system, and that traces its origins back to businesses using slave labor (Cox). After the war, northern corporations went after more riches in the South. One post-war article in a northern newspaper praised the education of freed slaves as an opportunity for textile manufacturers to "organize at our own doors a colony—so to speak—that will be worth more to us than any of England's most flourishing dependencies" (Allen, 195). Vince Copeland succinctly described the support of northern capital for the old southern slavocracy: "To expropriate the land of the [former] slave owners (many of whom had financial ties to the merchant capital, etc., in the North) was also to question the legality of all huge land ownership. And at this very moment the big capitalists, especially the railroad companies, were getting land by the millions of acres from Congress, swindling the white masses as well as the Indians [Native Americans] in the process""(41). Using the repression of the Black Codes and white terror, the slavocracy re-organized the old plantation system, worked by slave labor, into a system of sharecropping and share tenancy, which enabled cash-poor planters to minimize paying wages to farm workers. This system lasted in the South until the introduction and widespread use of tractors and mechanical cotton pickers in the 1940s and '50s. In the mostly rural South, freed Black people and impoverished whites were forced into this economic arrangement to survive. Sharecroppers usually had only their labor to bargain with, no animals or tools. They depended on lien credit for necessities of life, and usually received no more than half the crop, from which interest and supplies were deducted, typically leaving them in life-long debt to the landlord. Two-thirds of southern tenants were white, and among sharecroppers, there were about equal numbers of Black and white farmers (Mertz). The shared misery of the sharecropping system led to white and Black farm workers organizing in farmer unions. But the slavocracy mounted a vicious campaign to split white farm workers and urban working class from newly freed Black labor. Besides racist propaganda from public officials, state governments re-seized by the planter economic interests and by new southern industrial interests began to allocate money and benefits (like education) in a calculatedly racist manner. For instance, states of the former Confederacy, like Alabama under its 1891 legal code, began to pay pensions to the "relief of needy confederate soldiers and sailors who from wounds or other cause are now unable to earn a livelihood by labor"—privileging indigent whites loyal to the slavocracy while throwing freed Black men and women into jail to be used as prison labor on the pretext of being "vagrants" because they had wandered searching for less oppressive landlords or more fair wages ("Tallapoosa County, Alabama: Civil War Pension"). But in the renewed onslaught of reaction in the South—where lynching of African American men and the rape of African American women became the most notorious terror methods of white ruling class interests—there was continued resistance. Well-known to many is the anti-lynching campaign of Ida B. Wells-Barnett, for instance. Born a slave in Mississippi, she became a teacher and then also the editor of a Memphis newspaper, the Free Speech. In 1891, she lost her teaching job when she published articles criticizing the local school system's "unequal allocation of resources to Black schools" (Harley). The next year marked the beginning of her life-long national campaign against lynching—including armed self defense—as she editorially denounced the murder of three local Black men on the pretext of raping a white woman. In fact, she revealed, all three had been targeted because their business pursuits threatened the white economic establishment (Wells-Barnett). Resistance by African Americans, and some white allies, continued in every town and farm in the South, in places still not documented by historians. For instance, in 1899, in Bibb County, which had a population, Black and white, of no more than 5000 people then, the Black workers on a road detail engaged in an armed battle with their white overseer in resistance to their dire exploitation. The precipitating incident, which must have come after many brutal indignities and assaults, was this. The white overseer, Mullen, sent one of the workers, John Sanders—who was Black—after water. On returning to the spring Sanders passed the water to other African Americans before giving it to Mullen. In the fight that followed, the overseer was killed, as were some of the Black workers; others were later lynched. A few days later, a young white worker was beaten and driven out of the county by white vigilantes because of his expressing sympathy for the African Americans who killed overseer Mullins. This white man was seen going out armed, together with African Americans, in his neighborhood, saying that Mullins got what he deserved and that others would get the same ("Given 150 Lashes," "Overseer Killed: Conspiracy Formed by Negro Laborers to Murder Him"). A month later, when the Centreville Press reported a "crowd of [African Americans] armed in the woods" near Eoline, it also ran a story about a strike in the coal mines in Tuscaloosa County by the Black majority, but integrated ("Attempted Assassination," "Non-Union Men Killed"). So even as African Americans struggled for freedom from violence and from economic oppression in mostly rural arenas in the South, there was a parallel resistance in the Black urban working class. The first post-Civil War strike by southern women, for instance, was that of Black washer-women in July, 1865 in Jackson, Mississippi. They organized themselves into a "protective association" and raised their prices. In Alabama, ex-Union Black soldiers at the iron works in Birmingham went on strike in 1866. In Mobile, a strike of Black levee workers spread to the sawmills and smaller industries. And in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1871, there was a march of nearly 2000 workers, almost all African American, for the organization of a National Labor Union (Jones 72; Allen 166-167). Meanwhile, the reactionary policies of the counter-revolution continued in the attempt by white land owners in the South to keep Black people from migrating north toward wage-paying jobs. The Black Codes were used against Black workers, for instance, during WWI, as they sought to travel to Northern industries, where labor was short because US policies were limiting immigrant labor. At the same time, Northern industrialists exploited Black workers who came north, using them as strike-breakers against unionizing white workers, and promulgating racism among white workers to keep white and Black workers from joining forces. One instance of the super-exploitation of Black workers that resulted in worse working conditions and lower wages for white workers was the so-called "convict lease" system that grew out of the Codes. In this system, prisoners, the majority Black, were leased by the State at dramatically reduced wages, to "cotton, rice, sugarcane, and tobacco planters, coal mines, timber companies, railroad construction firms, and levee builders." The male and female prisoners, some as young as eight or nine years old, were fed inadequately, given little or no medical care, overworked, and physically abused (Carleton, 1502). Though the system was officially phased out in the South by World War II, we can see its resurgence right now in the exploitation of prison labor by private companies like the Corrections Corporation of America, subcontracting with the states to hire out prisoners to work for US brand-name firms (Moorehead, "Mass Detentions"). "Competitive prison labor" means that companies like Starbucks, Microsoft, Victoria's Secret, and Boeing hire prisoners through CCA, and make profits off the labor of prisoners who are mostly people of color. In Tennessee, for instance, a CCA prison is allowed to pay prisoners a "maximum" of 50 cents an hour (Moorehead, "Prisons-for- Profit"). And what are the consequences of this continuation of the exploitation of prisoners for those of us who are supposedly "free labor"? The depression of wages for everyone, while those who are locked up are scapegoated and characterized as demonic. So, when the call for reparations is made, we have a chance to be in solidarity with other working people, whose uncompensated labor, whose stolen wages, have generated untold profits for capitalist interests in the US. Those profits, and the accumulating wealth from them, came from the wages lost to freed Black people because they were forced into virtual peonage through the use of the Black Codes; money lost from the sale of the crops they labored to raise under sharecropping and share tenancy, money lost to landlords' inflated interest and lien credit, and the resulting lost equity and interest that did not come to them over the ensuing yearr; the lost wages in urban areas, where Black workers were paid unequally in relation to white workers. Reparations are due for all this, and for so much else — the education never given by the States, or given in unequal measure under segregation; for being held prisoner under de facto slavery and worked on prison farms, roads, industries, mines, plantations. And from those of us who are not of the African diaspora, not descended from people enslaved in this country, to answer the call for reparations is to stand in solidarity with other working people, to acknowledge the exploitation of their lives and labor, to refuse to be divided from them. To answer the call for reparations is also to stand up for ourselves, to say that we know that this demand for justice will help build a unity that will mean all of us are stronger, and more able to resist exploitation. * Transcript prepared by Minnie Bruce Pratt. Text may not exactly correspond to the video recording of Pratt's lecture available on Southern Spaces. © 2004 Minnie Bruce Pratt and Southern Spaces Environments and Ecologies	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1011
__label__wiki	0.888074	0.888074	Blondin, 6th, & Christ, 8th, earn best-ever ranking while Morrison finished 7th at World Allround Long Track Speed Skating Championships Ivanie Blondin and Kali Christ earned their best-ever overall ranking at the 2015 ISU World Allround Speed Skating Championships, Sunday at the Olympic Oval in Calgary, taking the 6th and 8th positions while Denny Morrison took the 7th spot, finishing among the top-10 for the fifth time in as many tries in that competition. Blondin (Ottawa, ON) and Christ (Regina, SK) respectively finished sixth and eighth in overall standings, as both skaters earned their best result in three career World Allround Championships so far. Blondin was 18th last year and 20th in 2011, while Christ was 10th last year and 12th in 2013. “I see a trend there,” joked Christ, 23, alluding to the fact she has improved by two places each year. “But I'm happy with the fact that I was able to set personal bests in all four of my races over the weekend, although I still have things to improve on, here and there.” Blondin's sixth-place finish is the best result by a Canadian female skater at the World Allround Championships since 2012, when Christine Nesbitt was third overall and Cindy Klassen was fifth. Blondin's and Christ's qualification for the 5000m race was also a first since 2012 for the Canadian women. “I did better than I thought I was capable of. But I knew that by qualifying for the 5000m, which was my goal, I would be in a position to better my ranking because that's more my distance,” said Blondin, 24, who has broken through at the international level this season with six World Cup medals, five in the mass start and one in a 5000m race (a bronze), in addition to a silver medal in the mass start event at the recent World Single Distance Championships. “It shows that there's a lot of potential on this Canadian team,” said Morrison of Blondin's and Christ's results this weekend. “We're still three years away from the next Olympics, several of our athletes took a year off this season and may come back next fall, so it bodes well for the future because that means that we'll have a team with a lot of depth going into 2018.” Morrison seventh overall Morrison (Fort St. John, B.C.) ended up seventh overall, to finish in the top-10 for the fifth time in as many participations in the World Allround Championships. The 29-year-old Olympic multimedalist was also seventh the last time he skated in this competition, in 2009. He was sixth in 2008, 10th in 2007 and fifth in 2006. Morrison was the first Canadian male skater to finish among the top-10 overall since Lucas Makowsky in 2010 (9th). “Seventh is a pretty standard finish for me at this competition,” noted Morrison. “Since I'm pretty good in the 500m and 1500m races, getting into the top-8 is pretty automatic for me. Skating in the 10 000m is a tough task in my case. It's a bit like asking Usain Bolt to run with marathoners in a 10 000m foot race!” “Still, I'm satisfied with seventh place considering this is the first year after the Sochi Olympics. Mentally and physically, I'm leaps and bounds ahead of where I was the year after the 2010 Olympics”, added Morrison, whose victory in Saturday's 500m was Canada's first podium finish by a male skater since 2009 at the World Allround Championships. Only the top eight male skaters and the first eight female athletes in overall standings after Sunday's 1500m races were invited to skate in the women's 5000m and men's 10 000m events, and go for the World Allround Championship title. The men started off the weekend with a 500m and a 5000m on Saturday, while the women raced in a 500m and a 3000m on day 1. The Czech Republic's Martina Sablikova won the 5000m in six minutes and 51.21 seconds and earned first place in overall standings, and was therefore crowned World Allround Champion for the third time of her career. Ireen Wust of the Netherlands, who was third in the 5000m, finished second overall to give up the world title she had won over the previous four competitions. On the men's side, Dutch skater Sven Kramer won the men's 10 000m race in 12:56.69 and was crowned World Allround Champion for the seventh time. He is now one world title away from matching Germany's Gunda Niemann, who won eight titles in the 1990s. Blondin and Christ together in the 5000m Blondin earned fifth place in Sunday's 5000m, with a time of 7:06.99, while Christ was eighth, albeit with a new personal best of 7:24.10. The two Canadians skated in the same pairing. “I was happy to be with Kali, it brought a level of comfort that was good, I told myself that if something happened, she'd be right there with me,” said Blondin. “Personally, my goal was to be consistent from one lap to the next.” “I knew Ivanie was going to be faster, because the 5000m is her distance and not mine, but it was a nice feeling that we did it together,” said Christ. “For my part, I just wanted to keep my laps flat.” Morrison finished eighth in the men's 10 000m, with a time of 13:54.90. He qualified for that race after finishing fifth in the 1500m (1:44.35), one of his specialties (he won a bronze medal in that distance at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, and finished second in the 1500m events raced at the 2007 and 2008 World Allround Championships). That result placed him fourth in overall standings after three races. Christ and Blondin qualified for the women's 5000m after finishing fourth and 12th, respectively, in the women's 1500m, earning them fifth and seventh place in overall standings after three races. Christ and Blondin both came up with new personal bests in the 1500m, with times of 1:54.44 and 1:56.85, respectively. “Just making it to the 5000m was a big deal to me, since the 1500m is my best distance and the 5000m, not as much,” stated Christ. “Considering it was only the fourth time this season I was skating in a 1500m, it wasn't a bad time and it gave me an OK ranking,” commented Blondin. “Being paired with Ireen Wust was intimidating at first, but it ended up helping me. Even though she was skating fast and was in front of me, I knew that by keeping up with her, that would still give me a good time.” “I reached my goal, since it allowed me to qualify for the 5000m.” Bloemen makes amends Although he did not qualify for the men's 10 000m, Ted-Jan Bloemen (Calgary, AB) saw his competition end on a relatively good note, as the skater who specializes in the longer distances came close to a personal best in the 1500m. He skated Sunday's 1500m in 1:46.89, a little over a half-second away from the time of 1:46.36 he registered last October 23 in Calgary, to finish 17th in the race. He concluded the weekend in 16th place overall, the same rank he was in after Saturday's 5000m, a race in which he finished eighth, a disappointing result in his mind. “I had trouble shaking off that 5K, but this morning I was able to skate better, and I started the process of trying to learn from that race and see the 1500m as a challenge to deal with in trying circumstances,” said Bloemen. “Things did go better, I'm happy with the way I recovered from Saturday's races. I will learn from this, and I will be better in the future.” Bloemen was taking part in his first World Allround Championships with Canada after skating twice in that competition for the Netherlands, earning fourth place overall in 2010. He did appreciate skating in his new city of residence and in front of fans from his new home country. “I really like competing here, I like it when the fans cheer me on like they did (this weekend). I'm just disappointed I couldn't give them better results,” said Bloemen. The 2014-15 international long track speed skating season will conclude with the World Cup Finals, to be held March 21-22 in Erfurt, Germany. More information can be found on Speed Skating Canada’s website: www.speedskating.ca. TODAY'S CANADIAN RESULTS: 1500m W 4. Kali Christ (1:54.44) 12. Ivanie Blondin (1:56.85) 1500m M 5. Denny Morrison (1:44.35) 17. Ted-Jan Bloemen (1:46.89) 5. Ivanie Blondin (7:06.99) 10000m M 8. Denny Morrison (13:54.90) Final ranking – W 6. Ivanie Blondin 8. Kali Christ Final ranking – M 7. Denny Morrison 16. Ted-Jan Bloemen About Speed Skating Canada Speed Skating Canada (SSC) is the governing body for competitive long track and short track speed skating in Canada. Founded in 1887, the association is comprised of 13 provincial and territorial branches representing more than 13,000 individual members, and counting. SSC believes that sport is an apprenticeship for life and prizes respect for others, integrity, excellence of effort, as well as a safe, healthy environment. SSC recognizes and values its outstanding volunteers who give freely of their time and expertise. It also celebrates the 63 Olympic medals won by Canadian athletes since 1932, as well as the coaches, officials and other dedicated individuals who helped them on their journey. SSC is proud to be affiliated with partners that share the same vision and values including our premium sponsor Intact Insurance, as well as our funding partners, the Government of Canada, Own the Podium, and WinSport Canada. Jeff MacKinnon Coordinator, Media and Communications Services – long track Email: jmackinnon@speedskating.ca Website: www.speedskating.ca Facebook: www.facebook.com/SSC.PVC Twitter: www.twitter.com/SSC_PVC Patrick Godbout Communications & Media Relations Manager Email: pgodbout@speedskating.ca	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1014
__label__wiki	0.773009	0.773009	USDA, WGA Collaborative to Address Land Management Challenges On December 12, 2018 By North Carolina Small Farm AssociationIn Uncategorized USDA and WGA Memorandum of Understanding View as a webpage (Waimea, HI, December 12, 2018) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Western Governors’ Association (WGA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to “establish a framework to allow the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and WGA to work collaboratively to accomplish mutual goals, further common interests, and effectively respond to the increasing suite of challenges facing western landscapes.” Specifically, the agreement was signed by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue, WGA Chair and Governor of Hawai’i David Ige, and WGA Vice Chair and Governor of North Dakota Doug Burgum. The MOU commits the USFS and WGA to a “more integrated approach to prioritizing investments where they will have the greatest impact and will work together to set priorities that address risk across broad landscapes.” Following the signing, Secretary Perdue and Governor Ige issued these statements: “Governors possess primary decision-making authority for management of state resources, including many resources on federal lands. Being a ‘good neighbor’ is an essential component in USDA’s work, which is why this MOU is so important,” said Secretary Perdue. “USDA’s Forest Service will work shoulder-to-shoulder with WGA to co-manage risks and identify land management priorities. As authentic collaborators, the states and federal government will improve service to the public by creating more efficient, effective, and long-lasting policy.” “This is an important step in cooperatively addressing land management challenges,” said Governor Ige. “We recognize that no one agency or level of government has the capacity to deal with all of these risks alone. This MOU puts us on a path to working closely on these serious matters.” The agreement, announced at the WGA 2018 Winter Meeting in Hawai’i, is an outgrowth of two ongoing activities: the Shared Stewardship Initiative of the USDA, and the National Forest and Rangeland Management Initiative of Western Governors. Federal, state and private managers of forests and rangelands face a multitude of urgent challenges, including catastrophic wildfires, invasive species, degraded watersheds, and epidemics of insects and disease. The conditions fueling these circumstances are not improving, as demonstrated by the devastating wildfires of 2018. The USFS announced a new strategy earlier this year to work more closely with states to identify landscape-scale priorities for targeted treatments. Over the past two years, Western Governors have been examining a wide variety of land management challenges, including those involving large landscapes with multiple ownerships. Deputy Secretary Censky To Travel to Iowa TOMORROW Statement of Secretary Perdue on Passage of the Farm Bill	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1017
__label__wiki	0.881688	0.881688	Posts tagged ‘Zachary Keck’ How Real Is BRICS Solidarity on Crimea? Photo by Roberto Stuckert Filho and Presidência da República, via Agência Brasil. Last week a resolution calling on the international community not to recognize the Russian Federation’s annexation of Crimea easily passed through the United Nations General Assembly. The non-binding agreement, which urged restraint and a peaceful resolution to the conflict, received a hundred votes in favor, 11 against, and 58 abstentions, in addition to a number of UN member states not present for the vote. While the resolution was adopted, commentators immediately drew attention to the comparatively low number of “Yes” votes. It is difficult to think of a more blatant violation of international norms than Russia’s invasion of Crimea, and later annexation of the peninsula after a singularly-unconvincing referendum. While the only states to vote against the resolution were Russia and ten of its close allies such as Cuba, Venezuela, Sudan, and Armenia, the high number of abstentions is a puzzle. Why would so many states remain on the sidelines, so to speak, of such a clear-cut issue? More importantly, why did Russia’s BRICS peers — a loose bloc of large developing economies composed of, besides Russia, Brazil, India, China, and South Africa — all abstain from the vote? The BRICS bloc, a grouping that was first proposed (minus South Africa) by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O’Neill in 2001, has always been an association stronger on paper than the real world, but this show of solidarity is striking. While China is a Russian ally that also hopes to regain territory it once lost — in China’s case, Taiwan — its government has also long presented itself as committed to ideals of territorial sovereignty and states’ freedom from foreign interference, a stance its abstention undercuts. Brazil, India, and South Africa are all democracies that presumably should strongly oppose Vladimir Putin’s ‘might makes right’ annexation of Crimea. Brazil, India, China, and South Africa’s stance is especially puzzling because their abstention on the UN resolution reaffirming Ukraine’s territorial integrity is, for all practical purposes, a vote in favor of Russia. With its invasion and annexation already successful, Russia now seeks to defend the status quo, a reality that a refusal to condemn Russia supports. One potential answer to this puzzle is that, as Daniel Larison has written, these countries simply don’t see the Crimea issue as vital enough to their interests to take on the diplomatic risks of a firm position. Another is that Russia put great effort into urging its fellow BRICS countries to support it, though this alone is an unsatisfying explanation — it’s difficult to see Russia as having the leverage to coerce a bloc of countries that together are far more populous and economically powerful than itself. Via Milena Rodban, in The Diplomat Zachary Keck suggests another explanation. Noting a statement by BRICS foreign ministers denouncing the push to impose costs on Russia’s Crimea annexation, Keck sees the the BRICS countries’ abstentions at the UN General Assembly as a deliberate repudiation of Western norms and the pressures by which the United States and its allies seek to enforce them. This repudiation is part of a strategy designed to united the otherwise disparate BRICS countries. “BRICS has often tried to overcome these internal challenges by unifying behind an anti-Western or at least post-Western position,” Keck writes. “In that sense, it’s no surprise that the group opposed Western attempts to isolate one of its own members.” This is a provocative explanation for BRICS solidarity at the UN. However, there is also a simpler one. As Keck lists, the BRICS bloc has incentives to both preserve its own unity and demonstrate its relevance, but the UN vote is less a demonstration of the strength of this “post-Western” solidarity than that the costs of doing so are very small. Yes, an abstention is an implicit voice of support for Russia, but it is far less forceful than the “No” votes on the Assembly resolution. The most obvious takeaway from the vote isn’t that Brazil, India, China, and South Africa abstained from the vote along with with 54 other countries, but that Russia was only able to draw “No” votes from a small number of its obvious allies and, more embarrassingly, clients. Moreover, while 100 “Yes” votes is hardly a ringing endorsement of the norms against territorial annexation, the vote itself was never in doubt. The non-Russian members of the BRICS bloc could afford a mild show of solidarity with Russia because there was no chance that their measured statements in opposing sanctions and abstentions would actually lead to the rejection of the Assembly resolution. Similarly, the governments of Brazil, India, China, and South Africa are unlikely to pay any costs for their positions at home. In Brazil, in particular, a recent Christian Science Monitor piece noted that while Russia’s annexation is unpopular in the Brazilian press, the conflict is overshadowed by domestic issues, like the fast-approaching World Cup, and in the international realm events in Brazil’s immediate neighborhood. Recent pieces published in Brazilian media have, for example, argued that a referendum cannot legitimize annexation, warned of future conflict, and echoed the argument that Russia will lose influence in the rest of Ukraine. But it seems unlikely that the government of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who is widely favored to win reelection this fall, will suffer any serious domestic pushback from abstention, along with those of its democratic BRICS counterparts in India and South Africa. Another explanation for the vote’s cost — and thus its importance as a post-Western moment — born by the BRICS is that several of the bloc’s members face secessionist movements of their own. China has real fears of Tibetan and Uyghur separatism — in addition to the possibility of a formal Taiwanese independence declaration — and India a number of separatist movements, most notably in Jammu and Kashmir. Supporting Russia’s annexation of Crimea must be costly to states facing secessionist movements, the theory goes, because it will encourage separatists elsewhere. However, this seems not to be the case in practice. Political scientist Steve Saideman has extensively argued countries support or oppose secessionist movements “based on the context of each one, rather than to any over-arching principle.” Canada recognized Kosovo because such a move fit into the country’s wider foreign policy goals, despite its own secessionist movement in Quebec; a notably counterargument to this theory is Spain’s non-recognition of Kosovo. All this suggests that Brazil, India, China, and South Africa’s support for Russia will not bring future costs by encouraging domestic secessionists. This is particularly true for Brazil, where to the best of my knowledge a breakaway southern state has no chance of success or even much real support. (One of the movement’s website appears to now be a Japanese porn site.) So it’s possible that Brazil, China, India, and South Africa all abstained from the Assembly resolution on Crimea to stand against — so the narrative goes — a hypocritical West. But even if this is true, this is less a bold stance than an empty one. Bland statements and abstentions do aid Russia, but do little in any practical way. It is worth remembering that a single “No” vote from a large, democratic country like Brazil, India, or South Africa would have been an immensely powerful public relations tool for Putin. The fact that Russia couldn’t manage to get even one from its BRICS counterparts substantially weakens the argument that the vote represents some new post-Western moment. The BRICS group may, in Oliver Stuenkel’s words, be driven by a narrative “that emerging powers are successful and that the rise of the Global South is set to fundamentally change the distribution of power in global affairs.” But that does not mean that the Brazil, India, China, and South Africa are willing to bear serious costs in support of Russian military adventurism. Instead, it is more likely that BRICS leaders are only willing to offer token — and more importantly, largely costless — support for an increasingly unpopular and isolated Russia.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1020
__label__cc	0.749801	0.250199	Society is an organized group of people who interact with one another and form a cohesive unit. This definition would include not only human but also animals. The definition of society does not include culture. It is only when we speak of human societies that we refer to the concept of culture. Ancient beliefs about diamond The word “diamond” comes from the Greek “adamao,” or “I subdue,” referring not to a chauvinist attitude towards marriage (we hope), but to the diamond’s hardness and its ability to scratch any surface without being scratched. Diamonds are magic. They have become such powerful symbols of romance and prestige that no other gemstone sends quite the same message. Some ancient Greeks called diamonds splinters of stars; others referred to them as the tears of the Gods. Diamonds have been used to drive away evil spirits, to induce sexual prowess, and, of course, to declare undying devotion between lovers. The ancient Indians revered diamonds as a gift and tool of the gods. Carrying a diamond was seen as a good luck charm and a protection from threats like poisonous snakes, fire, thieves, or evil spirits. In the Indian ancient scriptures, diamonds were divided into the same four caste groups, according to the colour: “the diamond has four colours, according to its caste. The diamond that has the velvety lustre of the mother-of-pearl, the rock crystal, the moonstone is a Brahmin. The one that is slightly red, monkey brown, beautiful and pure is called Kshatriya. The Vaishya is a lustrous, pale yellow. The Shudra shines like a polished sword: the experts have classified it into the fourth caste on account of its shine.” at 4:38 AM Links to this post Labels: beliefs, diamond, Greeks, India, Roman The most popular articles What is the meaning of polyandry? Polygamy is a marriage pattern that allows for multiple spouses, Polygamy comes in two main forms, polygyny and polyandry. Polyandry can be ... Sati (or suttee) in Indian culture One of the oldest forms of femicide is suttee, or sati: the Indian practice of burning a woman alive on the pyre of her deceased husband. ... Manifest and Latent Functions Manifest and Latent Functions Sociologist Robert Merton points out that an activity may have some more than one function and one or more of... SAF-DYNAMICS of Food Science and Technology What is genetic engineering? - The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) defined genetic engineering as a process of inserting new genetic information into existing c... Biography of Famous People American comic-book writer: Stanley Martin Lieber - Born December 28, 1922 in New York City Stanley Martin Lieber enter the comic book industry age 17. When Joe Simon and Jack Kirby left Timely Comic for Nat... The Famous Painting The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp by Rembrandt - Rembrandt’s The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp is considered a masterpiece and is a group portrait of the Amsterdam Guild of Surgeons in the form of a... Computer Applications In Business Computer programming - Computers can do such a wide variety of things because they can be programmed. This means that computers are not designed to do just one job, but to do any... Hypertension and diet Hypertension and its consequences - Most people with high blood pressure actually have no symptoms at all and may not even know they have it. Sometimes high blood pressure can cause symptoms ... Culture and Definition As anthropologist use the term, culture is the way of life shared by a group of people. It is what makes people similar to one another a... Ancient scholar Food Mineral History of Beverage Marketing and Concept Shortnotes of History History of Business Invention and history Malay Medicine History of American Business Food Science Avenue	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1021
__label__wiki	0.919978	0.919978	Alumni life Message from SVSU’s president The magazine of Saginaw Valley State University Remembering Evan by Justin Engel One year after Evan Willman’s funeral, family and friends gathered for a different kind of ceremony where they honored his legacy as a beloved classmate and dedicated student. During SVSU’s commencement ceremony in December 2017, Willman’s mother accepted an Honorary Master of Science in Occupational Therapy degree on her son’s behalf. Before he died following a fall from a moving vehicle in December 2016, Willman was on schedule to graduate alongside a close-knit cohort of 58 classmates enrolled in the master’s program. SVSU’s occupational therapy program teams the same group of students in courses and activities from their first semester in the program until their graduation. “I hope that he would have been proud of himself for accomplishing enough to receive this degree,” said his mother, Rebecca Willman. “I know I’m proud of what he accomplished.” Her son was a standout member of the December 2017 class, classmates and faculty said. His outgoing personality and radiant charm won him friends, impacted lives and influenced wardrobe choices. “He originated something we called ‘Flannel Fridays,’” said Cody Zietz, a classmate who befriended Willman. Willman and his classmates followed the program’s dress code: khakis and polo shirts, as is typically worn by professionals in occupational therapy. But Willman convinced faculty members to allow the group to don flannel attire on Fridays as a way to express camaraderie. The weekly tradition also involved bringing pancake ingredients to campus and cooking breakfast for the group. Evan Willman, giving two thumbs up, was a standout in his occupational therapy cohort at SVSU. “He wanted you to be personable like that,” Zietz said, “because he was personable like that. He was the kind of person where, if you were walking in the hallway and he knew you, he was going to stop you and make you smile.” The 23-year-old’s death devastated many on campus who knew him. Weeks later, when Willman’s parents visited campus to close their son’s affairs with the university, they were met by students, faculty, staff and administrators who encouraged them to request a posthumous degree. Receiving such an honor is a relatively rare occurrence. Academic committees, administrators and registrar officials must review each request to determine the student’s eligibility based on several factors. Willman’s honorary degree was approved in time for the university’s May 2017 commencement, but his parents asked to postpone the recognition until he could be honored along with his classmates months later. Ellen Herlache-Pretzer, an SVSU assistant professor of occupational therapy who worked with Willman’s group, said the honorary degree was a fitting tribute to her former student and a solemn comfort for his classmates. “A lot of people looked up to Evan,” she said. “They were happy to see him have a chance to finish with them, in a way.” Willman’s journey to SVSU began long before his freshman year, his mother said. When his grandmother suffered a stroke in 2006, the family’s involvement in the recovery process exposed the then-middle school student to occupational therapy. “He was fascinated by her therapy sessions,” his mother said. “That’s where he figured out what he wanted to be. He had a strong desire to help people.” Willman’s other interests included athletics. He was a member of all-area football and baseball teams while at Breckenridge High School, where he graduated in 2011. When he enrolled at SVSU, he joined the men’s rugby club team, eventually becoming a team captain. Classmates also were aware of his love for the outdoors. When Willman befriended Zietz, the two became hunting and fishing buddies. At SVSU, Willman also met Mary Iott, a student in the M.S.O.T. cohort one year ahead of Willman’s group. The couple fell in love and were engaged to be married in August 2017. She graduated from SVSU days before his death. Evan Willman and his fiancé, Mary Iott. In the wake of that tragedy, Willman’s classmates organized a GoFundMe webpage, raising more than $10,000 to pay for their classmate’s funeral. Because of that support, his family was able to use Willman’s life insurance to create The 3-Cent Scholarship in honor of Willman and the amount of money left behind in his bank account. “We have this saying about Evan,” his mother said. “We say, ‘He lived life to the fullest — and a bank account to show it.’” The scholarship is available to Breckenridge High School graduates. The award supports three $1,000.03 scholarships to college-bound students annually. His SVSU classmates honored Willman in more ways than one during December’s commencement event. During the ceremony, members of his master’s program cohort pinned flannel fabric to their commencement robes, observing Flannel Friday one last time for their friend. 2018 – Academia / Personality profiles Oxford theme by The Theme Foundry	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1025
__label__wiki	0.859945	0.859945	Jacksonville 3rd-Round Pick Punter Bryan Anger: 'I Will Punt The Jaguars To Greatness' NEW YORK—Mere moments after becoming the highest-selected punter in the NFL Draft since 1995, Bryan Anger took the opportunity to thank the Jaguars and announce that he would do all he could to help punt the team to greatness. "This is, without a doubt, the greatest moment of my life—and, I promise you, a defining moment in Jaguars history," Anger told reporters during a press conference after the decision Friday. "This is the year they punt themselves into the spotlight. I will do everything I can to make sure the Jaguars and punting will soon be seen as one and the same." Anger also promised fans that, as their punter—and therefore the leader of the punt team—he would be the very model of a Jacksonville Jaguar, adding that they should "get used to me, because they're going to be hearing the name Bryan Anger all the time in years to come." "It's every young punter's dream to make it to the NFL and punt the ball away at the elite level," Anger said. "I think Jacksonville gives me by far the best chance to do that." The 6-foot-4, 208-pound Anger, a controversial choice for Jacksonville at No. 70 overall, had a distinguished career at the University of California, where he was twice a semifinalist for the Ray Guy Award, the little-known trophy given to the nation's best college punter. Dismissing the idea that he might experience difficulties handling the transition to the second-worst punting team in the NFL, Anger pointed out that analysts and experts said Jacksonville was exactly the sort of team most likely to take a punter with an early-round draft pick, and also by far the best team for a young, aggressive punter wanting to punt as often as possible. "As a punter, you look at this team and you know you're going to be getting a lot of playing time," Anger said. "Which is fine with me. I look at all the teams that passed on me, and the only thought I have is 'Just you wait, guys. I'll be punting to all of you soon enough.' Mark my words, there are 31 NFL franchises out there who are going to be seeing a lot of me." Coach Mike Mularkey was quick to welcome his new player to the team, saying Anger was going to be "Jacksonville's punter of the future and, in many ways, the centerpiece of our team." The Jaguars franchise, meanwhile, seemed to be just as excited about Anger, releasing two previous punters, Nick Harris and Spencer Lanning, the day after the draft. "You look at how a lot of teams these days are built around a high-powered passing game, and you look at [Jaguars quarterback Blaine] Gabbert, and you realize how important it is for us to have a great punter in our arsenal," Mularkey said. "After all, we punted third-most of any team in the league last year, so it's about time we started getting good at it. In fact, at this point, we may as well just resign ourselves to building our entire team concept around the idea of pinning other teams deep with a really good punt." "I'm not saying this team is automatically going to be a Super Bowl contender just because I'm punting," Anger said when told of Mularkey's comments. "All I'm saying is, if it does come to that—Super Bowl, fourth quarter, clock winding down, Lombardi trophy on the line—at that moment, I want to be the punter the Jaguars turn to."	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1028
__label__wiki	0.93032	0.93032	Massive Hit-And-Run Prematurely Ends Tour De France Ecstasy Of Defeat Sports Year In Review 2010 sports other POMAREZ, FRANCE—The 2010 Tour de France was canceled Friday morning following an incident during Stage 18 in which an unidentified automobile somehow found its way onto the course, struck each competing rider, and sped off without stopping. "I can't believe someone would do that," said Saxo Bank team leader Andy Schleck, who was with the lead riders in the peloton when the four-door vehicle pulled out directly in front of them. "He came from a side road, just cut right across us without looking, and the next thing I knew I was flying over the hood. He didn't even slow down, just turned into traffic and kept going." "Fucking asshole," Schleck added. The car, which French authorities said was a dull yellow American-made sedan of the type commonly used in service fleets and most likely a taxicab, was then seen to accelerate through the race course, where it allegedly struck the camera motorcycle, three team cars carrying spare bicycles, and every cyclist remaining in the Tour before disappearing down the road. "It didn't even look like the guy was paying attention," said Spain's Samuel Sanchez, who was in third place at the time of the incident. "What kind of jerk just drives away like that? Even if he wasn't looking, he must have at least heard something." "Jesus, my bike is completely trashed," Sanchez added. "I don't know if I'll be able to afford a new one and it'll probably be just as expensive to get this fixed. I sure as shit know that prick isn't going to pay for it." None of the riders, various media representatives present, or estimated 13,000 fans lining the route were able to get the the car's license plate, though all agreed it was being driven in an extremely erratic fashion. Many pedestrians who witnessed the 171-bike hit-and-run reported seeing the driver reaching for something in his backseat and talking on a cell phone at the time of the incident. "I was not exactly certain what had happened," said Cervelo Test rider Jeremy Hunt. "I was trying to get a few riders together for a breakaway, but then bang! He just came out of nowhere. Either way, it all comes down to the fact that drivers have no respect for bikes. None. How hard is it to share the road?" "People just have to be more careful," Hunt added. "You have to know that in France at this time of the year there are going to be a ton of bikes out there." Race representatives decided to halt the Tour when it became clear that all 171 riders would at least need to be hospitalized. Alberto Contador, who was leading the race by eight seconds at the end of the previous stage, will be declared the posthumous winner in a quiet ceremony atop the Col du Tourmalet Monday. As of Friday morning, French police had no concrete clues as to the identity of the hit-and-run driver. Greg LeMond and Floyd Landis have accounted for their whereabouts at the time of the incident, though police have not yet ruled them out as possible suspects. However, Interpol officials said they may have detected a pattern in recent international sporting events. "We are investigating the possibility that this is the same driver responsible for several hit-and-runs during the French Open, the death of three Spaniards and a bull at Pamplona, and the vehicular homicides on the pitch during this year's World Cup final." special investigator Jean de Valery told reporters. "Then again, he may just be a normal motorist. Bicyclists can often be very annoying."	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1029
__label__wiki	0.835694	0.835694	Shop Blues Gear Blues beat Jets 3-2 in Game 6 to advance to 2nd round April 21, 2019, 2:56 AM UTC Dallas Stars players celebrate after defeating the Nashville Predators in Game 5 of an NHL hockey first-round playoff series Saturday, April 20, 2019, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey) ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Jaden Schwartz scored three times and Jordan Binnington stopped 18 shots to help the St. Louis Blues beat the Winnipeg Jets 3-2 in Game 6 of their playoff series Saturday night to advance to the second round. The Blues will next face the winner of the Dallas-Nashville series, which the Stars lead 3-2. Bryan Little and Dustin Byfuglien scored for Winnipeg, which tried to rally after falling behind 3-0 early in the third period. Connor Hellebuyck finished with 33 saves. The Blues became the first home team to win in the series, and advanced to the second round for the third time in four years. Schwartz, who had only 11 goals in the regular season, has four in the playoffs - the Blues' last four, starting the tiebreaking tally with 15 seconds left in the 3-2 win in Game 5. STARS 5, PREDATORS 3 NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Alexander Radulov and Jason Dickinson each scored twice to help Dallas to push Nashville to the brink of elimination. The Stars came into the postseason as the West's first wild card and are up 3-2 in the best-of-seven series over the two-time defending Central Division champs. Dallas will have a chance Monday night at home in Game 6 to join Colorado and Columbus as the latest lower seed coming through in the opening round. Tyler Seguin had a goal and an assist, and Jamie Benn had three assists as the Stars scored at least five goals in back-to-back playoff games for the ninth time in franchise history, and the first since Games 3 and 4 of the 1991 conference finals when this team was still in Minnesota. Ben Bishop, named a finalist for the Vezina Trophy during the game, made 30 saves for the win. Rocco Grimaldi, Ryan Johansen and Kyle Turris scored for Nashville, and Pekka Rinne finished with 21 saves. The Predators lost back-to-back playoff games for the first time since Games 5 and 6 of the 2017 Stanley Cup Final. More AP NHL: www.apnews.com/NHL and www.twitter.com/AP-Sports	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1030
__label__cc	0.728889	0.271111	By the Moon and the Stars in the Sky: Nonfiction to Read Before the Solar Eclipse Kim Ukura 08-16-17 Original photo by Takeshi Kuboki via Flickr This month’s total solar eclipse, which will pass over the United States on Monday, Aug. 21, has gotten me all excited about space and astrophysics once again. In order to help all of us get a little historic and scientific background for this event, I’ve put together four books that I think are worth picking up. (Note: These aren’t books that will tell you about how specifically to watch or participate in the total solar eclipse – there are plenty of great online resources (like this one from Space.com) you can turn to for help. And many local libraries are hosting eclipse viewing events, so make sure to check those out too). For a general history of solar eclipses… Sun Moon Earth by Tyler Nordgren In Sun Moon Earth, Tyler Nordgren looks at how “this most seemingly unnatural of natural phenomena was transformed from a fearsome omen to a tourist attraction.” He revisits the work of ancient astrologers and philosophers, explores the weirdness of Victorian-era science, and looks at contemporary researchers use eclipses to study major scientific theories. I liked this one because it’s a slim but comprehensive look at how humanity’s perceptions of solar eclipses has changed over time and how strange they continue to be. For women’s contributions to astronomy… The Glass Universe by Dava Sobel I, for one, am so excited about the wealth of books coming out about the specific contributions that women have made to science behind the scenes and without the same type of credit that their male counterparts have gotten. The Glass Universe tells the story of the female “calculators” at Harvard College Observatory in the mid-19th century. Similar to the women of Hidden Figures and Rise of the Rocket Girls, these women were charged with calculating and interpreting the work of their male colleagues. Eventually, the women were also able to study the images captured each night and start to make discoveries of their own. I haven’t gotten to read this one, but I’m looking forward to it. For one look at a Gilded Age solar eclipse… American Eclipse by David Baron One of the last times Americans could view a total solar eclipse was July 1878, smack dab in the middle of America’s Gilded Age. Science journalist David Baron recreates what it was like in the United States at that time, looking deeply at the scientists who hoped to learn about the world during the event. American Eclipse focuses most on three people – asteroid and planet hunter James Craig Watson, astronomer Maria Mitchell, and inventor Thomas Edison – to show how the eclipse provided an opportunity for Americans to contribute to the advancement of science which, at the time, was happening primarily in Europe. For a tour of the cosmos… Welcome to the Universe by Neil DeGrasse Tyson, J. Richard Scott, and Michael Strauss If you ever wanted to take an astronomy course with some of today’s top astrophysicists, this book is the one to pick up. Based on a lass that Tyson, Scott, and Strauss taught at Princeton, Welcome to the Universe covers a lot of the basics – planets, stars, wormholes, black holes, galaxies and even time travel. While not specifically about eclipses, this book is a great primer because it’ll give you the tools to talk about space and the universe with other enthusiasts while experiencing the eclipse for yourself. News, new releases, and must-read forthcoming titles. #Non-Fiction#astronomy#nonfiction#solar eclipse#space Giveaway: IF THERE'S NO TOMORROW by Jennifer L. Armentrout	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1033
__label__cc	0.687836	0.312164	Home > Vol 5, No 2 (2018) > Nikitin 3D Problems of Rotating Detonation Wave in a Ramjet Engine Modeled on a Supercomputer Valeriy F. Nikitin, Yurii G. Filippov, Lyuben I. Stamov, Elena V. Mikhalchenko A rotating detonation engine (RDE) combustion chamber was modeled in the work numerically using 3D geometry. The RDE is a new type of engines capable to create higher thrust than the traditional ones, which are based on the combustible mixture deflagration process. In the numerical experiment, different scenarios of the engine performance were obtained. The calculations were made at a compact super-computer APK-5 with a peak performance of 5.5 Tera Flops. Bulat, P. V., Volkov, K. N.: Detonation jet engine. Part 2 construction features. International Journal of Environmental and Science Education (IJESE) 11(12), 5009–5019 (2016), https://istina.msu.ru/publications/article/42853937, accessed: 2018-05-15 Roy, G., Frolov, S.: Deflagrative and Detonative Combustion. Torus Press, Moscow (2010) Wolanski, P., Kindracki, J., Fujiwara, T., Oka, Y., Shimauchi K.: An experimental study of rotating detonation engine. 20th International Colloquium on the Dynamics of Explosions and Reactive Systems 31 July – 5 August, 2005, Montreal, Canada (2005), http://www.icders.org/ICDERS2005, accessed: 2018-05-15 Frolov, S.M., Dubrovskii, A.V., Ivanov, V.S.: Three-dimensional numerical simulation of the operation of the rotating-detonation chamber. Russian Journal of Physical Chemistry B 6(2), 276–288 (2012), DOI: 10.1134/S1990793112010071 Liou, M.S.: A Sequel to AUSM: AUSM+. Journal of Computational Physics 129(2), 364–382 (1996), DOI: 10.1006/jcph.1996.0256 Hirsch, C.: Numerical computation of internal and external flows, 2nd Edition. Wiley (1990) Marinov, N.M., Pitz, W.J., Westbrook, C.K., Hori, M., Matsunaga, N.: An experimental and kinetic calculation of the promotion effect of hydrocarbons on the NO-NO2 conversion in a flow reactor. Symposium (International) on Combustion 27(1), 389–396 (1998), DOI: 10.1016/S0082-0784(98)80427-X Kee, R.J., Miller, J.A., Jefferson, T.H.: Chemkin: a general-purpose, problem-independent, transportable Fortran chemical kinetics code package. Sandia National Laboratories Report SAND80-8003 (1980) CHEMKIN. A software package for the analysis of gas-phase chemical and plasma ki-netics. CHE-036-1. Chemkin collection release 3.6. Reaction Design, September 2000 Wilcox, D.C.: Turbulence modeling for CFD. DCW Industries, Inc. La Canada (1993) Transport. A software package for the evaluation of gas-phase, multicomponent transport properties. TRA-036-1, CHEMKIN collection, release 2000 Connaire, M. O., Curran, H J., Simmie, J. M., Pitz, W. J., Westbrook, C.K.: A comprehensive modeling study of hydrogen oxidation. International Journal of Chemical Kinetics 36(11), 603–622 (2004), DOI: 10.1002/kin.20036 Smirnov, N.N., Nikitin, V.F., Alyari-Shourekhdeli, S.: Transitional regimes of wave propagation in metastable systems. Combustion, Explosion, and Shock Waves 44(5), 517–528 (2008), DOI: 10.1007/s10573-008-0080-3 Maas, U., Pope, S.: Simplifying chemical kinetics: Intrinsic low-dimensional manifolds in composition space. Combustion and Flame 88(3), 239–264 (1992), DOI: 10.1016/0010-2180(92)90034-M APK-5 documentation. http://compcenter.org/super-evm-apk-5, accessed: 2018-05-15 Smirnov, N.N., Penyazkov, O.G., Sevrouk, K.L., et al.: Detonation onset following shock wave focusing. Acta Astronautica 135, 114–130 (2017), DOI: 10.1016/j.actaastro.2016.09.014 Betelin, V.B., Kushnirenko, A.G., Smirnov, N.N., et al.: Numerical investigations of hybrid rocket engines. Acta Astronautica 144, 363–370 (2018), DOI: 10.1016/j.actaastro.2018.01.009	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1038
__label__cc	0.652368	0.347632	Steve McCarthy-Hunt Songwriter, Lyricist, Producer No Expectations Album Release Day April 30, 2018 / stevehunt18 / 1 Comment London Road and No Expectations are now released and out in the wild and available to listen to on this website, in both wav file and mp3 formats, depending on your available bandwidth. They should also be downloadable too. This draws the creation stage of this project to a close and it is almost time to start the next one which I am looking to get going around early June; there are some other production tracks which I have been recording and working on for friends for some time but have been on the back burner while this project has been in gestation. These can now be brought back to life before the next KOAS album project starts. I’ll start a new series of blog pages as the new tracks are all being recorded and in some cases written and the journey will begin all over again. Thank you for your patience in waiting for these songs to be brought to life; it was a long old road, but the objective has been reached; a musical legacy to the important people in my life which immortalises their contribution to who and what and how I am. I hope you like them and are also going to join me on the next musical journey when it comes along. KOAS Album News April 25, 2018 / stevehunt18 / Leave a comment I’ve just returned from Florida in the last 36 hours and there was a lot of time not only for contemplating the subject of what to do with the KOAS album/EP releases but also to discuss the matter with two experienced professionals who have been there, bought the T-shirt and much more on many occasions and also to examine some options. Previously, I had looked at both TuneCore and CDBaby as possible outlets for a formal release of both London Road and No Expectations and I’ve also considered doing a small print run of CD’s. All these options are still in the background and may be taken up on but a number of conversations and reactions while I was in the US have led me to the decision that I have taken today. The first was one that I already knew anyway, but was confirmed by a highly reputable US Producer and Mix Engineer re-emphasising how challenging it is to get songs cut these days by professional artists (and theres no reason to believe that the US and UK are any different in that respect); the second was that given the strongest part of my suit is that of lyricism – and I was aware of this anyway and had been reminded of it before – the words are largely lost on those who were listening. Part of that comes of them being very personal, which I was aware of anyway and proceeded with full knowledge of that fact; and lastly that I never set out to make either of these offerings to make money. That was never a factor. The intention in the case of London Road was for it to be a calling card for collaborative writing, like an actors showreel. The intention of No Expectations was for it to be a cathartic musical legacy to four important people in my life. So, the decision that was taken was that the albums will be released on here and will be free to download by anyone who wants them, whenever they want them. No need for any registration, no pricing – just simple downloads of either Apple m4a tracks or .wav files at 16bit/44.1khz, which despite being several times the size, are also more open and sound much better as they have more dynamic range. If anyone wishes to donate anything when they download the music, they can do, and if they dont want to, they dont have to. The key thing is that the songs are listened to, regardless. The only person who puts any real financial value on these songs as memories (yet), is me. But their emotional value to me is obviously, much higher than what it cost to record and release them. Over the next week or so, I will finalise the artwork and the mastering output levels for the files and add the appropriate buttons on this site to enable easy access to the albums. As it stands at this precise moment, everything has been mastered with the requirements of iTunes and the two aforementioned aggregators in mind which are to put it politely, quite conservative – nothing peaks louder than -8.2db, so it never gets really loud at all and if anything for domestic consumption, they’re probably a tad too quiet and can be boosted a bit (this was the main question I had for the Producer/Mix Engineer as he has vast experience of finishing mixes prior to mastering and his Maximizer plugin is permanently glued into the red). These tweaks are minor ones which will take only a few short hours to accomplish, so I’m targeting the May Bank Holiday as a release date for both offerings. I can then close this particular project and then move on to the next one over the summer, which I have to admit, I’m quite upbeat about. I’ll be able to apply all the many lessons I’ve learned during the gestation of these two which should – hopefully – mean the time to releasing the difficult second album should be shorter (famous last words, no doubt, LOL). So.. in closing… watch this space. The release date for both London Road and No Expectations is imminent. Latest News on Project KOAS “You are far I’m never gonna be your star I’ll pick up the pieces and mend my heart Maybe I’ll be strong enough I don’t know where to start But I’ll never find peace of mind, While I listen to my heart You can never change the way they feel Better let them do just what they will For they will…. If you let them….” © George Michael, Kissing A Fool, 1988 Well… its 9.45 in the evening in the UK and as it stands right now…. the mastering work on the albums is now finished. Its been quite challenging and educational for someone who has largely been a hands-off engineer and aspiring Producer – when it comes to putting together demos of both my own work and those for others, at least… I’ve had the ideas but there has always been someone who makes a living from engineering or mastering or producing to put that final fairy dust on the finished product. When it comes to putting together something in your own name though, the goal was always to make it as good as I could with the experience that I had. And…. as I’m the closest one to the project, I can hear all the lumps and bumps and imperfections and things that make me think “… yeah, I should really go back and fix that…” So, it’ll never be perfect. Such things very rarely are. Indeed, some figure that all the lumps and bumps make it a bit more honest and… real. FWIW, I think the jury is out on that. But, with respect to the other old adage which goes along the lines of “there are never any finished mixes, only abandoned ones”, I can honestly, hand on heart, listen back to the final 2 track masters and be glad of what I have and I’m happy for them to be let loose on the world as they are… They are as good as I can get them to be (and believe me, I’ve tried, LOL), with my level of expertise as a player, a singer, a writer and a producer… at this stage of my career, that is. Next time… now that might be different. But more of that later. There certainly were some interesting challenges along the way in trying to get the completed .wav files to sound as good as I could when mastering them into “lossy”/compressed formats like m4a, MP3 and so on. That took quite a lot of test pressings to get right and finally getting hold of Mastered For iTunes tools from Apple as well. Once that particular hurdle was out of the way, the rest of it was pretty much a downhill run to the finish line although it did take quite a few late nights, which I think have started to catch up with me recently! As per the last blog update, the albums have been sequenced, they have all been put through a good mastering package (Izotope Ozone 7) and then treated with another very handy vst, Waves Abbey Road Vinyl which gives them that kind of old vinyl warmth and fuzzyness around the edges, taking off some of the harshness. They were all recorded, mixed and mastered on headphones (Beyer DT770 Pro) – the intended listening medium for these songs has always been headphones, never monitors and I would venture that a lot of people who may well listen to this music will do so over earbuds or headphones; it has been mastered with them in mind. I’ve also very consciously made sure I’m on the right side of the loudness wars as well and everything has been mastered very conservatively, peaking at no more than -8.2db, to ensure that if it gets submitted to the likes of iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, etc that the songs can make sure they’re within the loudness restrictions that these providers have stipulated. Ah yes, iTunes, Amazon, Spotify etc. There comes the big final question and the one that I have not yet decided to answer: After having waved my own flags so hard for the last two years on this project, its not lost on me that I have to make a decision (always a bad thing, LOL) about what to do with these songs now I’ve given them life. Do I keep them locked up in the proverbial basement on a diet of bread and water (obviously not, I’m not that creepy) or do I let them fly with the best chance they’ve got of reaching new shores, but charge them a Club Class ticket price for doing so? Or…. to be less cryptic/obtuse…. “Do I give them away for free, or do I sell them?” I’m kinda torn where this is concerned. London Road is and always has been a calling card, almost like a demo album to advertise my ability to to other musicians, writers, producers, etc as a marker of my ability as a songwriter and lyricist, proving that I can play nicely with others, LOL. No Expectations was always a musical legacy to not only my late father (who kept on sending me damned jazz music to write, from the other realm… I used to hate jazz. You’ve no idea how much, hahaha…), but also to three very, very important women in my life who came into it and when they left it, they left leaving huge footprints on my heart that no rainstorms will ever wash away. It was never, ever going to be about money. It was about doing something that I hoped would be remembered, so that neither they nor what I thought of them would ever be forgotten. It is much more thematically coherent than London Road and that was always the intention. So, I’m in a bit of a quandary. Part of me wants to go the Radiohead way and just put it out there and invite people to just take it and if they want to make a donation, they can, but if they dont, then so long as they give the material a listen, I dont mind. In the most recent distribution from PRS4Music that I’ve had, songs that I have co-written are starting to earn me some royalties, which is great. It’ll never be enough for me to retire on, but I never expected it to. All of the material is registered and if it ever pops up anywhere and gets played where the collection societies get to know about it, a few cents will roll into my hat. And thats fine. I’m happy with that. Limousines, the devils dandruff and private jets are all so passe anyway, LOL. The other part of me says that if I’m to put the material where it has the best chance of being heard by not only the wider public – ie, aggregators like Tunecore, CDBaby and so on – there has to be some kind of concept as to how much it is going to cost. So, I have to bring money into it, whether I like it or not. I can distribute it myself via this site or a similar one, but the reach is not going to be as good as what it would be through an aggregator. Lots of food for thought then, while I go to Florida on holiday to see the family for a week… Ultimately, what it boils down to is that both albums, regardless of which way they walk out of the front door of my life, to find their place in the world, should be released digitally in early May 2018. And then onto the next project. I’ve already got half an idea as to what I’m going to call it (but thats for another post) and I’ve already got some tracks that are in gestation that I would like to feature on it and the overall musical direction it will go in. And this will be something that I will record with the motivation of selling it, as opposed to being so open to the idea of giving it away. The big difference this time, I’m not going to be so dumb as to chain myself to a timescale. It’ll be ready when its ready. When I’ve returned from Florida and that final decision regarding distribution has been made, then I’ll put up another post announcing what it is, and where the material will be available from and so on and so on… Project KOAS Album Track Listings and Running Orders Update on Project KOAS Per Norrgren on Album Release Day Ray Daley on Milestones on Project KOA… Alan on Rewrites… stevehunt18 on Stay Bedtime Mozart effec… on Stay	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1041
__label__wiki	0.950652	0.950652	April 26, 2011 By urbanora in Festivals Tags: Silent films 2 Comments Conrad Veidt features on the poster for this year’s Il Cinema Ritrovato Bologna, Italy is home to one of the world’s leading festival of archive and restored films, Il Cinema Ritrovato. The festival always includes a strong representation of silent films, which are enriched all the more for being exhibited alongside films from later periods. This year’s festival takes place 25 June-2 July, and the main themes have been announced. Below are the blurbs supplied so far for those sections with silent films included. After Frank Capra and John Ford, this year’s big retrospective offers up spectacular editions of early works and later masterpieces by Howard Hawks, the genuine auteur of American film, the “great craftsman” whose stature as a maestro was affirmed by Cahiers in the 50s and a person who influenced the creation of the Hollywood myth as much as the same Ford and Hitchcock. Hawks who challenged and transcended every production condition, Hawks friend to Hemingway, Hawks narrator of the most memorable and ambiguous male relationships in film history, Hawks inventor of a powerful new American female archetype, Hawks relentless creator of his own legend, Hawks who in fifty years covered every genre of film without losing his grip on his incomparable style. We will show all Hawks’s silent films available today (Fig Leaves, The Cradle Snatchers, Paid to Love, A Girl in Every Port, Fazil, Trent’s Last Case) and many sound films from the 30s, starting with his first The Dawn Patrol from 1930 to Barbary Coast from 1935, rare flicks such as Criminal Code, The Crowd Roars, Tiger Shark and milestones of gangster movie and screwball comedy genres such as Scarface, Shame of a Nation and Twentieth Century. And that’s not all; we are working on showing Hawks classics that are the height of their genre and continue to be a thrilling visual adventure, from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes to The Big Sleep. “The evidence on the screen is the proof of Hawks’s genius” wrote Jacques Rivette in 1953. Watch it, and watch it again. Conrad Veidt, from Caligari to Casablanca After years of research, this year’s festival will be the one which finally pays tribute to Conrad Veidt, the great actor of silent German film, the sublime mask of expressionism. The “strange creature” of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari lent his long face with throbbing veins to Wiene, Oswald, Pabst and Leni in various films of the 20s, before leaving Nazi Germany in 1934 and starting an English career that reached its apex with director Michael Powell (The Thief of Baghdad). Veidt’s career and life came to an end in America, where he acted in a few militant anti-Nazi films but is best known for his role as Major Heinrich Strasser, shot dead in the final scene of Casablanca. Alice Guy: Tribute to a Pioneer of Cinema Alice Guy Blaché’s story is like no other in the history of moving images: a woman and pioneering filmmaker, Alice was at the forefront of the technological, industrial, and cultural changes that made cinema the new form of mass-media entertainment. From early sound technology, like Gaumont’s Chronophone synchronized sound system, to her American production adventure with Solax (1910-1914), from distribution with the U.S. Amusement Corporation (1916) to feature length films such as The Ocean Waif (1916), Alice Guy participated in every aspect of the evolving motion picture business, adapting to new developments and challenges. Although Alice Guy is most celebrated as the first woman director in film history, this achievement only scratches the surface of her vast accomplishments. She paved the way for women as creative professionals and as powerful agents of economic and social change. Our program features a selection of films produced by Alice Guy’s American company Solax as well as early films she directed at Gaumont and a feature film she made as an independent working in the U.S. industry. Boris Barnet, Poetic Visions of Everyday Life Our vast tribute to Boris Barnet spans from early Soviet cinema to the 1960s. Barnet debuted as an actor in the legendary Mister Vest by Kulešov before beginning his career as a director. Refusing to yield to genre formulas, Barnet was all but completely ignored by the mainstream and received off and on criticism. Surrounded by great “revolutionary” filmmakers, the work of this artist faded into the background. Today, however, Barnet is considered one of the most interesting and pioneering directors of classic Soviet film for his narrative style that balances lyricism, irony, spontaneity and drama in a constant dialogue between playground and reality. A view of the world and of humanity that we discover following the “Barnetian” hero from everyday adventures in silent films from the 1920s to Barnet’s final intimist works Alenka (1961) and Polustanok (The Whistle Stop, 1965), interspersed with masterpieces, such as Okraina (The Outskirts, 1933), about the Great War at the turn of the Revolution, and the surreal U samogo sinego morja (By the Bluest of Seas, 1934). Other works include Staryj naezdnik (The Old Jockey), a 1940 comedy that was dear to the director but was banned until 1959, films made during the war between 1941 and 1944, and Podvig razvedčika (Secret Agent, 1947) in which Barnet also acts, admirably playing a German official. Progetto Chaplin Here we are pleased to announce some of the programs of the ten year project Progetto Chaplin: Kate Guyonvarch and the author Lisa Stein will present the new biography Syd Chaplin, a unique portrait of Sydney Chaplin’s life and art that also sheds light on unexplored areas of Charlie’s career (the presentation will feature a screening of rare home movies); finally two ‘four-hand’ dossiers: one with Kevin Brownlow dedicated to Eddie Sutherland (director, actor, assistant director to Chaplin in A Woman of Paris and The Gold Rush) also featuring a selection of his silent and sound films; and the other with David Robinson will explore, through the analysis of the archival drafts, Chaplin’s script of The Great Dictator. Bologna is releasing more information on the festival in advance than is usually the case, which is welcome, and it promises in its next newsletter that there will be information on two further sections, Recovered and Restored, Searching for the color of film and the hardy annual 100 years ago: the films of 1911. Additionally there is a programme strand At the Heart of 20th Century: Socialism between Fear and Utopia, which doesn’t mention any silents, but could conceivably include some, and the evening open-air screenings in the Piazza Maggiore, which will include Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s The Thief of Bagdad (1940), Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver (1976), and America America by Elia Kazan (1963). Information on the festival (in Italian and English), including locations, hotels and extensive details of past festivals are available on the Il Cinema Ritrovato site. And we’ll have more on the colour and 1911 programmes as and when they appear. « Hot off the presses The one-stop-shop » Joe Thompson says: What a great poster. urbanora says: It’s a fantastic image, and one I hadn’t seen before.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1047
__label__wiki	0.557218	0.557218	[Interview] ‘Odd Life’ Director Peter Hedges Talks Finding a Balance Between Magic and Sincerity Written by Bill Graham on August 15, 2012 Now in theaters is Peter Hedges‘ latest directorial effort, The Odd Life of Timothy Green. The film stars Jennifer Garner and Joel Edgerton as two parents that are unable to conceive despite numerous procedures and efforts. One night they decide to name everything they want in a kid and later that night, he is born in their garden. CJ Adams stars as Timothy, the garden miracle boy who gives them everything they could have ever wanted and more. Earlier this week I had a chance to speak with Hedges over the phone as we talked about keeping the mystical low-key, working with people you run to work with, and the genesis of the film. The Film Stage: You have veterans actors in the film surrounding the young boy [CJ Adams]. I’m curious if that is intentional or just a by-product of a studio film? Peter Hedges: Any time you’re making a film you want to get the best actors particularly if you make the kind of films I make, which are all about people. So you just get the people that are best for the roles. People who understand the parts, in these three cases [Jennifer Garner, Joel Edgerton, and Adams], better than I do. So that’s it. It’s really that simple. You find people who you want to run to work with everyday and that’s what I had in those three. If I’m not mistaken, you haven’t frequently collaborated with any particular actors. You mentioned clearly right now that you want to work with people that you run to work with. Is there something about the scheduling? Hedges: I’ve had Allison Pill in two of my films. There was no role for her in this film. Dianne Wiest I got to have a second time. Sometimes it’s people aren’t available. I can’t think of an actor I wouldn’t kill to work with again that I’ve had in any of my films. Sometimes it’s timing. Sometimes it’s… I’ve only made three films in ten years. One of my fantasies is to do a project where I literally just write down all the people I can’t wait to work with again and just write something that involves them all. But it’s a film by film process. I hope that when I approach them again that they’ll want to do a film with me again. I was thrilled when Dianne said yes. And CJ Adams had, of course, been in Dan in Real Life. As a six-year-old boy we found him in Rhode Island. He’s not been in any other films in the interim. He came in and I thought it was great to see him, but I couldn’t imagine that he was going to beat out every kid in America for this role because there were so many kids with more experience. And he just kept coming back and in every call-back he got better and better. Then it became evident that he was to be Timothy. You’ve co-written the films that you’ve directed, and clearly you have a writing background with What’s Eating Gilbert Grape and a couple of other notable films. From my understanding, the WGA makes it very difficult for directors to get writing credit on pieces that they didn’t originally write. Hedges: That’s true. How important was it for you to get writing credit, pitch in, and give your two cents on this particular film? Hedges: Well on this film Ahmet [Zappa] came to me and said, ‘I’m going to tell you a story,’ and he told me the story. It didn’t take long. Most of what was there was the beginning of the story. Then it seemed like from there, so much could happen. He was very clear that he wanted me to take it and run with it. I really loved the setup. I love the conceit that this couple couldn’t have a kid, and they planted him in the ground. But there wasn’t going to be enough for a whole film. I really had his blessing and he was producer on the film and we talked. And everyone working on the film helped me. I basically adopted what he had as a story. I grew it, helped to raise it, into a different and fuller story. In Dan In Real Life there was a preexisting script which I was asked to rewrite. So I rewrote that script. I never thought I was going to direct that movie until after I finished it. But it’s not as important to me that everything comes from me. It’s important that I be able to impact it and… I don’t write on the typewriter, but if I did I would say, ‘I need to put it through my typewriter.’ So that I actually understand what the story is that I’m supposed to be telling. It’s important to me to get some kind of writing credit because I’m doing a lot of the writing. But in those two instances, I didn’t do all of the writing. The concept for Timothy Green came from Ahmet and in the case of Dan In Real Life, Pierce Gardner had already written a draft. I rewrote it and I added a bunch of things and I kept some things. One of my favorite movies is Tootsie. There were 12 writers that worked on Tootsie. Only two are credited, but 12 worked on it and sometimes it takes 12 writers, and sometimes it takes one. The main things isn’t even so much the credit but the story. What it takes to get a story to the point where it’s ready to be shared with the world. That’s a subjective decision that is not only made by me, but also by the people who are financing the film. The people who are releasing it. So a lot of people get involved. But ultimately I know that I’m a person with limited talent. That I can’t tell any kind of story. There are writers that can work in all sorts of different genres. Maybe I could, but what I’m looking for is a story I ache and yearn to put into the world. When I go, ‘I can’t wait to tell this story. I have to tell this story,’ then I’m ready to make a film. So far, and this may change, every time it’s been a story, it’s either been something I originated or something I rewrote so significantly that it feels as if I’m an author of it. I’m not the only author, but I’m the parent of this project. You mentioned that Ahmet Zappa came to you with this story idea. Clearly films like this could go really broad or really highlight the mystical elements of it. Instead it just seems like that is the setup and the conclusion. Everything else in between is very grounded in reality and low-key. What was the decision behind that? Hedges: That’s a very good question. I think any child that exists is born out of magic. It’s a miracle that anybody’s here. When you think of history or all that could have gotten in the way or interrupted us, well we’re here and it’s a miracle. But the part of this opportunity that most appealed to me was this opportunity to explore what it means to be in a family in the 21st century. To make a family. To recover from a family. To survive the family that you come from or create the family of your dreams. That is something that is very universal. Every if you don’t want to have children or plan to have children, you are a child or were a child once. So I very much wanted to make a film where there would be something for most everybody in it to experience. I’m also interested in achievable magic. While there’s a magical component to this story, the majority of what I wanted to suggest was that magic’s possible. It’s actually tactile and tangible; it can be grasped. Where do the magic moments come from? How do they happen in life? They happen when we get out of the way of life. They happen when we love and when we’re open to be loved. They also happen when we’re willing to risk in an extension of that love. We’re willing to take chances. We’re going to do our best. We’re going to make mistakes. I wondered if, yes, there’s a kind of otherworldly magic that’s in the story but I wanted most of the magic to be borne out of human longing… human behavior and humans colliding. Making a mess of life. That’s the kind of story I wanted to put into the world. I also try to imagine an audience member. There are people who really traffic in the magical. They want everything to be magical when they go to the movies. Then there are people who sit with their arms crossed and just never buy into baseball players coming out of a corn field. Or an angel coming down from heaven and showing Jimmy Stewart what life would have been like if he hadn’t existed. Or red slippers being clicked and saying, ‘There’s no place like home.’ Or a kid saying, ‘I want to be big’ and becoming big. Waking up and he’s big and having to deal with that. So for me, it was a question of, what’s too much magic? And already I’ve heard from some people, ‘I could have taken more magic.’ Others have said, ‘I would have liked this movie better if there wasn’t magic.’ So I tried to make a film that had just the necessary amount of magic. That didn’t overuse it or overrely on it. Most of us are ordinary. I want to make films for most of us. We’re ordinary people who are capable of extraordinary moments. But most of the time we’re ordinary. I liked the idea of Timothy being ordinary. I liked the idea of him being a bit odd. There’s something different about him that people want to hide or keep secret because people aren’t going to understand and this kid is going to be tortured. We live in time where any kid who’s a bit different or a bit odd is bullied or made fun of. Tolerance is a huge issue and the need for more tolerance for each other. In our political discourse and in our social lives, in our communities. We need to become more accepting of our different positions. The ultimate truth is that we have much more in common than we have differences. It was just a question of how much magic and what is too much magic. How literal to be in the story and at what point was there enough magic. You don’t know when you’re making a film. It was a bit of a process. In one cut of the film I put in a little more or I’d take some out. I’d over explain certain things and sometimes the more I explained things, the more I needed to explain other things. So you look to your collaborators and say, ‘Look, this is what I’m trying to do. What do you think?’ So hopefully you’ve hired the right editor. Which in this case, I did. And that the right producers are around you. Then you show it to a couple of audiences and talk to them afterwards. Try to understand what they’re getting from it. Is there something in this film for kids? The movie isn’t full of all sorts of broad, comedic moments that are predominant in most films aimed at kids. Because we’re so deathly afraid our kids will get bored. So I was always trying to keep track of is there enough here for kids and is there enough for adults? Is there something here for something that may not want to have children, but, you know, is a child or was a child. It’s just a process of constantly checking it. All stories are ultimately manipulative, if you’re honest about it, you say, ‘Yea,’ you’re trying to get people to a certain place or feel a certain thing. But there’s that kind of manipulation that feels like shortcuts or cheating. Almost like emotional pornography. Then there are other stories you watch where everything felt natural or right. This one was the hardest one I had to tell because of the magical element because I wanted it to be as real and rooted as all of my other films. And yet it had this whole other… room, if it was a house. Everything was borne out of a miracle. In my narrow world right now, when you watch it in test screenings. I’ve watched it a lot with audiences full of people I don’t know. It’s pretty close to working the way I had hoped. You mentioned already that you’re trying to make a film about raising a family in the 21st century. You mentioned in another interview that parents are thinking, maybe for the very first time, ‘Maybe my kids don’t have it better than me. Maybe this is going to be quite difficult for them.’ There’s a part in the film that deals very heavily with that. How much of that was in the original script and how much did that develop over time? Hedges: Well, that wasn’t in the original story at all. I mean the original story is really an origin story. The original concept Ahmet had was that Timothy was really magical. He was going to be able to fly and stand on leaves. But that was kind of the original idea. Every time the parents said no to Timothy, he would lose a leaf. Then he would shrivel up and die and the parents would cry and realize they had been bad parents, and that would bring him back to life and they would live happily ever after. To be honest, that’s what it originally was. The minute Ahmet told me that story I said ‘I love the beginning of the film so much but I think the parents’ job is to say no. I mean, that’s all I do is say no. As we talked. As Ahmet and I talked, it was how to make this story relevant for now. The fact is that the environment is getting scarier. The standards can’t keep getting better and better because there aren’t jobs and people are economically stretched the way that they weren’t 20 years ago. It’s just a really hard time. Maybe the uses of a story like this is that we can realign with what real wealth is and real success is. Maybe it’s not about giving our kids better than what we’ve had. Or not about having our kids experience the heartache that we’ve had to experience. It’s actually about creating an environment where they can fully become what they’re supposed to be. So a lot of this movie became about not what I know of being a parent, but what I’m trying to still understand as a parent. I felt like the more personal I made this story, the more invested and exposed I felt through the writing of it, the better chance i had of making something that meant more. It means more to me. It means more to the people with whom I’m working on it. Then that’s the only thing I know. Hopefully it will translate and be relatable to you and to other people who see the film. The Odd Life of Timothy Green is now in theaters. See More: Peter Hedges, Spotlight, The Odd Life of Timothy Green	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1052
__label__cc	0.731977	0.268023	TMSF takes over Gulen-linked Boydak Holding by TurkeyPurge \| Sep 5, 2016 \| Today in Crackdown The Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) announced that it has taken over Boydak Holding, one of the largest conglomerates in Turkey. Boydak Holding is active in a number of sectors, including energy, furniture and banking with 38 subsidiary companies. According to its website, it has an annual turnover of more than TL 6 billion ($2 billion) and employs over 13,000 people. The company had reportedly alleged ties with the Gulen Movement, which has been accused by the Turkish gov’t of orchestrating the failed coup attempt of July 15.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1053
__label__cc	0.730302	0.269698	Martin Freeman to play Bilbo Baggins I am a little behind the times on this as I have been up the walls recently and haven’t been looking at the entertainment news as much as I normally would so But there it was in black and white Martin Freeman (no relation to Morgan) of The Office fame is to play Bilbo Baggins in the upcoming Hoobbit movie!!!. Personally I think that he will be perfect for the role, not only is he English and I have always visualised Hobbits as being essentially fat little Englishmen, but he looks exactly like a Hobbit! This is going to be a really big step in the right direction for Freeman, who has come a long, long way from his days as Tim in The Office or as John; the actor who is filming a sex scene with the oh so appealing Joanna Page of Gavin and Stacey fame in Love Actually. I am now even more excited about these films then I was previously and that was fairly excited let me tell you! As much as I love the Lord of the Rings and have read it far more times then I should probably admit to the Hobbit has always held a special place in my heart. I had always enjoyed reading, even as a small child but it was Tolkien’s story about a Hobbit that lived in a hole in the ground and the adventures that he had that really started my life long love of fantasy books. Tags: bilbo baggins, books, dragons, english, fantasy, film, gavin and stacey, joanna page, jrr tolkien, Lord of the Rings, LOTRO, love actually, magic, martin freeman, morgan freeman, movies, peter jackson, reading, Sex, the hobbit, the office, Tolkien Categories : Fantasy, Film, UK News	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1055
__label__wiki	0.877299	0.877299	Amber Capote Prep Preview Bell National Rounds: 13 Division: Prep Preview Prep Preview Rank: 13 Prep Preview Order of Merit Points: 76.25 Prep Preview Wins: 0 Prep Preview Scoring Differential: 9.95 Prep Preview Scoring Average: 82.75 Prep Preview Rounds: 4 Prep Preview Events: 2 Birdies: 16 (4.94%) Pars: 128 (39.51%) Bogeys: 121 (37.35%) Others: 15 (4.63%) 5/25/2019 PKBGT OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP @ CC of Salisbury Total: MC Round 1:83 (+12) Country Club of Salisbury Country Club of Salisbury -- 5/25/2019 (Started On 8) +8 +9 +9 +10 +10 +11 +12 +2 +2 +3 +4 +6 +7 +9 +8 +8 +7 +8 +12 Country Club of Salisbury -- 5/26/2019 (Started On 10) +9 +10 +12 +13 +15 +16 +16 +18 +18 +2 +4 +5 +5 +5 +7 +7 +7 +8 +18 5/4/2019 Imperial Girls Classic @ Columbia Country Club Round 1:82 (+10) Columbia Country Club - Ridgewood Columbia Country Club - Ridgewood/Lakeside -- 5/4/2019 -1 E +2 +3 +3 +3 +4 +4 +5 +5 +4 +4 +4 +5 +7 +8 +9 +10 +10 326 339 476 327 130 356 496 106 365 2921 477 126 292 339 384 158 95 356 359 2586 5507 +1 +1 +2 +4 +5 +6 +7 +7 +9 +10 +11 +11 +11 +12 +12 +12 +13 +14 +14 16 95 3 3 +12 4/20/2019 PKBGT/CGA Vicki DiSantis Girls Qualifier @ Green Valley CC Division: Preview Round 1:87 (+15) Green Valley Country Club Green Valley Country Club -- 4/20/2019 E +1 +2 +6 +6 +6 +6 +7 +10 +10 +11 +11 +12 +12 +13 +14 +14 +15 +15 3/30/2019 Palmetto Classic @ Furman University GC Round 1:89 (+17) Furman University Golf Club Furman University Golf Club -- 3/30/2019 (Started On 10) +8 +9 +10 +10 +11 +12 +15 +15 +17 +1 E +2 +3 +3 +3 +4 +6 +7 +17 +7 +7 +8 +9 +11 +13 +13 +15 +16 +1 +2 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +5 +6 +16 3/23/2019 Cape Fear Classic @ CC of Landfall at UNCW Round 1:90 (+18) Country Club of Landfall - Marsh Country Club of Landfall - Marsh/Pines -- 3/23/2019 +1 E +1 +2 +3 +5 +7 +7 +9 +10 +10 +13 +15 +16 +17 +17 +17 +18 +18 E +2 +2 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +4 +5 +4 +5 +5 +8 +8 +10 +12 +16 +16 3/9/2019 Tar Heel Classic @ UNC-Chapel Hill Finley GC Round 1:77 (+5) The UNC Finley Golf Club The UNC Finley Golf Club -- 3/9/2019 E E +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +2 +2 +1 E +2 +3 +3 +4 +4 +5 +5 +5 Round 2:85 (+13) The UNC Finley Golf Club The UNC Finley Golf Club -- 3/10/2019 +1 +1 +3 +4 +5 +5 +6 +6 +8 +9 +10 +10 +11 +12 +12 +12 +12 +13 +13 2/9/2019 Orange Whip Classic @ Walker Course at Clemson Round 1:87 (+15) The Walker Golf Course The Walker Golf Course -- 2/9/2019 E E E E E +2 +3 +3 +4 +7 +9 +10 +11 +12 +14 +15 +15 +15 +15 Round 2:80 (+8) The Walker Golf Course The Walker Golf Course -- 2/10/2019 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 E E +1 +4 +5 +6 +5 +7 +7 +7 +7 +8 +8 Round 1:87 (+15) Pinehurst Resort & Country Club - #8 Pinehurst Resort & Country Club -- 1/5/2019 (Started On 10) +2 +2 +2 +4 +3 +4 +7 +10 +10 E +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 E +1 +10 Round 1:86 (+14) Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club +12 +12 +15 +14 +14 +1 +1 +1 +2 +3 +5 +5 +5 +5 +8 +8 +9 +10 +14 11/17/2018 Palmetto Dunes Resort Classic Place: N/A Total: WD Round 1:88 (+16) Palmetto Dunes Golf Club - Arthur Hills Palmetto Dunes Golf Club -- 11/17/2018 E E -1 -1 +2 +4 +5 +5 +5 +6 +6 +8 +9 +12 +13 +15 +15 +16 +16	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1058
__label__wiki	0.808263	0.808263	Manipur University: Students & Teachers On Protest For Over 40 Days, Demand Resignation Of “Incompetent” V-C The Logical Indian Crew Manipur July 13th, 2018 / 10:26 AM Image Credits: Scroll, Indian Express The students of Manipur University have been agitating since May 30. The protesting students’ union has been demanding the removal of vice-chancellor Adya Prasad Pandey. The University’s teaching and non-teaching staff too have backed the protests. The Indian Express reports that all of the deans and 28 heads of the departments at the University have resigned. The postgraduate students and teachers started a hunger strike on July 9. Manipur University Teachers’ Association spokesperson, Prof M Ranjit said, “The hunger strike will continue till 24 July,” as reported by Firstpost. Due to this, several activities like the declaration of undergraduate results, admissions for postgraduate courses and verification of certificates for jobs students apply, are put on hold. Allegations against V-C It is being alleged that Pandey, who took the office one and a half years ago barely visits the university. He is said to be on frequent outstation visits but not for University-related work. L Shanjukumar, secretary of the University teachers’ association told The Scroll, “He is saying he has gone to UGC (University Grants Commission) meeting, but then on Facebook he uploads pictures where he is attending political meetings and visiting Hindu temples.” Before joining as the V-C at Manipur University, Pandey worked as the head of the economics department at the Banaras Hindu University (BHU). Several have come ahead and spoken about his alleged closeness with the members of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), an organisation affiliated to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). NN Singh, who, in the wake of protests resigned as the head of the university’s physics department, said, “He meets political party leaders and ABVP members. His office had become a meeting point for political party leaders and he was neglecting his duties at the university.” However, ABVP members have refuted the claims saying that their relationship with V-C is “like any student-teacher relationship” The students and teachers say that multiple attempts to meet and have a discussion with the V-C to resolve the issue internally have failed. Pandey enjoys a Y-category security which he was granted after he received an extortion note. Mayanglambam Dayaman, president of the Manipur University Students’ Union (MUSU), said, “The problem is that there is always at least one security person with a very big gun standing behind him.” Dayaman said that Pandey has not appointed a permanent librarian, a controller of examinations and a registrar since he has joined. He has been termed inept and incompetent in handling University matters. Dayaman also accused Pandey of employing a Lucknow-based firm at an exorbitant rate to build “smart classrooms”. He said, “Apart from that, he also started procuring answer sheets from another firm in Lucknow at a rate much higher than what a local firm was already supplying.” V-C dismisses allegations Pandey has dismissed all the allegations, saying, “I am a pure academician.” He also said that he holds no official position in any right-wing organisation, but admitted to having attended some of their functions. “[They were for] meetings with UGC [University Grants Commission] or the ministry, or meetings with the President [of India],” says Pandey when asked about his trips. It is to be noted that Pandey’s wife, Veena Pandey is a former member of Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council and had contested the Lok Sabha elections on a BJP ticket in 2004, but was unsuccessful. He also said that the students were being misguided by teachers with vested interests. He said, “They want to get contracts for all kinds of work in the university, but since that has stopped since I joined, they are upset with me.” He has also alleged that he is being singled out as he is not a local. Pandey has also said that he would not be resigning and is ready to face an enquiry. As per the statement issued by him on Sunday, he said that he was in constant touch with Manipur CM N Biren Singh and Governor Najma Heptulla. This has further irked the protesting students who say that their V-C, instead of engaging with the students is instead saying that he is in touch with CM and Governor. Read More at Scroll Uttarakhand: Private Medical College Hikes Fees By 400%, Students And Parents Protest Jadavpur University Authorities Bow Down To Students’ Protests, Agree To Bring Back Entrance Tests Written by : Shraddha Goled “Freedom Of Speech Is Very Important In A Democracy” Manipur Journalist Who Spent 134 Days In Jail For Criticising The Govt Punjab: National University Of Law Students Protest ‘Wrongful’ Suspension Of 6 Students Goa: Hundreds March To Ailing CM Parrikar’s Residence, Demand Resignation In 48 Hours Central University Teachers May Now Be Dismissed For Speaking Against The Government, Says UGC Order [Video] First Year Students Check Answer Sheets Of Final Year Students In MP University, Probe Ordered India’s First National Sports University To Be In Manipur – Govt Introduces Bill In Lok Sabha	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1063
__label__wiki	0.961604	0.961604	Three new dames and an OBE on New Year list Ella Rhodes spoke to the psychologists awarded honours. Picture: Clockwise from top right: Professor Til Wykes, Professor Nichola Rumsey, Professor Margaret Whitehead and Professor Lesley Fallowfield. Three leading psychologists have been awarded damehoods and one an OBE in the New Year Honours list. They have been recognised for work in cancer services, public health, clinical psychology and for helping those living with an altered appearance. Professor Dame Lesley Fallowfield, Director of Sussex Health Outcomes Research & Education in Cancer (SHORE-C) (University of Sussex), the professor of psycho-oncology to be awarded a damehood, expressed her delight and surprise at the honour. She told The Psychologist: ‘It is personally satisfying but more importantly a worthy and fitting tribute to all the amazing patients with cancer who have contributed to the research done by my team SHORE-C at Brighton and Sussex Medical School. I have no idea who were the generous people who felt motivated to nominate me, but I’d like to thank them and the doctors and nurses I’ve been privileged to work with over the years.’ Til Wykes, Vice Dean of Psychology and Systems Services and Professor of Clinical Psychology and Rehabilitation at King’s College London, was awarded her damehood for services to clinical psychology. She said she was proud to be able to include service users in her research at the KCL Service User Research Enterprise, and pointed out how generous these people had been with their time. She added: ‘The honour is important. I come from working-class beginnings, not privately educated, not an Oxbridge graduate and not a man, which The Times identified as the characteristics of most receiving honours. So this is also an award for women in science. But it is also one of the honours for contributions to mental health, bringing it to the attention of the public and fighting stigma.’ But, Wykes said, there was still much to achieve in terms of finding better treatments, reducing stigma and including service users and their families in services and research. ‘We now await the Mental Health Taskforce and hope that the research section is not watered down and that the government will take the mental health research priorities seriously by backing them with hard cash. That will be my next campaign and I hope many others will join me.’ Professor Dame Margaret Whitehead was given her DBE for her work in public health. Her fascinating career has involved research on social and health inequalities and as well as being Head of the Department of Public Health and Policy, Institute of Psychology, Health and Society at the University of Liverpool. She also works for the World Health Organization as head of the Collaborating Centre for Policy Research on the Social Determinants of Health. After an initial degree in biology and experience in medical, research Whitehead became interested in taking a more whole-person approach and began work looking at populations and wider implications affecting people’s health. In the 1980s Whitehead was involved in updating the Black Report – a seminal review of health inequalities in the UK which the Tory government chose not to act on. This, and a similar response to the Whitehead Report, only led to the documents achieving worldwide attention and becoming a Penguin non-fiction bestseller (Inequalities in Health). Along with colleague Göran Dahlgren, Whitehead also developed the widely cited and influential Dahlgren–Whitehead model to illustrate determinants of health. She told The Psychologist: ‘When I found out I was on the list my initial reaction was disbelief followed by being overwhelmed and humbled. But I’ve had a wonderful response from people and it’s slowly sinking in.’ In her future work, Whitehead said, she is hoping to develop ways of evaluating population-wide policies that tackle working and living conditions. She added: ‘The University of Liverpool is very supportive of public health, and the city of Liverpool as a whole has a long and proud tradition of action on public health. The whole context of the place is very nurturing for these ideas.’ Awarded an OBE was Professor Nichola Rumsey, Co-Director of the Centre for Appearance Research (CAR) which she founded at the University of the West of England in 1992. The centre has since grown to become the world’s largest research group focusing on the role of appearance and body image in people’s lives (see tinyurl.com/visidiff). Rumsey has built an international reputation for her research in the field, which started with the completion of her PhD Psychological Problems Associated with Facial Disfigurement in 1983. Since then she has attracted more than £7 million funding to support research on appearance. She also worked as the British Psychological Society’s consultant to the Department of Health from 2004 to 2010, is an Honorary Life Member of the South African Burns Society, and an Honorary Life Member of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons. She said she was honoured and humbled to receive the award, and added: ‘In a world ever more preoccupied with appearance, living with disfigurement can present significant challenges. The contributions of the Centre for Appearance Research in addressing the needs of affected people and their families have been achieved by a team of enthusiastic, hard-working and committed researchers over the past 25 years.’ Rumsey added that she felt privileged and proud to have played a part in the team since its beginnings and added: ‘UWE has encouraged CAR to grow and flourish since the establishment of the Centre in 1992. The enthusiasm for CAR’s work and pride in the Centre’s accomplishments have been crucial to its success.’ Paul Farmer, Chief Executive of Mind, was also named a CBE for services to mental health; and Paul Boyle, former Chief Executive of the ESRC and current Vice Chancellor at the University of Leicester was named a CBE for services to social science. Vol.29 (pp.94-101) Can psychology find a path to peace? The ascension of parent–offspring ties Impact: From riots to crowd safety	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1066
__label__cc	0.605167	0.394833	The Tino Rangatiratanga flag flies alongside the New Zealand national flag on the Auckland Harbour Bridge during Waitangi Day celebrations (photo: Hannah Peters/Getty Images). What the heck is the Crown/Māori Relations portfolio? Keri Mills \| Guest writer According to the government, the new Crown/Māori Relations portfolio was introduced (among other things) to improve the way government departments engage with Māori and find new and different opportunities for more active partnership. But what does that actually mean? Not sure what the new Crown-Māori Relations portfolio is all about? Don’t worry – neither is the minister. This may well be a good thing. Kelvin Davis has pledged to listen rather than charging ahead with a government-knows-best strategy for “fixing” race relations – a method that hasn’t worked in the past. The idea for the new portfolio came from the observation that more than two thirds of iwi have completed their journey through the Treaty settlements process, and we are entering into a new phase of race-relations, full of new commitments and high expectations: uncharted territory. But what might managing the transition to a “post-Treaty-settlement era” actually mean in practice? The government have posted their initial proposals for the portfolio and are seeking input from the public. There’s a lengthy list of priorities, which can be distilled down to the following: Strengthening Crown-Māori relationships, including looking for partnership opportunities Being the ministry that oversees meeting the thousands of commitments made in Treaty settlement deals, and the ministry that addresses contemporary Treaty claims The Crown-Māori relationship is complicated. It refers to countless interconnections, made up of the attitudes with which government employees and individual Māori regard each other, and the exchanges between them, across the entire country, over 178 years. And the distinction between “the Crown” and “Māori” is also not always clear. Kelvin Davis embodies that fact. He is a Crown minister. And he is Māori, from the Ngāti Manu hapū of Ngāpuhi, among other affiliations. There are various ways you can look at this kind of group relationship. You can look at its structure. You can look at how power operates within the relationship. You can look at the way people think about each other. And you can look at how people actually interact. The Crown-Māori relationship has formal structures that support (or obstruct) the relationship. At present they are many and fairly ad-hoc. Each government agency has its own guiding legislation and policy around working with Māori, and at local levels there are various practices and projects, some organised into co-management structures or Memoranda of Understanding. One of the suggestions in the government’s initial proposals for the new ministry is to “develop a new [overarching] relationship framework that will guide ministers and the public sector.” If they go ahead with this it is vital that they keep the framework flexible, and don’t impose unnecessary bureaucratic layers and costs on local efforts to make relationship agreements appropriate to local contexts. Those who research in this area often note the importance of flexibility and an ability to innovate in collaboration. Power in a relationship is about who makes and influences decisions, how the process works to include or exclude people, and who benefits. It is possible to have a seat on a board, for example, but to constantly be outvoted, meaning that in practice the seat conveys no power. The Crown also needs to make sure it is working with communities, not just individuals. Māori governance is an elephant in this room. Agreements made with the wrong, or too few parties are likely to run into issues, but it is very problematic for the Crown to adjudicate matters of internal Māori governance. What they can do is invest time into getting to know something of the internal politics of communities, to help create fair and functioning relationships. The attitudes and ideas people hold about each other are also difficult things to shift. The history of the Crown-Māori relationship is fraught, and it would be naive to think that signing a Treaty settlement could wipe the slate clean, and Māori will suddenly turn to the Crown with trust. Trust will be built up over time here, if the Crown behaves with good faith, at great length. It has made around 7000 new promises to iwi during the Treaty settlements process, and it needs to keep them. Lastly, and most importantly, the individual relationships that collectively make up the “Crown-Māori” relationship need to be supported. How do you support people to have better interactions? The government’s initial proposals suggest, as a priority, “lift[ing] public sector performance to better respond to Māori issues.” Training programmes for government employees could be useful here. The Department of Conservation has run for many years a week-long marae based course called Te Pūkenga Atawhai, which teaches new staff about the Treaty, engaging with iwi authorities, marae protocol, Māori beliefs and values, and some of the traditions of the tāngata whenua group that hosts the course. These sorts of training programmes only work, however, if the staff stay working for the organisation for a long enough time to use their skills. Hiring policies to target staff with a good understanding of Māori culture, and who are likely to stay around for a reasonable length of time, might be a good approach. I also hope the new ministry will seek to include the wider public in their work. The Treaty was signed between Māori and the Crown, and some make the legitimate argument that Treaty relationships are a contractual matter between those two parties alone, a matter of justice, not of broader reconciliation. But that justice will only ever be carried out by a government voted in by the majority non-Māori population. If tāngata tiriti (those who are here because the Treaty made it possible for them to come in peace) are left out of the Treaty relationship, then the Treaty relationship will not succeed. If we resource cross cultural relationships in civil society – properly fund marae and schools to build and nurture their relationships for example – so that non-Māori kids grow up understanding Māori culture rather than being afraid of it, then we’ll have all the ingredients here for a sustainable positive change. He rau ringa e oti ai. This is a job for many hands. I think we can do it. Join us and help make independent journalism happen!Find Out More To have your say on the new portfolio and its priorities, you can go to one of the hui being held across the country between April 7 and May 12, or make your submission online here. The online submissions close on 30 May. Dr. Keri Mills is a senior researcher at the Policy Observatory, AUT. Her research specialties are in Māori/Pākehā and Māori/government relationships in Aotearoa New Zealand. @keri_mills This piece was originally written for Briefing Papers. The Bulletin is The Spinoff’s acclaimed, free daily curated digest of all the most important stories from around New Zealand delivered directly to your inbox each morning. Cheat sheet: Compulsory te reo Māori in schools Leonie Hayden Ātea Editor Maya meet Māori: the indigenous people learning from each other in Aotearoa Alice Webb-Liddall Partner content- July 9, 2019	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1067
__label__wiki	0.864182	0.864182	At times it feels like women chefs are being ignored in favour of yet more sausages (Photo: Getty Images) Sausage fest: The problem with dude-centric food events India Essuah \| Guest writer Sure, cheffing is a male-dominated industry, but shouldn’t food festivals be leading the way in promoting equality? An event at upcoming food festival Visa Wellington on a Plate insists “the future of food is female”, bringing together five woman chefs to chat about the topic with broadcaster Susie Ferguson. Meanwhile, the Auckland equivalent, American Express Restaurant Month, is currently running a series of chef collaborations that, at first glance, doesn’t include any women at all. The Restaurant Month schedule was announced around the same time as the opening of Auckland Museum’s exhibition on gender equality, Are We There Yet?, which made the imbalance seem all the more blatant. If we take Wellington on a Plate’s word for it, it appears we’re well on the way; but further north it seems we’re barely getting started. Viv Beck, chief executive of central city business association Heart of the City, which runs American Express Restaurant Month, says the festival has included women in previous years and “there’s no barrier” that prevents them from doing so, it’s just that none of the chefs they approached were available. (Peter Gordon’s event at The Sugar Club earlier this week did include one woman, Pip Wylie, among the five guest chefs.) Viv Beck, chief executive of Heart of the City, which runs Auckland Restaurant Month (Photo: Supplied) “It’s not about choosing male or female, it’s about creating an experience that’s interesting for people to come to,” says Beck. “In some ways it’s a reflection of the industry’s female representation. It’s not driven by any particular bias, it’s really reflecting who’s available, who’s a good fit with our particular local chefs. “We would absolutely welcome a higher [representation]. We have had females at Restaurant Month before. We’ve had Monica Galetti, Monique Fiso, Nancy Silverton, Megan May. As I say, it’s more a reflection of the industry than any particular conscious choice.” Does she think festivals have a responsibility to represent more women, as a potential starting point for change within the industry? “I think it’s an interesting question and I’ve certainly had a few conversations as part of this question you’ve raised,” she says. “This is the way it’s been, it’s the way it is at the moment, but it doesn’t mean it has to stay that way. “It’s like any field. If you think about board representation, that’s been a very slow process of making sure there’s diversity and women. It’s still relatively low, and you do have to start somewhere, but you also need the right person for the job. That’s why there’s such a debate around why you have quotas. “There are things that you can start to do – even raising awareness can help people think about things a little bit differently, but it’s not necessarily a quick fix if an industry is predominantly a particular way.” Monique Fiso of Hiakai and Analiese Gregory of Franklin in Hobart are two of the chefs featuring in Wellington on a Plate’s The Future of Food is Female event (Photos: Supplied) Marisa Bidois, CEO of New Zealand’s Restaurant Association, says the harsh environment of professional kitchens being seen as a male domain is in part responsible for the profession’s gender imbalance. But, she adds, the industry has a skills shortage and can’t afford for half the population to be left out of the equation. “Whenever we’re putting together line-ups, it is something we consciously think about — how we can pull an equal gender balance into what we’re presenting and bring more women into those front-facing spokespeople roles,” she says. “It’s something we’re always thinking about but it’s not always practical to have a line-up that includes everyone because the selection is smaller when it comes to females in those roles, sadly, but that’s absolutely changing. “When you look at the line-up for Restaurant Month, a lot of those guys came from the era when there were probably more men in the classroom when they were learning cookery,” says Bidois. One solution being offered in the UK is a free database of women chefs, Women of Food, which is taking registrations for publication in September. As well as providing a resource for those curating festivals and media coverage, the project hopes to attract investors in restaurants run by women. The festival director of Wellington on a Plate, Sarah Meikle, says her team (of mainly women) makes a particular effort to see women represented at the festival. “I think we understand absolutely that being a chef is a very difficult job and it’s very challenging for women for lots of reasons,” she says. “Even simple things like if you want to have babies and do all the things that women are able to do, being in a kitchen can be really tough,” she says. “We’ve made a conscious effort to actually bring some female chefs because it is very male dominated – that’s not a bad thing, but we want to make sure that women are represented.” Sarah Meikle, Wellington on a Plate festival director (Photo: Supplied) Seeing the line-up for Auckland Restaurant Month reminded me of when, around this time last year, I nervously commented on a photo posted on social media by Capital magazine to promote a feature in their food issue, which brought “12 Wellington hospo legends in the same room at the same time”. The byline said the list was compiled by two women and the feature written by a third, but all 12 of the legends were men (John, Jeff, Mike, Geoff, Mike, Mark, Steve, Leonardo, Lorenzo, Elie, Adam and Chris). My question about whether the piece was on the industry’s gender balance was met with a reassurance that it was “the boys this time, the girls next time!”. I contacted the editor, who told me the comment was referring to the next issue, which was going to be ‘she’ themed. It seems to be that if a conscious effort is made to include women it happens, but despite plenty of people claiming things are changing, the default is often exclusionary. An article on Stuff in April claimed that “New Zealand’s chef community”, represented by the New Zealand Chefs Association (NZChefs) national president Graham Hawkes, thought awards and categories specifically for women were “unnecessary”. British chef Clare Smyth was named the world’s best female chef, but her restaurant didn’t make the top 50 (Photo: The World’s 50 Best Restaurants) NZChefs has formed a team to compete at the 2020 international Culinary Olympics, and the team bio on the website states: “modern day ‘Gods Own’ brings together a culturally diverse population that creates a progressive and ever changing culinary scene”. As the team of eight has no women on it, I’m not 100% sure what the words “modern, diverse, progressive, ever-changing” refer to in this context. Hawkes’ comments came in the wake of controversy around the category of “World’s Best Female Chef” in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards, this year won by Clare Smyth (the first British woman to hold three Michelin stars). Smyth said it was “strange” to separate women and men, but that we don’t currently “see enough women coming through at the top and we need to do something about it”. She told the Los Angeles Times: “We do need to put a spotlight on women, and if this award is a way to give that a platform and we’re all talking about it, that’s a positive thing, right?” As pointed out by Monica Burton in Eater, Smyth’s London restaurant, Core by Clare Smyth, was not included in the top 50, “sending a clear message — according to the World’s 50 Best Restaurants, the ‘world’s best female chefs’ aren’t as good as nearly 100 other male chefs. In fact, there are just just five women on the list of top 50 restaurants this year, and three of them share their restaurants (and titles) with men.” A month before he passed away, the great US food critic Jonathan Gold also wrote about the awards‘ Eurocentrism and omission of top women chefs, calling it “not just odd but wrong”. A typical man-tastic scene at the World’s 50 Best Restaurants this year— it’s Will Guidara, Daniel Humm, Billy Peelle, Mark Welker and Dmitri Magi from Eleven Madison Park, with host Mark Durden-Smith (Photo: The World’s 50 Best Restaurants) A poll within the Stuff article suggests the vast majority of people (who read the article and enthusiastically vote in Stuff polls, anyway) agree that there shouldn’t be special award categories for women as they can compete equally with men. Which of course they can – as long as they’re in the ring. It makes sense that some women don’t want to be singled out or be seen to be given “special treatment” – they just want to get on with the job and be rewarded for their hard work. But if you were to take away those categories right now – whether they’re special festival events, awards or scholarships — it’s hard to find enough evidence that women would be adequately included. Capital’s “hospo legends” story, American Express Restaurant Month’s Dining Series and NZChefs’ Olympic team aren’t ‘he’ themed. There was no commentary around gender at all, further normalising the image of a chef as male. A group of chefs equals a group of men, no questions asked. to our journalism!Find Out More Monique Fiso, who trained in Michelin-starred kitchens and is now known for her pop-up restaurant Hiakai, which showcases Māori cuisine, is a name that came up with each person I interviewed on this topic. She features on Wellington on a Plate’s discussion panel, and her success serves as the perfect example that the industry’s changing. In a recent interview, Fiso told me she finds event line-ups that don’t feature women “ridiculous” and makes a point to speak out on the issue whenever she can. While it might be unrealistic to aim for equal representation, we can at least start with asking that women not be left out of the picture. The Spinoff’s food content is brought to you by Freedom Farms. They believe talking about food is nearly as much fun as eating it, and they’re excited to facilitate some good conversations around food provenance in Aotearoa New Zealand. Recipe: The perfect lemon and lime slice Amanda Thompson There’s an amazing wine bar in Milford and the North Shore might be cool now? Samuel Scott	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1068
__label__wiki	0.975034	0.975034	Mourinho Will Take Us Back To Ferguson’s ‘Old Man United’ – Rooney Fido \| August 1, 2016 \| Football England and Manchester United captain, Wayne Rooney is confident that Jose Mourinho to bring back the glory days of Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United — and believes the club can challenge for the Premier League title this season. Having enjoyed success with United since 2004, the England captain only managed to win one trophy — the FA Cup this year — under the guidance of David Moyes and Louis van Gaal in the past three seasons. After Van Gaal’s departure, the club have brought in former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, along with a handful of star signings like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Eric Bailly and Henrikh Mkhitaryan. Rooney, 30, worked with Ferguson during the club’s trophy-laden days and sees a semblance of his former boss in Mourinho, and reckons the Portuguese tactician will bring back the “old Manchester United.” “I was in a dressing room with Gary Neville and Roy Keane. I was 19 [and] having rows with Gary, even with Alex Ferguson. That’s how it should be,” he told the Daily Mail. “Sir Alex was really clever like that. He knew who he could have a go at, who it was best to leave alone. He always knew it brought the best out of me. It wouldn’t work with Nani. “I’ve seen that in him [Mourinho] already. The way he speaks to individuals, the way he talks to the group, the way he makes players feel so confident. “I’ve heard him talk to players, and you know that player will now be feeling on top of the world. He’s done it with me, he’s done it with all of us — that is one of his qualities. “You know he will leave messages for you with the press — messages for other managers — he’s very clever with his words.” Having been moved into various midfield roles for club and country in the past few seasons, Rooney revealed that Mourinho will be using him as a strike partner for Ibrahimovic, a role he is relishing. “I’d known for a long time I could play midfield if I had to, and the way United were playing as a team at the time it was the role I most enjoyed,” he added. “But Jose has come in, he has seen me play in another position for 10 years scoring goals, and that’s what he wants me to do. It’s not as if it’s a new position for me. I wasn’t apprehensive at all. I was excited. “This is one of the best coaches in the world and, sure, I’ve got to impress him. But I’ve always felt I’ve got to impress every manager and you should be able to play different positions. “No one spotted this, but during the tournament with England, sometimes in training I’d play the role of the opposition centre half alongside John Stones.” As for United’s plethora of attacking options for the new campaign, Rooney is confident they have enough firepower, especially with former Paris Saint-Germain man Ibrahimovic’s arrival. Rooney said: “He’s one of the best strikers, and a big personality. You can see he wants to be a really important player for us. “After training he is already talking about how we can get the best out of each other, you can see he’s got this great work ethic. “I think the players feel this is more like the old Manchester United. It’s not just the new signings, we’ve got Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford from last season who made such an impact. “We’re in a very good spot now, we think we can challenge for the Premier League, and we want to put a marker down, in the Community Shield with Leicester [City]. “I know it’s a one-off game, but we want to show we can win a trophy early on — we feel that’s an important event for us.” Schweinsteiger Calls It Quit With German National Team Don't Blame Harry Kane For England's Failure – Pochettino	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1069
__label__wiki	0.622699	0.622699	info@thioneniang.com Book Thione ABOUT THIONE Political Strategist, Social Entrepreneur, Author, Community Leader, International Motivational Speaker, And Consultant Social entrepreneur, political strategist, youth advocate, and author, Thione Niang, was born in a modest family of 28 children in Senegal. The visionary leader immigrated to the USA in 2000 with only 20 dollars and worked his way through the hardships while getting involved in his new community. His efforts led him to participate as a community organizer in the historic 2008 Presidential elections supporting Democratic candidate Barack Obama and becoming National Co-Chair of Gen44 for the 2012 re-election Campaign. In October 2015, he was appointed by President Obama and the energy secretary as ambassador at the US ministry of energy representing minorities In energy Thione Niang now leads three structurally different, but substantially, similar international organizations; GlVElPROJECT, TNG (ThioneNiang Group), Akon Lighting Africa and Solektra International. GIVE 1 PROJECT Created in 2009 by Thione Niang, this institution promotes global leadership and entrepreneurship through its incubation centers and women empowerment and global leadership programs. GIVEl is now present in 34 countries around the world including; The United States, France, Japan, Ghana, Guinea Conakry, Benin, Senegal... TNG (THIONE NIANG GROUP) Since 2006, the TNG is Government relations, strategy, and public relations firm working to facilitate communication and relations between global organizations and governments. Since its creation, Thione surrounds himself with experts in public relations, sociology, political science, journalism, and graphic designers from around the whole world. AKON LIGHTNING AFRICA and Solektra International As an entrepreneur in the energy field, he co-founded Akon Lighting Africa and Solektra International along with the renowned artist Akon and Malian Businessman Samba Bathily in 2014. The mission, to provide electricity to 600 million African households and communities through sustainable solar energy. Today, 16 countries benefit from the initiative, more than 5000 jobs have been created across the continent, enabling a solar academy to open in Mali for the training of young Africans in the field. By 2015 Thione Niang was appointed by President Obama, as Ambassador to the US Ministry of Energy. Thione advocates for the inclusion of minorities in all aspects of the energy sector, with a special focus on energy economic development, STEM education, and climate change. He is the author of numerous books, including Memoirs of an Eternal an Optimist, Faces of Change, Social Entrepreneurship: 15 keys to Success, and Letters to My Sisters. © 2018 Thione Niang. All Rights Reserved. \| The office of Thione Niang	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1071
__label__wiki	0.665163	0.665163	The Ashe family was of Norman origin. One branch settled in and around Murreigh in Corcha Dhuibhne. Around the beginning of the nineteenth century a James Ashe of Murreigh married Mary Griffin of Kinard, daughter of a comfortable landowner, and so the Ashe family came to Kinard. Four generations later Thomas Ashe was born. Gregory Ashe of Kinard and Ellen Hanafin of Tober had a family of ten children of whom one died in infancy. Thomas was sixth in the family of three daughters and six sons. He was born on 12Th January 1885. By the standards of the time it could be said that the Ashe farm was reasonably good. Still, it was difficult for a farmer with a large family to make a comfortable living. Gregory Ashe worked hard on the land, helped by his wife and the family as they grew up. Gregory Ashe, father of Thomas Ashe Ellen Ashe (Hanafin), mother of Thomas Ashe Gregory Ashe was an accomplished seanachí, well versed in the lore and history of the land, an excellent singer with a large repertoire of songs and very fond of music. He was also a fluent Irish speaker. In the evenings when the day’s work was done he would impart his vast store of knowledge to his family, his son Thomas a keen student. During his early years young Thomas witnessed the struggle of the small tenant farmer against landlord and his agent, the sheriff and the bailiff backed by the constabulary. This had a lasting effect on him. At this time also the tide of nationalism was growing. The foundation of the G.A.A and the Gaelic League fuelled the concept of self reliance. The influence of these two movements had far-reaching effects in every corner of the land. A regular visitor to Gregory Ashe’s house was Thomas O’Shea from Rhinn Bhuí. He had lived through the famine and gave many horrifying accounts of the hardship suffered by the people of the time. The young Ashe listened attentively to these and many other stories. It was in this environment that the seeds of independence and self-determination was sown in Thomas Ashe’s mind. Thomas Ashe Monument	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1073
__label__cc	0.748044	0.251956	Thought Broadcast A Psychiatrist's Thoughts – Straight To Your Head The Carlat Psychiatry Report The Carlat Child Psychiatry Report The Carlat Behavioral Health Report My Own Bipolar Kerfuffle I have a confession to make. I don’t know what “bipolar disorder” is. And as a psychiatrist, I’ll admit that’s sort of embarrassing. Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating when I say that I don’t know what bipolar disorder is. Actually, if you asked me to define it, I’d give you an answer that would probably sound pretty accurate. I’ve read the DSM-IV, had years of training, took my Boards, treated people in the midst of manic episodes, and so on. The problem for me is not the “idea” of bipolar disorder. It’s what we mean when we use that term. I recognized this problem only recently—in fact, just last month, as I was putting together the July/August issue of the Carlat Psychiatry Report (now available to subscribers here). This month’s issue is devoted to the topic of “Bipolar Disorder,” and two contributors, faculty members at prestigious psychiatry departments, made contradictory—yet perfectly valid—observations. One argued that it’s overdiagnosed; the other advocated for broadening our definition of bipolar disorder—in particular, “bipolar depression.” The discrepancy was also noted in several comments from our Editorial Board. Disagreements in science and medicine aren’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, when two authorities interpret a phenomenon differently, it creates the opportunity for further experimentation and investigation. In time, the “truth” can be uncovered. But in this case, as with much in psychiatry, “truth” seems to depend on whom you ask. Consider this question. What exactly is “bipolar depression”? It seems quite simple: it’s when a person with bipolar disorder experiences a depressive episode. But what about when a person comes in with depression but has not had a manic episode or been diagnosed with bipolar disorder? How about when a person with depression becomes “manic” after taking an antidepressant? Could those be bipolar depression, too? I suppose so. But who says so? One set of criteria was introduced by Jules Angst, a researcher in Switzerland, and was featured prominently in the BRIDGE study, published in 2011. His criteria for bipolarity include agitation, irritability, hypomanic symptoms for as short as one day, and a family history of mania. Other experts argue for a “spectrum” of bipolar illness. (For a critique of the BRIDGE study, see this letter to the editor of the Archives of General Psychiatry, and this detailed—and entertaining—account in David Allen’s blog.) The end result is rather shocking, when you think about it: here we have this phenomenon called “bipolar disorder,” which may affect 4% of all Americans, and different experts define it differently. With the right tweaking, nearly anyone who comes to the attention of a psychiatrist could be considered to have some features suggestive of someone’s definition of bipolar disorder. (Think I’m kidding? Check out the questionnaire in the appendix of Angst’s 2003 article.) Such differences of opinion lead to some absurd situations, particularly when someone is asked to speak authoritatively about this disorder. At this year’s APA Annual Meeting for example, David Kupfer (DSM-IV Task Force Chair) gave a keynote address on “Rethinking Bipolar Disorder,” which included recommendations for screening adolescents and the use of preventive measures (including drugs) to prevent early stages of the illness. Why was it absurd? Because as Kupfer spoke confidently about this disease entity, I looked around the packed auditorium and realized that each person may very well have has his or her own definition of bipolar disorder. But did anyone say anything? No, we all nodded in agreement, deferring to the expert. This problem exists throughout psychiatry. The criteria for each diagnosis in the DSM-IV can easily be applied in a very general way. This is due partly to fatigue, partly to the fact that insurance companies require that we give a diagnosis as early as the first visit, partly because we’re so reluctant (even when it’s appropriate) to tell patients that they’re actually healthy and may not even have a diagnosis, and partly because different factions of psychiatrists use their experience to create their own criteria. It’s no wonder that as criteria are loosened, diagnoses are misapplied, and the ranks of the “mentally ill” continue to grow. As editor of a newsletter, I’m faced with another challenge I didn’t quite expect. I can’t come out and say that bipolar disorder doesn’t exist (which wouldn’t be true anyway—I have actually seen cases of “classic,” textbook-style mania which do respond to medications as our guidelines would predict). But I also can’t say that several definitions of “bipolar” exist. That may be perceived as being too equivocal for a respectable publication and, as a result, some readers may have difficulty taking me seriously. At the risk of sounding grandiose, I may be experiencing what our field’s leadership must experience on a regular basis. Academic psychiatrists make their living by conducting research, publishing their findings, and, in most cases, specializing in a given clinical area. It’s in their best interest to assume that the subjects of their research actually exist. Furthermore, when experts see patients, they do so in a specialty clinic or clinical trial, which reinforces their definitions of disease. This can become a problem to those of us seeing the complicated “real world” patients on the front lines, especially when we look to the experts for answers to such questions as whether we should use antipsychotics to treat acute mania, or whether antidepressants are helpful for bipolar depression. If their interpretations of the diagnoses simply don’t pertain to the people in our offices, all bets are off. Yet this, I fear, is what happens in psychiatry every day. In the end, I can’t say whether my definition of bipolar disorder is right or not, because even the experts can’t seem to agree on what it is. As for the newsletter, we decided to publish both articles, in the interest of maintaining a dialogue. Readers will simply have to use their own definition of “bipolar disorder” and “bipolar depression” (or eschew them altogether)—hopefully in ways that help their patients. But it has been an eye-opening experience in the futility (and humility) of trying to speak with authority about something we’re still trying desperately to understand. 66 Comments \| bipolar, diagnostics \| Tagged: angst, bipolar depression, bipolar disorder, BRIDGE study, DSM-5, kupfer \| Permalink Posted by stevebMD What Adderall Can Teach Us About Medical Marijuana An article in the New York Times last week described the increasing use of stimulant medications such as Adderall and Ritalin among high-school students. Titled “The Risky Rise of the Good-Grade Pill,” the article discussed how 15 to 40 percent of students, competing for straight-As and spots in elite colleges, use stimulants for an extra “edge,” regardless of whether they actually have ADHD. In this blog, I’ve written about ADHD. It’s a real condition—and medications can help tremendously—but the diagnostic criteria are quite vague. As with much in psychiatry, anyone “saying the right thing” can relatively easily get one of these drugs, whether they want it or not. Sure enough, the number of prescriptions for these drugs has risen 26% since 2007. Does this mean that ADHD is now 26% more prevalent? No. In the Times article, some students admitted they “lie to [their] psychiatrists” in order to “get something good.” In fact, some students “laughed at the ease with which they got some doctors to write prescriptions for ADHD.” In the absence of an objective test (some computerized tests exist but aren’t widely used nor validated, and brain scans are similarly circumspect) and diagnostic criteria that are readily accessible on the internet, anyone who wants a stimulant can basically get one. And while psychiatric diagnosis is often an imperfect science, in many settings the methodology by which we assess and diagnose ADHD is particularly crude. Many of my colleagues will disagree with (or hate) me for saying so, but in some sense, the prescription of stimulants has become just like any other type of cosmetic medicine. Plastic surgeons and dermatologists, for instance, are trained to perform medically necessary procedures, but they often find that “cosmetic” procedures like facelifts and Botox injections are more lucrative. Similarly, psychiatrists can have successful practices in catering to ultra-competitive teens (and their parents) and giving out stimulants. Who cares if there’s no real disease? Psychiatry is all about enhancing patients’ lives, isn’t it? As another blogger wrote last week, some respectable physicians have even argued that “anyone and everyone should have access to drugs that improve performance.” When I think about “performance enhancement” in this manner, I can’t help but think about the controversy over medical marijuana. This is another topic I’ve written about, mainly to question the “medical” label on something that is neither routinely accepted nor endorsed by the medical profession. Proponents of medical cannabis, I wrote, have co-opted the “medical” label in order for patients to obtain an abusable psychoactive substance legally, under the guise of receiving “treatment.” How is this different from the prescription of psychostimulants for ADHD? The short answer is, it’s not. If my fellow psychiatrists and I prescribe psychostimulants (which are abusable psychoactive substances in their own right, as described in the pages of the NYT) on the basis of simple patient complaints—and continue to do so simply because a patient reports a subjective benefit—then this isn’t very different from a medical marijuana provider writing a prescription (or “recommendation”) for medical cannabis. In both cases, the conditions being treated are ill-defined (yes, in the case of ADHD, it’s detailed in the DSM, which gives it a certain validity, but that’s not saying much). In both cases, the conditions affect patients’ quality of life but are rarely, if ever, life-threatening. In both cases, psychoactive drugs are prescribed which could be abused but which most patients actually use quite responsibly. Last but not least, in both cases, patients generally do well; they report satisfaction with treatment and often come back for more. In fact, taken one step further, this analogy may turn out to be an argument in favor of medical marijuana. As proponents of cannabis are all too eager to point out, marijuana is a natural substance, humans have used it for thousands of years, and it’s arguably safer than other abusable (but legal) substances like nicotine and alcohol. Psychostimulants, on the other hand, are synthetic chemicals (not without adverse effects) and have been described as “gateway drugs” to more or less the same degree as marijuana. Why one is legal and one is not simply appears to be due to the psychiatric profession’s “seal of approval” on one but not the other. If the psychiatric profession is gradually moving away from the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of severe mental illness and, instead, treating “lifestyle” problems with drugs that could easily be abused, then I really don’t have a good argument for denying cannabis to patients who insist it helps their anxiety, insomnia, depression, or chronic pain. Perhaps we should ask physicians take a more rigorous approach to ADHD diagnosis, demanding interviews with parents and teachers, extensive neuropsychiatric testing, and (perhaps) neuroimaging before offering a script. But in a world in which doctors’ reimbursements are dwindling, and the time devoted to patient care is vanishing—not to mention a patient culture which demands a quick fix for the problems associated with the stresses of modern adolescence—it doesn’t surprise me one bit that some doctors will cut corners and prescribe without a thorough workup, in much the same way that marijuana is provided, in states where it’s legal. If the loudest protests against such a practice don’t come from our leadership—but instead from the pages of the New York Times—we only have ourselves to blame when things really get out of hand. 41 Comments \| addiction, child psychiatry, diagnostics, psychopharmacology \| Tagged: Adderall, ADHD, cannabis, marijuana, medical marijuana, ritalin \| Permalink “Patient-Centered” Care and the Science of Psychiatry When asked what makes for good patient care in medicine, a typical answer is that it should be “patient-centered.” Sure, “evidence-based medicine” and expert clinical guidelines are helpful, but they only serve as the scientific foundation upon which we base our individualized treatment decisions. What’s more important is how a disorder manifests in the patient and the treatments he or she is most likely to respond to (based on genetics, family history, biomarkers, etc). In psychiatry, there’s the additional need to target treatment to the patient’s unique situation and context—always founded upon our scientific understanding of mental illness. It’s almost a cliché to say that “no two people with depression [or bipolar or schizophrenia or whatever] are the same.” But when the “same” disorder manifests differently in different people, isn’t it also possible that the disorders themselves are different? Not only does such a question have implications for how we treat each individual, it also impacts how we interpret the “evidence,” how we use treatment guidelines, and what our diagnoses mean in the first place. For starters, every patient wants something different. What he or she gets is usually what the clinician wants, which, in turn, is determined by the diagnosis and established treatment guidelines: lifelong medication treatment, referral for therapy, forced inpatient hospitalization, etc. Obviously, our ultimate goal is to eliminate suffering by relieving one’s symptoms, but shouldn’t the route we take to get there reflect the patient’s desires? When a patient gets what he or she wants, shouldn’t this count as good patient care, regardless of what the guidelines say? For instance, some patients just want a quick fix (e.g., a pill, ideally without frequent office visits), because they have only a limited amount of money (or time) they’re willing to use for treatment. Some patients need to complete “treatment” to satisfy a judge, an employer, or a family member. Some patients visit the office simply to get a disability form filled out or satisfy some other social-service need. Some simply want a place to vent, or to hear from a trusted professional that they’re “okay.” Still others seek intensive, long-term therapy even when it’s not medically justified. Patients request all sorts of things, which often differ from what the guidelines say they need. Sometimes these requests are entirely reasonable, cost-effective, and practical. But we psychiatrists often feel a need to practice evidence- (i.e., science-) based medicine; thus, we take treatment guidelines (and diagnoses) and try to make them apply to our patients, even when we know they want—or need—something else entirely, or won’t be able to follow through on our recommendations. We prescribe medications even though we know the patient won’t be able to obtain the necessary lab monitoring; or we refer a patient for intensive therapy even though we know their insurance will only cover a handful of visits; we admit a suicidal patient to a locked inpatient ward even though we know the unpredictability of that environment may cause further distress; or we advise a child with ADHD and his family to undergo long-term behavioral therapy in conjunction with stimulants, when we know this resource may be unavailable. Guidelines and diagnoses are written by committee, and, as such, rarely apply to the specifics of any individual patient. Thus, a good clinician uses a clinical guideline simply as a tool—a reference point—to provide a foundation for an individual’s care, just as a master chef knows a basic recipe but alters it according to the tastes he wishes to bring out or which ingredients are in season. A good clinician works outside the available guidelines for many practical reasons, not the least of which is the patient’s own belief system—what he or she thinks is wrong and how to fix it. The same could be said for diagnoses themselves. In truth, what’s written in the DSM is a model—a “case study,” if you will—by which real-world patients are observed and compared. No patient ever fits a single diagnosis to a “T.” Unfortunately, under the pressures of limited time, scarce resources, and the threat of legal action for a poor outcome, clinicians are more inclined to see patients for what they are than for who they are, and therefore adhere to guidelines even more closely than they’d like. This corrupts treatment in many ways. Diagnoses are given out which don’t fit (e.g., “parity” diagnoses must be given in order to maintain reimbursement). Treatment recommendations are made which are far too costly or complex for some patients to follow. Services like disability benefits are maintained far beyond the period they’re needed (because diagnoses “stick”). And tremendous resources are devoted to the ongoing treatment of patients who simply want (and would benefit from) only sporadic check-ins, or who, conversely, can afford ongoing care themselves. The entire situation calls into question the value of treatment guidelines, as well as the validity of psychiatric diagnoses. Our patients’ unique characteristics, needs, and preferences—i.e., what helps patients to become “well”—vary far more widely than the symptoms upon which official treatment guidelines were developed. Similarly, what motivates a person to seek treatment differs so widely from person to person, implying vastly different etiologies. To provide optimal care to a patient, care must indeed be “patient-centered.” But truly patient-centered care must not only sidestep the DSM and established treatment guidelines, but also, frequently, ignore diagnoses and guidelines altogether. What does this say about the validity, relevance, and applicability of the diagnoses and guidelines at our disposal? And what does this say about psychiatry as a science? 17 Comments \| diagnostics, mental health, psychiatry, subjectivity \| Permalink Is The Joke On Me? I recently returned from the American Psychiatric Association (APA) Annual Meeting in Philadelphia. I had the pleasure of participating on a panel discussing “psychiatrists and the new media” with the bloggers/authors from Shrink Rap, and Bob Hsiung of dr-bob.org. The panel discussion was a success. Some other parts of the conference, however, left me with a sense of doubt and unease. I enjoy being a psychiatrist, but whenever I attend these psychiatric meetings, I sometimes find myself questioning the nature of what I do. At times I wonder whether everyone else knows something I don’t. Sometimes I even ask myself: is the joke on me? Here’s an example of what I mean. On Sunday, David Kupfer of the University of Pittsburgh (and task force chair of the forthcoming DSM-5) gave a talk on “Rethinking Bipolar Disorder.” The room—a cavernous hall at the Pennsylvania Convention Center—was packed. Every chair was filled, while scores of attendees stood in the back or sat on the floor, listening with rapt attention. The talk itself was a discussion of “where we need to go” in the management of bipolar disorder in the future. Dr Kupfer described a new view of bipolar disorder as a chronic, multifactorial disorder involving not just mood lability and extremes of behavior, but also endocrine, inflammatory, neurophysiologic, and metabolic processes that deserve our attention as well. He emphasized the fact that in between mood episodes, and even before they develop, there are a range of “dysfunctional symptom domains”—involving emotions, cognition, sleep, physical symptoms, and others—that we psychiatrists should be aware of. He also introduced a potential way to “stage” development of bipolar disorder (similar to the way doctors stage tumors), suggesting that people at early stages might benefit from prophylactic psychiatric intervention. Basically, the take-home message (for me, at least) was that in the future, psychiatrists will be responsible for treating other manifestations of bipolar disorder than those we currently attend to. We will also need to look for subthreshold symptoms in people who might have a “prodrome” of bipolar disorder. A sympathetic observer might say that Kupfer is simply asking us to practice good medicine, caring for the entire person rather than one’s symptoms, and prevent development or recurrence of bipolar illness. On the other hand, a cynic might look at these pronouncements as a sort of disease-mongering, encouraging us to uncover signs of “disease” where they might not exist. But both of these conclusions overlook a much more fundamental question that, to me, remains unanswered. What exactly is bipolar disorder anyway? I realize that’s an extraordinarily embarrassing question for a psychiatrist to ask. And in all fairness, I do know what bipolar disorder is (or, at least, what the textbooks and the DSM-IV say it is). I have seen examples of manic episodes in my own practice, and in my personal life, and have seen how they respond to medications, psychotherapy, or the passage of time. But those are the minority. Over the years (although my career is still relatively young), I have also seen dozens, if not hundreds, of people given the diagnosis of “bipolar disorder” without a clear history of a manic episode—the defining feature of bipolar disorder, according to the DSM. As I looked around the room at everyone concentrating on Dr Kupfer’s every word, I wondered to myself, am I the only one with this dilemma? Are my patients “special” or “unique”? Maybe I’m a bad psychiatrist; maybe I don’t ask the right questions. Or maybe everyone else is playing a joke on me. That’s unlikely; others do see the same sorts of patients I do (I know this for a fact, from my own discussions with other psychiatrists). But nobody seems to have the same crisis of confidence that I do. It makes me wonder whether we have reached a point in psychiatry when psychiatrists can listen to a talk like this one (or see patients each day) and accept diagnostic categories, without paying any attention to the fact that they our nosology says virtually nothing at all about the unique nature of each person’s suffering. It seems that we accept the words of our authority figures without asking the fundamental question of whether they have any basis in reality. Or maybe I’m just missing out on the joke. As far as I’m concerned, no two “bipolar” patients are alike, and no two “bipolar” patients have the same treatment goals. The same can be said for almost everything else we treat, from “depression” to “borderline personality disorder” to addiction. In my opinion, lumping all those people together and assuming they’re all alike for the purposes of a talk (or, even worse, for a clinical trial) makes it difficult—and quite foolish—to draw any conclusions about that group of individuals. What we need to do is to figure out whether what we call “bipolar disorder” is a true disorder in the first place, rather than accept it uncritically and start looking for yet additional symptom domains or biomarkers as new targets of treatment. To accept the assumption that everyone currently with the “bipolar” label indeed has the same disorder (or any disorder at all) makes a mockery of the diagnostic process and destroys the meaning of the word. Some would argue this has already happened. But then again, maybe I’m the only one who sees it this way. No one at Kupfer’s talk seemed to demonstrate any bewilderment or concern that we might be heading towards a new era of disease management without really knowing what “disease” we’re treating in the first place. If this is the case, I sure would appreciate it if someone would let me in on the joke. 54 Comments \| bipolar, diagnostics, DSM-5, psychiatry \| Tagged: apa, bipolar, kupfer, nosology, psychiatric diagnosis \| Permalink Depression Tests: When “Basic” Research Becomes “Applied” Anyone with an understanding of the scientific process can appreciate the difference between “basic” and “applied” research. Basic research, often considered “pure” science, is the study of science for its own sake, motivated by curiosity and a desire to understand. General questions and theories are tested, often without any obvious practical application. On the other hand, “applied” research is usually done for a specific reason: to solve a real-world problem or to develop a new product: a better mousetrap, a faster computer, or a more effective way to diagnose illness. In psychiatric research, the distinction between “basic” and “applied” research is often blurred. Two recent articles (and the accompanying media attention they’ve received) provide very good examples of this phenomenon. Both stories involve blood tests to diagnose depression. Both are intriguing, novel studies. Both may revolutionize our understanding of mental illness. But responses to both have also been blown way out of proportion, seeking to “apply” what is clearly only at the “basic” stage. The first study, by George Papakostas and his colleagues at Massachusetts General Hospital and Ridge Diagnostics, was published last December in the journal Molecular Psychiatry. They developed a technique to measure nine proteins in the blood, plug those values into a fancy (although proprietary—i.e., unknown) algorithm, and calculate an “MDDScore” which, supposedly, diagnoses depression. In their paper, they compared 70 depressed patients with 43 non-depressed people and showed that their assay identifies depression with a specificity of 81% and a sensitivity of 91%. The other study, published two weeks ago in Translational Psychiatry by Eve Redei and her colleagues at Northwestern University, purports to diagnose depression in adolescents. They didn’t measure proteins in patients’ blood, but rather levels of RNA. (As a quick aside, RNA is the “messenger” molecule inside each cell that tells the cell which proteins to make.) They studied a smaller number of patients—only 14 depressed teenagers, compared with 14 non-depressed controls—and identified 11 RNA molecules which were expressed differently between the two groups. These were selected from a much larger number of RNA transcripts on the basis of an animal model of depression: specifically, a rat strain that was bred to show “depressive-like” behavior. If we look at each of these studies as “basic” science, they offer some potentially tantalizing insights into what might be happening in the bodies of depressed people (or rats). Even though some of us argue that no two “depressed” people are alike—and we should look instead at person-centered factors that might explain how they are unique—these studies nevertheless might have something to say about the common underlying biology of depression—if such a thing exists. At the very least, further investigation might explain why proteins that have no logical connection with depression (such as apolipoprotein CIII or myeloperoxidase) or RNA transcripts (for genes like toll-like-receptor-1 or S-phase-cyclin-A-associated protein) might help us, someday, to develop more effective treatments than the often ineffective SSRIs that are the current standard of care. Surprisingly, though, this is not how these articles have been greeted. Take the Redei article, for instance. Since its publication, there have been dozens of media mentions, with such headlines as “Depression Blood Test for Teens May Lead To Less Stigma” and “Depression Researchers May Have Developed First Blood Test For Teens.” To the everyday reader, it seems as if we’ve gone straight from the bench to the bedside. Granted, each story mentions that the test is not quite “ready for prime time,” but headlines draw readers’ attention. Even the APA’s official Twitter feed mentioned it (“Blood test for early-onset #depression promising,” along with the tags “#childrenshealth” and “#fightstigma”), giving it a certain degree of legitimacy among doctors and patients alike. (I should point out that one of Redei’s co-authors, Bill Gardner, emphasized—correctly—on his own blog that their study was NOT to be seen as a test for depression, and that it required refinement and replication before it could be used clinically. He also acknowledged that their study population—adolescents—are often targets for unnecessary pharmacological intervention, demanding even further caution in interpreting their results.) As for the Papakostas article, there was a similar flurry of articles about it when preliminary results were presented last year. Like Redei’s research, it’s an interesting study that could change the way we diagnose depression. However, unlike Redei’s study, it was funded by a private, self-proclaimed “neurodiagnostics” company. (That company, Ridge Diagnostics, has not revealed the algorithm by which they calculate their “MDDScore,” essentially preventing any independent group from trying to replicate their findings.) Incidentally, the Chairman of the Board of Ridge Diagnostics is David Hale, who also founded—and is Chairman of—Somaxon Pharmaceuticals, a company I wrote about last year when it tried to bring low-dose doxepin to the market as a sleep aid, and then used its patent muscle to issue cease-and-desist letters to people who suggested using the ultra-cheap generic version instead of Somaxon’s name-brand drug. Ridge Diagnostics has apparently decided not to wait for replication of its findings, and instead is taking its MDDScore to the masses, complete with a Twitter feed, a Facebook Page, and a series of videos selling the MDDScore (priced at a low, low $745!), aimed directly at patients. At this rate, it’s only a matter of time before the MDDScore is featured on the “Dr Oz Show” or “The Doctors.” Take a look at this professionally produced video, for instance, posted last month on Youtube: (Interesting—the host hardly even mentions the word “depression.” A focus group must have told them that it detracted from his sales pitch.) I think it’s great that scientists are investigating the basic biology of depression. I also have no problem when private companies try to get in on the act. However, when research that is obviously at the “basic” stage (and, yes, not ready for prime time) becomes the focus of a viral video marketing campaign or a major story on the Huffington Post, one must wonder why we’ve been so quick to cross the line from “basic” research into the “applied” uses of those preliminary findings. Okay, okay, I know the answer is money. But who has the authority—and the voice—to say, “not so fast” and preserve some integrity in the field of psychiatric research? Where’s the money in that? 54 Comments \| biomarkers, depression, diagnostics \| Tagged: biomarkers, depression, mddscore, papakostas, redei, ridge diagnostics \| Permalink The Well Person What does it mean to be “normal”? We’re all unique, aren’t we? We differ from each other in so many ways. So what does it mean to say someone is “normal,” while someone else has a “disorder”? This is, of course, the age-old question of psychiatric diagnosis. The authors of the DSM-5, in fact, are grappling with this very question right now. Take grieving, for example. As I and others have written, grieving is “normal,” although its duration and intensity vary from person to person. At some point, a line may be crossed, beyond which a person’s grief is no longer adaptive but dangerous. Where that line falls, however, cannot be determined by a book or by a committee. Psychiatrists ought to know who’s healthy and who’s not. After all, we call ourselves experts in “mental health,” don’t we? Surprisingly, I don’t think we’re very good at this. We are acutely sensitive to disorder but have trouble identifying wellness. We can recognize patients’ difficulties in dealing with other people but are hard-pressed to describe healthy interpersonal skills. We admit that someone might be able to live with auditory hallucinations but we still feel an urge to increase the antipsychotic dose when a patient says she still hears “those voices.” We are quick to point out how a patient’s alcohol or marijuana use might be a problem, but we can’t describe how he might use these substances in moderation. I could go on and on. Part of the reason for this might lie in how we’re trained. In medical school we learn basic psychopathology and drug mechanisms (and, by the way, there are no drugs whose mechanism “maintains normality”—they all fix something that’s broken). We learn how to do a mental status exam, complete with full descriptions of the behavior of manic, psychotic, depressed, and anxious people—but not “normals.” Then, in our postgraduate training, our early years are spent with the most ill patients—those in hospitals, locked facilities, or emergency settings. It’s not until much later in one’s training that a psychiatrist gets to see relatively more functional individuals in an office or clinic. But by that time, we’re already tuned in to deficits and symptoms, and not to personal strengths, abilities, or resilience-promoting factors. In a recent discussion with a colleague about how psychiatrists might best serve a large population of patients (e.g., in a “medical home” model), I suggested that perhaps each psychiatrist could be responsible for a handful of people (say, 300 or 400 individuals). Our job would be to see each of these 300-400 people at least once in a year, regardless of whether they have psychiatric diagnosis or not. Those who have emotional or psychiatric complaints or who have a clear mental illness could be seen more frequently; the others would get their annual checkup and their clean bill of (mental) health. It would be sort of like your annual medical visit or a “well-baby visit” in pediatrics: a way for a person to be seen by a doctor, implement preventive measures, and undergo screening to make sure no significant problems go unaddressed. Alas, this would never fly in psychiatry. Why not? Because we’re too accustomed to seeing illness. We’re too quick to interpret “sadness” as “depression”; to interpret “anxiety” or “nerves” as a cue for a benzodiazepine prescription; or to interpret “inattention” or poor work/school performance as ADHD. I’ve even experienced this myself. It is difficult to tell a person “you’re really doing just fine; there’s no need for you to see me, but if you want to come back, just call.” For one thing, in many settings, I wouldn’t get paid for the visit if I said this. But another concern, of course, is the fear of missing something: Maybe this person really is bipolar [or whatever] and if I don’t keep seeing him, there will be a bad outcome and I’ll be responsible. There’s also the fact that psychiatry is not a primary care specialty: insurance plans don’t pay for an annual “well-person visit” with the a psychiatrist. Patients who come to a psychiatrist’s office are usually there for a reason. Maybe the patient deliberately sought out the psychiatrist to ask for help. Maybe their primary care provider saw something wrong and wanted the psychiatrist’s input. In the former, telling the person he or she is “okay” risks losing their trust (“but I just know something’s wrong, doc!“). In the latter, it risks losing a referral source or professional relationship. So how do we fix this? I think we psychiatrists need to spend more time learning what “normal” really is. There are no classes or textbooks on “Normal Adults.” For starters, we can remind ourselves that the “normal” people around whom we’ve been living our lives may in fact have features that we might otherwise see as a disorder. Learning to accept these quirks, foibles, and idiosyncrasies may help us to accept them in our patients. In terms of using the DSM, we need to become more willing to use the V71.09 code, which means, essentially, “No diagnosis or condition.” Many psychiatrists don’t even know this code exists. Instead, we give “NOS” diagnoses (“not otherwise specified”) or “rule-outs,” which eventually become de facto diagnoses because we never actually take the time to rule them out! A V71.09 should be seen as a perfectly valid (and reimbursable) diagnosis—a statement that a person has, in fact, a clean bill of mental health. Now we just need to figure out what that means. It is said that when Pope Julius II asked Michelangelo how he sculpted David out of a marble slab, he replied: “I just removed the parts that weren’t David.” In psychiatry, we spend too much time thinking about what’s not David and relentlessly chipping away. We spend too little time thinking about the healthy figure that may already be standing right in front of our eyes. 20 Comments \| diagnostics, mental health, psychiatry, society \| Tagged: diagnosis, DSM-5, normal, NOS, resilience, V71.09, wellness \| Permalink How To Think Like A Psychiatrist The cornerstone of any medical intervention is a sound diagnosis. Accurate diagnosis guides the proper treatment, while an incorrect diagnosis might subject a patient to unnecessary procedures or excessive pharmacotherapy, and it may further obscure the patient’s true underlying condition. This is true for all medical specialties—including psychiatry. It behooves us, then, to examine the practice of clinical decision-making, how we do it, and where we might go wrong, particularly in the area of psychiatric diagnosis. According to Pat Croskerry, a physician at Dalhousie University in Canada, the foundation of clinical cognition the “dual process model,” first described by the Greek philosophers (and reviewed here). This model proposes that people solve problems using one of two “processes”: Type 1 processes involve intuition and are largely automatic, fast, and unconscious (e.g., recognizing a friend’s face). Type 2 processes are more deliberate, analytical, and systematic (e.g., planning the best route for an upcoming trip). Doctors use both types when making a diagnosis, but the relative emphasis varies with the setting. In the ED, quick action based on pattern recognition (i.e., Type 1 process) is crucial. Sometimes, however, it may be wrong, particularly if other conditions aren’t evaluated and ruled out (i.e., Type 2 process). For instance, a patient with flank pain, nausea, vomiting, and hematuria demonstrates the “pattern” of a kidney stone (common), but may in fact have a dissecting aortic aneurysm (uncommon). This model is valuable for understanding how we arrive at psychiatric diagnoses (the above figure is from a 2009 article by Croskerry). When evaluating a patient for the first time, a psychiatrist often looks at “the big picture”: Does this person appear to have a mood disorder, psychosis, anxiety, a personality disorder? Have I seen this type of patient before? What’s my general impression of this person? In other words, the assessment relies heavily on Type 1 processes, using heuristics and “Gestalt” impressions. But Type 2 processes are also important. We must inquire about specific symptoms, treatment history, social background; we might order tests or review old records, which may change our initial perception. Sound clinical decision-making, therefore, requires both processes. Unfortunately, these are highly prone to error. In fact, Croskerry identifies at least 40 cognitive biases, which occur when the processes are not adapted for the specific task at hand. For instance, we tend to use Type 1 processes more frequently than we should. Many psychiatrists, particularly those seeing a large volume of patients for short periods of time, often see patterns earlier than is warranted, and rush to diagnoses without fully considering all possibilities. In other words, they fall victim to what psychologist Keith Stanovich calls “dysrationalia,” or the inability to think or act rationally despite adequate intelligence. In the dual process model, dysrationalia can “override” Type 2 processes (“I don’t need to do a complete social history, I just know this patient has major depression”), leading to diagnostic failure. Croskerry calls this the “cognitive miser” function: we rely on processes that consume fewer cognitive resources because we’re cognitively lazy. The alternative would be to switch to a Type 2 process—a more detailed evaluation, using deductive, analytic reasoning. But this takes great effort and time. Moreover, when a psychiatrist switches to a “Type 2” mode, he or she asks questions are nonspecific in nature (largely owing to the unreliability of some DSM-IV diagnoses), or questions that confirm the initial “Type 1” hunch. In other words, we end up finding we expect to find. The contrast between Type 1 and Type 2 processes is most apparent when we observe people operating at either end of the spectrum. Some psychiatrists see patterns in every patient (e.g., “I could tell he was bipolar as soon as he walked into my office”—a classic error called the representativeness heuristic), even though they rarely ask about specific symptoms, let alone test alternate hypotheses. On the other hand, medical students and young clinicians often work exclusively in Type 2; they ask very thorough questions, covering every conceivable alternative, and every symptom in the DSM-IV (even irrelevant ones). As a result, they get frustrated when they can’t determine a precise diagnosis or, alternately, they come up with a diagnosis that might “fit” the data but completely miss the mark regarding the underlying essence of the patient’s suffering. Croskerry writes that the most accurate clinical decision-making occurs when a physician can switch between Type 1 and Type 2 processes as needed, a process called metacognition. Metacognition requires a certain degree of humility, a willingness to re-examine one’s decisions in light of new information. It also demands that the doctor be able to recognize when he or she is not performing well and to be willing to self-monitor and self-criticize. To do this, Croskerry recommends that we develop “cognitive forcing strategies,” deliberate interventions that force us to think more consciously and deliberately about the problem at hand. This may help us to be more accurate in our assessments: in other words, to see both the trees for the forest, and the forest for the trees. This could be a hard sell. Doctors can be a stubborn bunch. Clinicians who insist on practicing Type 2, “checklist”-style medicine (e.g., in a clinical trial) may be unwilling to consider the larger context in which specific symptoms arise, or they may not have sufficient understanding of that context to see how it might impact a patient. On the other hand, clinicians who rush to judgment based on first impressions (a Type 1 process) may be annoyed by any suggestion that they should slow down and be more thorough or methodical. Not to mention the fact that being more thorough takes more time. And as we all know, time is money. I believe that all psychiatrists should heed the dual-process model and ask how it influences their practice. Are you too quick to label and diagnose, owing to your “dysrational” (Type 1) impulses? On the other hand, if you use established diagnostic criteria (Type 2), are you measuring anything useful? Should you use a cognitive forcing strategy to avoid over-reliance on one type of decision-making? If you continue to rely on pattern recognition (Type 1 process), then what other data (Type 2) should you collect? Treatment history? A questionnaire? Biomarkers? A comprehensive assessment of social context? And ultimately, how do you use this information to diagnose a “disorder” in a given individual? These are just a few questions that the dual process model raises. There are no easy answers, but anything that challenges us to be better physicians and avoid clinical errors, in my opinion, is well worth our time, attention, and thought. 7 Comments \| diagnostics, psychiatry \| Tagged: cognitive bias, croskerry, decision-making, diagnosis, dsm iv, dual process model, metacognition \| Permalink You are currently browsing the archives for the diagnostics category. Steve Balt All posts, unless otherwise noted, are written by Steve Balt, MD. Read more about Dr. Balt on his About Me page. Get CMEs Subscribe to The Carlat Psychiatry Report today for an easy, inexpensive way to fulfill your CME requirements. If Medications Don’t Work, Why Do I Prescribe Them Anyway? Explain To Me Again Why Psychologists Can’t Prescribe Meds? Is James Holmes Mentally Ill? Does It Matter? Turf Wars The Evidence of the Anecdote Addiction Psychiatry and The New Medicine “Trainwrecks” What’s the Proper Place of Science in Psychiatry and Medicine? Yes, We Still Need Psychiatrists, But For What? Did The APA Miss A Defining Moment? The Problem With Organized Psychiatry Is The Criticism of DSM-5 Misguided? Part II Before You Take That Pill Behavenet Carlat Psychiatry Blog David M Allen's blog Kevin, MD Medscape Mental Health NY Times Health Reform Blog Placebo Journal The Neurocritic The Practical Psychosomaticist The Sports Psychiatrist The Trusting Heart A blog about the practice of psychiatry... and all the things that make a thoughtful psychiatrist go hmmm... psychiatry, medicine, health care	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1074
__label__wiki	0.675491	0.675491	Throws Innovation № 3: The New Men’s Javelin By Tim Worden on October 7th, 2013 Throws innovations 4-10 were as follows: Throws Innovation № 10: The Modern Discus Technique Throws Innovation № 9: Women Being Included in the Throws Events Throws Innovation № 8: Athlete Funding Throws Innovation № 7: The War on Drugs Throws Innovation № 6: Social Media Throws Innovation № 5: The Discus/Hammer Cage Throws Innovation № 4: The Concept of Pushing the Hammer My number 3 innovation is the new style javelin. In 1986 the sport of javelin was changed forever. Before this time, a javelin was used which flew tremendously far (World Record of 104.80 m (343’10’’) held by Uwe Hohn), but was associated with numerous negative incidents. Issues were arising due to the distance the javelin traveled and the way it was landing. The javelin was getting perilously close to reaching the track on the other end of the stadium, making it dangerous to throw at the same time as track events occurred. Furthermore, due to the center of gravity location of the old javelin, it was typical for the javelin to land flat, and not stick into the ground. This made obtaining accurate distance marks nearly impossible for the judges. The solution? The IAAF would keep the weight the same but tweak the location of the centre of gravity of the javelin (the centre of gravity was moved forward 4 cm), such that the flight path of the javelin would be changed forever. The new javelin does travel a shorter distance than the old javelin (World record of 98.48 m (323’1’’) held by Jen Zelezny), however, the tip now sticks into the ground instead of landing and skipping along the grass. This has allowed for the javelin to maintain its location in the stadium, where it can be safely performed during other events. Furthermore, with the tip of the javelin now consistently sticking into the ground, judges can record accurate distances. Due to the drastic change to the throwing implement enacted by the IAAF, the new men’s javelin is the number 3 throwing innovation.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1076
__label__wiki	0.754029	0.754029	Home » Sports » This Article San Diego Gulls Defeat Texas Stars 6-3 in Cedar Park Posted by Chris Jennewein on December 30, 2017 in Sports \| 64 Views San Diego Gulls players at the game in Cedar Park, Texas. Courtesy of the Gulls The San Diego Gulls scored four times in the third period to break open a one-goal game in a 6-3 victory over the Texas Stars Saturday evening in Cedar Park, Texas. The Gulls led 2-1 entering the third period, then increased their lead to 3-1 one minute, 24 seconds into the third period when Nic Kerdilies put a shot from the right faceoff circle over Landon Bow’s blocker for his fourth goal of the season. The Stars cut the deficit to 3-2 13 seconds later when Sheldon Dries capitalized on Gulls goaltender Kevin Boyle mishandling the puck, putting in the rebound of a shot by Greg Rallo for his ninth goal of the season. The Gulls (15-12-1-0) scored the next three goals to seal their sixth victory in the past seven games. Eric Fehr had a power-play goal with 9:23 left, Deven Sideroff’s tapped in a loose puck with 7:10 to play and Dennis Rasmussen scored an empty net goal with 1:48 remaining in his debut with the Gulls. Tommy Thompson scored on a rebound with 1:03 to play for his first goal in 12 American Hockey League games over two seasons for Texas (18-12-3-1). The Gulls killed six of the Stars seven power-play opportunities, including a 41-second two-man disadvantage early in the third period when it was a one-goal game. The Gulls are last in the 30-team AHL in penalty killing, killing 76.7 percent of their short-handed situations. The Manitoba Moose, the Winnipeg Jets AHL affiliate, are first, killing 89 percent of their short- handed situations. The Gulls scored on two of their three power-play opportunities. They are first in the AHL, scoring on 25.2 percent of their power plays. Manitoba is second, scoring on 23.4 percent of their power plays. The Gulls were outshot, 36-34, including a 17-9 disadvantage in the second period. Boyle (9-1-1-0) made 33 saves for his fourth consecutive victory. Bow (11-7-2-0) made 28 saves. He is winless (0-2-2-0) in his past four appearances. The Gulls opened the scoring 13:24 into the first period on Kalle Kossila’s power-play goal before a crowd at H-E-B Center at Cedar Park announced at 6,421. Texas, the Dallas Stars American Hockey League affiliate, tied the score on Denis Gurianov’s power-play goal at 15:30 of the second period. The Gulls regained the lead 45 seconds later on Fehr’s goal. Fehr has scored seven goals in his last eight games. Gulls defenseman Keaton Thompson and Stars center Mark McNeill drew five-minute major penalties for their fight 1:05 into the third period. The fight was Thompson’s second in his 27 games this season with the Gulls. Both fights came in games against Texas. Defenseman Andy Welinski had two assists in his first game with the Gulls since Dec. 6. Welinski was reassigned to the Gulls by their NHL parent team, the Anaheim Ducks, earlier Saturday. Rasmussen was reassigned to the Gulls Friday by the Ducks. Rasmussen has nine goals and 12 assists in 139 NHL games with the Ducks and Chicago Blackhawks. The Gulls announced Saturday they had mutually released left wing Jordan Samuels-Thomas from his AHL contract in order for him to pursue other opportunities in Europe. The Gulls will play the second game of a three-game Texas road trip Sunday against the San Antonio Rampage, the Colorado Avalanche’s AHL affiliate. — City News Service San Diego Gulls Defeat Texas Stars 6-3 in Cedar Park was last modified: December 31st, 2017 by Chris Jennewein Posted in Sports \| Tagged American Hockey League, Cedar Park, ice hockey, San Diego Gulls, Texas Stars	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1078
__label__wiki	0.582927	0.582927	December 27, Great Beginnings Day 2017: Darwin, Apollo, and more December 27 is one of those days — many of us are off work, but it’s after Boxing Day, and it’s not yet on to New Year’s Eve or Day. We should have celebrated, maybe. It’s the end of the year, and yet it is also a day of great beginnings. We should celebrate December 27 as a day of portent: A good embarkation, and a good, safe end to a nation-encouraging trip to almost touch the Moon. HMS Beagle, on a voyage of discovery; painting of the Beagle in the Galapagos by John Chancellor On December 27, 1831, Charles Darwin and H.M.S. Beagle set sail on an around-the-world voyage of discovery that would change all of science, and especially biology, forever. After a few delays, H.M.S. Beagle headed out from Plymouth with a crew of 73 under clear skies and a good wind. Darwin became sea-sick almost immediately. Darwin never fully overcame his seasickness, but he fought it well enough to become the single greatest collector of specimens in history for the British Museum and British science, a distinction that won him election to science societies even before his return from the trip — and cemented his life in science, instead of in the church. Darwin’s discoveries would have revolutionized biology in any case. But, in analyzing what he had found, a few years later and with the aid of experts at the British Museum, Darwin realized he had disproved much of William Paley’s hypotheses about life and its diversity, and that another, more basic explanation was possible. This led to his discovery of evolution by natural and sexual selection. Mini-sheet from the Royal Mail in 2009 honoring Darwin’s discoveries in the Galapagos Islands On December 27, 1968, Apollo 8 splashed down after a successful and heartening trip to orbit the Moon. The three crewmen, Commander Frank Borman, James A. Lovell, Jr., and William A. Anders, had orbited the Moon, a very important milestone in the methodological race to put humans on the Moon (which would be accomplished seven months later). 1968 was a terrible year for the U.S., with the North Korean capture of the U.S.S. Pueblo, assassinations of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy during the presidential campaign, riots in dozens of American cities, nasty political conventions with riots at the Democratic Convention in Chicago, a contentious and bitter election making sore the nation’s divide over Vietnam policy, and other problems. On Christmas Eve, Borman, Lovell and Anders broadcast from orbit around the Moon, a triumphant and touching moment for the Apollo Program and Americans around the world. Their safe return on December 27 raised hopes for a better year in 1969. Motherboard.tv has a great write up from Alex Pasternack, especially concerning the famous photo taken a few days prior to splashdown: In 1968, NASA engineers were scrambling to meet President Kennedy’s challenge to land a man on the moon by decade’s end. Because delays with the lunar module were threatening to slow the Apollo program, NASA chose to change mission plans and send the crew of Apollo 8 all the way to the moon without a lunar module. Exactly 43 [49] years ago, the three astronauts of Apollo 8 became the first humans to orbit another celestial object. As they came around the dark side of the Moon for the third time, Frank Borman, the commander, finally turned their capsule around. And then they saw the Earth. Borman: Oh my God! Look at that picture over there! Here’s the Earth coming up. Wow, is that pretty. Anders: Hey, don’t take that, it’s not scheduled. Borman: (laughing) You got a color film, Jim? Anders: Hand me that roll of color quick, will you… One of the resulting photos taken by Anders on a Hasselblad camera became one of the world’s most iconic images. As Bill Anders recalls it: I just happened to have one with color film in it and a long lens. All I did was to keep snapping… It’s not a very good photo as photos go, but it’s a special one. It was the first statement of our planet Earth and it was particularly impressive because it’s contrasted against this startling horizon . . . After all the training and studying we’d done as pilots and engineers to get to the moon safely and get back, [and] as human beings to explore moon orbit, what we really discovered was the planet Earth. Plan to raise a glass today, December 27, 2012, to Great Beginnings Day for the human race. December 27 is a day we should remember, for these achievements. (But if you’re raising a glass, consider Carrie Nation, too!) Also on December 27: 1900 – Carrie Nation brought her campaign against liquor and saloons to Wichita, Kansas, smashing the bar at the Carey Hotel 1927 – “Show Boat” with music by Jerome Kern and libretto by Oscar Hammerstein II, opened at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York City (AP) 1932 – Radio City Music Hall opened for the first time, with a stage that, to me, looks like an old radio (Library of Congress) 1945 – The World Bank was formed under the Bretton Woods Agreement of 1944, a key part of world finance structure following World War II 1949 – Indonesia gained independence in a grant from Queen Juliana of the Netherlands; Netherlands had ruled Indonesia for three centuries Birthdays: Johannes Kepler (1571), Louis Pasteur (1822), Cokie Roberts 44 Years Ago Today: Apollo 8′s Historic Broadcast from the Moon on Christmas Eve in 1968 (launiusr.wordpress.com) With a view from beyond the moon, an astronaut talks religion, politics and possibilities (seattletimes.com) Apollo 40 years on: how the moon missions changed the world for ever (guardian.co.uk) Apollo 8 commander reflects on historic Christmas Eve moon mission, photo (billingsgazette.com) Apollo 8′s ‘Earthrise” 45 Years Later (outsidethebeltway.com) Smithsonian Tumblr on Darwin’s voyage beginning Yes, this is an encore post. Defeating ignorance takes patience and perseverance. 1 Comment \| Apollo Project, Charles Darwin, Darwin, Evolution, History, NASA, Science, Space exploration, Space Race \| Tagged: Apollo 8, Charles Darwin, December 27, Evolution, History, NASA, Space Exploration Science, The Beagle \| Permalink HMS Beagle, on a voyage of discovery December 27, Great Beginnings Day: Darwin, Apollo, and more Darwin never fully overcame his seasickness, but he fought it well enough to become the single greatest collector of specimens in history for the British Museum and British science, a distinction that won him election to science societies even before his return from the trip — and cemented his life in science, instead of in the church. Darwin’s discoveries would have revolutionized biology in any case. In analyzing what he had found, a few years later and with the aid of experts at the British Museum, Darwin realized he had disproved much of William Paley’s hypotheses about life and its diversity, and that another, more basic explanation was possible. This led to his discovery of evolution by natural and sexual selection. On December 27, 1968, Apollo 8 splashed down after a successful and heartening trip to orbit the Moon. The three crewmen, Commander Frank Borman, James A. Lovell, Jr., and William A. Anders, had orbited the Moon, a very important milestone in the methodological race to put humans on the Moon (which would be accomplished seven months later). 1968 was a terrible year for the U.S., with the North Korean capture of the U.S.S. Pueblo, assassinations of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy during the presidential campaign, riots in dozens of American cities, nasty political conventions with riots at the Democratic Convention in Chicago, a contentious and bitter election making sore the nation’s divide over Vietnam policy, and other problems. On Christmas Eve, Borman, Lovell and Anders broadcast from orbit around the Moon, a triumphant and touching moment for the Apollo Program and Americans around the world. Their safe return on December 27 raised hopes for a better year in 1969. I just happened to have one with color film in it and a long lens. All I did was to keep snapping… It’s not a very good photo as photos go, but it’s a special one. It was the first statement of our planet Earth and it was particularly impressive because it’s contrasted against this startling horizon… After all the training and studying we’d done as pilots and engineers to get to the moon safely and get back, [and] as human beings to explore moon orbit, what we really discovered was the planet Earth. Plan to raise a glass today, December 27, 2012, to Great Beginnings Day for the human race. December 27 is a day we should remember, for these achievements. Adapted from a post from 2010. 7 Comments \| Apollo Project, Charles Darwin, Darwin, Evolution, History, NASA, Science, Space exploration, Space Race \| Tagged: Apollo 8, Charles Darwin, December 27, Evolution, History, NASA, Space Exploration Science, The Beagle \| Permalink December 27, Great Beginnings Day: Darwin, Apollo Motherboard.tv has a great write up from Alex Pasternack: Exactly 43 years ago, the three astronauts of Apollo 8 became the first humans to orbit another celestial object. As they came around the dark side of the Moon for the third time, Frank Borman, the commander, finally turned their capsule around. And then they saw the Earth. 1932 – Radio City Music Hall opened for the first time, with a stage that, to me, looks like an old radio (AP) Great Beginnings Day, December 27: Darwin, Apollo Mini-sheet from the Royal Mail in 2009 honoring Darwin's discoveries in the Galapagos Islands Yeah, we missed toasting it on time in 2010. Plan to raise a glass today, December 27, 2011, to Great Beginnings Day for the human race. December 27 is a day we should remember, for these achievements. December 27, Good Trip Day: Darwin and Apollo 8 We should celebrate it as a day of portent: A good embarkation, and a good, safe end to a nation-encouraging trip to almost touch the Moon. Exactly 42 years ago, the three astronauts of Apollo 8 became the first humans to orbit another celestial object. As they came around the dark side for the third time, Frank Borman, the commander, finally turned their capsule around. And then they saw the Earth. Yeah, we missed toasting it on time in 2010. Plan to raise a glass on December 27, 2011, to Good Trip Day for the human race. December 27 is a day we should remember, for these achievements. 6 Comments \| 1969, Astronomy, Biology, Charles Darwin, Darwin, Evolution, Explorers and Exploration, History, History images, Moon, Science, Space exploration, Space Race \| Tagged: Apollo 8, Astronomy, Biology, Darwin, Discovery, Evolution, Exploration, History, HMS Beagle, Man on the Moon, Moon Race, Science, Space exploration \| Permalink @FairGov @LaszczStella @drdenachurchill If it’s nonsense, cite the study that makes the link between DDT and polio.… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…Splashed: 14 minutes ago @TSmith1867 @KeillerDon That’s not what we see in the lab or the wild. Due respect, Earth is not an old barn, car… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…Splashed: 18 minutes ago @vhdlrband @KeillerDon [God bless his shrunken heart and affected brain.] You’re calling 15% of yhe hottestbyears… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…Splashed: 22 minutes ago @BeckyJohnson222 @DectiveSamSpade @Wallace_Noll @TEarthCreature @Sheeple101 @AndrewLazarus4 @Eventhedogsabo1… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…Splashed: 26 minutes ago @BeckyJohnson222 @Wallace_Noll @TEarthCreature @Sheeple101 @AndrewLazarus4 @Eventhedogsabo1 @Boxmenot… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…Splashed: 29 minutes ago @Wallace_Noll @TEarthCreature @Sheeple101 @AndrewLazarus4 @BeckyJohnson222 @Eventhedogsabo1 @Boxmenot… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…Splashed: 1 hour ago @baletown_crawl @KeillerDon Your dope. Weak stuff. No wondrvyou’re confused.Splashed: 1 hour ago @FairGov @LaszczStella @drdenachurchill 2/2 . . . and negotiations at the Stockholm Convention to control Persisten… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…Splashed: 1 hour ago	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1080
__label__wiki	0.694049	0.694049	Return to List of Talks Monthly Talk 7th November 2019 BATH AT WAR 1939 - 1945 SPEAKER: David Lassman Bath at War 1939-45 will be an account of the city's experience during the conflict, covering in detail life on the Home Front. The narrative of the global struggle is given through a focus on the ordeals endured by the people of Bath, as they cheered their men and women fighters off to war, welcomed thousands of evacuated men, women and children to the city, and faced the full might of Hitler's Luftwaffe. Rare insights into the life of the war-torn city will be included, along with unfamiliar stories from the footnotes of history; from the Bath blitz to the influx of American GIs. The talk will incorporate memoirs and memories, along with the research from official records and newspaper accounts undertaken by the brothers, so those attending can see the war from the perspective of ordinary people, although the military experiences of Bath's citizens - and in certain cases their tragic sacrifices - are also included. More controversial topics are also touched upon, such as civil defence, military injustice, racism and local politics, to give a full and fascinating picture of a great city facing profound trials of endurance and courage, thus revealing the many characteristics which has sustained Bath throughout its illustrious history. Nigel and David Lassman were born and raised in Bath, both having attended Beechen Cliff School; where a room in the school's English Centre has been named after David. Both have spent time working for the Ministry of Defence and both are now full-time writers. David has had several books published, including The Regency Detective series of novels set in Jane Austen's Bath, Frome in the Great War and The Awful Killing of Sarah Watts; an account of an infamous nineteenth-century murder that appalled but enthralled Victorian Society in equal measure and was investigated by a colleague at the Detective Branch of Mr Whicher. Bath at War 1939-45 is Nigel Lassman's first book, in collaboration with his brother David, but he has researched several other subjects on the city - including Charmy Down Airfield and A Social History of the Railways in Bath, ready for publication.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1087
__label__cc	0.63091	0.36909	Bonds News China's holdings of U.S. Treasuries hit near 2-year low -data May 15 (Reuters) - China’s ownership of U.S. Treasuries fell to its lowest in nearly two years in March amid uncertainty about a trade deal between Beijing and Washington, data from the U.S. Treasury Department released on Wednesday showed. China’s stake in Treasuries declined for the first time in four months to $1.121 trillion in March, which was the lowest since May 2017 when it was $1.102 trillion. It was $1.131 trillion in February, the data showed. Despite the drop in Treasuries holdings, the world’s second-largest economy remained the largest U.S. creditor. Since last week, there is renewed speculation whether China may sell its U.S. debt in retaliation for increased tariffs on $200 billion of its exports to the United States. On the other hand, Japan raised its Treasuries holdings to $1.078 trillion, the highest since November 2017, from $1.072 trillion in February. Meanwhile, foreigners resumed sales of Treasuries in March as U.S. 10-year yields fell to 15-month lows after the Federal Reserve signaled it would not raise interest rates in 2019, according to the latest Treasury data. They sold $12.53 billion in U.S. government debt in March after buying $19.91 billion the month before. Overseas accounts also sold stocks for 11 straight months, reducing their equity stakes by $23.64 billion in March. On the other hand, they bought $4.74 billion in agency securities and $1.11 billion of corporate bonds. (Reporting by Richard Leong Editing by James Dalgleish)	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1088
__label__wiki	0.606784	0.606784	Canterbury hosts outdoor Eucharist Canterbury is the collegiate Episcopal Church at ULM and derives its name from St. Thomas of Canterbury. The Episcopalian Church is the equivalent of the Anglican Church in Europe and began to adopt an independent identity during the time of the Revolutionary War. Anglicans in America began to refer to themselves as Episcopal during the war to indicate that they had become a separate church within the United States. Canterbury is a religious organization sponsored by the Episcopal Diocese of Western Louisiana, and the group held its first open air Eucharist in Bayou Park on a Thursday evening. The ceremony began at 5:30 p.m. with prayer and the recital of scripture and was held as All Soul’s Day approaches us on Nov. 2. All Soul’s Day is a day of prayer for the dead, which is particularly but not exclusively devoted to ones relatives. The ceremony is associated with All Saint’s Day, which precedes it on Nov. 1 and its vigil which is Halloween. It was led in part by the communications director Bette Kauffman along with two other priests. Two ULM students attended the ceremony, and each participated in the worship by reading scripture. Garret Boyte, a senior mass communications major, said he wanted to be involved in a church, but couldn’t find the right one until Canterbury. “They accept everyone no matter who you are,” Boyte said. This sentiment was echoed by Blake Marchbank, who said that when he discovered the church he was able to naturally fit in. “The organization on campus is a tight-knit group and the first day they treated me as if I had been there my whole life,” said Marchbank, a freshman history major. Organizations on campus are often seen as places of refuge for those looking to find their place at ULM and who desire a sense of community. Religious organizations often profess their openness and hope that those who are looking for a family on campus would share them a visit. Boyte said, “The Episcopal Church and Canterbury can often seem inaccessible as the book club meetings we hold can seem too intellectual and lack a sense of welcome. The standard service we held today gives people a chance to get involved.” Arch Deacon Kauffman was pleased with the event and said more ceremonies were to come for the organization. “We couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful night to hold this service,” Kauffman said.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1089
__label__wiki	0.547271	0.547271	Sierra Leone CC leading URI efforts to help Ebola victims 20 October 2014, 3:25 AM Youth in Action for Development (YAD) CC in Sierra Leone holding a youth event last year with the UN Alliance of Civilizations. YAD is leading URI’s action against Ebola. The 2014 Ebola epidemic is the largest in history, affecting multiple countries in West Africa. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), nearly 5,000 people have died already in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, from a total of about 9,000 confirmed, probable and suspected cases of Ebola. A few cases were reported in Nigeria and a single case in Senegal; but these cases were contained quickly, with no further spread in these countries. "It is clear...that the situation in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone is deteriorating, with widespread and persistent transmission of (Ebola)," the WHO stated last week. The origin of this virus, especially in West Africa, is a subject of debates and conspiracy theories. One thing, however, is certain: thousands of human beings have been infected, many have died already. If drastic measures are not taken, many more may get infected and die. Every one of us is affected, either directly or indirectly. One of our newest cooperation circles, Youth in Action for Development (YAD), based in Kenema District in Sierra Leone, is leading URI’s action against Ebola in the region. In collaboration with its German Partner, Fambul Tik e.V, YAD has, in the last three months, shipped 32 hospital beds with mattresses and three palettes of medical supplies to Sierra Leone. A second shipment of 35 beds and more medical supplies is currently underway. These beds and medical supplies are being delivered to various health posts in Kenema district, including Kenema city itself. Recently, the World Health Organization officially declared Nigeria and Senegal “Ebola Free”, but the situation in neighboring Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone remains very critical. The President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, sent out a passionate letter appealing to leaders and citizens of the world to rise and help humanity in pain in West Africa. In the letter, she says: “Ebola is not just a health crisis – across West Africa, a generation of young people risk being lost to an economic catastrophe as harvests are missed, markets are shut and borders are closed. The virus has been able to spread so rapidly because of the insufficient strength of the emergency, medical and military services that remain under-resourced and without the preparedness to confront such a challenge.” The current number of clinics and Ebola treatment facilities is not adequate. According to the Liberian President, one thing is very clear here: the fight against Ebola is a fight in which the whole world must show concern because we all have a stake. This disease respects no borders. The damage it is causing in West Africa, whether in public health, the economy or within communities is already reverberating throughout the region and across the world. Peacebuilding and Conflict Transformation Emmanuel Ivorgba Regional Coordinator for URI Western Africa Cooperation Circles Involved Youth in Action for Development “Our purpose is to work with the youth so they can concretize peace and democracy.” URI Sierra Leone CC “Our purpose is to unite the strength of individuals and organizations into a cohesive movement to make the world a safer place.”	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1091
__label__cc	0.596524	0.403476	Posted by shuttle On February 7, 2017 CITY OF INDUSTRY, Calif., February 7, 2017 —Shuttle Computer Group, Inc., one of the world’s leading designers of small form computers, announces its value-oriented DX30 player for up to three-screens of 4K digital signage, kiosks and other applications. Its fanless design and sturdy construction, coupled with a three-year limited warranty, makes it ideal for SMB deployments in particular. “With today’s announcement, Shuttle continues its tradition of offering a wide range of media players for digital signage and other applications,” said Robert Garcia, channel manager, Shuttle Computer Group. Shuttle's new slim model DX30 features a low-cost and low-power consumption design that is built with a new generation of Intel® Entry Level Apollo Lake SoC 14nm processor. The DX30 supports 4K/UHD with an Intel® integrated graphics GPU engine, to show fast-moving, vibrant, detailed graphics and video. Built-in HEVC/H.265 and VP9 decodes video with the latest generation codecs to play the widest range of video formats and reduces CPU utilization with lower power consumption. The DX30 has built-in Intel® i211 Gigabit LAN and supports Wake On LAN to provide high speed data transfers. Its Watchdog utility provides excellent security protection and helps maintain normal operation and stability at all times. To meet a variety of commercial applications, the DX30 includes a wealth of I/O and high-speed storage interfaces, including USB 2.0, USB 3.0, M.2, COM ports, and SATA 6Gbps. The DX30 provides two RS232 ports (one RS232 and one RS232/422/485) and one PS/2 port; it easily connects to peripherals such as a thermal printer, label printer, and bar code scanner. An adapter can be used to convert RS232 to USB port to support even more devices and peripheral-heavy applications. The DX30 has built-in one DisplayPort and one HDMI as well as one optional VGA (XPC accessory PVG01) port for supporting three independent displays. With a thickness of only 43mm with a 1.3L size, with VESA Mount standard support, the DX30 is easy to integrate into small spaces. It provides continuous 24/7 operation and uses a fanless cooling design, making it silent and stable, for long-term operation. The DX30 uses a thermal module with cool heatpipe technology to transmit heat throughout the system quickly and easily; use with solid-state disks and create a robust and silent operational platform. The DX30 is currently available for under $200; it comes with a three-year limited warranty on parts and labor. About Shuttle Computer Group Shuttle Computer Group is the North American subsidiary of Shuttle Inc., a publicly traded company established in 1983. Shuttle specializes in small form factor PC hardware for digital signage, point-of-sale (POS) and interactive kiosks in the retail, restaurant, food service and hospitality industries as well as motherboards and bare bones systems. For more information, visit https://us.shuttle.com or call 1-888-972-1818. Intel and Celeron are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation; HDMI is a trademark of HDMI Licensing. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners. Connectivity Reigns With Shuttle's XC60J Industrial Minicomputer Brains, Beauty at a Ground Breaking Price: NC01UWIN10HE Shuttle Brings New Business Solutions to 2012 Intel Solutions Summit Robust All-in-One for Retail, Wayfinding, Kiosk, Medical: X50V5 Shuttle Introduces Intel® Powered Digital Signage, Kiosk and Point-Of-Sale Solutions	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1093
__label__wiki	0.710391	0.710391	Victoria non-profit surpasses goal to save Hermann's Jazz Club Adam Lee, CTV Vancouver Island Published Friday, April 12, 2019 5:04PM PDT Last Updated Friday, April 12, 2019 6:36PM PDT Hermann's Jazz Club in Victoria has a new lease on life thanks to a society dedicated to its preservation. March 5, 2019. (CTV Vancouver Island) The Arts on View Society has surpassed its $75,000 fundraising goal to lease Victoria's iconic Hermann's Jazz Club with just days to spare. A fundraising concert held at Hermann's Wednesday raised more than $18,000, bringing the current total to $91,135. "We went right over the top," said Arts On View Society chair Bill Turner. "Everybody that was there knew they were pushing it over the top, so it was a good feeling. There was just such enthusiasm at that event for that and making it happen." The extra funds raised will speed up improvements to the venue that are part of the lease agreement. "Things like the carpets are 21 years old and showing wear in a lot of places," said Turner. "There's also some kitchen upgrades to do." Turner said that because the Arts on View Society is a charity, it will also be able to implement programs for musicians and students sooner with the extra money. The non-profit society is now working on legal paperwork and arranging the transition of operations in order to have the lease finalized by May 1. In early March, Arts on View signed an offer to lease and operate Hermann's Jazz Club for the next five years. The agreement was contingent on raising $75,000 for improvements and a deposit by April 15. The society raised the funds through a GoFundMe page, fundraising events and monthly pledges. Turner estimates around 700 donors participated. Historic Hermann's Jazz Club receives new 'lease' on life	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1097
__label__cc	0.662636	0.337364	Science Fiction Writer John Varley VarleyLog VarleyWalks Cirocco Two Boys and a Boat I can’t resist quoting a line from a review in the Boston Globe: “War Horseis the best film of the year. The year, unfortunately, is 1942.” First, let me assure you that I am a sentimental fool. I often cry at sad movies; hell, I can cry at happy movies. But I really resent being asked to cry every ten minutes during a 2½ hour movie, and be reminded of it over and over by swelling John Williams music cues. Spielberg is totally out of control here, every hyper-sentimental, super-manipulative, nakedly heartstring-stomping thing I hate about his films (and I love a great many of them) amped up to laughable extremes. I have literally never seen a film this soaked in schmaltz, not even in 1942. Love at first sight …four times! Tearful separations. Kidnapping, forced bondage, slavery, peril in battle, heroic plowing of the bottom forty … what’s that you say? How does plowing fit in? Why, didn’t you know this was about a horse? An apparently supernatural horse, no less, able to do things no horse can really do, such as understand English instructions and carry them out on the first try, and bond so tightly with another (male) horse that he rides to his rescue multiple times. It’s really awful, the silly depths we sink to here. Joey the half-thoroughbred makes his appearance in the auction ring, where a silly old man pays an outrageous price for him just to spite his landlord, than takes him home where his wife points out he has just doomed the family farm with his booze-swilling, spendthrift gesture. Are we supposed to be on the side of the drunken dreamer? I wasn’t. I wanted to kick the old geezer into next month, when the rent is due. Naturally, the farmer’s silly son falls in love with the horse. For a farmboy to get that attached to a farm animal is not wise, to say the least, so he’s following in his dumb father’s footsteps. Then the horse is shipped off to war. Everyone who encounters this horse, loves this horse. He changes hands half a dozen times, and all the owners love him. They are willing to go AWOL and disobey orders. His last guardian is a German artilleryman who practically breaks down in great Teutonic sobs when the horse is mistreated. This, while hundreds of thousands of his fellow soldiers are dying horrible deaths. At last he’s brought back to the British lines, and guess who’s there? Of course it’s the farmboy. And a doctor is brought out of the hospital bulging with gas victims … to treat the fucking horse! It’s a horse, goddam it! Shoot the fucking horse and get back there with your patients! I cold go on and on with chapter and verse this great big horse turd, but I’ve wasted too much time already. This was originally a children’s book, so maybe I’m being a little too harsh … but only a little. It then became a stage production, and I would dearly love to see that. It used life-sized horse puppets that have to be seen to be believed, absolutely lifelike in every movement. That’s a bit of stage magic that can work … on the stage. This was a misbegotten project, never should have been made. Titles Starting with W We Are The Best! (2013) Sorcerer (1977) Wadjda (2012) The Wagons Roll at Night (1941) What Maisie Knew (2012) Wait Until Dark (1967) Waiting for Guffman (1996) Waking Sleeping Beauty (2009) Walk, Don't Run (1966) Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007) A Walk in the Woods (2015) Walk on Water (2004) Walk the Line (2005) Walkabout (1971) Walking With Monsters/ Walking With Dinosaurs/ Walking With Beasts (1999-2005) Walking With Monster/Walking With Dinosaurs/Walking With Beasts (1999) WALL●E (2008) Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) Wallander (2008) Walt: The Man Behind the Myth (2001) Waltzes From Vienna (1934) Waltzes From Vienna (193) Wanted (2008) The War (2007) War and Peace (1956) War Games (1983) War Horse (2011) The War of the Roses (1989) War of the Worlds (2005) Warm Bodies (2013) Washington Heights (2002) The Wasp Woman (1959) The Water Diviner (2014) The Way Back (2010) The Way to the Stars (1945) The Way Way Back (2013) The Way West We Bought a Zoo (2011) We Don't Live Here Anymore (2004) We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011) We Own the Night (2007) The Weather Underground (2002) A Wedding (1978) Wedding Crashers (2005) Week-end at the Waldorf (1945) Welcome (2009) Welcome to Me (2014) We're the Millers (2013) Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe (1980) The West Point Story (1950) Whale Rider (2002) What Did You Do in the war, Daddy? (1966) What Happened To Monday? (2017) What Just Happened? (2008) What tHe #$*! Dθ wΣ (k)πow!? (2005) (2005) What We Do in the Shadows (2015) Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) What's Cooking? (2000) What’s New, Pussycat? (1965) What's New, Pussycat? (1965) What's Next, Corporal Hargrove? (1945) What's the Worst That Could Happen? (2001) What's Up, Doc? (1972) What's Up, Tiger Lily? (1966) When Billie Beat Bobby (2001) When Harry Met Sally ... (1989) When the Bough Breaks (1986) When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts (2006) When Worlds Collide (1951) Where the Truth Lies (2005) Where the Wild Things Are (2009) Whip It (2009) Whiplash (2014) Whisky Tango Foxtrot (2016) The Whisperers (1967) The Whistleblower (2010) White Heat (1949) The White Helmets (2016) White House Down (2013) The White Ribbon (2009) White Sands (1992) Whiteout (2009) Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) Who the Fuck is Jackson Pollock? (2006) The Whole Shebang (2001) Wicker Park (2004) The Widow (2019) The Wife (2018) The Wild Bunch (1969) Wild Hogs (2007) Wild Man Blues (1997) The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill (2003) Wild Strawberries (1957) Wild Tales (2014) Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) Win Win (2011) Wind (1992) The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006) The Window (1949) Winged Migration (2001) The Wings of the Dove (1997) Winter in Wartime (2008) Winter Passing (2005) Winter's Bone (2010) Winter's Bone (Second review) (2010) Wish You Were Here (1987) With a Friend Like Harry (2000) With a Friend Like Harry... (Harry, un ami qui vous veut du bien) (2000) Withnail and I (1987) Without a Paddle (2004) Witness for the Prosecution (1957) Witness to Murder (1954) Witnesses (2014) The Wiz (1978) The Wizard of Oz (1925) The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) A Woman, a Gun, and a Noodle Shop (2009) A Woman in Berlin (2008) Woman in Gold (2015) The Women (1939) Women in Love (1969) Wonder Boys (2000) Wonder Wheel (2017) Won't You Be My Neighbor? (2018) The Wooden Camera (2003) The Woodsman (2004) Woody Allen: A Documentary (2012) Wordplay (2006) Words and Pictures (2013) The World, the Flesh, and the Devil (1959) World Trade Center (2006) World Without End (1956) The World's Fastest Indian (2005) World's Greatest Dad (2009) Wreck-It Ralph (2012) The Wrestler (2008) Wristcutters: A Love Story (2006) The Wrong Man (1956) Wuthering Heights (1939) Movie Review Categories Best Foreign Language Oscars Our Gang Two-Reelers Saturday Night at the Toons The Films of Alfred Hitchcock The Films of Robert Altman The Films of Stanley Kubrick The Films of the Coen Brothers The Films of Woody Allen Top 25 + 1 Movies that I Love Movies Alphabetically Copyright © 2004–2019 by John Varley Website by Juniper Webcraft Background image 'Gaea 001' by Marcus Trahan Copyright © 2013 by Powerhouse VFX.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1098
__label__cc	0.601244	0.398756	Home map design tutorials Census Atlas Census Atlas Our population statistics cover age, sex, race, Hispanic origin, migration, ancestry, language use, veterans, as well as population estimates and projections. Business is a large part of America’s diverse economy. This section provides key information about businesses in your community. This section provides information on a range of educational topics, from educational attainment and school enrollment to school districts, costs and financing. We measure the state of the nation’s workforce, including employment and unemployment levels, weeks and hours worked, occupations, and commuting. Our statistics highlight trends in household and family composition, describe characteristics of the residents of housing units, and show how they are related. Health statistics on insurance coverage, disability, fertility and other health issues are increasingly important in measuring the nationâ€™s overall well-being. We measure the housing and construction industry, track homeownership rates, and produce statistics on the physical and financial characteristics of our homes. Income is the gauge many use to determine the well-being of the U.S. population. Survey and census questions cover poverty, income, and wealth. The U.S. Census Bureau is the official source for U.S. export and import statistics and regulations governing the reporting of exports from the U.S. The U.S. Census Bureau provides data for the Federal, state and local governments as well as voting, redistricting, apportionment and congressional affairs. Geography is central to the work of the Bureau, providing the framework for survey design, sample selection, data collection, tabulation, and dissemination. Find resources on how to use geographic data and products with statistical data, educational blog postings, and presentations. The Geographic Support System Initiative will integrate improved address coverage, spatial feature updates, and enhanced quality assessment and measurement. Find geographic data and products such as Shapefiles, KMLs, TIGERweb, boundary files, geographic relationship files, and reference and thematic maps. Metropolitan and micropolitan areas are geographic entities used by Federal statistical agencies in collecting, tabulating, and publishing Federal statistics. Find information about specific partnership programs and learn more about our partnerships with other organizations. Definitions of geographic terms, why geographic areas are defined, and how the Census Bureau defines geographic areas. We conduct research on geographic topics such as how to define geographic areas and how geography changes over time. Official audio files from the Census Bureau, including ‘Profile America,’ a daily series of bite-sized statistics, placing current data in a historical context. infographics include information on the Census Bureau’s history of data collection, our nation’s veterans and the American Community Survey. Learn more about our data from this collection of e-tutorials, presentations, webinars and other training materials. Sign up for training sessions. If you have received a survey, this site will help you verify that the survey came from us, understand and complete the form, and know how we protect your data. The American Community Survey (ACS) is a mandatory, ongoing statistical survey that samples a small percentage of the population every year. The AHS is sponsored by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. The Economic Census is the U.S. government’s official five-year measure of American business and the economy. Basic enumerations of population, housing units, group quarters and transitory locations conducted by the Census Bureau at the request of a governmental unit. Collects data and measures change for many topics including: economic well-being, family dynamics, education, assets, health insurance, and childcare. Our researchers explore innovative ways to conduct surveys, increase respondent participation, reduce costs, and improve accuracy. This page has moved. If your browser doesn’t automatically redirect to its new location, click here. Source.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1099
__label__wiki	0.585426	0.585426	Jazz on the Cumberland Victor Chatman VictorChatman.com Sunday, July 21 @ 5:30PM — 8:00PM Sun, Jul 21 @ 5:30PM — 8:00PM Jazz on the Cumberland 2019 Nashville Cumberland Park, Nashville, TN. 37213 Nashville Cumberland Park, Nashville, TN. 37213 Wednesday, July 24 @ 11:30AM — 1:00PM Wed, Jul 24 @ 11:30AM — 1:00PM Box Lunch Concert Series Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park, Nashville Tennessee Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park, Nashville Tennessee Sunday, August 11 @ 5:00PM — 10:00PM Sun, Aug 11 @ 5:00PM — 10:00PM Jazz With A View Nashville Fairfield Inn and Suites , Nashville Fairfield Inn and Suites , Nashville Wednesday, August 14 @ 11:30AM — 1:00PM Wed, Aug 14 @ 11:30AM — 1:00PM Brown Bag Lunch Special Concert Series Centennial Park Pavilion Event Shelter, Nashville, TN. 37203 Centennial Park Pavilion Event Shelter, Nashville, TN. 37203 Sunday, August 18 @ 5:30PM — 8:00PM Sun, Aug 18 @ 5:30PM — 8:00PM Jazz On The Cumberland 2019 Nashville Cumberland Park, Nashville, TN. 37213 Nashville Cumberland Park, Nashville, TN. 37213 Wednesday, August 28 @ 11:30AM — 1:00PM Wed, Aug 28 @ 11:30AM — 1:00PM Box Lunch Concert Series Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park, Nashville Tennessee Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park, Nashville Tennessee Sunday, September 8 @ 5:00PM — 10:00PM Sun, Sep 8 @ 5:00PM — 10:00PM Jazz With A View Nashville Fairfield Inn and Suites , Nashville Fairfield Inn and Suites , Nashville Sunday, September 8 @ 5:30PM — 8:00PM Sun, Sep 8 @ 5:30PM — 8:00PM Jazz On The Cumberland 2019 Nashville Cumberland Park, Nashville, TN. 37213 Nashville Cumberland Park, Nashville, TN. 37213 Wednesday, September 11 @ 11:30AM — 1:00PM Wed, Sep 11 @ 11:30AM — 1:00PM Brown Bag Lunch Special Concert Series Centennial Park Pavilion Event Shelter, Nashville, TN. 37203 Centennial Park Pavilion Event Shelter, Nashville, TN. 37203 Sunday, September 22 @ 5:30PM — 6:00PM Sun, Sep 22 @ 5:30PM — 6:00PM Jazz On The Cumberland 2019 Nashville Cumberland Park, Nashville, TN. 37213 Nashville Cumberland Park, Nashville, TN. 37213 Wednesday, September 25 @ 11:30AM — 1:00PM Wed, Sep 25 @ 11:30AM — 1:00PM Box Lunch Concert Series Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park, Nashville Tennessee Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park, Nashville Tennessee Wednesday, October 9 @ 11:30AM — 1:00PM Wed, Oct 9 @ 11:30AM — 1:00PM Brown Bag Lunch Special Concert Series Centennial Park Pavilion Event Shelter, Nashville, TN. 37203 Centennial Park Pavilion Event Shelter, Nashville, TN. 37203 Sunday, October 13 @ 5:00PM — 10:00PM Sun, Oct 13 @ 5:00PM — 10:00PM Jazz With A View Nashville Fairfield Inn and Suites , Nashville Fairfield Inn and Suites , Nashville Wednesday, October 23 @ 11:30AM — 1:00PM Wed, Oct 23 @ 11:30AM — 1:00PM Box Lunch Concert Series Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park, Nashville Tennessee Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park, Nashville Tennessee	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1102
__label__cc	0.501943	0.498057	How would you rate the 2018 Newton City Council? by Greg Reibman \| Dec 17, 2018 \| City Council \| 27 comments One year ago, a significantly different Newton City Council was getting ready to be sworn in. In addition to a new president (Marc Laredo), vice president (David Kalis) the council featured seven new members —Maria Scibelli Greenberg, Andrea W. Kelley, Christopher J. Markiewicz, Joshua Krintzman, Andreae Downs, Brenda Noel and Rebecca Walker Grossman— replacing several long time veteran councilors (most notably Scott Lennon, Ted-Hess Mahan, Amy Sangilo, Brian Yates and, of course, Ruthanne Fuller). It’s was also the first council that was evenly divided between 12 women and 12 men. Just over a year ago, we asked you to share their hopes for this new council? Your answers are here. And now, with this council holding its final full meeting of 2018 tonight, how you think they did? Which councilors stood out, surprised, annoyed or disappointed you? How effective were they representing you or addressing issues that mattered to you most? What do you hope to see from this group of 24 in 2019? Newtoner on December 17, 2018 at 8:00 pm Overall I think the council is doing well. In spite of what some (quite vocal) local organizations may say, I think the current cohort is faithfully representing the majority view on the key issues. Specifically, I would like to commend the six councilors who docketed the styrofoam ban. I don’t know who is the driving force behind it, but I fully support it and hope it passes. Sarah on December 17, 2018 at 9:07 pm In 2019, I’d like to see a little independent thought from the new city councilors. Except for Andrea Kelley, they all seem to be following the lead of Susan Albright and Deb Crossley. Dulles on December 17, 2018 at 10:52 pm It takes a special kind of person to serve in local government. It’s a civic duty without many rewards, especially here in Newton where a lot of people pay attention to local government and have high expectations. I was sad to see Ted and Amy go, and wasn’t happy when Brian Yates lost to Andreae Downs. From the new crop I’ve only been underwhelmed by Andrea Kelley. Mainly because Councilor Kelley has an exceptional resume (open space, LWV, PTO, housing, all strong issues), so I had exceptional expectations. So far I have not been impressed. Maybe I missed the City Council meetings where Councillor Kelley made brilliant observations. Bryan P Barash on December 17, 2018 at 11:13 pm I think we have a wonderful crop of new councilors coming into their own and a number of incumbents thriving in new roles. I’ve appreciated seeing David Kalis taking on new responsibility as Vice Chair, Councilor Albright leading on Zoning & Planning as we take on zoning reform, and some exciting new councilors bringing new voices and perspectives in Josh Krintzman, Brendan Noel, Andreae Downs, Andrea Kelley, Becky Walker Grossman and Chris Markiewicz. I left one off intentionally, because I have found Maria Scibelli Greenberg to have a particularly impactful perspective on the council. Take a moment to talk to her if you haven’t yet! Peter Karg on December 18, 2018 at 10:28 am I’m disappointed that not one Council member has docketed an item dealing with reducing the size of the Council. Newton voters have made it clear many times that they want a smaller Council. Any Member want to step forward? Mary Mary Quite Contrary on December 18, 2018 at 10:55 am I’ve been disappointed in some things, like the way many of the councilors dealt with the marijuana question. I’m grateful for the councilors fighting to figure out a solution to the parking ban, but I’m also disappointed that some of the councilors remain oblivious to the issue and unwilling to change it. Overall, I feel that it’s all been a bit of a mixed bag this year, but I’m curious to see how next year goes. I’m curious about some of the zoning and development stuff. Mike Striar on December 18, 2018 at 1:05 pm There are 24 City Councilors in Newton. Not one of them respected the vote of their constituents and stood firm to protect the ballot initiative that legalized marijuana. I’ll cut Albright and Krintzman some slack, because while their strategy was flawed their intentions were good. The rest of the Council members crossed a line with their lack of respect for voters and the democratic process. I have no intention of forgiving and forgetting. Peter Karg on December 18, 2018 at 1:17 pm @Mike – I feel the same way about the Council’s failure to come up with a suitable plan to cut the size of the Council. They are openly defying the will of the voters that voted on several proposals to do so. Jane Frantz on December 18, 2018 at 1:47 pm Peter – I’d rather have 24 councilors than an 8-8 configuration. That’s a nightmare situation, with half the council fighting for their turf. Not to mention, the vote was 18 years ago and doesn’t represent the will of the current population. The new council is doing a fine job. It hasn’t been easy to have so many new faces and they’ve proven themselves and thorough in completing their work. I agree with Peter Karg. Institutionally speaking, the Board of Alderman’s disrespect for voters started when they ignored a ballot box vote instructing them to downsize the Board. It continued when they blocked implementation of the ballot initiative that legalized medical marijuana in 2012, putting hundreds of sick patients in the untenable situation of having to leave Newton to fill their prescriptions. This more recent attempt by the City Council to undermine the expressed will of the voters is reflective of an alarming, long-term pattern of disrespect for voters. Throw the bums out! Jane, Totally disagree. If you took a new vote, voters would again want to see a reduced City Council. It is one of the largest municipal bodies in the country. Less is best! Marti Bowen on December 18, 2018 at 2:25 pm Peter, people change their minds and new residents replace old ones so votes taken 11 years ago don’t necessarily reflect the will of the voters today. Without studying how the council’s responsibilities would be distributed among boards, commissions, city personnel and the smaller council, it would be foolish to docket a new council configuration. I don’t think 8 Ward elected and 8 elected at large have the right ratio nor do I think an all at-large council is fair to all. I’m fine with 24 right now while the city decides how best to reduce the size of the council. Peter – I’d love to see a smaller city council and see A 12-member council to be more effective, but the 8-8 configuration is the worst possible scenarios and I’d prefer 24 to that. I’ve been surprised in many ways both good and bad by the new city council, school committee and the mayor this year. Definitely didn’t like the handling of recreational marijuana by the council and the mayor, but thanks go to Susan and Josh for their hard work and for wrangling a zoning ordinance. I have been disappointed in the way Hello Washington Street! is still not paying much attention to the residents of Newton – even though that is what they say they are doing. Isn’t it time to nail down some realities and discard some “pie-in-the-sky” observations. Also disappointed in almost selling the police station building and still no plan on what needs to be included in a new police headquarters. Very glad to hear that the SC will not be voting on shortening the school day this year without adding later high school start times. I’m proud to have Susan Albright and Emily Norton but not so much Jake Auchincloss as councilors in my Ward. I had hoped this year that Jake would let his constituents know how he was leaning on city decisions before the decisions are made and spend more time on city issues. Mary Mary Quite Contrary on December 18, 2018 at 3:08 pm I’m with you about Hello Washington Street, Marti. I feel like a lot of the campaign is trying to give residents the illusion of having control over the project. Something about it feels condescending and dishonest. That survey where we were picking out pictures of things we like felt silly – yes, I like the cobblestone roads and sidewalk cafes in those European pictures, but that’s not really relevant to Washington Street. Even the more recent presentations seem unrealistic. I’d like some transparency and realistic plans. I’d love Washington Street to become more aesthetically pleasing and more practical, so it’s kind of frustrating right now. Amy Sangiolo on December 18, 2018 at 9:11 pm I’d like to give a shout out to the following Councilors – Emily Norton, Brenda Noel, Jake Auchincloss, Lenny Gentile, Chris Markiewicz, Becky Grossman, Rick Lipof, Susan Albright and City Clerk, David Olson for participating in the gift drive for local shelter in Waltham. Their generosity speaks volumes! Pat Irwin on December 19, 2018 at 6:54 am I would like to know who exactly gave the green light to the sketchy massage parlor a block away from me, especially considering that associates of the current proprietors were taken in for sex trafficking at the same location. TY 🙂 Rick Lipof on December 19, 2018 at 9:56 am Peter and Mike, You are not correct: Check the docket. I docketed the reduction of the size of the Board On 02/05/2018 #114-18. To reduce the Board to 16. To be fair to my friend Jane, I am open to anything that is a reduction in size and am willing to discuss 9, 12 or 16, but something much be done with by the Council. I docketed 8/8 as that is what many seem to be reasonable. I understand pros and cons and would be happy to debate that in the future. In deference to the ongoing Charter reform committee of the Council, I have allowed a delay of my item to enable them to bring a recommendation forward, but I and others are becoming impatient. I will press the council to move the item forward if the Committee takes too long. @ Rick Lipof – Thanks for the clarification and your efforts to move the discussion forward. @Rick Lipof– Thanks for clarification regarding your proposal to reduce the size of the City Council. While I’ve always supported a smaller Council, the gist of my comments pertain to a pattern of lack of respect the City Council has demonstrated for their constituents by ignoring and overturning ballot box votes. Most recently, not a single City Councilor defended the 2016 vote to legalize cannabis that Newton voters had approved by a large margin. A handful of your colleagues actively worked behind the scenes to try and derail the voter approved law. The City Council ultimately forced voters back to the ballot box for a ridiculous revote. My comments were principally about that lack of respect for the voters. Colleen Minaker on December 19, 2018 at 2:39 pm The City Council will vote in favor of any development any where in the city, anything anywhere is their motto. So far much damage has been done in Newtonville, and Adams St. at Quirk Ct. The Sunrise development in Ward One and several more on both JFK Circle and California St. Nonantum is target number One and the residents feel exploited. In November, the city council will be held accountable if they pass the Zoning Reform initiative. Two thirds of the council would vote for it now. The majority of Newton voters would not favor the new proposals as is because rezoning will increase dramatically the density of every neighborhood, even those in Chestnut Hill and West Newton Hill. Key north side villages would lose their historic feel and characteristics. Main travel arteries would be much worse. NO, our city council is not voting responsibly on many key issues. Many new councilors ought to be voted out in November. Jack Prior on December 19, 2018 at 8:51 pm @Mike S — At some point I think thou doth protest too much. The approved 2016 law explicitly provided for an option of the override vote, which was exercised. The majority of the city council opted to not put that forth without a full citizens petition, and then when a full petition emerged, a majority endorsed a confusing parallel vote that left the city with no limitations and 8+ dispensaries. In general ward councilors supported Cannibis a bit more than the at-large in the initial opt-out vote. More than 4 in 10 Newton residents supported the ban. Less than 6 in 10 didn’t. There was diversity of opinion on the issue the the city, and that diversity of opinion was represented in council votes and actions. That is a good thing. Some people are ardently against local representation on the council, as they believe it encourages defense of “turf” as one person phrased it. As illustrated in comments above, some still see elimination of local representation as a much high priority than any size reduction. Others see local representation as supporting diversity of opinion on the council, as well as providing members a route to initial office without the support of the dominant political structures in the city. The council has had tough work in the past 12 months and it is only getting started. Thank you all for your service. @Jack Prior– In the debate over the City Charter you suggested a 24 member City Council would be better representative of the electorate than a smaller body. Your opinion on that matter was demonstrably proven wrong by the fact that not a single member of the Council supported the expressed will of the electorate regarding marijuana legalization. You promised better representation, but 0% of the City Council was willing to defend the vote of 55% of their constituents. How do you explain that, Jack? @Mike — The expressed will of the electorate approved a law that had as its key feature, cited by the lead proponent of the law in arguing for it, a provision for cities to opt out if they chose to via referendum. That is what the electorate voted for. https://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/elepdf/IFV_2016.pdf The council could have put opt out on the ballot by themselves (without a petition, and without a 2-4 option) but they didn’t. The council has a majority pro Cannibis position. That’s the reality. I was not a fan of the “this are two independent questions” approach taken, and you can attack the pace of zoning definition, but I think residents are getting represented. @Jack– You said… “The Council has a majority pro cannabis position. That’s the reality.” As a medical and adult-use cannabis rights advocate I don’t see that as “reality” at all. The Newton City Council voted without dissent to ban marijuana after the voters went to the polls and legalized it. Not one of those 24 elected officials truly respected the vote. That is the unfortunate reality. Jack – Your timing is wrong. The council voted to put the limits question on the ballot in July. As was their right, a group collected signatures in August to place a second question on the ballot to ban stores. Just because they chose to take that action doesn’t mean the council should have reversed its previous action taken just seven weeks before. To be clear, the choice to have two questions on the ballot was Opt Out’s, not the city council’s. IMO, a city council with a significant number of new members would’ve looked weak and impulsive if they’d voted to rescind an action taken just seven weeks before. All of which is water under the bridge because on November 6th, the voters rejected both questions. Like it or not, elections matter.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1106
__label__cc	0.555159	0.444841	Your Sexual Health Questions Answered Category: Wellness West Michigan's only Center for Women's Sexual Health is expanding and moving to a new facility! Working together with Grand Rapids OB/GYN, the practitioners at the Center for Women's Sexual Health understand that the complex job of taking care of oneself includes more than simply taking a pill. Center for Women's Sexual Health has been working diligently to expand their services to adequately serve each patient. The Center is directed by one of only three AASECT-certified sexuality counselor PAs in the country, has a board-certified and daVinci robot-trained surgeon, a psychiatric PA, a pelvic floor physical therapy department, a personal trainer, a nutritionist, and other holistic health providers—all in one location. The center is joining with Grand Rapids Specialty Therapy, West Michigan's only therapy group founded and directed by a nationally certified sex therapist—providing women in West Michigan with a place to ask nationally and board-certified sexuality professionals your questions. "It's been a longtime dream of mine—after trying to navigate the healthcare system and running into roadblock after roadblock—to provide this type of center to our community," said Nisha McKenzie, PA-C, IF, CSC, Grand Rapids OB/GYN, and Co-Founder and Director of the Center for Women's Sexual Health. "Women run into enough obstacles along the path of self-care and health care. Our goal is to remove the barriers and provide a comfortable, empowering, judgment-free environment for women to receive whatever type of care they need to reveal their authentic, healthy selves; women should be allowed to feel entitled to quality medical care, and to their sexuality!" Thanks to the specialty training of the center's staff, the center is also able to focus on treatment for patients who are cancer survivors and sexual abuse survivors. "I was referred to the Center by my oncologist post-mastectomy—I'm so glad she did," said Julie B., a patient at the Center. "Nisha asked questions that hadn't even occurred to me and connected me with Lily, who is the most knowledgeable and gentle physical therapist I've ever encountered. They have the resources and network of providers that help me rebuild my entire relationship with my body. I'm perpetually grateful." The center will also offer one-on-one consultations in a private office with a sexual health professional, for women to choose and take home their chosen sex toy or pelvic floor medical device without the concern of shopping online and having unwanted and untimely pop-up ads emerge later on their Facebook timeline. "Center for Women's Sexual Health is the state of Michigan's crown jewel in women's sexual health care," said Sallie Foley LMSW, AASECT-certified sex therapist and founder/former Director—University of MI Sexual Health Certificate Program. "Their visionary interdisciplinary care—addressing every aspect of women's sexual health—is exceptional and unique in the state and can serve as a model for women's care everywhere." Check out the new facility, meet the team and take a tour at the open house: March 21, 2019, from 6 to 8 p.m. 4070 Lake Drive SE, Suite 101 Grand Rapids, Michigan, 49546 For more information: Center for Women's Sexual Health \| YN \| Grand Rapids Specialty Therapy Courtesy of Center for Women's Sexual Health, Grand Rapids OB/GYN, Grand Rapids Specialty Therapy. Grand Rapids OB/GYN Nisha McKenzie Center for Women's Sexual Health The Popularity of Porn: When Does It Become Problematic? July 17, 2019 Wellness 55 and Fit!	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1111
__label__cc	0.63102	0.36898	Things to do in West Wales Things to do in Pembrokeshire Things to do in Ceredigion Things to do in Carmarthenshire Adventure & Theme Parks Landscape & Wildlife Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Next Kidwelly Castle Kidwelly Castle, an imposing Norman castle now in the care of Cadw: Welsh Historic Monuments, is very well-preserved. The Great Gatehouse, completed in 1422, still stands almost to its full height. Walk around the outside of the half-moon shaped outer walls to fully appreciate the dominating ...read more Cadw. Crown Copyright. Devil’s Bridge Devil’s Bridge is a village in the foothills of the Cambrian Mountains 12 miles from Aberystwyth which is famous for its three bridges, built one on top of the other, and the cascading waterfalls of the River Mynach. It is also known for the Vale of Rheidol narrow gauge steam railway which takes ...read more Cenarth Falls The falls are a stretch of greenery-covered rocks on the River Teifi, interspersing several small waterfalls and pools in drier seasons, turning to a dramatic view of amazing floodwaters in the rainy season. They are also well-known for the salmon leap, when the salmon travel to their spawning ...read more Llangrannog Beach Llangrannog beach is a sheltered, sandy bay known as ‘Traeth y Pentref’ – the village beach. It is popular with families and surfers and is a great place to relax and watch for dolphins out at sea. There is a distinctive rock on the shore called ‘Carreg Bica’ which according to legend ...read more Cilborth Beach Cilborth beach is a small sandy beach sitting under steep cliffs to the north of Llangrannog. The beach is sheltered and a distinctive large rock on the shore’s edge, Carreg Bica (Giant’s Tooth) marks the entrance to Llangrannog main beach to the South. There are a few smaller sandy coves ...read more Tenby Castle Beach Accessed from the harbour or down a steep flight of steps off The Paragon, this lovely, sandy beach, sheltered by cliffs can disappear altogether at high tide. The boats to Caldey Island leave from Castle Beach at low tide when the harbour is dry. Car parking: The multi-storey car park is ...read more Milford Waterfront Here at Milford Waterfront, we’re building a future upon our history and creating a vibrant waterfront destination to welcome the world! Milford Waterfront is a great place for a day out! With boutique shopping, leisurely coffees with a great view, delicious food at one of the many cafés or ...read more Aberystwyth North Beach Aberystwyth's North Beach and seafront is a focal point of the town and a favourite attraction for visitors and locals alike. The mile-long promenade is popular with walkers, joggers, skaters, roller-bladers, bikers - and those who just want to relax by the seaside. Close to the town, the ...read more Aberystwyth South Beach Quieter than the town’s North Beach, Aberystwyth’s long South Beach can be found between the town’s castle and the harbour breakwater. The southernmost part of the sheltered sand and shingle beach is a great favourite for experienced surfers and body boarding. It is a good place to spot ...read more Clarach Beach Clarach Bay is a small sand and shingle beach about one mile north of Aberystwyth and looks out across Cardigan Bay. The beach is flanked by cliffs and the river, Afon Clarach flows into the sea on the north side. The valley behind the beach is populated by hundreds of caravans and holiday ...read more Borth Beach Borth has a three-mile stretch of sandy beach, backed for the most part by a pebble storm beach. There are rock pools at the south end of the beach where there is also a Lifeboat station and a small slipway. The beach then extends for approximately 3 miles northwards. The first two miles or so are ...read more Penally Beach Penally is a sand and shingle beach backed by dunes and protected from the wind by Giltar Point headland. It is an extension of Tenby South beach rather than a separate bay with a quieter feel and popular with dog walkers all year round. At low tide, it is possible to walk all the way to Tenby ...read more Carreg Cennen Castle and Farm is open 364 days a year. As Wales’ most dramatically situated castle perched on top of a limestone crag, it offers visitors the chance to appreciate some truly spectacular panoramic views. You can lose yourself for an hour or so whilst you peer through every arrow ...read more Llanrhystud Llanrhystud is a half-mile long sandy beach at low tide, backed by a storm bank of shingle. Heading south the shore becomes rockier, backed by low cliffs where you will find the remains of five historic lime kilns next to the path. To the north is the Afon (river) Wyre, and the shore beyond here is ...read more Llanerchaeron Llanerchaeron is an 18th-century Welsh gentry estate built by John Nash which is now in the care of the National Trust. It is set in the beautiful Aeron valley with extensive estate and parkland walks. It has many unaltered features including the dairy, laundry, brewery and salting house and a ...read more ©NTPL/Andrew Butler National Wetland Centre, Llanelli The National Wetland Centre stretches over 450 acres on the Burry Inlet and is a magnificent mosaic of lakes, pools and lagoons. It is home to numerous species as diverse as dragonflies and Little Egrets. There are hundreds of ducks, geese, swans and flamingos to see as you wander the landscaped ...read more Cors Caron Nature Reserve, Tregaron This wild and beautiful wetland reserve is on the upper reaches of the River Teifi and is a great location for wildlife. It includes areas of raised bogs, wet grasslands and reedbeds, all interspersed with streams and ponds, and small areas of woodland. Used for peat extraction until the ...read more Aberystwyth Cliff Railway Climb aboard the Aberystwyth Cliff Railway for breathtaking views over the seaside town of Aberystwyth and the surrounding West Wales landscape. Gaze down the steep slope to the sea as the carriages are hauled up to the summit of Constitution Hill. Opened in 1896 and operated on a water balance ...read more Llanelly House Found near the centre of the town of Llanelli, this Georgian town house was once the residence of Sir Thomas and Lady Stepney. The grand and beautiful home and its inhabitants, through interactive exhibits, allows you to step back in time and experience life in the Georgian era. Daily tours in ...read more Caldey Island A pleasant boat trip from Tenby Harbour takes you to this beautiful, fascinating island. Caldey has been inhabited since the Stone Age and home to various orders of monks since Celtic times. It is now owned by monks of the Cistercian Order, whose picturesque monastery dominates the village with ...read more	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1113
__label__wiki	0.615799	0.615799	Several Killed in Texas School Shooting Harris County Police Department Harris County Sheriffs officials received reports of an active shooter situation at Santa Fe High School just before 8 AM this morning. CNN is reporting that at least 10 have been killed, most of them being students and at least have 12 have been hospitalized. The Houston Chronicle has identified the shooter as 17-year-old Dimitrious Pagourtzis, who has been taken into custody. Law enforcement are searching the premises for additional victims and explosives. The Santa Fe Independent School District urged those in the area via Twitter not to touch "any items out of place," as explosives have been found in areas off campus adjacent to the school. The shooter used the fire alarm to lure staff and students out of classrooms. MaKenna Evans, a 16-year-old sophomore at Santa Fe High School, told CNN "she heard the fire alarm. When the students got outside, her principal told them all to run." Santa Fe is located approximately 35 miles south of Houston. According to the Houston Chronicle, the school has a student body population of around 1,500.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1116
__label__cc	0.712361	0.287639	Updated September 20, 2018 by Ezra Glenn The 10 Best Ovulation Tests We spent 45 hours on research, videography, and editing, to review the top choices for this wiki. So, despite the weight gain, sleepless nights, odd food cravings, hormonal mood swings and then, 18 years later, the exorbitant college costs, you've decided to try and get pregnant. Well, don't say we didn't warn you. But to move you along, here's a selection of ovulation tests that will help you determine the best days on which to try and conceive. When users buy our independently chosen editorial picks, we may earn commissions to support our work. Skip to the best ovulation test on Amazon. 10. ClinicalGuard LH20 ClinicalGuard LH20 comes as a pack of 20 and has an easy to use detection design, with one control band and one that appears only with a positive result. The price is right, but if you prefer midstream-style tests, this may not be the right one for you. Takes only a few seconds to use Strips are a bit small Some users receive false negatives ClinicalGuard 9. MediTesti LH If you have irregular cycles, the MediTesti LH is a good, inexpensive option for frequent fertility checks. It can detect surges of luteinizing hormone in the urine up to 36 hours before peak ovulation, and delivers results in under 5 minutes. Strips are individually wrapped Two-year shelf life Results are sometimes ambiguous MediTesti 8. Wondfo One Step Eliminate the guesswork and maximize your chances of getting pregnant using the FDA-approved Wondfo One Step. Its 50 strips offer accurate detection at levels of luteinizing hormone as low as 25 milli-international units per milliliter of urine. Includes helpful instructions Flat packages are easy to store Some users get inconsistent results Wondfo 50LH 7. BLT Smart Fertility Monitor The BLT Smart Fertility Monitor uses modern science to generate a fertility calendar based on your basal body temperature. The thermometer is embedded with Bluetooth technology that uploads data automatically to its companion app, which calculates your results. Alarm function for daily reminders Requires no urination Reading process is time-consuming EMAY 6. AccuMed Combo The AccuMed Combo is an economical bundle for those in the process of getting pregnant. It includes 40 LH strips that have been meticulously crafted to the highest quality standards as well as 10 pregnancy strips, so you're ready for the next step when the time comes. Impressively sensitive Requires just a 3-second dip Positive results may appear faint AccuMed 5. First Response Value Pack From one of the most respected names in family planning, the First Response Value Pack includes a total of 10 midstream-style sticks. Use the seven LH-sensitive units to determine when to conceive, and the three hCG-sensitive ones will let you know if it worked. Over 99 percent accurate Wide easy-to-read lines Packaging is bulky and wasteful 4. Easy@Home Combo Kit The Easy@Home Combo Kit includes an ample 50 LH strips to monitor fertility as well as 20 that measure hCG, to help you determine if you're pregnant. Unlike many strip-style options, these almost always provide definitive and accurate answers when used correctly. Simple 3-step process Very low cost per strip Results in 3 to 5 minutes Easy@Home 3. Clearblue Digital As the #1 OB-GYN recommended brand, Clearblue Digital is a popular choice for predicting fertility. It uses digital technology to give you easy-to-read results in the form of a smiley face on the days when you're most likely to get pregnant. Thick stick is easy to hold Pack of 20 should last two months Provides a definitive yes or no 2. Pregmate Predictor Pack The Pregmate Predictor Pack will help you conceive without spending a fortune. With 50 included tests that claim 99% accurate results, even women with the most irregular menstrual cycles can figure out just the right time to get started. Notched packets for easy opening Long strips keep your fingers clean Approved for use by the fda PREGMATE 1. iProvèn FK-127 Kit The iProvèn FK-127 Kit includes everything you need to track your fertility and, once you've capitalized on that, your impending pregnancy as well. Its individually packaged strips require a simple five-second dip to provide accurate results. Comes with 50 lh and 20 hcg strips Can also be used to avoid pregnancy Hassle-free refund policy iProvèn The Science Behind Ovulation Tests When trying to conceive, timing is more important than many people may realize. In order to capitalize on this window of time, many couples use ovulation tests to govern when they should have sex. Trying to get pregnant can be one of the most frustrating experiences of some couples' lives. Sure, it's easy for many people to get pregnant. So easy, in fact, that it often happens by accident. But that's far from the case for as many as one in every eight couples in America. Even the average couple with totally normal levels of fertility has just a 20-25 percent chance of conceiving each month. In order to improve their chances of getting pregnant, many women turn to home ovulation tests. These primarily take the form of a strip of paper or small device used to test the levels of luteinizing hormone, or LH, present in a woman's urine. High levels of the hormone typically indicate that a woman will be at her most fertile within the next few days, although results vary from person to person. LH is produced in the pituitary gland, located beneath the brain. It is produced by both men and women, and serves a range of functions for the body. It helps regulate a woman's menstrual cycle, which is why it can be used to determine when peak ovulation will occur. A spike in LH levels typically occurs a day or two before the optimal time to conceive because it triggers the release of an egg from the ovaries into the uterus. When trying to conceive, timing is more important than many people may realize. Once an egg is released, if it is not fertilized within 24 hours, a woman's body will naturally dissolve it. In order to capitalize on this window of time, many couples use ovulation tests to govern when they should have sex. Sperm can live for three to five days, so having sex at the time of your LH surge, a few days before an egg is released, may increase your chances of getting the timing right. Of course, for women who do not want to get pregnant, LH tests can also be used to determine when not to have sex, or when to use protection with a trusted partner. This is often referred to as the rhythm method, and while far from 100 percent effective, it can help couples avoid an unwanted pregnancy. It's important to remember that your body's readiness to conceive has nothing to do with your susceptibility to sexually transmitted diseases, so the rhythm method is only safe for disease-free couples in monogamous relationships. Additional Ways To Find The Right Moment to Conceive While ovulation tests are usually accurate with regards to detecting LH levels, they cannot actually predict when ovulation will take place. Depending on the person, actual ovulation may begin within one to two days of a spike, but it also might not. It's also hard to know when to test yourself if you're not keeping close track of your menstrual cycle. Peak fertility usually occurs in the middle of your menstrual cycle. For the best results, it's wise to use ovulation tests in combination with a variety of other tools and methods to improve your chances of conceiving. The most important step is to track your menstrual cycle and know where you are in it at all times. This can be difficult for women with abnormal cycles, but there are a variety of tools designed to help, including specially designed calendars and mobile apps for your phone. Peak fertility usually occurs in the middle of your menstrual cycle. Ovulation tests let you know that the best time to conceive is coming up, but basal thermometers can help you pinpoint the perfect moment even further. These allow you to chart your body temperature to notice patterns that occur in your cycle. For many women, their temperature elevates immediately following ovulation. Tracking your basal temperature at the same time each day can give you a good idea of the perfect moment in your cycle to attempt conception, especially once you've recorded it for a few consecutive months. The other major indicator of fertility lies within cervical mucus. While it may not have crossed your mind before, there are very specific changes in the amount and consistency of the fluids secreted by a woman's cervix that occur depending on where she is in her menstrual cycle. During peak fertility, the cervix increases production of a clear and stretchy mucus that looks and feels like egg whites. It's designed by the body to provide a protective medium for sperm traveling to the uterus. By taking note of when your body produces this type of mucus and having sex during that time, you can further boost the likelihood that you will conceive a child. Of course, there is no infallible method for finding the moment when you are most likely to conceive. However, by combining ovulation tests with these other methods, you can certainly increase your chances. A Note About Infertility Struggling to get pregnant can be an extremely stressful experience for any couple. There are lots of ways to strategically improve your chances, but, as hard as you might try, the reality is that it is impossible for some couples to conceive without medical intervention, if at all. Infertility is caused by an incredible variety of things, and can rest in the biology of either a male or female partner. It can also be changed or combatted in many ways. Regardless of what you think the problem may be, if you've been trying to get pregnant for over a year with no success, it's a good idea to talk to a doctor. Among women, one of the most common causes of infertility is age. The biological clock we often speak of is real, and fertility decreases with age, even long before menopause. Hormonal conditions can also make it difficult to conceive. Tumors, polyps, and cysts in the uterus may also be the culprit, and are often removable. Stress, thyroid problems, alcohol and drug use, and many other factors contribute as well. Male infertility may be a result of low sperm count or abnormal sperm function. These issues, too, can be caused by a wide variety of health and behavioral issues. Regardless of what you think the problem may be, if you've been trying to get pregnant for over a year with no success, it's a good idea to talk to a doctor. Many problems are easily resolvable, especially if you move quickly. See all health wikis » Last updated on September 20, 2018 by Ezra Glenn Ezra is a writer, photographer, creative producer, designer, and record label operator from New York City. He has traveled around the world and ended up back where he started, though he's constantly threatening to leave again. Ezra holds a bachelor's from Bard College, and is currently enrolled in the MBA program at UCLA's Anderson School of Management. His professional experience includes a stint at the Brooklyn-based website “Rap Genius,” and he has run his own artist management and development agency. For the Wiki, he has developed expertise in the areas of travel, exercise, and home goods, and has researched extensively in the areas of electronics, furniture, and pet care.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1117
__label__wiki	0.590079	0.590079	Oxfordshire Sports Awards - 23rd November Wallingford Rowing Club's women's junior quad took one of the top honours this weekend at the seventh annual Oxfordshire Sports Awards, held at the Kassam Stadium in Oxford. After a year of incredible sporting achievements, nominations were plenty and competition was fierce at this year’s ceremony with entries from a huge range of sports. Wallingford’s junior girl’s quad made it into the finals after a fantastic year of consistent achievements; remaining undefeated at a local, national and international level whilst balancing training with their GCSEs and contributing overall to the club. The quad consisting of Hannah Whelan, Freya Dale, Leanne Reeves and Alice Walker, beat Banbury U13 Girls Cricket Team and Team Cherwell Junior Triathlon Team to win Junior Sports team of the Year. The girls have had great success at local rowing events but also went onto win six key national and international events including National Schools Regatta, Henley Women’s Regatta and GB v. France match. Other rowers who joined them on the winners’ podium were 2012 Olympic gold medallist Andy Triggs-Hodge and cox to the 2012 Paralympic Gold LTA mixed four, Lily van der Broecke who won Sportsman and Sportswoman of the year respectively.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1118
__label__wiki	0.537979	0.537979	LOOKING AT THE MENTALITY OF THOSE HIRED TO "PROTECT & SERVE" In the past I've written about the code words used to convey just why a Black, Brown or Yellow Inhabitant of this nation was beaten or killed after being confronted by a cop. Usually the code words center around the implication that this person was somehow deemed to be a threat (i.e "The Suspect was Non Compliant," "The Officer Feared For His Life," "A Crime Had Been Committed, In That Area, Earlier In The Day," etc). However, many of these same tense confrontations take place in other communities & those "citizens" either Live To See Their Day In Court-or Walk Away with a Warning. YouTube is full of videos of White Citizens assaulting cops, and much care was taken to simply contain said suspect. So what's the difference? It's the Mentality. NO, ALL COPS ARE NOT RACIST & VIOLENT. But they are human. Socialization is real, and so is its psychological impact on how we view everything around us is real. So if said cop views certain elements of the population in a negative light, Right or Wrong, this will impact how they interact with them. Sad to say this often places The Black & Brown population in danger, whenever we come into the presence of cops. We must Dissect 7 Attack the Mentality that far to often leads to the use of Lethal Force in Black & Latino Communities across America. Here we have Seattle Police Officer Cynthia Witlatch & Charleston, West Virginia Lieutenant Shawn Williams as recent examples of people who just shouldn't have a badge. Seattle Police Officer Cynthia Witlatch arrested an elderly Black man for carrying a golf club down the street. According to her reports, the golf club was viewed as a weapon & he was using it in a threatening manner towards her. The reality of the matter was that the 69-year-old man was using the golf club as a cane. And the allegedly threatening behavior took place while she was driving past him. Officer Whitlatch wrote in her reports that she wasn’t certain if Wingate’s action was “directed at me” until she saw him in the rearview mirror. Wingate’s “demeanor was hostile and his actions were threatening and I perceived them as such.” in-car video did not capture those events. After hearing that William Wingate had accepted a plea deal for an unlawful weapon charge, Officer Witlatch sent emails to the state Attorney's Office complaining that about that they should have also pursued Obstruction of Justice charges & then went on a Social Media Rant about Black Racists. Dashcam footage has since been discovered, that shows that Mr. Wingate did nothing wrong, and even worse that Officer Witlatch lied in her reports. Charges have since been dismissed. Back in October, Charleston, West Virginia Lieutenant Shawn Williams was placed under Leave-pending Investigation-after video was released that exposed his White Supremacist leanings. The video is said to have been of his eight year old daughter singing a Klu Klux Klan Anthem, while dressed in parts of his Police Uniform. In the background he can allegedly be heard Shouting Racial Slurs. Williams & many others claimed that there was some type of conspiracy against the Officer, and that his privacy had been violated, because the videos came from his personal computer. In late January Lieutenant Williams finally resigned from the Charleston Police Department. The video is said to have been leaked by his soon to be Ex-Wife. Again remember that The SOCIALIZATION & Embedding of Racist Attitudes/Beliefs is key here. Who knows what damage has been done to the mind of his eight year old daughter, or what havoc she may now spread among her peers.	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1120
__label__wiki	0.98984	0.98984	Home » Music » Taylor Swift Reveals Name of Her New Single to Robin Roberts in the Middle of the 2019 Draft Taylor Swift Reveals Name of Her New Single to Robin Roberts in the Middle of the 2019 Draft TS7 is coming — and no one is more excited than Taylor Swift herself. Appearing live from Nashville, the superstar opened up about her new single just hours ahead of its release to Robin Roberts on ABC Thursday night during the NFL Draft. The Grammy winner, 29, has been dropping clues about her new music for months, and finally gave fans the name of her newest track — “ME!”. And in even more exciting news for Swifties, Swift will be dropping a video for ME! at midnight too. The single, Swift told Roberts, will also feature Panic! at the Disco’s Brendon Urie. “‘ME!’ is a song about embracing your individuality and really celebrating it and owning it,” the songstress explained. “With a pop song, we have an ability to get a melody stuck in people’s heads and I just want it to be one that makes them feel better about themselves.” The star praised her fans for also making her feel better about herself and caring so much that it inspires her to have fun with music. Speaking of her fans, she said: “I cannot believe how dedicated they are, how thoughtful, I can’t believe how much they care.” “You have no idea how fun it is to make stuff for people who care about it that much,” Swift said, explaining that is why she goes to so much effort to create Easter eggs and other fun secret things for fans to discover. Earlier Thursday, Swift did just that when she popped by the Gulch area to take photos at a mural in Nashville painted by artist Kelsey Montague — and give fans yet another clue. Fans began gathering at the colorful mural of angel wings — which has been rumored to be somehow Swift-related for weeks — in the morning and watched Montague add a “ME!” to the center of her artwork. Signing autographs and posing for selfies with her fans after her arrival, Swift commended her Swifties for realizing she was going to be making a visit. “You guys are amazing for figuring this out because no one knew we were coming. No one knew this was a part of the campaign and what we’re doing, so you figured out the clue,” she said. “You’re the best. I love you so much.” Over the last week, Swift has stepped out in various colorful floral get-ups (including at a high-profile appearance at the TIME 100 event) and continued to tease fans about her new music. She even showed off some of her new merch by wearing a cropped long-sleeved T-shirt with her name on the sleeve. Though she only unveiled the “4.26” date earlier this month on social media and her web site, it seems she has been dropping clues about new music for months. Swift has also seemingly put a dark chapter — her last era was ruled by the snake — behind her and embraced a new colorful aesthetic filled with glitter, crystals, hearts and more. Swift’s new music will be her first since leaving her longtime home Big Machine Label Group and moving over to Republic Records and Universal Music Group. Chrissie Hynde Previews New Covers LP With Rendition of ‘Caroline, No’ Taylor Swift’s new song: about as far as you can get from Reputation	cc/2019-30/en_head_0026.json.gz/line1123

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