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Perfect Ten: The best MMO updates and expansions of 2019
The down side of doing these columns at the end of the year every year is that there’s a certain challenge of writing the introductions. The up side? They’re not a vote! I can just put whatever I want on them in any order that tickles me, and no one else gets a vote on the matter! So, anyhow, this list is just Shadowbringers a dozen times, thus breaking every rule I have for the column. Entry number 7 prominently features Dulia-Chai.
I jest, of course; not only would I probably get yelled at for that, I don’t actually think that’s appropriate in the first place because there were a lot of good updates this year… and thankfully, this year it also feels like there were enough titles that deserved a nod that there’s even a reason to note the updates that didn’t make it into the list proper. So here’s a list for you about the best updates and expansions of 2019, in a loose order and with a note about those that were ultimately not quite in the core list.
1. Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers
It won our award for a good reason. Final Fantasy XIV hit it out of the park this year, and while I don’t necessarily agree with people claiming that it may be the best story in the series, it’s still an amazing story… and an amazing game besides. Seriously, you have to give this one its propers. It’s going to be hard to follow up on, but… well, that’s sort of the problem to have, isn’t it?
2. The Elder Scrolls Online: Elsweyr
Aw, The Elder Scrolls Online kind of got steamrolled this year with regards to updates. Elsweyr was fine! Heck, it was downright good, and it’s another installment in a long line of solid updates for the title. It probably would have been in play for the big prize if not for, well… this year. But the advantage to these lists is that we can look back at those titles, and let’s be real here, this was a solid year for updates to TESO all through.
3. World of Warcraft: Classic
You could argue that this one doesn’t count as an update, but I feel like it was, and it was World of Warcraft finally jumping into the progression-ish server thing that’s worked so well for other long-running titles. And as someone who actually was there back during the classic days, the feeling of the game is definitely true to life. It’s a weird time capsule. I wouldn’t say I love it, but that’s more a function of why we kind of needed to move on and… well, I already wrote that series of columns.
4. Lord of the Rings Online: Minas Morgul
Even though I’m not a main person of Lord of the Rings Online, the existence of Minas Morgul makes me happy just because it answers a longstanding question in my mind about where the game goes after Mordor. Like, it was always sort of there as a question, yes? How does the story continue when the story is done? As it turns out… it finds places to go. It keeps going. And I respect that and it makes me happy.
5. No Man’s Sky: Beyond
Gosh, No Man’s Sky just… kept going, didn’t it? After what we all expected would be the launch that leaves the game as a complete punchline, it wound up updating and improving, and then we got Beyond this year. I love this. I actually have had fun in NMS this year, to boot. No, it’s not an MMORPG in the sense of fully persistent servers, but it’s such a step in that direction it deserves a big nod.
6. Star Trek Online: Rise of Discovery
It’s really easy to kind of forget or overlook the fact that Cryptic’s two bigger MMORPGs routinely get major updates every single year, and Star Trek Online almost always includes voice cast from the on-screen actors in a series while tying into the continuity established across more than 50 years of shows and films. How do you tie into the Discovery show when it’s set long before the MMO? It’s Star Trek. Time travel is a thing.
7. Neverwinter: Uprising
While Neverwinter doesn’t have the advantage of recognizable stars to fans, it does have the advantage of having all those years of D&D to draw from, and sometimes you get things that are just tailor-made for some particular weirdo’s fascinations. Like, say, someone who really likes psionics and githyanki and the like. Cough.
8. Black Desert Online: Great Expedition
All right, so maybe that one’s a bit of a cheat, because Black Desert Online (as we discussed recently on the podcast) lacks the big marquee features it could kind of use as a single big update. This year is no exception. The game launched on multiple consoles this year and half a million consistent content updates! It just never had one big expansion-size burst, which is a bit of a downside for marketing. Still, we can kind of… moosh all of that together into one header, and the whole Great Expedition umbrella was good stuff. We just moosh it. Moosh.
9. Star Wars: The Old Republic: Onslaught
This really should have been a more solid year for Star Wars: The Old Republic, but I think to a certain extent Onslaught had the unenviable task of charting a course for the game ahead from the two very story-heavy (and solo-heavy) expansions back into a story that had things like the Sith/Republic split and things to do that were not a single contained narrative experience. That’s a lot of balls to keep in the air. Did it work? Well… it’s a step. It has to keep moving next year, but the first steps are the hard ones.
10. Guild Wars 2: Living Story updates
Guild Wars 2 was putting out Living Story stuff all year, but it never did get that expansion that everyone – including me – expected for the year. All that story never seemed to quite coalesce into one big update that really deserved the singular nod, and the tepid response thus far to the whole “saga” update left me with a not altogether pleasant feeling. Still, if I’m going to give a nod to some of the other items on this list that sort of smoosh a group of updates into one loose identity, it’d be unfair not to give GW2 the same credit.
Those of you who have read this column for a long while know that I generally have a dim opinion of adding honorable mentions, not for lack of love but simply because that makes it not a list of 10. But hey, if we keep having lots of things to pick between, some things theoretically deserve a spot but don’t fit in there, and there were lots of options this year. So, you know… keep that up.
Case in point: Warframe released an update that was remarkably solid, which is also kind of just how Warframe tends to roll but deserves a nod. It’s just a stuffed list, and given the choice between that and NMS, the latter gets the spot. The main WoW had its big update in the summer, but… well, even if you want to argue it should count as a different game entirely rather than an update, it wasn’t enough to clean up from the weakness of the expansion overall.
Villagers & Heroes released such a great summer expansion that it hopped its way to the top of our Indie MMO of the Year award for the first time in a decade. Path of Exile did a consistently great job over the past year, and that would have been just as viable; I think its updates for next year look even more compelling, though of course our commenters will feel free to argue amongst themselves over whether the game is MMO enough to make this list.
Then there’s ArcheAge Unchained, and its associated Shadows Revealed update, which I actually had on here initially, but since that game keeps being a trash fire, I ultimately demurred on that point. I think it’s a fascinating idea, but it doesn’t seem to be an idea that’s actually getting delivered upon. Quelle surprise.
Everyone likes a good list, and we are no different! Perfect Ten takes an MMO topic and divvies it up into 10 delicious, entertaining, and often informative segments for your snacking pleasure. Got a good idea for a list? Email us at justin@massivelyop.com or eliot@massivelyop.com with the subject line “Perfect Ten.”
2019 eoty listicle
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Previous articleThe best Massively OP community polls of 2019
Next articleThe most popular MMORPG conversations of 2019
Moosh it. Moosh it real good.
Arktouros
I don’t really see why you have to “moosh” anything for Black Desert. There were multiple big releases throughout the year that all received the normal release fanfare including preview and big talking points at Twitchcon, Gamescom, Gstar, etc as well as have held numerous own big self promotions such as the Heidel and recent Calpheon balls.
Even ignoring the more mechanical updates (that arguably have had bigger impact on the game) you had the new Shai class release, Lifeskill Mastery overhaul, and the Great Expedition release. They also had Shadow Arena but we’ll just not talk about that one.
The main thing I have noticed is that, generally speaking, most of the writers at MOP are generally disinterested in Black Desert as a game. This is fine, for sure, and people should play what they’re interested in and at least we now have Carlo doing some articles for the game however when it comes to generally being aware of what’s going on for the game there’s a black hole of knowledge. People hear something and it’s like “Oh that’s pretty neat.” but have no context to put it in due to that unfamiliarity.
Steven Williams
The site doesn’t cover RuneScape much, either. One thing I enjoy about this site is that it puts its writers on center stage, but with it comes a few “holes” like BDO or RuneScape – covered generally or after-the-fact, but not very in-depth. The MMOs it does cover in depth like that – i.e. FFXIV and TESO – keep me on the site quite frequently. That, and the think pieces.
I hope MassivelyOP can get more writers experienced in these games. I don’t know about BDO much myself, but it’s become a big enough game on Steam to justify someone doing a series of articles, at least.
We have a dedicated Black Desert column by a hardcore Black Desert player – Carlo took up Desert Oasis almost a year ago now and very much goes in-depth on the game. Incidentally, Ark’s characterization of how our staff plays and perceives BDO is not accurate. We talk a bit about it on the roundtable podcast, but BDO came surprisingly close to GOTY in 2019.
RuneScape, or more specifically OSRS, is always on the bubble, but it’s not a primary traffic driver for various reasons, so it never quite breaks through.
Oh, you’re right!
I don’t know why my eyes glazed over them for so long D:
LOTRO Legendarium: Wait a minute, LOTRO, you lost me
Massively Overthinking: The sunsetted MMOs we never played
Vague Patch Notes: How MMO studio communication and player confidence really work
MMO Mechanics: Three favourite action combat systems
Working As Intended: What it means to be an MMORPG
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High School Girls Want Your VC Money Too
By Daniel Hirsch | May 4, 2014 | AP, Business, Events, Featured, Front Page, Mobile, Technology, Today's Mission | 2
One of ICA’s Technovation teams pose with mentors from Double Dutch. Photo by Daniel Hirsch.
In the offices of the Mission start-up DoubleDutch a fairly typical Silicon Valley scene unfolded last week: people were pitching ideas for mobile apps. But conducting these marketing presentations were a not-so-typical contingent: teenage girls.
As part of Technovation, a global entrepreneurship program dedicated to getting more young women inspired to pursue careers in computer science, five student teams from Immaculate Conception Academy (ICA) worked with mentors from DoubleDutch, a business conference tech company with offices in the US Bank Building, to develop mobile app prototypes. On Thursday, three of the teams, all with students in either in 11th or 12th grade, pitched their apps to a room full of DoubleDutch employees.
“In these tech companies, all you see is man, man, man,” said Valeria Varela Romo, an 11th grader at ICA and one of the students participating in Technovation. “Women have the same right and can do just as good work… This made me feel more powerful.”
The event was the capstone to Technovation’s 12-week curriculum in which the teens were tasked with coming up with an app idea that addressed a particular issue in their community. The ideas included an urban discovery app called Culture Connect, an organizational tool for students applying to college called College Path, and an event app called InTouch that aimed to increase and diversify attendance at extracurricular high school events.
In addition to creating a concept, the teams had to code a functioning prototype and produce an enticing pitch presentation. The marketing skills were in full effect as the students easily slipped into the tech-speak of VC meeting. Words like “target audience,” “freemium model,” and “gamification” pervaded the presentations.
“Markets, revenue models, work flows, it’s all completely at a level I couldn’t imagine for first time developers,” said Shardul Shah of the venture capital firm Index Ventures, who unbeknownst to the teams was invited to attend the presentations. “These women are much more mature and thoughtful than I was in high school.”
For the adult women in the room, seeing the young women have the opportunity to practice entrepreneurial skills struck a personal and political note.
“I’ve tried to start my own companies, and it has been a completely male-dominated world… when you look at the raw numbers they really speak for themselves,” said DoubleDutch director of marketing Jen Hawkins. “Anything we can do to attract more women, the better.”
A recent study published by Tracy Chou, a software engineer at Pinterest, found that in a sample of 84 tech companies, only 12.4 percent of engineers were female. Similar studies show even smaller percentages of female decision makers at venture capital firms.
“Once you go into workplace, it’s easy to feel outnumbered and that it’s very much a boys club… it just pushes a lot of women out, who think, ‘This just isn’t for me,’” said Judy Ho, Technovation’s Bay Area director. “The idea is to help young women see themselves as producers not just consumers. If you lack diversity within companies, the products produced lack diversity.”
Founded in 2009, Technovation provides schools around the world with a curriculum to get teams of girls to design and pitch an app, teams then submit their app to Technovation for a Global Pitch Day and a winning team receives $10,000. Ho explained that this is Technovation’s biggest year with 2,500 girls participating across 32 countries, which is double the combined totals of previous years.
For the young women at ICA, their pitch day at DoubleDutch was a practice round that included bouts of questions from DoubleDutch staffers, a handful of whom worked closely with the teams over the 12 week program. The room of software engineers and seasoned tech employees didn’t hold any punches, asking the team pointed questions about how they’d define success metrics, what their marketing strategies were, and what plans they had for developing a user base. For the most part, the team of teenagers fended off the questions confidently.
At one point a DoubleDutch employee said he was particularly interested in the event listing app InTouch, because he went to an all boys high-school and it was a challenge to get girls to come to their events.
“It could be useful in getting a prom date,” the employee said.
“Yeah, exactly,” said a member of team behind the app, noting ICA is an all-girls school with the same problem.
“Couldn’t you take advantage of Facebook or another platform for the same use case?” asked another DoubleDutch employee.
“I don’t want some random boy I don’t know from another high school friending me,” said the teen developer who explained her app’s specific, targeted use would eliminate such a creep factor.
After the presentations, audience members voted to award the best overall presentation of the day to College Path, the app that provides students a checklist and resources for applying to college.
“It’s surprising, that this doesn’t already exist,” said Eric Di Benedetto, an angel investor invited to the event. “Simple ideas are always the best… there’s real value there.”
Would he be ready to hand over some seed funding to the team behind College Path?
“We’ll see,” said Di Benedetto with a laugh.
For the young women behind the pitches, the opportunity proved valuable regardless of any potential VC cash infusion.
“It was a ton of work, but I thought it was totally worth it,” said 11th grader Jam Magaling from the College Path team. “An app like the one we designed would have actually been really useful…It would have helped me remember to finish my SAT practice test on time.”
Tags: tech
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Daniel Hirsch
daniel.hirsch@missionlocal.com
Daniel Hirsch is a freelance writer who has been living in the Mission since 2009. When he's not contributing to Mission Local, he's writing plays, working as an extra for HBO, and/or walking to the top of Bernal Hill.
Sister Jeanne on May 16, 2014 at 10:58 am
Type comment here.
YES! Onward, Christian Women!
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Do you have a will? Write one now to save your family pain and agony
Will and testament. Photo/FILE
By AGEWA MAGUT
Once a loved one has died and the grief has abated, a family has to divide the property left behind among themselves.
The absence of a will makes things more difficult, as some may want to take more for themselves while leaving others out.
When a person dies without a will, they are said to have died intestate.
Battles over property sometimes drag to the courts after a person dies.
Kenyans rarely want to think of death, especially their own. Hardly are preparations ever made beforehand – on what to do with the body, how long to wait until the burial, where to bury the body and, most importantly, who will take over their estate once they are gone. Those who make these arrangements before they die are often regarded as odd or simply macabre.
INTESTATE
Cultural beliefs are mostly responsible for this mindset and thus, few Kenyans make a will before they die.
“Many of those who approach me to write their wills are old. However, I believe anyone with dependants or if single but with considerable property, ought to write a will,” family law practitioner Enricah Dulo told the Saturday Nation.
Once a loved one has died and the grief has abated, a family has to divide the property left behind among themselves. The absence of a will makes things more difficult, as some may want to take more for themselves while leaving others out. When a person dies without a will, they are said to have died intestate.
According to Thursfield Solicitors’ website, an article by Edward Jones says that a will is important for various reasons. First of all, it ensures that one’s wishes are respected. It guides the way one’s estate is distributed among their survivors. It ensures that unmarried partners and even charities are included in the inheritance, whereas the lack of a will would only see direct heirs benefit.
Murungi, Linturi vow to unite Meru leaders
Mr Edwards says further that a will also enables one to name their preferred choice of guardian for their children. In the event a person dies before their children turn 18, the people they think would be best suited to raise their children will be given the responsibility. This minimises the chance of legal battles over custody, which further traumatises the minors after the death of a parent.
The third reason is to ensure that one minimises the chances of the succession dispute going to court.
1 Hour Ago Senate plenary to decide Waititu fate
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Four risks that could slow Facebook down
Posted on August 1, 2016 by Eric Benjamin Seufert
Facebook announced its Q2 earnings report last week, beating analyst forecasts for the quarter and causing a 6% rise in the company’s stock price in after hours trading. The highlights of the report were:
– Overall ad revenues were up 63% year-over-year, to $6.24BN;
– Mobile ad revenue represented 84% of total ad revenue in the quarter, up from 76% in the same quarter one year ago;
– Net income was up 186% year-over-year;
– Messenger has surpassed 1BN MAUs and Instagram has surpassed 500MM MAUs;
– Mobile-only MAUs have nearly reached 1BN, at 967MM. Mobile MAUs are at 1.574BN.
In the call, Sheryl Sandberg dedicated a significant amount of time to describing and delineating Facebook’s various mobile video advertising initiatives; just as in Facebook’s earnings call last quarter (which reported similarly impressive results), Sheryl Sandberg went to great lengths in this call to convince investors that the company not only has a mobile video strategy but is executing against it impeccably. In the call, she said:
People have shifted to mobile, and marketers know they need to catch up. Mobile is no longer a nice to-do, it’s a must-do, and we’re working closely with marketers to help them make this transition.
The best marketers understand that people watch video differently in mobile feeds. The goal is to create what we think of as thumb-stopping creative, videos that grab attention in the first few seconds, even without sound…
We’re excited to bring more relevant video ads to people both on and off Facebook. In May, we expanded Facebook Audience Network to include video for brand objectives. This means that advertisers can place video, brand video ads, not just on Facebook and Instagram, but across a network of apps and sites.
In my post on Facebook’s Q1 results, I noted the many new tools that Facebook has brought online to assist advertisers in creating relevant, engaging video ads for users (particularly those on poor connections or with sound turned off). Facebook is obviously investing heavily in this suite of tools and in generally emphasizing video across its portfolio of apps (Mark Zuckerberg mentioned in the call that his ambition is for Facebook to transition toward “video first” content in the mid-term future), and its stock price is a testament to how well it is doing in that regard. It’s perfectly understandable why Facebook would be investing so heavily into video on mobile with advertising initiatives and projects like Facebook Live: mobile video advertising is set to grow to $6.82BN by 2019.
And while no one can argue that Facebook hasn’t done phenomenally well in transitioning its advertising business to mobile, its continued success isn’t quite a foregone conclusion. Facebook faces four principle risks in expanding its mobile advertising reach.
Data availability in developing world
Facebook doesn’t have much growth left to achieve in the developed world. This is a graph of growth rates in Facebook’s MAU by geography for the past two years:
Quarter-over-quarter MAU growth has been hovering at or below around 1.5% per quarter in the US and Canada and Europe since Q3 2014, whereas growth is about triple that in Asia Pacific and double that in the “Rest of World”. ARPUs are much lower in those geographical buckets than in the Europe / US and Canada buckets:
Smartphone ownership in the developing world trails that in the developed world by a significant margin, according to a recent Pew report:
That said, the same Pew study found that internet users in the developing world are more likely to use social networking sites than those in the developed world (probably due to a higher percentage of older adults owning smartphones and using the internet in the developed world):
But it’s not really smartphone ownership that serves as the impediment to reaching users in the developed world with mobile advertisements: it’s the relatively high cost of mobile data in those regions.
Facebook has gone to great lengths to make inroads in India, specifically: the company attempted to connect Indians to the internet (or, rather, a version of the internet with Facebook as its epicenter) for free, but that project, which was called “Free Basics”, was banned by the Indian government (along with other so-called “zero rated” programs that essentially give free mobile data to users that allows them to browse certain sites and use certain services). India is important to Facebook, and its failure with the Free Basics project represents a serious problem for the company: at one point, Facebook expected that about 30% of the new users it’d acquire by the year 2020 would come from India.
While Facebook has seen successes in countries like the Philippines and Zambia through partnering with mobile operators to give away free data to use Facebook, India was seemingly the company’s most prized destination, and it wasn’t able to penetrate that market with the free data strategy. If Facebook faces similar setbacks going forward, and if data remains prohibitively expensive in large-population developing nations, the company’s ability to grow its mobile video and advertising products could be compromised.
Facebook can’t scale native video content to capture brand advertisers
The battle for attention in mobile video is part of a broader war to win television advertising dollars. Snapchat, for instance, recently struck a deal with Nielsen that will have the latter provide TV-centric performance metrics to advertisers that run video ads in its Live and Discover placements. The metrics provided as part of Nielsen’s mDAR package (“mobile Digital Ad Ratings”) comprise reach, frequency, and demographic composition.
Of course, Facebook offers more or less the same thing with its Premium Video Ad product in the form of Nielsen Online Campaign Ratings (I discussed this set of metrics in my 2016 GDC presentation about the launch of Angry Birds 2). Sheryl Sandberg devoted a considerable amount of time in the Q1 earnings call to talking about how well Facebook’s video ad products accommodated existing TV ad creatives in a clear bid to convince investors that Facebook is ready to start running large brand campaigns on Newsfeed.
But despite these measurement programs, designed to make brands more comfortable with spending money on mobile, brands haven’t yet shifted considerable budget to mobile video en masse (although it is happening to some extent). Native video placements may placate brand advertisers, but it seems that the native video content in which those placements are run attracts them: this is the probable impetus behind Facebook’s Live product, on which it has spent a reported $50MM for content from celebrities and video creators.
It’s also the likely catalyst behind the original series being created for YouTube Red, including those from PewDiePie, Joey Graceffa, and CollegeHumor. Yes, these series will be ad-free, but the creators are free to strike brand deals for in-show sponsored content — albeit via Google’s sales team.
So Facebook has an iron in this particular fire, but the question is whether the company can scale this content format outside of its Facebook Live product to the extent that it becomes a more attractive destination for brand advertisers than other mobile video properties. Facebook Live, which is heavily integrated into the Newsfeed, may not seem “native” enough, from a content perspective, for brands to feel comfortable spending lavishly. If that’s the case, beyond Instagram, what other options does Facebook have? Messenger seems like an awkward place to feature video, as does WhatsApp.
While its possible that Facebook Live could be spun out of the Facebook experience into its own app, it seems more plausible that Facebook would try to acquire an ascendant video property and grow it via a Facebook integration. Which introduces the next risk.
Newsfeed becomes saturated and Facebook can’t scale new properties
In the Q2 earnings call, several analysts asked Facebook’s CFO, David Wehner, about “ad load”, or the percentage of ads relative to organic content across Facebook’s properties. Of this, Wehner said:
And really, I think one of the things that’s enabled us to grow ad load has been improving the quality and the relevance of the ads, as you’ve mentioned…
We still see the opportunity to grow inventory from the growth of people and engagement on Facebook, as well as our other services like Instagram. Instagram does have a lower ad load than Facebook.
Interpreting this, it sounds like Wehner expects the ad load in Instragram to increase and for it to stay the same in Newsfeed but for Newsfeed’s reach to grow. But from where can that growth in reach be achieved? As was discussed in the first risk point, growth in the developed world is about 1.5% and the infrastructure to deliver video advertising in the developing world is fairly scant.
More likely, this growth would come from additions to the Facebook app portfolio through M&A transactions. And while Facebook has a fantastic M&A track record with high-profile acquisitions like WhatsApp and Instagram, it missed Snapchat. In the Q2 call, Mark Zuckerberg made reference to two video app start-ups, musical.ly and live.ly, that are positioned to appeal to millennials, which proves that he is cognizant of what’s happening in that space.
But acquiring these types of companies early is a proposition fraught with danger: the ones that will ultimately be successful tend to be very viral, but virality alone doesn’t guarantee long-term success (for instance, Dubsmash, which was once a Top 10 Downloaded app in the US on iPhone, now languishes in the 300s). Yet waiting until a video app is successful in its own right is sure to drive its price into the stratosphere, at which point that app’s creator has likely taken equity financing, with its investors and founders incentivized to stay independent for the duration (see: Snapchat). It’s an interesting dynamic that could prevent Facebook from being able to grow its app portfolio through M&A, which is a risk: if it can’t, and if Newsfeed becomes too saturated, then its video ad business could falter.
Platform operators intervene
With 84% of Facebook’s overall advertising revenue coming from mobile, it’s safe to say that mobile app install ads are an important component of Facebook’s revenue profile, even if the company doesn’t break that particular segment out from the total in its financial reporting. But both Google and Apple have either introduced or announced the impending arrival of direct response mobile app install ads in their respective storefronts, with Apple’s taking the form of ads in search results.
Facebook faces the risk that either platform (but namely, Apple) decides that direct-response app install ads are an important revenue stream that they benefit from bringing into their own walled garden — that is, by pairing app install ads with proprietary data or tools in a way that creates operational exclusivity to them. In Apple’s case, this could happen should search ads prove to not drive the amount of revenue expected (my own opinion on search ads can be found here; opinions seem to be mixed in terms of whether search ads are good or bad for developers). If this proves to be the case, Apple might become more aggressive with respect to discovery and attempt to prevent third-parties from driving installs, preferring instead to capture app install ad revenue within the App Store.
Facebook would certainly feel this. Of course, Facebook wouldn’t be alone: it’d be a huge disruption to the existing dynamics of the app ecosystem and would send major shockwaves throughout the app development community. But it’s a risk nonetheless, and one that Facebook (or any other advertising network, for that matter) has little control over.
Heracles helps consumer technology and media companies reach massive audiences through strategy consulting, deep analysis, and marketing technology.
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The Ultimate Guide to Mobile Marketing in 2019 - Mobile Dev Memo top articles - Mobile gaming advertising market - How to model product growth - Optimizing mobile marketing campaign spend - Calculating user churn - Measuring app virality
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UMI Super Edge - Specification, Features.
Phones Specs >> UMI >> UMI Super Edge
Specs | Reviews | Secret codes | Unlock | Root
General Information UMI Super Edge
Android Performance Smartphone
Brand & Model:
UMI Super Edge
Product Release Date:
Display & Screen UMI Super Edge
IPS, LCD 2.5D Arc SHARP LTPS capacitive touchscreen
Display Size: The size of a screen is usually described by the length of its diagonal, which is the distance between opposite corners. It is also sometimes called the physical image size to distinguish it from the logical image size,which describes a screens display resolution and is measured in pixels.
5.5 inches FHD
Resolution: Image resolution can be measured in various ways. Basically, resolution quantifies how close lines can be to each other and still be visibly resolved. Resolution units can be tied to physical sizes (e.g. lines per mm, lines per inch), to the overall size of a picture (lines per picture height, also known simply as lines, TV lines, or TVL), or to angular subtenant. Line pairs are often used instead of lines; a line pair comprises a dark line and an adjacent light line.
Multitouch Input: In computing, multi-touch is technology that enables a surface (a trackpad or touchscreen) to recognize the presence of more than one or more than two points of contact with the surface. This plural-point awareness may be used to implement additional functionality, such as pinch to zoom or to activate certain subroutines attached to predefined gestures.
Display Colors:
Pixel Density (In PPI):
400.53 PPI (Pixel per inch) pixel density
Touch Screen:
Multi touch Capacitive
Display Protection:
with Corning Gorilla Glass 5
2.5D Arc Screen FHD Display
Multi-touch capacitive screen
IPS SHARP LTPS Screen
400.53 PPI Pixel Density
95% NTSC
71.17% Screen to Body Ratio
Secondary Display:
Camera & Features UMI Super Edge
Camera Type:
Dual Camera (One Front One Back)
Rear Camera:
Image Dimensions:
Primary Camera Features:
High Dynamic Range mode (HDR)
Digital image stabilization
Scene Mode
Flash Type:
Dual LED Flash
Front Facing Camera:
8 Megapixel with LED Flash 720P
Hardware Parameters & Memory UMI Super Edge
Chipset (SoC): Mobile phones run on so-called embedded chipsets, which are designed to perform one or a few dedicated functions, often with real-time computing constraints. They are embedded as part of the complete device including hardware and mechanical parts.
MediaTek Helio P10 MT6755 Processor
CPU Frequency: The clock rate typically refers to the frequency at which a chip like a central processing unit (CPU), one core of a multi-core processor, is running and is used as an indicator of the processors speed. It is measured in clock cycles per second or its equivalent, the SI unit hertz (Hz). The clock rate of the first generation of computers was measured in hertz or kilohertz (kHz), but in the 21st century the speed of modern CPUs is commonly advertised in gigahertz (GHz). This metric is most useful when comparing processors within the same family, holding constant other features that may impact performance.
Octa Core 1.8GHz up to 2.0GHz ARM Cortex-A53 64-bit CPU
Number of Cores:
Graphics Processing (GPU): The GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) is a specialized circuit designed to accelerate the image output in a frame buffer intended for output to a display.
ARM Mali-T860 MP2 700MHz
RAM (Memory): Random-access memory (RAM) is a form of computer data storage. A random-access memory device allows data items to be accessed (read or written) in almost the same amount of time irrespective of the physical location of data inside the memory.
4GB/6GB LPDDR3 933MHz
Internal Memory: A reference is distinct from the data itself. Typically, for references to data stored in memory on a given system, a reference is implemented as the physical address of where the data is stored in memory or in the storage device. For this reason, a reference is often erroneously confused with a pointer or address, and is said to "point to" the data.
64GB/128GB eMMC 5.1
Memory Speed (RAM):
Card & Expandable Memory:
Supports microSD card up to 256GB
Sensors:
Ambient Light Sensor
Gravity Sensor
Compass Sensor
Network & Cellular UMI Super Edge
Network Technology:
GSM / WCDMA / FDD-LTE
2G Network Bands: 2G is short for Second Generation, the name usually given to original GSM, CDMA, and TDMA networks. 1G, a term rarely used, would refer to the original analog (AMPS) type mobile networks first used in the early 1980s.
Support 2G: GSM 900/1800/1900MHz
3G Network Bands: 3G actually stands for "third generation", as it is the third type of access technology that has been made widely commercially available for connecting mobile phones.
Support 3G: WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100MHz
4G Network Bands: 4G LTE is one of several competing 4G standards along with Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB) and WiMax (IEEE 802.16). The leading cellular providers have started to deploy 4G technologies, with Verizon and AT&T launching 4G LTE networks and Sprint utilizing its new 4G WiMax network.
Support 4G: FDD-LTE 800/1800/2100/2600MHz
SIM Card Type:
Dual SIM Support:
with 1 Micro SIM Card and 1 micro SIM/TF Card Dual SIM Slot, Dual Standby.
Software & Platforms UMI Super Edge
Operating System: Is an operating system for smartphones, tablets, PDAs, or other mobile devices. While computers such as the typical laptop are mobile, the operating systems usually used on them are not considered mobile ones as they were originally designed for bigger stationary desktop computers that historically did not have or need specific "mobile" features. Mobile operating systems combine features of a personal computer operating system with other features useful for mobile or handheld use; usually including, and most of the following considered essential in modern mobile systems; a touchscreen, cellular, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS mobile navigation, camera, video camera, speech recognition, voice recorder, music player, near field communication and infrared blaster.
Android v6.0 Marshmallow Operating System
User Interface (UI):
with Modified Android
Java (Software Platform): Java is a programming language and computing platform first released by Sun Microsystems in 1995. There are lots of applications and websites that will not work unless you have Java installed, and more are created every day. Java is fast, secure, and reliable. From laptops to datacenters, game consoles to scientific supercomputers, cell phones to the Internet, Java is everywhere!
Social Network (FB):
Video-Sharing Youtube:
Microblogging (Twitter):
Multimedia Features (Audio, Video and Images)
Supported Audio Format:
Support WAV, OGG, FLAC, AAC , MIDI, WMA, MP3, AMR, AAC, eAAC
Supported Video Format:
Support 3GP, WMV, xVID, MP4, FLV, AVI, MKV, H.264, H.263
Picture format:
Support JPG, GIF, BMP, PNG, JPEG
FM Radio:
Support FM radio
Alert Types:
Support Vibration, ringtones
Ring Tones:
Support FLAC, AAC, AMR ringtones
Loudspeaker: A loudspeaker is simply a device that converts electrical energy into sound that is amplified so that it can be heard from a greater distance than the original sound would allow. There is no difference in usage of the terms speaker and loudspeaker and both are often used interchangeably. Some loudspeakers are capable of producing sounds over a wide range of frequencies and some are only made to reproduce certain frequencies.
with best sound quality
Audio Output:
Wired & Wireless Connectivity UMI Super Edge
Wi-Fi: Wi-Fi is the name of a popular wireless networking technology that uses radio waves to provide wireless high-speed Internet and network connections. A common misconception is that the term Wi-Fi is short for "wireless fidelity," however this is not the case. Wi-Fi is simply a trademarked phrase that means IEEE 802.11x.
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, 2.4GHz/5GHz Wireless internet Dual Band.
Wi-fi Hotspot:
USB Type and Version:
Support USB Type-C, with USB OTG
Memory Card Reader:
microSD TF card
Bluetooth Type, Model: Bluetooth is a wireless technology for exchanging data over short distances. The chip can be plugged into computers, digital cameras and mobile phones.
Bluetooth 4.1 With A2DP
Navigation Technology (GPS): The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a space-based navigation system that provides location and time information in all weather conditions, anywhere on or near the Earth where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites.
Supports GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS
Near Field Communication: Near field communication (NFC) is a set of protocols that enable two electronic devices, one of which is usually a portable device such as a smartphone, to establish radio data communication with each other by bringing them closer than, typically, 10 cm (4 in) from each other.
Wireless Charging Technology:
Data & Internet UMI Super Edge
General Packet Radio Service:
Enhanced Data for Global Evolution:
Internet Speed (Mbps):
HSPA 42.2/11.76 Mbps in 3G, and LTE Cat 4 150 Mbps Download and 50 Mbps Upload 4G FDD-LTE
Supported Browser:
Support Google Chrome, UC, Opera mini, Support WAP, HTML, HTML5 Browsers
Messaging and Email Services UMI Super Edge
Short Message Service:
(threaded view)
Multimedia Messaging Service:
Messaging & Email:
Support Email, Push Email, IMAP, POP3, MMS, SMS.
IM (Instant Messaging):
IM Enable
Body Design & Dimensions UMI Super Edge
Design Type (Form Factor):
Dimensions (LxWxH):
150.9 x 76 x 8.6mm
Weight (in Grams):
187 Grams, or 0.187 Kg
Body Protection:
with Corning Gorilla Glass4
Gadget Body Color:
Gray, Black, White and Gold
Battery and Power UMI Super Edge
Battery Pattern:
Li-Poly (Lithium Polymer)
Capacity (in mAh):
Battery Fixing:
Standby Time:
Up to 378 Hours
Talk Time:
Up to 15.9 Hour
Music Play:
Up to 25.5 Hours
Battery Video Playback:
Web Browsing Time:
Up to 12.4 Hours in 3G network
Charging Duration:
Up to 3.1 Hours with fast charging
Overall Uses:
Comments, questions and answers to UMI Super Edge
Ask a question about UMI Super Edge
1+3= *Enter the sum of the two numbers.
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Baystate Parent profiles ‘Mr. Clark’s Big Band’
Baystate Parent Magazine’s editor Melissa Shaw spent a lot of time speaking with me about the several-years-long process of writing and researching of Mr. Clark’s Big Band. Her piece about the book, about Jamie Clark, and about Suzy Green’s reaction to the project, is featured in the July issue of the magazine.
Shaw watched Clark in action herself when she took photos of him (see above) conducting the Trottier Big Band at their Massachusetts Association of Jazz Educators competition, in which they received top honors.
Here’s an excerpt from her piece:
The book follows the band members and Clark through the 2012-2013 school year, all leading up to a year-end memorial service, at which the group would play a brand-new, professionally composed jazz piece commissioned in [Eric] Green’s memory.
“Kaleidoscope,” created by composer Erik Morales, is described as an “incredibly unique” and complicated swing number that proved difficult for the young musicians, thanks to scheduling and emotions.
“The students didn’t get [the sheet music] until late in the year,” O’Brien recalls. “All the kids I talked to said they were so afraid of making a mistake — a mistake equaled disrespecting his memory. Two weeks before the Eric Green Ceremony I was listening to them saying, They are never going to master Kaleidoscope. I was so worried. I asked Mr. Clark, ‘How do you think they’re going to do? This seems very precarious.’ His answer: ‘They just have to.’ It surprised me how things just shifted; I don’t know what that magic shift was, and then they got it. I don’t understand how they go from shambles to kicking it.”
After successfully debuting the song at Green’s memorial, O’Brien describes the children’s sense of relief as “palpable.”
“Afterwards, they were in the cafeteria, acting like kids, they seemed happy,” she recalls. “They seemed, like, ‘We did it. We’ve honored him,’ almost giving themselves permission to move on. But that whole fear of disrespecting him, I felt, hung over them the whole year.
“It’s not just mastering the notes on the page,” she continues. “I think one of the things Mr. Clark focused on is how can they safely process their emotions through the music because he would try to make the band room a place of openness, of safety. Where, if they were playing a ballad and it’s really emotional, it’s OK to be emotional here and to express it in the notes. That’s a really hard thing to communicate to anybody, never mind children who are going through the rockiness of adolescence.”
Read the whole story here.
Image credit: Melissa Shaw, Baystate Parent.
Posted in: book info | Tagged: baystate parent, baystate parent magazine, Eric Green, Jamie Clark, Jamison Clark, jazz education, jazz music, Massachusetts, Massachusetts books, Massachusetts music ensembles, melissa shaw, middle school bereavement, music education, music students, music teacher, Southborough, Suzy Green, teen bereavement, Trottier Middle School, tween bereavement
‘Mr. Clark’s’ signings at Jazz Night & Tatnuck
Lessons from my year of observing a middle school jazz band
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Microsoft announces general availability of real-time streaming datasets in Power BI
Feb 1, 2017 at 12:36 GMT 3 years ago
With Power BI real-time streaming, you can stream data and update dashboards in real-time. Any visual or dashboard that can be created in Power BI can also be created to display and update real-time data and visuals. The devices and sources of streaming data can be factory sensors, social media sources, service usage metrics, and anything else from which time-sensitive data can be collected or transmitted.
Microsoft yesterday announced the general availability of real-time streaming datasets in Power BI. This feature will allow you to easily stream data to Power BI via the REST API, Azure Stream Analytics, or PubNub. Microsoft is also announcing the general availability of Azure Stream Analytics outputting to Power BI streaming datasets.
This feature allows users to build streaming tiles on top of datasets pushed to Power BI by Azure Stream Analytics, while still supporting all existing functionality (e.g. using the dataset to build reports). These streaming tiles augment the existing Stream Analytics to Power BI workflow by enabling support for highly requested scenarios such as showing latest value, and showing values over a set time window.
Learn more about it here.
Power BI Streaming Datasets
Microsoft introduce new PowerToy – PowerLauncher
by Surur on January 21, 2020
Tutorial: Here’s how you can run Classic and Chromium-based Edge simultane...
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Notebook Interview
Parallel Worlds: An Interview with Paul Clipson
Paul Clipson's work combines visual music with images of civilization and the natural world to access poetic realms of the unconscious.
Otie Wheeler
“Who could fail to sense the greatness of this art, in which the visible is the sign of the invisible?”
—Jean Grémillon
Cinema is what you imagine, and what you imagine first, in the darkness where bundles of light thrown 24 times a second at a wall produce illusion, is movement, an electromagnetic record of the past conjured into motion by your mind’s eye. A vision. So cinema is alchemy, it’s mystery. Unlike television, which is ephemeral but endless, cinema is eternal yet ever ending. (Raúl Ruiz made an entire film from the short ends of another, and the studio system of Classic Hollywood was so dedicated to The End that it couldn’t go on.)
Cinema is shadow, totality, the night.
Not all film is cinema and not all cinema is poetry, but poetry in the movies is always cinema. And poetry is unknowable, like the films of Paul Clipson.
Clipson is an experimenter, a lyrical filmmaker in the tradition of Stan Brakhage. His work combines visual music with images of civilization and the natural world to access poetic realms of the unconscious. Without actors or story, his pictures still contain narrative; drama; movement in every direction and dimension. They are a photochemical catalog of the visible world, charged with psychic energy, scored partly by chance, and imbued with a generosity of being. His collaborators are musicians, and his materials are Super 8 and 16mm film.
NOTEBOOK: How do your pictures come to be?
PAUL CLIPSON: The films happen two ways, first as live sound/film collaborations that I make with musicians, which run from 20 to 40 minutes in length or longer, and then later as short films, linked to a specific soundtrack or piece of music.
Frequent live events provide a reason to steadily generate work, to always be out filming, with or without a purpose in mind. Live collaborations with musicians create an indeterminate environment, with music acting as a social architecture into which the films are screened. They’re not definitive works, and this allows me to look at what I've shot with an audience without it being “finished.” This is liberating, being able to share something while not completely knowing or understanding what it is. The short films come about as a result of this experience and are crystallizations of particular sections of footage I’ve become close to, that have gravitated towards specific pieces of music I've later been invited to work with by musicians.
For Feeler [2016], Sarah Davachi asked me to create a film for her music, which I listened to repeatedly and drew from film rolls that I’d shot in various places and times. I treat film rolls as found footage, as they were conceived without the music in mind. During this process, I’m looking for connections between the music and my images. I found in Sarah’s music a focus on textures that suggested thoughts or memories, and this encouraged images and sequences in my work that reflected these qualities to suggest themselves. A poetic collage slowly grew together of rhyming images and environments shifting in time and space, like a stone skipping across water. None of the footage directly related or was shot with her music in mind, so there's a resistance between the sound and image, and that tension relates back to the performances, as Sarah and I have presented work together live as well. The cuts in the films are a combination of in-camera editing with superimpositions and then actual cuts to the film. All the superimpositions and layering is done in-camera. I don't do visual post work after the film is processed at the lab, besides editing.
NOTEBOOK: You’re a projectionist by trade but a filmmaker by calling. What draws you to celluloid?
CLIPSON: I’m drawn to the physical beauty of celluloid, to its grain, texture, tactility, its colors and tones. I find film to be the most challenging and rewarding visual form to work in. Not only celluloid but the mechanisms and optics of film cameras and projectors as well. Zoom lenses, anamorphic and wide angle lenses present all sorts of directions in which to find images. There’s a very intense, emotional charge to shooting on film where there’s rarely a moment when one’s not aware of its fragility, a sense that everything could be for nothing, and certainly the serious cost of film also remains in one’s peripheral awareness. It makes the process feel both exciting and grave. With the mechanics of the camera, whether the trigger of a Super 8mm Nikon R10 or the button of a 16mm Bolex, there's an instantaneous elation and sense of loss every moment one's filming that's unique.
NOTEBOOK: Does generative work, the kind that not only finds its way into a piece but leads to more, tend to emerge from moments of inspiration or through persistent discipline?
CLIPSON: What defines inspiration is subjective. Long periods of difficult and discouraging work can yield dynamic, surprising results. Maybe the discipline comes from not depending on inspiration for work. When inspiration does happen, it’s about being prepared for it.
I once spent a day looking for a certain kind of image in San Francisco. I guess I was projecting expectations onto some area of the city where I imagined I’d find a particular light or shadow. Whether this expectation was from memory or my imagination I’m not sure but I couldn’t find it. After traversing the city for hours, I found myself at dusk on the Third Street bridge by the ballpark, when I suddenly saw a reflection in water of one of the ugliest signs in the city at the time (I think it was AT&T Park or PACBel). This sign undulating in cadmium red on the dull dark blue-green water of a canal was a hypnotic, beautiful sight after hours of frustration, and I would never have looked for it or found it without the toil that led me there.
The path may seem irrational or pointless but inspiration is everywhere. Children unwittingly employ what Debord called the dérive, where their perspective or view of a place changes by the way they play in it. This is a practice I think we all knowingly or unknowingly practice in making work.
NOTEBOOK: Your pictures present a coincidence of structural phenomena, organized by intuition. How improvised are your compositions, or vice versa?
CLIPSON: They’re hyper-composed improvisations. Improvisation is a loaded term, in that the vernacular connotation is that it’s just making shit up as you go along. If I’ve learned anything from watching friends practice music over the years, it’s that improvisation is a kind of live multi-dimensional unspooling of experience, personal philosophy, and subliminal recordings that happens in the moment of a performance. I’m trying to get at this same thing while filming, recording a live performance of wherever I am that’s filtered through layers of superimpositions, in-camera edits and camera movements, with the vague awareness that somewhere in the future, these as yet unseen images will be projected into sound and music.
NOTEBOOK: You often work with chance, collaborating with musicians who might not know what the images projected behind them while they perform are. Does accident play a role?
CLIPSON: The musicians almost never know or see the film while they’re performing. Nor do I know what they’re going to play. There’s an understanding ahead of time for roughly how long the musical performance and film will be, so already the coincidence of these two things happening in the same place and time creates potential connections. It’s less about accidents than about parallel worlds coexisting and relating to each other. Add to that the presence of the audience and their impressions of how these forms relate and superimpose over each other, as the images within the films are layering, and there’s potentially a lot of things going on.
NOTEBOOK: Do you believe, like Brakhage and Yeats or other artists before you, in a form of poetic dictation?
CLIPSON: Any way one wants to look at something is valid but I prefer not to name, analyze or address where these things come from. Filming is a meditation where there’s a chance for all sorts of things to come into play, all under the eye of the camera and the choices that are made while looking through it. Attenuating this meditation are material influences that suggest places to start and new directions to take. Film stocks point out subjects on which to focus and frame. The trajectory from racking wide to telephoto and back on a zoom lens, can act like shifting thoughts, or a consciousness simultaneously passing through space while not moving. Many mechanical processes used while filming help to remove the practical filters with which one normally sees, allowing unexpected ways of seeing and framing the world. It’s a form of self-effacement or disappearance into the camera’s process, a vacuum where things rush in, where associations and moments begin to appear.
NOTEBOOK: This brings up something Aleister Crowley said, and ties back to the idea of poetic dictation that I keep imposing on your work: “I've often thought that there isn't any ‘I’ at all; that we are simply the means of expression of something else; that when we think we are ourselves, we are simply the victims of a delusion.” Anyone who hand-holds a camera introduces psychology and the suggestion of first-person, yet I don’t especially sense an ‘I’ in your work, a self. Is that intentional?
CLIPSON: While filming, I feel as if something un-thought is happening between the camera and everything beyond the lens. Maybe the films are just documentaries of the life of a camera, studies of the movement of a lens rack-focusing through space, of the distortions caused by a macro lens being placed in front of a zoom. It’s during these unthought-of moments that secret areas of one’s knowledge, aesthetics, judgement and subconscious manifest themselves. Filming becomes a direct response between space as viewed through the camera and one's personal landscapes within.
NOTEBOOK: Working in purely abstract terms can lead to a false appearance of unity, art that may seem radical at first but is in fact decorative. Think of the more dogmatic Language poets or New York School painters. “There's something death-like about making a unity which is quickly graspable and easily consumed,” said Philip Guston. Do you ever worry about a piece becoming too decorative, too comprehensible, or presenting itself with too much ease? Do you look for a certain amount of trouble in the image?
CLIPSON: I’m more worried about making choices prompted by a concern for what one should or shouldn’t do. I don’t want to be governed by whether results will be graspable or not, or too graspable. While framing an image I might wonder whether a hand reaching towards the sky and overlapping with the sun is too much, going too far, becoming too superficially emotive. I’m not sure, maybe it is. But if these are mistakes, they force you to reckon with them at some point down the line. Filming into that danger zone of the obvious, or what should be avoided, enters into territories of what I think Guston, who's my favorite painter, might have asked himself in painting.
Philip Guston, Head and Bottle, 1975, oil on canvas
Later, when images become attached to sounds, to music, more questions arise. I guess I choose immediacy and impact over concept or premeditated intent. One faces trouble in the image, whether one looks for it or not.
NOTEBOOK: Do you consciously use multiple techniques to arrive at a diversity of form? Employing light effects gesturally like wild brushstrokes to achieve a kind of visual music, for example, or varying the speed of montage as the camera changes direction.
CLIPSON: They are like lines in a drawing, or brushstrokes in painting, or looped layers of sound in a performance. Performance is a good way of starting to describe these techniques, because I'm trying to achieve a number of things at the same time, but in time, rather than in takes. I try to use everything, however it comes out. That doesn't mean everything's good, but it means that when the camera turns, it's really happening. There's a charge to that recognition. When it's good, the miracle of something coming off on film, is very, very strong. So whether or not there are mistakes, everything becomes synthesized into one cogent form.
At certain points, within the cacophony of layers, the images cease to be compositions or framed things, cuts stop being discernible from each other and become a single moving thing, and very literal forms, like street lights, seem to become explosions, turn into energies, something along the lines of Deleuze’s notion of an “eye of matter,” which he termed in regards to Dziga Vertov’s work, where the image becomes matter. At these moments, when I can't keep track of everything, the screen stops being there, the theater and the audience go away, and just the image remains.
NOTEBOOK: Speaking of cacophony, I have a prejudice. I’m biased towards complexity in art. Philip Taaffe, one of the great practitioners of superimposition, says that “even if a drawing is reduced and ends up only having one thing in it, that is a result of my wanting there to be more.” In your case, technical variety is sometimes echoed by a profusion of activity, density, and information in the frame.
CLIPSON: I tend to add to the image rather than subtract from it, maybe because I don’t want to know what the image means. To the extent that things get in the way between one’s attention and the matter at hand, complexity or busyness does attract me, like a tracking shot in an Orson Welles film. A lot of the movements in his films have the spontaneity of someone running or jumping across a stage one way, while the camera goes another way at an angle.
I like this performative aspect of movement and look for it in cities or in nature while filming, finding ways to theatricalize what I’m seeing to heighten shots or sequences. Music and sound operate through immediacy, on initially non-analytic levels. Music hits you like a wave, something that immerses you, and moves you, with thoughts or impressions coming after. This is the kind of image I’m looking for, or trying to perform, through gesturing with the camera, repeating movements, and repeating images. I repeat actions with the camera, and repeat identical motions with figures in the frame, like a sort of in-camera optically-printed film within a film.
NOTEBOOK: Brian Eno speaks of sometimes using subtraction as a compositional strategy. His description of ambient music—in no way a put-down—could apply to some of the music in your films: “As ignorable as it is interesting.” One exception is Fell on My Face [2016], your video for the song of the same name by Young Moon, which also stands out in your oeuvre for its lack of multiple exposure and for taking a single subject—a man walking through the city—rather than the more subconscious, subjective viewpoint you tend to favor.
CLIPSON: Music that's both there and not there is enigmatic, and can be interpreted in many ways. I'm in awe of and owe a serious debt to the sound artists and musicians I've collaborated with, like Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, Grouper, Tashi Wada, and Sarah Davachi. Jefre and Liz [Harris, of Grouper] have inspired me immensely with the uniqueness and emotional strength of their work. Studying their methods, which entail a more social aspect to working and performing than a solitary filmmaking practice, has greatly influenced how I make films. There's a direct parallel between the use of delay pedals, loops and layers of sound, with my use of multiple exposure, none of which was consciously acknowledged, but came out of years of presenting work together.
The footage in Fell on My Face originated from a longer project I'd started with Jefre Cantu-Ledesma and Trevor Montgomery several years ago, that was the portrait of a city seen through the walks of a solitary man. The man was Trevor (of Young Moon) and we became friends while meeting to talk about ideas and experiences. We shot over an hour of footage for this city portrait, which then got screened to performances by Young Moon but a completed film never materialized. When I heard the track “Fell On My Face,” I realized that a collage of all this footage suited the music and purpose of the original idea best.
NOTEBOOK: How do you name things?
CLIPSON: Most of the titles originate from the music. I prefer it that way. Since the short films stem from an interaction with the music, it feels right for them to reference someone else’s work. The exceptions are Sphinx on the Seine, Other States and Landscape Dissolves, which are original titles of mine. When Liz Harris and I worked on a commission together, from the conversations we had and ideas we shared, she began to have dreams of words floating in space, which is where the title Hypnosis Display came from. I wish I could do that!
NOTEBOOK: What are you looking at these days?
CLIPSON: Recently, I test screened a 35mm print of Night of the Hunter at my work, and I've been rereading an oral history of the making of the film, Heaven and Hell to Play With, by Preston Neal Jones. I'm fascinated by the visual look of that film, the Tri-X black and white shot by Stanley Cortez, and the stark, dream-like look of the images. I often study films that I’m drawn to as inspiration for my own work. I've been reading the novels of Jean Rhys and the film criticism of Serge Daney (Postcards from the Cinema). I recently discovered Emory Douglas's art, with its powerful social political activism and graphic impact. I’ve been especially moved by the clarity of his posters in light of this year’s political and social turmoil.
NOTEBOOK: What have you been working on recently? What's next?
CLIPSON: In August, I presented four sound/film collaborations in the Bay Area, with different sound artists (Maggi Payne; Marielle Jakobsons and Chuck Johnson; Amma Ateria and Kevin Corcoran; and Stephanie Sherriff and Gabriel Dunne) all incorporating between one to four multiple anamorphic 16mm projections. After the tour of screenings on the East Coast this month, I'm collaborating on a feature-length 16mm film with musician/composer Zachary James Watkins, a commission from the San Francisco Cinematheque that will premiere at the Exploratorium in December. In November, I’m performing with Grouper at Le Guess Who? in The Netherlands and will also present a program of my films there.
Although filmmakers have used multiple exposure since the dawn of cinema, and many have influenced me, like Bruce Baillie, there still seems to be a lot to explore with this process.
Events in Shadow: The Films of Paul Clipson is touring the East Coast from September 20-24th, 2017, with stops in Northampton and Boston, MA; Keene, NH; Kingston and New York, NY. Clipson will project and present his films in person on 16mm. More info at withinmirrors.org.
Paul ClipsonLongInterviews
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Notebook is a daily, international film publication. Our mission is to guide film lovers searching, lost or adrift in an overwhelming sea of content. We offer text, images, sounds and video as critical maps, passways and illuminations to the worlds of contemporary and classic film. Notebook is a MUBI publication.
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Michael Miceli
Home / Posts tagged "Michael Miceli" (Page 2)
Michael Miceli Nominated for Kevin Kline Award in Sound Design for ELLA
Posted On January 21, 2010 By Miceli Productions HD And has No Comment
Michael Miceli‘s original sound design for ELLA, a musical play about the life and songs of Ella Fitzgerald, was nominated for a Kevin Kline Award in 2009. Recognizing outstanding achievement in Professional Theatre in the Greater St. Louis Area, The Kevin Kline Awards honor theatre artists and productions in over 20 categories. The awards are named in honor of St. Louis’ own Tony Award and Academy Award winner Kevin Kline.
ELLA returns to Actor’s Theatre of Louisville January 26 – February 20 2010.
Image: courtesy of Nick Eilerman
Multimedia Design for Romeo and Juliet by Michael Miceli
The Virginia Stage Company promised “a bold, new staging” of William Shakespeare’s tragedy Romeo and Juliet when it hired Michael Miceli as the multimedia designer to work in collaboration with director Patrick Mullins and set designer Samuel W. Flint on their modern vision, //romeo&juliet/.
“The production uses Internet technology and audio and video devices to dress and illustrate the drama of two teenagers caught in the quarrels of an adult society divided by hatred and greed. More than just a high-tech showcase, the treatment adds high inspiration in creating a hard-edged, modern tone that is softened by the sweet innocence of its two lovers.”
”The contributions of multimedia designer Michael Miceli are considerable. A particularly clever touch is that Romeo is banished to an area in which the cell phones can’t get a connection.” – Mal Vincent The Virginian-Pilot
In addition to rave reviews //romeo&juliet/ was also featured in the January 2010 issue of American Theatre magazine in an article written by Rob Weinert-Kendt highlighting productions using social media to engage with audiences.
Read full Virginian-Pilot theatrical review CLICK HERE
Live Design Magazine Interviews Michael Miceli
Roger Maycock interviews Michael Miceli for Live Design magazine about his A/V consultation with Middletown CT’s Mercy High School in preparation for their auditorium facilities upgrade.
“We’re talking about an 800-seat auditorium with a proscenium stage. The space is used for school assemblies, concerts, plays, musicals, and countless other activities. The room needed to be as self-contained and easy-to-operate as possible, since it generally operates with just one teacher present. This is an environment where the person in charge needs to be able to select a particular setup and, from that point forward, have everything automated.”
“As part of the system overhaul, we deployed additional inputs and designated different inputs to accommodate different types of tasks. Inputs 1-5 at the front of the stage feed an automix configuration that maximizes gain while minimizing the noise floor. There are now separate inputs for the choir microphones, so that these mics can be effectively processed for the school’s show choir. Further, the system is configured for both CD and iPod audio source playback and is also set up for dedicated left-right inputs to accommodate an auxiliary console. This way, the system can be easily expanded for larger musicals and other events.”
Read full interview with Lectrosonics system details CLICK HERE
Patrick VanHorn from Giant Bicycle says…..
"I hired Jennifer Blessing Miceli and Miceli Productions, LLC, to produce a short, thought-provoking, professional video for our website. The results were superb -- and on-time and on-budget. I will definitely hire this production team again."
Patrick VanHorn
Giant Bicycle
Seven Tips for Engaging How-To and DIY Facebook Videos
How to Measure the ROI of Your Marketing Videos
CT Community (23)
Recent Work (72)
Video production (101)
Video Tips and How To (for non-professionals) (35)
Tweets by MProVideo
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MikeGTN
Songs Heard on Fast Trains
Traumatone Recordings
SHOFT
The Movebook
Movebook Login
The Welshman
Posted in Railways on Saturday 30th April 2011 at 11:17pm
It's difficult to imagine anyone complaining about having too many holidays, but with this Royal Wedding weekend falling so soon after Easter, and with my own break up in Scotland looming, there are far too few days to accomplish what's needed at work just now. However, being able to escape on these weekends has been a pleasant change from watching static traffic outside my window as people head for the south west. However, I found myself in Crewe once again - the second time in mere days, and this time back at the old faithful Crewe Arms once again. I was here to pick up Spitfire's trip into South Wales which I'd learned only yesterday had changed it's destination considerably having originally been heading for Tenby but now being retimed for Carmarthen and Fishguard. I'd considered getting up early and heading north to pick the tour up at Preston, but the lack of a reasonably timed connection along with the lure of a comparatively late start, breakfast and coffee won. Thus, I found myself waiting for the train on a busy and confused platform 5 some time after 8am - almost unheard of these days! As a bonus it arrived with 37688 on the front - which I'd missed on an earlier tour - and Stratford liveried 47580 on the rear.
Once on board, a chat with the staff revealed the reason for the changes - with two West Coast Railway Company drivers qualified to take the train to Tenby, one had been allowed off on holiday. However, the other had broken his leg earlier in the week. Thus the swift retiming was a bit of a win in some ways - saving the trip for most passengers. There were a few gripes, mostly from the faces who'll chase a refund whatever happens, but generally people seemed happy enough. The 'normals' would have around three hours in Carmarthen, whilst the die-hard enthusiasts would press on for the end of the line at Fishguard Harbour. The first leg of the journey took us onto The Marches via Shrewsbury, where a short layover meant time to get pictures in what were shaping up to be sunny conditions. Under way again, we turned onto the Heart of Wales line. I've written many times before about how this line, though scenic and interesting at times, can be incredibly dull. As it goes, on a decent day in good weather it was pleasant enough. Better still was passing through Llandrindod Wells with only the briefest of stops, having long since exhausted my interest in this really strange little town!
37688 and 37194 pause at Shrewsbury
We made excellent progress as far as Morlais Junction, where we sat for some time. The train was getting warmer, and time was slipping by. Things were clearly not going to plan - and we soon found out why. Our long train, including no less than three locomotives, was longer than the signal section in Carmarthen Station. Whilst the powers-that-be decided what to do, we waited - and were witness to the unusual but welcome sight of a catering trolley on a Spitfire tour. Once moving again, we were very late - and it was unclear quite what would happen to the train. A swift set-down at Carmarthen followed, with the train shuffling up to the buffer stops in order to reverse. Now, with splendid looking 47580 leading we headed west towards the coast, arriving and departing Fishguard Harbour in record time - just pausing long enough to dash down onto the track for a snap. Again, there are few delights left to sample at Fishguard, but a leg stretch would have been welcome. Had to make do with a stroll up and down the train to chat to a few folks I hadn't seen for a while. The catering trolley resurfaced again, this time bearing real ale too - celebrated with a couple of pints, both of which I managed to spill in a remarkable display of clumsiness. We entered Carmarthen via a complicated sequence of moves, passing the junctions with the triangle serving the station, before 47580 led the train in - thus leaving the pair of 37s on the front for the ride home.
47580 on arrival at Fishguard Harbour
This was via the South Wales mainline as far as Maindee East Junction, passing through and briefly stopping at Newport. I could have alighted here and been home in just over an hour, but as the official timings hadn't included a stop I'd planned to head back to Crewe. Largely on time now given the savings via a quick turn around earlier, the route took us back to Shrewsbury via Abergavenny in a stunning hazy sunset. The day hadn't gone to plan in many ways - but with a couple of winning engines, great weather and a sociable trip as ever, I'd had a great time. I didn't hear many complaints from the rest of the customers either. Once again, despite the odds Spitfire seem to have turned a tricky situation to a good day out for a very busy trainload of people.
Movebook Link
Lost::MikeGTN
I've had a home on the web for more years than I care to remember, and a few kind souls persuade me it's worth persisting with keeping it updated. This current incarnation of the site is centred around the blog posts which began back in 1999 as 'the daylog' and continued through my travels and tribulations during the following years.
I don't get out and about nearly as much these days, but I do try to record significant events and trips for posterity. You may also have arrived here by following the trail to my former music blog Songs Heard On Fast Trains. That content is preserved here too.
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Code and content by Mike Newman © 1999-2020
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Treehaus Recording
"Let your imagination run wild!"
Treehaus Recording Floorplan
Page: What To Do
Session Photos
TreeHaus Recording is located at the mouth of Topanga Canyon, fully secluded yet just a mile from Ventura Blvd.
Wake up early and head into the scenic canyon for an organic breakfast and an invigorating hike on over 70 miles of hillside trails that boast stunning ocean and mountain views. Scour bohemian shops for one-of-a-kind art, clothing, and antiques. Keep going, and you'll find yourself face-to-face with the stunning Malibu shoreline, where you can cruise the famed Pacific Coast Highway to the best beach, surf, sun and seafood in Los Angeles.
Need to wind down after a long day in the studio? Head five minutes down the hill to Ventura Blvd's seemingly-endless restaurants, bars, movie theaters, and karaoke haunts. Or, hop the 101 in to Hollywood to catch a show at one of Los Angeles' legendary venues.
From Woodland Hills to:
Malibu: 13 miles
Hollywood: 18 miles
Santa Monica: 22 miles
Downtown LA: 30 miles
Ventura: 40 miles
Santa Barbara: 70 miles
Malibu Creek State Park
1925 Las Virgenes Rd, Calabasas, CA 91302 www.malibucreekstatepark.org
Considered the recreational crown jewel of the Santa Monica Mountains, Malibu Creek State Park has over 8,000 acres of rolling tallgrass plains, oak savannahs and dramatic peaks. It's no wonder many call it "The Yosemite of Southern California".
The park, formerly owned by 20th Century Fox Studios, opened in 1976 and has welcomed millions of visitors since. The stunning terrain here that has been seen all over the world in movies and television awaits you. Hike, ride, climb and explore L.A.'s most spectacular park!
Topanga State Park
20828 Entrada Rd, Topanga, CA 90290 (805) 370-2301 https://www.nps.gov/samo/planyourvisit/topanga.htm
Featuring 76 miles of trails, Topanga State Park is sometimes credited as "The largest state park within a city limit in the U.S." Its name originates from the local Indian dialect. The local tribes had villages in this rugged landscape for thousands of years. It wasn't until the 1920s that the park became popular with Los Angeles locals.
The trailhead breaks off into a Eagle Rock/Eagle Spring loop trail, Musch Ranch trail, and Will Rogers State Historic Park via Rogers trail. The area holds great opportunity for hikers, bikers, and horseback riders.
Surf's Up!
Zuma Beach Malibu, CA 90265 http://www.surfline.com/surf-spots-breaks/southern-california/north-los-angeles_2142/
Hit the Malibu coastline for some of Los Angeles' best surf. Zuma, Point Dume, and more! Click the weblink above for daily surf reports.
To Eat & Drink
HQ GastroPub
20969 Ventura Boulevard Woodland Hills, CA 91364 818 887 2337 www.hqgastropub.com
HQ is a prohibition-era gastropub meets cutting age audio/video technology - an outstanding combination of food, beverage, staff, atmosphere, music and art.
Topanga Living Cafe
1704 N Topanga Canyon Blvd, Topanga, CA 90290 (310) 455-9888 www.topangalivingcafe.com
Breakfast and Lunch options along with refreshing smoothies, juices, baked goods, and a full espresso bar that serves the finest specialty coffee. Every effort is made to source organic, local, and sustainable ingredients whenever possible to bring a health conscious driven menu that is adjusted according to what is available and in season. You'll also find stunning antiques, fine art, photography and wonderful gifts in and around the store.
6600 Topanga Blvd, Woodland Hills, CA 91367 https://www.westfield.com/topanga/entertainment/dining
An outdoor promenade featuring shopping and 25 places to eat and drink. From vegetarian (Veggie Grill) to carnivore (Lucille's BBQ), you'll find a cuisine to please any palate. Several places, including Joey and Eureka, offer late-night happy hours with great deals on food, beer, and cocktails.
21014 Ventura Blvd, Woodland Hills, CA 91364 (818) 914-4033 gasolinacafe.com
Coffee, perfected. Breakfast/lunch spot with Spanish cuisine to die for.
The Vegan Joint
20855 Ventura Blvd #3, Woodland Hills, CA 91364 (818) 884-6383 theveganjoint.com
Fresh, delicious, creative vegan dishes. A full menu filled with flavors of all types, with a focus on Thai dishes. The Vegan Joint serves breakfast burritos, pancakes, and hash browns all day, and yes, they deliver.
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How the Student Conservation Association Works
by Sarah Siddons
The Student Conservation Association at Work
Student Conservation Association (SCA) volunteers spend more than 1.5 million hours per year restoring public lands and protecting endangered species through four main divisions: national crews, community programs, conservation corps and internships.
During month-long summer projects, national crews of six to eight high school students from around the country help build trails and restore habitats in U.S. national parks and public lands. They camp at the sites, spending their days clearing trees and rocks, building lean-tos and removing invasive plants [source: SCA].
As for community programs, high school students from certain cities can join the Conservation Leadership Corps or become a community crew member. The cities include: Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Jacksonville, Manchester, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Seattle, San Francisco, Stamford, Washington, D.C. and towns throughout New Jersey [source: SCA].
As part of the Conservation Leadership Corps, high school students volunteer on weekends during the school year to build trails, restore rivers and lakes and conserve local habitats. As community crew members, students spend six to seven weeks during the summer commuting to nearby parks to maintain trails, learn outdoor skills and receive training about the local environment [source: SCA].
In the Conservation Leadership Corps, college and graduate students who are 18 and older spend three to 10 months working on a specific environmental issue such as preserving the Hudson Valley, restoring California desert lands eroded by off-road vehicles or monitoring wildfires in Washington state.
The Conservation Leadership Corps also includes four residential programs where 10 or more interns share a communal residence on state land teaching kids at local schools about the environment and restoring hiking trails in areas like the Adirondacks in upstate New York.
The SCA also offers classes, such as a tutorial aimed to educate unfamiliar participants on the proper trail skills, including handling and restoration techniques [source: National Trails Training Partnership].
Through internships, students 18 years and older can participate in more technically advanced projects like backcountry patrol, conducting ecological surveys or monitoring soil and water.
Read on to find out how to become an intern.
Notable SCA Alums
The SCA has 50,000 alumni, including lead singer Garrett Dutton III of alternative hip-hop band G. Love & Special Sauce and Jesse Fink, cofounder of Priceline.com [source: SCA].
How Food Banks Work
How the Association of Junior Leagues International Works
How Serve.gov Works
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Scream n’ Stream: 11 Netflix Double-Features for Halloween
It’s that time of the year again—a time when Mother Nature sheds her stillborn august growth and icy rains rattle windows in the coal-black night. Swirling winds snake about the skeletal limbs of decaying trees and crunchy auburn leaves turn to pulpy slop underfoot. Mist steals from the quivering forest bracken like an army of tattered ghouls, seeking predatory respite in the warmth of human flesh, and the forlorn laments of the howling departed cast a gray hell across the heavens.
Or perhaps living in Wisconsin and reading too much Cormac McCarthy has finally gotten to me.
The point is that the autumnal hour is nigh to binge on horror flicks (and depraved cinema in general), so I’ve scoured the bowels of Netflix’s streaming catalogue to come up with a gnarly little menu of back-to-back features. Sure, some of them are bigger-name titles you’ve already seen, but if you’re having a horror-a-thon with some folks less acquainted with the genre, a film like Silence of the Lambs is a perfect thematic gateway to something a bit more foreign and bleak, like the Korean revenge-torture fest I Saw the Devil.
So just as you pair your imperial pumpkin ale with a hearty stew, pair these 22 flicks together for one hell of a ravenous All Hallows Eve binge.
Bloodsuckers and the Badasses Who Bludgeon Them
When George Clooney starred alongside Quentin Tarantino and Harvey Keitel in Robert Rodriguez’s From Dusk Till Dawn (1996), he was nothing more than a hunky TV actor (having spent the three years prior in residence on Friends, Sisters and Bodies of Evidence). Then Seth Gecko came along and fucked shit up with a full-scale vamp massacre at the Titty Twister bar just south of the Texas border. You’ve all seen it, so no need to divulge further. But when TMC and AMC are revisting Halloween 1-7, why not queue up the best action vampire movie ever made? Oh yeah, and Salma Hayek as Santánico Pandemónium… Nuff said.
As an encore, Stake Land is a killer treat for any of your movie-night friends who aren’t as well-versed in indie horror. The great Jim Mickle’s vampire road story plays out like a longer and more fully realized Walking Dead episode. That parallel should make it extremely accessible for any viewer with even the faintest interest in horror, and Nick Damici is just one mean muthafuckin’ vamp slayer. (See him also on Netflix in the werewolf tale Late Phases—not as good as Stake Land, but totally worthwhile.)
Stake Land
GRADE: A / A-
Candid Camera Carnage
I think it’s fair to say at this point that “found footage” has undergone a renaissance over the past several years, moving it from schticky, attention-grabbing, Blair Witch piggybacker to a subgenre with considerable merit and at least a few more avenues to explore. A prime example of this is the “Safe Haven” segment in V/H/S/2, arguably the best 40 minutes of “found footage” ever shot. V/H/S/2‘s other four shorts also hold up admirably, and the visual upgrade to HD from the original V/H/S’ shoddy handheld format creates for a much more fully realized—and less nauseating—horror fest.
I had zero expectations for Devil’s Pass, a film about a documentary crew looking to unearth deathly secrets in Russia’s Ural Mountains. So I was surprisingly pleased with what amounted to essentially the poor-man’s found-footage version of The Descent. Sure, there have been better efforts in the subgenre recently (see: Contracted, Rec, Quarantine), but in terms of what Netflix has to offer, this is a nice diamond in the rough—replete with a healthy mix of gore, “jump scares” and ambitious CGI. (Side note: The Last Podcast on the Left covered the Dylatov Pass Incident rather hilariously, if ye ask me.)
V/H/S/2
GRADE: B+ / A-
Devil’s Pass
Zombie Lockdown
If it weren’t for George Romero, The Walking Dead—and cinematic zombie culture as we know it—would probably be operating out of some cutesy, Twilight-style Christian chastity parable, with Selena Gomez and Zac Efron chewing at one another’s undead lips.
Thanks to Romero, we have unadulterated gore—and the prototype for the haggard, flesh-hungry walker that gave birth to iterations such as 28 Days Later’s rabid, running walker and Dead Snow‘s militaristic Nazi walkers. While Day of the Dead isn’t Romero’s masterpiece (unfortunately Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead aren’t on Netflix, nor is 2007’s much-slept-on Diary of the Dead), it showcases the type of zombie makeup and special effects that infected the entire genre to present day. Sure, the dialogue and acting can be a bit stilted, but when the gates bust loose and the zombie bunker turns into an all-out war zone, Day of the Dead is just as entertaining as its modern-day counterparts.
If you want more of a no-nonsense zombie thriller full of gore and action that’s less of a nostalgic history lesson, the 2009 French film The Horde hits all the right notes. As I wrote in my original post on The Horde, it’s “basically the perfect film for Walking Dead fans who enjoy that show for the zombie-body-count factor.” (Last Walking Dead comparison today, I promise.) The tale of two warring factions—French cops and French thugs—joining forces to plow down zombies in a high-rise is a simple backdrop for an insane amount of lecherously good carnage. This movie isn’t heady. But never is there a dull moment as the body count piles in ways that makes World War Z look yawn-inducing.
The Horde
Serial Psychos
Silence of the Lambs isn’t a horror movie, so why am I recommending it around Halloween, ye ask? For starters, it’s the most fucked up movie ever to win an Oscar for Best Picture (and at its time, arguably the best movie to win the award since The Deer Hunter 13 years prior). But more importantly, Anthony Hopkins’ iconic character of Hannibal Lecter (first introduced on celluloid via Brian Cox in Brian DePalma’s gloriously 1980s-as-fuck Manhunter) is one of the best portrayals of a homicidal psycopath in big-screen history (thus the avalanche of sequels). Further, watching Lecter in all his demonic genius for two hours sets the perfect stage for the chianti I’m pairing with these blood-red fava beans: South Korean director Jee-woon Kim’s I Saw the Devil.
In Devil, we meet Kyung-chul (played by Min-sik Choi of Oldboy fame). Choi, it should be noted, is basically the poster child for the bleak and magnificent South Korean torture-revenge thriller movement that includes such classics as Park Chan-Wook’s Vengeance Trilogy (all on Netflix), The Man from Nowhere (also on Netflix) and The Chaser. As the homicidal Kyung-chul torments—and is tormented by—a young cop to whom the mission is quite personal, Devil unfolds as one of the best dark thrillers from any land made in the past few decades. Psycopaths, cannnibalism and mesmerizing, blood-spattered cinematography—they’re all here. The nonstop madness of this film should also quell the complaints of those who “don’t do subtitles.”
GRADE: A- / A
Campy Carnage Camp
If we’re going the campy, comedic route, options abound on Netflix. Both Dead Snow and Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead are damn fun genre flicks, with the former leaning a little more toward horror and the latter a little heavier on self-parody. Housebound and Grabbers are also totally worth a ride, but for a perfect concoction of gore and guffaws, I’m gonna start with Tucker and Dale vs. Evil and Zombeavers.
Tucker and Dale is pretty much a cult classic at this point. Its tale of two amiable rednecks unwittingly engaging in war with some “dumb college kids” camping in the backwoods is akin to Deliverance and Evil Dead meeting Joe Dirt. I personally liked Tucker and Dale even better than Cabin in the Woods (another film that pokes fun at what happens when dumb college kids go camping), meaning its easily one of my favorite horror comedies of all-time.
As for Zombeavers (also about wilderness-vacationing college kids)… I mean, it’s a movie called fucking Zombeavers. And that’s about as seriously as you should take it. If you come looking for nothing more than redneck jokes, t & a, bad puppet gore and an overload of “beaver” puns, you won’t be let down. This is definitely a movie to watch with a big group of people. My advice: the more booze, the better.
Tucker and Dale vs. Evil
GRADE: A- / B+
GRADE: B / B-
Slashers and Home Invaders
You’re Next is arguably the coolest movie on this list. It’s got just about everyone in the Ti West crew: West, Joe Swanberg, Adam Wingard (directing), Simon Barrett, Amy Seimetz, Kate Lyn Sheil, etc. Basically, it’s a cast of creatives who could walk into a coffee shop in Paris in the 1920s and fit in like a black-and-white striped shirt. What I’m getting at is that while I used to despise these hipsters for their mumblecore pretention, West and his counterparts are actually at the forefront of making good, modern horror movies that pay stylish homage to the genre’s past. And You’re Next—A home invasion thriller about an Australian survivalist girl who meets her boyfriend’s parents at the dinner party from hell—is arguably the collective’s best piece of work. (The Sacrament, V/H/S/2 and The Guest are all awesome, all from these folks, and all on Netflix, by the way.)
While there are movies from the late, great Wes Craven I much prefer to Scream (namely The Last House on the Left, The Hills Have Eyes and The People Under the Stairs), Scream was his biggest commercial success, far outgrossing A Nightmare on Elm Street. It was also one of those things when I was in junior high where if you were the last kid in class who hadn’t seen Scream, someone was bound to shit in your gym shoes. The movie has obviously spawned a host of horrible parodies and lesser sequels, but at least from the vantage point of a ’90s kid, its a slasher OG, and well, I just can’t really think of any slasher movie on Netflix that pairs as nicely with You’re Next. (Heads up: Scream leaves Netflix streaming on 11/1/15.)
People Said His Brain Was Infected by Devils (Possessed)
When I posted my rather comprehensive list of the horror movies to watch on Netflix if you’ve already watched all the best ones, I can say in hindsight that there was one glaring omission: The Canal. Redditors (props) pointed me toward this slow-burn Irish chiller about a film archivist dealing with paranormal home events, and it turned out to be one of the eeriest damn movies I’d seen all year. Like I said, slow, but probably one of the most genuinely frightening movies on this list.
Also full of “jump scares” and a litany of mysterious chills, I was immensely impressed with the found-footage flick The Taking of Deborah Logan, about an Alzheimer’s patient who falls prey to demonic forces. Definitely in my top five as far as found footage goes, and also worth watching simply for one of the most awesome pieces of CGI imagery in any recent horror film.
The Taking of Deborah Logan
Spawn of Satan
If Roman Polanski and R. Kelly have one thing in common, it’s that… they make great art! (Pedo-what? I said “art”…. Art I said!) Rosemary’s Baby, Chinatown and Frantic were to thrilling and chilling cinema what, say, 12 Play, Double Up and Black Panties were to landscape of modern gangster R&B.
In all seriousness, I’m throwing Rosemary’s Baby on here because a lot of people see it as one of the greatest horror films of all time, and I ain’t arguin’. Even nearly half a century and a few Swedish extraditions later, Polanski’s classic about the seeds sown by a demonic cult still measures up to the genre’s heavyweights.
As for Starry Eyes, I’m including it here mainly because Netflix just stripped us of House of the Devil (shame on you, Netflix). Still, if you’re in the mood for a little bit of Ol’ Beezlebub getting up your knickers, Starry Eyes is a grotesquely creepy flick about a would-be Hollywood starlet and her quest for fame. The parallel drawn between everyone in Hollywood being a fame whore and devil worship is perhaps a little heavy-handed, but give credit to Alex Essoe for one of the best horror performances this side of Essie Davis in Babadook. Put bluntly, this is some sick, twisted shit—and a pretty fun ride for those who can stomach it.
Tastes Like Chicken (Cannibals)
My favorite thing about Ravenous is the film’s fever-dream atmosphere, created in large part by Daniel Lindholm’s haunting melody that plays as a bloodied Guy Pearce trudges through the snowy Sierra Nevada wilderness. Part Jack London, part Cormac McCarthy and part Cannibal! the Musical, Ravenous’ admixture of existentialist pioneering, survivalist bloodbaths and tongue-in-cheek historical-fiction comedy create for an extremely fun, weird piece of cannibal folklore. And Guy Pearce (The Proposition, Memento), Robert Carlyle (Trainspotting), Neal McDonough (Band of Brothers) and Jeffrey Jones (The Pest) simply could not have been cast better.
If you want to go back-to-back cannibal (coincidentally Jeffrey Dahmer’s favorite coital position) and all you have is Netflix, you’re gonna have to run with We Are What We Are. I say that somewhat disparagingly because yeah, it’s my least favorite movie on this list. The tale of flesh-eating hilljacks preserving an old way of life is as predictable as can be, but… But! It’s directed by the great Jim Mickle (Stake Land, Cold in July), who uses an atmosphere of permanent torrential downpour to tremendous cinematographic effect here. It’s also got side roles from Michael Parks (Tusk, Red State) and Nick Damici (Stake Land, Late Phases), which should pique the interests of any modern horror fan worth their salt.
GRADE: B- / C+
Party in the USA!
Where so many attempt to carve a cult-classic novel with a maniacal protagonist into a a serviceable film, so few succeed. There are exceptions however, such as Terry Gilliam’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Milos Forman’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. There’s also Mary Harron’s brilliant adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’ apathetically savage tale about vapid consumerism and narcissism. Like Fear and Loathing, American Psycho, the movie, can be watched and quoted ad infinitum without it ever growing tired. And Christian Bale simply embodies Ellis’ character of Patrick Bateman in one of the finest antihero performances of all time. (I’ll let the reader judge if Kevin Spacey really deserved that Oscar for American Beauty in 2000).
While reveling in an old favorite is always fun, if you’re a horror fan and haven’t seen American Mary, tripping you are. Katherine Isabelle’s role as a med student who turns to the blackmarket of body modification (all while taking out her vengeance on a seedy underworld of the upper-crust) is arguably the sexiest lead horror performance since… I’m gonna go with Eliza Dushku in Wrong Turn (great movie, by the way). Like American Psycho, Mary is also savagely and stylistically delightful, finding humor in the bleakest blood-spattered corners of our human fabric.
GRADE: B / B+
I include Open Water on this list not because it’s horror, but because I’ve never been more genuinely terrified watching a movie on the big screen than I was when I saw this in theaters a decade ago. Through the guerilla lens of shooting at night in actual shark-infested Bahamian waters, director Chris Kentis creates serves up arguably the most viscerally infectious shark movie ever made. It’s not about big fins knifing a b-line through the water at unsuspecting maidens; Open Water‘s dread lies in nibbles on the feet, hazy outlines on an eye-level horizon of eternally foreign sea, and small splashes and flickering tails that all signal the most mindfuckingly awful death this side of what went down in George Sluizer’s 1988 Dutch thriller Spoorloos. This deserves a big screen, pitch black and utter silence.
Want more creature? The Host is another one I was lucky enough to catch on the big screen. I remember this vividly (despite being stoned out of my mind) simply because it had the best creature CGI I’d ever seen. As a mutant river monster wreaks havoc on Seoul, a family struggles with all the hallmarks of South Korean cinema—bitter anguish, bowel-churning pain and a quest for revenge. The story meanders a little toward the end, but it’s worth it for the creature effects alone (which hold up very nicely 15 years later, stoned or not).
NOTE: I left several films ungraded simply because they weren’t fresh enough in my memory to be subject to such biased scrutiny.
NOTE 2: IMDb ratings for horror movies are criminally low. If it’s above a 6 and isn’t a critical darling (Babadook, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night) or a blockbuster (Oculus), it will most likely be better than 90 percent of the movies nominated for an Oscar this year.
Tags 28 days later, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, Adam Wingard, Alex Essoe, American Mary, American Psycho, Amy Seimetz, Babadook, best foreign movies on netflix, best found footage movies, best horror movies of 2014, best horror movies of all time, best horror on netflix, best lesser-know movies on netflix instant, best new horror movies, best of netflix instant, best shark movies, best vampire movies on netflix, best zombie movies on netflix, Bret Easton Ellis, Brian DePalma, Contracted, Cormac McCarthy, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Dead Snow, Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead, Devil's Pass, Diary of the Dead, Dylatov Pass Incident, Eliza Dushku, From Dusk Till Dawn, George A. Romero, George Clooney, George Romero, Guy Pearce, halloween, halloween hangover, halloween movies, Hannibal Lecter, Harvey Keitel, I Saw the Devil, Jee-woon Kim, Jim Mickle, Joe Swanberg, Kate Lyn Sheil, Katherine Isabelle, Manhunter, Mary Harron, Nick Damici, Night of the Living Dead, Open Water, Park Chan-wook, Patrick Bateman, psycopath movies, Quarantine, quentin tarantino, R. Kelly, Ravenous, REC, Robert Rodriguez, Roman Polanski, Rosemary's Baby, Salma Hayek, Sam Adams, Santánico Pandemónium, scream, Seth Gecko, Silence of the Lambs, Simon Barrett, Spoorloos, stake land, Starry Eyes, The Canal, The Hills Have Eyes, The Horde, The Host, The Last House on the Left, The Last Podcast on the Left, The Man from Nowhere, The People Under the Stairs, The Taking of Deborah Logan, Ti West, Titty Twister bar, Tucker and Dale vs. Evil, V/H/S2, vampire movies, Walking Dead, We Are What We Are, World War Z, Wrong Turn, You're Next, Zombeavers, zombie movies
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JOINT BASE CHARLESTON <span class='fa fa-fw fa-check-circle pull-right'></span>
Charleston, SC 29404, USA
Living in Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester Counties
Last Updated : 9/11/2019
JOINT BASE CHARLESTON Editor MARCOA Media
Whether you’re looking to take in a round of golf or cool off with a trip down a waterslide, you will find what you are after in Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester counties.
360 Fishburne St.
www.milb.com/charleston
The Charleston RiverDogs are a minor league baseball team that plays in the Class Single-A South Atlantic League and are an affiliate of the New York Yankees. The name originates from an urban legend that sailors in Charleston would notice large rats on the banks of the nearby Cooper and Ashley rivers and would call them “river dogs,” and was chosen in a name-the-team contest held at local Piggly Wiggly outlets in 1994. Catch one of their thrilling games at Joseph P. Riley Jr. Park.
Edisto Island Serpentarium
Edisto Island, SC 29438
www.edistoserpentarium.com
Open since 1999, this modern indoor facility and beautifully landscaped outdoor gardens house a wide variety of reptiles native to the southeastern United States. The reptiles in the outdoor gardens are not displayed behind glass but are viewed by visitors who look over low-walled enclosures to observe the snakes living in streams, climbing in trees or basking on stumps or logs. Alligators and turtles swim and play in large outdoor ponds in the outdoor gardens, while other reptiles bask in the large indoor solarium.
Family Circle Tennis Center
161 Seven Farms Drive
www.familycircletenniscenter.com
Family Circle Tennis Center on Daniel Island has 20 courts and a 10,200-seat stadium. The stadium has hosted the Volvo Car Open, Family Circle Junior Tennis Championship, concerts and more. Programs and lessons are available for children and adults. Visit the website for more information.
Step to the tee among stunning mountains, rolling hills or beautiful beaches. South Carolina offers hundreds of golf courses across the state with temperatures that allow play year-round. A variety of public and country club courses are available in Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester counties. In fact, Charleston has a wide array of golf courses to choose from, starting with the obvious selection of resort courses — five at Kiawah Island, including the Ocean Course, site of the 1991 Ryder Cup and 2012 PGA Championship, and two each at Seabrook Island and Isle of Palms’ Wild Dunes Resort — but also ranging to lesser-known greens offering easier access and good value. Mount Pleasant offers a trio of upscale designs: Charleston National, designed by famed architect Rees Jones; Dunes West Golf Club, designed by Arthur Hills; and RiverTowne Country Club, a onetime private club designed by Arnold Palmer and former host to Annika Sorenstam’s eponymous LPGA tournament. For a full list of public and private courses in South Carolina, visit http://discoversouthcarolina.com/golf.
http://palmettoconservation.org/palmetto-trail
The Palmetto Trail is South Carolina’s longest pedestrian and bicycle trail and largest trail construction project — 500 continuous miles once completed. It will extend from the Oconee State Park to the Intracoastal Waterway in Charleston County. The multiuse recreational trail consists of 26 connecting passages that showcase the unique history, culture and geography of the Palmetto State. Each passage is designed for a weekend’s enjoyment on the trail. Visit the website for an updated trail map.
100 Aquarium Wharf
www.scaquarium.org
The South Carolina Aquarium has thousands of native animals and plants to view in 60 habitats and the 385,000-gallon Great Ocean Tank. Visitors can feed stingrays, tour the sea turtle hospital or enjoy the antics of river otters
at play.
Whirlin’ Waters Adventure Waterpark
8888 University Blvd.
www.ccprc.com/1658/Whirlin-Waters
Whirlin’ Waters Adventure Waterpark in North Charleston Wannamaker County Park offers seasonal, island-style water play packed into more than 15 acres. Attractions include the Big Splash Tree House with 66 interactive play elements and the Big Kahuna wave pool.
Wild Blue Adventure Park
http://wildblueropes.com
Wild Blue Adventure Park is Charleston’s award-winning ropes course. The course features 72 suspended obstacles up to 35 feet in the air. With four difficulty levels, the course is fun for all ages. Navigating obstacles and swinging from tree to tree makes it easy to channel your inner Tarzan.
Welcome to Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester counties
Getting To & Around
Getting To & Around in Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester counties
Driving and Commuting
Housing & Real Estate
Housing & Real Estate in Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester Counties
Buying Versus Renting
Employment & Economy
Employment & Economy in Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester Counties
Health Care in Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester Counties
Hospitals/Medical Centers
Family Resources in Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester Counties
Education & Academics
Education & Academics in Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester Counties
Universities/Higher Education
JB Charleston FD welcomes new trucks, honors past firefighters
315 AW paper airplanes take flight at JB Charleston
Exercise Dragon Lifeline provides joint force, rapid deployment training
AMC commander, command chief visit JB Charleston
Airmen compete during 2019 Super Regional Alpha Warrior event
Water Dogs: The Unsung Heroes of Sustainment
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Forum » General » Suggestions » ot Punch. He threw a late TD pass
ot Punch. He threw a late TD pass
RIO DE JANEIRO -- Goodbye green. Air max 270 Italia . Its back to clear water in the pool at the Maria Lenk Aquatics Center, allowing synchronized swimmers to see underwater on the first day of Olympic competition.Officials completed pumping nearly 1 million gallons of clean water into the pool used for synchro with little time to spare before Sundays free routine preliminary began. They had raced to drain green-tinged water out of the pool overnight at a venue that has embarrassed local organizers.The massive undertaking was necessary to ensure clear water for both judges and competitors, who spend much of their time underwater during synchronized swimming.At last, this is real water, Natalia Ishchenko of Russia said through a translator. The visibility is good, not ideal, but compared to before, at least the water is a normal temperature.The water problems had limited the swimmers to just one practice session in the pool when the water was unusually cold.Ishchenkos partner, Svetlana Romashina, said the pool was only half-full when the swimmers arrived to prepare.The clear water appeared slightly cloudy under sunny skies on a day when temperatures reached 90 degrees (32 degrees Celsius) after a recent string of cool and cloudy weather.It was a lot better than it was the other day, American swimmer Anita Alvarez said. Switching the water helped a lot. The temperature was little bit better for us and its a little bit clearer underwater, which also helped.Before the water polo competition moved to the Olympic Aquatic Stadium as previously planned, athletes had complained their eyes were burning from chlorine in the pool.I didnt notice chlorine too bad, Alvarez said. Chlorine-wise, this was pretty good on our eyes. We were ready for anything.The Russians topped the standings after the duet free routine preliminary. Ishchenko and Romashina, with three Olympic gold medals each, led with 98.066 points. Russia has won the duet and team titles at every games since 2000 in Sydney.Huang Xuechen and Sun Wenyan of China were second at 96.066. Yukiko Inui and Risako Mitsui of Japan were third at 94.400.The U.S. duet of Alvarez and Mariya Koroleva was ninth. Scores from the preliminaries dont carry over to the duet tech competition on Monday. The duet free final is Tuesday.Later Sunday, the venues diving pool hosted the womens 3-meter springboard final.The green water in that pool wasnt changed. It turned a dark green shade last Tuesday and the larger pool at Maria Lenk began to turn the same color the following day.It doesnt make too much difference if the water is blue or green, but I was a little bit worried about some sanitary conditions, said bronze medalist Tania Cagnotto of Italy. I hope we will be all OK and I hope they can fix it soon. Nike Air More Uptempo Nere . William Carrier opened the scoring for Cape Breton (6-4-2), but Andrew Ryan tied the game and Brent Andrews put the Mooseheads (8-6-0) in front for good with a short-handed goal at 13:49 of the second period. Vapormax Plus Nere . Brad Jacobs and his Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., team took control of the game early. http://www.airmax270italia.it/air-max-97-nike-scarpe.html . As the crowd erupted, Davis knocked the ball off the glass and back into his hands. With 1:14 to go in overtime, Davis sixth block also became his 17th rebound. That, along with his 32 points -- which tied a career high -- proved too much for Denver to overcome, and the Pelicans held on for their third straight victory, 111-107 on Sunday night. TAMPA, Fla. -- About 100 Atlanta Falcons fans lingered in the stands at Raymond James Stadium, chanting MVP! MVP! MYP! as Matt Ryan returned to the field for post-game interviews.The NFLs passing yardage leader was nearly flawless again Thursday night, throwing for 344 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions to help the NFC South leaders tighten their grip on first place with a 43-28 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.He had a real locked-in look about him, Falcons coach Dan Quinn said. Matts really been on point with where to go with the ball.Julio Jones had eight receptions for 111 yards and a TD as the Falcons (6-3) avenged a 31-24 season-opening loss to the Bucs (3-5) in Atlanta. Tampa Bay has dropped two straight on the heels of a three-game winning streak that got them back in the division race.They played a little better than we did that day. I feel like we have continued to improve, Ryan said. For me, the best thing from a confidence standpoint is that we continue to get better, week in and week out.Jones, whos closing in on another 1,000-yard receiving season with 970 through nine games, caught a 3-yard scoring pass in the third quarter, when Ryan led TD drives of 86 and 82 yards to break it open.Levine Toilolo, Patrick DiMarco and Austin Hooper also caught TD pass from Ryan, who leads the NFL with 2,980 yards and 23 touchdowns vs. four interceptions.Jameis Winston threw for 261 yards and three touchdowns for Tampa Bay, including scoring passes of 3 and 24 yards to Evans, who had 11 receptions.Both of Tampa Bays young stars finished the game on the sideline, with Evans being evaluated for a possible concussion and Winston limping off after being shaken up when he was tackled trying to score on a two-point conversion play with just under seven minutes remaining.Koetter didnt provide much of an update on eithers condition, other than to say Jameis told me hes fine and that Evans was in the concussion protocol after taking a hard hit along the sideline after making a catch in the fourth quarter.Winston was tackled around the ankle by Atlantas Brooks Reed and also hit by cornerback Jalen Collins. The first overall pick in last years draft said he was fine and did not leave the game because of injury.The coach took me out, said Winston, who later did a little dance move to demonstrate to reporters that he was OK.Mike Glennon finished up for the Bucs, taaking his first regular season snaps since 2014. Air Max 270 Hot Punch. He threw a late TD pass to Cameron Brate to cut into a 23-point deficit.RING OF HONOR: The Bucs inducted former safety John Lynch into the teams Ring of Honor. Together with Hall of Famers Warren Sapp and Derrick Brooks, Lynch formed the foundation of a dominating defense that helped transform Tampa Bay from the laughingstock of the NFL into a Super Bowl champion. A nine-time Pro Bowl selection and a finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame last winter, Lynch played for the Bucs 1993 to 2003 and the Denver Broncos from 2004 to 2007. He was inducted into the Broncos Ring of Honor earlier this month.NO CONFIDENCE?: The Bucs defense yielded 626 yards , including 513 passing, during last weeks 30-24 overtime loss to Oakland. That may have contributed to the decision Thursday night to decline a 15-yard face mask against the Falcons, settling for Matt Bryant kicking a 41-yard field goal for a 13-7 Atlanta lead instead of giving Ryan a chance to convert third-and-22 from the Tampa Bay 38MATTY ICE: Ryan has thrown for 1,344 yards, nine touchdowns and just two interceptions in his last four games against the Bucs, who had won three straight in the division rivalry. The Bucs lead the all-time series 24-23.GOTCHA: Bucs DT Gerald McCoy talked this week about his admiration for Ryan , but reiterated that good sportsmanship should never be confused with a lack of commitment to do whatever to necessary to win. He said hed shake the quarterbacks hand before and after the game, but spend the rest of the night trying to make the NFL passing yardage leader uncomfortable. McCoy sacked Ryan in the second quarter, forcing a fumble that led to Winstons second TD pass to Evans.INJURIES: With Doug Martin (hamstring) and Jacquizz Rodgers (foot) inactive, rookie Peyton Barber became the fourth different starting running back for Tampa Bay this season. Bucs C Joe Hawley left with a knee injury in the second quarter and did not return. Falcons CB Desmond Trufant left with a shoulder injury in the first half and did not return.UP NEXT: The Falcons travel to Philadelphia, while the Bucs finish a three-game homestand against Chicago on Nov. 13.---AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and http://twitter.com/AP-NFL Jerseys From China Cheap Authentic Jerseys Cheap Jerseys 2020 Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys 2019 Wholesale Jerseys From China Wholesale Authentic Jerseys ' ' '
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Worker falls from Sheriff St. construction site
By Editor On Jun 11, 2019
A man working on a construction site on Sheriff Street, Georgetown Tuesday fell from a scaffold he was working on and was rushed to the hospital after a pipe he was using came into contact with an electrical wire.
Reports are that Jeoranie Mezquia Gonsalez, 48, was working at Lot 12 Sheriff Street Georgetown, where businessman Sheriff Ahmad is constructing a two-storey medical centre.
Police described Gonsalez as being a visitor of Ahmad and said he went to the site at about 10:00 hrs and began helping the workmen with their job.
At about 13:10 hrs, Gonsalez was outside the building on a scaffold handling a metal pipe about 20-feet in length when it came into contact with the electrical line outside the building and as a result he was electrocuted.
Police said the man fell off the scaffold and landed on the ground.
It was reported that Ahmad, upon hearing a loud sound, rushed to the area and picked up Gonsalez who had burns about his body, including to his leg, hands, and chest area. He also sustained a laceration to the back of his head.
Police said the man was rushed to St Joseph Mercy hospital where he was seen and examined by a doctor and admitted.
His condition was regarded as stable.
Controversy over City’s Carnival expense; workers still to be paid
Two killed, two injured while installing security cameras at stadium
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Darby Community Raises $3,000 Reward for Tips on Murdered Beagles
Photos Courtesy of Jennifer Woirhaye
The theft and murder of at least two dogs in Darby is bringing the community together to help find the culprit. Jennifer Woirhaye is a close friend of the family who lost their dogs and has been leading the charge in helping them find justice.
"Back in January, Charlie and Stacey Heiland's beagles were stolen from their home and the female was pregnant," Woirhaye said. "The people kept the dogs, had the puppies, kept the puppies, and then killed the mom and the male dog they had stolen. It's just really disturbing that someone would do that and that person needs to be found and put away."
This week, April 11, Woirhaye organized an effort to help bring information into the Ravalli County Sheriff’s office.
"I started a reward fund through Farmer's State Bank and we've had quite a few donations, Woirhaye said. "The reward is now up to over $3,000. So, we're putting the information out there and hoping that someone, maybe even driven by the money, will turn somebody in."
Woirhaye says the Sheriff’s office will connect tip providers with the money, so the public just needs to call law enforcement. All kinds of information could be helpful, even simply reporting sightings of new beagle pups.
Filed Under: Crime, dogs, Missoula
Categories: Montana News
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Home > The Artist’s Brushstroke | Online Summer Presentation
The Artist’s Brushstroke | Online Summer Presentation
Cornelia Baltes
Jose Dávila
Galleri Nicolai Wallner is please to present our Online Summer Presentation, The Artist’s Brushstroke, with works by Cornelia Baltes, Jonathan Monk, Jose Dávila and Poul Gernes. In this online presentation, we explore works that play with the idea of the artist’s brushstroke, and what it means to visibly demonstrate the presence of the artist in an artwork.
With Jonathan Monk’s work Andy Warhol’s Chairman Mao Hand Made in The People’s Republic of China, for example, this is explored through ideas of authorship and appropriation. Monk cleverly twists Warhol’s practice, as an exact replica of Warhol’s iconic silkscreen has been produced in a Chinese factory, hand painted to match the original.
While questions of authorship were not directly relevant to his practice, throughout his career Poul Gernes (1925 – 1996) painted systematically as to removing himself from his work. He understood art as to be directly linked to the viewer, and as such the artist need not show himself. He believed this was possible by painting geometric shapes such as stripes and dots, allowing the work to be experienced as is. This practice was so successful, that Gernes’ way of removing himself has become iconic and recognisable.
Inversely, for Cornelia Baltes, the painterly gesture is a tool to instil in us the feeling of spontaneity and movement, as if we’ve been caught in the middle of a moment of intensity. Each brushstroke feels deliberate, and has in fact been planned and executed with the idea of provoking such feelings within us.
In Jose Dávila’s work, the brushstroke acts as a catapult, opening up new ideas. His work Untitled (Yellow brushstroke II) takes on a 1965 Roy Lichtenstein work of the same name. In Dávila’s versions, the yellow of the brushstroke has been cut out. This act can be interpreted as the continuation of a shift in the balance of power—just as Lichtenstein’s act of printing the brushstroke challenged the ideals of abstract expressionism. Similarly, Dávila’s sculpture Untitled (Calacatta IV) uses a ratchet strap to not only hold a leaning slab of marble in balance, but to playfully nod to modern art’s exploration of colour, composition and stripes, notably to the paintings of Barnett Newman.
Untitled (Calacatta IV) (2015)
Calacatta marble, eye bolt and ratchet strap
270 x 71 x 45 cm | 106.3 x 28 x 17.75 in
An imposing slab of marble balances precariously in the join between the wall and the floor. Leaning in to the room, it is suspended from the wall by a singular ratchet strap that runs across the marble, which becomes a line extending along the surface capable of balancing the sustained weight. This tension creates a sense of perpetual movement in the work, almost as if we are waiting to see if it will stand or fall.
The strip of colour that runs across the marble serves not only as a reminder of the fragility and the precariousness of the work’s placement, but also the delicacy in which the work is constructed conceptually and aesthetically.
The hard line of the ratchet strap combined with the nuances in the calacatta marble mimic that of the classic era of minimalist and colourfield painting.
Appearing as drawn gestures of the stability of the structure, the strips can be perceived as strokes, recalling Barnett Newman’s paintings and Kandinsky’s description of the line as an invisible entity.
As dictated by its title Jonathan Monk’s painting Andy Warhol’s Chairman Mao Hand Made in The Peoples Republic of China is based on an appropriation. Jonathan Monk has had a Mao portrait by Andy Warhol remade by anonymous Chinese artists from a studio that specializes in commissioned copies of famous works. The work has been remade not as a silkscreen (as the original) but as a hand painted copy pointing towards another understanding of originality and authenticity. Monk rethinks the inherent serialization of POP art as well as offers a comment on the global (art) world of today.
Andy Warhol’s Chairman Mao Hand Made in The Peoples Republic of China (Large) (2010)
250 x 326 cm | 98.5 x 128.3 in
Semm (2019)
140 x 100 cm | 55 x 39.3 in
Cornelia Baltes is known for her paintings and installations that stand on the edge of abstraction and figuration, shifting in turn from one to the other. Corporeal elements such as hands and feet, part of a face, often captured in motion, are combined with bold lines creating shapes and more gestural forms that come together to give us a hint of a narrative without revealing it to us in full. In capturing these moments that seem charged with an intensity and a dynamicism, Cornelia Baltes invites us in to a world where spontaneity and playfulness give way to subtle details.
Her precise technique and the use of highly pigmented black paint adds depth and contrasts her intense colour palate which ebbs and flows, contributing to this inherent lightness to the work while at the same time creating the feeling that it was done in the spur of the moment. This provoked sense of urgency and energy that the works instil in the viewer reveals an intentionality.
Each of Baltes brushstrokes feels deliberate, determined in their action while at the same time remaining open in their interpretation, revealing more to us with each turn. Working with a lexicon of imagery that has the power to play with our memories, her work draws on our subjective experiences, morphing for each of us into a different narrative, into something personal and almost intimate while at the same time being open and universal in their ability to do so.
Untitled (tic tac toe painting) (1966 – 1967)
Enamel paint on masonite
122 x 122 cm | 48 x 48 in
The series Untitled (tic tac toe painting) is based on the universally played game of tic tac toe, which is simple in its rules yet mathematically challenging. The first one to place their marks (noughts or crosses) in a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal row wins the game. In Gernes’ version the image is simplified, only leaving one cross in the middle, and four noughts or circles surrounding it. The choice of colour varies in each of the works in the series.
This systematic way of painting was for Gernes a way of removing any signs of himself, or rather of the artist’s “hand” within the work. This meant that Gernes as the artist was no longer a kind of middle man who was needed to understand the work. The experience was between the work and the viewer alone, and in this sense was direct and accessible to everyone.
Untitled (Yellow Brushstroke II) (2017)
Archival pigment print, cutout
104 x 302.6 cm | 41 x 119.25 in
Edition of 4 (+1 AP)
With “Untitled (Yellow Brushstroke II” Jose Dávila takes on the classic 1965 work by Lichtenstein of the same name. The central figure of the work—the brushstroke—has been cut out, leaving its surroundings intact. In a nod to the subjective nature of how we view and perceive art, the idea of cutting out transfers the role of creation back on to the spectator. In asking them to imagine how they see the “complete” work, they become part of the process, acknowledging their own role not only with this work, but with art in general.
Galleri Nicolai Wallner, Glentevej 47 – 49, DK-2400 Copenhagen, +45 32 57 09 70
contact@nicolaiwallner.com
Opening hours: Tuesday to Friday 11-17 and Saturday 11-15
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Nine Circles ov…Power Metal That Eased Me Into Liking Power Metal (Again)
May 9, 2017 May 6, 2017 Chris
I find it fascinating that power metal still doesn’t get the fair shake it deserves from the metal community. The same folks who mock and ridicule bands for dressing up like superheroes in their videos or writing about dragons or Lord of the Rings are the same folks who worship bands who revel in dressing up and running around in the forest in wizard hats or, come to think of it, also write about the Lord of the Rings (or at least derive their name from it). Yet, despite these similar touch points in silliness power metal still has a stigma attached to it, one I admit to having for a time as I became engrossed in the more extreme aspects of metal.
What’s the point, besides my linking to that awesomely ridiculous Immortal video? It’s that there’s plenty to love in power metal, and the claims of cheese and pomp are no more valid than they are in any other genre in the scene. For this edition of Nine Circles ov… I wanted to take a look at a few of the bands and albums that brought me back into the fold – many of them introduced to me by former 9C scribe and power metal champion Frank. So think of these as gateway bands: we’re not going full-on Gloryhammer yet (although Gloryhammer is awesome); the emphasis is on heaviness, aggression and, ultimately, power ¹.
Arrayan Path – IV: Stigmata: The fourth album from this Cyprus five-piece is ridiculously dark and heavy, which befits its more somber content. There’s a lot of furious palm-muted riffing in the vein of bands like Symphony X that recalls the best speed metal records mixed with the soaring vocals of more traditional power metal. “The Bible Bleeds” is a crushing tune, and “Harbingers of Death” manages to sprinkle in some hilarious rock riffing that just work despite being somewhat off-kilter for such a heavy song.
Falconer – Chapters From a Vale Forlorn: Sweden’s Falconer might be one of the oldest bands in this list, steadily putting out albums since 2001. Second album Chapters From a Vale Forlorn ups the ante from their debut with cleaner production and stronger songwriting. This is power metal focusing on nature, folk tales and a more varied instrumentation than some of the others on this list. Revel in the muddy trails and stories of long ago on tracks like “Decadence of Dignity” with its kickass chorus and heed the call.
InnerWish – InnerWish: I’m only just starting to realize how fertile power metal is in the Mediterranean. InnerWish hails from Greece, and their self-titled fifth LP is a banger, mixing atmospheric keyboards, shredding guitars and – for me – the ideal power metal voice in vocalist George Eikosipentakis: capable of hitting those operatic lines while maintaining a grit and bite that roots the sound. “Machines of Fear” has an opening riff that mandates head banging, and the rest of the album follows suit.
Iotunn – The Wizard Falls: Featuring a dense, heavy as shit mix and mastering job by Flemming Rasmussen (who knows a thing or two about great metal) Iotunn heaps a healthy dose of prog into this debut EP from last year. There’s a real callback to some of the great traditional epic metal of the 80s by bands like Artch and on the strength of the title track and “Hammer of Injustice” you can see strong songwriting in the vein of classic Iron Maiden. They’re rarely making albums like this anymore, so thankfully we have Iotunn filling in the gap.
Judicator – Sleepy Plessow: Here we go…epic conceptual power metal about the rise of Prussia and Frederick the Great. Judicator excel at layering varied vocals (think Hansi from Blind Guardian), intricate instrumentation and a number of different styles and incorporating them into their sound. There may be a wee bit of the hokey here and there (sorry, spoken word part of “Thirty Years of Terror”) but the great music and incredible vocals more than make up for it, enough so that their long awaited new album is on my list for most anticipated albums of 2017.
Magma Dragon – Full Attack Action: A collection of this Wisconsin power metal band’s previous EPs and six new tracks priced to pay what you want is ridiculous – this is sincere, passionate power metal with great guitars, vocals, and copious amounts of dragons, in magma or otherwise. Lyrically the songs hew closely to modules and realms found in the Pathfinder role playing games, so you know this band is filled to the brim with bonafides. And “Two Weeks on the Westergale” is a massive slice of power, so have at it.
Sacred Gate – Tides of War: You can pick almost anything from Metal on Metal Records and be assured it’ll be righteous and mighty. Sacred Gate definitely has a bent toward more traditional metal in the vein of Priest and Maiden, but the song construction and harmonization bely some heavy US power elements. Tides of War is what introduced me to the band, but their latest, Countdown to Armageddon, is just as much of a rage inducer.
Tanagra – None of This is Real: The debut album from this Portland, OR band has the power gallop down pat on tracks like “Tyranny of Time” and “10:04 PM” which has to be bar none the strangest song title I’ve ever seen for a power metal band (it works in context of the narrative). Tanagra plays a hearty stew of metal that owes a lot of allegiance to US power metal but you can hear the European influence in the harmonizations and choruses.
Unleash the Archers – Defy the Skies: Quickly becoming one of my top bands in this genre, Unleash the Archers straddle a fine line between power and extreme metal. Vocalist Brittney Slayes has a great presence, and mixing her clean, powerful vocals with the more extreme death screams of guitarist Brayden Dyczkowski make for a great combination. The music veers between power, thrash, speed – honestly it’s all over the place yet manages the tricky feat of always being coherent. Defy the Skies is an EP that nicely packages all their strengths for a great price. If “Upon Ashen Wings” doesn’t get your heart thumping, I don’t know what to do with you.
Like I said in the introduction: these albums, powerful as they may be, are gateway albums: they definitely err on the heavy side (“not that there’s anything wrong with it”). The stirring keyboards and major key choruses are scaled back a bit in favor (flavor?) or a more US/traditional approach. Sometimes it helps to be eased back into the fold, and these excellent albums helped shape the way for me to love the grandiosity of some of the more full on European symphonic bands, which I can guarantee we’ll be covering in a future installment of Nine Circles ov…
Until then: keep it heavy, keep it true.
¹ “But Chris!” you say, “How could you leave out Blind Guardian! Symphony X! Or (insert your favorite band here)! Truly they are the greatest in the land! How do you not include them!” Pretty simple: much as I LOVE Blind Guardian and Symphony X, I wanted to stick to bands with records on Bandcamp. They’ll probably (definitely) come up in a future post.
Daily Heresy, Nine Circles ov...arrayan path, chapters from a forlorn vale, defy the skies, falconer, full attack action, innerwish, iotunn, IV: stigmata, judicator, magma dragon, metal on metal records, Nine Circles ov..., none of this is real, power metal, sacred gate, sleepy plessow, tanagra, the wizard falls, tides of war, traditional metal, unleash the archers
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NDC 69238-1314 Pregabalin
Amneal Pharmaceuticals Ny Llc
NDC: 69238-1314 Pregabalin
Proprietary Name: Pregabalin What is the Proprietary Name?
Non-Proprietary Name: Pregabalin What is the Non-Proprietary Name?
WHITE (C48325)
WHITE (C48325 - WHITE/ORANGE)
ORANGE (C48331)
Shape: CAPSULE (C48336)
Imprint(s):
AN;1310
69238 - Amneal Pharmaceuticals Ny Llc
69238-1314 - Pregabalin
Package Description: 90 CAPSULE in 1 BOTTLE
Pregabalin with NDC 69238-1314 is a a human prescription drug product labeled by Amneal Pharmaceuticals Ny Llc. The generic name of Pregabalin is pregabalin. The product's dosage form is capsule and is administered via oral form.
Labeler Name: Amneal Pharmaceuticals Ny Llc
Dosage Form: Capsule - A solid oral dosage form consisting of a shell and a filling. The shell is composed of a single sealed enclosure, or two halves that fit together and which are sometimes sealed with a band. Capsule shells may be made from gelatin, starch, or cellulose, or other suitable materials, may be soft or hard, and are filled with solid or liquid ingredients that can be poured or squeezed.
Product Type: Human Prescription Drug What kind of product is this?
DEA Schedule: Schedule V (CV) Substances What is the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) CV Schedule?
The controlled substances in the CV schedule have an abuse potential and dependence liability less than those listed in CIV and have an accepted medical use in the United States. Substances in schedule CV are often available without prescription, and include preparations containing limited quantities of certain narcotic drugs generally for antitussive and antidiarrheal purposes. Buprenorphine is also a CV schedule drug.
Pregabalin Active Ingredient(s)
PREGABALIN 150 mg/1
AMMONIA (UNII: 5138Q19F1X)
BUTYL ALCOHOL (UNII: 8PJ61P6TS3)
FERROSOFERRIC OXIDE (UNII: XM0M87F357)
GELATIN (UNII: 2G86QN327L)
ISOPROPYL ALCOHOL (UNII: ND2M416302)
POTASSIUM HYDROXIDE (UNII: WZH3C48M4T)
PROPYLENE GLYCOL (UNII: 6DC9Q167V3)
SHELLAC (UNII: 46N107B71O)
SODIUM LAURYL SULFATE (UNII: 368GB5141J)
STARCH, CORN (UNII: O8232NY3SJ)
TITANIUM DIOXIDE (UNII: 15FIX9V2JP)
FERRIC OXIDE RED (UNII: 1K09F3G675)
FDA Application Number: ANDA209743 What is the FDA Application Number?
This corresponds to the NDA, ANDA, or BLA number reported by the labeler for products which have the corresponding Marketing Category designated. If the designated Marketing Category is OTC Monograph Final or OTC Monograph Not Final, then the Application number will be the CFR citation corresponding to the appropriate Monograph (e.g. “part 341”). For unapproved drugs, this field will be null.
Marketing Category: ANDA - A product marketed under an approved Abbreviated New Drug Application. What is the Marketing Category?
Pregabalin is pronounced as (pre gab' a lin)
Why is pregabalin medication prescribed?
Pregabalin capsules, oral solution (liquid), and extended-release (long-acting) tablets are used to relieve neuropathic pain (pain from damaged nerves) that can occur in ...
Pregabalin Product Label Images
10 - pregabalin capsules 1
F-8 - pregabalin capsules 10
Fig-9 - pregabalin capsules 11
F-10 - pregabalin capsules 12
1 - pregabalin capsules 14
structure - pregabalin capsules 2
F1 - pregabalin capsules 3
F-2 - pregabalin capsules 4
Pregabalin Product Labeling Information
1 Indications And Usage
2.1 Important Administration Instructions
2.2 Neuropathic Pain Associated With Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy In Adults
2.3 Postherpetic Neuralgia In Adults
2.4 Adjunctive Therapy For Partial-Onset Seizures In Patients 17 Years Of Age And Older
2.5 Management Of Fibromyalgia In Adults
2.6 Neuropathic Pain Associated With Spinal Cord Injury In Adults
2.7 Dosing For Adult Patients With Renal Impairment
3 Dosage Forms And Strengths
5.1 Angioedema
5.2 Hypersensitivity
5.3 Increased Risk Of Adverse Reactions With Abrupt Or Rapid Discontinuation
5.4 Suicidal Behavior And Ideation
5.5 Peripheral Edema
5.6 Dizziness And Somnolence
5.7 Weight Gain
5.8 Tumorigenic Potential
5.9 Ophthalmological Effects
5.10 Creatine Kinase Elevations
5.11 Decreased Platelet Count
5.12 Pr Interval Prolongation
6 Adverse Reactions
6.1 Clinical Trials Experience
6.2 Postmarketing Experience
7 Drug Interactions
8.3 Females And Males Of Reproductive Potential
9.1 Controlled Substance
9.2 Abuse
9.3 Dependence
10 Overdosage
13.1 Carcinogenesis, Mutagenesis, Impairment Of Fertility
13.2 Animal Toxicology And/Or Pharmacology
14.1 Neuropathic Pain Associated With Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy
14.2 Postherpetic Neuralgia
14.3 Adjunctive Therapy For Partial-Onset Seizures In Patients 17 Years Of Age And Older
14.4 Management Of Fibromyalgia
14.5 Management Of Neuropathic Pain Associated With Spinal Cord Injury
16 How Supplied/Storage And Handling
17 Patient Counseling Information
Pregabalin capsules are indicated for:Management of neuropathic pain associated with diabetic peripheral neuropathyManagement of postherpetic neuralgiaAdjunctive therapy for the treatment of partial-onset seizures in patients 17 years of age and older Management of fibromyalgiaManagement of neuropathic pain associated with spinal cord injuryPediatric use information is approved for Pfizer’s LYRICA (pregabalin) Capsules. However, due to Pfizer’s marketing exclusivity rights, this drug product is not labeled with that pediatric information.
Pregabalin capsules are given orally with or without food.When discontinuing pregabalin capsules, taper gradually over a minimum of 1 week [see Warnings and Precautions (5.3)]. Because pregabalin is eliminated primarily by renal excretion, adjust the dose in adult patients with reduced renal function [see Dosage and Administration (2.7)].
The maximum recommended dose of pregabalin capsule is 100 mg three times a day (300 mg/day) in patients with creatinine clearance of at least 60 mL/min. Begin dosing at 50 mg three times a day (150 mg/day). The dose may be increased to 300 mg/day within 1 week based on efficacy and tolerability.Although pregabalin capsule was also studied at 600 mg/day, there is no evidence that this dose confers additional significant benefit and this dose was less well tolerated. In view of the dose-dependent adverse reactions, treatment with doses above 300 mg/day is not recommended [see Adverse Reactions (6.1)].
The recommended dose of pregabalin capsule is 75 mg to 150 mg two times a day, or 50 mg to 100 mg three times a day (150 to 300 mg/day) in patients with creatinine clearance of at least 60 mL/min. Begin dosing at 75 mg two times a day, or 50 mg three times a day (150 mg/day). The dose may be increased to 300 mg/day within 1 week based on efficacy and tolerability. Patients who do not experience sufficient pain relief following 2 to 4 weeks of treatment with 300 mg/day, and who are able to tolerate pregabalin capsules, may be treated with up to 300 mg two times a day, or 200 mg three times a day (600 mg/day). In view of the dose-dependent adverse reactions and the higher rate of treatment discontinuation due to adverse reactions, reserve dosing above 300 mg/day for those patients who have on-going pain and are tolerating 300 mg daily [see Adverse Reactions (6.1)].
The recommended dosages for adult patients 17 years of age and older is included in Table 1. Administer the total daily dosage orally in two or three divided doses as indicated in Table 1. Based on clinical response and tolerability, dosage may be increased, approximately weekly. Table 1. Recommended Dosage for Adult Patients 17 Years and OlderAge and Body Weight Recommended Initial Dosage Recommended Maximum Dosage Frequency of AdministrationAdults (17 years and older) 150 mg/day600 mg/day 2 or 3 divided dosesBoth the efficacy and adverse event profiles of pregabalin capsules have been shown to be dose-related.The effect of dose escalation rate on the tolerability of pregabalin capsules has not been formally studied. The efficacy of adjunctive pregabalin capsules in patients taking gabapentin has not been evaluated in controlled trials. Consequently, dosing recommendations for the use of pregabalin capsules with gabapentin cannot be offered.Pediatric use information is approved for Pfizer’s LYRICA (pregabalin) Capsules. However, due to Pfizer’s marketing exclusivity rights, this drug product is not labeled with that pediatric information.
The recommended dose of pregabalin capsules for fibromyalgia is 300 to 450 mg/day. Begin dosing at 75 mg two times a day (150 mg/day). The dose may be increased to 150 mg two times a day (300 mg/day) within 1 week based on efficacy and tolerability. Patients who do not experience sufficient benefit with 300 mg/day may be further increased to 225 mg two times a day (450 mg/day). Although pregabalin capsule was also studied at 600 mg/day, there is no evidence that this dose confers additional benefit and this dose was less well tolerated. In view of the dose-dependent adverse reactions, treatment with doses above 450 mg/day is not recommended [see Adverse Reactions (6.1)].
The recommended dose range of pregabalin capsules for the treatment of neuropathic pain associated with spinal cord injury is 150 to 600 mg/day. The recommended starting dose is 75 mg two times a day (150 mg/day). The dose may be increased to 150 mg two times a day (300 mg/day) within 1 week based on efficacy and tolerability. Patients who do not experience sufficient pain relief after 2 to 3 weeks of treatment with 150 mg two times a day and who tolerate pregabalin capsules may be treated with up to 300 mg two times a day [see Clinical Studies (14.5)].
In view of dose-dependent adverse reactions and since pregabalin is eliminated primarily by renal excretion, adjust the dose in adult patients with reduced renal function. The use of pregabalin capsules in pediatric patients with compromised renal function has not been studied.Base the dose adjustment in patients with renal impairment on creatinine clearance (CLcr), as indicated in Table 2. To use this dosing table, an estimate of the patient's CLcr in mL/min is needed. CLcr in mL/min may be estimated from serum creatinine (mg/dL) determination using the Cockcroft and Gault equation:Next, refer to the Dosage and Administration section to determine the recommended total daily dose based on indication, for a patient with normal renal function (CLcr greater than or equal to 60 mL/min). Then refer to Table 2 to determine the corresponding renal adjusted dose.(For example: A patient initiating pregabalin therapy for postherpetic neuralgia with normal renal function (CLcr greater than or equal to 60 mL/min), receives a total daily dose of 150 mg/day pregabalin. Therefore, a renal impaired patient with a CLcr of 50 mL/min would receive a total daily dose of 75 mg/day pregabalin administered in two or three divided doses.)For patients undergoing hemodialysis, adjust the pregabalin daily dose based on renal function. In addition to the daily dose adjustment, administer a supplemental dose immediately following every 4-hour hemodialysis treatment (see Table 2).Table 2. Pregabalin Dosage Adjustment Based on Renal FunctionCreatinine Clearance (CLcr)(mL/min)Total Pregabalin Daily Dose(mg/day)*Dose RegimenGreater than or equal to 60150300450600BID or TID30 to 6075150225300BID or TID15 to 3025 to 5075100 to 150150QD or BIDLess than 152525 to 5050 to 7575QDSupplementary dosage following hemodialysis (mg)†Patients on the 25 mg QD regimen: take one supplemental dose of 25 mg or 50 mgPatients on the 25 to 50 mg QD regimen: take one supplemental dose of 50 mg or 75 mg Patients on the 50 to 75 mg QD regimen: take one supplemental dose of 75 mg or 100 mg Patients on the 75 mg QD regimen: take one supplemental dose of 100 mg or 150 mgTID= Three divided doses; BID = Two divided doses; QD = Single daily dose.*Total daily dose (mg/day) should be divided as indicated by dose regimen to provide mg/dose.†Supplementary dose is a single additional dose.
Pregabalin Capsules are available in 25 mg, 50 mg, 75 mg, 100 mg, 150 mg, 200 mg, 225 mg, and 300 mg strengths [see Description (11) and How Supplied/Storage and Handling (16)].Pregabalin capsules, 25 mg are supplied as white, hard gelatin capsule printed with black ink “AN” on cap & “1310” on body.Pregabalin capsules, 50 mg are supplied as white, hard gelatin capsule printed with black ink “AN” on cap & “1311” on body.Pregabalin capsules, 75 mg are supplied as white/orange, hard gelatin capsule printed with black ink “AN” on cap & “1312” on body.Pregabalin capsules, 100 mg are supplied as orange, hard gelatin capsule printed with black ink “AN” on cap & “1313” on body.Pregabalin capsules, 150 mg are supplied as white, hard gelatin capsule printed with black ink “AN” on cap & “1314” on body.Pregabalin capsules, 200 mg are supplied as light orange, hard gelatin capsule printed with black ink “AN” on cap & “1315” on body.Pregabalin capsules, 225 mg are supplied as white/light orange, hard gelatin capsule printed with black ink “AN” on cap & “1316” on body.Pregabalin capsules, 300 mg are supplied as white/orange, hard gelatin capsule printed with black ink “AN” on cap & “1317” on body.
Pregabalin capsules are contraindicated in patients with known hypersensitivity to pregabalin or any of its components. Angioedema and hypersensitivity reactions have occurred in patients receiving pregabalin therapy [see Warnings and Precautions (5.2)].
There have been postmarketing reports of angioedema in patients during initial and chronic treatment with pregabalin. Specific symptoms included swelling of the face, mouth (tongue, lips, and gums), and neck (throat and larynx). There were reports of life-threatening angioedema with respiratory compromise requiring emergency treatment. Discontinue pregabalin immediately in patients with these symptoms. Exercise caution when prescribing pregabalin to patients who have had a previous episode of angioedema. In addition, patients who are taking other drugs associated with angioedema (e.g., angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors [ACE-inhibitors]) may be at increased risk of developing angioedema.
There have been postmarketing reports of hypersensitivity in patients shortly after initiation of treatment with pregabalin. Adverse reactions included skin redness, blisters, hives, rash, dyspnea, and wheezing. Discontinue pregabalin immediately in patients with these symptoms.
As with all antiepileptic drugs (AEDs), withdraw pregabalin gradually to minimize the potential of increased seizure frequency in patients with seizure disorders. Following abrupt or rapid discontinuation of pregabalin, some patients reported symptoms including insomnia, nausea, headache, anxiety, hyperhidrosis, and diarrhea. If pregabalin is discontinued, taper the drug gradually over a minimum of 1 week rather than discontinue the drug abruptly.
Antiepileptic drugs (AEDs), including pregabalin, increase the risk of suicidal thoughts or behavior in patients taking these drugs for any indication. Monitor patients treated with any AED for any indication for the emergence or worsening of depression, suicidal thoughts or behavior, and/or any unusual changes in mood or behavior. Pooled analyses of 199 placebo-controlled clinical trials (mono- and adjunctive therapy) of 11 different AEDs showed that patients randomized to one of the AEDs had approximately twice the risk (adjusted Relative Risk 1.8, 95% CI:1.2, 2.7) of suicidal thinking or behavior compared to patients randomized to placebo. In these trials, which had a median treatment duration of 12 weeks, the estimated incidence rate of suicidal behavior or ideation among 27,863 AED-treated patients was 0.43%, compared to 0.24% among 16,029 placebo-treated patients, representing an increase of approximately one case of suicidal thinking or behavior for every 530 patients treated. There were four suicides in drug-treated patients in the trials and none in placebo-treated patients, but the number is too small to allow any conclusion about drug effect on suicide. The increased risk of suicidal thoughts or behavior with AEDs was observed as early as one week after starting drug treatment with AEDs and persisted for the duration of treatment assessed. Because most trials included in the analysis did not extend beyond 24 weeks, the risk of suicidal thoughts or behavior beyond 24 weeks could not be assessed. The risk of suicidal thoughts or behavior was generally consistent among drugs in the data analyzed. The finding of increased risk with AEDs of varying mechanisms of action and across a range of indications suggests that the risk applies to all AEDs used for any indication. The risk did not vary substantially by age (5 to 100 years) in the clinical trials analyzed. Table 3 shows absolute and relative risk by indication for all evaluated AEDs.Table 3. Risk by Indication for Antiepileptic Drugs in the Pooled AnalysisIndicationPlacebo Patients with Events Per 1,000 PatientsDrug Patients with Events Per 1,000 PatientsRelative Risk: Incidence of Events in Drug Patients/Incidence in Placebo PatientsRisk Difference: Additional Drug Patients with Events Per 1,000 PatientsEpilepsy1.03.43.52.4Psychiatric5.78.51.52.9Other1.01.81.90.9Total2.44.31.81.9The relative risk for suicidal thoughts or behavior was higher in clinical trials for epilepsy than in clinical trials for psychiatric or other conditions, but the absolute risk differences were similar for the epilepsy and psychiatric indications.Anyone considering prescribing pregabalin or any other AED must balance the risk of suicidal thoughts or behavior with the risk of untreated illness. Epilepsy and many other illnesses for which AEDs are prescribed are themselves associated with morbidity and mortality and an increased risk of suicidal thoughts and behavior. Should suicidal thoughts and behavior emerge during treatment, the prescriber needs to consider whether the emergence of these symptoms in any given patient may be related to the illness being treated.
Pregabalin treatment may cause peripheral edema. In short-term trials of patients without clinically significant heart or peripheral vascular disease, there was no apparent association between peripheral edema and cardiovascular complications such as hypertension or congestive heart failure. Peripheral edema was not associated with laboratory changes suggestive of deterioration in renal or hepatic function.In controlled clinical trials in adult patients, the incidence of peripheral edema was 6% in the pregabalin group compared with 2% in the placebo group. In controlled clinical trials, 0.5% of pregabalin patients and 0.2% placebo patients withdrew due to peripheral edema.Higher frequencies of weight gain and peripheral edema were observed in patients taking both pregabalin and a thiazolidinedione antidiabetic agent compared to patients taking either drug alone. The majority of patients using thiazolidinedione antidiabetic agents in the overall safety database were participants in studies of pain associated with diabetic peripheral neuropathy. In this population, peripheral edema was reported in 3% (2/60) of patients who were using thiazolidinedione antidiabetic agents only, 8% (69/859) of patients who were treated with pregabalin only, and 19% (23/120) of patients who were on both pregabalin and thiazolidinedione antidiabetic agents. Similarly, weight gain was reported in 0% (0/60) of patients on thiazolidinediones only; 4% (35/859) of patients on pregabalin only; and 7.5% (9/120) of patients on both drugs.As the thiazolidinedione class of antidiabetic drugs can cause weight gain and/or fluid retention, possibly exacerbating or leading to heart failure, exercise caution when co-administering pregabalin and these agents. Because there are limited data on congestive heart failure patients with New York Heart Association (NYHA) Class III or IV cardiac status, exercise caution when using pregabalin in these patients.
Pregabalin may cause dizziness and somnolence. Inform patients that pregabalin-related dizziness and somnolence may impair their ability to perform tasks such as driving or operating machinery [see Patient Counseling Information (17)].In the pregabalin controlled trials in adult patients, dizziness was experienced by 30% of pregabalin-treated patients compared to 8% of placebo-treated patients; somnolence was experienced by 23% of pregabalin-treated patients compared to 8% of placebo-treated patients. Dizziness and somnolence generally began shortly after the initiation of pregabalin therapy and occurred more frequently at higher doses. Dizziness and somnolence were the adverse reactions most frequently leading to withdrawal (4% each) from controlled studies. In pregabalin-treated patients reporting these adverse reactions in short-term, controlled studies, dizziness persisted until the last dose in 30% and somnolence persisted until the last dose in 42% of patients [see Drug Interactions (7)]. Pediatric use information is approved for Pfizer’s LYRICA (pregabalin) Capsules. However, due to Pfizer’s marketing exclusivity rights, this drug product is not labeled with that pediatric information.
Pregabalin treatment may cause weight gain. In pregabalin controlled clinical trials in adult patients of up to 14 weeks, a gain of 7% or more over baseline weight was observed in 9% of pregabalin-treated patients and 2% of placebo-treated patients. Few patients treated with pregabalin (0.3%) withdrew from controlled trials due to weight gain. Pregabalin associated weight gain was related to dose and duration of exposure, but did not appear to be associated with baseline BMI, gender, or age. Weight gain was not limited to patients with edema [see Warnings and Precautions (5.5)]. Although weight gain was not associated with clinically important changes in blood pressure in short-term controlled studies, the long-term cardiovascular effects of pregabalin-associated weight gain are unknown. Among diabetic patients, pregabalin-treated patients gained an average of 1.6 kg (range: -16 to 16 kg), compared to an average 0.3 kg (range: -10 to 9 kg) weight gain in placebo patients. In a cohort of 333 diabetic patients who received pregabalin for at least 2 years, the average weight gain was 5.2 kg. While the effects of pregabalin-associated weight gain on glycemic control have not been systematically assessed, in controlled and longer-term open label clinical trials with diabetic patients, pregabalin treatment did not appear to be associated with loss of glycemic control (as measured by HbA1C).
In standard preclinical in vivo lifetime carcinogenicity studies of pregabalin, an unexpectedly high incidence of hemangiosarcoma was identified in two different strains of mice [see Nonclinical Toxicology (13.1)]. The clinical significance of this finding is unknown. Clinical experience during pregabalin’s premarketing development provides no direct means to assess its potential for inducing tumors in humans. In clinical studies across various patient populations, comprising 6,396 patient-years of exposure in patients greater than 12 years of age, new or worsening-preexisting tumors were reported in 57 patients. Without knowledge of the background incidence and recurrence in similar populations not treated with pregabalin, it is impossible to know whether the incidence seen in these cohorts is or is not affected by treatment.
In controlled studies in adult patients, a higher proportion of patients treated with pregabalin reported blurred vision (7%) than did patients treated with placebo (2%), which resolved in a majority of cases with continued dosing. Less than 1% of patients discontinued pregabalin treatment due to vision-related events (primarily blurred vision). Prospectively planned ophthalmologic testing, including visual acuity testing, formal visual field testing and dilated funduscopic examination, was performed in over 3,600 patients. In these patients, visual acuity was reduced in 7% of patients treated with pregabalin, and 5% of placebo-treated patients. Visual field changes were detected in 13% of pregabalin-treated, and 12% of placebo-treated patients. Funduscopic changes were observed in 2% of pregabalin-treated and 2% of placebo-treated patients. Although the clinical significance of the ophthalmologic findings is unknown, inform patients to notify their physician if changes in vision occur. If visual disturbance persists, consider further assessment. Consider more frequent assessment for patients who are already routinely monitored for ocular conditions [see Patient Counseling Information (17)].
Pregabalin treatment was associated with creatine kinase elevations. Mean changes in creatine kinase from baseline to the maximum value were 60 U/L for pregabalin-treated patients and 28 U/L for the placebo patients. In all controlled trials in adult patients across multiple patient populations, 1.5% of patients on pregabalin and 0.7% of placebo patients had a value of creatine kinase at least three times the upper limit of normal. Three pregabalin-treated subjects had events reported as rhabdomyolysis in premarketing clinical trials. The relationship between these myopathy events and pregabalin is not completely understood because the cases had documented factors that may have caused or contributed to these events. Instruct patients to promptly report unexplained muscle pain, tenderness, or weakness, particularly if these muscle symptoms are accompanied by malaise or fever. Discontinue treatment with pregabalin if myopathy is diagnosed or suspected or if markedly elevated creatine kinase levels occur.
Pregabalin treatment was associated with a decrease in platelet count. Pregabalin-treated subjects experienced a mean maximal decrease in platelet count of 20 × 103/μL, compared to 11 × 103/μL in placebo patients. In the overall database of controlled trials in adult patients, 2% of placebo patients and 3% of pregabalin patients experienced a potentially clinically significant decrease in platelets, defined as 20% below baseline value and less than 150 × 103/μL. A single pregabalin- treated subject developed severe thrombocytopenia with a platelet count less than 20 × 103/ μL. In randomized controlled trials, pregabalin was not associated with an increase in bleeding-related adverse reactions.
Pregabalin treatment was associated with PR interval prolongation. In analyses of clinical trial ECG data in adult patients, the mean PR interval increase was 3 to 6 msec at pregabalin doses greater than or equal to 300 mg/day. This mean change difference was not associated with an increased risk of PR increase greater than or equal to 25% from baseline, an increased percentage of subjects with on-treatment PR greater than 200 msec, or an increased risk of adverse reactions of second or third degree AV block.Subgroup analyses did not identify an increased risk of PR prolongation in patients with baseline PR prolongation or in patients taking other PR prolonging medications. However, these analyses cannot be considered definitive because of the limited number of patients in these categories.
The following serious adverse reactions are described elsewhere in the labeling:Angioedema [see Warnings and Precautions (5.1)]Hypersensitivity [see Warnings and Precautions (5.2)]Increased Risk of Adverse Reactions with Abrupt or Rapid Discontinuation [see Warnings and Precautions (5.3)]Suicidal Behavior and Ideation [see Warnings and Precautions (5.4)]Peripheral Edema [see Warnings and Precautions (5.5)]Dizziness and Somnolence [see Warnings and Precautions (5.6)]Weight Gain [see Warnings and Precautions (5.7)]Tumorigenic Potential [see Warnings and Precautions (5.8)]Ophthalmological Effects [see Warnings and Precautions (5.9)] Creatine Kinase Elevations [see Warnings and Precautions (5.10)] Decreased Platelet Count [see Warnings and Precautions (5.11)] PR Interval Prolongation [see Warnings and Precautions (5.12)]
Because clinical trials are conducted under widely varying conditions, adverse reaction rates observed in the clinical trials of a drug cannot be directly compared to rates in the clinical trials of another drug and may not reflect the rates observed in practice. In all controlled and uncontrolled trials across various patient populations during the premarketing development of pregabalin, more than 10,000 patients have received pregabalin. Approximately 5,000 patients were treated for 6 months or more, over 3,100 patients were treated for 1 year or longer, and over 1,400 patients were treated for at least 2 years. Adverse Reactions Most Commonly Leading to Discontinuation in All Premarketing Controlled Clinical Studies In premarketing controlled trials of all adult populations combined, 14% of patients treated with pregabalin and 7% of patients treated with placebo discontinued prematurely due to adverse reactions. In the pregabalin treatment group, the adverse reactions most frequently leading to discontinuation were dizziness (4%) and somnolence (4%). In the placebo group, 1% of patients withdrew due to dizziness and less than 1% withdrew due to somnolence. Other adverse reactions that led to discontinuation from controlled trials more frequently in the pregabalin group compared to the placebo group were ataxia, confusion, asthenia, thinking abnormal, blurred vision, incoordination, and peripheral edema (1% each).Most Common Adverse Reactions in All Controlled Clinical Studies in AdultsIn premarketing controlled trials of all adult patient populations combined (including DPN, PHN, and adult patients with partial-onset seizures), dizziness, somnolence, dry mouth, edema, blurred vision, weight gain, and "thinking abnormal" (primarily difficulty with concentration/attention) were more commonly reported by subjects treated with pregabalin than by subjects treated with placebo (greater than or equal to 5% and twice the rate of that seen in placebo). Controlled Studies with Neuropathic Pain Associated with Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy Adverse Reactions Leading to Discontinuation In clinical trials in adults with neuropathic pain associated with diabetic peripheral neuropathy, 9% of patients treated with pregabalin and 4% of patients treated with placebo discontinued prematurely due to adverse reactions. In the pregabalin treatment group, the most common reasons for discontinuation due to adverse reactions were dizziness (3%) and somnolence (2%). In comparison, less than 1% of placebo patients withdrew due to dizziness and somnolence. Other reasons for discontinuation from the trials, occurring with greater frequency in the pregabalin group than in the placebo group, were asthenia, confusion, and peripheral edema. Each of these events led to withdrawal in approximately 1% of patients. Most Common Adverse Reactions Table 4 lists all adverse reactions, regardless of causality, occurring in greater than or equal to 1% of patients with neuropathic pain associated with diabetic neuropathy in the combined pregabalin group for which the incidence was greater in this combined pregabalin group than in the placebo group. A majority of pregabalin-treated patients in clinical studies had adverse reactions with a maximum intensity of "mild" or "moderate”. Table 4. Adverse Reaction Incidence in Controlled Trials in Neuropathic Pain Associated with Diabetic Peripheral NeuropathyBody system Preferred term75 mg/day [N=77] %150 mg/day [N=212] %300 mg/day [N=321] %600 mg/day [N=369] %All PGB*[N=979] %Placebo[N=459] %Body as a wholeAsthenia424752Accidental injury522643Back pain021220Chest pain411221Face edema011210Digestive systemDry mouth325751Constipation024642Flatulence302321Metabolic and nutritional disordersPeripheral edema4691292Weight gain044640Edema024220Hypoglycemia132121Nervous systemDizziness892329215Somnolence461316123Neuropathy922543Ataxia612431Vertigo122431Confusion012321Euphoria003220Incoordination102220Thinking abnormal†101320Tremor111210Abnormal gait101310Amnesia310210Nervousness011110Respiratory systemDyspnea302221Special sensesBlurry vision‡313642Abnormal vision101110 * PGB: pregabalin† Thinking abnormal primarily consists of events related to difficulty with concentration/attention but also includes events related to cognition and language problems and slowed thinking.‡ Investigator term; summary level term is amblyopiaControlled Studies in Postherpetic Neuralgia Adverse Reactions Leading to Discontinuation In clinical trials in adults with postherpetic neuralgia, 14% of patients treated with pregabalin and 7% of patients treated with placebo discontinued prematurely due to adverse reactions. In the pregabalin treatment group, the most common reasons for discontinuation due to adverse reactions were dizziness (4%) and somnolence (3%). In comparison, less than 1% of placebo patients withdrew due to dizziness and somnolence. Other reasons for discontinuation from the trials, occurring in greater frequency in the pregabalin group than in the placebo group, were confusion (2%), as well as peripheral edema, asthenia, ataxia, and abnormal gait (1% each). Most Common Adverse Reactions Table 5 lists all adverse reactions, regardless of causality, occurring in greater than or equal to 1% of patients with neuropathic pain associated with postherpetic neuralgia in the combined pregabalin group for which the incidence was greater in this combined pregabalin group than in the placebo group. In addition, an event is included, even if the incidence in the all pregabalin group is not greater than in the placebo group, if the incidence of the event in the 600 mg/day group is more than twice that in the placebo group. A majority of pregabalin-treated patients in clinical studies had adverse reactions with a maximum intensity of "mild" or "moderate". Overall, 12.4% of all pregabalin-treated patients and 9.0% of all placebo-treated patients had at least one severe event while 8% of pregabalin-treated patients and 4.3% of placebo-treated patients had at least one severe treatment-related adverse event.Table 5. Adverse Reaction Incidence in Controlled Trials in Neuropathic Pain Associated with Postherpetic Neuralgia Body system Preferred termBody system Preferred term75 mg/d [N=84] %150 mg/d [N=302] %300 mg/d [N=312] %600 mg/d [N=154] %All PGB* [N=852] %Placebo [N=398] %Body as a wholeInfection1486374Headache595875Pain545554Accidental injury433532Flu syndrome122121Face edema021321Digestive systemDry mouth7761583Constipation455552Flatulence212321Vomiting113321Metabolic and nutritional disordersPeripheral edema081616124Weight gain125740Edema012621Musculoskeletal systemMyasthenia111110Nervous systemDizziness11183137269Somnolence8121825165Ataxia125951Abnormal gait024841Confusion123730Thinking abnormal†021622Incoordination221320Amnesia011420Speech disorder001310Respiratory systemBronchitis011311Special sensesBlurry vision‡155953Diplopia022420Abnormal vision012520Eye Disorder011210Urogenital SystemUrinary Incontinence011210* PGB: pregabalin† Thinking abnormal primarily consists of events related to difficulty with concentration/attention but also includes events related to cognition and language problems and slowed thinking.‡ Investigator term; summary level term is amblyopiaControlled Studies of Adjunctive Therapy for Partial-Onset Seizures in Adult Patients Adverse Reactions Leading to Discontinuation Approximately 15% of patients receiving pregabalin and 6% of patients receiving placebo in trials of adjunctive therapy for partial-onset seizures discontinued prematurely due to adverse reactions. In the pregabalin treatment group, the adverse reactions most frequently leading to discontinuation were dizziness (6%), ataxia (4%), and somnolence (3%). In comparison, less than 1% of patients in the placebo group withdrew due to each of these events. Other adverse reactions that led to discontinuation of at least 1% of patients in the pregabalin group and at least twice as frequently compared to the placebo group were asthenia, diplopia, blurred vision, thinking abnormal, nausea, tremor, vertigo, headache, and confusion (which each led to withdrawal in 2% or less of patients). Most Common Adverse Reactions Table 6 lists all dose-related adverse reactions occurring in at least 2% of all pregabalin-treated patients. Dose-relatedness was defined as the incidence of the adverse event in the 600 mg/day group was at least 2% greater than the rate in both the placebo and 150 mg/day groups. In these studies, 758 patients received pregabalin and 294 patients received placebo for up to 12 weeks. A majority of pregabalin-treated patients in clinical studies had adverse reactions with a maximum intensity of "mild" or "moderate”. Table 6. Dose-related Adverse Reaction Incidence in Controlled Trials of Adjunctive Therapy for Partial-Onset Seizures in Adult PatientsBody System Preferred Term150 mg/d[N = 185]%300 mg/d[N = 90]%600 mg/d[N = 395]%All PGB*[N = 670]†%Placebo[N = 294]%Body as a WholeAccidental Injury7111095Pain32543Digestive SystemIncreased Appetite23651Dry Mouth12641Constipation11742Metabolic and Nutritional DisordersWeight Gain5716121Peripheral Edema33652Nervous SystemDizziness1831383211Somnolence1118282211Ataxia61020154Tremor371184Thinking Abnormal‡48982Amnesia32652Speech Disorder12751Incoordination13641Abnormal Gait13540Twitching04541Confusion12542Myoclonus10420Special SensesBlurred Vision§5812104Diplopia571294Abnormal Vision31541* PGB: pregabalin† Excludes patients who received the 50 mg dose in Study E1.‡ Thinking abnormal primarily consists of events related to difficulty with concentration/attention but also includes events related to cognition and language problems and slowed thinking.§ Investigator term; summary level term is amblyopia.Controlled Studies with Fibromyalgia Adverse Reactions Leading to Discontinuation In clinical trials of patients with fibromyalgia, 19% of patients treated with pregabalin (150 to 600 mg/day) and 10% of patients treated with placebo discontinued prematurely due to adverse reactions. In the pregabalin treatment group, the most common reasons for discontinuation due to adverse reactions were dizziness (6%) and somnolence (3%). In comparison, less than 1% of placebo-treated patients withdrew due to dizziness and somnolence. Other reasons for discontinuation from the trials, occurring with greater frequency in the pregabalin treatment group than in the placebo treatment group, were fatigue, headache, balance disorder, and weight increased. Each of these adverse reactions led to withdrawal in approximately 1% of patients. Most Common Adverse Reactions Table 9 lists all adverse reactions, regardless of causality, occurring in greater than or equal to 2% of patients with fibromyalgia in the ‘all pregabalin’ treatment group for which the incidence was greater than in the placebo treatment group. A majority of pregabalin-treated patients in clinical studies experienced adverse reactions with a maximum intensity of "mild" or "moderate".Table 9. Adverse Reaction Incidence in Controlled Trials in FibromyalgiaSystem Organ Class Preferred term150 mg/d [N=132] %300 mg/d [N=502] %450 mg/d [N=505] %600 mg/d [N=378] %All PGB*[N=1517] %Placebo[N=505] %Ear and Labyrinth DisordersVertigo222120Eye DisordersVision blurred8771281Gastrointestinal DisordersDry mouth769982Constipation4471072Vomiting233232Flatulence112221Abdominal distension222221General Disorders and Administrative Site ConditionsFatigue576874Edema peripheral556962Chest pain211221Feeling abnormal132220Edema121221Feeling drunk121220Infections and InfestationsSinusitis457554InvestigationsWeight increased8101014112Metabolism and Nutrition DisordersIncreased appetite435751Fluid retention233221Musculoskeletal and Connective Tissue DisordersArthralgia433642Muscle spasms244442Back pain234333Nervous System DisordersDizziness23314345389Somnolence13182222204Headache111214101212Disturbance in attention446651Balance disorder236950Memory impairment134430Coordination abnormal212221Hypoesthesia223221Lethargy221220Tremor013220Psychiatric DisordersEuphoric Mood256761Confusional state023430Anxiety222221Disorientation102120Depression222222Respiratory, Thoracic and Mediastinal DisordersPharyngolaryngeal pain213322*PGB: pregabalinControlled Studies in Neuropathic Pain Associated with Spinal Cord Injury Adverse Reactions Leading to Discontinuation In clinical trials of adults with neuropathic pain associated with spinal cord injury, 13% of patients treated with pregabalin and 10% of patients treated with placebo discontinued prematurely due to adverse reactions. In the pregabalin treatment group, the most common reasons for discontinuation due to adverse reactions were somnolence (3%) and edema (2%). In comparison, none of the placebo-treated patients withdrew due to somnolence and edema. Other reasons for discontinuation from the trials, occurring with greater frequency in the pregabalin treatment group than in the placebo treatment group, were fatigue and balance disorder. Each of these adverse reactions led to withdrawal in less than 2% of patients. Most Common Adverse Reactions Table 10 lists all adverse reactions, regardless of causality, occurring in greater than or equal to 2% of patients for which the incidence was greater than in the placebo treatment group with neuropathic pain associated with spinal cord injury in the controlled trials. A majority of pregabalin-treated patients in clinical studies experienced adverse reactions with a maximum intensity of "mild" or "moderate".Table 10. Adverse Reaction Incidence in Controlled Trials in Neuropathic Pain Associated with Spinal Cord InjurySystem Organ ClassPreferred termPGB* (N=182)Placebo (N=174)%%Ear and labyrinth disordersVertigo2.71.1Eye disordersVision blurred6.61.1Gastrointestinal disordersDry mouth11.02.9Constipation8.25.7Nausea4.94.0Vomiting2.71.1General disorders and administration site conditionsFatigue11.04.0Edema peripheral10.45.2Edema8.21.1Pain3.31.1Infections and infestationsNasopharyngitis8.24.6InvestigationsWeight increased3.31.1Blood creatine phosphokinase increased2.70Musculoskeletal and connective tissue disordersMuscular weakness4.91.7Pain in extremity3.32.3Neck pain2.71.1Back pain2.21.7Joint swelling2.20Nervous system disordersSomnolence35.711.5Dizziness20.96.9Disturbance in attention3.80Memory impairment3.31.1Paresthesia2.20.6Psychiatric disordersInsomnia3.82.9Euphoric mood2.20.6Renal and urinary disordersUrinary incontinence2.71.1Skin and subcutaneous tissue disordersDecubitus ulcer2.71.1Vascular disordersHypertension2.21.1Hypotension2.20*PGB: PregabalinOther Adverse Reactions Observed During the Clinical Studies of Pregabalin Following is a list of treatment-emergent adverse reactions reported by patients treated with pregabalin during all clinical trials. The listing does not include those events already listed in the previous tables or elsewhere in labeling, those events for which a drug cause was remote, those events which were so general as to be uninformative, and those events reported only once which did not have a substantial probability of being acutely life-threatening. Events are categorized by body system and listed in order of decreasing frequency according to the following definitions: frequent adverse reactions are those occurring on one or more occasions in at least 1/100 patients; infrequent adverse reactions are those occurring in 1/100 to 1/1,000 patients; rare reactions are those occurring in fewer than 1/1,000 patients. Events of major clinical importance are described in the Warnings and Precautions section (5).Body as a Whole – Frequent: Abdominal pain, Allergic reaction, Fever, Infrequent: Abscess, Cellulitis, Chills, Malaise, Neck rigidity, Overdose, Pelvic pain, Photosensitivity reaction, Rare: Anaphylactoid reaction, Ascites, Granuloma, Hangover effect, Intentional Injury, Retroperitoneal Fibrosis, Shock Cardiovascular System – Infrequent: Deep thrombophlebitis, Heart failure, Hypotension, Postural hypotension, Retinal vascular disorder, Syncope; Rare: ST Depressed, Ventricular Fibrillation Digestive System – Frequent: Gastroenteritis, Increased appetite; Infrequent: Cholecystitis, Cholelithiasis, Colitis, Dysphagia, Esophagitis, Gastritis, Gastrointestinal hemorrhage, Melena, Mouth ulceration, Pancreatitis, Rectal hemorrhage, Tongue edema; Rare: Aphthous stomatitis, Esophageal Ulcer, Periodontal abscess Hemic and Lymphatic System – Frequent: Ecchymosis; Infrequent: Anemia, Eosinophilia, Hypochromic anemia, Leukocytosis, Leukopenia, Lymphadenopathy, Thrombocytopenia; Rare: Myelofibrosis, Polycythemia, Prothrombin decreased, Purpura, Thrombocythemia, Alanine aminotransferase increased, Aspartate aminotransferase increased Metabolic and Nutritional Disorders – Rare: Glucose Tolerance Decreased, Urate Crystalluria Musculoskeletal System – Frequent: Arthralgia, Leg cramps, Myalgia, Myasthenia; Infrequent: Arthrosis; Rare: Chondrodystrophy, Generalized Spasm Nervous System – Frequent: Anxiety, Depersonalization, Hypertonia, Hypoesthesia, Libido decreased, Nystagmus, Paresthesia, Sedation, Stupor, Twitching; Infrequent: Abnormal dreams, Agitation, Apathy, Aphasia, Circumoral paresthesia, Dysarthria, Hallucinations, Hostility, Hyperalgesia, Hyperesthesia, Hyperkinesia, Hypokinesia, Hypotonia, Libido increased, Myoclonus, Neuralgia; Rare: Addiction, Cerebellar syndrome, Cogwheel rigidity, Coma, Delirium, Delusions, Dysautonomia, Dyskinesia, Dystonia, Encephalopathy, Extrapyramidal syndrome, Guillain-Barré syndrome, Hypalgesia, Intracranial hypertension, Manic reaction, Paranoid reaction, Peripheral neuritis, Personality disorder, Psychotic depression, Schizophrenic reaction, Sleep disorder, Torticollis, Trismus Respiratory System – Rare: Apnea, Atelectasis, Bronchiolitis, Hiccup, Laryngismus, Lung edema, Lung fibrosis, Yawn Skin and Appendages – Frequent: Pruritus, Infrequent: Alopecia, Dry skin, Eczema, Hirsutism, Skin ulcer, Urticaria, Vesiculobullous rash; Rare: Angioedema, Exfoliative dermatitis, Lichenoid dermatitis, Melanosis, Nail Disorder, Petechial rash, Purpuric rash, Pustular rash, Skin atrophy, Skin necrosis, Skin nodule, Stevens-Johnson syndrome, Subcutaneous nodule Special senses – Frequent: Conjunctivitis, Diplopia, Otitis media, Tinnitus; Infrequent: Abnormality of accommodation, Blepharitis, Dry eyes, Eye hemorrhage, Hyperacusis, Photophobia, Retinal edema, Taste loss, Taste perversion; Rare: Anisocoria, Blindness, Corneal ulcer, Exophthalmos, Extraocular palsy, Iritis, Keratitis, Keratoconjunctivitis, Miosis, Mydriasis, Night blindness, Ophthalmoplegia, Optic atrophy, Papilledema, Parosmia, Ptosis, UveitisUrogenital System – Frequent: Anorgasmia, Impotence, Urinary frequency, Urinary incontinence; Infrequent: Abnormal ejaculation, Albuminuria, Amenorrhea, Dysmenorrhea, Dysuria, Hematuria, Kidney calculus, Leukorrhea, Menorrhagia, Metrorrhagia, Nephritis, Oliguria, Urinary retention, Urine abnormality; Rare: Acute kidney failure, Balanitis, Bladder Neoplasm, Cervicitis, Dyspareunia, Epididymitis, Female lactation, Glomerulitis, Ovarian disorder, Pyelonephritis Comparison of Gender and Race The overall adverse event profile of pregabalin was similar between women and men. There are insufficient data to support a statement regarding the distribution of adverse experience reports by race.Pediatric use information is approved for Pfizer’s LYRICA (pregabalin) Capsules. However, due to Pfizer’s marketing exclusivity rights, this drug product is not labeled with that pediatric information.
The following adverse reactions have been identified during postapproval use of pregabalin. Because these reactions are reported voluntarily from a population of uncertain size, it is not always possible to reliably estimate their frequency or establish a causal relationship to drug exposure. Nervous System Disorders – HeadacheGastrointestinal Disorders – Nausea, Diarrhea Reproductive System and Breast Disorders – Gynecomastia, Breast Enlargement In addition, there are postmarketing reports of events related to reduced lower gastrointestinal tract function (e.g., intestinal obstruction, paralytic ileus, constipation) when pregabalin was co-administered with medications that have the potential to produce constipation, such as opioid analgesics. There are also postmarketing reports of respiratory failure and coma in patients taking pregabalin and other CNS depressant medications.
Since pregabalin is predominantly excreted unchanged in the urine, undergoes negligible metabolism in humans (less than 2% of a dose recovered in urine as metabolites), and does not bind to plasma proteins, its pharmacokinetics are unlikely to be affected by other agents through metabolic interactions or protein binding displacement. In vitro and in vivo studies showed that pregabalin is unlikely to be involved in significant pharmacokinetic drug interactions. Specifically, there are no pharmacokinetic interactions between pregabalin and the following antiepileptic drugs: carbamazepine, valproic acid, lamotrigine, phenytoin, phenobarbital, and topiramate. Important pharmacokinetic interactions would also not be expected to occur between pregabalin and commonly used antiepileptic drugs [see Clinical Pharmacology (12)].PharmacodynamicsMultiple oral doses of pregabalin were co-administered with oxycodone, lorazepam, or ethanol. Although no pharmacokinetic interactions were seen, additive effects on cognitive and gross motor functioning were seen when pregabalin was co-administered with these drugs. No clinically important effects on respiration were seen.
Pregnancy Exposure Registry There is a pregnancy exposure registry that monitors pregnancy outcomes in women exposed to pregabalin during pregnancy. To provide information regarding the effects of in utero exposure to pregabalin, physicians are advised to recommend that pregnant patients taking pregabalin enroll in the North American Antiepileptic Drug (NAAED) Pregnancy Registry. This can be done by calling the toll free number 1-888-233-2334, and must be done by patients themselves. Information on the registry can also be found at the website http://www.aedpregnancyregistry.org/. Risk Summary There are no adequate and well-controlled studies with pregabalin in pregnant women. However, in animal reproduction studies, increased incidences of fetal structural abnormalities and other manifestations of developmental toxicity, including skeletal malformations, retarded ossification, and decreased fetal body weight were observed in the offspring of rats and rabbits given pregabalin orally during organogenesis, at doses that produced plasma pregabalin exposures (AUC) greater than or equal to 16 times human exposure at the maximum recommended dose (MRD) of 600 mg/day [see Data]. In an animal development study, lethality, growth retardation, and nervous and reproductive system functional impairment were observed in the offspring of rats given pregabalin during gestation and lactation. The no-effect dose for developmental toxicity was approximately twice the human exposure at MRD. The background risk of major birth defects and miscarriage for the indicated populations are unknown. However, the background risk in the U.S. general population of major birth defects is 2% to 4% and of miscarriage is 15% to 20% of clinically recognized pregnancies. Advise pregnant women of the potential risk to a fetus. Data Animal Data When pregnant rats were given pregabalin (500, 1,250, or 2,500 mg/kg) orally throughout the period of organogenesis, incidences of specific skull alterations attributed to abnormally advanced ossification (premature fusion of the jugal and nasal sutures) were increased at greater than or equal to 1,250 mg/kg, and incidences of skeletal variations and retarded ossification were increased at all doses. Fetal body weights were decreased at the highest dose. The low dose in this study was associated with a plasma exposure (AUC) approximately 17 times human exposure at the MRD of 600 mg/day. A no-effect dose for rat embryo-fetal developmental toxicity was not established. When pregnant rabbits were given pregabalin (250, 500, or 1,250 mg/kg) orally throughout the period of organogenesis, decreased fetal body weight and increased incidences of skeletal malformations, visceral variations, and retarded ossification were observed at the highest dose. The no-effect dose for developmental toxicity in rabbits (500 mg/kg) was associated with a plasma exposure approximately 16 times human exposure at the MRD. In a study in which female rats were dosed with pregabalin (50, 100, 250, 1,250, or 2,500 mg/kg) throughout gestation and lactation, offspring growth was reduced at greater than or equal to 100 mg/kg and offspring survival was decreased at greater than or equal to 250 mg/kg. The effect on offspring survival was pronounced at doses greater than or equal to 1,250 mg/kg, with 100% mortality in high-dose litters. When offspring were tested as adults, neurobehavioral abnormalities (decreased auditory startle responding) were observed at greater than or equal to 250 mg/kg and reproductive impairment (decreased fertility and litter size) was seen at 1,250 mg/kg. The no-effect dose for pre- and postnatal developmental toxicity in rats (50 mg/kg) produced a plasma exposure approximately 2 times human exposure at the MRD. In the prenatal-postnatal study in rats, pregabalin prolonged gestation and induced dystocia at exposures greater than or equal to 50 times the mean human exposure (AUC(0 to 24) of 123 mcg•hr/mL) at the MRD.
Risk SummarySmall amounts of pregabalin have been detected in the milk of lactating women. A pharmacokinetic study in lactating women detected pregabalin in breast milk at average steady-state concentrations approximately 76% of those in maternal plasma. The estimated average daily infant dose of pregabalin from breast milk (assuming mean milk consumption of 150 mL/kg/day) was 0.31 mg/kg/day, which on a mg/kg basis would be approximately 7% of the maternal dose [see Data]. The study did not evaluate the effects of pregabalin on milk production or the effects of pregabalin on the breastfed infant.Based on animal studies, there is a potential risk of tumorigenicity with pregabalin exposure via breast milk to the breastfed infant [see Nonclinical Toxicology (13.1)]. Available clinical study data in patients greater than 12 years of age do not provide a clear conclusion about the potential risk of tumorigenicity with pregabalin [see Warnings and Precautions (5.8)]. Because of the potential risk of tumorigenicity, breastfeeding is not recommended during treatment with pregabalin. DataA pharmacokinetic study in ten lactating women, who were at least 12 weeks postpartum, evaluated the concentrations of pregabalin in plasma and breast milk. Pregabalin 150 mg oral capsule was given every 12 hours (300 mg daily dose) for a total of four doses. Pregabalin was detected in breast milk at average steady-state concentrations approximately 76% of those in maternal plasma. The estimated average daily infant dose of pregabalin from breast milk (assuming mean milk consumption of 150 mL/kg/day) was 0.31 mg/kg/day, which on a mg/kg basis would be approximately 7% of the maternal dose. The study did not evaluate the effects of pregabalin on milk production. Infants did not receive breast milk obtained during the dosing period, therefore, the effects of pregabalin on the breast fed infant were not evaluated.
Infertility Male Effects on Spermatogenesis In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled non-inferiority study to assess the effect of pregabalin on sperm characteristics, healthy male subjects received pregabalin at a daily dose up to 600 mg (n=111) or placebo (n=109) for 13 weeks (one complete sperm cycle) followed by a 13-week washout period (off-drug). A total of 65 subjects in the pregabalin group (59%) and 62 subjects in the placebo group (57%) were included in the per protocol (PP) population. These subjects took study drug for at least 8 weeks, had appropriate timing of semen collections and did not have any significant protocol violations. Among these subjects, approximately 9% of the pregabalin group (6/65) vs. 3% in the placebo group (2/62) had greater than or equal to 50% reduction in mean sperm concentrations from baseline at Week 26 (the primary endpoint). The difference between pregabalin and placebo was within the pre-specified non-inferiority margin of 20%. There were no adverse effects of pregabalin on sperm morphology, sperm motility, serum FSH or serum testosterone levels as compared to placebo. In subjects in the PP population with greater than or equal to 50% reduction in sperm concentration from baseline, sperm concentrations were no longer reduced by greater than or equal to 50% in any affected subject after an additional 3 months off-drug. In one subject, however, subsequent semen analyses demonstrated reductions from baseline of greater than or equal to 50% at 9 and 12 months off-drug. The clinical relevance of these data is unknown. In the animal fertility study with pregabalin in male rats, adverse reproductive and developmental effects were observed [see Nonclinical Toxicology (13.1)].
Neuropathic Pain Associated with Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy, Postherpetic Neuralgia, and Neuropathic Pain Associated with Spinal Cord Injury Safety and effectiveness in pediatric patients have not been established.Fibromyalgia Safety and effectiveness in pediatric patients have not been established. Adjunctive Therapy for Partial-Onset Seizures Safety and effectiveness in pediatric patients below the age of 1 month have not been established.Juvenile Animal Data In studies in which pregabalin (50 to 500 mg/kg) was orally administered to young rats from early in the postnatal period (Postnatal Day 7) through sexual maturity, neurobehavioral abnormalities (deficits in learning and memory, altered locomotor activity, decreased auditory startle responding and habituation) and reproductive impairment (delayed sexual maturation and decreased fertility in males and females) were observed at doses greater than or equal to 50 mg/kg. The neurobehavioral changes of acoustic startle persisted at greater than or equal to 250 mg/kg and locomotor activity and water maze performance at greater than or equal to 500 mg/kg in animals tested after cessation of dosing and, thus, were considered to represent long-term effects. The low effect dose for developmental neurotoxicity and reproductive impairment in juvenile rats (50 mg/kg) was associated with a plasma pregabalin exposure (AUC) approximately equal to human exposure at the maximum recommended dose of 600 mg/day. A no-effect dose was not established. Information describing a clinical study in which efficacy was not demonstrated in patients is approved for Pfizer Inc.’s Lyrica® (pregabalin) products. Additional pediatric use information is approved for Pfizer’s LYRICA (pregabalin) Capsules. However, due to Pfizer’s marketing exclusivity rights, this drug product is not labeled with that pediatric information.
In controlled clinical studies of pregabalin in neuropathic pain associated with diabetic peripheral neuropathy, 246 patients were 65 to 74 years of age, and 73 patients were 75 years of age or older. In controlled clinical studies of pregabalin in neuropathic pain associated with postherpetic neuralgia, 282 patients were 65 to 74 years of age, and 379 patients were 75 years of age or older. In controlled clinical studies of pregabalin in epilepsy, there were only 10 patients 65 to 74 years of age, and 2 patients who were 75 years of age or older. No overall differences in safety and efficacy were observed between these patients and younger patients. In controlled clinical studies of pregabalin in fibromyalgia, 106 patients were 65 years of age or older. Although the adverse reaction profile was similar between the two age groups, the following neurological adverse reactions were more frequent in patients 65 years of age or older: dizziness, vision blurred, balance disorder, tremor, confusional state, coordination abnormal, and lethargy. Pregabalin is known to be substantially excreted by the kidney, and the risk of toxic reactions to pregabalin may be greater in patients with impaired renal function. Because pregabalin is eliminated primarily by renal excretion, adjust the dose for elderly patients with renal impairment [see Dosage and Administration (2.7)].
Pregabalin is eliminated primarily by renal excretion and dose adjustment is recommended for adult patients with renal impairment [see Dosage and Administration (2.7) and Clinical Pharmacology (12.3)]. The use of pregabalin in pediatric patients with compromised renal function has not been studied.
Pregabalin is a Schedule V controlled substance. Pregabalin is not known to be active at receptor sites associated with drugs of abuse. As with any CNS active drug, carefully evaluate patients for history of drug abuse and observe them for signs of pregabalin misuse or abuse (e.g., development of tolerance, dose escalation, drug-seeking behavior).
In a study of recreational users (N=15) of sedative/hypnotic drugs, including alcohol, pregabalin (450 mg, single dose) received subjective ratings of "good drug effect," "high" and "liking" to a degree that was similar to diazepam (30 mg, single dose). In controlled clinical studies in over 5,500 patients, 4% of pregabalin-treated patients and 1 % of placebo-treated patients overall reported euphoria as an adverse reaction, though in some patient populations studied, this reporting rate was higher and ranged from 1% to 12%.
In clinical studies, following abrupt or rapid discontinuation of pregabalin, some patients reported symptoms including insomnia, nausea, headache or diarrhea [see Warnings and Precautions (5.3)], consistent with physical dependence. In the postmarketing experience, in addition to these reported symptoms there have also been reported cases of anxiety and hyperhidrosis.
Signs, Symptoms and Laboratory Findings of Acute Overdosage in Humans There is limited experience with overdose of pregabalin. The highest reported accidental overdose of pregabalin during the clinical development program was 8,000 mg, and there were no notable clinical consequences. Treatment or Management of Overdose There is no specific antidote for overdose with pregabalin. If indicated, elimination of unabsorbed drug may be attempted by emesis or gastric lavage; observe usual precautions to maintain the airway. General supportive care of the patient is indicated including monitoring of vital signs and observation of the clinical status of the patient. Contact a Certified Poison Control Center for up-to-date information on the management of overdose with pregabalin. Although hemodialysis has not been performed in the few known cases of overdose, it may be indicated by the patient's clinical state or in patients with significant renal impairment. Standard hemodialysis procedures result in significant clearance of pregabalin (approximately 50% in 4 hours).
Pregabalin is described chemically as (S)-3-(aminomethyl)-5-methylhexanoic acid. The molecular formula is C8H17NO2 and the molecular weight is 159.23. The chemical structure of pregabalin is: Pregabalin is a white to off-white, crystalline solid with a pKa1 of 4.2 and a pKa2 of 10.6. It is freely soluble in water and both basic and acidic aqueous solutions. The log of the partition coefficient (n-octanol/0.05M phosphate buffer) at pH 7.4 is – 1.35. Pregabalin Capsules are administered orally and are supplied as imprinted hard-shell capsules containing 25 mg, 50 mg, 75 mg, 100 mg, 150 mg, 200 mg, 225 mg, and 300 mg of pregabalin, along with pregelatinized starch and talc. The capsule shells contain gelatin and titanium dioxide. In addition, the orange capsule shells contain red iron oxide and white capsule shells contain sodium lauryl sulfate.Each capsule shell is imprinted with black pharmaceutical ink which contains: butyl alcohol, dehydrated alcohol, ferrosoferric oxide, isopropyl alcohol, propylene glycol, potassium hydroxide, purified water, strong ammonia solution and shellac.
Pregabalin binds with high affinity to the alpha2-delta site (an auxiliary subunit of voltage-gated calcium channels) in central nervous system tissues. Although the mechanism of action of pregabalin has not been fully elucidated, results with genetically modified mice and with compounds structurally related to pregabalin (such as gabapentin) suggest that binding to the alpha2-delta subunit may be involved in pregabalin's anti-nociceptive and antiseizure effects in animals. In animal models of nerve damage, pregabalin has been shown to reduce calcium-dependent release of pro-nociceptive neurotransmitters in the spinal cord, possibly by disrupting alpha2-delta containing-calcium channel trafficking and/or reducing calcium currents. Evidence from other animal models of nerve damage and persistent pain suggest the anti-nociceptive activities of pregabalin may also be mediated through interactions with descending noradrenergic and serotonergic pathways originating from the brainstem that modulate pain transmission in the spinal cord.While pregabalin is a structural derivative of the inhibitory neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), it does not bind directly to GABAA, GABAB, or benzodiazepine receptors, does not augment GABAA responses in cultured neurons, does not alter rat brain GABA concentration or have acute effects on GABA uptake or degradation. However, in cultured neurons prolonged application of pregabalin increases the density of GABA transporter protein and increases the rate of functional GABA transport. Pregabalin does not block sodium channels, is not active at opiate receptors, and does not alter cyclooxygenase enzyme activity. It is inactive at serotonin and dopamine receptors and does not inhibit dopamine, serotonin, or noradrenaline reuptake.
Pregabalin is well absorbed after oral administration, is eliminated largely by renal excretion, and has an elimination half-life of about 6 hours. Absorption and Distribution Following oral administration of pregabalin capsules under fasting conditions, peak plasma concentrations occur within 1.5 hours. Pregabalin oral bioavailability is greater than or equal to 90% and is independent of dose. Following single- (25 mg to 300 mg) and multiple-dose (75 to 900 mg/day) administration, maximum plasma concentrations (Cmax) and area under the plasma concentration-time curve (AUC) values increase linearly. Following repeated administration, steady-state is achieved within 24 to 48 hours. Multiple-dose pharmacokinetics can be predicted from single-dose data. The rate of pregabalin absorption is decreased when given with food, resulting in a decrease in Cmax of approximately 25% to 30% and an increase in Tmax to approximately 3 hours. However, administration of pregabalin with food has no clinically relevant effect on the total absorption of pregabalin. Therefore, pregabalin can be taken with or without food. Pregabalin does not bind to plasma proteins. The apparent volume of distribution of pregabalin following oral administration is approximately 0.5 L/kg. Pregabalin is a substrate for system L transporter which is responsible for the transport of large amino acids across the blood brain barrier. Although there are no data in humans, pregabalin has been shown to cross the blood brain barrier in mice, rats, and monkeys. In addition, pregabalin has been shown to cross the placenta in rats and is present in the milk of lactating rats. Metabolism and Elimination Pregabalin undergoes negligible metabolism in humans. Following a dose of radiolabeled pregabalin, approximately 90% of the administered dose was recovered in the urine as unchanged pregabalin. The N-methylated derivative of pregabalin, the major metabolite of pregabalin found in urine, accounted for 0.9% of the dose. In preclinical studies, pregabalin (S-enantiomer) did not undergo racemization to the R-enantiomer in mice, rats, rabbits, or monkeys. Pregabalin is eliminated from the systemic circulation primarily by renal excretion as unchanged drug with a mean elimination half-life of 6.3 hours in subjects with normal renal function. Mean renal clearance was estimated to be 67.0 to 80.9 mL/min in young healthy subjects. Because pregabalin is not bound to plasma proteins this clearance rate indicates that renal tubular reabsorption is involved. Pregabalin elimination is nearly proportional to creatinine clearance (CLcr) [see Dosage and Administration (2.7)]. Pharmacokinetics in Specific Populations Race In population pharmacokinetic analyses of the clinical studies in various populations, the pharmacokinetics of pregabalin were not significantly affected by race (Caucasians, Blacks, and Hispanics). Gender Population pharmacokinetic analyses of the clinical studies showed that the relationship between daily dose and pregabalin drug exposure is similar between genders. Renal Impairment and Hemodialysis Pregabalin clearance is nearly proportional to creatinine clearance (CLcr). Dosage reduction in patients with renal dysfunction is necessary. Pregabalin is effectively removed from plasma by hemodialysis. Following a 4-hour hemodialysis treatment, plasma pregabalin concentrations are reduced by approximately 50%. For patients on hemodialysis, dosing must be modified [see Dosage and Administration (2.7)]. Elderly Pregabalin oral clearance tended to decrease with increasing age. This decrease in pregabalin oral clearance is consistent with age-related decreases in CLcr. Reduction of pregabalin dose may be required in patients who have age-related compromised renal function [see Dosage and Administration (2.7)]. Pediatric PharmacokineticsPediatric use information is approved for Pfizer’s LYRICA (pregabalin) Capsules. However, due to Pfizer’s marketing exclusivity rights, this drug product is not labeled with that pediatric information.Drug Interactions In Vitro Studies Pregabalin, at concentrations that were, in general, 10-times those attained in clinical trials, does not inhibit human CYP1A2, CYP2A6, CYP2C9, CYP2C19, CYP2D6, CYP2E1, and CYP3A4 enzyme systems. In vitro drug interaction studies demonstrate that pregabalin does not induce CYP1A2 or CYP3A4 activity. Therefore, an increase in the metabolism of co-administered CYP1A2 substrates (e.g., theophylline, caffeine) or CYP 3A4 substrates (e.g., midazolam, testosterone) is not anticipated. In Vivo Studies The drug interaction studies described in this section were conducted in healthy adults, and across various patient populations. Gabapentin The pharmacokinetic interactions of pregabalin and gabapentin were investigated in 12 healthy subjects following concomitant single-dose administration of 100-mg pregabalin and 300-mg gabapentin and in 18 healthy subjects following concomitant multiple-dose administration of 200-mg pregabalin every 8 hours and 400-mg gabapentin every 8 hours. Gabapentin pharmacokinetics following single- and multiple-dose administration were unaltered by pregabalin co-administration. The extent of pregabalin absorption was unaffected by gabapentin co-administration, although there was a small reduction in rate of absorption. Oral Contraceptive Pregabalin co-administration (200 mg three times a day) had no effect on the steady-state pharmacokinetics of norethindrone and ethinyl estradiol (1 mg/35 mcg, respectively) in healthy subjects. Lorazepam Multiple-dose administration of pregabalin (300 mg twice a day) in healthy subjects had no effect on the rate and extent of lorazepam single-dose pharmacokinetics and single-dose administration of lorazepam (1 mg) had no effect on the steady-state pharmacokinetics of pregabalin.Oxycodone Multiple-dose administration of pregabalin (300 mg twice a day) in healthy subjects had no effect on the rate and extent of oxycodone single-dose pharmacokinetics. Single-dose administration of oxycodone (10 mg) had no effect on the steady-state pharmacokinetics of pregabalin. Ethanol Multiple-dose administration of pregabalin (300 mg twice a day) in healthy subjects had no effect on the rate and extent of ethanol single-dose pharmacokinetics and single-dose administration of ethanol (0.7 g/kg) had no effect on the steady-state pharmacokinetics of pregabalin. Phenytoin, carbamazepine, valproic acid, and lamotrigine Steady-state trough plasma concentrations of phenytoin, carbamazepine and carbamazepine 10,11 epoxide, valproic acid, and lamotrigine were not affected by concomitant pregabalin (200 mg three times a day) administration. Population pharmacokinetic analyses in patients treated with pregabalin and various concomitant medications suggest the following:Therapeutic classSpecific concomitant drug studiedConcomitant drug has no effect on the pharmacokinetics of pregabalinHypoglycemicsGlyburide, insulin, metforminDiureticsFurosemideAntiepileptic DrugsTiagabineConcomitant drug has no effect on the pharmacokinetics of pregabalin and pregabalin has no effect on the pharmacokinetics of concomitant drugAntiepileptic DrugsCarbamazepine, lamotrigine, phenobarbital, phenytoin, topiramate, valproic acid
Carcinogenesis A dose-dependent increase in the incidence of malignant vascular tumors (hemangiosarcomas) was observed in two strains of mice (B6C3F1 and CD-1) given pregabalin (200, 1,000, or 5,000 mg/kg) in the diet for two years. Plasma pregabalin exposure (AUC) in mice receiving the lowest dose that increased hemangiosarcomas was approximately equal to the human exposure at the maximum recommended dose (MRD) of 600 mg/day. A no-effect dose for induction of hemangiosarcomas in mice was not established. No evidence of carcinogenicity was seen in two studies in Wistar rats following dietary administration of pregabalin for two years at doses (50, 150, or 450 mg/kg in males and 100, 300, or 900 mg/kg in females) that were associated with plasma exposures in males and females up to approximately 14 and 24 times, respectively, human exposure at the MRD. Mutagenesis Pregabalin was not mutagenic in bacteria or in mammalian cells in vitro, was not clastogenic in mammalian systems in vitro and in vivo, and did not induce unscheduled DNA synthesis in mouse or rat hepatocytes. Impairment of Fertility In fertility studies in which male rats were orally administered pregabalin (50 to 2,500 mg/kg) prior to and during mating with untreated females, a number of adverse reproductive and developmental effects were observed. These included decreased sperm counts and sperm motility, increased sperm abnormalities, reduced fertility, increased preimplantation embryo loss, decreased litter size, decreased fetal body weights, and an increased incidence of fetal abnormalities. Effects on sperm and fertility parameters were reversible in studies of this duration (3 to 4 months). The no-effect dose for male reproductive toxicity in these studies (100 mg/kg) was associated with a plasma pregabalin exposure (AUC) approximately 3 times human exposure at the maximum recommended dose (MRD) of 600 mg/day. In addition, adverse reactions on reproductive organ (testes, epididymides) histopathology were observed in male rats exposed to pregabalin (500 to 1,250 mg/kg) in general toxicology studies of four weeks or greater duration. The no-effect dose for male reproductive organ histopathology in rats (250 mg/kg) was associated with a plasma exposure approximately 8 times human exposure at the MRD. In a fertility study in which female rats were given pregabalin (500, 1,250, or 2,500 mg/kg) orally prior to and during mating and early gestation, disrupted estrous cyclicity and an increased number of days to mating were seen at all doses, and embryolethality occurred at the highest dose. The low dose in this study produced a plasma exposure approximately 9 times that in humans receiving the MRD. A no-effect dose for female reproductive toxicity in rats was not established.
Dermatopathy Skin lesions ranging from erythema to necrosis were seen in repeated-dose toxicology studies in both rats and monkeys. The etiology of these skin lesions is unknown. At the maximum recommended human dose (MRD) of 600 mg/day, there is a 2-fold safety margin for the dermatological lesions. The more severe dermatopathies involving necrosis were associated with pregabalin exposures (as expressed by plasma AUCs) of approximately 3 to 8 times those achieved in humans given the MRD. No increase in incidence of skin lesions was observed in clinical studies.Ocular Lesions Ocular lesions (characterized by retinal atrophy [including loss of photoreceptor cells] and/or corneal inflammation/mineralization) were observed in two lifetime carcinogenicity studies in Wistar rats. These findings were observed at plasma pregabalin exposures (AUC) greater than or equal to 2 times those achieved in humans given the maximum recommended dose of 600 mg/day. A no-effect dose for ocular lesions was not established. Similar lesions were not observed in lifetime carcinogenicity studies in two strains of mice or in monkeys treated for 1 year.
The efficacy of the maximum recommended dose of pregabalin for the management of neuropathic pain associated with diabetic peripheral neuropathy was established in three double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter studies with three times a day dosing, two of which studied the maximum recommended dose. Patients were enrolled with either Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes mellitus and a diagnosis of painful distal symmetrical sensorimotor polyneuropathy for 1 to 5 years. A total of 89% of patients completed Studies DPN 1 and DPN 2. The patients had a minimum mean baseline pain score of greater than or equal to 4 on an 11-point numerical pain rating scale ranging from 0 (no pain) to 10 (worst possible pain). The baseline mean pain scores across the two studies ranged from 6.1 to 6.7. Patients were permitted up to 4 grams of acetaminophen per day as needed for pain, in addition to pregabalin. Patients recorded their pain daily in a diary. Study DPN 1: This 5-week study compared pregabalin 25 mg, 100 mg, or 200 mg three times a day with placebo. Treatment with pregabalin 100 mg and 200 mg three times a day statistically significantly improved the endpoint mean pain score and increased the proportion of patients with at least a 50% reduction in pain score from baseline. There was no evidence of a greater effect on pain scores of the 200 mg three times a day dose than the 100 mg three times a day dose, but there was evidence of dose dependent adverse reactions [see Adverse Reactions (6.1)]. For a range of levels of improvement in pain intensity from baseline to study endpoint, Figure 1 shows the fraction of patients achieving that level of improvement. The figure is cumulative, so that patients whose change from baseline is, for example, 50%, are also included at every level of improvement below 50%. Patients who did not complete the study were assigned 0% improvement. Some patients experienced a decrease in pain as early as Week 1, which persisted throughout the study. Figure 1: Patients Achieving Various Levels of Improvement in Pain Intensity – Study DPN 1 Study DPN 2: This 8-week study compared pregabalin 100 mg three times a day with placebo. Treatment with pregabalin 100 mg three times a day statistically significantly improved the endpoint mean pain score and increased the proportion of patients with at least a 50% reduction in pain score from baseline. For various levels of improvement in pain intensity from baseline to study endpoint, Figure 2 shows the fraction of patients achieving that level of improvement. The figure is cumulative, so that patients whose change from baseline is, for example, 50%, are also included at every level of improvement below 50%. Patients who did not complete the study were assigned 0% improvement. Some patients experienced a decrease in pain as early as Week 1, which persisted throughout the study.Figure 2: Patients Achieving Various Levels of Improvement in Pain Intensity– Study DPN 2
The efficacy of pregabalin for the management of postherpetic neuralgia was established in three double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter studies. These studies enrolled patients with neuralgia persisting for at least 3 months following healing of herpes zoster rash and a minimum baseline score of greater than or equal to 4 on an 11-point numerical pain rating scale ranging from 0 (no pain) to 10 (worst possible pain). Seventy-three percent of patients completed the studies. The baseline mean pain scores across the 3 studies ranged from 6 to 7. Patients were permitted up to 4 grams of acetaminophen per day as needed for pain, in addition to pregabalin. Patients recorded their pain daily in a diary. Study PHN 1: This 13-week study compared pregabalin 75 mg, 150 mg, and 300 mg twice daily with placebo. Patients with creatinine clearance (CLcr) between 30 to 60 mL/min were randomized to 75 mg, 150 mg, or placebo twice daily. Patients with creatinine clearance greater than 60 mL/min were randomized to 75 mg, 150 mg, 300 mg or placebo twice daily. In patients with creatinine clearance greater than 60 mL/min treatment with all doses of pregabalin statistically significantly improved the endpoint mean pain score and increased the proportion of patients with at least a 50% reduction in pain score from baseline. Despite differences in dosing based on renal function, patients with creatinine clearance between 30 to 60 mL/min tolerated pregabalin less well than patients with creatinine clearance greater than 60 mL/min as evidenced by higher rates of discontinuation due to adverse reactions. For various levels of improvement in pain intensity from baseline to study endpoint, Figure 3 shows the fraction of patients achieving that level of improvement. The figure is cumulative, so that patients whose change from baseline is, for example, 50%, are also included at every level of improvement below 50%. Patients who did not complete the study were assigned 0% improvement. Some patients experienced a decrease in pain as early as Week 1, which persisted throughout the study.Figure 3: Patients Achieving Various Levels of Improvement in Pain Intensity– Study PHN 1 Study PHN 2: This 8-week study compared pregabalin 100 mg or 200 mg three times a day with placebo, with doses assigned based on creatinine clearance. Patients with creatinine clearance between 30 to 60 mL/min were treated with 100 mg three times a day, and patients with creatinine clearance greater than 60 mL/min were treated with 200 mg three times daily. Treatment with pregabalin statistically significantly improved the endpoint mean pain score and increased the proportion of patients with at least a 50% reduction in pain score from baseline. For various levels of improvement in pain intensity from baseline to study endpoint, Figure 4 shows the fraction of patients achieving those levels of improvement. The figure is cumulative, so that patients whose change from baseline is, for example, 50%, are also included at every level of improvement below 50%. Patients who did not complete the study were assigned 0% improvement. Some patients experienced a decrease in pain as early as Week 1, which persisted throughout the study.Figure 4: Patients Achieving Various Levels of Improvement in Pain Intensity – Study PHN 2 Study PHN 3: This 8-week study compared pregabalin 50 mg or 100 mg three times a day with placebo with doses assigned regardless of creatinine clearance. Treatment with pregabalin 50 mg and 100 mg three times a day statistically significantly improved the endpoint mean pain score and increased the proportion of patients with at least a 50% reduction in pain score from baseline. Patients with creatinine clearance between 30 to 60 mL/min tolerated pregabalin less well than patients with creatinine clearance greater than 60 mL/min as evidenced by markedly higher rates of discontinuation due to adverse reactions. For various levels of improvement in pain intensity from baseline to study endpoint, Figure 5 shows the fraction of patients achieving that level of improvement. The figure is cumulative, so that patients whose change from baseline is, for example, 50%, are also included at every level of improvement below 50%. Patients who did not complete the study were assigned 0% improvement. Some patients experienced a decrease in pain as early as Week 1, which persisted throughout the study.Figure 5: Patients Achieving Various Levels of Improvement in Pain Intensity– Study PHN 3
Adjunctive Therapy for Partial-Onset Seizures in Adult Patients The efficacy of pregabalin as adjunctive therapy for partial-onset seizures in adult patients was established in three 12-week, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter studies. Patients were enrolled who had partial-onset seizures with or without secondary generalization and were not adequately controlled with 1 to 3 concomitant antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). Patients taking gabapentin were required to discontinue gabapentin treatment 1 week prior to entering baseline. During an 8-week baseline period, patients had to experience at least 6 partial-onset seizures with no seizure-free period exceeding 4 weeks. The mean duration of epilepsy was 25 years in these 3 studies and the mean and median baseline seizure frequencies were 22.5 and 10 seizures per month, respectively. Approximately half of the patients were taking 2 concurrent AEDs at baseline. Among the pregabalin-treated patients, 80% completed the double-blind phase of the studies. Table 11 shows median baseline seizure rates and median percent reduction in seizure frequency by dose.Table 11. Seizure Response in Controlled, Adjunctive Epilepsy Studies in AdultsDaily Dose of PregabalinDosing RegimenNBaseline Seizure Frequency/moMedian % Change from Baselinep-value, vs. placeboStudy E1PlaceboBID1009.5050 mg/dayBID8810.3-90.4230150 mg/dayBID868.8-350.0001300 mg/dayBID909.8-370.0001600 mg/dayBID899.0-510.0001Study E2PlaceboTID969.31150 mg/dayTID9911.5-170.0007600 mg/dayTID9212.3-430.0001Study E3PlaceboBID/TID9811-1600 mg/dayBID1039.5-360.0001600 mg/dayTID11110-480.0001In the first study (E1), there was evidence of a dose-response relationship for total daily doses of pregabalin between 150 and 600 mg/day; a dose of 50 mg/day was not effective. In the first study (E1), each daily dose was divided into two equal doses (twice a day dosing). In the second study (E2), each daily dose was divided into three equal doses (three times a day dosing). In the third study (E3), the same total daily dose was divided into two equal doses for one group (twice a day dosing) and three equal doses for another group (three times a day dosing). While the three times a day dosing group in Study E3 performed numerically better than the twice a day dosing group, this difference was small and not statistically significant. A secondary outcome measure included the responder rate (proportion of patients with greater than or equal to 50% reduction from baseline in partial seizure frequency). The following figure displays responder rate by dose for two of the studies.Figure 6: Responder Rate by Adjunctive Epilepsy Study Figure 7: Seizure Reduction by Dose (All Partial-Onset Seizures) for Studies E1, E2, and E3 Subset evaluations of the antiseizure efficacy of pregabalin showed no clinically important differences as a function of age, gender, or race.Pediatric use information is approved for Pfizer’s LYRICA (pregabalin) Capsules. However, due to Pfizer’s marketing exclusivity rights, this drug product is not labeled with that pediatric information.
The efficacy of pregabalin for management of fibromyalgia was established in one 14-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter study (F1) and one six-month, randomized withdrawal study (F2). Studies F1 and F2 enrolled patients with a diagnosis of fibromyalgia using the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) criteria (history of widespread pain for 3 months, and pain present at 11 or more of the 18 specific tender point sites). The studies showed a reduction in pain by visual analog scale. In addition, improvement was demonstrated based on a patient global assessment (PGIC), and on the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ). Study F1: This 14-week study compared pregabalin total daily doses of 300 mg, 450 mg and 600 mg with placebo. Patients were enrolled with a minimum mean baseline pain score of greater than or equal to 4 on an 11-point numeric pain rating scale and a score of greater than or equal to 40 mm on the 100 mm pain visual analog scale (VAS). The baseline mean pain score in this trial was 6.7. Responders to placebo in an initial one-week run-in phase were not randomized into subsequent phases of the study. A total of 64% of patients randomized to pregabalin completed the study. There was no evidence of a greater effect on pain scores of the 600 mg daily dose than the 450 mg daily dose, but there was evidence of dose-dependent adverse reactions [see Adverse Reactions (6.1)]. Some patients experienced a decrease in pain as early as Week 1, which persisted throughout the study. The results are summarized in Figure 9 and Table 14. For various levels of improvement in pain intensity from baseline to study endpoint, Figure 9 shows the fraction of patients achieving that level of improvement. The figure is cumulative. Patients who did not complete the study were assigned 0% improvement. Some patients experienced a decrease in pain as early as Week 1, which persisted throughout the study.Figure 9: Patients Achieving Various Levels of Improvement in Pain Intensity – Fibromyalgia Study F1Table 14. Patient Global Response in Fibromyalgia Study F1 Patient Global Impression of ChangeTreatment Group (mg/day)% Any Improvement95% CIPlacebo47.6(40.0, 55.2)PGB 30068.1(60.9, 75.3)PGB 45077.8(71.5, 84.0)PGB 60066.1(59.1, 73.1)PGB = PregabalinStudy F2: This randomized withdrawal study compared pregabalin with placebo. Patients were titrated during a 6-week open-label dose optimization phase to a total daily dose of 300 mg, 450 mg, or 600 mg. Patients were considered to be responders if they had both: 1) at least a 50% reduction in pain (VAS) and, 2) rated their overall improvement on the PGIC as "much improved" or "very much improved.” Those who responded to treatment were then randomized in the double-blind treatment phase to either the dose achieved in the open-label phase or to placebo. Patients were treated for up to 6 months following randomization. Efficacy was assessed by time to loss of therapeutic response, defined as 1) less than 30% reduction in pain (VAS) from open-label baseline during two consecutive visits of the double-blind phase, or 2) worsening of FM symptoms necessitating an alternative treatment. Fifty-four percent of patients were able to titrate to an effective and tolerable dose of pregabalin during the 6-week open-label phase. Of the patients entering the randomized treatment phase assigned to remain on pregabalin, 38% of patients completed 26 weeks of treatment versus 19% of placebo-treated patients. When considering return of pain or withdrawal due to adverse events as loss of response (LTR), treatment with pregabalin resulted in a longer time to loss of therapeutic response than treatment with placebo. Fifty-three percent of the pregabalin-treated subjects compared to 33% of placebo patients remained on study drug and maintained a therapeutic response to Week 26 of the study. Treatment with pregabalin also resulted in a longer time to loss of response based on the FIQ1, and longer time to loss of overall assessment of patient status, as measured by the PGIC2. 1 Time to worsening of the FIQ was defined as the time to a 1-point increase from double-blind baseline in each of the subscales, and a 5-point increase from double-blind baseline evaluation for the FIQ total score.2 Time to PGIC lack of improvement was defined as time to PGIC assessments indicating less improvement than “much improvement.” Figure 10: Time to Loss of Therapeutic Response, Fibromyalgia Study F2 (Kaplan-Meier Analysis)
The efficacy of pregabalin for the management of neuropathic pain associated with spinal cord injury was established in two double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter studies. Patients were enrolled with neuropathic pain associated with spinal cord injury that persisted continuously for at least three months or with relapses and remissions for at least six months. A total of 63% of patients completed study 1 and 84% completed study 2. The patients had a minimum mean baseline pain score of greater than or equal to 4 on an 11-point numerical pain rating scale ranging from 0 (no pain) to 10 (worst possible pain). The baseline mean pain scores across the two studies ranged from 6.5 to 6.7. Patients were allowed to take opioids, non-opioid analgesics, antiepileptic drugs, muscle relaxants, and antidepressant drugs if the dose was stable for 30 days prior to screening. Patients were allowed to take acetaminophen and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs during the studies. Study SCI 1: This 12-week, randomized, double-blind, parallel-group, multicenter, flexible dose (150 to 600 mg/day) study compared pregabalin with placebo. The 12-week study consisted of a 3-week dose adjustment phase and a 9-week dose maintenance phase. Treatment with pregabalin 150 to 600 mg/day statistically significantly improved the endpoint weekly mean pain score, and increased the proportion of patients with at least a 30% and 50% reduction in pain score from baseline. The fraction of patients achieving various levels of improvement in pain intensity from baseline to Week 12 is presented in Figure 11. Some patients experienced a decrease in pain as early as week 1, which persisted throughout the study. Figure 11: Patients Achieving Various Levels of Improvement in Pain Intensity – Study SCI 1 Study SCI 2: This 16-week, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group, multicenter, flexible dose (150 to 600 mg/day, in increments of 150 mg) study compared the efficacy, safety and tolerability of pregabalin with placebo. The 16-week study consisted of a 4-week dose adjustment phase and a 12-week dose maintenance phase. Treatment with pregabalin statistically significantly improved the endpoint weekly mean pain score, and increased the proportion of patients with at least a 30% and 50% reduction in pain score from baseline. The fraction of patients achieving various levels of improvement in pain intensity from baseline to Week 16 is presented in Figure 12. Some patients experienced a decrease in pain as early as week 1, which persisted throughout the study. Figure 12: Patients Achieving Various Levels of Improvement in Pain Intensity – Study SCI 2
Pregabalin capsules, 25 mg are supplied as white, hard gelatin capsule printed with black ink “AN” on cap & “1310” on body. They are available as follows:Bottles of 90: NDC 69238-1310-9Pregabalin capsules, 50 mg are supplied as white, hard gelatin capsule printed with black ink “AN” on cap & “1311” on body. They are available as follows:Bottles of 90: NDC 69238-1311-9Pregabalin capsules, 75 mg are supplied as white/orange, hard gelatin capsule printed with black ink “AN” on cap & “1312” on body. They are available as follows:Bottles of 90: NDC 69238-1312-9Pregabalin capsules, 100 mg are supplied as orange, hard gelatin capsule printed with black ink “AN” on cap & “1313” on body. They are available as follows:Bottles of 90: NDC 69238-1313-9Pregabalin capsules, 150 mg are supplied as white, hard gelatin capsule printed with black ink “AN” on cap & “1314” on body. They are available as follows:Bottles of 90: NDC 69238-1314-9Pregabalin capsules, 200 mg are supplied as light orange, hard gelatin capsule printed with black ink “AN” on cap & “1315” on body. They are available as follows:Bottles of 90: NDC 69238-1315-9Pregabalin capsules, 225 mg are supplied as white/light orange, hard gelatin capsule printed with black ink “AN” on cap & “1316” on body. They are available as follows:Bottles of 90: NDC 69238-1316-9Pregabalin capsules, 300 mg are supplied as white/orange, hard gelatin capsule printed with black ink “AN” on cap & “1317” on body. They are available as follows:Bottles of 90: NDC 69238-1317-9Storage and Handling Store at 20° to 25°C (68° to 77°F); excursions permitted between 15° to 30°C (59° to 86°F) [see USP Controlled Room Temperature]. Dispense in tight (USP), child-resistant containers.
Advise the patient to read the FDA-approved patient labeling (Medication Guide). Angioedema Advise patients that pregabalin may cause angioedema, with swelling of the face, mouth (lip, gum, tongue) and neck (larynx and pharynx) that can lead to life-threatening respiratory compromise. Instruct patients to discontinue pregabalin and immediately seek medical care if they experience these symptoms [see Warnings and Precautions (5.1)].Hypersensitivity Advise patients that pregabalin has been associated with hypersensitivity reactions such as wheezing, dyspnea, rash, hives, and blisters. Instruct patients to discontinue pregabalin and immediately seek medical care if they experience these symptoms [see Warnings and Precautions (5.2)]. Adverse Reactions with Abrupt or Rapid Discontinuation Advise patients to take pregabalin as prescribed. Abrupt or rapid discontinuation may result in increased seizure frequency in patients with seizure disorders, and insomnia, nausea, headache, anxiety, hyperhidrosis, or diarrhea [see Warnings and Precautions (5.3)].Suicidal Thinking and Behavior Patients, their caregivers, and families should be counseled that AEDs, including pregabalin, may increase the risk of suicidal thoughts and behavior and should be advised of the need to be alert for the emergence or worsening of symptoms of depression, any unusual changes in mood or behavior, or the emergence of suicidal thoughts, behavior, or thoughts about self-harm. Report behaviors of concern immediately to healthcare providers [see Warnings and Precautions (5.4)]. Dizziness and Somnolence Counsel patients that pregabalin may cause dizziness, somnolence, blurred vision and other CNS signs and symptoms. Accordingly, advise patients not to drive, operate complex machinery, or engage in other hazardous activities until they have gained sufficient experience on pregabalin to gauge whether or not it affects their mental, visual, and/or motor performance adversely [see Warnings and Precautions (5.6)]. Weight Gain and Edema Counsel patients that pregabalin may cause edema and weight gain. Advise patients that concomitant treatment with pregabalin and a thiazolidinedione antidiabetic agent may lead to an additive effect on edema and weight gain. For patients with preexisting cardiac conditions, this may increase the risk of heart failure [see Warnings and Precautions (5.5 and 5.7)]. Ophthalmological Effects Counsel patients that pregabalin may cause visual disturbances. Inform patients that if changes in vision occur, they should notify their physician [see Warnings and Precautions (5.9)]. Creatine Kinase Elevations Instruct patients to promptly report unexplained muscle pain, tenderness, or weakness, particularly if accompanied by malaise or fever [see Warnings and Precautions (5.10)]. CNS Depressants Inform patients who require concomitant treatment with central nervous system depressants such as opiates or benzodiazepines that they may experience additive CNS side effects, such as somnolence [see Warnings and Precautions (5.6) and Drug Interactions (7)]. Alcohol Tell patients to avoid consuming alcohol while taking pregabalin, as pregabalin may potentiate the impairment of motor skills and sedating effects of alcohol. Missed Dose Counsel patients if they miss a dose, they should take it as soon as they remember. If it is almost time for the next dose, they should skip the missed dose and take the next dose at their regularly scheduled time. Instruct patients not to take two doses at the same time.Pregnancy There is a pregnancy exposure registry that monitors pregnancy outcomes in women exposed to pregabalin during pregnancy [see Use in Specific Populations (8.1)]. Lactation Advise nursing mothers that breastfeeding is not recommended during treatment with pregabalin [see Use in Specific Populations (8.2)]. Male Fertility Inform men being treated with pregabalin who plan to father a child of the potential risk of male-mediated teratogenicity. In preclinical studies in rats, pregabalin was associated with an increased risk of male-mediated teratogenicity. The clinical significance of this finding is uncertain [see Nonclinical Toxicology (13.1) and Use in Specific populations (8.3)]. Dermatopathy Instruct diabetic patients to pay particular attention to skin integrity while being treated with pregabalin and to inform their healthcare provider about any sores or skin problems. Some animals treated with pregabalin developed skin ulcerations, although no increased incidence of skin lesions associated with pregabalin was observed in clinical trials [see Nonclinical Toxicology (13.2)]. This product’s label may have been updated. For current full prescribing information, please visit www.amneal.com.Manufactured by:Amneal Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd.Oral Solid Dosage UnitAhmedabad 382213, INDIADistributed by:Amneal Pharmaceuticals LLCBridgewater, NJ 08807 Rev. 06-2019-00
Pregabalin (pree gabʹ a lin) Capsules, CVRead this Medication Guide before you start taking pregabalin capsules and each time you get a refill. There may be new information. This information does not take the place of talking to your healthcare provider about your medical condition or treatment. If you have any questions about pregabalin capsules, ask your healthcare provider or pharmacist. What is the most important information I should know about pregabalin capsules?Pregabalin capsules may cause serious side effects including:serious, even life-threatening, allergic reactions swelling of your hands, legs and feet suicidal thoughts or actionsdizziness and sleepinessThese serious side effects are described below:Serious, even life-threatening, allergic reactions. Stop taking pregabalin capsules and call your healthcare provider right away if you have any of these signs of a serious allergic reaction: swelling of your face, mouth, lips, gums, tongue, throat or neck trouble breathing rash, hives (raised bumps) or blistersLike other antiepileptic drugs, pregabalin capsules may cause suicidal thoughts or actions in a very small number of people, about 1 in 500. Call a healthcare provider right away if you have any of these symptoms, especially if they are new, worse, or worry you:thoughts about suicide or dying trouble sleeping (insomnia) attempts to commit suicide new or worse irritability new or worse depression acting aggressive, being angry, or violent new or worse anxiety acting on dangerous impulses feeling agitated or restless an extreme increase in activity and talking (mania) panic attacks other unusual changes in behavior or mood If you have suicidal thoughts or actions, do not stop pregabalin capsules without first talking to a healthcare provider.Stopping pregabalin capsules suddenly can cause serious problems. Suicidal thoughts or actions can be caused by things other than medicines. If you have suicidal thoughts or actions, your healthcare provider may check for other causes. How can I watch for early symptoms of suicidal thoughts and actions?Pay attention to any changes, especially sudden changes, in mood, behaviors, thoughts, or feelings.Keep all follow-up visits with your healthcare provider as scheduled.Call your healthcare provider between visits as needed, especially if you are worried about symptoms.Swelling of your hands, legs and feet. This swelling can be a serious problem for people with heart problems.Dizziness and sleepiness. Do not drive a car, work with machines, or do other dangerous activities until you know how pregabalin capsule affects you. Ask your healthcare provider about when it will be okay to do these activities.What are pregabalin capsules?Pregabalin capsules are a prescription medicine used in adults, 18 years of age and older to treat:pain from damaged nerves (neuropathic pain) that happens with diabetespain from damaged nerves (neuropathic pain) that follows healing of shinglesfibromyalgia (pain all over your body)pain from damaged nerves (neuropathic pain) that follows spinal cord injuryIt is not known if pregabalin capsules are safe and effective in people under 18 years of age for the treatment of fibromyalgia and neuropathic pain with diabetes, shingles, or spinal cord injury. Pregabalin capsules are a prescription medicine used in people 17 years of age and older to treat:partial-onset seizures when taken together with other seizure medicines.For the treatment of partial-onset seizures when taken together with other seizure medicines, it is not known if pregabalin capsules are safe and effective in children under 1 month of age. Who should not take pregabalin capsules? Do not take pregabalin capsules if you are allergic to pregabalin or any of the ingredients in pregabalin capsules.See “What is the most important information I should know about pregabalin capsules?” for the signs of an allergic reaction. See the end of this Medication Guide for a complete list of ingredients in pregabalin capsules.What should I tell my healthcare provider before taking pregabalin capsules?Before taking pregabalin capsules, tell your healthcare provider about all your medical conditions, including if you:have or have had depression, mood problems or suicidal thoughts or behavior.have kidney problems or get kidney dialysis.have heart problems including heart failure.have a bleeding problem or a low blood platelet count.have abused prescription medicines, street drugs, or alcohol in the past.have ever had swelling of your face, mouth, tongue, lips, gums, neck, or throat (angioedema).plan to father a child. Animal studies have shown that pregabalin, the active ingredient in pregabalin capsules, made male animals less fertile and caused sperm to change. Also, in animal studies, birth defects were seen in the offspring (babies) of male animals treated with pregabalin. It is not known if these problems can happen in people who take pregabalin capsules.are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. Pregabalin capsules may harm your unborn baby. You and your healthcare provider will decide if you should take pregabalin capsules while you are pregnant.If you become pregnant while taking pregabalin capsules, talk to your healthcare provider about registering with the North American Antiepileptic Drug Pregnancy Registry. You can enroll in this registry by calling 1-888-233-2334. The purpose of this registry is to collect information about the safety of antiepileptic drugs during pregnancy. Information about the registry can also be found at the website, http://www.aedpregnancyregistry.org/.are breastfeeding or plan to breastfeed. Pregabalin passes into your breast milk. It is not known if pregabalin capsules can harm your baby. Talk to your healthcare provider about the best way to feed your baby if you take pregabalin capsules. Breastfeeding is not recommended while taking pregabalin capsules.Tell your healthcare provider about all the medicines you take, including prescription and over-the-counter medicines, vitamins or herbal supplements. Pregabalin capsules and other medicines may affect each other causing side effects. Especially tell your healthcare provider if you take:angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, which are used to treat many conditions, including high blood pressure. You may have a higher chance for swelling and hives if these medicines are taken with pregabalin capsules.Avandia (rosiglitazone) or Actos (pioglitazone) for diabetes. You may have a higher chance of weight gain or swelling of your hands or feet if these medicines are taken with pregabalin capsules.any narcotic pain medicine (such as oxycodone), tranquilizers or medicines for anxiety (such as lorazepam). You may have a higher chance for dizziness and sleepiness if these medicines are taken with pregabalin capsules.any medicines that make you sleepy. Know the medicines you take. Keep a list of them with you to show your healthcare provider and pharmacist each time you get a new medicine. Do not start a new medicine without talking with your healthcare provider.How should I take pregabalin capsules?Take pregabalin capsules exactly as prescribed. Your healthcare provider will tell you how much pregabalin capsules to take and when to take it.Pregabalin capsules may be taken with or without food.Your healthcare provider may change your dose. Do not change your dose without talking to your healthcare provider.Do not stop taking pregabalin capsules without talking to your healthcare provider. If you stop taking pregabalin capsules suddenly you may have headaches, nausea, diarrhea, trouble sleeping, increased sweating, or you may feel anxious. If you have epilepsy and you stop taking pregabalin capsules suddenly, you may have seizures more often. Talk with your healthcare provider about how to stop pregabalin capsules slowly.If you miss a dose, take it as soon as you remember. If it is almost time for your next dose, just skip the missed dose. Take the next dose at your regular time. Do not take 2 doses at the same time.If you take too much pregabalin capsules, call your healthcare provider or poison control center, or go to the nearest emergency room right away.What should I avoid while taking pregabalin capsules?Do not drive a car, work with machines, or do other dangerous activities until you know how pregabalin capsules affects you.Do not drink alcohol while taking pregabalin capsules. Pregabalin capsules and alcohol can affect each other and increase side effects such as sleepiness and dizziness.What are the possible side effects of pregabalin capsules?Pregabalin capsules may cause serious side effects, including:See "What is the most important information I should know about pregabalin capsules?"Muscle problems, muscle pain, soreness, or weakness. If you have these symptoms, especially if you feel sick and have a fever, tell your healthcare provider right away.Problems with your eyesight, including blurry vision. Call your healthcare provider if you have any changes in your eyesight.Weight gain. If you have diabetes, weight gain may affect the management of your diabetes. Weight gain can also be a serious problem for people with heart problems.Feeling "high".The most common side effects of pregabalin capsules in adults are:dizziness weight gain trouble concentrating blurry vision sleepiness swelling of hands and feet dry mouth Pregabalin capsules caused skin sores in animal studies. Skin sores did not happen in studies in people. If you have diabetes, you should pay attention to your skin while taking pregabalin capsules and tell your healthcare provider about any sores or skin problems.Tell your healthcare provider about any side effect that bothers you or that does not go away.These are not all the possible side effects of pregabalin capsules. For more information, ask your healthcare provider or pharmacist. Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects. You may report side effects to FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088. How should I store pregabalin capsules?Store pregabalin capsules at room temperature, 20° to 25ºC (68° to 77ºF); excursions permitted between 15º to 30ºC (59° to 86ºF) in its original package.Safely throw away any pregabalin capsules that is out of date or no longer needed.Keep pregabalin capsules and all medicines out of the reach of children.General information about the safe and effective use of pregabalin capsulesMedicines are sometimes prescribed for purposes other than those listed in a Medication Guide. Do not use pregabalin capsules for a condition for which it was not prescribed. Do not give pregabalin capsules to other people, even if they have the same symptoms you have. It may harm them. You can ask your healthcare provider or pharmacist for information about pregabalin capsules that is written for health professionals. What are the ingredients in pregabalin capsules?Active ingredient: pregabalinInactive ingredients: pregelatinized starch and talcThe capsule shells contain gelatin and titanium dioxide. In addition, the orange capsule shells contain red iron oxide and white capsule shells contain sodium lauryl sulfate.Each capsule shell is imprinted with black pharmaceutical ink which contains: butyl alcohol, dehydrated alcohol, ferrosoferric oxide, isopropyl alcohol, propylene glycol, potassium hydroxide, purified water, strong ammonia solution and shellac.Pediatric use information is approved for Pfizer’s LYRICA (pregabalin) Capsules. However, due to Pfizer’s marketing exclusivity rights, this drug product is not labeled with that pediatric information.For more information, go to www.amneal.com or call 1-877-835-5472.This Medication Guide has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.Manufactured by:Amneal Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd.Oral Solid Dosage UnitAhmedabad 382213, INDIADistributed by:Amneal Pharmaceuticals LLC Bridgewater, NJ 08807 Rev. 06-2019-00
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Category Archive 'Virginia Woolf'
Why People Turn to Art
Art, Suicide, Virginia Woolf, Words of Wisdom
“How many times have people used a pen or paintbrush because they couldn’t pull the trigger?”
— Virginia Woolf, Selected Essays
Hat tip to Ratak Monodosico.
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The Severed Wasp
George Orwell, Modernism, Philosophy, Soren Kierkegaard, The Severed Wasp, Virginia Woolf
David Wemyss takes an anecdote from George Orwell as the title of a thoughtful essay on alienation (which he refers to as “insularity”) as seen in the writings Orwell, Woolf, and Kierkegaard, man’s alienation from his fellow man (particularly those of other classes and conditions) and the alienation of some modern intellectuals from values and self.
Virginia Woolf is treated harshly.
It was a salutary lesson for me that the pellucid beauty of “On Being Ill ” led eight years later to “Three Guineas ”, with its insistence that Britain in the thirties was a tyranny as bad as Nazi Germany, that all loyalties were false (except those emanating from the virgin forest of course), that all uniforms were evil, and that war was a male desire to dominate brought about by competitive education.
Indeed, not many people realise that Virginia Woolf in 1938 was pretty well recommending the post-1967 British comprehensive school – except that it would have been a university – one so given over to cultural destructiveness that her own books would have fallen out of the syllabus.
Theodore Dalrymple put it characteristically well in the City Journal a few years ago when he said that, had she survived to our own time, Woolf would have had the satisfaction of observing that her cast of mind – shallow, dishonest, resentful, envious, snobbish, self-absorbed, trivial, philistine, and ultimately brutal – had triumphed among the elites of the Western world. And if that seems a little harsh on someone who did I think have a considerable gift – Mrs Dalloway is surely a very good novel – just remember that she also wrote the most immitigably stupid book of the twentieth century.
Hat tip to Bird Dog.
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How the oil-disaster flow estimates have evolved
U.S. government officials on Tuesday said they now estimate the ruptured BP well in the Gulf of Mexico is spewing 35,000 and 60,000 barrels (1.5 million gallons to 2.5 million gallons) per day; that's significantly more than the first estimate of 1,000 barrels per day in late April.
Below is a recap of the different estimates that officials have made, and when they made them, since the disaster began with the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig on April 20.
- April 23: Three days after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig, and one day after the rig sank, Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry said crews were cleaning up a 1- by 12-mile-long oil slick spreading through Gulf waters. She said crude oil did not appear to be leaking out of the wellhead but that remote vehicles would survey the scene. BP officials had said a day earlier that BP they did not know whether oil or fuel was leaking from the rig. But BP Vice President David Rainey said: "It certainly has the potential to be a major spill."
- April 24: Landry said oil was leaking from two places - later to be clarified as two places on the riser pipe extending from the well's blowout preventer - at a preliminary estimate of about 1,000 barrels (42,000 gallons) a day. Officials later said that the two leaks were found within 36 hours of the April 20 explosion.
- April 28: Landry said the estimated amount of oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico has increased to 5,000 barrels (210,000 gallons) a day, five times the initial estimate. The new estimate was based on analysis from the federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, she says. Also, BP official Doug Suttles said the company has found a third leak in the riser pipe.
- May 2: Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad Allen said it was impossible so far to know how much oil will eventually leak.
"We lost a total well head; it could be 100,000 barrels [4.2 million gallons] or more a day," Allen told CNN's "State of the Union." The official estimate, though, remained at 5,000 barrels (210,000 gallons) a day.
"This spill, at this point in my view, is indeterminate," Allen said. "That makes it asymmetrical, anomalous and one of the most complex things we've ever dealt with."
- May 13: After BP released underwater video footage of the leak, independent experts such as Purdue University associate professor Steve Wereley said the flow rate is probably much higher than the official estimate.
Wereley estimated that about 70,000 barrels (2.94 million gallons) of oil were leaking each day, based on an analysis of video of the spill. "You can't say with precision, but you can see there's definitely more coming out of that pipe than people thought," he said. "It's definitely not 5,000 barrels a day."
- May 27: A panel of government experts estimated the well is spewing oil at a rate of 12,000 to 19,000 barrels (504,000 to 798,000 gallons) a day, U.S. Geological Survey chief Marcia McNutt said.
- June 10: The panel of government experts, called the Flow Rate Technical Group, estimated the well was leaking 20,000 to 40,000 barrels (840,000 to 1.7 million gallons) per day through June 3. The figure was calculated in part by using high-definition video that BP released after demands from members of Congress.
The new estimate was of the well's flow rate before BP's cutting of the damaged riser pipe extending from the well's blowout preventer on June 3, McNutt said. After BP cut the riser that day, it placed a containment cap over the preventer's lower marine riser package to capture some of the leaking oil.
Scientists estimated that the spill's flow rate increased by 4 to 5 percent after the well's riser pipe was cut last week in order to place the cap atop the well.
BP said that with the cap, it was capturing about 16,000 barrels daily and sending it to a ship on the surface. Before that, BP was capturing some oil through a siphon inserted into the well riser.
- June 15: Government officials increased the estimate to between 35,000 and 60,000 barrels (1.5 million gallons to 2.5 million gallons) per day.
The change was "based on updated information and scientific assessments," the Deepwater Horizon Incident Joint Information Center said.
"The improved estimate is based on more and better data that is now available and that helps increase the scientific confidence in the accuracy of the estimate," it said.
Post by: CNN's Jason Hanna
Filed under: BP • Gulf Coast Oil Spill • Gulf Coast Oil Spill environment
Jim Demidoff
I watched the BP CEOs opening address on CNN today. The most interesting thing I took from it is that he said they eventually plan to have enough equipment to capture 80,000 barrels a day. If they can manage to capture that much from the containment vessel not including the leakage from around it, how much is the real leak rate. It must be at least 100,000 barrels in a best case scenario. I think that they could capture more but the containment vessels design probably only allows for around 80,000 barrels per day.
Scary.
June 17, 2010 at 5:59 pm | Report abuse |
Dr. Anthony Hayward
I try to ask BP for you next tym I see heem too find out fer you ok Ravi. It hard to no rite off becaz it be so far under the oshun. If our stoopid contracters ackshually werked on wut they wur supossed too. If I gessed I wud say it wud be only a few gallons here.
I want to go on record tew say that I jus got dun in your United congress club meeting wher they say I stone well stuff. I did not know we had tings so far under your watur until last wendsday!! You elect meenees to your congress and I like talking with parlamehnt akross da beeg pond.
PhredHead I am reely happy aboot Cheney not beeing in chage. He wud shewt me with a rifal which wud hert reely bad.
You gais had yer congress man make me crys today when I try to bee nise to them this mourning. I start thinking since yu soo meen that you dont need your fishys anyways and that your pellikans shud jus stay brown like theyr name says brown pellikans anywysa!! BAIAGAIN!
everyone is full of beans the BP oil spill on a scale of natural daristess does not make the top twenty it was much much less damaging than the pundits wanted you to believe. the worst natural disaster in american history was the great dust bowl of the 1930 s/References :
April 24, 2012 at 2:40 am | Report abuse |
youre congress man maak me cry today. i dun no why everwon here bee so meen to mee! it only few gallons of oil so why congress so mad and make me cry. I start to tink you no need feeshes and dat if you nam pellikan brown pellikan it shud reely bee brown!
leftyavenger
The Republican deregulation of oil companies has led to this disaster. When Big people like BP can skip on essential materials like a shutoff valve so that their executives receive a bonus stimulus package, this is what happens. What can us Little People do, act like socialists who care about the environment? I think that the truth is finally coming out, Obama tipped his hand the other night stating that the Usa is running our of oil. Now we have the BP executives stating the obvious: they are big corporate people who run the world and we are small little people who vote and it doesn't really count.
Did it ever occur to anyone that BP does not want to recover 100 percent of the oil leaking because that "is" the accurate per day leakeage # or a very good basis for it!!–(or at minimum less 5 percent of collected oil once leak is 100 percent being recovered to surface since cut and cap procedure)....I do not think they really want that # out.
maybe best to stall ( Put in a good show) in hopes that the next capping procedure attempt work's then the real # will be unknown...Just as no one can claim if it was BP oil that killed some of these animals...I think the .001 that were not killed by BP oil are not worth squabeling over–BP should take responsibility for all the death that happens there( – last 3 years averages)–no questions asked!!
what temperature is this oil coming out at? and will it heat–or cool–the Gulf in the immediate area?? anyone of you guru's know? this could be another effect on the climate and hurricane formation/strengthening.
Also if anyone knows about the dust bowl/depression it was actually worse than this OIL BOWL/depression as of date
especially in human lives lost and ecological loss. search youtube for (AMERICAN holocaust) about Black Monday (not Black friday)..it shows some pretty wild stuff about black GOLD let's not bury hidden historical truth. not to say this will not outgrow the dust bowl if something is not done, I think it is premature to claim history or estimate total cost's. so quickly this is far from over after all...but I sure hope it is not as costly as the Dust bowl in terms of ecological economical human etc. etc. etc. and wildlife losses
besides any temperature changes this might cause–immediately due to differences in oil coming out of the ground and sea temperature differences (if any–but I am certain there must be)......I guess the water tables er should (we call them oil tables now?) will rise too!! add that into these calculations how much oil would need to leak to add an inch to sea level and if in the case of a total release of the reservoir's contents will florida me emmersed in watery oil??
well in reality we are kind of fooled by phrases and deception by big wigs all the time-think about it–federal reserve–hmm is it not actually a deficit or do we have a pile of cash building up??-Homeland security-Does this imply the safety of the American people... or the land secured-(and for/by whom)??National health care-does this imply healthier people with the best care or a healthier nation through health expierementation and the selective culling of the herd?? Lies and half truths are what built this entire situation why would anyone ecpect less at this point of the game!!?--EPA quote–The air is safe this is the norm to first responders in massive incidents like this and 911!!!-
Well we have beaten worse in the past and hope the people triumph over this bag of lies also!!
I stand by my original estimate based on a simple mathimatical formula. It is June 28th and my estimate of gallons of oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico is 322,195,394.2784 gallons of oil. Engineers and experts have refuted my claim by claiming there are errors in my formula. Of course my formula is not perfect but presents a logical opinion based on my methodology. In the end you might find that my estimate describes a lower bound of the flow. The use of dispersants in the hundreds of thousands to millions of gallons of corexit are designed to hide the full extent of the disaster. The use of corexit, a toxic compound is a disaster in itself. I am ashamed that our government granted any permit for BP to conduct any operations in US territorial waters. Their track record is deplorable, their safety standards are comparable to that of third world countries and the permits for them to drill should have NEVER been granted. Thank you Mr. Obama for making all of this possible. THE GULF IS GOING TO DIE!!! Only God can help us now. You wouldn't understand because you are a Muslim...
June 28, 2010 at 5:01 am | Report abuse |
My own estimate made a few days after April 24 was 18,000 barrels a day. This clearly was different than the 1000 barrels per day being disseminated at that time. My estimate was based on our published research
http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/1993/93JC01289.shtml
and was thought by me at the time to be a minimum estimate. It is still hard to understand why our government would underestimate the flow so badly.
June 29, 2010 at 11:48 pm | Report abuse |
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Mapping the world's forests
Using satellite radar data, scientists have created a global map that quantifies the amount of wood in our forests – a key to understanding Earth's carbon cycle and, ultimately, climate change.
Mangareva, French Polynesia
The KazEOSat-1 satellite acquired this view of Mangareva in 2016. One of the Gambier Islands, Mangareva is the largest island in French Polynesia.
EUMETSAT and Arianespace sign contract for the launch of the first MetOp-SG satellites
EUMETSAT and Arianespace announced the signature of a contract entrusting Arianespace with the launch of the first two Metop-SG satellites of the EUMETSAT Polar System of Second Generation plus an option for the launch of a third satellite.
NASA-produced damage maps may aid Mexico quake response
A NASA-produced map of areas likely damaged by the 19 September magnitude 7.1 Raboso earthquake near Mexico City has been provided to Mexican authorities to help responders and groups supporting the response efforts. The quake, which struck 75 miles (120 kilometres) south-east of Mexico City, caused significant loss of life and property damage.
Ozone protection treaty marks 30th anniversary
The Earth's protective ozone layer is well on track to recovery thanks to a highly successful environmental agreement which marks its 30th anniversary on 16 September.
Australia to create national space agency
Australia will establish a national space agency, the government has said. The country is largely reliant on overseas nations like the United States for its satellite and earth observation data.
Proba-V Symposium 2018
Organisation: European Space Agency (ESA) and Belgian Science Policy Office (BELSPO)
Location: Ostend, Belgium
Symposium overview:
The second Proba-V symposium will promote the scientific and operational exploitation of Proba-V data and is open to Proba-V users, scientists, students, representatives from national, European and international agencies, operational end-users and value adding industries. It will cover the following objectives:
Provide an overview on current mission status, data quality and Cal/Val results
Gather and foster the Proba-V scientific and user community
Encourage international collaborations on land, water and cryosphere applications
Reinforce Proba-V's role as complement to Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-3 missions
Discuss data harmonization and synergy across sensors
Provide a forum to report results of on-going science activities using Proba-V data
Promote the use of Proba-V data for downstream operational services
Consult scientists to formulate recommendations for products improvements
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Kahala Elementary School
Street Parking Around Our School
HPD notified our school of a complaint of illegal parking on Moho, Pahoa, and surrounding streets. Therefore, police officers will be monitoring the area. Please be aware of no parking signs. Vehicles may be subject to a citation or towing.
Kahuku High and Intermediate School
PARENT SCHOOL QUALITY SURVEYS (SQS)
On Thursday January 16 each student will bring home a hard copy survey in an envelope. This is the survey that provides official data on how we’re doing as a school when it comes to safety and wellbeing. Please fill out your survey(s) and return using the self-addressed envelope(s) included. You may fill out one per student! Last year, 25 Hawai‘i DOE schools had parent survey return rates ranging from 50 - 87%. We’d like to reach a return rate much higher than we’ve had in the past. The deadline for completing the survey is March 13. Mahalo!!! -Mrs. Brizuela (Post on: 1/16, 1/17, 1/21)
Kahala Keiki Carnival
Plan to join us and bring your entire family. Suggested donation per family is $50-$75. Form is due with donation on or before January 24, 2020. Wristbands will be delivered to to your child's classroom the day of the carnival.
Le Jardin Academy News
Kamaaina Pet Hospital Science Award
LJA is proud to offer for the first time a post-high school scholarship opportunity, the Kama'aina Pet Hospital Science Award, thanks to the generosity of LJA parents Erik and Deanna Pegg.
Erik and Deanna have been veterinarians for over 10 years, and are the owners of Kama'aina Pet Hospital in Honolulu, Hawaii. They are passionate about animals and the community they serve, and got to where they are today through hard work and sacrifice. They hope to inspire and support students who share the same drive, work ethic, and commitment to the field of science as they do. This annual award of $1,500 is to help graduates of LJA pursuing a bachelor's or advanced degree in science to afford the extras that can truly make a difference in their educational success.
Applications for this scholarship opportunity are due February 15, 2020. Click here for criteria, requirements, and the application form.
Intermediate Boys Basketball Champs!
Congratulations to our intermediate basketball boys for winning the ILH Division II Championship! After winning the single elimination tournament, they went on to beat Hanalani for the league championship. Go Bulldogs!
Welcome back to school!
Island Pacific Academy
2019 in Review – IPA’s Top Instagram Posts
As this year closes out, we reflect on all the great events, big and small, that happened in 2019. Let’s take a look back at some of our year’s highlights through the top nine, most-liked posts from IPA’s Instagram.
9. NHS Fall Food Drive for the Hawai’i Food Bank
8. Breakfast with the Board
7. IPAPA’s Fall Family Movie Night
6. IPA Girls’ Intermediate Volleyball Division III Champions
5. Class of 2019 Senior Walk
4. IPA’s 15th Founders’ Day Celebration
3. Class of 2019 Commencement
2. May Day at Pu’uokapolei
1. Installation of Photovoltaic System on Campus
We are excited for 2020 and look forward to another wonderful year with our IPA ‘ohana. Happy New Year!
The post 2019 in Review – IPA’s Top Instagram Posts appeared first on Island Pacific Academy.
by Tricia Murata at December 31, 2019 07:04 PM
Mililani Middle School
January 2020 Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act Notification
The Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA) requires our school to notify parents, faculty, and staff of the presences and status of asbestos-containing materials in school buildings. The law further requires a management plan based on the findings of the initial inspection. We are fortunate as Mililani Middle School does not have any asbestos-containing materials in our school buildings. Please contact Vice Principal Jacob Kardash or Greg Nakasone for additional information.
by Unknown (noreply@blogger.com) at December 31, 2019 07:00 PM
JANUARY 2020 Newsletter calendar of events for Kahuku Public and School Library
Cinderella School Play - Dec 19, 20, 21 at 7pm at BYUH auditorium
Kahuku High School's Drama Club puts on "Cinderella", a special improv theater production by the students.
Enjoy your family time! Students return to school on Wednesday, January 8th.
Aiden Spagnoli Signs Letter of Intent to Attend LMU
Senior Aiden Spagnoli signed a national Letter of Intent to attend Loyola Marymount University where he will be playing Division I soccer! Congrats Aiden and the Spagnoli 'ohana!
Regal Foods Pick-Up.......ONE DAY ONLY
If you ordered from the PTO Regal Foods Fundraiser, please stop by the cafeteria on Thursday, December 12th, 2:30-5:30. This is the ONLY pick up day. Mahalo for supporting the PTO.
IPA Celebrates the Arts at Hoʻike Night
It was a perfectly beautiful night on campus last Friday, December 6, to celebrate the Secondary Arts at ISLAND PACIFIC ACADEMY’s Hoʻike Night. The annual event organized by the Secondary Art department celebrates the creativity of IPA’s secondary students and highlights the importance of the arts program in the secondary curriculum. Parents and the IPA community were invited to an evening showcasing the artwork and music of our IPA secondary students.
The MPR was transformed into a gallery with art pieces from students in Grades 6-12 displayed on the walls and on tabletops around the room. The Grade 6 Design Tech students presented their custom designed cereal boxes to raise awareness about the impacts of unhealthy eating habits. Grade 9-12 students in the Jewelry & Metalsmithing class showed off the 3D miniature metal rocking chairs they crafted using brass sheets and their new metalsmithing techniques and skills. All students in grades 6-12 were invited to submit their drawings, paintings, and digital artwork to the gallery, showcasing a diversity of styles, themes, and media.
IPA ceramics teacher, Warren Andrade, fired up his kilns again this year for the popular make-and-take raku firing. Guests purchased pre-made ceramic pots, painted them with different glazes, and then watched as Andrade fired, smoked, and cooled each piece to create beautiful and unique ceramics for them to take home.
The highlight of the evening was the Winter Music Concert led by Secondary music teacher, Ellie Healey. The MPR was filled to capacity as the IPA band and orchestra performed some lively seasonal pieces mixed in with some classics. Several IPA secondary students also performed solo pieces during the concert, including Maddy Arvman ’25, Jackie Arvman ’26, Addis Belay ’25, Hailey Teramae ’25, Kaya Gabriel-Medeiros ’24, Lauren Shin ’24, and Mina Cintron ’20.
The evening was a beautiful celebration of the visual, ceramic, and music arts and was an inspiring showcase of the many talented and passionate students at ISLAND PACIFIC ACADEMY.
The post IPA Celebrates the Arts at Hoʻike Night appeared first on Island Pacific Academy.
Military Kids Winter Camp 2019
by Unknown (noreply@blogger.com) at December 09, 2019 04:17 AM
Science Showcase 2019
Your invited to attend the Science Showcase on Wednesday, December 11th. Hope to see there!
December 2019 Newsletter calendar of events for Kahuku Public and School Library
Change in Dismissal Times
Due to the Keiki Carnival, we are switching the dismissal dates on Wednesday, January 29th and Friday, January 31st. *******Dismissal time - Wednesday, January 29th, 2:15pm******* *******Dismissal time - Friday, January 31st, 1:25pm *******
Kaimuki Christmas Parade and Tree Lighting
Our school is participating in the Kaimuki Christmas Parade on Thursday, December 5th at 6:00pm. Please wear your Kahala t-shirt and holiday bling. Waivers must be signed to participate in the parade. We are number 38 in the parade. Look for our group in quadrant 3.
Grand Expedition – Oh the Places We’ll Go! Highlights
ISLAND PACIFIC ACADEMY’s annual fundraising gala, Grand Expedition, celebrated the school’s 15th anniversary this year with an amazing night of creativity, inspiration, and wonder. The successful event was attended by nearly 300 guests, with all proceeds supporting financial aid, Project Graduation, and technology upgrades for the school. The theme for the event was “Oh the Places We’ll Go!” with the evening’s program showcasing ISLAND PACIFIC ACADEMY’s past, present, and future.
“It was a special evening honoring and recognizing the achievements, contributions, and efforts of our fabulous students – and the entire school community,” shared Gerald Teramae, Head of School. “And it was a very appropriate theme for our 15th anniversary as we look forward to the bright future in store for IPA, made possible by the collaborative efforts of our school community.”
The formal program opened with the school oli led by IPA kindergarten teacher, Momi Kuahiwinui, and a hula by Na Pua o Keko’olani halau, including IPA students Preeya Prasad ’21 and Kristin Chun ’22. The Board of Trustees president, Lance Wilhelm, offered a toast honoring IPA’s past and future. It was especially fitting as Wilhelm has been part of ISLAND PACIFIC ACADEMY since its founding and his daughter, Kate ’20, has attended IPA since she was in Junior Kindergarten. Dr. Dan and Judy White, founding Head of School and co-founders, joined the celebration as special guests of Teramae, and co-founder and developer Larry Caster shared the story of the school’s development in a video interview by a Grade 3 student. Also present as guests that evening were Kerri and Stan Vincent – elementary office manager and secondary science teacher, respectively – who have been at the school since its inception.
Guests were entertained by the mistress of ceremonies, Lei Uʻi Kaholokula, who kept the program fun and lively. And Ruth Ann Babas, IPA founding faculty member and elementary music teacher, performed beautifully on a baby grand piano during the dinner hour. “It was an honor to play piano for our IPA Grand Expedition dinner. I am truly blessed to be able to say that I have been there since day one!” shared Babas.
Students from the Class of 2021 were present to welcome guests and assist them with online bidding in the silent auction. Guest favors included custom printed notecards featuring artwork by elementary, secondary, and alumni students, and each sponsor host received a beautiful, matted print of IPA student art and photographs. To show their appreciation for our guests, the elementary students created hand-written thank you notes, which were shared on all of the tables.
It truly was an evening celebrating and honoring the past, present, and future of ISLAND PACIFIC ACADEMY.
“We are incredibly humbled by the generosity and support from our sponsors and supporters each year, and this year was no different. The room was filled with energy, excitement, and enthusiasm in support of our amazing students, and our school,” shared Be-Jay Kodama, Director of Advancement.
The purpose of the event was to raise funds to support IPA’s many programs, and with more than 50 silent auction items, the live auction, and the ever popular “wine pull”, there were many opportunities for guests to give generously in support of the school.
Auctioneer Eric Schiff returned again this year for the live auction and, as usual, kept the bidding exciting and fast-paced. Class of 2021 students helped as bid spotters, waving brightly lit hot air balloon spotter’s poles to grab the auctioneer’s attention. Live auction items included the priceless IPA Reserved Parking Space, a San Francisco Giants package (with two owner’s seats Giants tickets, hotel room, and airfare), and a four-night escape to the Mauna Lani. The most unique item up for bid was an Eva Makk giclee on canvas titled “Epic Journey,” depicting the Polynesian sailing canoe, Hōkuleʻa. Renowed artist Eva Makk was there in person for the event, and during the champagne reception guests were invited to add their own brushstroke to the painting under Evaʻs guidance. The finished piece was a unique masterpiece “painted” by all of the guests at Grand Expedition.
ISLAND PACIFIC ACADEMY thanks all of our supporters, donors, attendees, and volunteers. Grand Expedition – Oh the Places Weʻll Go! was generously underwritten by many corporate sponsors, including the event’s Presenting Sponsor, The Queen’s Health Systems.
“We are very grateful for all the organizations, businesses, and individuals who graciously and generously sponsored this event and donated wonderful items for our auctions,” said Teramae. “And, of course, a very special thank you to the many volunteers who give their time and talents every year to make this such a successful event.”
Those sentiments were echoed by Kodama, “Mahalo to the many helping hands and volunteers who made the evening memorable,and those who helped to fulfill dreams for our students. We are truly grateful.”
See you at the next Grand Expedition!
The post Grand Expedition – Oh the Places We’ll Go! Highlights appeared first on Island Pacific Academy.
LJA Craft Fair
Our annual PFA Holiday Craft Fair is on Sunday, Dec. 15, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. during Lower School's Winter Wonderland Event! Join us as a vendor! Click here for an application.
Voyager Public Charter School
by Evan Anderson at November 25, 2019 05:55 PM
Robotics Receives $3,000 Grant from Bayer Fund
Students at Le Jardin Academy have received grant funding for their robotics team as they work to enhance their skills in science and engineering. Bayer Fund, a philanthropic arm of Bayer, recently awarded a one-time $3,000 grant to FRC team #7548 to support their participation in the FIRST Robotics program.
Team 7548 will use support from their Bayer Fund grant to participate in FIRST Robotics educational programs and competitions. FIRST enables teams of students to compete with others in building, designing and programming their own robots to perform pre-assigned tasks, giving students a chance to get involved with real-world engineering.
Jovelle Lucas '20 wins title of Miss Oahu
Robotics Team Ranks Second
Cross Country State Chamionships
School Tours and Information Sessions–RSVP Now!
20-21 VOYAGER SCHOOL TOURS
Appreciation Breakfast for 1st Responders/Military - November 26, 2019
The kindergarten students would like to thank 1st responders/military for helping our community. Please join us for breakfast on: November 26, 2019 from 9:00-10:00am RSVP by November 15, 2019 to llorusso@kes.k12.hi.us
Annual Turkey Trot
The Turkey Trot is a school wide event that promotes healthy habits, brings our school community together, and celebrates all that is good a Kahala. Friends and family are welcome to cheer on the students running a course that winds around Kahala Community Park. If you are able to help, email Cynthia Beppu at cbeppu@kes.k12.hi.us
November 2019 Newsletter calendar of events for Kahuku Public and School Library
October 2019 Newsletter calendar of events for Kahuku Public and School Library
Aiea High School
POPUP NOTICE - INFORMATION
The following are important notices from Aiea High School. They pertain to Anti-Bullying, Traffic Safety around Aiea, Parent Newsletter, Dress Code Enforced by Faculty and Staff, and Infinite Campus Help Site.
2020 Mililani High Afterschool PE Program for Outgoing B/R/G8 Students
Download Registration Info and Form Here
BLUE, RED and GREEN Track Students
Mililani Middle School students who are currently in 8th grade on Blue, Red and Green tracks will have the opportunity to earn high school credit for Physical Education Lifetime Fitness (0.5 credit) at Mililani Middle School and Physical Education Lifetime Activities (0.5 credit) at Mililani High School.
Registration: Processed by Mililani Middle School
Registration Window:
Opens December 9 at 7:30 am (first come, first served)
Closes December 13 at 4:00 pm
Registration Process:
• In-person at Mililani Middle
• Registration forms will be available at the Mililani Middle School Administration Office and online at our school website on Friday, November 1.
• Registration will not be complete until payment is received (check or money order only)
The Semester 1 course will be held after school from 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm at Mililani Middle School. Session choice will be first come, first served. Students will be required to attend the after school PE sessions during respective track intersession.
The Semester 2 course will be taken at Mililani High School.
Semester 1/Session 1A - Lifetime Fitness - at Mililani Middle:
February 18, 2020 – April 3, 2020
Semester 1/Session 1B - Lifetime Fitness - at Mililani Middle:
April 8, 2020 – May 22, 2020
Registration will take place in February at MHS
Semester 2 - Lifetime Activities - at Mililani High:
June 23, 2019 – July 9, 2019
YELLOW Track Students
Mililani Middle School students who are currently in 8th grade on Yellow track will have the opportunity to earn high school credit for both Physical Education Lifetime Fitness (0.5 credit) and Physical Education Lifetime Activities (0.5 credit) at Mililani High School.
Registration: Processed by Mililani High School
Registration Begins: February 1, 2020
• Online registration (MHS website - Summer School) or
• In-person - Registration forms available at the Mililani High School Administration Office
by Unknown (noreply@blogger.com) at October 31, 2019 10:32 AM
Don't forget to bring your costume to school.
Monster Mash Halloween Dance - Friday, October 25th 6:00pm-8:00pm
Wear your costume! All kids must be accompanied by an adult for the duration of the event. Dinner available for purchase from Olay's Thai Express. Please no outside food. Join us for a night of food and fun!
Director of Advancement Courtney Chow
We are pleased to announce and welcome Courtney Chow, our new Director of Advancement. Courtney has a B.A. in Biological Anthropology from the University of California at San Diego and minors in Biology and Dance. Courtney is currently employed at Honolulu Biennial Foundation (HBF) as Operations Director. Prior to HBF, she was employed at the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum for 11 years where she rose to Vice President for Institutional Advancement.
Courtney is an experienced nonprofit fundraising executive with expertise in organizational and project management, budget management, capital campaigns, strategic planning, board management, organizational change, grant-writing, program development, special events, communications, marketing, and public and donor relations. Courtney has an open door policy and is eager to meet our community - please stop by and say Aloha!
KHIS Head Coach Vacancy-Girls Tennis
Governing Board Meeting Rescheduled to October 24th
Voyager’s Local Governing Board meeting has been rescheduled to Thursday, October 24th at 5:00pm.
by Evan Anderson at October 17, 2019 07:39 PM
Collaboration Makes Math Fun
Math is even more fun with friends! ISLAND PACIFIC ACADEMY’s elementary and middle school students spent this afternoon, Thursday October 10, participating in various problem-solving activities in the “Math Collaborative Activity” event. Groups of students from Grades 4-7 worked together solving fun and challenging math problems from different topics like Cryptology, Discovering Pi, Beauty and the Golden Ratio, and Real Life Set Problems. Students rotated with their groups to the different activities over the course of the two-hour event.
This annual event is organized by teachers from both divisions with the goal of easing the transition for students between Elementary and Secondary. “We wanted to build a relationship between Secondary and Elementary to make sure there was a flow in the math curriculum in terms of the scope and sequence,” explains Jorge Ochoa, Secondary math teacher and one of the organizers. “We thought the best way to do that was to start working together, and we realized that creating a math collaborative activity between these four grade levels would be a great way to do that.”
The event also involves students from the Upper school, with juniors and seniors from Mu Alpha Theta, the math honor society, teaching and leading the younger students in the activities. Ryan Fitzgerald ’21 and Kate Wilhelm ’20 led the Transformations session for the afternoon. “The last session we did was called Transformation Golf, where we taught the students how to do transformations and they got to use them to play golf on their iPads. And they seemed to have a lot of fun with it,” shares Fitzgerald.
“I want these kids to learn that math can be fun,” explains Wilhelm. “Sometimes we get caught up thinking math is so boring, or hard or difficult, but it doesn’t have to be and if you have the right teacher and tools it can be super fun.”
Getting students excited about math was definitely one of the goals of the event. “We designed the activities the way we did because we wanted the students to be excited about math and to know that math is part of the world they live in,” said Ochoa. “These activities are different ways for them to see math in action.”
Senior David Pavlicek ’20 agrees. “The most exciting thing is that some of the students are really excited to be doing these activities, which is good to see that there is an enthusiasm for learning about math.”
One of the activities, Real Life Set Problems, dealt with Venn diagrams and was illustrative of math in the real world. Students learned what the terms union and intersection and complement mean by using hula hoops to group students into sets, for example students with brothers, students with sisters, students with both, or students with neither.
“Basically what the activity demonstrated is that there are ways people are similar and there are ways they are different,” Ochoa explained. “And that’s how we build relationships with people – we make connections with others by learning what we have in common and how we’re different. That’s basically a Venn diagram.”
The students will get together for another afternoon of collaborative math activities in the Spring when they celebrate Pi Day.
The post Collaboration Makes Math Fun appeared first on Island Pacific Academy.
by Tricia Murata at October 10, 2019 10:33 PM
October Lunch Menu
October 2019 Menu
by Evan Anderson at September 30, 2019 10:20 PM
LJA Hosts Global Citizen Diploma Consortium
LJA is hosting the Global Citizen Diploma (GCD) Consortium on Oct. 3 and 4. Delegates from around the world will meet with our school leaders to further develop a shared vision of global citizenship and the role each school can play in advancing the values of sustained community engagement, global understanding, and effective intercultural communication. School leaders from Nanjing International School, Hong Kong Academy, American School of Bombay, NIST International School, and Yokohama International School will be in attendance. Please join us in welcoming them to our campus.
The Board Welcomes Jennifer Meehan
We are pleased to announce that Jennifer Meehan was recently elected to the LJA Board of Trustees. Jennifer brings over two decades of international development experience - including alleviating poverty and ending modern slavery - across Asia and parts of Africa. She has also served on numerous nonprofit and social enterprise Boards.
Radford High School
Take a Veteran to School Day
Aloha Faculty, Staff and Students. SAVE THE DATE! Friday, November 8, Radford High School will be hosting our Inaugural Veteran's Day Assembly to honor Veterans in the local area. We are inviting you to Take a Veteran to School! If you know a Veteran (Mom, Dad, Aunty, Uncle, etc) invite them to attend the assembly on Friday, 8 November from 9:30 to 10:30 AM in the gym. You MUST R.S.V.P. your veteran on the Radford High school website, RadfordHS.org. Scroll down on the home page and click on "Take a Veteran to school day" headline. Next, click on "Register my Veteran" and fill out the registration form. Be prepared to upload a photo of your veteran (in or out of uniform is fine). The first 75 veterans to be registered will be invited to the assembly. Don't miss this opportunity to show your veteran how much you appreciate what they have done for our great country! Don't wait, register your veteran today! GO RAMS!! (Email RadfordVetDay2019@gmail.com with questions.) Have a veteran in your life who cannot attend? Email a photo of your veteran to RadfordVetDay2019@gmail.com with your name, Veteran's name and branch of service, years they served and where and we will include them in our slide show.
Navigator Credit Union Opens for the New School Year
We had a very successful Navigator Credit Union opening today for our 2019-2020 school year! We have added new branch positions and defined original ones for the Grade 4 students (Branch Specialist, Greeter, Marketing Specialist, Service Specialist) with corresponding lanyards created by HawaiiUSA Federal Credit Union staff and sporting our new Navigator Credit Union logo for this year.
IPAPA officer and parent, Marised Gillette (Paul ’28, JR ’17), graciously recreated the winning Grade 5 No Bake Challenge PBL recipe, and it was the featured menu item sold along with our regular libations of hot cocoa and coffee. Debbie Yoshino, Computer Science teacher, opened the Finance Club to Grade 9 students this year and they are taking the reins in mentoring the new Grade 6 students on Navigator Café processes and customer service.
In addition to the non-stop bank transactions, the café line was out the door and down the hall until we cut the students off at the usual 7:55 AM pre-class time. The Grade 4 students were able to open three new accounts for two 4th graders and one Kindergartener, and completed deposits. As it is every week, we had two staff members from HawaiiUSA FCU on hand to provide support, and they have been instrumental to our on-going process and just tremendous partners. The HawaiiUSA FCU staff came to IPA last week to hold training workshops with our Grade 4 students in bank transactions and customer service skills. In addition to all of the student learning, what is great about our “coffee shop” model is that it allows for parents to engage with their kids because we provide a place for both adults and kids to relax and have a warm beverage and a quick morning bite while doing a little banking together.
Contributed by Katherine Jones, Elementary Sustainability and Innovation Coordinator
Grade 4 students, with the assistance of staff from the HawaiiUSA Federal Credit Union, help a student open a new account with the Navigator Credit Union.
A Grade 4 student helps a new customer open an account at the Navigator Credit Union.
A Grade 6 student prepares the hot cocoa at the Navigator Café.
Grades 6 and 9 students help run the Navigator Café in the Navigator Credit Union.
Grade 4 students proudly take on their new positions in the Navigator Credit Union.
The post Navigator Credit Union Opens for the New School Year appeared first on Island Pacific Academy.
by Tricia Murata at September 26, 2019 08:35 PM
Mark your calendars! The Scholastic Book Fair will be held during the week of October 21th -25th in the library Click on the Scholastic Book Fair title -link to find out more about: the hours, volunteering, shopping online, ewallet, and the Book Fair App Look forward to seeing all of you at the Scholastic Book Fair.
Ohana Night
Ohana Night - Friday, September 27th Featuring student entertainment, special presentations from some of our school programs, and our much anticipated Faculty and Staff Bake Sale. Faculty Bake Sale opens at 5:30pm, Dinner served at 5:45pm. Hope to see you there!
Power Outage: After School Activities Cancelled, Early Dismissal
Dear Parents: Voyager afterschool clubs and Kama’aina Kids have been cancelled due to a power outage. Please pick up your keiki via our usual home line procedure as soon as possible. Thank you!
Mr. Anderson and School Staff
A HELPFUL REMINDER
If you want your child released early on any day, please send them a short note and let them bring it to the office. They will be given a pass which shall be shown to the teacher at the time they need to leave. Students then will be allowed to sign themselves out and will be ready for Pick Up or Drive Out at the Parking Lot. This will minimize disruption of valuable classroom instruction and reduce incidents resulting to delayed student releases. Mahalo for your cooperation.
Blood Bank of Hawaii Award
Student leaders of this year's Blood Bank campaign accepted the award for highest percentage of student participation for a school blood drive in the State of Hawaii! This is the second year in a row that LJA received this award! We have two blood drives scheduled this year, the first is on Nov. 14.
IPA Celebrates its 15th Year
ISLAND PACIFIC ACADEMY celebrated its 15th year with a special Founders’ Day ceremony on September 13, 2019. The school’s three founders – Dr. Dan White, Judy White, and Larry Caster – and members from the Board of Trustees, attended the all-school event held on campus.
The ceremony included songs by the students and performances by the IPA Ukulele Club. Guests heard messages from Gerald Teramae, Head of School, and Dr. White about the history and future of IPA. The three founders were presented with a framed portrait, which will be on permanent display in the lobby of the Administrative office. All the students enjoyed birthday cupcakes frosted in blue with gold and silver sprinkles – our IPA colors!
As part of our 15 year celebration, we invited three Grade 4 students to sit down to talk with IPA’s founders about the school, bringing together our past and our future. Watch the short videos from Kyler ’28 and Dr. Dan White, Oliver ’28 and Larry Caster, and Winleth ’28 and Judy White below.
The post IPA Celebrates its 15th Year appeared first on Island Pacific Academy.
2019 PSAT/NMSQT
2019 PSAT/NMSQT will be administered on Oct. 16, 2019. All 9th and 10th grade students will be taking the test at no cost. Any 11th grader interested in taking the test must sign up with either Mrs. Aquino or Mrs. Epenesa in the counseling center. Cost is $17.00, Sign up until Sept 16, 2019. If you have any questions please see Mrs. Aquino in the Counseling Center.
PSAT for Juniors
All juniors are invited to register for the upcoming PSAT! Taking the PSAT will help you prepare for the college application process. It may also qualify you for scholarship money for college. PSAT test day will be on Wednesday, October 16 and the registration deadline is Monday, September 16. The cost is $17 or FREE if you have free/reduced lunch. Register today in the Counseling Center! Questions? Stop by the Counseling Center!
AP Exam Payment SY 2019-20
If your child is taking an Advanced Placement course this school year, College Board has changed the deadline for AP Exam payments this school year. All AP payments received on or before October 1, 2019 will receive a 50% discount. Anyone paying after October 1, 2019 will incur the full (100%) exam cost. 2019-20 AP Exam Fee Schedule: Payment on or before October 1, 2019: $47 (per exam), AP Seminar $71 Payment after October 1, 2019: $94 (per exam), AP Seminar $142 If you have any questions concerning payments please contact the Counseling Department at Radford High School.
Get Akamai Week
Le Jardin Academy is one of the sponsors of Hawaii News Now's Get Akamai Week. LJA's segment aired on Hawaii News Now yesterday morning and features Grade 1 teacher Kate Beres and Head of School Earl Kim. Click here to watch the video!
The Green Team is a consortium of students, parents, faculty, and staff dedicated to helping our school become more environmentally friendly. Last spring, the Green Team held LJA's first waste audit. They collected all matters of waste tossed into the school's bins over a 24-hour period, and then pulled out, sorted, cataloged, counted, and weighed every item. With support from the Kokua Hawaii Foundation, we now have a clearer understanding of the types and quantities of waste we produce. For example, in just one day LJA disposed of almost 139 pounds of food scraps, over 50 pounds of plastics, and 35 pounds of HI-5 recyclables. It is our goal to make measurable reductions. If you are interested in getting involved, please contact one of the Green Team's co-coordinators, seniors Aidan Anderson or Aiden Spagnoli.
Congrats Class of 2029 and 2030!
On Sunday, we celebrated the winners of our 2018-19 Annual Fund parent participation challenge - Class of 2029 and 2030. The families enjoyed a pancake breakfast served by our Board of Trustees and Head of School. Mahalo to our parent participation chair Shauna Hirota and committee members!
Don Dymond Scholarship Recipient
Welcoming and casual, the Kalapawai Market and its sister Cafe located in the heart of Kailua town, embody the values and ethos of its founder, Mr. Don Dymond. In his memory, the Dymond family and many generous donors have established the Don Dymond Scholarship Fund at LJA. In honor of Don, his work ethic, and his commitment to mentor young people in the workplace, this $1,000 award is to acknowledge a LJA student's actual good work, both in school and in the workplace. The recipient of this year's Don Dymond Scholarship award is Eva Ramm '20.
2019 Federal Survey Cards Coming Home
The Hawaii State Department of Education (HIDOE) will be sending a U.S. Department of Education Federal Survey Card home with Hawaii's public school students for parents to complete beginning Thursday, September 5.
The Impact Aid Program surveys allow HIDOE to qualify for a partial reimbursement for educating federally connected students, such as children whose parents work or live on federal property. The program was created to assist school districts that lose tax revenues (e.g. income, sales and property taxes) due to a federal presence. Funds go to local school districts, just like local property taxes, and can be used to hire teachers, purchase textbooks and computers, pay for utilities and more. Parents are strongly urged to complete the surveys and return them to their schools as soon as possible.
Every public school has a 100-percent return rate goal and asks that parents complete and return the federal survey this week.
Due Dates:
September 18 - Blue/Green/Red Track
October 11 - Yellow Track
Address list for military installations or properties:
by Unknown (noreply@blogger.com) at September 05, 2019 05:36 AM
Federal Survey Card Information - Electronic Data Collection Pilot for Families
Beginning October 16, 2019, parents/guardians can log into the Infinite Campus Portal and complete the Impact Aid survey. This survey is very important to the school. We appreciate your support in this matter. Click on the heading to read the entire Parent Notification letter.
Elementary Faculty Katherine Jones Honored with Poʻokela Award
ISLAND PACIFIC ACADEMY is proud to congratulate Katherine Jones, Elementary Sustainability & Innovation Coordinator, who was honored earlier this month with a Poʻokela Award in the “Dance Choreographer/Movement Stage Combat” category for her work in “The Rocky Horror Show” at Manoa Valley Theatre. The Poʻokela Awards, given out by the Hawaiʻi State Theatre Council, recognize excellence in local theatre in 23 theatre arts categories, including directing, performing, design, choreography, and technical theatre. This was Jones’ eighth Poʻokela, with her first award in 2008 also, coincidentally, for “The Rocky Horror Show.”
Jones has years of professional experience in dance and choreography, having choreographed more than 60 musicals with Hawai’i high schools, universities, community theatres, and gala events. She has also had her work showcased at the Disney parks, in commercials in Japan, and in movies and local television. Although her teaching and family take up most of her time, she still makes time for one or two productions a year in community theatre. Her focus now is more on devoting the time she has to projects with non-profits, such as the Performing Arts Center of Kapolei and Camp Anuenue, where she can give back to the community.
Jones’ creativity and experience are invaluable in her position as Elementary’s Sustainability & Innovation Coordinator. She works closely with the grade level teachers, helping to coordinate student activities and efforts for their project-based learning (PBL). She assists students with choreography and costumes for the Grade 5 American Revolution Museum Experience; teaches Grade 3 students on-air presentation skills for their on-camera weather reports; and teaches the Grade 4 students how to prepare for job interviews during their class luau project, which integrates units on Hawaiʻi/Hawaiian Culture and Business/Finance. She also helps the classes with preparations for their Monday Assembly performances. In addition she leads the gardening curriculum for the Elementary division.
This summer, Jones taught the “Creative Art & Musical Theatre Skills” and “Musical Theatre Skills: Sing, Say, Dance, Play and More” classes during IPA’s Experience & Explore Summer Program.
“Teaching the classes here was great! The kids here are so talented and have so much passion,” said Jones. “I’ve always been joyful about teaching musical theatre. I don’t necessarily have to be doing musical theatre myself in order to get joy out of it.”
Students learned about puppetry, mask making, improvisation, music reading, dance, and choreography. Jones explains that through all the fun activities, the students also develop many important skills, such as self-confidence, public speaking, and self-awareness. She also points out studies that show a correlation between the dynamics of dance/music and mathematics/computational thinking.
Jones knows how important it is to expose children to the performing arts from a young age. “That’s something we do very well here at IPA,” she shared. “We have the resources and we recognize the value in it. It’s so important to their overall education because performing arts ultimately goes back to language arts, and our history, and mathematics.”
Congratulations, Katherine!
Experience & Explore students learn a new dance routine in “Creative Art & Musical Theatre Skills” class this summer.
Katherine Jones helps her students create their paper puppets for The Very Hungry Caterpillar in the “Musical Theatre Skills: Sing, Say, Dance, Play and More” class this summer.
The post Elementary Faculty Katherine Jones Honored with Poʻokela Award appeared first on Island Pacific Academy.
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About SAP SE / SAP News Center / SAP HANA
The NBA’s Charlotte Hornets Bring Fan Engagement to a New Level with SAP and Phizzle
August 25, 2016 by SAP News
WALLDORF — SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) and Phizzle, an engagement automation software company specializing in fan engagement platforms, have partnered with the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association (NBA) to provide them with a holistic picture of their consumer and fan data to maximize revenue and to enhance the fan experience.
With Phizzle’s FanTracker™ API and data management solutions, powered by SAP HANA, the Hornets have a real-time, cross-channel data profile for their 9.5 million fans.
Since the implementation, the Hornets not only identified that more than 50 percent of their fan records were duplicates, they also aggregated over 25 million fan and consumer interactions. The organization saved more than $1.5 million and 10,000 hours of consulting and added additional revenue in ticket sales.
“The real challenge is in consolidating fans into a single profile,” said Christopher Zeppenfeld, the Hornets’ senior director of business intelligence. “Phizzle, powered by SAP HANA, does that better than anyone.”
Like many professional sports franchises, the Hornets struggled with a heterogeneous data landscape from multiple third-party providers. The Phizzle FanTracker API and algorithm, phz.io Middleware and phz.io Best Practices for SAP HANA allow the Hornets access to current and relevant behavioral data on each individual fan including sentiment, purchase history and interactions across an omnichannel landscape.
“With 50 billion devices capable of connecting to the Internet, sports teams are challenged with making sense of massive data quantities, but with SAP HANA the Hornets can achieve a single fan identity across a diverse landscape and understand their fans in real time,” said Frank Wheeler, region vice president and general manager for SAP Sports and Entertainment North America.
“Phizzle’s solutions are driving digital transformation for teams like the Hornets, enabling them to identify and enhance the economic value of each fan,” said Ben Davis, CEO of Phizzle. “The phz.io API allows us to provide a streamlined integration solution that avoided disruption to the Hornets’ daily operations and showed an immediate significant return on their investment.”
The Hornets plan to extend the use of FanTracker to incorporate more data sources, such as mobile and food and beverage, and to introduce metrics to increase their e-commerce business and provide tailored offerings to consumers.
A detailed case study can be found here: www.phizzle.com/hornets-case-study. Visit Phizzle or follow on Twitter at @phizzle.
For more information, visit the SAP News Center. Follow SAP on Twitter at @sapnews.
Jackie Montesinos Suarez, SAP, +1 (786) 325-0568, jackie.montesinos.suarez@sap.com, ET
Beth Trier, Trier and Company, Phizzle, +1 (415) 285-6147, beth@triercompany.com, PT
Any statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “project,” “predict,” “should” and “will” and similar expressions as they relate to SAP are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. SAP undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. The factors that could affect SAP’s future financial results are discussed more fully in SAP’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including SAP’s most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates.
Tags: fan engagement, NBA, Phizzle
SAP and Phizzle Unveil Bundled Solution for Automated Fan Engagement
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Aviva Okeson-Haberman
When Aviva first got into radio reporting, she didn’t expect to ride on the back of a Harley. But she’ll do just about anything to get good nat sounds. Aviva has profiled a biker who is still riding after losing his right arm and leg in a crash more than a decade ago, talked to prisoners about delivering end-of-life care in the prison’s hospice care unit and crisscrossed Mid-Missouri interviewing caregivers about life caring for someone with autism. Her investigation into Missouri’s elder abuse hotline led to an investigation by the state’s attorney general. As KCUR’s Missouri government and state politics reporter, Aviva focuses on turning complicated policy and political jargon into driveway moments.
Missouri Vapers Are Unlikely To Pay More Sales Tax — And It's Costing The State Millions
By Aviva Okeson-Haberman • Jan 2, 2020
More and more young people are vaping, which has led states like Vermont and Illinois to tax vaping products. That’s unlikely to happen in Missouri.
In 2014, Missouri lawmakers decided that vaping products and alternative nicotine products shouldn’t be taxed or regulated as tobacco products, part of a bill that banned selling vaping products to minors.
While a couple of bills introduced for this year’s session deal with vaping, none add a tax and the governor hasn’t indicated support for a tax. Illinois, meanwhile, expects to get about $15 million in 2020 due to a new 14.5% tax.
Missouri Adds More Ways To Report Elder Abuse After 1000s Of Calls Went Unanswered
By Aviva Okeson-Haberman • Nov 25, 2019
Updated Nov. 25 at 5 p.m. with additional data— Missouri’s reporting system for adult abuse and neglect is undergoing significant changes after an investigation by the state’s attorney general.
The investigation ended Monday, Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s office told KCUR. It recommended seven changes, including a new online reporting system in order to address the thousands of unanswered calls to the state’s hotline, as well as redirecting callers who are simply looking for information about local resources — not calling to report abuse.
Missouri Came Up with A Plan To Slow Climate Change 30 Years Ago, Then Did Little About It
KCUR's Aviva Okeson-Haberman reviews a plan that Missouri came up with in 1991 to deal with climate change.
In the spring of 1989, Missouri lawmakers were motivated to figure out how climate change would affect the state’s economy, political future and social capital.
A year after California started looking into climate change, the Missouri General Assembly created a commission of 14 experts and politicians to study the issue and come up with solutions. The result was more than 100 policy suggestions, covering everything from the use of solar and wind energy to transportation and teaching about climate change.
Three decades later, experts say Missouri hasn’t achieved its goals.
If Missouri College Students Could Party Like It's 1999, They'd Save About 61% On Tuition
By Aviva Okeson-Haberman • Oct 30, 2019
Rachel Shriver is set to graduate from the University of Missouri-Kansas City next year but she’s already thinking about how her two kids are going to pay for college a decade from now.
She’s had a tough path to this point: She had her first kid when she was young and most of her family never made it to college. “I'm just hoping to have a better life with my kids … that’s the whole reason I’m in school,” Shriver said.
Missouri Looking To Fix 'Disastrous' Pay System For Developmentally Disabled Care
By Aviva Okeson-Haberman • Oct 4, 2019
Missouri's methods of reimbursing community providers who care for people with developmental disabilities are complex, confusing and conflict with federal Medicaid rules. That’s because providers are reimbursed at vastly different rates for the same level of care.
It’s a situation that’s also leading to low pay for the providers’ workers and exacerbating the state’s already high turnover.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services put the state on a five-year corrective action plan earlier this year. So to address the issue, the Division of Developmental Disabilities will request $58.1 million from Missouri lawmakers next year on top of the $20 million extra it received this year. Many providers say it’s long overdue.
Russell Bucklew Executed For 1996 Murder After Missouri's Governor Says No To Clemency
Missouri executed its first prisoner since 2017 on Tuesday night. Despite the man’s rare medical condition, no complications were reported.
Missouri U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley Sees Social Media As Anti-Conservative, So He's Taking On Big Tech
By Aviva Okeson-Haberman • Sep 28, 2019
File photo | Aviva Okeson-Haberman | KCUR
In a scathing letter to Facebook this month, Missouri U.S. Senator Josh Hawley, along with three of his Republican colleagues, renewed his criticism of the social media giant, saying the company censors conservative voices.
It’s Hawley’s latest call for more government scrutiny and regulation of tech companies stemming from concerns like data privacy, internet addiction and censorship.
Every Year, Half Of Missouri's Workers Who Care For The Developmentally Disabled Quit
By Aviva Okeson-Haberman • Aug 7, 2019
Missouri workers providing care for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities make less than a Walmart or Target worker, even after a pay increase that went into effect last month.
The low pay is the main reason about half of Missouri workers quit each year, according to Missouri Developmental Disabilities Division Director Val Huhn.
Missouri Rep. Rebecca Roeber Dies; Ex-Educator From Lee's Summit Pushed For Charter School Expansion
By Aviva Okeson-Haberman • Jul 30, 2019
Missouri state Rep. Rebecca Roeber, a Republican from Lee's Summit, died Tuesday in her sleep.
'Saying No Is Not The Answer': The Reasons Driving Missouri Republicans' Shift On Criminal Justice
Before Kenneth Wilson became a Missouri House member, he worked his way up the ranks in the Platte County Sheriff’s Office. It was there, he said, his view of crime went from “bad guys go to jail” to seeing dads lose their jobs because they were jailed for not being able to pay child support.
And that’s when Wilson, a Republican from Smithville, thought there must be another way.
Since Voters Approved A $5 Cap On Gifts, Lobbyist Spending On Missouri Lawmakers Dropped 94%
Beyoncé tickets. Pricey steak dinners. Royals games.
Lobbyists used to be able to spend thousands in an effort to influence Missouri lawmakers. Voters approved a $5 dollar limit on gifts for lawmakers in November. A KCUR analysis of data released this month by the Missouri Ethics Commission shows there’s been a 94% decrease in spending from the 2019 to 2018 legislative session.
In this year’s session, lobbyists spent less than $17,000 on lawmakers. That’s a significant drop from the about $300,000 spent in the 2018 session.
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Antisemitism in France is focus of Yale conference
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New York City Department of Transportation
Northern Blvd
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Start here... Bike Lane Requested Difficult Turn/Crossing Wrong-way Cycling Aggressive Biking Aggressive Drivers Blocking the Box Conflicting Turns Curbside Parking Issue Dangerous Left Turn Dangerous Merge Double Parking Failure to Yield Lane Marking Problems Red Light Running Signage Problems Speeding Too Many Placards U-Turns Weaving Vehicles Bench Needed Jaywalking Long Distance to Cross Long Wait to Cross No Crosswalk Not Enough Time to Cross Bus Arrives Late Bus Bench Needed Bus Blocked From Curb Bus Shelter Needed Bus Stop Needed Multiple Buses Arrive Together Vehicle Parked in Bus Stop Confusing Truck Route Signage Difficult Truck Turn Noisy/Idling Truck Speeding Trucks Truck Double Parked Truck Parked All Day Truck Parked on Sidewalk Not ADA Accessible Inadequate Lighting
Click on flashing icon on the map to drop a pin
Any Bike Lane Requested Difficult Turn/Crossing Wrong-way Cycling Aggressive Biking Aggressive Drivers Blocking the Box Conflicting Turns Curbside Parking Issue Dangerous Left Turn Dangerous Merge Double Parking Failure to Yield Lane Marking Problems Red Light Running Signage Problems Speeding Too Many Placards U-Turns Weaving Vehicles Bench Needed Jaywalking Long Distance to Cross Long Wait to Cross No Crosswalk Not Enough Time to Cross Bus Arrives Late Bus Bench Needed Bus Blocked From Curb Bus Shelter Needed Bus Stop Needed Multiple Buses Arrive Together Vehicle Parked in Bus Stop Confusing Truck Route Signage Difficult Truck Turn Noisy/Idling Truck Speeding Trucks Truck Double Parked Truck Parked All Day Truck Parked on Sidewalk Not ADA Accessible Inadequate Lighting
Blocked comment 04/18/2019 - 12:12
Comment has been blocked from public display due to violation of the Projects and Initiatives Site Policy. A copy of the comment is on record.
78th Street should be COMPLETELY car-free. The conflict between park users and drivers is too dangerous to safely engineer. We need more open space in Jackson Heights. We have experience aggressive driving by Koeppel Mazda employees (in cars with Koeppel logo) and Koeppel customers. Dealership should be required to use entrances on Northern and 77th St - which is how Toyota operated for over 20 years.
Average :4.5 (Votes: 7 )
Bike Lane Requested
Express Bus Lane should be created for the length of Queens Blvd
I cannot believe the city is considering going back on their word and taking away park land to give to a car dealership. This would be a safety and public health disaster. Idling cars, cars making u-turns and not paying attention. Do not allow Koeppel to take critical park.
Dangerous Merge
Require Koeppel car dealership to close car service entry point on corner of Northern Blvd and 78th Blvd. Ensure 78th Street remains a "car free" "kid friendly" street end to end.
Average :4 (Votes: 5 )
This entire street was promised by the city for the public's use. Please make this a car free street for the entire length of 78th street between 34th avenue and Northern Blvd.
Please do not give any park space to Koeppel Mazda. Keep ALL of 78th st between Northern and 34th Ave as Pedestrian only as per 2015 plan. This car dealership parks their cars on the sidewalk and allowing them to drive in the park area will put children in danger. We as taxpayers should not have to foot the bill for a private driveway for this one commercial business. They should use their other entrance.
Dangerous Left Turn
As the $6 million renovation of Travers Park enters its final phase, the De Blasio Administration is attempting to quietly break their commitment to close 78th Street completely to cars as a result of pressure from Koeppel Mazda, and use public money that was earmarked for the last stage of park renovations to build a dangerous, private driveway for Koeppel instead.
Multiple Buses Arrive Together
Please create separate, dedicated bus lanes all along Northern Blvd to improve traffic efficiency.
Please add a separate, protected bike lane for the entire length of Northern Blvd.
Truck Parked on Sidewalk
Koeppel Mazda underhandedly is trying to steal much needed, planned park space. Keep ALL of 78th st between Northern and 34th Ave as Pedestrian only as per 2015 plan. Koeppel parks their cars on the sidewalk, and generally acts as if it is their private street. The proposal to create a private 'Koeppel Only' driveway with taxpayer money (previously allocated to the park) is adding insult to injury.
Bus Arrives Late
Separated bus lanes should be provided all along Northern Boulevard to make this route efficient by bus. Buses get stuck in traffic frequently. Northern Boulevard is far from subway stops for much of its length; creating a separate bus lane would revolutionize transit in this part of Queens
This area in dire need of protected bike lanes
Curbside Parking Issue
Koeppel Mazda uses public space as storage for their vehicles, get them off the sidewalk and give Jackson Heights the car-free park all the way to Northern Boulevard that was promised to the community
Protected bike lane all along northern boulevard is needed, but especially connecting to the newly renovated Travers Park, which should include a car-free 78th st all the way to Northern Boulevard.
Making a change to the Travers Park 78th Street plan, without any community input, to accommodate a politically connected business, is not in line with Vision Zero.
Letting cars onto 78th Street from Northern Blvd is simply incompatible with a safe park for kids (or anybody). This is the only park we have, for God's sake. Koeppel has *miles* of property. We have this one park.
Difficult Turn/Crossing
Please keep 78th street car free as called for in the original Travers Park renovation plan. Do not permit any vehicles to enter the road for commerce or transit purposes. Please maintain it as pedestrian only.
Make 78 Street pedestrian as per official redesign plan for Travers Park. Koeppel car dealership as illegally opened a service entrance on the street designated solely for pedestrian access to the park.
The City has promised to close all of 78th Street to vehicle traffic as part of the renovation of Travers Park and Staunton Field. It is not acceptable that 78th Street remain open for the private use of the car dealership on Northern Boulevard. This is an issue of great concern to the neighborhood and the solution is obvious. Do not prioritize the desires of this private business over the needs of the community and Vision Zero!
As a resident and voter in Jackson Heights Queens, I am writing to protest the decision to allow a car dealership, Koeppel Mazda, to use a portion of 78 Street as a private driveway, instead of allowing the entire street to be used as part of Travers Park. I am asking the City administration to keep its promise to close 78th Street completely to cars instead.
This breaks a commitment from the NYC Department of Transportation, is an egregious misuse of tax dollars, and creates a dangerous situation in which cars and park-goers will be in open conflict.
Koeppel Mazda’s new service entrance falls within the redesigned park’s boundaries and will endanger this vitally important community plan to expand open space, combat climate change, and protect the park-goers from conflicts with dangerous motor vehicles.
Jackson Heights already suffers from having the least amount of open space per capita in New York City as well as a high rate of pedestrian fatalities, in particular on Northern Boulevard. For the past ten years, the community been working closely with Council Member Dromm to permanently close 78th Street between Northern Blvd and 34th Avenue to all vehicular traffic to facilitate expanding Travers Park.
I urge you to keep your promise to all the residents of Jackson Heights and preserve 78 Street fully as part of Travers Park, and not allow Koeppel to use any part of 78 Street for its private use.
*Submitted via Accessible Feedback Form
A survey of the Q66 route is essential now. It is never on schedule and could be improved by dedicated bus lane.
The road is extremely wide, and there is no way for pedestrians to know that eastbound traffic has a turn lane and signal. Often pedestrians cross before they have the walk sign, but are at huge risk from turning vehicles.
Red Light Running
Cars are too eager to get on GCP and run reds and speed. This is a school zone- PS. 330, 143, and soon a middle school on DEADLY Astoria Blvd- onramp to highway!!!
Conflicting Turns
Cars block the box going westbound & cars/bus can't turn left creating enormous amount of traffic. Dangerous for pedestrians crossing as well.
Average : (Votes: )
Long Distance to Cross
Road median needed here long crossing distance
I'm particularly interested in an eastbound bike lane from 31st st. to Woodside Ave. My morning commute is on Skillman (which is great) but for my evening commute (in the dark), only making right turns is safer so I take Northern Blvd (usually to 42nd Pl)... to make my way to Woodside Ave and 56th st.
Northern needs dedicated bus lanes along its full length and full-time SBS if not a proper center-lane BRT. The rush hour traffic is largely made up of vehicles that should be on the LIE or GCP but are instead seeking out the free bridge crossing to Manhattan (please pass congestion pricing!). The cars should not be there in that volume so focus on providing fast convenient bus transportation.
Not ADA Accessible
Another poor curb ramp for wheelchairs, walkers, strollers, and other mobility assistants.
This is the most egregious example, but these curb ramps are just not accessible. I'm not an engineer so I don't know the standards, but these have to be fixed.
Not Enough Time to Cross
Traffic coming off of 39th St here is super quick. As a cyclist, I feel much safer on the sidewalks than on the road.
Heading out to eastern stretches of Astoria, Woodside, and Jackson Heights starts here for virtually all modes. Would love to see a right of way built for all modes modelled after the improvements on Queens Blvd.
Connect Northern Blvd to the bike lane bridge at 34th Av
Difficult intersection for people walking
If Northern is getting bike lanes, add them to 33rd Street as well since this is a preferred northbound connection for cyclist.
I frequently walk and run up and down Northern Blvd. I have been witness to several close calls (and almost been hit myself) when trying to cross Northern or Steinway at this intersection. Drivers simply don't stop or slow down and they're often coming one after another and it's easy for a pedestrian to get caught in between.
long crosswalks at 36 St. A median and perpendicular crosswalks would help.
Bus Stop Needed
bus stop is at 34 St, but subway entrance is at 35 St
No Crosswalk
no crosswalk on east leg on intersection with 35 St
high speeds near subway station exit
Too Many Placards
Police abuse of the law. They bottleneck the road by taking a westbound travel lane for parking and park on the sidewalk.
Drivers making this turn from Northern Boulevard onto 38th Avenue do not slow down. It is a dangerous intersection to cross as a pedestrian.
Close this slip lane. Drivers making a right from Northern Boulevard do not slow down, do not yield, blind turn for pedestrians.
Drivers heading from Broadway to Northern Boulevard consistently do not stop at the red light, or try to make the turn from the straight lane. No NYPD enforcement.
Get rid of this slip lane. Vehicles speed through it and fail to yield.
Sidewalk Parking by the KIA dealership, blocking wheelchair route. Unlicensed vehicles parked on the street. No NYPD enforcement.
Sidewalk Parking by the dealership, blocking wheelchair route. Unlicensed vehicles parked on the street. No NYPD enforcement.
Northern Boulevard and all other major thoroughfares need bike lanes. Unfortunately, protected lanes don't protect at intersections, and installing them often is blocked by communities concerned about losing parking spots. NYC should start putting bike lanes on elevated viaducts running above the street. This would have many advantages. It would avoid conflicts with pedestrians and motor vehicles. It would allow cyclists to travel non-stop (cycling legally in NYC, stopping for every red light, can easily more than double travel time for cyclists, as well as result in leg strain and cramps). It would make cycling much safer. It would provide a smooth road surface free of potholes. It would also avoid the complaints about losing parking spots or traffic lanes.
I think Northern and Queens Boulevards would be two great places to try bike lanes on elevated viaducts. These lanes could directly connect to the bike path on the Queensboro Bridge, potentially giving cyclists a non-stop run from Manhattan deep into Queens. If the idea works out, eventually NYC could have a trunk network of these lanes along major arterials and highways throughout the five boroughs, providing residents with bike rapid transit.
Average :2.3 (Votes: 10 )
Blocking the Box
This intersection is dangerous for pedestrians and drivers. Trucks and cars often block the box and also the walking/pedestrian signs. In addition, the intersection does not take into account the long-standing traffic related to construction here. The construction here will take years to complete so the roads need to accommodate this work. I've seen a fist fight take place here between drivers and have almost been hit by vehicles a few times as I work right here.
Northern Blvd. is terrible from start to finish. We need a road diet and complete street the entire way. I know the point of this project is western queens, but please note that the problems only get work going east and not to forget about the rest of the street. In this area in particular we should have slow down drivers so that people feel more welcome coming into the park (and traveling further east).
Inadequate Lighting
The gloomy, overwhelming, dark, noisy MTA structure makes this part of the street more alienating and frightening, and I am convinced it makes drivers more aggressive. The structure should be sandblasted and painted a paler color, with diffuse, golden lighting spread throughout the structure, rather than relying on a few glaring orange mercury vapor lamps. Sidewalks should be wider, as the columns for the MTA structure occupy much of the current sidewalks. New construction around the street should be built with sound-attenuating surfaces.
All along Northern, there is a "no stopping" zone from 7 am to 10 am. Yet at many locations, including this one, shops use the curbside lane during those hours. This shows that we don't actually need 3 mixed-traffic lanes, and have quite a bit of pavement that could be re-dedicated to tree allees or protected bike lanes. Here, the car dealership uses the curb lane to illegally store vehicles that don't have license plates.
Car dealership leaves cars for sale on sidewalk. These dealers have been warned for years. Since there's no legal way to just ban that land use in that location, why not install physical barriers on the sidewalk so this can't happen?
The way this gas station has designed its operations, a big cistern truck has to park on the sidewalks of both Northern and Newtown, narrowing the sidewalks. They try to leave space for pedestrians, but the space is awkward. Long-term, maybe not the best place for a gas station?
Get rid of the drive-thru. Cars back up onto the sidewalk, and hungry east-bound motorists taking left turns across multiple lanes of traffic are a hazard to all.
This whole block is used for storage of new, for-sale cars, starting well before 10 am. This shows that the no-stopping zone isn't really necessary, and that car showrooms like to take public space for their own benefit.
Approaching this intersection on 48th St is a nightmare. It's a wide open plain that super confusing b/c of the angled streets, The car drivers WILL RUN YOU DOWN, unless you position yourself very self-confidently at the head of the pack at the red light. Please calm this intersection down, with islands, LPIs that work for bicyclists, clear street markings + bumps that prevent car drivers from taking short cuts.
Big pickup trucks parked at Koeppel face the sidewalk, creating a menacing environment. The city needs to ban setbacks on Northern. New showrooms like this one should come up to the sidewalk line, with cars inside — not outside, glaring at passers-by.
All along Northern, there is a "no stopping" zone from 7 am to 10 am. Yet at many locations, including this one, shops use the curbside lane during those hours. This shows that we don't actually need 3 mixed-traffic lanes, and have quite a bit of pavement that could be re-dedicated to tree allees or protected bike lanes. Here, shoppers stop for the deli.
The block from 60th-61st (like many others) is dominated by auto-oriented businesses. They abuse the sidewalk by leaving cars parked on it, reducing pedestrian space and indicating to other motorists that this isn't a city of walkers and residents but a place for machines, like a suburban strip. I don't think increased enforcement is the answer; rather we need to get rid of most of the curb cuts and have vehicle-oriented businesses either move or reorient their entrances toward the side streets. To those who ask how these businesses can survive without facing Northern, I suggest that a developer could build a multi-story building for many of these businesses, with a single entrance, rather than having everyone pull in straight off the street. That's just one idea and I'm sure there are others.
This isn't an onramp, it's part of a city street. But it is striped to look and feel like an onramp, getting people prepared to go 60+mph. The part that is on Northern should be narrowed to 9 feet, like old parkway ramps. There should be a green-painted bike lane to the left of it. The giant overhead directional signs should be much smaller, again causing people to slow down. The stripes separating lanes should be shorter and closer together, again indicating a slow-speed zone. The big curved ramp should be replaced by an 80 or 90-degree right turn, and the corner should be developed with a building so as to maintain a sense of urbanity rather than the ugly, wide-open strip-mall environment that makes people forget that they are in NYC and should be driving slow.
When drivers arrive from an expressway, they should have every possible cue that they are going onto a city street, rather than a suburban arterial or another highway. This intersection should be a normal 90-degree corner, rather than a curved merge. That way every driver will have to slow down just to get on the street, giving people a chance to slow their brains from 60mph being "slow" to 25 mph being "fast."
All along Northern, there is a "no stopping" zone from 7 am to 10 am. Yet at many locations, including this one, shops use the curbside lane during those hours. This shows that we don't actually need 3 mixed-traffic lanes, and have quite a bit of pavement that could be re-dedicated to tree allees or protected bike lanes. Here at 69th, the convenience store's bread trucks use the curb.
All along Northern, there is a "no stopping" zone from 7 am to 10 am. Yet at many locations, including this one, shops use the curbside lane during those hours. This shows that we don't actually need 3 mixed-traffic lanes, and have quite a bit of pavement that could be re-dedicated to tree allees or protected bike lanes. Here, CVS uses the curb for big-rigs to stock the store.
With a new school in the works containing perhaps 6000 students, this intersection is going to become very dangerous, especially in the winter mornings. Something must be done to restructure this intersection so that children can cross it safely during the dusky morning hours or when the rising and setting sun are in driver's eyes.
All of Northern Blvd. should have dedicated Bus lanes closest to the sidewalks and then another 3 feet of dedicated Bike lane and then concrete barriers and two lanes of traffic in both directions. Inner travel lane should become left turn preferred with flashing yellow turn arrows on traffic signals.
This is a dangerous crossing for students of the Baccalaureate School for Global Education. The closest subway entrance for students Queensbound students is across Northern eastward (of the two entrances) and they don't bother to go all the way to the only crosswalk west of the intersection. Additionally, because this is a 45 degree intersection, cars go too fast on and off Northern Blvd to and from 38th Ave. This is a place where a traffic island and a crosswalk should be added to the east side of the intersection across Northern blvd.
This turn from Northern to 37th Ave. (and others like it with a 45 degree entrance) are very dangerous as cars are able to go too fast while making the turn off Northern Blvd. The access to 37th Ave should become a 90 degree angle to slow cars down and remind them that it is also a crosswalk.
Traffic Enforcement Officers in an effort to move traffic along have drivers proceed through the red lights every day and drivers are habituated to this, honking at cars in front of them at the red light when there are no officers present. Cars routinely go through the red light on their frantic rush to get to Manhattan and I observe it every day. This is one of the most dangerous intersections to cross as a pedestrian on all of Northern Blvd.
Cars in all directions routinely block the box here, slowing traffic and making it dangerous for pedestrians. I'd like to see the city paint a "do not block the grid box" and ticket people for blocking the grid here.
Cars on Northern routinely block the box making it extremely dangerous for pedestrians as vehicles end up running the light. I'd like to see the city paint a "do not block the grid box" and ticket people for blocking the grid here.
Cars on Northern routinely block the box making it dangerous for pedestrians and often impossible for cars on 40th Road to make it through. I'd like to see the city paint a "do not block the grid box" and ticket people for blocking the grid here.
Cars run the light here all the time. Pedestrians and bikers have been hit here. I cross it twice daily by bike for my commute and witness cars run it every day.
I'd like to see:
A camera installed here to catch/ticket people running the light and have officers placed here routinely to ticket people.
Instruct traffic officers to NEVER flag drivers through the red light even if it means slowing traffic a little (50% of the time they flag drivers into pedestrians because there are too many places they need to look and they just don't see them. Also it trains drivers to run the light).
When new traffic officers are trained at this intersection instruct them to give priority to pedestrian safety rather than traffic flow and again teach them to NEVER flag drivers through a red light here (training days are particularly dangerous at this intersection).
Add a pedestrian crossing (white lines) to the corner going from the clocktower building to the other side of Northern so that the intersection has two clear places to cross Northern and so pedestrians are less likely to be hit by the traffic making the left-hand turn from Northern onto 41st Ave towards Queens Plaza North.
Add bigger, brighter traffic lights that can be seen earlier.
Bus Blocked From Curb
This bus lane is chronically blocked at least three to four days a week with cars making it difficult to take bus.
This is nearly at the top of a hill. There are turn lanes, but the LPI is confusing and many pedestrians don't wait for a walk sign. Drivers have a turn light, which pedestrians don't know about, and when they come at high speeds, it will cause a crash with a pedestrian.
Vehicles, including oversized trucks go speeds about 35 at all hours as they head to GCP. This must be calmed.
A bike lane to the Queens borough Bridge from here seems feasible. It could go in center lane. Many riders use Northern. Better yet would be bike lane from intersection with Broadway, especially since a high school is heading to Northern/Broadway
Need to reduce private cars. Needs road diet and protected bike lanes on each side or a two way on one side. Buses and bikes should have priority on the entire length of Northern Blvd.
Northern needs a full redesign with a road diet and a bike lane.
I couldn't drop the pin right. But I'd like to request a full protected bike lane on Northern Boulevard. It's very scary to bike and walk there, and we need to do something to make it safer.
FOR THE WHOLE LENGTH: This is a major direct route between Northeast Queens and Queens Plaza. It should be accessible to all users, not just drivers. Bikes, pedestrians and buses should be given priority. A protected bike lane in combination with a protected SBS bus lane would be ideal.
This is one of the most major bike/ped access points to the Flushing Bay Waterfront, CitiField and Flushing Meadows Corona Park. It is also the end of one of the major east west bike routes in the borough. Crossing this highway offramp is an absolute game of chance. No driver coming off that highway would expect to see human beings crossing there, and can't see them until they are bearing down on that crossing at 60mph. The end of this route into the park is not in the work zone, but is equally precarious crossing an onramp. And in between, a terribly waste area of illegal dumping and creepy hanging out in the shrubs. We desperately need better access to this park and waterfront for people who are not coming in cars. Also, this is one of the ONLY ways through to and from Flushing. If Cuomo gets his Airtrain to nowhere that stands to de-map human access to all of this space as well. And if the city does allow someone to build a mall there...just imagine all the workers crossing this to their part time minimum wage jobs with no health care benefits. But I digress.
This intersection is atrocious. Riding a bike northwest if you position yourself on the right side of the road on the northeast corner when the light changes you are in conflict with drivers going right on Northern and making the slight right on 54th. Drivers heading to 54th are unclear if they need a right turn signal or not. Riding southeast at a red light, the light cycle before the green is a left turn south onto Northern for drivers coming from Jackson Heights. Heavy left turn traffic and they do not yield the intersection until drivers going south on Broadway force them to. Making any cyclist play chicken with those drivers while also watching out for people turning right on Northern from their left. Many cyclists jump that light because they feel safer going against the light than with it. Pedestrians are also in the cross hairs here, with those left turn drivers blocking through traffic when they realize pedestrians have the right of way. Drivers heading towards Queens Plaza on Northern can't tell exactly where the stop line is and often come to a stop where they are basically in the intersection. Broadway is a major cycling route between Eastern Queens and Astoria. - ps - I must vehemently disagree with the other posters call for pedestrian overpasses/underpasses. No one wants to use them, they are dangerous spaces for people walking alone, and if we do that instead of making the street level reflect the residential community around it, we will have failed twice over when pedestrians cross at the street level anyway, at great expense both in the immediate and long term to maintain.
Making the turn from 48th to 34th on a bicycle is super scary. Here we are avoiding Northern to be safer, but even just crossing it is worrying it. To make that left most cyclists would attempt to cross the through traffic going north and south to get to 34th. Maybe some kind of j-turn refuge on the north east corner of the intersection where cyclists can safely wait for the light to change would encourage people to use that method instead. Also, on the south west corner there is a deep angry storm drain in the exact spot where a cyclist would either wait at the light, or need to make the turn south onto 48th. when the light is red you can navigate around the stopped car, so long as your timing isn't off with the light going green at the wrong moment. When traffic is moving you have to worry about getting clipped while avoiding the drain.
The 39th Street bridge is a useful connection when going to the Astoria Movie Theater and all the other attractions in that immediate area. But cycling infrastructure does not cross the intersection and it is very wide. Crossing north onto Steinway puts cyclists in conflict with right turns from behind and left turns from ahead and the angle of the street means you also have to be worried about getting clipped by through traffic close passing. A bike lane IN the intersection and onto Steinway would be helpful.
This stretch is incredibly dark and, in spite of the subway entrance feels extremely unfriendly to pedestrians. Drivers won't expect them here and as a woman traveling alone I am always very nervous entering and exiting there even though there may not be undue cause to fear an assault. It just feels so ugly and abandoned. Especially since the road space in that section is so hostile, limiting ancillary pedestrian and cyclist traffic which would add to a sense of greater security.
The Honeywell Bridge is an important crossing over the yards. This one way street forces cyclists out of the way down to Queens Plaza and all it's additional conflict points. A two-way bike route connecting Astoria to Sunnyside via Honeywell would relieve some pressure on the intersections at Queens Blvd and avoid salmoning cyclists.
People drive very aggressively and speed often on Northern. This location is only the most recent location I saw speeding/aggressive driving.
Mid-block jaywalking is a problem throughout the corridor. As a driver, I find it harrowing to drive here at night, especially when dark-clad pedestrians pop cross in front of my mid-block. Northern Boulevard should have a planted, raised median to calm traffic and discourage mid-block crossings like Broadway on the UWS or Park Ave. on the UES. Or at least a raised median with gaps that can serve as pedestrian refuges, like on Park Ave. South.
Narrow street with curb extensions - school
Narrow street with curb extensions - school 1 block away
Narrow street with curb extensions.
Drivers are very aggressive here. The city needs a plan for calming traffic here (and maintaining safe access to the Flushing Bay Promenade) before and after the AirTrain is built nearby.
Red Light running! This light tends not to be timed in sequence with the others, so drivers try to run this light.
Safer crossings needed here, especially if city plans to build a new school at Sports Authority site.
Safer crossings needed here, especially if city plans to build school
Ongoing problems with cars parked on sidewalks here.
Ongoing problems here with cars parking on sidewalks
Very dangerous location with unpredictable vehicle movements. Get rid of suburban strip mall-style parking on this dense urban corridor!
If the IHOP site is redeveloped (as it may soon be), the city should encourage the developers to build a continuous commercial frontage with no parking lot or curb cut.
This is a terrible new development with a block-long curb cut. DCP should rezone the entire length of Northern Blvd. to discourage curb cuts and promote a continuous building frontage with sidewalks that are safe for pedestrians.
Often have to break suddenly here because Northern Blvd WB narrows from three moving lanes to two.
Double Parking
Very big problems with double-parking on this block. Please replace parking with standing zones.
The blocks between 83rd and 85th Streets experience a lot of double-parking, especially near Pio Pio to Go. Parking should be removed and replaced with standing zones.
Cars coming from Newtown are speeding and near miss with those coming from Woodside. It is not safe for pedestrians or cyclists. Where Woodside meets Northern on the south side, there is a split road, with 2 lanes and a shorter crossing. This is still too confusing to pedestrians. There is a lot of foot traffic there for the shopping center.
This is a very wide crossing and must be given some form of road diet. Speed cameras and red light cameras are needed as drivers heading east are gearing up for GCP. Folks can't cross in time, and there are a number of seniors and kids attending programs at Elmcor
Broadway has space allocated for a bike lane from previous projects. This bike lane must be incorporated into the Northern project. The bike lane should continue south all the way to Queens Boulevard. It is a very popular biking route. It will be more popular when the high school is built at the corner of Northern and Broadway.
Protected bus lane
Protected bike lane
Sensor traffic lights
Historical district at least in Jackson Heights
Green space or park every 10 blocks
Small parking lot every 10 blocks
Developers to pay for public transportation
Tree lined
Expand when possible
Possibly one of the worst of all intersections on Northern. Cars make left turns from the right hand lane. Broadway turn time onto Northern is not long enough. The intersection is a confusing patchwork and always has large volumes of pedestrians crossing. Overhead bridges would be nice (for people to cross) or an underground crosswalk. A variety of new signs, special turn lanes, islands, and lights must be installed here, one of the major choke points on Northern.
This is one of several incredibly dangerous intersections on Northern. There are 3 (!) schools on this block, which is filled with trucks, buses, and cars, all trying to outdo the other. Left turns should be completely eliminated in this area, at least during school hours or weekdays. Needs islands, traffic bumps, longer pedestrian walk times, clearer signage, and various other traffic calming measures.
They improved the signage slightly, but I live just off 82nd and Northern. I regularly see cars and city buses turn left from Northern onto 82nd without waiting for the light. I have 2 small children and it is very stressful and scary. Literally last week I watched a Q32 coming on duty make an illegal left turn at that intersection.
Though you use this intersection on the cover page of projects- you are showing the diagonal corners. There is a school, playground and high number of seniors here. The left turn is deadly. A woman was killed at 90th already. Also, look at the parking on the sidewalk. There are a number of shops that put in this parking, and I don't think it's legal. The entire block is sidewalk parking. There is a large daycare at the corner of 88th. A center median must exist at east and west side of this intersection, and the left turn lane must go. Turns must be restricted.
This is about saving the lives of children and pedestrians. Bike lanes would be nice, however must remain a secondary concern. There is not enough space to do it all.
Timed, European-style 4-way pedestrian crossings may be the right way to go. All other times it is "DON'T WALK" in all four directions. Pedestrians to cross on red should be ticketed. Many drivers are safe and obey laws. Many other drivers demonstrate lawlessness at red lights. This is a highly diverse area populated by individuals with differing views on social responsibility.
Plan smart streets, limit speed limit to a strict 25 mph, install speeding and red-light cameras along the route, enforce existing traffic laws (ticket cars, bikes and pedestrians alike), post signs. The street can become safer. People will stop dying when cars are forced to stop speeding, making illegal turns, yield the right of way to pedestrians, and/or pedestrians wait for the light.
There is only one way between Flushing and Corona that can facilitate cyclists - the Northern Blvd bridge. Please consider a Pulaski style facility here - the route between Flushing and Corona cannot be a circuitous route through the bay shared with folks going and coming from CitiField. It needs to be a reliable and fast route to and from work for those of us who commute.
Northern Boulevard is wide, and cars treat it like a highway even though it cuts through many residential neighborhoods and is lined with schools, shops, restaurants, and doctor's offices. A protected bike lane, a green median, and a dedicated bus lane would do a lot to change things for the better. While a protected lane on Northern all the way from Queens Plaza to 114th would be provide an incredibly valuable, uninterrupted link between the RFK Bridge, the Flushing Promenade, and (if the 111th lane is extended) Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, the first priority should be to connect the end of the 34th Ave bike lane—at 60th St, where bikers must navigate a complicated series of turns and traffic to continue eastbound—to the beginning of the protected lane traversing the Sunnyside Yards and leading to the RFK Bridge. Creating a dedicated bus lane and expanding Q66 service would also provide an important, helpful transit link for a lot of residents who are a long hike from the nearest subway stop, especially in East Elmhurst and North Corona. This bus route is great, but moves very, very slowly due to all the congestion.
CLOSE THIS SLIP LANE. I have almost been killed here twice by cars speeding down Northern Boulevard, coming in to sharply take a right turn onto 37th avenue. I see pedestrians running across this portion. Instead, turn this into a pedestrian plaza because there is 0 public space in this area but plenty of office space.
The right car turn onto 31st st does not have signal or stop sign making it dangerous for pedestrians
Northern Boulevard looks like a highway for most of its extension. That appearance works as an incentive for drivers to speed and make it unpleasant and dangerous for humans to walk. From Woodside to 80th street, a number of car dealerships park on the sidewalks. Northern works best on the area from 80th to 85th street. In this section, the sidewalks have a special treatment with trees and red bricks, that make it more pleasant and friendly. The kinds of businesses are also human friendly. This treatment should be extended to the entire street. Northern also needs a green medium throughout, to make it more pleasant, greener, and more human friendly. These visual clues will help drivers understand that they need to slow down. Additionally, the street should have a dedicated bus lane and lanes should be narrowed. Also worth considering a bike lane throughout the street.
Reaching the end of the 34th Ave bike lane, at Northern Blvd., a cyclist who wants to go east on 34th or 37th Aves east of Broadway is supposed to follow a lot of turn signs on a circuitous route to stay away from motor traffic. I regularly wish cyclists had a protected lane on Northern so that they too could take the shortest route to Jackson Heights/Elmhurst/other points east. (Same principle in reverse, of course.)
Average :5 (Votes: 10 )
This comment is regarding to all buses. A BRT-style express bus lane should be considered as part of the solution for Northern Blvd. A BRT lane would help narrow the road and improve mass transit for an entire section of Queens. It would also solve the problem of sluggish bus moving. It could be coupled with a green medium, that would make this place not look and feel like a highway. This is a chance to be bold and do something that not only will make the street safer, but would also help mitigate the mass transit problem for the region. I'm hoping for MORE than that selected bus lane. The idea is BRT, like in Colombia, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro and so many other cities.
Drivers try to beat the light while driving straight between Northern and Jackson. I was hit just outside the marked zone while biking to the bridge from the Sunnyside overpass to the Bridge.
Is there an opportunity to slow and merge bicycling traffic from a protected Northern Blvd lane with Queens Blvd riders crossing the Sunnyside rail yard? The subway entrance poses dangers and I was hit by a driver trying to beat the light while he was driving from Jackson to Northern. The little chunk of street grid that shows on the map (where new development is going in) might be a good place to loop bikers around.
Cars coming off highway speed too munch. We need to transform how the entire Northern blvd looks. Add green, planted mediums so that it doesn't look like a highway. All along!
It would be great to have bike infrastructure here.
This is a busy intersection with a subway station and bus route. Occassionally straphangers cross at the red light to run from the subway exit on the south side of Northern Blvd to the Q18 bus stop on the north side of Northern Blvd.
Long Wait to Cross
In the evenings, there are almost never any drivers turning off of Northern during the left turn phase, but pedestrians are not allowed to cross.
This intersection is also missing some crosswalks.
The area from Honeywell to 46th Street is full of speeding.
At this loading dock I have seen trucks that extend from the dock across the sidewalk and the southernmost lane, forcing pedestrians to brave speeding traffic in the middle of the Boulevard.
There is speeding the whole length of Northern Boulevard, but the area between 49th and 54th Streets is particularly dangerous.
This highway merge intersection is not safe for pedestrians at all.
This section of Queens needs safe, east-west protected bike infrastructure. It could be on Northern Blvd, but I think Northern Blvd would be better off with wider sidewalks, less car lanes, pedestrian islands, LPIs at every corner and any other traffic calming.
34th Avenue would be a great candidate to be turned into a corridor-wide greenway. Make 34 Ave a one way street for motor traffic, and convert the other side of 34th Ave into a two-way bike and pedestrian greenway path. It would help create a beautiful linear park and provide safe passage for those biking and walking from and through Corona, Jackson Heights, Woodside and more.
This relatively quiet side street is a very useful Astoria-Sunnyside connector. There are unused rails that we'd need to fill or bridge.
There are no safe bike alternatives for the section of Northern Blvd west of Woodside Ave.
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On Planet Janet
President Obama yesterday pulled his head out of the sand long enough to promise a thorough review of US se curity practices after the near-suicide bombing of a commercial airliner over Detroit on Christmas Day.
Then he stuck it right back in.
Obama, in a brief address from Hawaii, did manage to utter the “T” word: “A full investigation has been launched into this attempted act of terrorism.” But he refused to define the nature of the threat.
Nor did he fire Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano — a pity, because if any government official ever earned the boot, it’s her.
Sunday, she claimed “the system” she allegedly oversees “worked” on Christmas Day — even though Nigerian jihadist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab brought a bomb aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253 and almost detonated it.
The claim was nonsensical, as she finally noted yesterday — “the system didn’t work” — but not before destroying the credibility she needs to hold the job.
Yet Obama is short on credibility, too. Why can’t he bring himself to describe the threat for what it is: an Islamist holy war against America?
Yesterday, Obama termed Abdulmutallab “an isolated extremist.”
Really? Is that all?
The bomber’s own father warned US officials in October that his son had fallen in with Islamic radicals.
Abdulmutallab himself reportedly told federal officials he trained with al Qaeda in Yemen — and, for what it’s worth, al Qaeda in Yemen confirms that.
And ABC News reported yesterday that two of Abdulmutallab’s Yemeni trainers had been released from Guantanamo Bay to the Saudis in 2007 — and then set free after (no joke) “art therapy rehabilitation.”
Meanwhile, Brian Jenkins of the Rand Corporation reports 12 incidents of Islamist terror either in the United States or involving Americans abroad in 2009, the most in any year since 9/11. (These include the Fort Hood massacre.)
See the trend line?
Obama refuses to.
“Those who would attack our country” is how he described the jihadis — a formulation he used four times in his brief address.
But if the president refuses to define the enemy, how can he expect America to defend against that enemy?
No wonder Napolitano is so confused.
No reasonable person believes that terror screening can ever be foolproof. But Americans need full confidence that their government is addressing the problem as vigorously as possible.
This would require Obama to order two basic changes in anti-terror policy:
* Captured terrorists need to be treated as such — and not as common criminals. Abdulmutallab needs to disappear down a black hole somewhere, and stay there until the war on terror is over. No criminal trials for terrorists.
* Homeland Security needs to quit pretending little old ladies from the heartland pose a security threat and institute an intelligent traveler-profiling policy that targets Middle Eastern males.
Certainly, Abdulmutallab’s attack was instructive: Who knew it was so easy to waltz through security with high explosives stuffed down one’s pants?
But while odds are that some equally imaginative jihadist will someday succeed, a comprehensive, focused anti-terror policy will make that much less likely.
Gen Petraeus' Christmas Message
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Navigating the New Zealand music industry
Introducing Estrella
Published on February 4, 2019 in Industry by John Ferguson
2018 Smokefreerockquest winner Estella Romagnoli has dropped her debut single ‘Break The Silence’.
The 17-year-old singer-songwriter from Nelson – who performs simply as Estrella – was the winner in the solo/duo category and her first record was recorded at Roundhead Studios with producer Rodney Fisher.
New recording, reissues from Tiki Taane and Salmonella Dub
Tiki Taane and Salmonella Dub – who both have new albums set for release next year – have teamed up
Debut EP from Written By Wolves
Auckland hard rockers Written By Wolves have just dropped their debut EP Prologue, along with their latest single ‘Promise Me’. The
Daffodils to flower with Kartel
Teenage popsters Daffodils have signed with UK based artist services company Kartel Music Group. The announcement coincides with the release
NZMM t-shirt contest
The hunt is on again for a unique piece of artwork to grace a limited edition NZ Music Month t-shirt.
Following on from last year’s successful competition, the NZ Music Commission is calling on creative’s to submit designs for this year’s shirts.
The commission is looking for designers to come up with an image that best represents local music, which will then be printed on the back of a limited edition version of the music month shirts.
New PwC data on music industry
The New Zealand music industry contributes $639 million to the economy – but homegrown content still only makes up just
Industry intern scheme returns
Twelve young music industry aspirants will get the chance to kickstart their career next with the return of the NZ
Latest Outward Sound recipients
The penultimate round of the 2018 Outward Sound funding programme has seen grants to a diverse selection of New Zealand
Kiwis make The Great Escape
Published on January 30, 2019 in Industry by John Ferguson
Four New Zealand acts have been confirmed for this year’s The Great Escape.
The UK festival – which attracts more than 3500 music professionals– runs from May 8-11 in Brighton and is an important showcase event for NZ artists.
Merry Christmas from The Beths
Festive singles are somewhat out of fashion these days, but The Beths have resurrected the form with a cover of
Levi’s Music Prize extended to New Zealand artists
Kiwi artists will now be eligible for Australia’s Levi’s Music Prize, which provides financial support for acts looking to take
Trans-Tasman Nostalgia Fest
TrinityRoots leads the first ever trans-Tasman line-up for next year’s Nostalgia Festival in Christchurch. Sponsored this time by Cassels &
Folk Tui for Burkitt
The Frank Burkitt Band has won this year’s Best Folk Artist Tui.
The Scottish-born singer-songwriter’s four piece was honoured at the Auckland Folk Festival for their third album Raconteur, which was released back in March last year.
The Frank Burkitt Band – Burkitt, Kara Filbey, Cameron Burnell and James Geluk – is now gearing up for the release of a live EP Lost But Alive, which is set to be supported with shows in New Zealand, Glasgow and the UK.
Albi signs Second Hand deal
Albi and The Wolves have become the second signing to new folk label Second Hand Records. The trio, which earlier
Indie Focus: Second Hand Records
“Folk is a community not a genre,” maintains Finn McLennan-Elliott. And he wants to foster a similar collaborative spirit on
New look for NZ Music Awards
Honouring the past, celebrating the present and looking forward to the future – those are the key themes for this
A salute to Al Park
Marlon Williams, Jordan Luck and Delaney Davidson are among those paying tribute to Christchurch music identity Al Park out next month.
Better Already – The Songs Of Al Park is released on February 15 via ALP Records/Southbound and is affectionate tribute to Park, who has been a fixture on the Lyttleton music scene since the ‘80s.
This album features songs Park has written over the years and as well as Luck, Williams and Davidson, it features contributions from the likes of Barry Saunders, The Eastern’s Adam McGrath and Helen Mulholland, who performed with Park in Louie and the Hotsticks in the 1980s.
Six60 win big at NZ music awards
Chart-toppers Six60 were the big winners at this year’s Vodafone NZ Music Awards, although international breakout artists Marlon Williams and
Marlon Williams wins top prize at Silver Scrolls
Marlon Williams is this year’s winner of the APRA Silver Scroll for his song ‘Nobody Gets What They Want Anymore’.
Barry Saunders: behind the wheel with The Warratahs
“We come in and out of orbit,” reflects Barry Saunders, frontman of The Warratahs, who this year celebrate their 30th
Copyright review workshops
Places are still available for a series of public workshops being held by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Enterprise for the upcoming review of the Copyright Act.
One of the Auckland events is now fully subscribed but a second workshop is still open, as are the ones in Wellington and Christchurch.
Industry welcomes Issues Paper
Industry organisations have cautiously welcomed the release of the Issues Paper for the review of the Copyright Act. Although the
Government review rules out copyright term extension
The Government’s review of copyright legislation looks as if it will not address one of the music industry’s key priorities:
Lawrence Arabia completes Singles Club
Lawrence Arabia has completed his innovative new album Singles Club with the final song ‘Just Sleep (Your Shame Will Keep)’ boasting a collaboration with cult US composer Van Dyke Parks.
For his new long player, the singer-songwriter James Milne released a song a month over a 12 month period. All 12 singles are now available digitally, with the vinyl/CD release set for March 29, followed by an extensive nationwide tour with his six piece band.
The final song on the Singles Club project ‘Just Sleep (Your Shame Will Keep)’ is backed with a new video shot at Roundhead by acclaimed NZ documentary filmmaker Florian Habicht and features a string arrangement from Parks, who is best known for his work on the seminal aborted Beach Boys album Smile.
Live dates for reconvened Fabulous/Arabia
Lawence Arabia and Mike Fabulous – aka Lord Echo – are dipping their toes back into the water with their
Nihilist: Liam Finn interview
Liam Finn kind of misses being in a band. Like his friends James Milne – AKA Lawrence Arabia – and
Lawrence Arabia interview
On the face of it, the “difficult second album” syndrome wasn’t really an issue for Lawrence Arabia – AKA James
Broods are back
Broods will return to New Zealand for two shows in March to support the release of their third album Don’t Feed The Pop Monster.
The Los Angeles based electronic pop duo of siblings Georgia and Caleb Nott will play all age shows at Christchurch Town Hall on March 22 and the Auckland Town Hall on March 24.
Broods premiere Peaches video
Broods have shared a video for ‘Peaches’, the first single from the as-yet-untitled third album. Directed by fellow Kiwi Sam
Broods: Evergreen Pop
New Zealand’s latest pop sensations Broods have just released their debut album Evergreen – and siblings Caleb and Georgia Nott
Songhub 2019 takes shape
Hitmakers from the UK and the US will host the first Songhub of the year in Auckland.
Applications are now open for the APRA AMCOS initiative which is in its third year and will be held once again at Roundhead Studio March 4-9
Curated by leading producer Greg Haver, the three international guest songwriters are London-based Justin Parker (pictured) and three US songwriters from LA – Ilsey Juber, Nate Campany and Maize Olinger.
Art Music Fund now open
Applications are now open for the APRA AMCOS Art Music Fund, which offers A$100,000 worth of funding to creating new commissioned
Auckland outlines UNESCO City Of Music vision
Bolstering Auckland music ecosystem – including grassroots venues – are among the key goals identified in the vision for Auckland’s
Album deal for City of Souls
Prog rockers City Of Souls have signed a deal with Australian label Wild Things Records.
The six-piece Auckland bred outfit – who also recently struck a management deal with Tom Larkin at VVV Management –have also just released a new single ‘Wolf’, which provides a first taste of their highly anticipated debut album due later this year.
Eli Chamravi, head of Wild Thing Records. is delighted about signing City Of Souls to the label.
Devilskin dates for NZ and Europe
Devilskin are to embark on a major European tour– and will warm up for it with New Zealand dates in
Niel de Jong: meet the man behind Alien Weaponry
From playing in bands in the 80s and early 90s to studio work and mentoring, Niel de Jong is no
June debut for Alien Weaponry
Te reo metal mavens Alien Weaponry have dropped a new video and shared some more details about their upcoming debut
The Adults: Haja
Hamish Kilgour: Finkelstein
Holly Arrowsmith: A Dawn I Remember
Boycrush: Desperate Late Night Energy
Mali Mali: Azimuth
Tami Neilson: Sassafrass!
Katchafire: Legacy
Matthew Young: Fruit EP
Wax Chattels: Wax Chattels
Sons Of Zion: Vantage Point
All articles ©NZ Music Business
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Jason Church, MD
Meet Dr.Church
Home Providers Jason Church, MD
1100 West 2700 North Pleasant View, UT 84404
Pediatrics Other Providers
Board Certified by the American Board of Pediatrics
Pediatric Advanced Life Support
Neonatal Resuscitation Program
Medical College of Georgia
M.D., 2003
B.S., 1999
Ogden Clinic - Pediatrician
Exodus Healthcare Network
West Valley City, UT – 2007 to 2007
Raised in rural northern Georgia, Jason is the sixth of eight children. He graduated from Brigham Young University in 1999 with a B.S. in Human Development. Jason attended the Medical College of Georgia and graduated with an M.D. in 2003. After medical school, he was trained in Pediatrics at The Ohio State University and Columbus Children’s Hospital. Dr. Church is currently a Pediatrician at Ogden Clinic and has certifications in Pediatric Advanced Life Support, Basic Life Support, Advanced Cardiac Life Support and Neonatal Resuscitation.
Jason met his wife, Nancy, while attending BYU. They have four children: Lauren, Nathan, Luke, and Grayden. Jason is an avid college football fan and enjoys spending time with family, golfing, playing softball, wakeboarding and snowboarding.
Dr. Jason Church in the Media
Educating Parents from Toddler to Teen Years | Dr. Jason Church
Pediatrician Jason Church describes himself as an expert consultant for parents because he strives to educate them about their options reach choices they feel comfortable with. Dr. Church also talks about how he can treat urgent conditions like pediatric broken bones and fractures without referring his patients to an orthopedist.
Virus Watch in Utah – Good Morning Utah with Dr. Jason Church
See what Dr. Jason Church had to say on Good Morning Utah - Channel 4 about the virus watch in Utah.
Back to School Health – Good Morning Utah with Pediatrician Dr. Jason Church
See what Dr. Jason Church had to share on Good Morning Utah on Channel 4 about back to school health tips.
Flu Season – Good Morning Utah with Dr. Jason Church
Flu Season is hitting hard in Utah. Several Deaths have been reported that were related to the flu virus. See what Dr. Jason Church had to share on Good Morning Utah on Channel 4 about this year's flu strain, how you can best avoid it, and what do do if you catch it.
The Flu – ABC 4 News Mid-day with Dr. Jason Church
Flu season is here! Watch what Dr. Jason Church had to share on ABC 4 News Mid-day show on channel 4 about this year's Influenza season in Utah and how you can best avoid catching this virus.
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Italy Study Abroad Program
International English Honors Society
UWG Chapter: PI OMICRON
Chapter President: Paisley Burklow
Faculty Advisors:
Dr. Matt Franks
Dr. Leah Haught
Dr. Laura Miller
What is Sigma Tau Delta?
Sigma Tau Delta is an international honor society for English majors and minors. The society seeks to recognize students who excel in their literary studies and serves both to applaud what students have achieved and enrich their experience of literary study through local and national events.
What does Sigma Tau Delta do?
The West Georgia Chapter of Sigma Tau Delta sponsors a number of activities each year. Specific events depend on the interests of the current membership but in the past have included theater trips, a literary costume party at Halloween, a spring party, informal gatherings at local restaurants, student research colloquia, career discussions and much more. These activities are only a starting point: marathon readings, literary film nights, literary debates...it all depends on what students think would make their time as English majors more interesting and rewarding.
How can I join Sigma Tau Delta?
Prospective members must be English majors or minors or graduate students who have completed two English courses beyond English 1101/1102, have a minimum B average in their English classes and have completed at least three semesters of college study.
Membership application forms are available in the English Department Office, TLC 2255. Applications should be accompanied by a check for $40 (your lifetime membership fee), made out to Dr. Matt Franks.
Do I need to be a member to attend activities?
No! Members help plan and organize activities, but everyone is welcome to attend events.
What are some of the benefits of becoming a member of the society?
The national organization sponsors a conference, you can submit your creative work to The Sigma Tau Delta Rectangle or critical writing to The Sigma Tau Delta Review. Members are also eligible for scholarships through the national organization, and all members receive the national newsletter, letting you know what's going on in literary studies around the country. The national website for the organization is here: http://www.english.org/sigmatd/.
How can I suggest activities or get more information?
Have you got an idea for a Sigma Tau Delta event? Do you have questions about joining Sigma Tau Delta or participating in an activity? Contact one of the faculty advisors in the English Department with any thoughts, questions, or ideas about the chapter at West Georgia.
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Story by Maria Appollis
Story of Oukloof
Forced Removal
Dutch Reformed Mission Church
Esterhof Today
Oukloof Map
Esterhof Map
The Daffnee Family
The Kriel Family
The Ceaser Family
The Lameyer Family
The Joubert Family
The De Bruin Family
The Manuel Family
The Junies Family
The Koopman Family
The Van Der Merwe Family
Esterhof Days
District Six Museum
Heritage Association of South Africa
Wife: Gertruida Junies (nee Goedeman)
Husband Adam Junies
Had 8 children: Gertruida - deceased
Sophie - living Belhar
*Alletta - living (Riebeek)
*Adam - living (Riebeek)
Elizabeth - deceased
David - deceased
Kristina - living (Riebeek)
Henry - deceased (died 3 years after moving to Esterhof in a train accident on the railway line)
Maternal grandfather David Goedeman - plot 60 - lived to nearly 100
Maternal grandmother Truida Goedeman
Alletta was 21 years old when her family was removed from Oukloof
Extract from Alletta van Neel’s interview:
We lived in the white area of Oukloof in Van Riebeeck Street. My family were staunch Christians so every Sunday we were in the church and in the Sunday school. My father farmed with sheep and we had our own fruit trees in our yard. Every year we paid £1,10 in tax for the house. Our house had four rooms with two bedrooms, a lounge and a kitchen. We had a tap on our grounds just outside the kitchen door.
We had a big yard that we used for farming. Hennie Dippenaar had a small piece of land next to his shop and sometimes he allowed my father to move our sheep onto his land for grazing. We were able to care for ourselves. We lived from the garden with our vegetables. We got most of our meat from the animals that we slaughtered. The only things we had to buy was sausage and mince that we bought from butcher and stuff like coffee, flour, rice, sugar, candles and oil which we bought at the shop.
Some people had cows and people would buy milk from them because there was no place to get milk in the town. We made butter using the old buckets with a plank which we used to churn and whip the milk until it became butter. As children we always helped my mother make the butter.
If we had excess of eggs we could exchange it at Dippenaar’s shop for groceries. Most of the stuff was bought like that. When we moved here, we had to leave everything behind. Then we had to buy everything.
We had an oak tree in our yard that I used to climb and shout towards the mountain so that I could hear the echo.
I went to school in the mission church. We had a principal, a deputy principal, two white female teachers and two white male teachers. We learned a lot of stuff. From that school there are children that went on to college if the family could afford it.
The classes were grouped into two standards per class. Children in sub A and sub B were together. Standard 1 and standard 2 were together. Standard 3 and standard 4 were together and standard 5 was alone. The school just went to standard 5.
At the beginning the white people didn’t worry much with us. We did our own thing. Then later on they said we were making too much noise, but that wasn’t true. We lived right next to the white area and on a Sunday everything was quiet. Over the weekends, in the evening then there were functions but there was a time when they knew they had to stop.
Everybody was talking amongst each other that we were going to be put out. Nobody could stand up. In those days we had to jump when the white people talked. There was nothing we could do to oppose it. We had to take whatever they offered us and be happy.
My ouma used to cry while she was packing up. She cried a lot because that was their life. My oupa worked on the roads. This Boesmanskloof pass that exists today now was built with a pickaxe. He worked on this pass in his younger years.
We moved all of our house stuff with a tractor and a trailer. The farmers lent their tractors and trailers to help move the coloured people. They were even eager to help us move, for free. Just so that we could get out of there.
People in the Oukloof had big black wood burning stoves where we made a fire on the one side and baked our breads on the other side. We had to leave it behind. Here they installed other small stoves that didn’t really heat the house during winter.
In those days the shops were very reliant on the coloured people because it was the coloured people who supported them most of the time. The coloured people didn’t have transport to travel to other towns for shopping like the white people. We could only do our shopping in the town. By most of the shops in the town there was only one entrance. It was just the Basson’s shop that had two doors, one for white and one for coloured people. There was some stuff that wasn’t sold on the coloured side. After a while the coloured people started enterentering through the white door to buy the stuff they needed. Aunt Lily (Lydia van der Merwe) worked at the Basson’s shop and she often raised the issue that our money was good enough for them but we had to enter through a separate doors. She made them understand it was not right and after a while they changed because the white people didn’t really support them.
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Thesis - Doctoral
Epigenetic Programming and In Vitro Fertilisation
Oliver, Verity Frances
Oliver_PhDFinalThesis.pdf (70.30Mb)
Cite this item: Oliver, V. F. (2010, April 8). Epigenetic Programming and In Vitro Fertilisation (Thesis, Doctor of Philosophy). University of Otago. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10523/326
Permanent link to OUR Archive version: http://hdl.handle.net/10523/326
In vitro fertilisation (IVF) potentially provides a profoundly abnormal environment for an embryo. Studies with mice, sheep and cattle have indicated that the culture environment of the embryo can affect the imprinting of genes and the phenotype of the animal. Recent studies have suggested that IVF causes a small but increased risk of epigenetic imprinting aberrations such as Angelman syndrome and Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome. Our previously published IVF cohort is taller, has higher levels of growth hormones and a better lipid profile than age-matched controls. Mosaicism for the imprinting defect at SNRPN has been observed in Angelman syndrome. We hypothesised that mosaic imprinting defects may be present in phenotypically normal individuals conceived using IVF.
DNA samples from peripheral blood were obtained from 66 IVF-conceived children and 69 matched controls. DNA methylation of CpG sites within the Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome region (H19, KCNQ1OT1 and IGF2) and the Angelman syndrome region (SNRPN) were quantified using methylation-sensitive restriction digest followed by real-time quantitative PCR (MSQ-PCR). Global DNA methylation was also examined by using MSQ-PCR on Satellite 2 repeats. No differences in the percentage of methylation between the IVF and naturally conceived children were observed at H19 (P = 0.75; unpaired t-test), KCNQ1OT1 (P = 0.98), SNRPN (P = 0.33), IGF2 (P = 0.44) or Satellite 2 (P = 0.79). These results were confirmed using bisulfite sequencing.
An individual with Prader-Willi syndrome was identified during the recruitment of this cohort. Five Prader-Willi syndrome cases have previously been identified in the IVF population. The underlying cause of Prader-Willi syndrome was identified to be a deletion of the chromosome 15q11-q13 region. This case did not provide evidence that aberrant methylation can occur during IVF.
Pyrosequencing technology was used to measure the methylation at multiple CpG sites within H19. No methylation defects were identified at H19 in the IVF group compared to naturally conceived controls. This technology proved to be prone to inaccuracies and was not used for subsequent analyses.
Genome-wide methylation analysis was examined using microarray technology and methylated DNA immunoprecipitation (MeDIP). Thirteen candidate differentially methylated genes between the IVF-conceived and control children were identified. Detailed examination of candidate genes using the Sequenom MassARRAY® EpiTYPER® system did not reveal any differential methylation at these genes assessed in the IVF and naturally conceived children. Although anthropomorphic and endocrinological data suggested a phenotypic difference between IVF and naturally conceived children, no differentially methylated genes were identified that could account for these differences.
We concluded that low-level imprinting errors are not a common occurrence in children conceived using IVF. Our data also provides reassurance that IVF-associated epigenetic errors are sporadic and rare.
Advisor: Morison, Ian; Reeve, Anthony
Degree Name: Doctor of Philosophy
Degree Discipline: Genetics
Publisher: University of Otago
Keywords: In Vitro Fertilisation; Imprinting; DNA Methylation
Research Type: Thesis
Genetics Otago [39]
Thesis - Doctoral [2752]
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Five-Year Clinical and Radiographic Outcomes After Minimally Invasive Sacroiliac Joint Fusion Using Triangular Implants
Leonard Rudolf 1, Robyn Capobianco*, 2
1 Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital, 17 Alice Peck Day Drive, Suite C, Lebanon, NH 03766, USA
2 SI-BONE, Inc., 3055 Olin Ave, Suite 2200, San Jose, CA 95128, USA
Received Date: 18/7/2014
Revision Received Date: 10/9/2014
Electronic publication date: 17 /10/2014
© Rudolf and Capobianco; Licensee Bentham Open.
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/) which permits unrestrictive use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
* Address correspondence to this author at the SI-BONE, Inc., 3055 Olin Ave, Suite 2200, San Jose, CA 95128, USA; Tel: +1-408-207-0700; Fax: +1-408-516-9663; E-mail: rcapobianco@si-bone.com
Object :
Previous reports of minimally invasive (MIS) sacroiliac (SI) joint fusion for low back, SI joint, and buttock pain secondary to SI joint disorders have shown favorable short- and mid-term outcomes. Herein we present 5-year clinical and radiographic outcomes after MIS SI joint fusion using a series of triangular porous titanium plasma spray (TPS) coated implants.
Methods :
Consecutive patients treated with MIS SI joint fusion for degenerative sacroiliitis and/or sacroiliac joint disruptions between October 2007 and March 2009 were evaluated. Pain on VAS, an SI joint specific survey and Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) were administered. X-ray and CT scans were obtained to assess the implants.
Results :
Of 21 patients treated, 17 were available for the study. Mean age was 58 years (range 36-85), 77% were female and 47% had prior lumbar spinal fusion. Pain on VAS improved from 8.3 at baseline to 2.4 at 5 years; 88% of patients reached Substantial Clinical Benefit. Mean ODI score at 5 years was 21.5 (SD 22.7). Patient satisfaction achieved at 12 months was maintained for 5 years (82%). A qualitative review of x-ray and CT imaging showed increased bone density immediately adjacent to all implants, intra-articular osseous bridging in 87% of patients and no evidence of implant loosening or migration.
Long-term clinical and radiographic outcomes after MIS SIJ fusion are favorable. Clinical improvements observed at 12 months postoperatively were maintained at 5 years. There was no evidence of long-term complications, implant loosening or migration. Patients who did not achieve large improvements were affected by multiple severe concomitant degenerative conditions of the lumbar spine, pelvis, and/or hip.
Keywords: Arthrodesis, minimally invasive surgery, previous spine surgery, sacroiliac joint, SI joint fusion..
Chronic lower back pain is well known as a public health epidemic. In highly developed countries, it is one of the top 3 causes of degradation in quality adjusted life years, along with ischemic heart disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [1]. While lumbar spine pathology is an important cause of chronic lower back pain, substantial evidence suggests that not all low back pain is due to lumbar spine pathology. The SI joint is thought to be the source of pain in up to 30% of patients evaluated for chronic lower back pain [2-5]. Disorders of the SI joint may be the result of trauma, pregnancy, inflammatory arthritis, osteoarthritis or degeneration of the joint either de novo or after lumbar spinal fusion [6]. In the case of lumbar spinal arthrodesis, sacroiliac joint pathology may explain delayed postoperative pain or a failure for the patient to experience symptom improvement in the early postoperative period (failed back surgery syndrome) [7, 8]. Diagnosing the SI joint as the primary or sole pain generator (PG) can be complex as patients often present with a combination of low back, groin, gluteal, and/or leg pain and the symptom profile may mimic other disorders of the lumbar spine and hip [2, 9]. Additionally, some patients present with more than one pain generator within the lumbar spine-SI joint-hip axis, making the identification of the primary versus secondary pain generators more challenging [3]. Furthermore, SI joint imaging studies are typically neither sensitive nor specific to abnormalities in the absence of trauma, tumor, ankylosing spondylitis, or infection [10].
SI joint pain can be debilitating and treatment with non-operative care is often unsuccessful. The impact of pain on persons living with the disease is similar to that associated with other prominent orthopedic conditions routinely treated surgically [11]. Furthermore, the economic burden of non-operative care is significant for Medicare as well as commercial payer entities with a 5-year estimated cost of $270 million for Medicare beneficiaries and a 3-year estimated cost of $1.6 billion per 100,000 commercial covered lives [12, 13].
Surgical treatment options for SI joint disorders have been unattractive until relatively recently. Open arthrodesis, commonly performed throughout the 1900s, is now reserved primarily for traumatic pelvic ring fractures due to the invasiveness of the procedure, coupled with a high morbidity rate [14-16]. In recent years, several minimally invasive techniques for fusing the SI joint have been introduced into the surgical repertoire [17-21]. MIS SI joint fusion for certain SI joint disorders (degenerative sacroiliitis and SI joint disruptions), specifically using a series of triangular titanium implants, has been shown to result in lower morbidity, including shorter operating times and hospital stays, fewer complications, a lower reoperation rate, and higher gains in patient quality of life compared to the open surgical method, as evidenced by a recent comparative cohort study [22].
The current body of medical literature substantiates positive short to mid-term clinical outcomes [17, 23-25]. However, no long-term clinical or radiographic outcomes have been published to date. Herein we report 5-year clinical effectiveness, safety and radiographic outcomes in patients treated with MIS SI joint fusion for degenerative sacroiliitis or sacroiliac joint disruptions using a series of triangular, porous titanium plasma spray (TPS) coated implants (iFuse Implant System®, SI-BONE, Inc., San Jose, CA) from a single center.
All consecutive patients who underwent MIS SI joint fusion between October 2007 and March 2009 at a single center were identified. Prior to surgery, all patients were diagnosed with either degenerative sacroiliitis and/or SI joint disruptions using a detailed history, combination of physical provocative maneuvers specific to the SI joint, image-guided intra-articular SI joint injections and various imaging modalities [17]. MIS SI joint fusion was performed in all patients by placing a series of implants laterally across the SI joint, as previously described [17, 23]. Patients were contacted and asked to participate in a long-term evaluation, which included a clinical exam as well as an optional radiographic imaging component. Patients signed a study-specific, IRB-approved consent form before beginning any study-related activity.
Patients were asked to reveal and discuss any further surgical treatment they received for SI joint, lumbar spine, pelvic or hip disorders. A series of patient reported outcome instruments, described below, was also administered. Participants who resided outside of a reasonable travel distance were given the opportunity to provide responses by phone or mail. Patients who consented to the radiographic component of the study had both plain film radiographs (outlet and anteroposterior (AP) views) and computed tomography (CT) scans of the pelvis. These imaging tests were used to assess implant position, evidence of lucency adjacent to the implant, qualitative increase in bone density adjacent to the implant, and presence of intra-articular osseous bridging. The 5-year images were compared to those previously acquired closest to the one-year follow-up interval.
Data extracted from the medical charts included demo-graphics, diagnosed pain generators in the lumbar spine-SI joint-hip axis, pain treatments received, perioperative measures, adverse events, one-year imaging studies, and previously administered patient reported outcomes at 12- and 24-months postoperatively, described below.
Patient Reported Outcome Measures
Pain and functional outcomes were assessed in a prospective manner pre-operatively and at 12-, 24- and 60-months postoperatively. Level of pain was assessed using a 0-10 visual analog scale (VAS). Prior to the initial experience with the surgical procedure, a 9-question SI joint-related health outcomes survey was created with response domains taken from both the SF-36 and Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) (Fig. 1): pain level, the ability to perform light, moderate and vigorous activities, quality of sleep, lifting ability, happiness, social activities, and the effect of pain on social life [17]. A numerical rating scale of 0-10 with 0 representing no pain or difficulty and 10 representing the worst pain imaginable or severe difficulty was used for all domains. Satisfaction with surgery was assessed in a binary fashion (yes or no) by asking if the patient would have the same surgery again for the same result.
Fig. (1).
SI Joint outcomes survey.
The SI joint-related health outcomes survey and VAS were administered preoperatively and at 12- and 60-months postoperatively. At 24 months, patients were contacted to assess SI joint pain on VAS. The ODI was administered at the 60-month visit only. Satisfaction and safety events were collected at all postoperative time points.
Demographic variables were tabulated and expressed as frequency and means with standard deviation, where appropriate. A repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare VAS pain scores from baseline to all postoperative time points. A paired t-test was used to assess improvement from baseline to the 60-month time point on the SI joint survey. An unpaired t-test was performed to assess the effect of sex and history of prior lumbar spinal fusion on outcomes. Statistical analyses were performed using R software [26]. Clinical improvement was defined using previously validated minimum clinically important difference (MCID) and substantial clinical benefit (SCB) values for back pain on VAS. MCID is defined as a change of >2.0 points and SCB is defined as a 2.5-point decrease or a raw score of < 3.5 [27, 28].
Institutional Review Board approval was obtained before beginning this study.
Of 21 consecutive patients who underwent MIS SI joint fusion, 17 were available for follow-up and form the analysis cohort. Of those not available, 2 had died unrelated to spine conditions, one was lost to follow-up and one suffered a severe neck trauma rendering the patient quadriplegic and unable to provide relevant data. All available patients participated inthe clinical portion of the study and 15 of 17 (88%) agreed to participate in the radiographic component.
Mean subject age was 58 (±14) years (range 36-85), 77% were female and 47% had undergone lumbar spinal fusion prior to SI joint fusion (Table 1). Slightly more subjects had the right SI joint treated (53%) compared to the left (41%), and one patient underwent bilateral treatment. Mean operating time was 65 (±18) minutes, range (43-110). There were no intraoperative complications. Postoperative events, which primarily included hematoma (1), cellulitis (2), and deep infection secondary to diverticulitis (1), were previously reported in detail [17].
Demographics and Peri-operative measures.
N=17
Age (years), mean (±SD) 58 (± 13.6), range 36-85
Female sex 13 (77%)
Prior lumbar spinal fusion 8 (47%)
Side treated Right: 53% (9)Left: 41% (7)Bilateral: 6% (1)
Operating time (minutes), mean (±SD) 65 (SD 18), range 43-110
Implants placed 54
Improvement in pain was clinically and statistically significant at all follow-up intervals compared to baseline (all p<0.001) (Table 2). All subjects who reached MCID also reached SCB. The percentage of patients who achieved both MCID and SCB remained high at each time point (77%, 82%, and 88% at 12-, 24- and 60-month visits, respectively). No statistical effect was found for sex, or history of lumbar fusion on pain improvement at any time point.
VAS clinical outcomes.
Mean (SD)
MCID
rANOVA
Baseline 8.3 (1.4)
12mo 3.4 (2.4) -5.1 13 (76.5%) p<0.001
At 60-months, statistically significant improvement was seen in 6 of 8 domains of the SI joint survey instrument (Table 3): the ability to perform light, moderate and vigorous activities, sleep disturbance caused by pain, overall happiness, and the effect of pain on social life. The ability to perform light, moderate and vigorous activities showed continual improvement from 12 months to the 5-year time interval.
SI joint-related health outcomes survey. Each category was rated on a 0-10 scale where 0 = no pain or no difficulty and 10 = worst pain imaginable or severe difficulty.
Baseline Mean (±SD)
12 mo Mean (±SD)
t-Test at 60 mo
Light activities 6.4 (2.3) 3 (1.9) 2.4 (2.0) p<0.001
Moderate activities 8.2 (2.7) 5.1 (3.3) 4.4 (3.5) p<0.001
Vigorous activities 9.6 (0.8) 6.6 (3.7) 4.8 (3.5) p<0.001
Sleep 7.5 (2.0) 3.6 (3.1) 3.3 (3.3) p<0.001
Lifting 5.5 (3.0) 5.9 (3.2) 4.6 (3.3) p=0.45
Overall happiness 6.4 (2.8) 3.2 (1.9) 3.8 (2.4) p=0.02
Social Interest 4.2 (2.7) 4.9 (3.2) 3.9 (2.7) p=0.81
Pain affect on social interest 7.2 (2.3) 2.6 (2.1) 3.1 (2.7) p<0.001
Patient satisfaction scores obtained at the 12-month interval were unchanged at 2- and 5-years postoperatively; 82% (14/17) would have the same surgery again for the same result at all time points.
ODI scores were obtained at the 5-year follow-up only (Table 4). Mean (SD) ODI score was 21.5 (22.7). Fairbank categorized scores in terms of degree of disability, with 0-20 representing minimal disability and 21-40 representing moderate disability requiring conservative care only [29]. Results show the majority (71%) of subjects are living with minimal or moderate disability.
ODI outcomes.
Cohort mean (±SD) ODI score at 5 years
21.5 (±22.7)
Category of Disability* N (%)
0-20%: minimal: The patient can cope with most living activities. Usually no treatment is indicated apart from advice on lifting sitting and exercise 10 (59%)
21-40%: moderate: The patient experiences more pain and difficulty with sitting lifting and standing. Travel and social life are more difficult and they may be disabled from work. Personal care sexual activity and sleeping are not grossly affected and the patient can usually be managed by conservative means. 2 (12%)
41-60%: severe: Pain remains the main problem in this group but activities of daily living are affected. These patients require a detailed investigation. 4 (23%)
61-80%: crippled: Back pain impinges on all aspects of the patient's life. Positive intervention is required. 1 (6%)
* Categorization from Fairbank JC, Pynsent PB. Spine 2000; 25(22): 2940-2952.
Imaging Studies
Pelvic AP and outlet view plain films radiographs and a pelvic computed tomography (CT) scan were performed on 15 subjects; 45 implants were assessed. Imaging studies obtained at 5 years were compared to available studies acquired as close as possible to the one-year postoperative time point.
A qualitative comparison of 1- and 5-year pelvic plain film radiographs, including AP and outlet views, revealed no change in implant position (Fig. 2). CT scans of the pelvis with axial, sagittal, and coronal reconstructions documented increased bone density circumferentially along three implant walls for all implants on both the iliac and sacral segments. Evidence of osseous bridging across the SI joint was clearly seen on 13 of 15 (87%) of patients (Fig. 3). On x-ray, what appeared to be full-length lucency (absence of bone adjacent to an implant) along the wall of the implant was consistently observed on at least one implant in all patients on AP view. However, this observation was not evident on the outlet view. Upon review of CT imaging, this apparent lucency was confirmed to be an artifact (Fig. 4). Assessment and comparison of CT scans at 1- and 5-years revealed a consistent pattern of artifacts at the corners and periodically along the wall of an implant, which were non-progressive and unchanged in equivalent projections on the axial, sagittal and coronal sections. A small area of true focal lucency was observed on CT scans in 4 patients; along the superior edge of the most cranial implant on the iliac side in 3 patients, and on the superior edge of the most caudal implant on the iliac side in one patient (Fig. 5). Other findings included a regular pattern of sclerotic bone response at the implant entry point in the ilium, on primarily the superior implant (Fig. 6). A detailed explanation of the physics of CT imaging of triangular titanium implants is outside the scope of this manuscript and will be reported separately.
AP radiographs obtained at A) 1 year and at B) 5 years on the same patient. Lucency is observed along the wall (triangle) and shoulder (arrow) of the implants at 1 year and remains unchanged at 5 years, indicative of artifact rather than lucency.
A) Axial and B) sagittal CT scan obtained at 5 years showing favorable placement of the implants and intra-articular osseous bridging.
Plain radiographs showing apparent lucency along the wall of the superior implants on the pelvic AP view (A), but not on the pelvic outlet view (B). Sagittal view on CT scan (C) confirms the “lucency” as an artifact.
A small area of focal lucency is observed along the superior edge of the most cranial implant on the iliac side (A), and along only part of the sacral side (B) as evidenced by circumferential bone observed on image (C).
(A) Sagittal CT scan of the iliac portion of the joint shows a sclerotic margin surrounding the edges of the superior implant. Areas of “spot-welds” (arrows) noted between the sclerotic margin and implant walls is suggestive of biological fixation. Artifacts are apparent at the corners of the implant (triangle). (B) The sacral side shows increased bone density adjacent to the implant walls.
Three subjects in the current cohort did not improve satisfactorily. To understand why these patients failed to improve and to refine patient selection criteria for MIS SI joint fusion, an in-depth interview was performed for each patient. Patient vignettes are described below.
Subject 1012 is a 72-year old woman who presented to the clinic complaining of low back and pelvic pain. The subject’s history included a successful total knee replacement as well as L3-L5 arthrodesis for degenerative thoracolumbar scoliosis, symptomatic spondylosis and spondylolisthesis. At baseline, the lumbar spine and SI joint were confirmed as pain generators using physical and clinical exam, imaging studies, and injections as appropriate. Non-operative management was employed for lumbar spinal pain. Based on the pain improvement associated with image-guided intra-articular SI joint injection, MIS SI joint fusion was performed without postoperative complications. After surgery, she continued to have persistent back pain and buttock pain with walking. Subsequent imaging studies revealed a progression of her scoliotic curve above L3 with pelvic obliquity and clinical exam suggested multiple pain generators including thoracolumbar spine and degenerative joint disease of the hip.
Pelvic and spinal radiographs at the 5-year visit, and comparison to imaging at 1-year, revealed her SI implants to be intact with no signs of loosening, and a progression of spondylosis at levels above L3. The 5-year pelvic CT scan showed increased bone density along the walls of the implants, suggestive of biological fixation of the implants in bone. There were no imaging findings to suggest implant failure as explanation for the subject’s residual pain.
In addition to her SI joint problems, this patient suffers from multiple pain generators including hip dysfunction secondary to pelvic obliquity and spondylosis associated with degenerative scoliosis. A review of this case provokes concern that the symptomatology of other pain generators may have overshadowed any potential improvement after SI joint treatment. Results from a single image guided intra-articular SI joint injection may be vulnerable to misinterpretation in the context of multiple pain generators. Some patients may benefit from a second injection. Positive results on the second injection will confirm the SI joint as the primary PG. However, an equivocal response of less than 75% pain reduction would suggest the SI joint as a secondary PG [30]. No pain improvement rules out the SI and indicates that other PGs in the lumbar spine-SI joint-hip axis need further investigation.
Subject 1013 is a 50-year old female who presented to the clinic post L4-S1 arthrodesis with complex pain syndrome and concomitant chronic conditions requiring multiple medications to manage her pain. Furthermore, due to her diminished ambulatory capability, she required assistance in performing activities of daily living. Subject symptoms and findings on physical exam suggested degenerative sacroiliitis. The SI joint as a pain generator was confirmed by intra-articular SI joint injection. The subject underwent a single-side SI joint fusion. She experienced good pain improvement on the operative side, prompting her to undergo diagnostic testing on the contralateral side followed by SI joint fusion. Postoperatively, she experienced significant improvement in ambulation and capacity for activities of daily living and near complete resolution of her bilateral SI joint pain. One year later, her degenerative hip joint disease had progressed, resulting in a left-sided total hip replacement. This subject declined to participate in the imaging component of the study. The degradation of function and high ODI score at the 5-year assessment seems associated with recurrent spine-related low back pain.
Subject 1002 is a 50-year old female who underwent left SI joint fusion for degenerative sacroiliitis after previous L4-S1 instrumented arthrodesis for degenerative spondylosis and spondylolisthesis. Postoperatively, she suffered from an infected hematoma secondary to hematogenous seeding from recurrent diverticulitis that resolved after a 6-week course of intravenous antibiotics. Clinically, the process to control her infection overshadowed her improvement from SI surgery. Several years after her SI joint fusion, she was diagnosed with L3/4 adjacent segment disease and experienced partial pain relief after L3/4 laminectomy. At the 5-year visit, there were no imaging findings to suggest implant failure as explanation for the subject’s residual pain. This subject reported symptoms in her contralateral SI joint and continuing symptoms from L3/4 that will likely require arthrodesis. Therefore, the lumbar pain generators and symptoms from her contralateral SI joint have influenced the degree of her functional improvement after the index procedure.
All 7 patients with the SI joint as the sole PG experienced good to excellent outcomes. In the 10 patients with multiple PGs, 7 had favorable outcomes while residual pain from secondary PGs eclipsed symptom relief in the remaining 3 patients. There were no distinguishing characteristics on imaging between responders and non-responders. Residual symptoms did not correlate with implant failure or lack of boney integration. Accordingly, no correlation between clinical and radiographic outcomes can be made.
The 5-year results of patients treated for degenerative sacroiliitis and/or SI joint disruptions with MIS SI joint fusion using a series of triangular TPS coated implants presented herein demonstrate the long-term durability of positive outcomes regarding pain relief, return to function, and satisfaction with surgery. Though pre-operative ODI scores were unavailable for the current case series, the published range for patients with SI joint disorders is 52.6-61.8 [23, 24, 31]. Our mean 5-year postoperative ODI score (21.5) indicates minimal to moderate impact on functional capacity, and is commensurate with results from other published studies. Long-term complications of MIS SI joint fusion were rare. No subject underwent revision of SI joint arthrodesis. Similar to other reports, a large portion (47%) of patients in the present cohort had a history of previous lumbar spinal fusion. In contrast to a report describing the use of hollow modular anchorage screws, the degree of pain improvement for patients in the current study was not affected by a history of prior lumbar spinal fusion [19]. As with all studies, we observed variations in patient outcomes. In the current cohort, the number of pain generators, either single or multiple, influenced patient perception of improvement in pain and function after surgery. Amongst subjects who did not respond, multiple pain generators (PG) were apparent. Determination of primary versus secondary pain generators is critical in patients that present with multiple PGs.
Imaging studies at 5 years postoperatively revealed no evidence of implant loosening, confirmed by a consistent observation of increased bone density immediately adjacent to all walls of all implants, suggestive of biological fixation in bone. The cause of the sclerotic bony margin often observed on the upper wall of the most cranial implant is unknown, but may be the result of a) impaction from broaching step of the procedure, b) micromotion after initial implant placement, or c) as a result of Wolff’s law in response to higher loading conditions. Further investigation is needed to fully understand the mechanism. After close evaluation of the appearance of the implants on plain film radiographs and CT imaging, we have come to appreciate the difference between lucency along an implant wall and actual loosening of the device. An observation of apparent linear lucency along the wall, nose or shoulder of the implant on x-ray did not correlate with true lucency on CT in the present study, but rather with an artifact generated by the titanium implant. In our experience, true loosening of the implant will result in the appearance of an enlarged gap between the implant and a sclerotic margin on both x-ray and CT (Fig. 7). If implant loosening is suspected, it is vital to correlate clinical symptoms with 3 views on CT to differentiate artifact, lucency and loosening.
A) AP x-ray and B) axial CT image of a non-study patient showing a wide gap between the edge of the implant and the sclerotic margin, indicative of implant loosening. This patient returned for revision surgery.
Multiple non-surgical and surgical treatments for SI joint disorders are available. When non-surgical management fails to provide adequate relief of symptoms, surgical arthrodesis is an option. Published case series of various arthrodesis techniques (both open and MIS) report variable degrees of improvement in pain and function, with more invasive approaches reporting moderately high complications and non-unions [22]. MIS techniques overall report significant improvements in pain and function, but results vary with surgical technique and patient selection.
Positive clinical outcomes are based on accurate diagnosis and assessment of all potential pain generators in the lumbar spine, SI joint and hip. Correctly diagnosing SI joint disorders requires a rigorous approach to arrive at an accurate diagnosis. A detailed history, comprehensive physical examination, and an index of suspicion are required to formulate a differential diagnosis. The practitioner utilizes imaging and diagnostic testing for the process of inclusion/exclusion of the different diagnostic possibilities. Several pathophysiologic conditions that affect the lumbar spine-SI joint-hip axis can present similarly and typically low back pain patients have multiple pain generators. Biomechanical studies clearly show an interdependent kinematic relationship within the lumbopelvic hip complex, with changes in one structure affecting degree of motion and load within the entire complex [32]. Therefore, the SI joint should be evaluated as a potential pain generator in patients who fail to improve or experience late non-mechanical failures after lumbar arthrodesis. Pain and degeneration in the SI joint after lumbar arthrodesis has been reported to range between 43 and 75% [6, 30, 33, 34]. The relatively low success rate of spinal fusion, combined with the high incidence of diagnosable SI joint disorders in patients presenting with low back pain strongly suggests that the SI joint is often overlooked as a PG in this population [3]. An accurate diagnosis requires not only a ruling out or downgrading of other conditions, but also a thorough evaluation of the lumbar spine and hip, as well as a physical exam that includes maneuvers that stress the SI joint and a series of image-guided intra-articular diagnostic injections.
For patients with multiple pain generators, the most bothersome should be treated first to assess the true impact of the secondary pain generator(s). Surgical treatment of the primary PG alone may effectuate adequate pain control in certain patients, while for others sequential treatment of secondary PGs may be indicated to achieve a satisfactory final outcome. Patients with multiple pain generators, regardless of treatment, may not experience a high degree of improvement as the cortical region of the sensory homunculus governing the low back and hip is relatively small, making it difficult for the brain to distinguish discrete pain generators in this area [35]. Functional improvement relies on the interdependent relationship of the lumbar spine, pelvis and hip axis. Pain or loss of function in one component can overshadow improvement in another. Identification and sequential treatment of secondary pain generators in this axis may be needed to achieve the best possible outcome.
Although the study sample size is relatively small and represents the experience of a single surgeon, this cohort represents the first patients to have received this implant. ODI was available only at the 5-year time point; a comparison to baseline could not be performed. It should be noted, however, that all pain and functional outcomes were self-reported by study subjects. Larger cohort and multi-center long-term studies are needed to better understand how to formulate a surgical strategy and set realistic outcome expectations in the patient with multiple pain generators within the lumbar spine-SI joint-hip axis.
Long-term (5-year) clinical and radiographic outcomes after MIS SIJ fusion for degenerative sacroiliitis and/or SI joint disruptions are favorable. Clinical improvements observed at 12 months postoperatively were maintained at 5years. There was no evidence of long-term complications, implant migration or loosening. Increased bone density was observed circumferentially in 100% of the implants. Most (87%) scans showed intra-articular osseous bridging. Patients who did not do well were affected by multiple severe degenerative conditions of the spine, pelvis, and/or hip.
LR is an SI-BONE, Inc. investor, consultant and clinical trial investigator. RC is an SI-BONE, Inc. employee.
The authors wish to thank John Thibodeau, RN, BSN for his invaluable contributions to this study in conducting patient assessments and gathering clinical data, as well as Daniel Cher, MD for statistical advice. This study was funded by SI-BONE, Inc.
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University Physics Volume 1
14.1 Fluids, Density, and Pressure
University Physics Volume 114.1 Fluids, Density, and Pressure
Unit 1. Mechanics
1 Units and Measurement
1.1 The Scope and Scale of Physics
1.2 Units and Standards
1.3 Unit Conversion
1.4 Dimensional Analysis
1.5 Estimates and Fermi Calculations
1.6 Significant Figures
1.7 Solving Problems in Physics
Key Equations
Additional Problems
Challenge Problems
2 Vectors
2.1 Scalars and Vectors
2.2 Coordinate Systems and Components of a Vector
2.3 Algebra of Vectors
2.4 Products of Vectors
3 Motion Along a Straight Line
3.1 Position, Displacement, and Average Velocity
3.2 Instantaneous Velocity and Speed
3.3 Average and Instantaneous Acceleration
3.4 Motion with Constant Acceleration
3.5 Free Fall
3.6 Finding Velocity and Displacement from Acceleration
4 Motion in Two and Three Dimensions
4.1 Displacement and Velocity Vectors
4.2 Acceleration Vector
4.4 Uniform Circular Motion
4.5 Relative Motion in One and Two Dimensions
5 Newton's Laws of Motion
5.1 Forces
5.2 Newton's First Law
5.3 Newton's Second Law
5.4 Mass and Weight
5.5 Newton’s Third Law
5.6 Common Forces
5.7 Drawing Free-Body Diagrams
6 Applications of Newton's Laws
6.1 Solving Problems with Newton’s Laws
6.4 Drag Force and Terminal Speed
7 Work and Kinetic Energy
7.2 Kinetic Energy
7.3 Work-Energy Theorem
8 Potential Energy and Conservation of Energy
8.1 Potential Energy of a System
8.2 Conservative and Non-Conservative Forces
8.4 Potential Energy Diagrams and Stability
8.5 Sources of Energy
9.1 Linear Momentum
9.2 Impulse and Collisions
9.3 Conservation of Linear Momentum
9.4 Types of Collisions
9.5 Collisions in Multiple Dimensions
9.6 Center of Mass
9.7 Rocket Propulsion
10 Fixed-Axis Rotation
10.1 Rotational Variables
10.2 Rotation with Constant Angular Acceleration
10.3 Relating Angular and Translational Quantities
10.4 Moment of Inertia and Rotational Kinetic Energy
10.5 Calculating Moments of Inertia
10.6 Torque
10.7 Newton’s Second Law for Rotation
10.8 Work and Power for Rotational Motion
11 Angular Momentum
11.1 Rolling Motion
11.2 Angular Momentum
11.3 Conservation of Angular Momentum
11.4 Precession of a Gyroscope
12 Static Equilibrium and Elasticity
12.1 Conditions for Static Equilibrium
12.2 Examples of Static Equilibrium
12.3 Stress, Strain, and Elastic Modulus
12.4 Elasticity and Plasticity
13 Gravitation
13.1 Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation
13.2 Gravitation Near Earth's Surface
13.3 Gravitational Potential Energy and Total Energy
13.4 Satellite Orbits and Energy
13.5 Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion
13.6 Tidal Forces
13.7 Einstein's Theory of Gravity
14 Fluid Mechanics
14.2 Measuring Pressure
14.3 Pascal's Principle and Hydraulics
14.4 Archimedes’ Principle and Buoyancy
14.5 Fluid Dynamics
14.7 Viscosity and Turbulence
Unit 2. Waves and Acoustics
15.1 Simple Harmonic Motion
15.2 Energy in Simple Harmonic Motion
15.3 Comparing Simple Harmonic Motion and Circular Motion
15.4 Pendulums
15.5 Damped Oscillations
15.6 Forced Oscillations
16.1 Traveling Waves
16.2 Mathematics of Waves
16.3 Wave Speed on a Stretched String
16.4 Energy and Power of a Wave
16.5 Interference of Waves
16.6 Standing Waves and Resonance
17.1 Sound Waves
17.2 Speed of Sound
17.3 Sound Intensity
17.4 Normal Modes of a Standing Sound Wave
17.5 Sources of Musical Sound
17.6 Beats
17.8 Shock Waves
A | Units
B | Conversion Factors
C | Fundamental Constants
D | Astronomical Data
E | Mathematical Formulas
F | Chemistry
G | The Greek Alphabet
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
State the different phases of matter
Describe the characteristics of the phases of matter at the molecular or atomic level
Distinguish between compressible and incompressible materials
Define density and its related SI units
Compare and contrast the densities of various substances
Define pressure and its related SI units
Explain the relationship between pressure and force
Calculate force given pressure and area
Matter most commonly exists as a solid, liquid, or gas; these states are known as the three common phases of matter. We will look at each of these phases in detail in this section.
Characteristics of Solids
Solids are rigid and have specific shapes and definite volumes. The atoms or molecules in a solid are in close proximity to each other, and there is a significant force between these molecules. Solids will take a form determined by the nature of these forces between the molecules. Although true solids are not incompressible, it nevertheless requires a large force to change the shape of a solid. In some cases, the force between molecules can cause the molecules to organize into a lattice as shown in Figure 14.2. The structure of this three-dimensional lattice is represented as molecules connected by rigid bonds (modeled as stiff springs), which allow limited freedom for movement. Even a large force produces only small displacements in the atoms or molecules of the lattice, and the solid maintains its shape. Solids also resist shearing forces. (Shearing forces are forces applied tangentially to a surface, as described in Static Equilibrium and Elasticity.)
Characteristics of Fluids
Liquids and gases are considered to be fluids because they yield to shearing forces, whereas solids resist them. Like solids, the molecules in a liquid are bonded to neighboring molecules, but possess many fewer of these bonds. The molecules in a liquid are not locked in place and can move with respect to each other. The distance between molecules is similar to the distances in a solid, and so liquids have definite volumes, but the shape of a liquid changes, depending on the shape of its container. Gases are not bonded to neighboring atoms and can have large separations between molecules. Gases have neither specific shapes nor definite volumes, since their molecules move to fill the container in which they are held (Figure 14.2).
Figure 14.2 (a) Atoms in a solid are always in close contact with neighboring atoms, held in place by forces represented here by springs. (b) Atoms in a liquid are also in close contact but can slide over one another. Forces between the atoms strongly resist attempts to compress the atoms. (c) Atoms in a gas move about freely and are separated by large distances. A gas must be held in a closed container to prevent it from expanding freely and escaping.
Liquids deform easily when stressed and do not spring back to their original shape once a force is removed. This occurs because the atoms or molecules in a liquid are free to slide about and change neighbors. That is, liquids flow (so they are a type of fluid), with the molecules held together by mutual attraction. When a liquid is placed in a container with no lid, it remains in the container. Because the atoms are closely packed, liquids, like solids, resist compression; an extremely large force is necessary to change the volume of a liquid.
In contrast, atoms in gases are separated by large distances, and the forces between atoms in a gas are therefore very weak, except when the atoms collide with one another. This makes gases relatively easy to compress and allows them to flow (which makes them fluids). When placed in an open container, gases, unlike liquids, will escape.
In this chapter, we generally refer to both gases and liquids simply as fluids, making a distinction between them only when they behave differently. There exists one other phase of matter, plasma, which exists at very high temperatures. At high temperatures, molecules may disassociate into atoms, and atoms disassociate into electrons (with negative charges) and protons (with positive charges), forming a plasma. Plasma will not be discussed in depth in this chapter because plasma has very different properties from the three other common phases of matter, discussed in this chapter, due to the strong electrical forces between the charges.
Suppose a block of brass and a block of wood have exactly the same mass. If both blocks are dropped in a tank of water, why does the wood float and the brass sink (Figure 14.3)? This occurs because the brass has a greater density than water, whereas the wood has a lower density than water.
Figure 14.3 (a) A block of brass and a block of wood both have the same weight and mass, but the block of wood has a much greater volume. (b) When placed in a fish tank filled with water, the cube of brass sinks and the block of wood floats. (The block of wood is the same in both pictures; it was turned on its side to fit on the scale.) (credit: modification of works by Joseph J. Trout, Stockton University)
Density is an important characteristic of substances. It is crucial, for example, in determining whether an object sinks or floats in a fluid.
The average density of a substance or object is defined as its mass per unit volume,
ρ=mVρ=mV
where the Greek letter ρρ (rho) is the symbol for density, m is the mass, and V is the volume.
The SI unit of density is kg/m3kg/m3. Table 14.1 lists some representative values. The cgs unit of density is the gram per cubic centimeter, g/cm3g/cm3, where
1g/cm3=1000kg/m3.1g/cm3=1000kg/m3.
The metric system was originally devised so that water would have a density of 1g/cm31g/cm3, equivalent to 103kg/m3103kg/m3. Thus, the basic mass unit, the kilogram, was first devised to be the mass of 1000 mL of water, which has a volume of 1000cm31000cm3.
(0.0°C0.0°C)
(0.0°C,0.0°C, 101.3 kPa)
Substance ρ(kg/m3)ρ(kg/m3) Substance ρ(kg/m3)ρ(kg/m3) Substance ρ(kg/m3)ρ(kg/m3)
Aluminum 2.70×1032.70×103 Benzene 8.79×1028.79×102 Air 1.29×1001.29×100
Bone 1.90×1031.90×103 Blood 1.05×1031.05×103 Carbon dioxide 1.98×1001.98×100
Brass 8.44×1038.44×103 Ethyl alcohol 8.06×1028.06×102 Carbon monoxide 1.25×1001.25×100
Concrete 2.40×1032.40×103 Gasoline 6.80×1026.80×102 Helium 1.80×10−11.80×10−1
Copper 8.92×1038.92×103 Glycerin 1.26×1031.26×103 Hydrogen 9.00×10−29.00×10−2
Cork 2.40×1022.40×102 Mercury 1.36×1041.36×104 Methane 7.20×10−27.20×10−2
Earth’s crust 3.30×1033.30×103 Olive oil 9.20×1029.20×102 Nitrogen 1.25×1001.25×100
Glass 2.60×1032.60×103 Nitrous oxide 1.98×1001.98×100
Gold 1.93×1041.93×104 Oxygen 1.43×1001.43×100
Granite 2.70×1032.70×103
Iron 7.86×1037.86×103
Lead 1.13×1041.13×104
Oak 7.10×1027.10×102
Pine 3.73×1023.73×102
Platinum 2.14×1042.14×104
Polystyrene 1.00×1021.00×102
Tungsten 1.93×1041.93×104
Uranium 1.87×1031.87×103
Table 14.1 Densities of Some Common Substances
As you can see by examining Table 14.1, the density of an object may help identify its composition. The density of gold, for example, is about 2.5 times the density of iron, which is about 2.5 times the density of aluminum. Density also reveals something about the phase of the matter and its substructure. Notice that the densities of liquids and solids are roughly comparable, consistent with the fact that their atoms are in close contact. The densities of gases are much less than those of liquids and solids, because the atoms in gases are separated by large amounts of empty space. The gases are displayed for a standard temperature of 0.0°C0.0°C and a standard pressure of 101.3 kPa, and there is a strong dependence of the densities on temperature and pressure. The densities of the solids and liquids displayed are given for the standard temperature of 0.0°C0.0°C and the densities of solids and liquids depend on the temperature. The density of solids and liquids normally increase with decreasing temperature.
Table 14.2 shows the density of water in various phases and temperature. The density of water increases with decreasing temperature, reaching a maximum at 4.0°C,4.0°C, and then decreases as the temperature falls below 4.0°C4.0°C. This behavior of the density of water explains why ice forms at the top of a body of water.
ρ(kg/m3)ρ(kg/m3)
Ice (0°C)(0°C) 9.17×1029.17×102
Water (0°C)(0°C) 9.998×1029.998×102
Water (20°C)(20°C) 9.982×1029.982×102
Water (100°C)(100°C) 9.584×1029.584×102
Steam (100°C,101.3kPa)(100°C,101.3kPa) 1.670×1021.670×102
Sea water (0°C)(0°C) 1.030×1031.030×103
Table 14.2 Densities of Water
The density of a substance is not necessarily constant throughout the volume of a substance. If the density is constant throughout a substance, the substance is said to be a homogeneous substance. A solid iron bar is an example of a homogeneous substance. The density is constant throughout, and the density of any sample of the substance is the same as its average density. If the density of a substance were not constant, the substance is said to be a heterogeneous substance. A chunk of Swiss cheese is an example of a heterogeneous material containing both the solid cheese and gas-filled voids. The density at a specific location within a heterogeneous material is called local density, and is given as a function of location, ρ=ρ(x,y,z)ρ=ρ(x,y,z) (Figure 14.4).
Figure 14.4 Density may vary throughout a heterogeneous mixture. Local density at a point is obtained from dividing mass by volume in a small volume around a given point.
Local density can be obtained by a limiting process, based on the average density in a small volume around the point in question, taking the limit where the size of the volume approaches zero,
ρ=limΔV→0ΔmΔVρ=limΔV→0ΔmΔV
where ρρ is the density, m is the mass, and V is the volume.
Since gases are free to expand and contract, the densities of the gases vary considerably with temperature, whereas the densities of liquids vary little with temperature. Therefore, the densities of liquids are often treated as constant, with the density equal to the average density.
Density is a dimensional property; therefore, when comparing the densities of two substances, the units must be taken into consideration. For this reason, a more convenient, dimensionless quantity called the specific gravity is often used to compare densities. Specific gravity is defined as the ratio of the density of the material to the density of water at 4.0°C4.0°C and one atmosphere of pressure, which is 1000kg/m31000kg/m3:
Specific gravity=Density of materialDensity of water.Specific gravity=Density of materialDensity of water.
The comparison uses water because the density of water is 1g/cm31g/cm3, which was originally used to define the kilogram. Specific gravity, being dimensionless, provides a ready comparison among materials without having to worry about the unit of density. For instance, the density of aluminum is 2.7 in g/cm3g/cm3 (2700 in kg/m3kg/m3), but its specific gravity is 2.7, regardless of the unit of density. Specific gravity is a particularly useful quantity with regard to buoyancy, which we will discuss later in this chapter.
You have no doubt heard the word ‘pressure’ used in relation to blood (high or low blood pressure) and in relation to weather (high- and low-pressure weather systems). These are only two of many examples of pressure in fluids. (Recall that we introduced the idea of pressure in Static Equilibrium and Elasticity, in the context of bulk stress and strain.)
Pressure (p) is defined as the normal force F per unit area A over which the force is applied, or
p=FA.p=FA.
To define the pressure at a specific point, the pressure is defined as the force dF exerted by a fluid over an infinitesimal element of area dA containing the point, resulting in p=dFdAp=dFdA.
A given force can have a significantly different effect, depending on the area over which the force is exerted. For instance, a force applied to an area of 1mm21mm2 has a pressure that is 100 times as great as the same force applied to an area of 1cm2.1cm2. That is why a sharp needle is able to poke through skin when a small force is exerted, but applying the same force with a finger does not puncture the skin (Figure 14.5).
Figure 14.5 (a) A person being poked with a finger might be irritated, but the force has little lasting effect. (b) In contrast, the same force applied to an area the size of the sharp end of a needle is enough to break the skin.
Note that although force is a vector, pressure is a scalar. Pressure is a scalar quantity because it is defined to be proportional to the magnitude of the force acting perpendicular to the surface area. The SI unit for pressure is the pascal (Pa), named after the French mathematician and physicist Blaise Pascal (1623–1662), where
1Pa=1N/m2.1Pa=1N/m2.
Several other units are used for pressure, which we discuss later in the chapter.
Variation of pressure with depth in a fluid of constant density
Pressure is defined for all states of matter, but it is particularly important when discussing fluids. An important characteristic of fluids is that there is no significant resistance to the component of a force applied parallel to the surface of a fluid. The molecules of the fluid simply flow to accommodate the horizontal force. A force applied perpendicular to the surface compresses or expands the fluid. If you try to compress a fluid, you find that a reaction force develops at each point inside the fluid in the outward direction, balancing the force applied on the molecules at the boundary.
Consider a fluid of constant density as shown in Figure 14.6. The pressure at the bottom of the container is due to the pressure of the atmosphere (p0)(p0) plus the pressure due to the weight of the fluid. The pressure due to the fluid is equal to the weight of the fluid divided by the area. The weight of the fluid is equal to its mass times the acceleration due to gravity.
Figure 14.6 The bottom of this container supports the entire weight of the fluid in it. The vertical sides cannot exert an upward force on the fluid (since it cannot withstand a shearing force), so the bottom must support it all.
Since the density is constant, the weight can be calculated using the density:
w=mg=ρVg=ρAhg.w=mg=ρVg=ρAhg.
The pressure at the bottom of the container is therefore equal to atmospheric pressure added to the weight of the fluid divided by the area:
p=p0+ρAhgA=p0+ρhg.p=p0+ρAhgA=p0+ρhg.
This equation is only good for pressure at a depth for a fluid of constant density.
Pressure at a Depth for a Fluid of Constant Density
The pressure at a depth in a fluid of constant density is equal to the pressure of the atmosphere plus the pressure due to the weight of the fluid, or
p=p0+ρhg,p=p0+ρhg,
Where p is the pressure at a particular depth, p0p0 is the pressure of the atmosphere, ρρ is the density of the fluid, g is the acceleration due to gravity, and h is the depth.
Figure 14.7 The Three Gorges Dam, erected on the Yangtze River in central China in 2008, created a massive reservoir that displaced more than one million people. (credit: modification of work by “Le Grand Portage”/Flickr)
Example 14.1
What Force Must a Dam Withstand? Consider the pressure and force acting on the dam retaining a reservoir of water (Figure 14.7). Suppose the dam is 500-m wide and the water is 80.0-m deep at the dam, as illustrated below. (a) What is the average pressure on the dam due to the water? (b) Calculate the force exerted against the dam.
The average pressure p due to the weight of the water is the pressure at the average depth h of 40.0 m, since pressure increases linearly with depth. The force exerted on the dam by the water is the average pressure times the area of contact, F=pA.F=pA.
The average pressure due to the weight of a fluid is
p=hρg.p=hρg.
Entering the density of water from Table 14.1 and taking h to be the average depth of 40.0 m, we obtain
p=(40.0m)(103kgm3)(9.80ms2)=3.92×105Nm2=392kPa.p=(40.0m)(103kgm3)(9.80ms2)=3.92×105Nm2=392kPa.
We have already found the value for p. The area of the dam is
A=80.0m×500m=4.00×104m2,A=80.0m×500m=4.00×104m2,
F=(3.92×105N/m2)(4.00×104m2)=1.57×1010N.F=(3.92×105N/m2)(4.00×104m2)=1.57×1010N.
Significance Although this force seems large, it is small compared with the 1.96×1013N1.96×1013N weight of the water in the reservoir. In fact, it is only 0.0800% of the weight.
Check Your Understanding 14.1
If the reservoir in Example 14.1 covered twice the area, but was kept to the same depth, would the dam need to be redesigned?
Pressure in a static fluid in a uniform gravitational field
A static fluid is a fluid that is not in motion. At any point within a static fluid, the pressure on all sides must be equal—otherwise, the fluid at that point would react to a net force and accelerate.
The pressure at any point in a static fluid depends only on the depth at that point. As discussed, pressure in a fluid near Earth varies with depth due to the weight of fluid above a particular level. In the above examples, we assumed density to be constant and the average density of the fluid to be a good representation of the density. This is a reasonable approximation for liquids like water, where large forces are required to compress the liquid or change the volume. In a swimming pool, for example, the density is approximately constant, and the water at the bottom is compressed very little by the weight of the water on top. Traveling up in the atmosphere is quite a different situation, however. The density of the air begins to change significantly just a short distance above Earth’s surface.
To derive a formula for the variation of pressure with depth in a tank containing a fluid of density ρ on the surface of Earth, we must start with the assumption that the density of the fluid is not constant. Fluid located at deeper levels is subjected to more force than fluid nearer to the surface due to the weight of the fluid above it. Therefore, the pressure calculated at a given depth is different than the pressure calculated using a constant density.
Imagine a thin element of fluid at a depth h, as shown in Figure 14.8. Let the element have a cross-sectional area A and height ΔyΔy. The forces acting upon the element are due to the pressures p(y) above and p(y+Δy)p(y+Δy) below it. The weight of the element itself is also shown in the free-body diagram.
Figure 14.8 Forces on a mass element inside a fluid. The weight of the element itself is shown in the free-body diagram.
Since the element of fluid between y and y+Δyy+Δy is not accelerating, the forces are balanced. Using a Cartesian y-axis oriented up, we find the following equation for the y-component:
p(y+Δy)A−p(y)A−gΔm=0(Δy<0).p(y+Δy)A−p(y)A−gΔm=0(Δy<0).
Note that if the element had a non-zero y-component of acceleration, the right-hand side would not be zero but would instead be the mass times the y-acceleration. The mass of the element can be written in terms of the density of the fluid and the volume of the elements:
Δm=|ρAΔy|=−ρAΔy (Δy<0).Δm=|ρAΔy|=−ρAΔy (Δy<0).
Putting this expression for ΔmΔm into Equation 14.6 and then dividing both sides by AΔyAΔy, we find
p(y+Δy)−p(y)Δy=−ρg.p(y+Δy)−p(y)Δy=−ρg.
Taking the limit of the infinitesimally thin element Δy→0Δy→0, we obtain the following differential equation, which gives the variation of pressure in a fluid:
dpdy=−ρg.dpdy=−ρg.
This equation tells us that the rate of change of pressure in a fluid is proportional to the density of the fluid. The solution of this equation depends upon whether the density ρ is constant or changes with depth; that is, the function ρ(y).
If the range of the depth being analyzed is not too great, we can assume the density to be constant. But if the range of depth is large enough for the density to vary appreciably, such as in the case of the atmosphere, there is significant change in density with depth. In that case, we cannot use the approximation of a constant density.
Pressure in a fluid with a constant density
Let’s use Equation 14.9 to work out a formula for the pressure at a depth h from the surface in a tank of a liquid such as water, where the density of the liquid can be taken to be constant.
We need to integrate Equation 14.9 from y=0,y=0, where the pressure is atmospheric pressure (p0),(p0), to y=−h,y=−h, the y-coordinate of the depth:
∫p0pdp=−∫0−hρgdyp−p0=ρghp=p0+ρgh.∫p0pdp=−∫0−hρgdyp−p0=ρghp=p0+ρgh.
Hence, pressure at a depth of fluid on the surface of Earth is equal to the atmospheric pressure plus ρgh if the density of the fluid is constant over the height, as we found previously.
Note that the pressure in a fluid depends only on the depth from the surface and not on the shape of the container. Thus, in a container where a fluid can freely move in various parts, the liquid stays at the same level in every part, regardless of the shape, as shown in Figure 14.9.
Figure 14.9 If a fluid can flow freely between parts of a container, it rises to the same height in each part. In the container pictured, the pressure at the bottom of each column is the same; if it were not the same, the fluid would flow until the pressures became equal.
Variation of atmospheric pressure with height
The change in atmospheric pressure with height is of particular interest. Assuming the temperature of air to be constant, and that the ideal gas law of thermodynamics describes the atmosphere to a good approximation, we can find the variation of atmospheric pressure with height, when the temperature is constant. (We discuss the ideal gas law in a later chapter, but we assume you have some familiarity with it from high school and chemistry.) Let p(y) be the atmospheric pressure at height y. The density ρρ at y, the temperature T in the Kelvin scale (K), and the mass m of a molecule of air are related to the absolute pressure by the ideal gas law, in the form
p=ρkBTm(atmosphere),p=ρkBTm(atmosphere),
where kBkB is Boltzmann’s constant, which has a value of 1.38×10−23J/K1.38×10−23J/K.
You may have encountered the ideal gas law in the form pV=nRTpV=nRT, where n is the number of moles and R is the gas constant. Here, the same law has been written in a different form, using the density ρρ instead of volume V. Therefore, if pressure p changes with height, so does the density ρ.ρ. Using density from the ideal gas law, the rate of variation of pressure with height is given as
dpdy=−p(mgkBT),dpdy=−p(mgkBT),
where constant quantities have been collected inside the parentheses. Replacing these constants with a single symbol α,α, the equation looks much simpler:
dpdy=−αpdpp=−αdy∫p0p(y)dpp=∫0y−αdy[ln(p)]p0p(y)=[−αy]0yln(p)−ln(p0)=−αyln(pp0)=−αydpdy=−αpdpp=−αdy∫p0p(y)dpp=∫0y−αdy[ln(p)]p0p(y)=[−αy]0yln(p)−ln(p0)=−αyln(pp0)=−αy
This gives the solution
p(y)=p0exp(−αy).p(y)=p0exp(−αy).
Thus, atmospheric pressure drops exponentially with height, since the y-axis is pointed up from the ground and y has positive values in the atmosphere above sea level. The pressure drops by a factor of 1e1e when the height is 1α,1α, which gives us a physical interpretation for αα: The constant 1α1α is a length scale that characterizes how pressure varies with height and is often referred to as the pressure scale height.
We can obtain an approximate value of αα by using the mass of a nitrogen molecule as a proxy for an air molecule. At temperature 27 °C,27 °C, or 300 K, we find
α=−mgkBT=4.8×10−26kg×9.81m/s21.38×10−23J/K×300 K=18800m.α=−mgkBT=4.8×10−26kg×9.81m/s21.38×10−23J/K×300 K=18800m.
Therefore, for every 8800 meters, the air pressure drops by a factor 1/e, or approximately one-third of its value. This gives us only a rough estimate of the actual situation, since we have assumed both a constant temperature and a constant g over such great distances from Earth, neither of which is correct in reality.
Direction of pressure in a fluid
Fluid pressure has no direction, being a scalar quantity, whereas the forces due to pressure have well-defined directions: They are always exerted perpendicular to any surface. The reason is that fluids cannot withstand or exert shearing forces. Thus, in a static fluid enclosed in a tank, the force exerted on the walls of the tank is exerted perpendicular to the inside surface. Likewise, pressure is exerted perpendicular to the surfaces of any object within the fluid. Figure 14.10 illustrates the pressure exerted by air on the walls of a tire and by water on the body of a swimmer.
Figure 14.10 (a) Pressure inside this tire exerts forces perpendicular to all surfaces it contacts. The arrows represent directions and magnitudes of the forces exerted at various points. (b) Pressure is exerted perpendicular to all sides of this swimmer, since the water would flow into the space he occupies if he were not there. The arrows represent the directions and magnitudes of the forces exerted at various points on the swimmer. Note that the forces are larger underneath, due to greater depth, giving a net upward or buoyant force. The net vertical force on the swimmer is equal to the sum of the buoyant force and the weight of the swimmer.
Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/university-physics-volume-1/pages/1-introduction
Authors: William Moebs, Samuel J. Ling, Jeff Sanny
Book title: University Physics Volume 1
Book URL: https://openstax.org/books/university-physics-volume-1/pages/1-introduction
Section URL: https://openstax.org/books/university-physics-volume-1/pages/14-1-fluids-density-and-pressure
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Installing low voltage lighting
Advice and guidance on repair and restoration techniques.
coppinpr
Location: Lewes, East Sussex
Contact coppinpr
Postby coppinpr » Sat Feb 04, 2017 2:09 pm
WARNING LOW VOLTAGE! purists on the site should not touch any exposed parts of this post
Yes this post will not be popular with the purists but I thought I'd write it up for a good reason. Not for the first time someone said to me last week how much he'd like to have the lights working on his two machines but won't risk it because his grandchildren love to play the machines and he doesn't like to risk 60+year old mains voltage in the machines. Problem is, the kids don't like playing the machines so much with the lights off!! This has also cropped up on the forum from time to time, so as I seem to be trying out new things on the Jennings Chinese front I'm working on AND it didn't have much in the way of lights from new despite having the see through plastic inserts in the lower case, I thought I'd give it a go.
First thing to note is LED lighting has improved no end since the early days. It's easy to use and very versatile. There was a lot of lighting to put in this machine to get the best out of the case so I chose to use a 4 by 60cm flex strip kit, which cost only £15 on line. The kit comes with mains cable/transformer, connectors for the strips, corner connectors and link cables to go between the strips if needed. What really makes these so versatile is the fact you can cut the strip to almost any length as long as you cut at the prescribed points (about every 4 inches). Although it wasn't needed on this job these cut lengths can have wires soldered on quite easily giving you whatever combinations and separations you need. I chose to use the harder bright white colour (in the photos this looks a little blue thanks to the way my phone takes photos) as it needs to show through the plastic inserts and covered window.
With self adhesive flex lighting you need to attach the strips firmly to avoid them peeling off later in life (this is actually not the problem it used to be - the 3M sticky is very good. I've installed this lighting in my Sauna and it's has stood up to 85c temps of a year now with no problems at all). Even so, I set out to give the strips the best seating I could. Using the screw holes already in use to hold the plastics and glasses in place I mounted small plastic angle to form rails to mount the lights on. This doesn't get in the way of any parts and doesn't cause any shadow on the light produced it's also the perfect base for the sticky adhesive.
On the lower casting this gave me the chance to mount the lights on both sides of the rail so as to cover all of the plastics.
I then worked out the route the strips would take starting at the left lower case and ending at the small display window in the top casting. The first 60cm flex did both sides of the left side rail perfectly,I then used one of the link cables to move across to the right side where the second flex did the two side there, this left me with an open connection ready to link to the top casting. With the plastic rails providing a continues track I laid the third and fourth flex (linked as one) under the reel window, round the payout card window and on up to the top window and right round that. I then cut the excess flex (about 3 inches) off and taped the end to the rest to form a complete surround. I added tape to those areas where the flex moves from one area to the next as an extra protection against peeling. Plugged it in and ...it works, better than expected in fact, with no heat to damage the paint on glass and low voltage for added safety.
I've left the one original tube in for the moment but might actually remove it as it's more trouble than it's worth.
I know it's not for everyone - it's not meant to be, but it does do the job, safely, cheaply and, to be honest in this case at least, effectively.
ddstoys
Re: Installing low voltage lighting
Postby ddstoys » Sat Feb 04, 2017 7:52 pm
Looks better than no lights that's for sure. There's also a warm white which gives off a more original glow than the super bright punch in the face white for those who prefer that.
Postby coppinpr » Sat Feb 04, 2017 11:19 pm
The warm white is too soft to penetrate the thick plastic inserts on the Jennings. Even the bright white shows as only soft glow once the mech is in the case.
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Travel You Can Stay In A 'Godfather'-Themed Suite At This Paramount Hotel In Dubai
You Can Stay In A 'Godfather'-Themed Suite At This Paramount Hotel In Dubai
Paramount Hotel Dubai © Paramount Hotel Dubai
By Relaxnews December 04, 2019
A touch of Hollywood is coming to Dubai with the opening of a Paramount Pictures hotel next year.
The glittering city of superlatives is set to roll out the red carpet in January for the opening of the Paramount Hotel Dubai, the first for the brand in the Middle East.
Film buffs will appreciate the hotel's nod to American cinema. The tower's 823 rooms are grouped under three themes: Scene and Stage Guest Rooms; Premiere Suites; and Paramount Suites, all of which take inspiration from Paramount Pictures movies.
Guests can recreate moments in cinematic history with stays in "Godfather," "Gatsby" and Carol Lombard-themed suites.
The mixed-use development project also features 1,140 serviced residences.
Amenities include the private movie theater, "Paramount Screening Room," a stage for live acts, fitness centers and swimming pools.
Dining options are distinctly Californian, with Pacific Groove serving up grilled seafood, woodfired steaks, fresh salads and a raw bar.
The hotel speakeasy, Flashback, steps back to old Hollywood with classic movie posters and craft cocktails.
Overall, the hotel will feature a dozen restaurants and bars.
Travel Cinema Destinations Hotels
Travel Eight Cities Around The Globe That Will Be Trending Destinations In 2020
By Relaxnews
Travel Reconnect With Yourself In New Zealand
You Can Stay In A 'Godfather'-Themed Suite At This Paramount Hotel In Dubai | Philippine Tatler
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Switch to: References
Citations of:
Semeiotic and the Cement of the Universe: A Peircean Process Approach to Causation
Menno Hulswit
Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 37 (3):339 - 363 (2001)
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On Peirce’s Pragmatic Notion of Semiosis—A Contribution for the Design of Meaning Machines.João Queiroz & Floyd Merrell - 2009 - Minds and Machines 19 (1):129-143.details
How to model meaning processes (semiosis) in artificial semiotic systems? Once all computer simulation becomes tantamount to theoretical simulation, involving epistemological metaphors of world versions, the selection and choice of models will dramatically compromise the nature of all work involving simulation. According to the pragmatic Peircean based approach, semiosis is an interpreter-dependent process that cannot be dissociated from the notion of a situated (and actively distributed) communicational agent. Our approach centers on the consideration of relevant properties and aspects of Peirce’s (...) pragmatic concept of semiotics. Upon developing this approach, we have no pretensions of our being able to present an exhaustive analysis of the differences between Peirce and other theoretical positions. Nevertheless, our contribution will serve to demonstrate how theorists contribute toward revealing certain fundamental ‘semiotic constraints’ that will be of interest and importance. (shrink)
19th Century American Pragmatism, Misc in Philosophy of the Americas
Charles Sanders Peirce in 19th Century Philosophy
Meaning, Misc in Philosophy of Language
Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence in Philosophy of Cognitive Science
Representation in Cognitive Science in Philosophy of Cognitive Science
Theories of Representation in Philosophy of Mind
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How Causal is Downward Causation?Menno Hulswit - 2005 - Journal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 36 (2):261 - 287.details
The purpose of this paper is to lay bare the major problems underlying the concept of downward causation as discussed within the perspective of the present interest for phenomena that are characterized by self-organization. In our Discussion of the literature, we have focussed on two questions: (1) What sorts of things are said to be, respectively, causing and caused within the context of downward causation? And (2) What is the meaning of 'causing' in downward causation? We have concluded that the (...) concept of 'downward causation' is muddled with regard to the meaning of causation and fuzzy with regard to the nature of the causes and the effects. Moreover, we have concluded that 'causation' in respect of 'downward causation' is usually understood in terms of explanation and determination rather than in terms of causation in the sense of 'bringing about'. Thus, the term 'downward causation' is badly chosen. (shrink)
Downward Causation in Metaphysics
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A Less Simplistic Metaphysics: Peirce’s Layered Theory of Meaning as a Layered Theory of Being.Marc Champagne - 2015 - Sign Systems Studies 43 (4):523–552.details
This article builds on C. S. Peirce’s suggestive blueprint for an inclusive outlook that grants reality to his three categories. Moving away from the usual focus on (contentious) cosmological forces, I use a modal principle to partition various ontological layers: regular sign-action (like coded language) subsumes actual sign-action (like here-and-now events) which in turn subsumes possible sign-action (like qualities related to whatever would be similar to them). Once we realize that the triadic sign’s components are each answerable to this asymmetric (...) subsumption, we obtain the means to track at which level of complexity semiosis finds itself, in a given case. Since the bulk of such a “trinitarian” metaphysics would be devoted to countenancing uninterpreted phenomena, I argue that current misgivings about sign-based ontologies are largely misplaced. (shrink)
Global Metaphysical Theories, Misc in Metaphysics
Modality in Metaphysics
Ontological Realism in Metaphysics
Process Philosophy in Metaphysics
The Semiotics of Global Warming: Combating Semiotic Corrruption.Arran Gare - 2007 - Theory and Science 9 (2):1-36.details
The central focus of this paper is the disjunction between the findings of climate science in revealing the threat of global warming and the failure to act appropriately to these warnings. The development of climate science can be illuminated through the perspective provided by Peircian semiotics, but efforts to account for its success as a science and its failure to convince people to act accordingly indicate the need to supplement Peirce’s ideas. The more significant gaps, it is argued, call for (...) the integration of major new ideas. It will be argued that Peirce should be viewed as a Schellingian philosopher, and it will then be shown how this facilitates integration into his philosophy of concepts developed by other philosophers and theorists within this tradition. In particular, Bourdieu’s concepts of the ‘habitus’ and ‘field’ will be integrated with Peirce’s semiotics and used to analyse the achievements and failures of climate science. It will be suggested that the resulting synthesis can augment Peirce’s evolutionary cosmology and so provide a better basis for comprehending and responding to the situation within which we find ourselves. (shrink)
Environmental Philosophy, Misc in Philosophy of Biology
The Biosemiotic Approach in Biology : Theoretical Bases and Applied Models.Joao Queiroz, Claus Emmeche, Kalevi Kull & Charbel El-Hani - 2011 - In George Terzis & Robert Arp (eds.), Information and Living Systems -- Philosophical and Scientific Perspectives. MIT Press. pp. 91-130.details
Biosemiotics is a growing fi eld that investigates semiotic processes in the living realm in an attempt to combine the fi ndings of the biological sciences and semiotics. Semiotic processes are more or less what biologists have typically referred to as “ signals, ” “ codes, ”and “ information processing ”in biosystems, but these processes are here understood under the more general notion of semiosis, that is, the production, action, and interpretation of signs. Thus, biosemiotics can be seen as biology (...) interpreted as a study of living sign systems — which also means that semiosis or sign process can be seen as the very nature of life itself. In other words, biosemiotics is a field of research investigating semiotic processes (meaning, signification, communication, and habit formation in living systems) and the physicochemical preconditions for sign action and interpretation. -/- (...). (shrink)
Biological Information in Philosophy of Biology
Philosophy of Biology, General Works in Philosophy of Biology
Philosophy of Biology, Misc in Philosophy of Biology
Philosophy of Information, Misc in Philosophy of Computing and Information
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Semiosis and Pragmatism: Toward a Dynamic Concept of Meaning.João Queiroz & Floyd Merrell - 2006 - Sign Systems Studies 34 (1):37-66.details
Philosophers and social scientists of diverse orientations have suggested that the pragmatics of semiosis is germane to a dynamic account of meaning as process. Semiosis, the central focus of C. S. Peirce's pragmatic philosophy, may hold a key to perennial problems regarding meaning. Indeed, Peirce's thought should be deemed seminal when placed within the cognitive sciences, especially with respect to his concept of the sign. According to Peirce's pragmatic model, semiosis is a triadic, time-bound, context-sensitive, interpreter-dependent, materially extended dynamic process. (...) Semiosis involves inter-relatedness and inter-action between signs, their objects, acts and events in the world, and the semiotic agents who are in the process of making and taking them. (shrink)
American Pragmatism, Misc in Philosophy of the Americas
Aspects of Meaning, Misc in Philosophy of Language
Theories of Reference, Misc in Philosophy of Language
Habit in Semiosis: Two Different Perspectives Based on Hierarchical Multi-Level System Modeling and Niche Construction Theory.Pedro Ata & Joao Queiroz - 2016 - In Anderson M. West D. & Donna West (eds.), Consensus on Peirce’s Concept of Habit. Berlin: Springer. pp. 109-119.details
Habit in semiosis can be modeled both as a macro-level in a hierarchical multi-level system where it functions as boundary conditions for emergence of semiosis, and as a cognitive niche produced by an ecologically-inherited environment of cognitive artifacts. According to the first perspective, semiosis is modeled in terms of a multilayered system, with micro functional entities at the lower-level and with higher-level processes being mereologically composed of these lower-level entities. According to the second perspective, habits are embedded in ecologically-inherited environments (...) of signs that co-evolve with cognition. Both descriptions offer a novel approximation of Peirce’s semiotics and theoretical findings in other areas (hierarchy theory, evolutionary biology), suggesting new frameworks to approach the concept of habit integrated with its role in semiosis. (shrink)
Emergence in Cognitive Science in Philosophy of Cognitive Science
Emergence, Misc in Metaphysics
Interlevel Relations in Cognitive Science, Misc in Philosophy of Cognitive Science
Downward Determination in Semiotic Multi-Level Systems.Joao Queiroz & Charbel El-Hani - 2012 - Cybernetics and Human Knowing -- A Journal of Second Order Cybernetics, Autopoiesis & Semiotics 1 (2):123-136.details
Peirce's pragmatic notion of semiosis can be described in terms of a multi-level system of constraints involving chance, efficient, formal and final causation. According to the model proposed here, law-like regularities, which work as boundary conditions or organizational principles, have a downward effect on the spatiotemporal distribution of lower-level semiotic items. We treat this downward determinative influence as a propensity relation: if some lower-level entities a,b,c,-n are under the influence of a general organizational principle, W, they will show a tendency (...) to behave in certain specific ways, and, thus, to instantiate a set of specific processes. Our goal in this paper is to examine the role of downward determination in semiotic systems, conceived as multi-level hierarchical systems. (shrink)
Concepts of Emergence in Metaphysics
Intersemiotic Translation and Transformational Creativity.Daniella Aguiar, Pedro Ata & Joao Queiroz - 2015 - Punctum 1 (2):11-21.details
In this article we approach a case of intersemiotic translation as a paradigmatic example of Boden’s ‘transformational creativity’ category. To develop our argument, we consider Boden’s fundamental notion of ‘conceptual space’ as a regular pattern of semiotic action, or ‘habit’ (sensu Peirce). We exemplify with Gertrude Stein’s intersemiotic translation of Cézanne and Picasso’s proto-cubist and cubist paintings. The results of Stein’s IT transform the conceptual space of modern literature, constraining it towards new patterns of semiosis. Our association of Boden’s framework (...) to describe a cognitive creative phenomenon with a philosophically robust theory of meaning results in a cognitive semiotic account of IT. (shrink)
Aesthetic Cognition, Misc in Aesthetics
Aesthetics and Cognitive Science in Aesthetics
Creativity in Philosophy of Mind
Semiotics in Social Sciences
Translation, Misc in Philosophy of Language
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« No Rice, No Lice, No Dice
Guns Kill (The details) »
Why USA Is Gunning For Guns
Abstract: DOES THE USA HAVE HUMANITY AT THE POINT OF A GUN? The obsession 70% of Americans have with shooting other Americans is the most violent violation of Civil Rights imaginable. That’s why they want it. The will to shoot others is worse than the will to enslave them. Who would profit from such a mentality? How did it come about? Why is the pro-gun obsession progressing in the USA, in parallel with the progression of plutocracy?
This essay explains why plutocracy pushes guns onto society. It opens new perspectives sure to make the nasty scream, and reveal who, among us, deep down inside, overflow with nastiness at heart. It may shame the majority whose action enables child killers (see teachers financing Assault Rifles makers).
Guns in the USA against all and any reason, but the most abject, is not just an Americano-American problem. Life at the point of a gun imposes, in the world’s leading nation, a mentality of privileging violence over reason, and hatred over empathy. That mentality, in turn, is forced onto the rest of the planet (say from movies, universities, opinion, diplomacy).
The Grossest Propaganda Works the Best
Most legislators in the USA are millionaires, and that’s not from their salary! But by doing exactly what their plutocratic masters want them to do. And one fundamental lesson to legislate is: France Bad, Guns Good.
[See note.]
The gun mentality plays the central role in the greenhouse-acid seas disaster: no nation has been so keen to block meaningful action as the USA. The most influential right fanatics who insist upon making the USA into a gun society are those who want plutocracy and maximal fossil fuel burning. Everybody is afraid of them. Letting them shoot their way through civilization, the most basic humanity, and common sense, is not how matters will improve on this planet. (But, of course, making things worse is exactly what they want, and that’s why they caress their warm guns.)
Those who have little time can read my main thesis immediately following (the rest of the 5,000 words of the essay just buttress that main thesis by going into the nitty-gritty, including the direct implication of plutocrats):
Main Thesis:
GUNS ARE NOT JUST ABOUT SHOOTING PEOPLE, BUT ALSO ABOUT SHOOTING DOWN LOVE, REASON, By, And While Embracing The Very Mood That Enables Cruel & Violent Masters To Reign:
Possessing guns to kill people with, is about imposing one’s own violence as the ultimate arbitrage. Many Americans claim to view this as the ultimate expression of the American sense of freedom. Call it the freedom to inflict carnage.
The mood dominating the present USA depends upon commoners accepting violence as an overriding principle, and guns symbolize that. Instead of trying to understand things, the way Europeans have learned to do, not knowing enough to know any better is erected as definitive, glorious, all-American.
So right from the start gun advocates are tied in to the worst of man, the Darkest Side, when thoughts are only directed towards murder. Getting them out of that spiral of horror means giving them the courage, and knowledge to recognize that they have made a pact with the devil: their souls, against the orgasmic feeling a warm gun give them. They represent, they have made into an idolatry, the worst of man.
Moreover, gun fanatics succumb that way, not because they are free, but precisely because they are slaves, not because they are courageous, but because they are cowards.
The preceding is not insulting, but objectively descriptive. Insults claim what is not. An accurate depiction is not an insult.
If I describe a garbage pile, that I am contemplating, it’s not an insult. If I describe an angel as a garbage pile, it’s an insult, to the angel, and to reason.
By turning innocent little children regularly into garbage, the gun advocates of America are insulting humanity, as they claim to have the freedom to make holes into children. All the more as gun fanatics cover it all by holier than thou inanities. This essay will come up will plenty of reasons to justify the preceding, turning what precedes not into insults, but into faithful representation of what is.
A plutocracy is not a civil society. Thus, to have a plutocracy, one needs, first, to have a society that is not civil. Guns help to achieve this lack of civility indispensable to plutocracy. This is why the plutocracy insures, through the mass media enough mind control to make sure that, in the USA, people attack each other like rats in cage, with the biggest weapons they can find.
Through its control of mass media, and unending repetition, of the same lies and idiocies, the plutocrats have made the citizens of the USA believe half a dozen absurdities about gun ownership. The result is exactly what the plutocrats wanted: a society where everybody is afraid of everybody, and where the most basic human right, the right to life, is violated. Once the most basic civil and human right is violated, other violations shall easily follow. Such as having the richest and nastiest pay no, or very little taxes. Yes, my point is that the gun problem is just one aspect, part and parcel, one more way to help enable plutocracy.
More subtle, the trite idiot thoughts supporting massive gun usage have made people deeply stupid. The cowards blurt:”We have to defend ourselves!” and grab a gun. Never mind if children get killed. It sounds good to them, so they believe in it, all the more since the rest of them also bleat that way. However, statistics and observations contradict the argument that they have guns to defend themselves. Actually they have guns to kill themselves. Not only are they sadists, but they are also suicidal narcissistic masochists. (The lunatic at the primary school still had hundreds of rounds, but as the police closed in, he killed himself, proving the point that his fundamental mission was to take out his despicably low life. This is typical.)
In the USA, keeping a gun in the home carries a murder risk 2.7 times greater than not keeping one. Never mind! They believe in it! It’s all about faith! Gun and God! Gun is god, and bullets make the only points they can understand.
Gun ownership is not about reason, it’s all about the opposite. Gun ownership is about violating reason: the more one says guns are for defense, and the less true it is, the better! Thus the little minds learn that reason is irrelevant, that what their masters, the plutocrats they venerate, told them, is dominant.
Thus, symbolically, Civil and Human Rights, and reason itself, are exhibited as secondary to what gun fanatics have been told to believe in, namely their right to murder. And they have been told that, again and again and again, by big money, all over the media they control, by the wealthy ones who devise the American discourse. That is all what the plutocrats want their commoners to believe.
Conclusion: A guns totting society is scared, divided, prone to violence against itself, stupid, and, having no time or inclination to establish a class consciousness, cannot organize itself against cruel abuse, as it is too busy dodging bullets. What a better place to establish plutocracy, which is vigilantism writ enormous, for the benefit of the few? And if small people are small vigilantes, is not it natural that the plutocrats employ armies of lobbyists and politicians, let alone body guards and private enclaves, to, well, defend themselves, too?
It goes without saying that the internal violence of the USA comes out externally, and that is why the USA has sabotaged all efforts against heat trapping industrial gases, in the last 30 years.
Interestingly, the same situation exactly, of violence unchained, brought down the Late Roman empire, when plutocracy mutated into the feudal order. Not a coincidence.
Now for the details.
Tags: Children, Civil Rights, Guns, Schools, Second Amendment, Shooting, USA Constitution
This entry was posted on December 17, 2012 at 8:48 pm and is filed under American History, civilization., Human Ethology, Systems Of Moods, Systems Of Thought. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
32 Responses to “Why USA Is Gunning For Guns”
Andy Outis Says:
I haven’t had a chance to read this broadside yet, but that graphic is awesome.
Related: http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2012/12/newtown-follow-the-money.html
Newtown: Follow the Money
Will investors in big firearms companies start to ask questions?.
Andy: It’s more than investors who have to ask questions. All those who pretend to feel sorry should ask themselves questions!
Alexi Helligar Says:
Alexi Helligar: Okay, so it appears that the leading financier of military style weapons like the one used in the Sandy Hook shootings is a hedge fund called Cerberus Capital Management. Cerberus was the three-headed hound that guarded the gates of Hades which is the kingdom of Pluto. It is interesting when myth intersects with the morning news.
Here’s an excerpt from the article on the Huffington Post:
“Any move to clamp down on consumer sales of military-style weapons could fall heavily on Bushmaster and its corporate parent, Freedom Group, a private company owned by a New York-based hedge fund, Cerberus Capital Management. According to its 2011 annual report, Freedom Group is the nation’s largest manufacturer of military-style semiautomatics, which it calls “modern sporting rifles.”
Freedom Group also owns Remington and DPMS Firearms, two other leading manufacturers of military-style semiautomatics.
In its 2011 report, Freedom Group described semiautomatic rifles as among the firm’s most promising areas of growth. The market for such guns grew 27 percent between 2007 and 2011, the firm said.”
Hi Alexi! Thanks for the very interesting comment and discovery. I knew, but had forgotten this! So I scrambled to add it to this 5,000 words essay against guns. More ammunition to shoot down the well armed enemy on the other side of the guns! When mythology, the description of our deepest fantasies, thus of our deepest nature, comes to the surface, new legislation can blossom. That, or savagery.
The Plutocrats’ greatest fear must surely be that one day the plebs will wake up to their crimes and rise up against them, so the last thing they would wish is for the plebs to be armed.
And if you would like a conspiracy theory (we haven’t had a good one for some time), then it is is obvious this is all a CIA plot to enable Obama to take the plebs’ guns away from them …..
Chris: One does not fight the government of the plutocrats with guns, but with clever ideas of mass distribution. People rise with ideas. Other thing: full war weapons are unlawful anyway. Nobody has suggested to take hunting rifles away. Those are most effective against an armed oppressor, not handguns. But they are much easier to bar from public places. Try to go the airport with a gun to kill boars with!
There are millions of such guns in France, and they enable the occasional massacre. But an order of magnitude, or two below the USA, simply because boar hunting rifles are NOT Assault Rifles: they fired only two enormous shots, but reloading takes a while (during which time potential victims can flee!)
After the recent Australian regulation of Assault Rifles, the number of murders by firearms went down 60% (guns are still aplenty in Australia, just more regulated).
It seems to me extreme efforts are deployed to make the USA as non civil a society as possible.
Completely insane reasonings about mass destruction guns are left unmolested. That seems a conspiracy to me. Look at the Roberts-Bush SCOTUS finding that mass destruction guns are a right. What about a right to life?
As for the shooting, I would like to know why “something should be done” NOW when it wasn’t deemed necessary the LAST time? And though the removal of guns from the public would undoubtedly be effective to some degree, so would better procedures. This woman was KNOWN to be batty (a “The world is doomed” survivalist) AND to be a fanatical gun handler AND to have a looney son. If all these things were KNOWN then why on earth was she allowed to keep an arsenal of weapons at her house? It is as if any checks made (including anything new introduced after Colombine) were so pathetic as to be pointless.
Chris: The lady was reasonably rich, and police in the USA worries more about low lives. I guess you never heard of the straw that broke the camel’s back? Or seeing a long list of children aged 7 or 6, some shot up to eleven times?
There are millions of survivalist types in the USA armed to the teeth. One cannot check all their houses and dens deep in the woods. After interviews with psychiatrists. Every few months. Remember that there are no checks on firearms resales. Also, to enter a home, one needs a motive, only the Nazis conducted such searches for guns… And it did not work out too well: they had to admit that the French resistance kept at least 17 German divisions busy, full time in June 1944 (when they had other things to do!). The first thing to implement in the present USA is to duplicate what was done in Australia, where there are still plenty of guns, but much fewer murders. Nothing very dramatic.
Chris: There is no law against being “batty” or “looney”. The problem is that it is far too easy for those with violent imaginations to lay hands on weapons designed to automatically kill as many as possible. Yes, we need to address mental illness. Yes, we need to address the prevailing social message that violence is the solution. But, for love of Christ, let’s seize the low-hanging fruit and severely restrict civilian access to military-style automatic weapons.
Chris: Alexi is right. People get enraged sometimes. I have come across people (in the USA) who threatened to kill me (in public, to the point that, having witnesses, I had the police visit the perpetrator once!) The same gentleman (plenty of people would describe him that way) is now calm, years later, and even talks very nicely to my daughter (who looks like me). At least that is what my spouse, and others, told me (I avoid him).
But, if the day he threatened to kill me (because I had gone one reasoning too far), he has had an Assault Riffle around, that may have been different (as he was crazy enough to threaten me in public, he could have got even crazier and kill the disapproving public). Yes, he is a gun fanatic. All sorts of guns. Such is life in the USA.
What the mentally retarded and corrupt U.S. Supreme Court feels it can feign to not realize is that the amendment of 1791 was made for militia (the police can be viewed as the militia the Second Amendment posited, there was no police in 1791), and for muskets (reloading time between shots thirty seconds; a semiautomatic gun can fire several times in one second).
Old Geezer Pilot Says:
Forget about meaningful gun control. It is too late. There are 300 million guns in America, average 3 per household. Better to concentrate on people control.
Back in the 50s, crazy people were institutionalized. Then in the 60s, it was determined that crazy people had rights, too, and that with proper meds, they could safely be released into society.
Oh, and we would save money by closing down mental hospitals.
Half a century later, we need to revisit this decision. I am all for freedom for all, but the safety of the community is of equal importance.
Dear OGP: We both know it’s R. Reagan who closed the cages for mental retards, so they are now roaming around, clearly a problem. However, with Obama proposing half a trillion of cuts in Medicare over ten years, re-opening mental hospitals is a a no-go.
I propose simply to copy what was done in Australia for gun control. Not perfect, but better than the situation getting much worse as it has in the last four years (see my future answer to chris Snuggs)…
True the mad ones kill with knives, also, but it’s much more difficult to do, especially with modern medecine, as the case in the Chinese elementary school showed last week (22 wounded, no one killed).
Your “solution” Chris is exactly that of the NRA. Arming teachers. Arming teachers is perfect for Bushmaster, owned by Cerberus, owned exclusively by plutocrats (and some… teachers retirement funds, as I mentioned in the essay). Plutocrats want everybody armed, so they can shoot them all (as they, plutocrats, have private armies).
You keep on saying the lady was batty, but that’s your opinion unsupported by facts. She was not arrested to my knowledge. The economy of the USA is depressed, and millions of Americans think it’s going down the drain, if that’s batty, then you consider batty most of the population. They also made a big deal of the son being asocial, but he was in school at some point and in a science club (a proof of higher sociability). So what happens when the local “batty” teacher grabs his semi-automatic with hundreds of rounds?
The teaching profession faces heavy cuts, teachers are depressed…
Other point Chris: There are basically NO gun control laws in many states of the USA. You can walk in and buy several semi-automatic guns, with thousands of rounds. Next you can go to Washington DC with your armament. The Supreme Court found that the city of Washington had no right to prevent that. AUSTRALIA just bought back guns; that would work by the dozens of millions in the USA, as the economy is depressed. Now Obama is probably physically scared. A batty guy (since arrested) fired a high power riffle from nearly a mile away (where there is a major road). The round left a hole in the White House, at the height of a man’s head, where Obama often walks. Obama left the bullet hole as a reminder.
Chris, you talk about the USA of your dreams, you don’t live there. Anti-gun laws have been CONSIDERABLY relaxed since Bush. A century ago, you could not introduce guns in national parks. Now you can (Obama). And now you can take the train with your armament (Obama). And countless states have passed concealed weapons laws, something that was NOT EVEN LEGAL IN much of the THE WILD WEST. The worst effect of it all is that an ambiance of uncivilized terror is creeping in. So when I see Europeans dreaming of the USA, I smirk. The first thing my spouse said after visiting a large, expensive private elementary school, full of international children was that a gunman with an assault riffle could break in, and kill all the international babies (something alluring in much of USA folk culture). That was 24 hours before the Connecticut massacre. In the Silicon Valley area, dozens of children get shot, every year. The murder rate by firearms in some cities there is as much as 1 per 2,000 per year. Enough of the madness! At least let’s qualify it as it is!
Alex lemas Says:
Just what are the gun laws in Australia.
Alex: Wellcome to the comments sections here! I wrote TWO essays on guns, and I may have dealt a bit with the situation in Australia. Australia, like the USA or South Africa now, used to be a gun obsessed society. Then there were a few massacres too many, including a bouquet final in Tasmania. That was followed by a crack down, a gun buy back, and now the number of gun murders has enormously gone down.
In Europe, the country with the most easily accessible war weapons is Switzerland, where soldiers can bring their guns home (!). The murder rate there, by guns, is enormous (more than ten times Britain for example).
In South Africa, 80% of gun murders are within families. The scariest thing is the inability to loom at the facts, just like the blade runner guy, a scared rabbit who shot his latest conquest the fashion model, arguing she looked like a burglar to him. Except that was through the door… Of the bathroom…
My thinking has been changed from this horrible event. Although Ray-Gun closed the hospitals to save money, I supported the rights of crazy people (so-designated by society) to be free, as long as they did not harm others. That meant putting up with panhandlers and street people.
But I now see what havoc one maniac can wreak.
BTW, he could also have taken his car and driven it through the playground during recess.
So, I hate to agree with the NRA, but it really does come down to how we deal with mental illness.
Dear OGP: I disagree with you, and so do the experts:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/18/health/a-misguided-focus-on-mental-illness-in-gun-control-debate.html?ref=science
I am going to break up my essay in two. First part will be the general ideas, the connection between increasing plutocratic rule and giving the ability to citizens to kill each other, in other words, the weakening of the state.
Then I will gather all the technicals. That, incredibly, needs to be extended a bit. It turns out that the connection between mental illness and guns is weak. There are probably as many crazies in europe as in the USA, but mass murders are rarer there by an order of magnitude, at least. The maniac in Norway (77 killed) was not much more maniacal than the 900,000 who voluntarily entered the Himmler’s SS. At least that is what experts found in Norway.
Mentally sick ideas are much worse than mentally sick people, because they affect otherwise healthy individuals. Thinking all and any normal people should have semi-automatic gun in hand, bearing hundreds of rounds, each and any time when they may happen to very angry, is insane. That is, not sane. It’s that idea, fabricated by the NRA and its plutocratic masters that is insane, not the trigger men (the Bushmaster 223 is made by a company owned by Freedom Group, owned by Cerberus, a conspiracy of billionaires).
Human anger is cathartic, it helps mental phase changes. But, mass murdering gun in hand, anger makes massacres. And a society continually terrified.
Damn it, PA. Now you’ve got me thinking the other way. You are right – the USA has no monopoly on lunatics, but we sure lead the world in gun violence.
However, the Israelis ALL keep firearms in their homes, as do the Swiss. Of course, all the owners have been through military service and one would suppose are not insane. But their children might be.
The biggest problem in the USA is, of course, the REMOVAL of all the guns that have been accumulated over the decades during which the Congress failed to act.
We can’t have the FEDs going around kicking in doors, can we?
To be fair, I never said people had no right to be batty. I am merely trying to be logical:
A) There are SOME rules in the USA about owning guns, right?
B) Whatever rules there are, they did NOT prevent a batty woman and her insane son to own assault rifles.
CONCLUSION: Either
A) The rules are pathetic and might as well not exist.
B) The enforcement is criminally negligent.
Alright so far?
My second point was – and I now try to make it more clearly – is to ask what Obama will DO, no government having done anything effective since the LAST massacre. They cannot ban guns as in Europe, not only because of the Constitution but also because it would start a war with those (among whom are many batty) who would refuse to give up their weapons – especially in rural areas. THOUSANDS would die if the govt really tried to remove people’s guns.
Conclusion: all the govt can do is to ban assault weapons and the like, which they COULD have done years ago but didn’t. I fear that once again there will be a lot of huff and puff about this and then things will go on much the same as before.
My solution is to arm teachers ….. Do send your message to the Supreme Court that they are mentally retarded. The onus would then be on them to resign en masse and report to the nearest shrink for treatment.
B) Banning guns would lead to a humungous black market. Anyone remember Prohibition?
Chris: The civilizational retards at the U.S. Supreme Court are VERY SENSITIVE to the pain they feel when they are called mental retards, or thoroughly uncivilized, by serious Europeans (especially fellow judges; OK, not really fellow, as they are from different civilizations!). Because they know it’s true.
That’s why they backed off a bit about the death penalty.
They, truly are savages, though, and they violated the spirit of the Founding Fathers when they overrode the Washington DC elected city government and forced it to become a gun city. Those naughty savages have to be shamed into civilization!
Amna Shiekh Says:
Everything is violence, these are your own words. So what are guns doing that isn’t already being done?
Amna: Any statement, sufficiently deprived from context, or sufficiently endowed with an unintended context, can be rolled out to say anything. For example, once I said “Yes!” But yes to what? Sure forces are everywhere and thus, in a sense violence is everywhere, but the context there could be Quantum Field Theory, or biological evolution. When we talk about guns in the USA, the context is guns in the USA.
Mom: Too many Americans are still stuck into the killing Indian mode. Killing and guns is from a lack of culture. Just something primitives do.
Dear Mom: Not the “politically” correct thing to say, but probably the philosophical one. As strange and gross as it may sound. As simple as that. The history of the USA shows that violence worked, and works. So far, so good…
It is hard for people in the UK to understand how the USA came to enshrine the right to bear arms in its Constitution. This incredulity is not shaken even when two unarmed policewomen are lured to a house in Manchester and shot dead by a wanted criminal. Even after such an atrocity, the majority of British people recognise that restricting access to guns – for public and police alike – restricts the potential for those guns to be misused (and/or for fatal mistakes to be made).
Early European settlers became accustomed to carrying guns in the midst of the free-for all of carving-up and claiming ownership of the so-called New World. Such a rights-claiming but responsibility-free mentality was understandable in an apparent wilderness but, today, it is not understandable, appropriate, or sensible. I therefore hope that this latest atrocity will result in semi-automatic assault weapons being banned once again; and that this time the prohibition will become permanent.
The USA today stands at a fork in the road; it can now choose to ban the guns that are used by most of these unbalanced individuals; or it can make handguns standard issue for all schoolteachers. Given the insanity of their denial of climate change, I am not at all surprised that it is the neo-Conservatives that are in favour of the latter. Thankfully, such ideologically-blindness is now destined for oblivion (because of the defeat of Mitt Romney).
So, there is yet hope that the USA can pull itself out of the cess-pit of its own making that is a gun owning meritocracy; and choose not to make all teachers potential killers (which would steal away the innocence of all children – not just those caught up in atrocities such as that we have just witnessed).
Dear Martin: I have to run right now, I will answer you more in detail later. Anyway, thanks for the nice comment. Yes, the USA has 50 (Fifty) times the firearms murder rate of Great Britain. This is saying that there is something in the mood in the USA that is 50 times bigger than in the UK. Hard to imagine. (I cut the essay in two, putting the technical details in a second essay.)
I am happy to report that, after a bit of wobbling (the stupid White House talking head, some young guy, whined that the gun problem was “complex”), Obama acted DECISIVELY, and named a “task force” headed by VP Biden to support legislative change.
Violence against people readily extends to violence against the environment. So ecologists should be concerned about the attitude to violence that people have.
I think that last paragraph of your reply is very significant, Patrice.
Human violence against Nature started with deforestation. Today, violence against Nature is perpetrated by all those that cling to the post-Enlightenment belief that we can dominate and subdue Nature… Sadly, they are wrong; if we do not live in harmony with Nature it will almost certainly exterminate us.
Therefore excessive shooting with guns is deemed to be legitimate because of our success in cutting down trees; and – in the minds of many today – there seems to be little difference.
Perfectly correct, Martin! Now the ancestors had to cut trees. However, they did not get away with it: in many places of the Middle Earth (Whatever can be reached from the Middle East within a few months of travel by Neolithic means, i.ei from Britain to India) cutting the trees accelerated, or even created desertification. Egypt is case in point (!).
Right now, we do NOT have to proceed with coal. Anymore. British leaders were debating getting out of coal, exactly a century ago. Now leaders, everywhere, and especially the developping world, have decided to develop coal big time. In a few years, it will become, again, humanity ‘s main source of energy! Thus we will carry the sins of the Kyoto accord.
So what is going on? These leaders are actually plutocrats. They are not just leaders. They are rich, powerful, and nasty.
OK, Martin, I am turning these remarks into an essay within an extensive geo-historico-political landscape. You inspired me! Thanks! I will publish it tomorrow…
Your comment about the events of 100 years ago reminds me of a comment Pendantry has made many times regarding Polly Higgins’ book Eradicating Ecocide, which highlights the Conference held in the UK in 1911, the conclusions of which got lost in the cataclysm if World War One…
Yes, Martin, there is a very long history of terrible pollution in Britain due to heavy industry and coal. After around 5,000 people died in a smog in London in the 1950s, measures were taken. However, right now, decisions have been taken in developing countries to smog us out, pretty soon. And CCS can’t work, because the whole idea of coal is not too pay for the pollution (otherwise it would be locally uneconomical, which means, it is globally uneconomical!)
Anyway, I am sure you will like the next essay. it entangles the last 50,000 years with our present ominous fate, tightly…
JMcG Says:
Will read the rest of your piece when I have enough time.
By the way, not only French cheese but proscuitto crudo/chambon cru/Rohschinken is another thing you will not find in many U.S. supermarkets. Instead, what you find in most U.S. grocery stores is “cooked” ham full of water and additives. Some “choice.” Also, one of the reasons so many Americans are overweight and that the factory farms that produce hogs pollute so much.
100 grams of proscuitto crudo for sandwiches for lunch lasts us several days and tastes better and contains a lot less calories and other crud that the “safer” U.S. ham. The meat industry employs lobbyists to pass laws that allow it to keep better European products out of the U.S. so it can enjoy a near-monopoly selling inferior ones, instead. Come to think of it, some environmentalists would be happier if Americans consumed less meat, too. Not surprisingly the Dept of Agriculture is the tool of the meat industry.
Jeff: Agreed, USA ham is disgusting. They also put water (with carcenogenic additives) inside meat.
So when you put it in a pan, it makes bubbles… Chemical bubbles. But then the sheeple bleat that this is the country of freedom. freedom for plutocrats, slavery, mental slavery, for the rest.
My general essay is along the lines you were speaking of, actually. Just more general.
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Optimising Magento’s Search Function
by Paul Rogers October 26, 2016 April 14, 2018
The statistics for online retail in the UK continue to show substantial growth, with the average weekly online spend up to £931 million in September 2016, a rise of 22% from the previous September. With online spending accounting for just 15% of all retail spending, it’s clear that there is still huge scope for significant further growth in online shopping. As the leading eCommerce platform globally, it’s vital that Magento continues to innovate and refine its offering, to ensure that retailers can take advantage of that growth potential. One functional area, in particular that stands out as a big focus for lots of large merchants and a key weakness of the Community Edition and Enterprise Edition Magento platforms is on-site search.
In this article, we review how Magento’s site search stacks up, for both the Community Edition (CE) and the Enterprise Edition (EE). We also take a look at the latest developments in ecommerce site search, and evaluate some third-party solutions for improving Magento’s search capabilities.
Magento’s out-of-the-box search
Whilst the out-of-the-box (OOTB) search in Magento CE is definitely not the poorest performer within the platform market, there are nonetheless some significant hurdles that can compromise a positive customer experience. Common complaints, from Magento store owners and their customers alike, include the platform either returning thousands of irrelevant results or no results at all, even when you know categorically that the product is available in the store’s catalog. Magento can be brutal in its delivery of a zero results page, and offers little to no help in this scenario, other than suggesting that the customer tries again.
Many of these problems can be mitigated to some extent by correct setup of the search functionality and the product catalog. By default, Magento will take each single word in a search phrase and search for that word separately, which is why results can often appear to be somewhat random. Switching from the default search type of ‘Like’ to either ‘Fulltext’ or ‘Combined’ should improve results accuracy. You can read more on the benefits of this change here.
One OOTB feature of Magento’s search that sets it apart from some other eCommerce platforms is the ability to define synonyms. By analysing search terms used on a site, the owner can spot terms that should be returning results, but are in fact delivering the zero results page instead. If this is happening because of plural/singular mismatches or common misspellings,for example, the store owner can ‘fix’ the problem by defining a synonym, to ensure that the expected results are delivered in future. Used well, this is a powerful feature, but unfortunately, it can be time-consuming to keep on top of.
Magento also allows administrators to set up redirects to categories or CMS pages. For example, a search for ‘mens trousers’ could be redirected straight to the category ‘Mens Trousers’, and a search for ‘returns’ could be redirected straight to the CMS page where refunds and returns processing are documented. However, Magento falls short in that it doesn’t actually search CMS pages, for example blog content, user guides or customer support pages.
Magento Enterprise Edition does offer additional features over the search found in the CE edition, principally because it can be configured to use the Apache Solr search engine. With Solr enabled, Magento Enterprise Edition can offer search term correction, search suggestions, attribute weighting for improved relevance, and dramatic performance improvements. Magento 2.1x Enterprise Edition comes with further improvements as a result of them moving to using ElasticSearch (a more flexible, open-source framework), which, amongst other things, supports stop words and synonyms.
Both Community Edition and Enterprise Edition editions offer some basic search reporting capabilities, although, as with many of Magento’s OOTB reporting tools, these are somewhat limited and not designed to be administrator-friendly. It’s hoped that Magento’s recent acquisition of RJMetrics will lead to improvements in this area in due course.
It may seem that OOTB search in Magento (particularly with Magento 2 Enterprise) appears to be quite powerful, and indeed, if configured well and maintained regularly, it can produce reasonable results. However, if we start to examine some of the more recent innovations in the field of eCommerce site search, it soon becomes clear that many of the third-party alternative solutions have plenty of features that standard Magento search cannot match.
Recent trends in eCommerce site search
Site search started life as a keyword-driven system, and this is pretty much where Magento’s search has remained, along with many other eCommerce platforms. However, the latest generation of search engines has moved on, towards natural language processing (NLP). An NLP-driven search engine focuses on meaning rather than keywords, so it can deliver much more relevant result sets. NLP-based solutions also typically feature self-learning capabilities, to generate a continuously improving search tool.
As search engine algorithms have moved towards a more semantic approach, so supporting search tools have leaned towards improving the search journey and the customer experience. Additional developments include sophisticated faceted search (as per the above screenshot), which allows the customer to further refine a results-set, as well as things like content searching and custom weighting options, which allow administrators to boost specific categories, products or product attributes.
Third-party solutions
At some stage in the growth of an online retailer, the time comes to take action, in order to improve on-site search. Faced with a review of search term usage and performance, along with search journey analytics, looking at third-party alternatives soon becomes a priority. I’ve been working with Klevu for around a year, as a consultant, and I consider their product to be the best on the market.
Klevu is the leader in natural language processing and provides a lot of benefits in accuracy and auto-suggestions as a result. They also offer capabilities around self-learning results (auto-merchandised based on user behaviour and purchasing), advanced manual merchandising, automated catalog enrichment, a comprehensive reporting dashboard, rapid results, faceted search etc.
The third-party options for Magento search tend to fall into two groups – off-the-shelf extensions and enterprise-level solutions. In terms of simple extensions, Mirasvit’s Sphinx Search Ultimate is a popular choice for smaller merchants, offering auto-correct, dropdown auto-suggest, content searching and much more. As an affordable step towards a more powerful search tool, this extension is worth examining. Although, in most instances I’d suggest looking at a lower cost package from Klevu or Algolia, as they’re very competitive.
For those retailers with larger, more complex catalogs, however, an enterprise-grade solution, such as Klevu, is perhaps an appropriate choice. At its heart, Klevu has a powerful NLP-based engine that offers smart learning technology to deliver the most accurate results possible (as detailed above). With automatic addition of relevant synonyms, robust merchandising options, weighting, content searching, intelligent auto-suggest, solid search analytics and more, this type of enterprise search tool really sets the benchmark for eCommerce site search. Sitting outside of the Magento platform, with a plug and play interface, Klevu and other similar tools offer another benefit – there is no coding requirement and no potential for code conflicts with other extensions.
I started out using Klevu on my client’s stores before I ended up becoming a consultant for them and it delivered really strong results. You can see examples of how Klevu works on Oneills.com and Zimmermann.
Using search data to drive improvements
Whether you choose to stick with Magento’s native search tools, or you adopt one of the third-party search tools available, one thing remains constant. It’s vital that search analytics become a regular part of your online operations, and that staff at all levels are committed to that analytics process. Whilst the latest search tools may have self-learning features that enable them to improve your customer experience, they cannot highlight the external value of the search data mined. For example, manual analysis of search terms could identify new product lines that could be introduced to your store, or keyword streams for use in organic SEO efforts or PPC advertising campaigns. A smart search tool can do many things, but obviously the potential gains coming out of your search data stretch way beyond your store itself.
Users who perform a search will generally convert anywhere from 250% to 500% higher than users who don’t, which often highlights an opportunity around the increasing the prominence of your search function. This is another metric that should be factored into design / UX changes across your store (the same principle applies to things like layered navigation and product recommendation blocks).
It should be clear to retailers of all sizes that on-site search has the potential to deliver big results. As eCommerce itself grows up, customers are becoming ever more sophisticated in their shopping habits and ever more demanding in their expectations of online stores (particularly with merchants like Amazon eBay and John Lewis becoming more search-led and encouraging more sophisticated queries). Whether by working with Magento’s native search or by integrating a high-level alternative search tool, it’s in every retailer’s interest to work on improving their customer journey through fast, accurate and effective search.
Paul Rogers
Paul is an experienced eCommerce Consultant, specialising in all aspects of replatforming, requirements gathering and platform selection projects.
Paul has worked with most mainstream eCommerce platforms and has supported complex replatforming projects with retailers from all over the world. Paul also works on customer experience projects and solutions-focused work with various platforms - primarily Magento and Shopify Plus.
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2 thoughts on “Optimising Magento’s Search Function”
Green Goods says:
Any thoughts on Klevu vs. Celebros / their respective relationships with Magento?
Paul Rogers says:
Yes – I love Klevu, but I do also do consulting for them. That said, before I started working with Klevu, they were my primary recommendation for search because of their NLP and self-learning capabilities, as well their easy integration. I’ve got a number of large Magento clients that use Klevu and they love it – never seen one leave.
I know Celebros went for the partnership with Magento, but I’ve not actually worked with a merchant who used it – that said, from looking at their feature-set, it does look quite strong too. I know merchants get a lot of emails from Celebros / Magento as a result of being a partner – but I’ve not actually used it, so I can’t judge it really.
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PBI Colombia (English)
About PBI Colombia
25 years of PBI in Colombia
Want to be a volunteer?
Accompanied organisations
ACVC
Aheramigua
ASORVIMM
Cahucopana
CCAJAR
CCALCP
CIJP
COS-PACC
CREDHOS
David Ravelo
FNEB
Humanidad Vigente
Jorge Molano
Nomadesc
PBI Coffee break
Judicial cases
Land and territory
The Foundation Committee in Solidarity with Political Prisoners (FCSPP), works so that the rights of people deprived of liberty for political reasons are respected a guaranteed. It is committed to liberty, justice and dignity. It has six offices around the country (Santander, Cundinamarca, Antioquia, Valle del Cauca, Atlantico and Tolima) and two support teams in Cauca and Arauca. They have about 110 members defending human rights in Colombia, including many volunteers and delegates from different social organisations.
FCSPP was first born as a human rights organisation in Colombia in 1973, and several social and trade union organisations and well known Colombians took part in creating it, to deal with a context of the widespread prosecution of social, union and student leaders, and of political opposition.[1]
The organisation survived the hardest periods of Colombia’s recent history including the last years of the National Front, the permanent state of siege, the genesis of paramilitary groups and the subsequent years of terror in the 1990s; a context in which it has been subjected to the continuous persecution of its members.[2]
See the complete history of the FCSPP in a multimedia journey through 40 years of solidarity and defending human rights.
FCSPP’s main area of work is providing legal and humanitarian advice and representation for people who have been deprived of liberty for political motives.[3] It also holds activities for strengthening community and institutional organisation and human rights training. It monitors the humanitarian situation in prisons around Colombia and intervenes at a local, regional and national level for conditions to be improved. On an international level, it researches and publishes reports on the human rights situation in Colombia.
FCSPP has contributed to creating initiatives to end impunity such as the ‘Colombia Nunca Mas’ project, and creating ways of articulating social movements like the Colombia Europe United States Coordination (CCEEUU) and the National Movement of Victims of State Crimes (MOVICE). FCSPP is also part of the Colombian Coalition Against Torture, the network Red de Hermandad y Solidaridad con Colombia (RedHER), and the campaigns Por una Paz Completa, Mesa Social para la Paz and Defender la Libertad: un Asunto de Todxs.
Prison Situation
FCSPP visits 52 of the 138 prisons in Colombia, including the largest in the country, and is able to reach most of the detained population. It has denounced the gravity of the prison situation, from overcrowding to restrictions on access to water, the lack of medical attention, and even acts of torture.[4] The 138 prisons in Colombia have accommodation for 75,000 people, but they currently hold 120,000 people deprived of liberty.[5] Overcrowding is more than 50%.[6]
Criminalisation of social protest
In Colombia, 2013 was marked by important social demonstrations[7] in which there is evidence of grave human rights violations and the excessive use of force by the police and military. Through FCSPP, there was a hearing called on 31 October 2013 by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) on the situation of social protest in Colombia, at which the petitioners, FCSPP, the Asociación Campesina del Catatumbo (ASCAMCAT), Corporación Reiniciar, the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective (CCAJAR), the Permanent Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CPDH), and the Luis Carlos Pérez Lawyers’ Collective (CCALCP) manifested serious concerns about the repression of social protest in Colombia.[8] Read more
Emblematic cases
Extrajudicial executions
FCSPP has about 80 cases of extrajudicial executions, especially in the departments of Arauca, Casanare, Boyaca and the city of Bogota.[9]
Stories from the field: Hearing in Ocaña
In Casanare, FCSPP represents the relatives of around twenty victims of extrajudicial executions committed by soldiers of the 16th Brigade which was then under the command of Colonel William Torres Escalante, former commander of the 5th Division of the Army.[10] Read more
Land restitution: the case of Hacienda Bellacruz
FCSPP also provides integral accompaniment and legal representation for farming communities in land restitution cases. The case of Hacienda Bellacruz, also known as Hacienda La Gloria in southern Cesar, is perhaps its most emblematic. Read more
Risks, threats and attacks
During the course of its existence, FCSPP has reported threats, harassment, being followed, torture, arbitrary detentions, baseless prosecutions and the murder of several of its members[11]; facts which resulted in several FCSPP offices having to close permanently and some of their members being forced into exile.
This has not changed in recent years, according to lawyer Franklin Castañeda: “what we are seeing is a phenomenon in which human rights defenders who work on peace issues, for the human rights of victims, in prosecuting State crimes, and in land restitution cases, are being widely targeted by violence and we are doing our work in quite precarious security situations”. In FCSPP, “the people who have been the most visible have all had to face some kind of risk during their time working here. For more than forty years we have taken on something which is quite difficult, which is calling the Colombian State’s attention for it to respect its own laws and procedural guarantees, even when it is judging its enemies. Real democracy is measured when you are able to respect your own norms even when judging your worst enemy. And sadly in Colombia this hasn’t been understood. The consequence is that this organisation is one of the most victimised. These risks, threats and acts of aggression are part of the armed forces’ perception that human rights defenders are an internal enemy of the nation and their messaging that organisations are waging legal and political warfare against the security forces. This means that they have been treated as being at war.” (Franklin Castañeda and Zoraida Hernandez, President of FCSPP)
Read the most serious attacks against FCSPP from 2012 to 2013, in 2014, 2015, and 2016.
Protection Measures
FCSPP was granted precautionary measures by the IACHR in 1999, and some of its members have measures from the National Protection Unit (UNP) Protection Program. However, these measures will not be sufficient unless the causes behind the risks to FCSPP’s members are eliminated. As of 2016, most of these attacks and acts of victimisation remain in impunity.[12]
For over 40 years, FCSPP has received several awards and wide national and international recognition. Some of them include:
In 1999, FCSPP was awarded the Liberty and Fraternity Prize from the French Embassy.
In 2009, Gabriel Gonzalez, then regional coordinator for FCSPP, received the annual human rights award from Human Rights First, the US organisation, in New York.
In 2014, FCSPP was amongst the final nominees for the National Award for Defending Human Rights in Colombia in the category “lifetime recognition for long-standing organisations”[13].
International accompaniment
PBI has accompanied FCSPP since 1998.
Franklin Castañeda
“The international accompaniment and solidarity of Peace Brigades (…) which has really served as a fundamental part of guaranteeing not just our ability to do what we want, to defend human rights, but also what is a fundamental and a primary requisite for defending human rights, and that is our lives. I am one of the people who is constantly saying that we are grateful to Peace Brigades and other international institutions, because we owe them everything, we owe them life, the possibility of genuinely being able to do something and we all owe it to them. Because if you look closely, there is not one person who has been in the FCSPP for more than two or three years and who has a public role who has not had a concrete attempt against their life, against their family, against their freedom, their good name. And without a doubt, their role has been fundamental, they have been our right hand, our shield which really helped us to bear this pressure”. Franklin Castañeda
FCSPP’s website
Footnote area:
[1] Contra la impunidad en Colombia: Perfil Fundación Comité de Solidaridad con los Presos Políticos, sin fecha
[2] FCSPP: 40 años de solidaridad y defensa de los derechos humanos, 2013
[3] Ibíd.
[4] Agencia Prensa rural: “Se dice que no hay presos políticos en Colombia, pero hay presos claramente discriminados por razones políticas”, 14 July 2012
[5] Radio Macondo: El sistema carcelario en Colombia y la mega cárcel que tendrá Popayán, 27 July 2016
[6] The Colombian Human Rights Ombudsman states that there is 58,6% overcrowding in prisons. Defensoría del Pueblo: Defensor insiste en la declaratoria de emergencia social para enfrentar el hacinamiento carcelario, according to data by the Colombian prison service Instituto Penitenciario de Colombia (Inpec) there was 51,6% overcrowding in February 2015. Inpec: Informe Estadístico de Agosto de 2016
[7] The human rights and social conflicts database CINEP/PPP registered 1027 protests in 2013 alone, the highest year since 1975. Cinep/Programa por la Paz: Informe Especial: Luchas sociales en Colombia 2013, April 2014
[8] Human Rights Brief: Derechos humanos y protesta social en Colombia, 7 November 2013
[9] PBI Colombia: Interview with Franklin Castañeda, 17 September 2015
[10] Interview with Franklin Castañeda, 17 September 2015; FCSPP: Detienen seis soldados por ejecución extrajudicial de Daniel Torres y Roque Julio Torres T, 28 October 2008
[11] FCSPP: 40 años de solidaridad y defensa de los derechos humanos, 2013
[12] PBI Colombia, interview with Zoraida Hernández, 29 September 2016
[13] FCSPP: Comité de Solidaridad con los Presos Políticos finalista en Premio Nacional a la defensa de los DDHH, 10 September 2014
2 thoughts on “FCSPP”
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Peace Brigades International (PBI) has carried out observation and international accompaniment in thirteen countries on five continents since 1981 and in Colombia since 1994.
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Home Music An Intoxicating Fling with Singer Yanni Burton is Worth It
An Intoxicating Fling with Singer Yanni Burton is Worth It
By Mick Sandoval
Photos: Dusty St. Amand, Courtney Charles
Yanni Burton is dangerously in love in his new single and music video, “Worth It,” a song he wrote with Nate Campany (Dua Lipa, Carly Rae Jepsen, Adam Lambert, Christina Aguilera, and Tove Lo) about the intoxicating and sometimes overwhelming sensation of an exciting new passion. “It was inspired by the time I was performing a classical music festival inside a European castle in the middle of nowhere,” Yanni reflects. “I met a boy, went boy crazy, and wildness ensued.” Produced by Lars Soderberg (Lauv, Adam Rickfors, Black Eyed Peas’ Printz Board), “Worth It” is Yanni Burton’s fourth independent single release this year.
Directed by Tiger Darrow, the video takes the story of a playful fling between boys and explores what happens when it transforms into a toxic situation, where pushing the boundaries of fun and games turns into a life-altering moment. It has a late seventies European summer vibe, depicting Yanni as fledgling gay being seduced by a charming, edgy bad boy (played by Kevin William Reed) and led into breaking into a mansion where the boys frolic around the gardens in their underwear, make-out in the massive swimming pool and have sex all over the house.
“The idea is that relationships can be one-sided and dangerously blind,” says Yanni. “The price can be high, and you have to wonder, is it worth it?”
“Where I certainly wouldn’t want to go to jail for a fling, I can see how allowing a guy to take control and lead me down a risky path I would never normally take, can be exciting. The experience of that energy, lust, and passion from being dangerously in love will last a lifetime and so yeah, maybe for me; it is worth it.”
Yanni Burton grew up in Adelaide, Australia, a small town that also happens to be the birthplace of pop singer Sia. He lived in the city with his mother but holidays were spent in the country on his dad’s farm. “The farm was in the middle of nowhere, and I’d arrive in solid gold sneakers, booty shorts, and a tank top like I’d just come off the set of Priscilla Queen of the Desert,” he remembers.
For college, Yanni attended the prestigious Juilliard School in Manhattan where he studied the double bass. In fact, he holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in orchestral performance and is Producer and General Manager of the Salome Chamber Orchestra, where he has performed alongside a long list of celebrated artists including John Legend, Michelle Williams, Natasha Bedingfield, and Rufus Wainwright. John Legend and Rufus Wainwright were instrumental in helping Yanni to obtain an artist green card. Both wrote letters of support for his US residency.
Yanni describes life today as a “gay thirty-something in New York City” where he religiously attends Barry’s Bootcamp, pays too much rent and complains about it every second he can. He has also found love. He and his fiancé were engaged last fall and plan to walk down the aisle this spring.
Yanni Burton’s “Worth It” is available now on Apple Music, Spotify, and all digital platforms. Visit yanniburton.com and follow him on Instagram at @yburton.
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Interview with Norbert Abel – Abel Hammer
Behind the scenes in the piano business it’s a very small world. You won’t last but 10 minutes before you hear something about Abel hammers. Hammer heads – the felt that strikes the strings on a piano are in my mind the most critical foundation of tone. Abel is world reknown specializing in hammer manufacturing. It was my pleasure to meet Norbert Abel last month and have him shed some light on the piano hammer making proccess. Every time I interview someone I learn something new about the piano trade. Although I’ve been in the business for just over 20 years, I only now have heard 2 words which were unknown to me before this interview: Lanolin and Biofelt. Read on to hear the words of Norbert Abel. And by the way… Abel makes about 50,000 sets of hammers per year… multiply by 88 keys on a piano that equals 4.4 MILLION hammers annually. They are arguably one of the greatest authorities on hammer making in the world.
Glen Barkman: The History of Abel – How did you come into this business?
Norbert Abel: My father, Helmut Abel started his own hammer production business in the year 1982 after he had worked for another German manufacturer making piano hammers and action parts for 23 years. His goal was to produce hammers in the ‘old style’ which meant custom making hammers for each manufacturer using high quality materials and advanced techniques.
All pianos are different and have individual requirements and so with this custom approach, he convinced many of the piano makers and technicians with the Abel quality and philosophy; making hammers for many brands to individual specifications.
From the beginning I have been involved in the business side and have seen the continuous growth and development of production. In 1988, my brother Frank started into the business and has taken over production. The third generation, my son Alexander is now learning step by step the difficult procedure of hammer making. Since 1993 the Abel Hammer Company has a factory in Frankenhardt, Germany. In our history, our facilities have increased two times now to 24,000 square feet of manufacturing space with an annual production of over 50,000 sets of piano hammers per year.
What are the steps in making hammers?
Hammer making looks to be very easy: Take some wood, some felt and put both into a hammer press and the hammers are finished. But it is not that easy. The whole procedure is much more complicated.
Everything starts with the felt. Felt is a natural product and based on Merino wool (Merino is a type of sheep with incredibly fine and high curled fibers) from South Africa, New Zealand or Australia. In these countries the Merino wool will be selected into different grades. For making hammer felt only a high grade wool fiber can be used. Then the raw wool comes into a cleaning process to Europe where all dirt, sand, dust, mud, vegetarian parts are washed out. This process is called carbonizing under the use of sulphuric acid. However, this acid is counter productive to hammer making as it has the undesired effect that a lot of natural lanolin will be also washed out (and the acid also is not good for the environment).
Natural lanolin (also called wool wax ) is very important to keep the natural resilience in the hammer felt which greatly affects piano tone. To retain this lanolin, Abel started the BIOFELT PROJECT 2003-2006 (sponsored by the European Union) with the result of a felt called NATURAL FELT which did away with harsh chemicals in the washing stage of felt making. This is a more natural product – not as white in color but incredibly versatile in sound. The use of this new Abel Natural Felt is responsible for great success in the piano business in our company.
Felt sheets will be then cut into strips after the sheets have been carefully controlled. The single wool fiber is still in a curled position. In the hammer press the felt will be pressed around the hammer moulding to stretch the wool fibers and to build up the resilience in the hammer felt. This procedure is the main secret of the hammer production. All hammer makers have a slightly different philosophy with this. Here is where Abel’s 55 years of experience in hammer making from Helmut and Frank come into play. Understanding the whole process from “Sheep to Hammer” is the basis of the high quality Abel hammer production.
Although we have our own brand of felt, we also incorporate other felts from other makers to give a wide range of choice so that each maker can select hammers suited to their needs and guarantee the Abel high quality standard of manufacturing.
What’s the difference between cold and hot pressed hammers? How does that affect the hammer head?
Cold pressed means that the felt in the hammer press form will be pressed with no heat or almost no heat. This guarantees that the natural resilience of the wool fiber will be kept alive. Hot pressed hammers in a heated press stabilize the wool fibers however it means that the natural resilience is gone and the hammer felt has lost its elasticity and the ability to create a maximum range of sound colours. The Abel hammer production is a cold pressed process for this reason.
Why are hammers measured by weight? (for example 16lb hammers)
Hammers need a different weight because the pianos are different in size. The bigger the piano, the more weight is required to bring the long strings into vibration and to create maximum sound. For this reason especially the weight and size of the felt are important. A big hammer has a lot of concentrated resilience in the felt to stimulate the string to maximumize sound producing energy.
How does the wooden moulding material affect the hammer?
Different hammer wood is important for different weight. Especially big pianos need larger felt with light hammer mouldings. The large felt is important to maximumize sound vibration and the light woods like walnut and mahogany keep the total weight on a level which makes piano playing possible. So if you combine large felt hammers with light wooden mouldings, the overall weight is manageable at the keyboard.
What is the purpose of underfelt? Do colours designate manufacturer or something of function to identify a design or a time period?
When the first hammers were built the hammer makers did not have the same size felts available that we have today. It was necessary to make a hammer with different layers of underfelt and a thin top felt outside. Nowadays, we can make the same size of hammers with one layer of underfelt and a midsize topfelt or with no underfelt and a big size topfelt. The quality of the underfelt is always the same. But the underfelt can be dyed with different colours to show different brands.
How does quality of felt affect tone? Within one sheet of felt there might even be discrepancies in tone, correct? What felt does Abel use?
We use various felts from different makers. Different felt manufacturers each have a ‘signature’ in the type of felt they make. The combination of felt and felt making procedures will result in different sounding hammers. In this way hammers can be individualized for customized requirements. Felt is a natural product. There are natural discrepancies within a sheet and from one sheet to the next sheet. It depends on the ability of the hammer maker to realize these discrepancies and to select the felt strips. Abel has skilled people who test all felt strips by hand and with their experience they select the strips in to different grades like soft, medium or hard. We call this the “outside quality”. The inside quality depends on the different raw wool and manufacturing process of felt in the felt factory. That means the inside quality describes different characteristics of felt from different felt makers. At Abel we are always in discussion with our felt suppliers to keep the inside and outside quality of the felt sheets within an acceptable quality range. Abel is in contact with all hammer felt manufacturers worldwide which allows us to always select the right felt for our customers and retain diversity.
Density of felt also produces really different results. Is there a way of determining sound from a certain hammer from density and/or elasticity?
The density can vary from one sheet to the next sheet and also within a sheet. As long as the density is within the tolerance of the Abel specification the felt can be used in the Abel hammer production. Density of felt sheets can be determined with the felting process, the milling process and a pressing process. Most important is the felting and milling which enables the wool fiber to interlock and to build up a system of fibers with a maximum elasticity when the felt becomes pressed around the hammer moulding. This complicated procedure has a big influence on the sound of a piano. A hammer with a lot of resilience and a lot of natural life in the felt can create a wider tonal range. The best felt to reach this goal for our production is the ABEL NATURAL FELT. Hammers with less resilience and stabilized wool fiber do not have the ability to create such a wide variation of tonal colour at the piano.
I just want to say thanks to Norbert for allowing us a small glimpse into the art of hammer making. In addition to manufacturing of hammers, Abel also performs operations related to hammer customization called shaping, coving and tapering. Of interest to some wanting to preserve a vintage instrument, Abel also has the capacity to re-felt hammers on existing mouldings. This keeps the wooden shanks and flanges intact and keeps the authenticity of the instrument. Amazing! Hope you enjoyed this interview as much as I did.
Piano News Abel, Biofelt, company, felt, fiber, hammer, manufacturing, Natural felt, Norbert, piano, size, strings, tone, wool
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Call us at 347.746.1222 1140 Avenue of the Americas | 9th Floor | New York, NY | 10036
ABOUT MR. PICKHOLZ
Enforcement Director Praises SEC Whistleblower Program, Urges Whistleblowers to Report to the SEC as Soon as they Learn of Misconduct
The following is from a blog about the SEC Director of Enforcement’s remarks regarding potential SEC whistleblowers. It was originally posted on The Pickholz Law Offices’ website on September 22, 2016. To see the blog as originally published, please click here.
The SEC’s Director of Enforcement, Andrew Ceresney, recently gave a speech directed to potential SEC whistleblowers and SEC whistleblower attorneys. During his speech, the Director praised the successful early years of the SEC whistleblower program and provided some guidance to potential SEC whistleblowers and SEC whistleblower attorneys.
Praise for the SEC Whistleblower Award Program
Mr. Ceresney began his speech by declaring that “I cannot overstate the appreciation we have for the willingness of whistleblowers to come forward with evidence of potential securities law violations. I often speak of the transformative impact that the program has had on the Agency”. He concluded his speech by stating that he anticipates “that the whistleblower program will continue to be a game changer in future years. In fact, my prediction is that it will take us significantly less time to announce that we have passed the $200 million milestone [for awards given out] than it did to pass the $100 million mark.”
The SEC Whistleblower Program is growing, with more and more people choosing to come forward and report securities crimes and violations to the SEC. According to Mr. Ceresney, in 2015 the SEC saw an increase in whistleblower tips of 30% over fiscal year 2012, and added that “we are on target to exceed that level this year.”
He also chose to mention three broad “classes” or types of cases that have seen double-digit increases in tips reported to the SEC by whistleblowers. After each one, he specifically stated that the SEC hopes these whistleblower reporting trends will continue.
The SEC Director’s speech
Urging Potential SEC Whistleblowers to Report to the Commission as Soon as they Learn of Misconduct
One important message that Mr. Ceresney emphasized to potential SEC whistleblowers “is to report as soon as you learn of misconduct”. Some of the reasons he gave for this were “you never know whether someone else will report, whether the information will become stale, or whether the statute of limitations will run. Coming forward without delay also helps prevent misconduct from continuing unabated while investors suffer more harm.”
Moreover, “Unreasonable delay in the reporting of information to us is a significant factor the Commission considers in determining the amount of a whistleblower award.” According to Mr. Ceresney, “approximately 20% of the awards made through 2015 were reduced because of an unreasonable reporting delay.”
The Importance of SEC Whistleblower Attorneys
Mr. Ceresney also commended the involvement of SEC whistleblower attorneys and explained some of the ways that the Commission finds their involvement to be helpful. To my knowledge, this is the first time that a senior SEC official has publicly expressed views specifically about the role and significance of SEC whistleblower attorneys.
According to Mr. Ceresney, “we welcome the involvement of” SEC whistleblower lawyers. Experienced SEC whistleblower lawyers “can help with up-front triage of tips to identify those that have a nexus with the federal securities laws and that may have merit.” Furthermore, experienced SEC whistleblower lawyers “can work with whistleblowers going forward to identify information that will be important to us and that will allow us to advance our investigations.”
For more information about the SEC Whistleblower Award Program or The Pickholz Law Offices’ SEC whistleblower practice, please click on the links to the right and top of this page.
If you would like to speak with an SEC whistleblower attorney, you can call Jason R. Pickholz at 347-746-1222.
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Prabhupada Vani
Prabhupada Memories
You can get all these wonderful videos on Siddhanta's website of "Prabhupada Memories"
With the publication in video and print of Memories: Anecdotes of a Modern Day Saint, Siddhanta has made a contribution of monumental and historical proportions to our understanding of Srila Prabhupada, the modern Gaudiya Vaisnava movement, and human religiosity in general. All too often, the contemporary followers of a great religious leader have failed to adequately record his or her life and teachings, resulting in long centuries of frequently futile debate and conflict among historians and religionists alike.
Thus Siddhanta’s documentation in both video and print of the testimonies of Srila Prabhupada’s disciples about their master provides an invaluable, irreplaceable, and unique treasure of information to all those who desire today, or seek in the future, an accurate, reliable, true picture of Srila Prabhupada, the Founder-Acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.
Siddhanta’s patient, creative and professional work will surely be seen by future generations as one of our generation’s greatest contributions to the human family. Thus it is with the soundest of reasons that I acknowledge here my deep personal gratitude to Siddhanta, congratulate him on his outstanding achievement, and urge all those seriously interested, for whatever reason, in Krishna, Srila Prabhupada, ISKCON, and spirituality itself, to stock the favorite shelves of their library with the singular treasures of the Memories series.
Hridayananda das Goswami
MY FIRST CONTACT with the Hare Krishna movement came in the summer of 1969 when I saw it’s members chanting on the streets of Hollywood. My initial reaction to the shaven heads, saffron-colored robes, and seemingly strange activity, was one of bewilderment and to some degree, comic relief. It was not until a year later that I was able to appreciate the sound philosophy that stems from one of the world’s oldest religious traditions. I soon realized that there was a tremendous wealth of knowledge and logic behind the activities of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness and that it was far from being a new “hippie” cult. In fact, the information I obtained by reading my first Back to Godhead magazine answered all the questions I ever had regarding life, its purpose, and more.
It was in Dallas in 1970 when I actually came in personal contact with the author of that Back to Godhead magazine, the Founder-Acharya of the Hare Krishna movement, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada. I greeted him along with the other devotees at the airport and then followed the procession back to the temple, where Prabhupada gave a Sunday Feast lecture. What struck me most about that lecture more than anything was Prabhupada’s answer to one question that was asked of him by a member of the audience. In his lecture, Srila Prabhupada had been stressing the importance of chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare. The guest asked what Srila Prabhupada personally felt when he chanted this mantra. Without hesitation, Srila Prabhupada answered, “I feel no fear.” Because his response was so immediate and filled with such conviction, I immediately sensed in my heart that not only what he said was absolutely true, but that he was in direct contact with God. I obviously felt an urgency to try the same mantra meditation process myself.
Over time it became apparent to many who observed him first hand that Srila Prabhupada was steadily situated in a higher state of consciousness beyond anything that was part of our common experience. But that was not all. After a further study of the teachings in his books and observing his interactions with others, I realized that here was a person who was not materially motivated. He was not interested in mundane acquisition, exploitation, or adoration. He was also in complete control of his senses, the very foundation of all yoga practice. By his own example, he was a perfect teacher of the divine process of devotional service or bhakti-yoga. And by means of his unconditional love and devotion, he was in touch with and connected with the Supreme Being. His mission appeared to be for all of our best interests by making me, and everyone else who cared to listen, spiritually happy by engaging our mind, body and soul in serving God, Krishna. Srila Prabhupada taught that as a fish out of water cannot be happy out of its constitutional element, similarly we as spiritual beings cannot be happy simply engaging in activities meant to satisfy our material senses.
Years later, after accepting Srila Prabhupada as a pure representative of God and having taken spiritual initiation from him, I had the opportunity to personally be with him again when he visited the temple in Denver, Colorado. My previous conviction that Prabhupada was in direct contact with the Absolute Truth was further solidified when I offered flowers at his feet and our eyes met. When Srila Prabhupada looked at me, he looked right through the external me, touching the internal me, the soul. I felt naked in front of him, feeling as though he could not only read my mind but my heart as well. It was the most humbling and purifying experience of my life.
That morning during Srila Prabhupada’s daily walk, he was talking about prasadam, food offered to God before it is personally consumed. Prabhupada said prasadam is so spiritually potent that if a human being simply eats prasadam once, in his next life he will take birth in a wealthy family or a family of devotees. He then stated that if an animal eats prasadam, in its next life it will immediately take birth in the human form of life, jumping over all other species of life that a living entity would normally have to pass through before obtaining a human birth in the process of transmigration of the soul.
After this discussion, I was contemplating asking him about something that had been bothering me for some time. I had been engaged as a book distributor of Srila Prabhupada’s transcendental literature, but I had become affected by so many people I met who would say that we as devotees should get jobs and not take from society by asking for donations. I said to Srila Prabhupada, “People think we are just trying to escape material life by joining this sankirtan movement.” Srila Prabhupada turned to me, smiled, and asked, “A rich man, does he work? We are rich men. We don’t work. Any rich man, he is not working. Is he escaping? He is engaging everyone in the factory, but he is not working. So is that escaping? We are rich men. We are Krishna’s sons.”
He said the problems we have are eating, sleeping, and mating, and we can arrange for these things very easily. Prabhupada taught the philosophy of “Simple Living, High Thinking.” One can till the ground anywhere and get some food. He said, “I keep some cows, and I have got land: my whole economic question is solved.” He asked, “Why shall I make big, big arrangements for these things?” He continued, “You may do it, but why should you forget your real business? That is the defect, that you are so foolish that only for maintaining this body, you have forgotten your real business—self-realization.” Prabhupada then said, “In the spiritual world there is no question of working. You get everything. So why not endeavor to go there?”
Prabhupada then looked around the beautiful park that we were walking in, surrounded by trees, lakes, and swans. He noted how there was no one else in the park that someone had worked hard to create, and how we were the only ones who were taking advantage of the park and all its beauty. He said, “They worked so hard, yet they are sleeping. We are taking advantage.” To exemplify this situation with an analogy, he told us the story of the mouse and the snake. Prabhupada said, “The mouse builds a nice home for himself underground and lives comfortably. Then the snake comes and eats the mouse and lives comfortably in the home the mouse has built.” He finished by telling me, and the others that accompanied him on his morning walk that we can tell people that actually, “Yes, we are escaping this horrible condition of life—meat eating, drinking, and intoxication. We are escaping these things, but not happiness.”
In his kindness, Prabhupada helped me realize my foolishness to think I had to fulfill the expectations of the public by having a nine to five job. I had been affected by the negative feedback I received from the people I met, but Prabhupada reminded me that the point of life is self-realization, and our role in the varnashram scheme of things was to remind others of that fact. He had dispelled my doubts with the torchlight of knowledge.
Later on, I realized that if I had this small glimpse of truth from being with Srila Prabhupada for such a brief period of time, there had to be many more devotees who had just as much or more association with His Divine Grace who could also share their experiences and realizations. It was obvious that each devotee’s encounter would be unique and would reveal other aspects of Srila Prabhupada’s personality and boundless wisdom that were not necessarily contained within his transcendental books. I believed that these encounters with Krishna’s pure devotee not only inspired the devotees at the time but could help anyone who hears these lessons in his or her present daily lives. It is with that belief that I ventured out to acquire the stories contained in this book. These stories are not only informative but also entertaining and inspiring in the way the devotees express themselves, seemingly going into a regression type trance as they recall those times spent with Srila Prabhupada.
One poignant realization that came from one of Srila Prabhupada’s grand disciples was that through these memories we can learn about the qualities of Prabhupada and thus develop our attraction and love for him. Just as we become attracted to and ultimately love Krishna by learning about His qualities and activities from reading them in the Krsna Book, we can also develop love for Srila Prabhupada by becoming aware of his compassion, humility, wisdom, humor, wit, knowledge, determination, love and how he dealt with life in a practical Krishna conscious manner.
From a historical standpoint, it seemed important as well to record these personal instructions thinking that if someone had been able to record the recollections of the disciples of Jesus Christ, that those memories would be extremely meaningful today. So starting in 1991, the process of obtaining the oral histories of Srila Prabhupada’s disciples began through videotaped sessions and subsequently transcribed to be presented in this book form.
There are no hard and fast rules in reading this collection of memories, as they are not recorded in any chronological order or by subject matter. The memories are simply a stream of consciousness by each devotee, and therefore, can be read in a nonlinear fashion. This book is meant to be, as Srila Prabhupada stated once about his books, readable in such a way that one can start in the middle and still derive sweetness, as biting into candy anywhere will result in the same sweet taste. As there were some five thousand initiated disciples, this process has just begun, and we hope that there will be more volumes to come in the future.
We must thank Bhargava Prabhu for his photographs that appear as the cover artwork. He certainly was blessed with a great eye. This production could not be possible without the hard and diligent work of our transcribers, Dinadayadri dasi, Ram Prasad das, Mamata dasi, Kara Middleton, Sujana dasi, Renukah dasi, and Kapila das. We thank Sri Kanta Prabhu for his work in assembling the Glossary and Bhojadev das for his assistance with the Introduction. And lastly but certainly not least of all, our deepest appreciation goes to Vishaka devi dasi for her brilliant work in editing the transcriptions to a form that create a book that cannot be put down until the last page.
This publication is also now being printed and distributed in India by the wonderful devotees in New Delhi who have understood the importance of distributing these oral histories in the land where Srila Prabhupada began his journey in spreading Krishna consciousness. My heartfelt thanks go to Nandagopal Jivan das (GKG, New Delhi) of Golden Age Media for producing this Indian publication, HG Mohan Rupa das (GKG) (TP-ISKCON-Delhi) and HG Sarvasakshi das (GKG) for their encouragement and guidance, HG Vrindavan Vinod das (GKG) for his cover design work, HG Annutama Hari das (GKG) for arranging the design and layout and Sangini Radha devi dasi for her support of her husband Nandagopal Jivan in his service to Srila Prabhupada. I must also thank HH Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaj and HH Lokanath Swami Maharaj for referring me to Nandagopal Jivan Prabhu and confirming his integrity.
This offering to Srila Prabhupada would also not be in its present form without the hard work and patience of two members of the Back to Godhead staff: Yamaraj das who formatted the book and also beautifully designed the cover as well as Nagaraja das who contributed valuable assistance in this process. I also want to acknowledge my wife, Ajita devi dasi, and daughters Kartika devi dasi and Renukah devi dasi for their emotional and spiritual support in this ongoing project. We, of course, would be remiss not to give our heartfelt appreciation to all the devotees who shared their memories of Srila Prabhupada, and we pray that we have delivered their stories accurately.
Siddhanta das (ACBSP)
'sādhu-saṅga', 'sādhu-saṅga'—sarva-śāstre kaya
lava-mātra sādhu-saṅge sarva-siddhi haya
(Cc. Madhya 22.54)
“The verdict of all revealed scriptures is that by even a moment’s association with a pure devotee, one can attain all success."
THIS BOOK OF ORAL HISTORIES is a transcription of the DVD series “Memories-Anecdotes of a Modern-Day Saint”. The interviews contained within this book are from the direct disciples, with a few exceptions, of the Founder- Acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. These fortunate souls had that all- important association with a pure devotee of the Supreme Lord, Sri Krishna. His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada, has been well recognized by scholars, religionists, and lay persons alike, as one of the most prominent ambassadors of India’s spiritual culture in modern times.
The recollections presented here are testimony to the transcendental character of Srila Prabhupada, whose purity, compassion, knowledge, humor, humility, strength, and determination seemed to be almost effortlessly exhibited on a daily basis. To get a complete picture of Krishna consciousness, it is essential to not only have the written teachings contained within Srila Prabhupada’s books, but also how he acted in so many circumstances, so that we may follow in his footsteps, as he is a true acharya, one who teaches by example. Many times Srila Prabhupada did mention that everything he wanted to tell us was in his books.
Yet oral tradition is part of every society and culture, and we can only offer as a disclaimer that the interviews documented here have been accepted at face value, with the onus of veracity left to the integrity and memory of the interviewed party. However, since the interactions described in this book, were witnessed by more than one person, we as the publisher, feel all of the accounts are genuine.
As mentioned in the preface to “Prabhupada Nectar”, the glories and pastimes of the Lord’s pure servants are seen to be as sweet and instructive as the Lord’s own unlimited pastimes. In the same mood of appreciation for Srila Prabhupada’s transcendental glories and instructions, we hope this volume will be of some value for initiates and novices alike who are thirsting for new or revisited facets of the spiritual jewel that is Prabhupada-sanga.
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DVD 15 Mukunda + 25
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Poets in Pajamas 2019 Double-Feature Launch!
December 26, 2018 / poetsinpajamas / 1 Comment
PiP Reading 44:
Special Double-Feature with Carlina Duan & Sophia Stid
Poets in Pajamas brings you an extra special reading for its 2019 launch: a double-feature with poets Carlina Duan and Sophia Stid! The reading will be held at 7pm EST (4pm Pacific) on January 6, 2019. Each poet will hold a 15 minute live reading immediately followed by a Q&A. The event will take place on the PiP Facebook Page.
In case you’re like us and tend to forget these things, the event on Facebook will remind you to attend, so please head over and click “going” to let us know to expect you.
Carlina Duan
Carlina Duan is a sweet tooth from Michigan. She is the author of the poetry collection I WORE MY BLACKEST HAIR (Little A, 2017). Her poems can be found in Black Warrior Review, Tinderbox Poetry Journal, Tupelo Quarterly, The Margins, and elsewhere. She is currently the Co-Editor-in-Chief of Nashville Review, and an MFA student at Vanderbilt University. She believes in fruit. Find her at www.carlinaduan.com, or on Twitter @ ccduan.
Carlina Duan at Black Warrior Review
Carlina Duan at Tinderbox Poetry Journal
Carlina Duan at Tupelo Quarterly
Sophia Stid
Sophia Stid is a writer from California. Currently in the MFA program at Vanderbilt University, she has received fellowships from the Bucknell Seminar for Younger Poets and Sewanee Writers’ Conference. She is the winner of the 2017 Francine Ringold Award for New Writers. Her poems can be found in Image, Beloit, Nimrod, Ninth Letter, DIAGRAM, Hayden’s Ferry Review, and Crab Orchard Review, among others.
Sophia Stid at Beloit Poetry Journal
Sophia Stid at Hayden’s Ferry Review
Sophia Stid at Nimrod International Journal of Prose and Poetry
Join us at the Poets in Pajamas Facebook page at 7 p.m. EST (4 p.m. Pacific) on Janusary 6, 2019, watch for the live video to start, and click join to watch the reading and interact with the writer.
Anna Black will host.
PiP Reading 38: Danielle Hanson on September 16
September 5, 2018 / poetsinpajamas / Leave a comment
This week Poets in Pajamas brings you Danielle Hanson at 7pm EST (4pm Pacific) on September 16th with a 15 minute live reading to be immediately followed by a short Q&A. Reading to be held at the PiP Facebook Page, HERE.
Danielle Hanson is the author of Fraying Edge of Sky (Codhill Press Poetry Prize, 2018) and Ambushing Water (Brick Road Poetry Press, 2017). Her work won the Vi Gale Award from Hubbub, was Finalist for 2018 Georgia Author of the Year Award and was nominated for several Pushcarts. She is Poetry Editor for Doubleback Books and is on the staff of the Atlanta Review.
More about Danielle can be found at her website.
Ambushing Water at Brick Road Poetry Press
Fraying Edge of Sky at Codhill Press
Poem at Blackbird
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We’ve created a new vibration-proof ‘metamaterial’ that could save premature babies’ lives
Posted on February 1, 2017 by policybristol
Fabrizio Scarpa, Professor of Smart Materials & Structures, University of Bristol
Andy Alderson
Professor of Smart Materials and Structures, Sheffield Hallam University
There are 16,000 transfers of premature babies to medical facilities each year in the UK alone. The babies are often transported over large distances from rural to city locations over significant periods of time, in some cases two hours or more. The ambulances, helicopters or aircraft used are miniaturised intensive care units, containing all the equipment required to keep the baby alive.
But mechanical vibrations and noise from the equipment and transfer vehicle can provide significant, even life-threatening stress to the most vulnerable and delicate human lives. As we discovered when speaking to clinicians, transfers are sometimes aborted as a result of the stress that develops in the baby. These vehicles need materials and structures to reduce the noise and vibrations to tolerable levels.
Our team has recently developed a special “metamaterial” inspired by a nuclear reactor design that offers a double whammy of protection by combining two unusual properties known to dampen vibrations to a much greater degree than existing materials. Once we’ve tested and adapted the material, it could be used to help make safer neonatal transfer vehicles. And it could even be used in much bigger structures, for example to help prevent earthquake damage in buildings.
How it works. Andy Alderson/Sheffield Hallam University, Author provided
Auxetic materials can dampen vibrations. They have what’s called a negative Poisson’s ratio, which means that they become thicker when stretched along their length, unlike an elastic band, which becomes thinner. Imagine stretching a crumpled or folded sheet of paper. The unfolding of the paper as it is stretched causes the sheet to become both longer and wider. This is the auxetic effect.
There are also other unusual materials that contract (rather than stretch) along their length when pulled lengthwise (negative stiffness), which also have dramatic vibration damping properties when used as part of a composite material.
If you stand a ruler on its end and push it down from the top it will bend into a C shape. If you then push sideways against the mid-point of the outer edge of the C, initially the ruler will offer resistance to the sideways push. That’s positive stiffness. But keep increasing the force and the bend in the ruler snaps through to the other side, creating an inverted C shape. During the snap-through period, the ruler is working with the force, not resisting it. So in this transition phase it displays what is called negative stiffness.
One way of achieving such unusual properties is to develop mechanical metamaterials. These are made from a particular geometric arrangement of smaller building blocks that give the materials their special mechanical properties. We have developed “double negative” mechanical metamaterials that combine both negative Poisson’s ratio and negative stiffness properties simultaneously.
Our metamaterials comprise interlocking hexagon building blocks that move together in all directions when compressed, by sliding along the interlocks that connect adjacent hexagons. This creates an auxetic effect.
These were in part inspired by the graphite core interlocking structures of some nuclear reactors designed and built in the 1950s and 1960s, which are auxetic and were specifically designed to withstand seismic vibrations during earthquakes. We have also added three negative stiffness elements – foam inserts, buckled beam inserts and an arrangement of magnets – between the interlocking blocks.
Stopping bad vibes
We expect the combination of both auxetic and negative stiffness properties in the bulk metamaterial will give it better vibration damping ability than if it just had one of these properties. And through careful design, we expect it to be able to dampen vibrations at many different frequencies.
Because the technology can be scaled up or down – and once we have determined exactly how good it is at dampening vibrations – it could be used in lots of different applications, from ambulances to buildings.
We also think the principle of combining these two properties could be used in other materials. For example, you could use collapsible auxetic truss structures as rapidly deployable tents and shelters in military and disaster-relief situations. Building negative stiffness into such structures would enable them to provide protection from severe vibrations, such as earthquakes.
We still need to turn the prototype technology into designed and manufactured products, but this metamaterial could have a vibrant future ahead of it.
This entry was posted in Health and wellbeing, Research, Uncategorized and tagged ambulance, health, health services, material science, materials, medical, neonatal by policybristol. Bookmark the permalink.
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NFL Referee Clete Blakeman Taking Major Heat Over Blown Jaguars vs. Texans Call
By John Newby - November 3, 2019 05:26 pm EST
Through nine weeks of NFL action, the dominating storyline has not been the play of Patrick Mahomes in Kansas City or Deshaun Watson in Houston. Instead, the conversation has revolved around the referees and what is viewed as a lack of quality officiating. Each week, there is a new call that creates controversy, and referee Clete Blakeman was responsible for an issue in London.
With the Houston Texans looking to extend their lead over the Jacksonville Jaguars, Watson rolled out to the right and tried running for extra yards. He was knocked to the ground by defensive end Calais Campbell, who stopped him for a minor gain. However, Blakeman's crew threw the yellow flag and called a personal foul on Campbell for lowering his head to initiate contact.
Upon further examination by the announcing crew led by Rich Eisen, it became apparent that the only part of Campbell's body that had touched Watson was his arm. However, the Jaguars still received a 15-yard penalty, which gave the Texans a first down and put them in better field position.
Clete Blakeman has been horrendous all season. NFL officiating is at an all-time low. https://t.co/qTiNsgj4Tl
— Connor Grott (@Connor_Grott) November 3, 2019
"That's way off, them calling him for lowering his helmet to hit the player," Eisen said while watching the replay. "This is part of the reason why I think mostly everything should be reviewable."
As Eisen continued to explain, there are many that fight back against the concept of reviewing everything due to the possibility that the games could be extended for longer than three hours. However, there is an issue in that the games are becoming frustrating for viewers to watch due to the officiating taking place.
Officiating has become such an issue in 2019 that many players have voiced their frustrations. Baker Mayfield of the Cleveland Browns and Clay Matthews of the Los Angeles Rams were even fined by the NFL for criticizing the referees. Even a former referee in John Parry has witnessed these issues and believes that it's taking away from the product on the field.
“It’s front page every week, and we have to find a way to get it off the front page,” Parry said about the refereeing, per the New York Post. “Mistakes are part of the game, but I think we are just struggling to put our arms around some of the product that we see right now.”
While there are many concerns about the NFL and the referees, it's likely that no changes will be made in the coming weeks. Following the season, the Competition Committee can meet and evaluate the various rules and any potential changes that can be made. For now, however, there will continue to be controversial calls each week while the NFL will hope that there are no more critical mistakes in playoff games.
Photo Credit: George Gojkovich/Getty; Simon Cooper/PA Images via Getty Images
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HOLD UP! Hit play and listen to GroupChat's new Episode 18! On our first episode of 2020 we're talking Peter Webber and former 'Bachelorette' Hannah Brown meeting again, new 'Vanderpump Rules' SURvers are here, Kylie Jenner isn't having the best kickoff to 2020 so far and is Jenelle Evans dating a new guy after her split from David Eason? Be sure to tap play for all the details!
Carlos Beltran Out as New York Mets Manager in Fallout From Astros Cheating Scandal
Odell Beckham Jr. Issued Arrest Warrant After Interaction With Police Officer During LSU Celebration
Rocky Johnson: What to Know About Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson's Father's Legendary Wrestling Career
LSU Players Threatened With Arrest for Smoking in Locker Room Following Championship Win
Tim McGraw Uses the Phillie Phanatic to Tease Upcoming Philadelphia Tour Date With Luke Combs
WWE Star Ric Flair 'Saddened' Over Passing of the 'Great' Rocky Johnson
Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Bought His Dad Rocky Johnson a New Home Just Months Before His Passing
Rocky Johnson: Rey Mysterio Mourns Death of Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson's Father
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Recent Photos and Videos
About Premier Boxing Champions
Premier Boxing Champions Statistics
Fight Night: Sat, Jan 14, 2017
Unbeaten Local Talent Rounds Out Undercard Action Saturday, January 14 from Barclays Center in Brooklyn
Polish Heavyweight Adam Kownacki, Welterweight Prospect Julian Sosa and Ireland’s Noel Murphy All Featured in Separate Bouts
BROOKLYN (December 15, 2016) -- Top local talent from New York City will be on display on Saturday, January 14 as Polish heavyweight Adam Kownacki, Brooklyn-native Julian Sosa and Irish welterweight Noel Murphy all enter the ring in separate bouts at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
"In addition to the tremendous action that will be televised on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING and SHOWTIME EXTREME on January 14, boxing fans in attendance at Barclays Center will be treated to an exciting undercard featuring up-and-coming local prospects," said Lou DiBella, President of DiBella Entertainment. "Polish heavyweight Adam Kownacki, Irish welterweight Noel Murphy and Brooklynite Julian Sosa, who is of Mexican descent, will all put their undefeated records on the line. Mayweather Promotions will also deliver Kenny Robles, a decorated amateur from Staten Island, making his pro debut, as well as Puerto Rican former world title challenger Thomas Dulorme on the comeback."
The January 14 event features a SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING® doubleheader headlined by the super middleweight world championship unification showdown between Badou Jack and James DeGale. Televised coverage on SHOWTIME® begins at 9:30 p.m. ET/6:30 p.m. PT with junior lightweight world champion Jose Pedraza taking on undefeated contender Gervonta Davis.
Additional action is featured on SHOWTIME EXTREME® and headlined by junior featherweight world champion and Brooklyn-native Amanda Serrano battling former two-division world champion Yazmin Rivas. The telecast begins at 7 p.m. ET/PT and features Ievgen Khytrov battling Immanuwel Aleem in a 10-round matchup of undefeated rising contenders.
Tickets for the live event, which is promoted by Mayweather Promotions and DiBella Entertainment, start at $25. Tickets are available now and can be purchased online by visiting www.ticketmaster.com, www.barclayscenter.com or by calling 1-800-745-3000. Tickets are also available at the American Express Box Office at Barclays Center. Group discounts are available by calling 844-BKLYN-GP.
The unbeaten Kownacki (14-0, 11 KOs) will take on Joshua Tufte (19-1, 9 KOs) in an eight-round heavyweight fight while Sosa (6-0-1, 2 KOs) faces Gabriel Solario (2-2-1) in a six-round welterweight attraction and Murphy (7-0, 2 KOs) competes in a six-round welterweight bout.
Rounding out the action are a pair of recent additions to the Mayweather Promotions stable as former title challenger Thomas Dulorme (23-2, 15 KOs) enters the ring for an eight-round junior welterweight fight and Staten Island-native Kenny Robles makes his pro debut in a four-round welterweight battle.
A two-time New York Golden Gloves champion, four of Kownacki’s last five victories have come at the friendly confines of Barclays Center. Originally from Poland but now living in Brooklyn, Kownacki stopped Jesse Barboza in round three of their June fight the last time he entered the ring. The 27-year-old has won six times since the beginning of 2015 and faces one of his toughest opponents to date in the former kickboxing champion Tufte of Kernersville, North Carolina.
Trained by his father, former pro fighter and New York Golden Gloves champion Aureliano, Sosa has built a growing fan base fighting of the Flatbush Cops ‘N’ Kids gym in his hometown of Brooklyn. The 20-year-old is unbeaten since turning pro in March 2015 and has picked up three wins in 2016. He will be opposed by the 27-year-old Solario who fights out of Seattle and picked up a win over Drew Bokenshire in his last bout.
Originally from Cork, Ireland, Murphy has fought exclusively in the U.S. since turning pro in 2014 while fighting out of Woodlawn, NY. The 22-year-old earned his seventh pro victory in November when he won a dominant decision over Mohamed Allam in November. It was his second victory of the year and now he will make his second career start at Barclays Center looking to begin 2017 in style.
Barclays Center's BROOKLYN BOXING™ programming platform is presented by AARP. For more information visit www.SHO.com/Sports follow on Twitter @BadouJack, @JamesDegale1, @Sniper_Pedraza, @Gervontaa, @ShowtimeBoxing, @SSports, @MayweatherPromo, @LouDiBella, @BarclaysCenter, and @Swanson_Comm or become a fan on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/SHOSports, www.facebook.com/MayweatherPromotions www.Facebook.com/DiBellaEntertainment, www.Facebook.com/barclayscenter. This event is sponsored by Corona Extra, La Cerveza Mas Fina.
Downloadable high-resolution photographs for media use.
Download fight photos
Adam "Babyface"Kownacki 20-0-0 (15 KOs)
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The Pretty Providence Privacy Policy
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Early Verdict
Moto G8 Plus continues the legacy of Motorola smartphones, offering luring features at affordable pricing. This time around, the Moto G8 Plus definitely brings better power and features on offer with a capable and versatile camera set-up, high-performing stereo speakers, efficient battery management and an intriguing display. Priced at Rs 13,999 in India, it’s definitely a top competitor in its market segment up against Chinese brands.
Impressive triple camera setup
Efficient battery management
Average performance
Not the best camera results
No wide-angle camera setup
One Minute Review
The Moto G8 Plus is the latest of the Motorola’s G8 series smartphone that has just been launched in India. As with the earlier G series, the G8 Plus is intended to offer users with a high-end user experience along with highly competitive pricing and this time around this is achieved by powering G8 Plus with neat and stock Android version.
The G8 Plus takes the user experience a step further by offering luring features including decent triple camera setup, efficient battery management system, minimum bezel display, and stereo speakers. This sets the phone as an able and potent competitor in medium to the low-end smartphone market in India where it will be competing against a range of devices from Chinese manufacturers. However, compared to Chinese smartphones, Motorola smartphones are known for their robustness and durability, something that has remained consistent over the years.
The G8 Plus has just been released in India (October 25, 2019). The smartphone is priced at Rs 13,999 with a single variant on offering with 4GB RAM and 64GB internal storage (SD card slot available).
Moto G8 Plus comes with a plastic body and is offered in two color variations (Cosmetic Blue and Crystal Pink). The back panel comes with a glossy gradient finish along with the camera setup fitted at the left-top corner. The iconic Motorola logo remained aligned at the center of the back panel.
The logo area also adds up to the fingerprint sensor, an interesting make by Motorola. The fingerprint sensor works seamlessly unlocking the set in a moment. While at present in-screen fingerprint sensors are trending, the technology still isn’t mature and definitely not as fast as the traditional fingerprint sensor.
The G8 Plus measures 9.09mm thick and weighs 188 grams (a bit more than the previous G7 version). The volume rockers are pushed at the right edge with the unlock button. Like always, the unlock button is textured for easier access and identification. The dual-sim SD card hybrid slot is fixed at the left edge. Now, this might be intriguing for people looking for dual-sim and large internal memory both, as you would have to choose between one of them.
The microphone and the headphone jack is fixed at the top edge. Not to forget that the phone offers an immersive audio experience that can be enjoyed with the headphone jack. Not the least, the microphone, speaker grill, and fast-charging USB-C port can be found at the bottom edge of the phone.
As per the official claims from Motorola, the G8 Plus is water repellent. The company has used the rubber gaskets across the phone built-up which backs-up the official water repellent claim. However, it is to be noted that the phone isn’t IP67/68 rated, which means that anything beyond a few splashed can result in permanent damage. The phone box comes with a soft protective case, which is decent to protect the device against regular wear tear.
Overall, the G8 Plus has nothing out of the extraordinary with respect to the design that makes it stand taller above the rest. However, we can say that the phone offers better ergonomics with its plastic built, as compared to the glass-metal sandwich built (common nowadays). To say the least, the design offered in G8 Plus closely resembles the design offered in Moto One Series, which is another latest series on offer.
Motorola has slightly improved the display features for G8 Plus as compared to G7 Plus. The phone boasts a 6.3-inch Full HD+ IPS LCD panel with a decent pixel resolution of 2280 x 1080. The screen is a u-shaped minimum bezel style with a 19:9 aspect ratio, making it quite decent for videos. The front screen is protected with Panda glass, a similar protective glass covering as Corning’s Gorilla Glass.
The G8 Plus comes with a minimum bezel on the three sides, while a distinct bezel is found at the chin side. The speaker grill is fond near the top-notch, which works in conjunction with the bottom speakers (making up the stereo sound system).
If anything, the display offered in G8 Plus is certainly above average for video watching and gaming. The minimum bezel means a wider screen and a better visual experience. The 19:9 aspect ratio means there is an auto adjustment of video size without additional cropping. The screen is auto-setup to tilt towards the cooler spectrum, however, that can be adjusted as per user preference as well.
The Moto G8 Plus offered decent performance (understandable with its competitive pricing). The phone is powered by mid-range Snapdragon 665 chipset, a common chip found in various other phones in this segment including Redmi Note 8 and Xiaomi Mi A3. That chipset is paired with octa-core CPU and Adreno 610 GPU.
The phone boasts 4 GB DDR4 RAM with an internal storage of 64GB (expandable to 512GB if you decided not to go with dual-sim option). The Moto G8 Plus offers two years of software update up to Android 10.
The Motorola Moto G8 Plus certainly offers all the right basic features and specs to make it a worthy phone in its price segment. The phone comes with an interesting design, immersive screen, minimum bezel, triple camera system, fast charging option, and a stereo sound experience. While the performance for Moto G8 Plus is better, it could have been better.
Nonetheless, if you are looking for a modern budget phone with plenty of features and specs, Moto G8 Plus is right at the top of the competition in its price segment.
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Jordan Stern
Clinical Assistant Professor, Surgery - Vascular Surgery
Fellowship, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Columbia University/Weill Cornell, Vascular Surgery (2017)
Residency, The University of Chicago, General Surgery (2015)
M.D., The Ohio State University, Medicine (2008)
B.M.Sc., The University of Western Ontario, Biochemistry (2004)
jrstern@stanford.edu
University - Staff Department: Surgery - Vascular Surgery Position: Clinical Assistant Professor
University - Affiliate Department: Surgery - Vascular Surgery
A systematic review of the diagnosis, management, and outcomes of true profunda femoris artery aneurysm. Journal of vascular surgery Kibrik, P., Arustamyan, M., Stern, J., Dua, A. 2019
OBJECTIVE: True profunda femoris artery aneurysm (TPFAA) is rare. Most cases of profunda femoris artery aneurysm are classified as pseudoaneurysms. TPFAAs are mostly asymptomatic, but some are manifested with pain, swelling, paresthesia, gait and movement disturbances, thrombosis, and rupture. There is a paucity of evidence on the effectiveness of diagnostic and therapeutic measures for management of TPFAA. The aim of this paper was to systematically review the incidence, diagnosis, and management of TPFAA.METHODS: A comprehensive systematic review on the diagnosis and management of TPFAAs was conducted by a search through PubMed, Cochrane, Embase, and Google Scholar databases to identify and to evaluate publications on TPFAA since 2012. Only publications on TPFAA were included in this review.RESULTS: A total of 19 publications published from 2012 were included in the review. The studies were 18 case reports and a cadaver study reporting 27 TPFAAs in 26 patients with a mean age of 69.6years. Rupture was reported in 18.5% of the cases (n= 5); the conventional clinical presentation of unruptured TPFAA was reported in 48% of cases (n= 13), with 40.9% of unruptured aneurysms being asymptomatic (n= 9). Computed tomography angiography was used as a diagnostic tool in 85.2% of the cases (n= 23); Doppler ultrasound was applied in 33.3% of cases (n= 9). The common therapeutic approaches were resection and revascularization (n= 13 [48.1%]) and ligation or resection without reconstruction (n= 6 [22.2%]). Cumulative analysis for cases reported before and after 2012 yielded similar results.CONCLUSIONS: Review of the current literature supports that computed tomography angiography and Doppler ultrasound are the mainstay diagnostic approaches for TPFAA. Surgical repair through ligation, resection, and revascularization remains the most common and effective therapeutic procedure. Endovascular embolization is recommended for aneurysms when surgery is not tenable because of the patient's comorbidities and the aneurysm's anatomy.
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jvs.2019.10.086
Carbon Dioxide Angiography in the Treatment of Transplant Renal Artery Stenosis. Annals of vascular surgery Elmously, A., Stern, J. R., Greenberg, J., Agrusa, C. J., Schneider, D. B., Ellozy, S. H., Connolly, P. H. 2019
OBJECTIVES: Transplant renal stenosis (TRAS) is a serious complication associated with graft loss. Selective carbon dioxide angiography allows for effective diagnosis and therapy with the use of minimal to no contrast agent. This study sought to evaluate the efficacy of the adjunctive use of carbon dioxide angiography in the treatment of TRAS.METHODS: Patients undergoing endovascular therapy (percutaneous transluminal angioplasty with or without stent) for TRAS between the years 2012 and 2017 at a single tertiary care academic medical center were studied. Outcomes of interest included technical success, post-operative glomerular filtration rate (GFR), and renal ultrasound hemodynamic parameters.RESULTS: Of the 37 patients who underwent angiography for TRAS during the study period, 34 underwent a therapeutic intervention. Of those, 24 patients (70.6%) underwent adjunctive carbon dioxide angiography vs. 10 patients (29.4%) who underwent standard contrast angiography. Baseline characteristics between the carbon dioxide angiography and traditional angiography groups were similar. Patients undergoing carbon dioxide angiography received significantly less contrast agent than patients undergoing traditional angiography [9.5 ml (IQR 2-19.5) vs. 19.5 ml (IQR 15-30)], p =0.03)] and maintained equivalent technical success rates (92.2% vs. 91.7%, p=0.9).CONCLUSIONS: The adjunctive use of carbon dioxide angiography allows for significantly less contrast administration compared to standard angiography while achieving an equivalent rate of technical success. Selective carbon dioxide angiography should be considered a first line modality for patients with TRAS in need of endovascular therapy.
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.avsg.2019.08.085
Association of opioid use and peripheral artery disease Itoga, N. K., Sceats, L. A., Stern, J. R., Mell, M. W. MOSBY-ELSEVIER. 2019: 1271-+
Delayed Fasciotomy Is Associated with Higher Risk of Major Amputation in Patients with Acute Limb Ischemia ANNALS OF VASCULAR SURGERY Rothenberg, K. A., George, E. L., Trickey, A. W., Chandra, V., Stern, J. R. 2019; 59: 195–201
Real-World Outcomes of EKOS Ultrasound-Enhanced Catheter-Directed Thrombolysis for Acute Limb Ischemia George, E. L., Colvard, B., Ho, V. T., Rothenberg, K. A., Lee, J. T., Stern, J. R. MOSBY-ELSEVIER. 2019: E170–E171
Zenith Fenestrated Outcomes for Patients Treated Inside Versus Outside of Instructions for Use Stern, J. R., Deslarzes-Dubuis, C., Tran, K., Lee, J. T. MOSBY-ELSEVIER. 2019: E119
Association of Frailty and Postoperative Complications With Unplanned Readmissions After Elective Outpatient Surgery. JAMA network open Rothenberg, K. A., Stern, J. R., George, E. L., Trickey, A. W., Morris, A. M., Hall, D. E., Johanning, J. M., Hawn, M. T., Arya, S. 2019; 2 (5): e194330
Importance: Ambulatory surgery in geriatric populations is increasingly prevalent. Prior studies have demonstrated the association between frailty and readmissions in the inpatient setting. However, few data exist regarding the association between frailty and readmissions after outpatient procedures.Objective: To examine the association between frailty and 30-day unplanned readmissions after elective outpatient surgical procedures as well as the potential mediation of surgical complications.Design, Setting, and Participants: In this retrospective cohort study of elective outpatient procedures from 2012 and 2013 in the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) database, 417 840 patients who underwent elective outpatient procedures were stratified into cohorts of individuals with a length of stay (LOS) of 0 days (LOS=0) and those with a LOS of 1 or more days (LOS≥1). Statistical analysis was performed from June 1, 2018, to March 31, 2019.Exposure: Frailty, as measured by the Risk Analysis Index.Main Outcomes and Measures: The main outcome was 30-day unplanned readmission.Results: Of the 417 840 patients in this study, 59.2% were women and unplanned readmission occurred in 2.3% of the cohort overall (LOS=0, 2.0%; LOS≥1, 3.4%). Frail patients (mean [SD] age, 64.9 [15.5] years) were more likely than nonfrail patients (mean [SD] age, 35.0 [15.8] years) to have an unplanned readmission in both LOS cohorts (LOS=0, 8.3% vs 1.9%; LOS≥1, 8.5% vs 3.2%; P<.001). Frail patients were also more likely than nonfrail patients to experience complications in both cohorts (LOS=0, 6.9% vs 2.5%; LOS≥1, 9.8% vs 4.6%; P<.001). In multivariate analysis, frailty doubled the risk of unplanned readmission (LOS=0: adjusted relative risk [RR], 2.1; 95% CI, 2.0-2.3; LOS≥1: adjusted RR, 1.8; 95% CI, 1.6-2.1). Complications occurred in 3.1% of the entire cohort, and frailty was associated with increased risk of complications (unadjusted RR, 2.6; 95% CI, 2.4-2.8). Mediation analysis confirmed that complications are a significant mediator in the association between frailty and readmissions; however, it also indicated that the association of frailty with readmission was only partially mediated by complications (LOS=0, 22.8%; LOS≥1, 29.3%).Conclusions and Relevance: These findings suggest that frailty is a significant risk factor for unplanned readmission after elective outpatient surgery both independently and when partially mediated through increased complications. Screening for frailty might inform the development of interventions to decrease unplanned readmissions, including those for outpatient procedures.
View details for DOI 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.4330
Association of opioid use and peripheral artery disease. Journal of vascular surgery Itoga, N. K., Sceats, L. A., Stern, J. R., Mell, M. W. 2019
BACKGROUND: Prescription opioids account for 40% of all U.S. opioid overdose deaths, and national efforts have intensified to reduce opioid prescriptions. Little is known about the relationship between peripheral artery disease (PAD) and high-risk opioid use. The objectives of this study were to evaluate this relationship and to assess the impact of PAD treatment on opiate use.METHODS: In this retrospective cohort study, the Truven Health MarketScan database (Truven Health Analytics, Ann Arbor, Mich), a deidentified national private insurance claims database, was queried to identify patients with PAD (two or more International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision diagnosis codes of PAD ≥2months apart, with at least 2years of continuous enrollment) from 2007 to 2015. Critical limb ischemia (CLI) was defined as the presence of rest pain, ulcers, or gangrene. The primary outcome was high opioid use, defined as two or more opioid prescriptions within a 1-year period. Multivariable analysis was used to determine risk factors for high opioid use.RESULTS: A total of 178,880 patients met the inclusion criteria, 35% of whom had CLI. Mean± standard deviation follow-up time was 5.3± 2.1years. An average of 24.7% of patients met the high opioid use criteria in any given calendar year, with a small but significant decline in high opioid use after 2010 (P< .01). During years of high opioid use, 5.9± 5.5 yearly prescriptions were filled. A new diagnosis of PAD increased high opioid use (21.7% before diagnosis vs 27.3% after diagnosis; P<.001). A diagnosis of CLI was also associated with increased high opioid use (25.4% before diagnosis vs 34.5% after diagnosis; P< .001). Multivariable analysis identified back pain (odds ratio [OR], 1.89; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.84-1.93; P< .001) and illicit drug use (OR, 1.87; 95% CI, 1.72-2.03; P< .001) as the highest predictors of high opioid use. A diagnosis of CLI was also associated with higher risk (OR, 1.61; 95% CI, 1.57-1.64; P< .001). A total of 43,443 PAD patients (24.3%) underwent 80,816 PAD-related procedures. After exclusion of periprocedural opioid prescriptions (4.9% of all opioid prescriptions), the yearly percentage of high opioid users increased from 25.8% before treatment to 29.6% after treatment (P< .001).CONCLUSIONS: Patients with PAD are at increased risk for high opioid use, with nearly one-quarter meeting described criteria. CLI and treatment for PAD additionally increase high opioid use. In addition to heightened awareness and active opioid management, our findings warrant further investigation into underlying causes and deterrents of high-risk opioid use.
Delayed Fasciotomy is Associated with Higher Risk of Major Amputation in Patients with Acute Limb Ischemia. Annals of vascular surgery Rothenberg, K. A., George, E. L., Trickey, A. W., Chandra, V., Stern, J. R. 2019
Compartment syndrome (CS) is a feared complication after revascularization for acute limb ischemia (ALI), and patients often undergo prophylactic 4-compartment fasciotomy at the time of revascularization to avoid developing CS and its associated complications. However, fasciotomy carries its own morbidity and surgeons may opt against this initially. The subsequent development of CS would mandate fasciotomy in a delayed fashion. We sought to investigate relationships between fasciotomy timing and patient outcomes.Patients who underwent lower extremity revascularization for ALI from 2005-2017 were retrospectively identified from an institutional database. Fasciotomy was classified as either prophylactic (occurring with revascularization) or delayed. Associations between patient characteristics, comorbidities, fasciotomy timing and patient outcomes were evaluated.A total of 138 patients met study inclusion criteria. Forty-two patients (30.4%) underwent fasciotomy, and of these, 8 (19%) were delayed. Patients with higher Rutherford acute limb ischemia classification were more likely to undergo fasciotomy (I 4.2%, IIA 13.2%, IIB 53.3%, p<0.001), and patients with coronary artery disease were less likely (16.1% vs. 83.9% fasciotomy, p=0.003). Ischemia time > 6 hours was noted in 66.7% of patients, though this was not significantly associated with fasciotomy occurrence (≤6 hours 21.7% fasciotomy vs. >6 hours 34.8% fasciotomy, p=0.17). Patients undergoing delayed fasciotomy were more likely to require major amputation within 30 days (50% vs. 5.9%, p=0.002).The decision to perform prophylactic fasciotomy in the setting of ALI is complex. When not performed, the subsequent development of CS requiring delayed fasciotomy appears to be associated with increased risk of major amputation at 30 days. This suggests that a liberal approach to prophylactic fasciotomy at the time of revascularization may improve limb salvage rates.
Interaction of Frailty and Postoperative Complications on Unplanned Readmission after Elective Outpatient Surgery Stern, J. R., Blum, K., Trickey, A. W., Hall, D. E., Johanning, J. M., Morris, A. M., Hawn, M. T., Arya, S. ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC. 2018: E25
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2018.08.062
Transradial interventions in contemporary vascular surgery practice. Vascular Stern, J. R., Elmously, A., Smith, M. C., Connolly, P. H., Meltzer, A. J., Schneider, D. B., Ellozy, S. H. 2018: 1708538118797556
Objectives Upper extremity arterial access is often required for endovascular procedures, especially for antegrade access to the visceral aortic branches. Radial arterial access has been shown previously to have low complication rates, and patients tolerate the procedure well and are able to recover quickly. However, transradial access remains relatively uncommon amongst vascular surgeons. Methods The radial artery was evaluated by ultrasound to evaluate for adequate caliber, and to identify any aberrant anatomy or arterial loops. A modified Barbeau test was performed to ensure sufficient collateral circulation. A cocktail of nitroglycerin, verapamil and heparin was administered intra-arterially to combat vasospasm. Sheaths up to 6 French were utilized for interventions. On completion of the procedure, a compression band was used for hemostasis in all cases. Results Twenty-five interventions were performed in 24 patients. The left radial artery was used in 23/25 cases (92.0%). Procedures included visceral and renal artery interventions; stent graft repair of a renal artery aneurysm; embolization of splenic, pancreaticoduodenal and internal mammary aneurysms; embolization of bilateral hypogastric arteries following blunt pelvic trauma; interventions for peripheral arterial disease; delivery of a renal snorkel graft during endovascular aortic aneurysm repair, and access for diagnostic catheters during thoracic endovascular aortic aneurysm repair. Technical success was 92.0%. There was one post-operative radial artery occlusion (4.3%) which led to paresthesias but resolved with anticoagulation. There were no instances of arterial rupture, hematoma, or hand ischemia requiring intervention. Conclusions Using the transradial approach, we have demonstrated a high technical success rate over a range of clinical contexts with minimal morbidity and no significant complications such as bleeding or hand ischemia. The safety profile compares favorably to historical complication rates from brachial access. Radial access is a safe and useful skill for vascular surgeons to master.
Safety and Effectiveness of Retrograde Arterial Access for Endovascular Treatment of Critical Limb Ischemia. Annals of vascular surgery Stern, J. R., Cafasso, D. E., Connolly, P. H., Ellozy, S. H., Schneider, D. B., Meltzer, A. J. 2018
INTRODUCTION: and Objectives: Retrograde arterial access (RA) of the popliteal, tibial or pedal arteries may facilitate endovascular treatment of complex infrainguinal lesions in patients with critical limb ischemia (CLI). Here, we assess the safety and efficacy of this technique.METHODS: A retrospective review of prospectively collected institutional data (consecutive M2S entries) was performed to identify patients with CLI undergoing peripheral vascular intervention from February, 2012 through December, 2017. Demographics, co-morbidities, procedural characteristics and outcomes were analyzed, and comparisons made between outcomes of patients undergoing RA and those undergoing a standard antegrade approach (SA).RESULTS: 566 patients were identified, of whom 26 (4.6%) underwent RA. Of these, 4 were accessed via the popliteal artery (15.4%), 13 via the tibial vessels above the ankle (50.0%), and 9 via pedal vessels (34.6%). RA facilitated procedural success in 96.2% of cases. There were no instances of distal embolization, perforation, or loss of distal target with RA. Primary, primary assisted and secondary patency rates were consistently lower for RA than for SA patients, as was limb salvage and amputation-free survival. No difference was seen in overall survival.CONCLUSIONS: RA represents a viable and safe option for revascularization when SA fails. Although outcomes are poorer than with SA, this technique can be useful in CLI patients, especially when open surgical revascularization is not an option.
Upper extremity access options for complex endovascular aortic interventions. The Journal of cardiovascular surgery Lavingia, K. S., Dua, A., Stern, J. R. 2018; 59 (3): 360–67
The advancement of endovascular therapy has led to minimally invasive solutions to increasingly complex aortic pathology, including thoracoabdominal aneurysms and those involving the visceral segment. Upper extremity access is beneficial in a variety of these complex interventions, and may be absolutely required for certain procedures such as placement of parallel chimney grafts. Traditionally, the brachial artery has been the primary access site on the arm, using either a percutaneous or open approach. Brachial access is safe and effective, and remains suitable for the majority of clinical situations. More recently though, descriptions of axillary and radial access have emerged and may provide a useful alternative in specific cases. These options should be viewed as complementary rather than competitive, and facility with all three techniques is desirable. Here, we describe in detail the various options for upper extremity access during complex aortic aneurysm repair and their relative advantages.
Association of Opioid Abuse and Peripheral Arterial Disease Itoga, N. K., Sceats, L. A., Stern, J. R., Mell, M. W. MOSBY-ELSEVIER. 2018: E87
A Decade of TEVAR in New York State: Volumes, Outcomes, and Implications for the Dissemination of Endovascular Technology. Annals of vascular surgery Stern, J. R., Sun, T., Mao, J., Sedrakyan, A., Meltzer, A. J. 2018
INTRODUCTION: /Objectives: The purpose of this study was to characterize utilization and outcomes of TEVAR in New York State during the first decade of commercial availability, with respect to evolving indications, results, and costs. Of specific interest was evaluation of the volume-outcome relationship for this relatively uncommon procedure.METHODS: The New York Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System (SPARCS) database was queried to identify patients undergoing TEVAR from 2005-2014 for aortic dissection (AD), non-ruptured aneurysm (NRA), and ruptured aneurysm (RA). Outcomes assessed included in-hospital mortality, complications and costs. Linkage to the NPI and NY Office of Professions databases facilitated comparisons by surgeon and facility volume.RESULTS: 1838 patients were identified: 334 AD, 226 RA, and 1278 NRA. Since introduction, TEVAR implantation increased significantly over the 10-year period in all groups (p<0.01), with recent increase in utilization for AD. Increased in-hospital mortality correlated to RA [OR 5.52 (3.02-10.08), p<0.01], coagulopathy [3.38 (2.02-5.66), p<0.01], cerebrovascular disease [2.47 (1.17-5.22), p=0.02], and non-white/non-black race [1.74 (1.08-2.82), p=0.02]. Early in the experience (2005-2007), patients were more likely to be treated at high-volume facilities (>17 per year) and by high volume surgeons (>5 per year), (p<0.01). Since 2011, however, most patients (53%) have undergone TEVAR by low volume surgeons (<3 per year). Neither surgeon nor hospital volume were associated with clinical outcomes.CONCLUSIONS: Since the introduction of TEVAR, comparable results have been obtained across hospital and surgeon volume strata. Favorable outcomes, even in low-volume settings, underscore the complexity of volume-outcome relationships in high-acuity procedures. These findings have implications for credentialing, regionalization, and future dissemination of advanced endovascular technology.
Endovascular Repair of Ruptured Hepatic Artery Pseudoaneurysm Secondary to Fibromuscular Dysplasia Vasc Endovascular Surg Rothenberg, K. A., McFarland, G. E., Stern, J. R. 2018: 1538574418794075
We describe successful endovascular treatment of a patient with fibromuscular dysplasia of the celiac axis leading to development of a common hepatic artery pseudoaneurysm with contained rupture. An 81-year-old woman was transferred to our quaternary care center with concern for a hepatic artery rupture. Further imaging demonstrated a common hepatic artery pseudoaneurysm with surrounding hematoma as well as multifocal areas of narrowing and dilatation in the celiac trunk consistent with fibromuscular dysplasia. A similar pattern was subsequently identified in the bilateral renal and carotid arteries. The patient underwent successful endovascular exclusion of the pseudoaneurysm with a balloon-expandable covered stent and was discharged home without incident. Fibromuscular dysplasia is a nonatherosclerotic arteriopathy that can lead to stenosis, occlusion, dissection, and aneurysm formation. While it primarily affects the carotid and renal arteries, there are rare case reports involving the mesenteric vasculature. Endovascular therapy appears to be a feasible treatment option for the complicated sequelae of this condition in the rare case of mesenteric arterial involvement.
Endovascular Repair of Ruptured Hepatic Artery Pseudoaneurysm Secondary to Fibromuscular Dysplasia. Vascular and endovascular surgery Rothenberg, K. A., McFarland, G. E., Stern, J. R. 2018: 1538574418794075
Totally Percutaneous Fenestration via the "Cheese-Wire" Technique to Facilitate Endovascular Aneurysm Repair in Chronic Aortic Dissection. Vascular and endovascular surgery Stern, J. R., Cafasso, D. E., Schneider, D. B., Meltzer, A. J. 2018; 52 (3): 218–21
Here, we describe a totally percutaneous technique for longitudinal fenestration of a chronic dissection flap in the setting of endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR), where the septum would otherwise preclude proper endograft sealing. This technique is demonstrated in a 65-year-old man with a history of open surgical repair of a Stanford type A aortic dissection, with a type B component that was managed nonoperatively. The patient developed aneurysmal degeneration of the infrarenal aorta during follow-up, and his anatomy was well suited for EVAR with the exception of a chronic dissection flap dividing the proximal seal zone. Using bilateral percutaneous access, a wire was passed through an existing fenestration in the septum from true to false lumen and snared from the contralateral side. Downward traction on this through-wire was then used as a "cheese-wire" to divide the septum longitudinally and clear it from the proximal fixation site. Removal of the septum provided an adequate proximal seal zone for the endograft, and standard infrarenal EVAR was then performed with a good technical result. Longitudinal fenestration using this technique is a useful adjunctive maneuver to facilitate EVAR in the setting of chronic aortic dissection and is safely achievable via a totally percutaneous approach.
Prophylactic Inferior Vena Cava Filter Utilization and Risk Factors for Nonretrieval. Vascular and endovascular surgery Stern, J. R., Cafasso, D. E., Meltzer, A. J., Schneider, D. B., Ellozy, S. H., Connolly, P. H. 2018; 52 (1): 34–38
Inferior vena cava filters (IVCFs) are often placed for prophylactic indications. We sought to better define the range of practice indications for placement of prophylactic IVCFs, as well as the specific retrieval rate and risk factors for nonretrieval.A retrospective, single-institution review of patients undergoing IVCF placement over a 2-year period was performed. Patients undergoing prophylactic IVCF placement were selected from a prospectively collected database. Risk factors for nonretrieval were identified using a multivariate logistic regression model.Of 615 IVCFs placed, 256 were retrievable filters placed for prophylactic indications and comprised the study cohort. The most common indications were a history of venous thromboembolic disease (43.7%), malignancy (35.1%), bleeding risk precluding anticoagulation (33.9%), and trauma (22.6%). One hundred sixty-three (63.6%) were placed preoperatively. Placement was performed in 70.3% by interventional radiology, 21.4% by vascular surgery, and 8.2% by cardiology. The most common requesting services were orthopedics (67%), general surgery (11%), neurosurgery (9%), and bariatric surgery (7%). Of all, 67.6% were placed in the inpatient setting and 32.4% in outpatients. Seventy-one (27.7%) of the 256 prophylactic filters were retrieved, with a mean indwelling time of 92 ± 74 days. Inpatients were significantly less likely to have their IVCF removed (32.4% vs 57.8%; P < .001), as were preoperative patients.This study helps define current practice trends for the placement of prophylactic IVCFs. Importantly, the specific retrieval rate for prophylactic filters is low. This suggests that prophylactic IVCF usage is suboptimal and efforts should be taken to increase retrieval, especially among inpatients and perioperative patients.
A Meta-analysis of Long-term Mortality and Associated Risk Factors following Lower Extremity Amputation. Annals of vascular surgery Stern, J. R., Wong, C. K., Yerovinkina, M., Spindler, S. J., See, A. S., Panjaki, S., Loven, S. L., D'Andrea, R. F., Nowygrod, R. 2017
A majority of patients undergoing lower limb amputations have diabetes or peripheral artery disease. Despite improvements in care, there remains a substantial perioperative mortality associated with these procedures. Less well-defined is the mortality risk to these patients going forward, once outside the perioperative period. The aim of this systematic review is to summarize and pool the available data to determine the long-term mortality associated with amputation in the diabetic and peripheral vascular patient, as well as to define specific factors associated with increased mortality risk.Four databases were searched from January 2005 through July 2015 using the Medical Subject Headings terms "amputation," "lower extremity," and "mortality." Inclusion criteria were observational and cohort studies where ≥50% of amputations were attributable to diabetic or vascular etiologies. Final article inclusion was approved by reviewer consensus. Bias was assessed with the Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal Tool for cohort studies.Of the 365 unique records screened, 43 abstracts and 21 full articles were reviewed and 16 studies ultimately included. The overall mortality rate was 47.9%, 61.3%, 70.6%, and 62.2% at 1-, 2-, 3- and 5-year follow-up, respectively. In addition to diabetes and peripheral vascular disease, comorbid factors associated with at least a 2-fold increased mortality were coronary artery disease, cerebrovascular disease, renal dysfunction, American Society of Anesthesiologists class ≥4, dementia, and nonambulatory status. Surgical factors, including higher amputation level and need for staged surgery with up-front guillotine amputation, were also correlated with increased mortality.The overall mortality rate after primary lower limb amputation in the diabetic and peripheral vascular population is substantial, and should not be underestimated when making decisions regarding limb salvage. Similar to patients undergoing revascularization, comorbid conditions associated with higher mortality should be optimized before surgery whenever possible.
Utility and safety of axillary conduits during endovascular repair of thoracoabdominal aneurysms. Journal of vascular surgery Stern, J. R., Ellozy, S. H., Connolly, P. H., Meltzer, A. J., Schneider, D. B. 2017
Endovascular treatment of thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms (TAAAs) with branched and fenestrated stent grafts often requires upper extremity arterial access for antegrade delivery of bridging covered stents into the visceral arteries. Axillary, brachial, and radial artery approaches have been described, but data on the safety and utility of the different approaches remain limited. We have preferentially used axillary artery conduits for upper extremity arterial access during endovascular repair of TAAA and describe our technique and report our experience herein.Thirty-two patients were treated within an investigator-sponsored investigational device exemption clinical trial of endovascular repair of TAAAs using custom-manufactured stent grafts. In 29 of these cases, the axillary artery was exposed through an infraclavicular incision, and an axillary conduit was used for antegrade delivery of bridging visceral artery stent components. In all cases, a 12F sheath was placed through the conduit for delivery of stent graft components. The left axillary artery was used in 27 of these 29 cases, and the right axillary artery was used in 2 patients. Proximal brachial artery access was used in two patients, and one patient did not require upper extremity access. Aneurysms treated included pararenal (n = 3) and Crawford TAAA extent I (n = 1), extent II (n = 3), extent III (n = 10), and extent IV (n = 15). Patients have been followed up to 2 years after the procedure, with a mean follow-up of 226 days.Axillary conduits were used to deliver a total of 170 stent components placed into 81 branches and 27 fenestrations with 99.1% technical success (one accessory renal branch could not be cannulated). There were no intraoperative complications related to the construction or use of the conduit. There were two postoperative complications (6.9%) potentially attributable to the conduit; one patient experienced ipsilateral hand weakness and one patient had postoperative minor stroke, which resolved by the first postoperative visit. There were no cases of arm ischemia, wound hematoma, or reoperation related to the conduit.The use of an axillary conduit during endovascular repair of complex aortic aneurysms provides safe and effective upper extremity access for delivery of visceral branches. Moreover, axillary conduits facilitate delivery of 12F sheaths without interrupting upper extremity perfusion and provide a shorter working distance compared with brachial artery approaches.
Left-Sided Varicocele as a Rare Presentation of May-Thurner Syndrome. Annals of vascular surgery Stern, J. R., Patel, V. I., Cafasso, D. E., Gentile, N. B., Meltzer, A. J. 2017
May-Thurner syndrome (MTS), the clinical sequelae of left iliac vein compression between the right iliac artery and the spine, is an accepted cause of lower extremity edema and venous thromboembolism. It is more prevalent in younger women and typically presents with left lower extremity symptoms. Atypical presentations such as right-sided symptoms, chronic pelvic pain, and even fatal venous rupture have been reported. Here, we describe iliac vein compression presenting as a chronic left-sided testicular varicocele.A 22-year-old man presented with left testicular varicocele, scrotal edema, and pain after failing multiple attempts at surgical repair. MRI revealed left iliac vein compression and marked cross-pelvic collaterals. Venography and intravascular ultrasound confirmed left common iliac vein compression and typical changes of MTS. There was no gonadal vein (GV) reflux. An iliac vein stent (WALLSTENT, Boston Scientific) was placed.A good technical result was achieved, with elimination of internal iliac vein reflux and marked reduction in pelvic collateral flow (see image). The patient reported resolution of his symptoms.Varicocele is a leading cause of testosterone insufficiency and infertility in young males. In the majority of cases, successful treatment can be achieved by addressing reflux in the internal spermatic vein (ISV) and/or GV by a variety of surgical or endovascular approaches. In unusual cases, the culprit pathology may be reflux in the vein of the vas deferens, which unlike the ISV and GV, drains into the internal iliac vein. In such cases, iliac vein compression usually associated with MTS may result in varicocele. To our knowledge, this is the first report of refractory varicocele secondary to iliac vein compression successfully treated with endovenous stenting.
Transradial Delivery of a Renal Snorkel During Complex Endovascular Aortic Aneurysm Repair. Vascular and endovascular surgery Stern, J. R., Ellozy, S. H. 2017; 51 (7): 513–16
Transradial access has been described in a variety of clinical contexts but has been rarely utilized for visceral artery interventions and during complex endovascular aortic aneurysm repair (EVAR) when upper extremity access is required. This is usually accomplished via brachial artery access, and although brachial access is generally safe and effective, radial access may offer some benefits with regard to patient comfort and potential complications. Here we report a case of successful delivery of a renal snorkel via a radial artery approach during EVAR. A 71-year-old man presented for endovascular repair of an asymptomatic abdominal aortic aneurysm. Anatomic limitations dictated the need for a left renal snorkel in order to augment the proximal seal zone. Via a right radial approach, a 6-Fr sheath and then a 6-mm iCast stent (Atrium Medical, Hudson, New Hampshire) were delivered into the left renal artery. Endovascular aortic aneurysm repair was then completed with a bifurcated Endurant stent graft (Medtronic, Fridley, Minnesota). The renal stent and aortic stent grafts were successfully deployed. Completion angiography demonstrated a patent left renal snorkel, with no evidence of endoleak. Hemostasis was achieved at the radial puncture site with no complications. This demonstrates the feasibility of radial artery access for the delivery of adjunctive stents during complex EVAR.
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Ahmed Shehzad Charged With Ball-Tampering
Posted 3 months ago by Syed Zarar
Pakistan’s opening batsman Ahmed Shehzad has been charged with ball-tampering with an unidentifiable object during a match in Quaid-e-Azam Trophy.
The sources have confirmed that the incident took place during the first innings of Sindh against Central Punjab on Day 2 of the match.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Thursday said in a statement:
Central Punjab captain Ahmed Shehzad has been charged for altering the condition of the ball as per the non-identification process, however the decision will be announced tomorrow.
Source further added that field umpires noticed that the ball condition was altered during the initial overs of Sindh’s first-inning but they failed to identify how it happened.
The ball was then immediately changed and both sides were made aware of the decision taken by the on-field umpires.
According to the rules, Shehzad is charged with level one offense, under clause 2.14 of PCB’s code of conduct.
Ahmed Shehzad has been summoned by the match-referee Nadeem Arshad for hearing on the decision and the punishment will then be announced.
However, sources claim that Shehzad will be fined 50% of his match-fee and might face a possible ban.
PAKISTANIS says:
Ek chor or currupt awam say ar kya umeed ki ja sakti ha
Zeesh says:
Just ban this good for nothing piece of BS for life – till they are around Pakistan will continue to suffer and get black listed globally!
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Julie Proudfoot – Author
Reviews of The Neighbour
Authors on Snapchat
Female Authors & Meta-Fiction
Quotes/Blog
Tag: writing fiction
Creating space in writing.
In the excerpt below, I love the space created by a simple change in focus. The grandmother pauses within the story to brush flies from the child’s face, and we just know there is something wrong! Love it.
“The little granddaughter came, picking her way through the long grass. She told the grandmother that the new baby was going to have a bath and she was going to have a bath as well. Her mother had said so.
‘Is mother going to have a bath too?’ the grandmother, brushing flies away from the child’s face, asked.
‘Yes,’ the child told the grandmother. ‘All, her and me and baby.’ The grandmother was surprised….the baby and the granddaughter had been bathed.”
(P116. The Orchard Thieves, Elizabeth Jolley 1995)
Sentence: description or construction?
I want to show you something I’m reading about sentences. Let me know your thoughts.
The main point is this: “There are no descriptions in fiction, there are only constructions.” (this reading is from Philosophy and the Form of Fiction by William H Gass)
We start with a paragraph describing a character named Magister Nicholas Udal. (from The Fifth Queen, Ford Maddox Ford)
Next, we look at removing the colon, and placing that sentence at the end of the paragraph to see how that changes our comprehension of the character.
Next, the possessives related to clothing are removed, the ‘his doctor’s gown’ is changed to ‘a doctor’s gown’ and the same with the cap.
And then the same is done with Udal’s features.
Next, he plays around by letting him own his clothes but not his face:
from Philospophy and the Form of Fiction by William H Gass.
Writer’s Diary 6: Every Sentence
I recently finished a novel. It was a love novel, one of those ones you write because you love the subject or something about it. I love meta-fiction – it’s a meta-fiction novel.
But now that I have finished, what next? I’m now writing another novel, this one may be a series, but we will see.
I’ve come to realise that I missed the love I have for writing and words and sentences. I lost that lovin’ feeling with the publication of my novel, The Neighbour. I got all wound up in the expectations that I put on myself to promote on social media.
But I’ve wound all that back and loving writing again. What do I love? I love that every sentence is an opportunity to convey meaning – and that is simply it. I love sentences.
I love my chair, the blank page, and sentences.
Truman Capote’s Violets
Snatching her hand, he pulled her along with him, and they ran until they reached a side street muffled and sweet with trees. As they leaned together, panting, he put into her hand a bunch of violets, and she knew, quite as though she’d seen it done, that they were stolen. Summer that is shade and moss traced itself in the veins of the violet leaves, and she crushed their coolness against her check. (p.81)
I have recently written about violets, and violets that have poignant reason for being in the book, and this little violet moment in Truman Capote’s Summer Crossing is a reminder that I have missed an opportunity to slow the moment down, and bring attention to what is going on in the minds of characters – I think I might now go back to it and go a little deeper.
Up until these sentences quoted below from the book, there has been mostly action and words that move the story on, and then suddenly there are these descriptive sentences, waxing and waning and slowing down, and you just know that there is something coming, a point in the book in which everything changes, and sure enough it does. With one short sentence (that I haven’t copied here) the lives of the characters change, and without all this slowing down and going deeper that comes just prior, I think the reader would feel like it had all come way too suddenly. As it is, it’s a lovely sliding into the moment, the reader eases into it, and then, there it is, the moment we waited for. ‘…heat’s stale breath yawned in their faces…’ too good.
It was wilting out on Lexington Avenue, and especially so since they’d just left an air-conditioned theatre; with every step heat’s stale breath yawned in their faces. Starless nightfall closed down like a coffin lid, and the avenue, with its newsstands of disaster and flickering, fly buzz sounds of neon, seemed an elongated, stagnant corpse.
A roar from underground echoed through her, for she was standing on top of a subway grating: deep in the hollows below she could hear a screeching of iron wheels, and then, nearer by, there came a fiercer noise: car horns clashed, fenders bumped, tires careened! And she whirled around to see a driver cursing Clyde, who was jayhopping across the street as fast as his legs would go. (p.80)
A short note on Christina Stead’s sentences.
I’m reading A Christina Stead Reader, by Jean B Read, and note the long, rhythmic sentences that give the sense of riding waves into a sandy romantic beach.
Henry had discovered long ago that his fish were temperamental. On certain days, quite apart from the occasional sad twinges lent them by soot, fog or nightfall, the fish appeared to change colour, hourly, and even momently, due to secret and invisible movements of the water, or its animalculae, or to the filtration of light through the plankton, or to the thoughts of those finned images themselves. Sometimes, their bars and mottlings, their scars, freckles and wine marks would glow and burn, redden, blacken, glower: sometimes, the fish would turn paler and the outlines of their beauties fade.
On Art
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'San Andreas' Will Offer California a Much-Needed Reminder
Disaster movies provide audiences more than just entertainment.
Wes Judd
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in San Andreas. (Photo: Warner Bros.)
At the end of the month, San Andreas, a new disaster movie staring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, will rumble into theaters. The film depicts the catastrophic aftermath of a California earthquake caused by the (very real) fault line. Based on its trailers, San Andreas will hit all the standard disaster movie chords: a stoic hero, his separated family, crumbling buildings, walls of water towering over skylines. As we’ve written about before, fiction has a potent ability to affect real-world perceptions and behavior. But researchers have found that the momentous nature of disaster movies has a particular strong effect on viewers.
In author John Sander’s 2009 book, Studying Disaster Movies, he wrote that disaster movies tap “into fears beyond the audience’s control, yet is often rooted in real-life experience, making the genre a potent mixture of entertainment and a window onto actual events.” In the case of The Day After Tomorrow, a 2004 picture that depicts the fallout from a climate change-endued super storm, the film directly affected attitudes on viewers' understanding of global warming as a threat. A 2004 study by Yale’s Anthony Leiserowitz titled “Surveying the Impact of The Day After Tomorrow” revealed that survey respondents who had seen the movie were significantly more concerned about global warming than those who hadn’t, and were more inclined to think that scenarios depicted on screen will actually happen. Their concerns were so stark that respondents who had seen the film immediately ranked climate change as a more important political issue that those who hadn’t seen it (and this was a decade ago, keep in mind).
Disaster movies tap “into fears beyond the audience’s control, yet is often rooted in real-life experience, making the genre a potent mixture of entertainment and a window onto actual events.”
Leiserowitz summarized his findings, saying, "The Day After Tomorrow had a significant impact on the climate change risk perceptions, conceptual models, behavioral intentions, policy priorities, and even voting intentions of moviegoers."
It's worth noting that researchers have also explored disaster films' shortcomings, such as their tendency to depict women as helpless, or their complete disregard for the actual physics of fire. But when applying this research to San Andreas—which, of course, is not a film about the impacts of climate change, but instead about the slipping of one of the world’s major fault lines—we can infer that the precariously-placed cities of California just might get a much-needed reminder that earthquake precautions and response training are very real and important issues.
Dwayne The Rock JohnsonDisastersSan AndreasMoviesEarthquakes
On War and Fiction
Movies like American Sniper have the ability to shape Americans’ real-world understanding of conflict with enemy groups. Is that a good thing?
How 'Star Wars' Can Help You Understand Serious Psychotic Disorders
A teaching tool, the movies can be.
After the Aftermath
Long after the benefit concerts are finished, the victims of hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis suffer severe emotional aftershocks. Is there a better way to respond to disaster?
Will California Ever Fall Into the Ocean?
Probably not, but the history behind that rumor is fascinating.
The ‘Big One’ Might Not Be in California
The recent temblor that left the Midwest shaken shows that there's nowhere that's absolutely free of earthquake danger.
A Conversation With the Psychologist Behind 'Inside Out'
Emotions expert Dacher Keltner, who advised director Pete Docter throughout the making of the new Pixar hit, dives deep into the science of emotion, and tells us how Inside Out could teach Western culture an important lesson.
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Rangelands WA
info@rangelandswa.com.au
What are the rangelands?
Goldfields-Nullarbor
Friends of Rangelands
Connect–Coordinate–Deliver
Systems and structures
Delivering safe projects
Landuse and grazing
Rehydration and Water
Climate Change and Carbon
Rangelands NRM Regional Plan
The Team Behind Our Success
By working together, we can manage the many pressures on the rangelands, and protect and preserve the wealth of biodiversity that calls it home and encourage sustainable land management.
Debra Tarabini-East
Committed to delivering professional services and outcomes to ensure our environment is sustainable for the future.
Dave Blunt
Chief Financial Officer / Secretary
Looking after Internal Financial Management--all functions relating to the financial accounting operations of Rangelands, along with general administration including insurances, leases etc.
Paul Buckman
Operations & Regional Development
Listen, drive discussion and input, and facilitate the delivery of business growth and improvement strategies that provide vision, action and results.
Quinton Clasen
Working on the organisation’s capability development, transforming ideas and practice into making a real difference on the ground.
Managing the communication outputs for the organisation including news, website, social media, publications, events and branding.
Donelle Maxwell
Maintaining and improving the administrative infrastructure of Rangelands NRM and providing administrative support to the Board and Management Team.
Chris Curnow
Coordinating the delivery of and looking for new opportunities for NRM projects by helping local, regional and national stakeholders to network and collaborate on matters of common..
Jardine Macdonald
Supporting land managers, community groups and organisations across the northern rangelands.
Joy Sherlock
Sarah Jeffery
Regional Agricultural Landcare Facilitator
Working in the southern rangelands with land managers and communities to build capacity and resilience, whilst creating new relationships and opportunities.
Hilary Wilkins
Working in the Kimberley as the Dampier Peninsula Fire Project Manager.
Ellie Summers
Project Officer & Regional Agricultural Landcare Facilitator (RALF)
Taking on the roles of Project Officer and Regional Agricultural Landcare Facilitator (RALF), Ellie has a real passion for the land, its people, natural resources and production..
Rob Edkins
Rob is an agribusiness specialist and experienced executive with demonstrated success in the senior management of complex operations with a focus on business development, natural resource management, agricultural farming systems, stakeholder engagement, governance, transparency and accountability and organisational change. Rob is an ex-farmer, with over 20 years’ experience in senior management including 12 years as Chief Executive Officer and director of both ‘for profit’ and ‘not for profit’ companies and organisations.
He has successfully implemented complex multi-faceted economic, social and environmental programs, which have seen over A$100 million direct funding delivered into regional development projects across the State of Western Australia and Australia.
He has been CEO and a director of South Coast NRM, a Director of Regional Development Australia – Great Southern and is currently MD of Food Fibre and Land International Group, and has sat on numerous advisory committees for both the Western Australian and Australian Governments.
Rob has an interest in sustainable, profitable farming systems that deliver superior quality fibre and highly nutritious foods.
Andrew Whitmarsh
Andrew was born and grew up on a cattle and horticulture farm in Pemberton. He moved to Dongara in 1997, after completing a Bachelor of Business degree, majoring in Accounting. While in Dongara, Andrew operated a family beef cattle business and served on the Irwin LCDC committee and also on the Mingenew-Irwin Group of which he is still currently a member. In December 2005, the family business expanded into the Pastoral areas through the purchase of Byro and Ballythunna stations. Andrew married in 2010 and now has two little girls running around. Andrew is currently the president of Murchison LCDC, secretary/treasurer of Carnarvon Rangelands Biosecurity Association and shire councillor for the Shire of Murchison.
Catherine Marriott
Over the past ten years, Catherine has become a prominent and well-respected agribusiness leader, with a well-rounded view on business sustainability, including environmental management. Her skills and experience lie in developing and enacting sound commercial business strategy, communications, stakeholder engagement and risk/opportunity analysis. Catherine has ten years of board experience across a number of agriculture and community development boards. She is also a Councillor on the Broome Shire Council. She has a broad network of connected leaders and influencers across the entire primary production and Rangelands Management sector and has a genuine interest in building capacity in rural and regional Australia. She is a graduate of the AICD, and the 2012 WA RIRDC Rural Women of the Year. Catherine was the founding CEO of the Kimberley Pilbara Cattlemen’s Association, a role that worked very closely with Rangelands NRM.
Peter Long
Peter has been the Mayor of the City of Karratha since 2014. He has a BCivilEng (Hons), a BA and a BSc (Environmental Science). Peter was a Professional Engineer and Environmental Scientist and the Managing Director (MD) of the Astron Group of Companies, which he founded in 1985. He has extensive experience across the Pilbara and north-west shelf islands, working on many significant projects. Peter has a high business profile and high-level industry experience. He is a graduate of the AIDC. He has held directorships and Board positions on several other companies and institutions including currently the CRC for Developing Northern Australia, Regional Capitals Alliance WA (Chair), Pilbara Regional Council, Northern Australia Advisory Council, Astron Engineering Pty Ltd (MD) and Astron Environmental Pty Ltd (MD). Peter is fully familiar with the requirements of business development, financial management, human resources, operations management and the pressures of a corporate existence.
D.John Carlson
John is a well-known for writer, speaker and adviser in consumer behaviour, branding and strategic marketing, with clients drawn from all industry sectors and all states of Australia. He has owned and managed a number of local and national businesses. In addition to Rangelands John is currently a director Water Purified, Picasso Capital Management and Linc Capital, Foodbank and Community Vision. He was previously a director of Landcorp, Transperth and Perth Bus, Save the Children Fund, Days of Change, Merrilinga Young Children’s Foundation, United Way Australia and the WA Theatre Company. John also produces honey on his farm in Manjimup.
Robin Romero
Robin is legal counsel and an executive director of FMR Investments Pty Ltd (“FMR”), a private mining entity, who also holds an accounting and finance degree. She has 14 years of in-house legal experience (mining sector) following 10+ years’ experience working in large commercial law and accounting firms (servicing clients across many sectors). She is a graduate of the AICD Company Director’s course. Robin grew up in the Great Southern region of WA and has a natural affinity with rural and regional WA. She is a critical thinker with a pragmatic approach and broad commercial experience to draw upon, together with strong communication and interpersonal skills.
Saliba Sassine
Saliba Sassine is a seasoned and experienced senior executive with deep knowledge of corporate finance and structuring, international and cross border transactions, and the application of technology and innovation for competitive advantage. He has served as Chairman and CEO of a number of companies and is currently Managing Director of BlueMount Capital in Western Australia and Chairman of the Australian and International Board of the BlueMount Capital Group of companies. Dr Sassine has advised or led transactions in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, ICT, mining and exploration, and agriculture. He has led or managed cross border transactions with Peru, Thailand, USA, India, China and Japan. He has served as a Senior Ministerial Advisor in Australia and has served as Chairman of several high profile visual and performing arts organisations. Saliba has a First Class Honours Degree in Economics and a Doctor of Philosophy both from University of Western Australia.
Joined Rangelands NRM: 2018
Qualifications: Master of Business Administration from Notre Dame University, Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Role at Rangelands NRM: Committed to delivering professional services and outcomes to ensure our environment is sustainable for the future. Focus is on strategy, finance, risk and corporate governance.
Prior experience: Debra has had an extraordinary and diversified career in challenging International and domestic markets that spans more than 25 years at C-Suite and Board levels. She brings 25 years experience in agribusiness and more recently eight years in manufacturing and construction. Debra has held a number of Chair, and non-executive roles in agribusiness, manufacturing, mining, aviation, construction, property development, advertising/digital communications and industrial sectors as well as the NFP charity sector.
Email Debra
Qualifications: Bachelor of Business (Accounting)
Role at Rangelands NRM: Looking after Internal Financial Management–all functions relating to the financial accounting operations of Rangelands, along with general administration including insurances, leases etc.
Prior experience: Accountant roles with Hamersley Iron, Black & White Distribution, ATA Environmental , Coffey Environments.
Joined Rangelands NRM: April 2019
Qualifications: Bachelor of Business (Honours) – Finance & Economics and Marketing, Curtin University of Technology
Role at Rangelands NRM: With more than 20 years experience in commercial and corporate development, Paul’s role is to listen to the Board, management, stakeholders and policy developers, drive discussion and input, and then facilitate the delivery of business growth and improvement strategies that provide vision, action and results.
Prior experience: Held executive leadership and general management roles in business administration, operations, finance, training, events and sales, comprising the management and leadership of permanent, casual and volunteer staff, within the construction, resources, engineering, technology, consulting, hospitality, sports, education and health sectors. Has also held Board and Chair roles across state and national member based and not for profit organisations.
Email: Paul
Qualifications: Natural Resource Management degree with honours from UWA
Role at Rangelands NRM: Working on the organisation’s capability development, transforming ideas and practice into making a real difference on the ground. Also working on innovation leveraged from collaborative efforts that have large-scale impact and well as contributing to advancing the organisation’s strategy.
Prior experience: Led the WA operations of an environmental services company delivering large-scale revegetation programs, biodiversity restoration, and land management services for some of the nation’s largest resource clients and the Australian Government. Has had diverse managerial, technical and R&D roles in a large agribusiness and forestry operator. A key focus of these roles was overseeing land evaluation programs and the investigation of new business regions in southern Australia.
Email: Quinton
Joined Rangelands NRM: November 2019
Role at Rangelands NRM: Maintaining and improving the administrative infrastructure of Rangelands NRM and providing administrative support to the Board and Management Team.
Prior experience: TBC
Email Donelle
Joined Rangelands NRM: July 2014
Qualifications: Bachelor of Natural Resources (Hons), University of New England, 1990.
Role at Rangelands NRM: Coordinating the delivery of and looking for new opportunities for NRM projects by helping local, regional and national stakeholders to network and collaborate on matters of common concern. Helping to connect opportunities for additional funding within these collaborations.
Prior experience: Ten years with WWF-Australia leading the Southwest Australia land manager engagement team. Six years in Latin America assisting indigenous communities in community development programs. Started career in early 1990s in the rangelands of Western NSW working with pastoralists working on total grazing management initiatives.
Email Chris
Joined Rangelands NRM: February 2019
Qualifications: BSc (Hons)(Environmental Management), Masters (Hydrogeology), Natural Sequence Farming (NSF) Tarwyn Park Training
Role at Rangelands NRM: Supporting land managers, community groups and organisations across the northern rangelands by coordinating project delivery, growing opportunities for collaboration, and being on-ground as a Regional Agricultural Landcare Facilitator (RALF) as well as a Climate Mate interface for the Northern Australia Climate Program (NACP).
Prior experience: Hydrogeologist and environmental consultant primarily for Pilbara mining companies. Versed across industry practices of hydro(geo)logical investigations, modelling analyses and impact assessment, to water resource and bore field management. Research background in ephemeral catchment dynamics and groundwater recharge in the Pilbara. Strong interests in catchment management and regenerative agriculture.
Location: Broome
Email Jardine
Joined Rangelands NRM: October 2019
Qualifications: Bachelor of Agribusiness, Major 1 – Agricultural Technologies, Major 2 – Agricultural Marketing
Prior experience: Senior extension agronomist with a focus on assisting pastoralists with diversification. Environmental and agribusiness consultant with a focus on soil nutrient balance/soil testing and monitoring programs, water testing, monitoring and management. Strategic business planning and facilitation. Development, training and implementation of environmental management systems, mining rehabilitation and beef producer/pastoralist.
Location: Dongara/Geraldon
Email: Joy
Qualifications: Bachelor of Science
Role at Rangelands NRM: Working in the southern rangelands with land managers and communities to build capacity and resilience, whilst creating new relationships and opportunities.
Prior experience: Sarah’s work has varied greatly since leaving university from working in Japan to vet nursing. In recent years she has been working with the farming community in the Northern Agricultural Region to increase the their capacity to deal with the issues which they are facing including climate change and soil health.
Location: Dongera
Joined Rangelands NRM: September 2019
Qualifications: BA Hons French & German from University of Bath
Role at Rangelands NRM: Dampier Peninsula Fire Project Manager
Prior experience: Hilary has had a very diverse career spanning 25 years in the UK and Australia in a range of roles across the private and public sectors. Moving to Broome ten years ago, Hilary was LandCorp’s Kimberley Regional Manager with a focus on building strong and meaningful relationships with a wide range of stakeholders through the region, as well as furthering her skills in marketing, communications and project management. During this time, Hilary experienced her first helicopter flight, and subsequently decided to pursue a career in aviation. She gained her commercial helicopter pilot’s licence in 2015 and has been flying passengers around the Kimberley ever since!
Email Hilary
Qualifications: Bachelor of Agribusiness – Marketing, Curtin University of Technology
Role at Rangelands NRM: Taking on the roles of Project Officer and Regional Agricultural Landcare Facilitator (RALF), Ellie has a real passion for the land, its people, natural resources and production systems.
Prior experience: Ellie has working and management experience in many aspects of agriculture including strategic planning and enterprise development. She has invested in natural resource management projects herself and clearly sees their long term benefits.
Email: Ellie
Suite 12, 58 Kishorn Road,
Mt Pleasant, Western Australia 6153
Results are out for this year’s Kaz Collins School of..
Rangelands NRM eNews – October 2019 [View] Rangelands NRM continues..
Indigenous rangers, community and scientists gathered in the desert in..
Both Challa Station and Carey Downs Station have recently become..
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Knuckles's Perfect Dark Times
Perfect Agent
dataDyne Central - Defection 0:10 / 0 pts / 207th 0:51 / 0 pts / 203rd 5:03 / 0 pts / 294th
dataDyne Research - Investigation 1:32 / 0 pts / 117th 3:41 / 0 pts / 275th 6:09 / 0 pts / 266th
dataDyne Central - Extraction 1:03 / 0 pts / 202nd 2:38 / 0 pts / 272nd 5:48 / 0 pts / 310th
Carrington Villa - Hostage One 1:24 / 0 pts / 246th 2:22 / 0 pts / 315th 9:44 / 0 pts / 344th
Chicago - Stealth 0:18 / 0 pts / 240th 0:36 / 0 pts / 199th 0:45 / 0 pts / 213th
G5 Building - Reconnaissance 0:55 / 0 pts / 157th 1:11 / 0 pts / 172nd 1:45 / 0 pts / 198th
Area 51 - Infiltration 1:22 / 0 pts / 219th 4:19 / 0 pts / 350th 7:26 / 0 pts / 246th
Area 51 - Rescue 1:40 / 0 pts / 180th 4:27 / 0 pts / 314th 7:22 / 0 pts / 278th
Area 51 - Escape 2:48 / 0 pts / 183rd 5:16 / 0 pts / 251st 5:16 / 0 pts / 191st
Air Base - Espionage 1:28 / 0 pts / 188th 2:38 / 0 pts / 240th 4:42 / 0 pts / 227th
Air Force One - Antiterrorism 1:02 / 0 pts / 185th 1:34 / 0 pts / 165th 2:12 / 0 pts / 209th
Crash Site - Confrontation 1:49 / 0 pts / 233rd 3:41 / 0 pts / 315th 7:52 / 0 pts / 287th
Pelagic II - Exploration 1:12 / 0 pts / 206th 3:03 / 0 pts / 195th 8:06 / 0 pts / 288th
Deep Sea - Nullify Threat 3:57 / 0 pts / 262nd 7:06 / 0 pts / 288th 5:59 / 0 pts / 197th
Carrington Institute - Defense 0:57 / 0 pts / 153rd 1:49 / 0 pts / 186th 3:32 / 0 pts / 288th
Attack Ship - Covert Assault 2:40 / 0 pts / 170th 3:03 / 16 pts / 82nd 7:40 / 0 pts / 218th
Skedar Ruins - Battle Shrine 2:12 / 0 pts / 282nd 4:27 / 0 pts / 315th 6:03 / 0 pts / 328th
Mr. Blonde's Revenge 1:36 / 0 pts / 120th 1:39 / 0 pts / 102nd 1:44 / 0 pts / 104th
Maian SOS 1:53 / 0 pts / 161st 3:34 / 0 pts / 263rd 8:51 / 0 pts / 253rd
WAR! 0:29 / 0 pts / 187th 0:57 / 0 pts / 183rd 1:24 / 0 pts / 201st
The Duel 0:03 / 0 pts / 1st 0:07 / 0 pts / 186th 0:12 / 0 pts / 186th
30:30 / 0 pts
58:59 / 16 pts
1:47:35 / 0 pts
Overall Combined Time: 3:17:04 (236th)
Overall Combined Points: 16 points (271st)
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Cy the Ringleader to release online May 12th
Cy will release his new album “Circus World Event… The Ringleader” in online outlets May 12th 2008.
The Circus World Event is an album comprised of Circus flavored tracks which depicts the world as a circus. God is the Ringleader, but on the other hand, the devil wants to be the ringleader. It is also filled with songs that speak about life, inspiration, and issues in general. Within that realm, there is the circus/carnival show which is CY’s concert on stage as he portrays the Ringleader of that show that he brings to display all of this. His growth as an emcee and lyricists is evident when comparing him to his older work. CY now has the complete package as an artist. A creatively composed masterpiece, Circus World Event…
With production by Tony Stone, CY, 4 Sight Sounds, Big Toe, English, Phillip Moore and the mixing, mastering and engineering by Phillip Moore. Featured artists include The Much Luvv Fam, R-Swift (of Cross Movement Records), J-Johnson (fka J-Silas) (of RockSoul Entertaiment), Pettidee (of Soldier Sound), Enock, Sean Slaughter and more.
Tagscircusengineeringenglisheventmasteringmixingmooreonlineringleaderstonetony
Review – Willie Will – God’s Will
When theBREAX Sold Out… April 1st
FLAME explains album cover for The 6th
Tony Tillman’s New EP Lands in the Runner Up Spot on Multiple Charts
Tony Tillman “Show Me” ft. ZG
Grand Opening of The Writers Block – A Spoken Word & Music Showcase
Lecrae, Andy Mineo, and More Announce ‘Better Late Than Never’ Tour
Hazakim ‘Son of Man’ Lands Top Ten Spot on Billboard Gospel Chart
Tedashii’s ‘Blacklight’ Debuts #1 in Billboard Christian & Gospel
Jered Sanders Nabs Feature From Sho Baraka, Derek Minor, Parris Chariz, & More on ‘Hope ...
Bible VR To Add Christian Concerts to Its Newly Released App
Bible VR announced plans to add live music concerts and events to their VR app. This will allow fans to directly experience beloved artists in concert through 3D virtual reality using the Bible VR app on their smartphone and any VR headset such as Google Cardboard.
Lucid signs with Prestine Records, releases “Odd Sheep” music video with Emye
Prestine Records is proud to announce the signing of Daytona Beach native HipHop artist, Lucid. After befriending Emye, Lucid worked close with the Prestine family in laying the groundworks and foundations for the young label without asking for anything in return.
Beacon Light releases ‘Color Blind’ music video about racism
From Donald Trump not immediately disavowing his allegiance to the KKK, to Chris Rock’s opening monologue at the Oscars, racism has continued to be a dividing issue in the United States. Unfortunately, the church reflects many of the same racial tensions our country has struggled with since its beginning. Beacon Light is an artist who is passionate about bringing healing to these tensions.
Why 007 and Gifted da Flamethrowa decided to live RAW
RAW is a more succinct way to communicate their shared mission.As an acronym, RAW stands for “Ready And Willing” – a posture they take about sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ whenever and wherever they are called.
Von Won to re-release entire Christian catalog in advance of new album ‘Grown and Saved’
Vaughaligan “Von Won” Walwyn realizes his colorful life story and the pursuit of so many varied passion projects may have created a bit of a brand identity problem in today’s crowded music market.
FLAME Announces New EP Drops Friday
FLAME took to social media to announce that his EP extra nos is dropping this Friday. The album will chronicle his “theological journey” over the last few years. Check out the FLAME post below: View this post on Instagram Family, it’s been awhile! Been working on several projects. My first EP drops Friday!🎙 "extra nos" discusses my theological journey over the past 4 years. 🙏🏾 My hope is that sharing these insights will bring you the Godly peace & freedom that I experienced. 🎨 Cover art was hand painted 🖌 by my day 1, James Westbrook @jswestbrook 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 A post shared by […]
Thi’sl Announces His Intention to Build a School
Yesterday was Martin Luther King Day and Thi’sl used this honorary holiday to pay tribute to the civil rights leader with his own dream. “Dr. King had a dream, so this king could have a vision. I’m about to build a school!” posted Thi’sl on social media. View this post on Instagram Dr. King had a dream, so this king could have a vision. I’m about to build a school! 🏫 __________________________________________ #Motivation #MondayMotivation #Thisl #MLKDAY #StLouis #Stl #STTAG A post shared by KING THI'SL (@thisl) on Jan 20, 2020 at 1:39pm PST If anyone can get this done it’s […]
Yng Shem – So Deep ft. Rik Montero
Yng Shem dropped his debut song and music video for “So Deep” featuring Rik Montero. Watch Yng Shem Below:
“Replay,” produced by PoetiCS, is a godly banger! Trutha brings dope flows and witty bars creating a slick verse. Marqus Anthony comes in next utilizing a variety of cadences and vocal tones to get across his message. Overall, the song brags on the goodness of God and encourages the listener to trust in the Lord. Listen to Trutha and Marqus Anthony Below: Buy or stream here.
‘Faith-Based’ Film Satires ‘Christians Blindly Supporting’ Anything with Jesus in it [INTERVIEW]
Have you heard of the film “Faith-Based”? Breitbart and FOX News are calling it an attack on Christians and Christianity. The film, creators, cast and crew have been the focus of vitriol and rage in comment sections across Conservative media. But here’s the thing…no one has seen it and no one knows what it’s really about. Rapzilla does, and we spoke to one of the film’s creators – Luke Barnett. We have a feeling this film is less about making fun of Christianity as it is showing Christians the absurdity of some of the things Christians support because “JESUS.” The […]
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China: the dragon breathes fire
Diocletian reformed the coinage too
The Roman Empire had a chaotic patch in the Third Century; most reigns were brief and ended violently. Then came Diocletian, introducing an orderly system with responsibility divided among four rulers, two senior and two junior; the latter would duly move up and appoint new juniors. This “tetrarchy” worked for a short while, until some guys were too power-hungry to accept its constraints.
China had a chaotic patch between 1966 and 1976, when Mao Zedong’s power unleashed great violence. After his death, Deng Xiaoping, who had twice been purged, emerged as leader. Seeking to prevent a repeat of the Mao disaster, Deng, like Diocletian, established an orderly system of divided authority, including term limits. And like Diocletian’s, this system worked for a while, until one guy was too power-hungry to respect its constraints.
That would be Xi Jinping. He has consolidated far more power in his own hands than anyone since Mao; today no one in China but Xi really has much power. And it had become increasingly clear that he wasn’t going to bow out gracefully after 10 years as the Deng system would have required. Now, with little fanfare — and all internet discussion ruthlessly scrubbed — the 10-year limit has been formally abolished. Xi is now ruler for life.
It’s so much easier to amend China’s constitution than ours. Theirs being a charade of a constitution. Another advantage of China’s system. None of the messy public debate or legislative bickering that plague democracies.
The other big thing Deng Xiaoping did was to get China off Maoist-Communist economic madness, opening up to free enterprise. The result has been phenomenal economic advancement, raising hundreds of millions out of poverty. We Westerners had long believed that, as the Chinese gained economic security and affluence, they’d surely demand more say in governance.
That actually seemed to be happening in 1989 — until the regime responded with a bloodbath, showing its adherence to Mao’s dictum that “power comes from the barrel of a gun.” Yet still we continued to reason that such a political model was simply incompatible with a modern, educated, wealthy population.
Xi Jinping is determined to prove otherwise. China’s previous baby steps toward democratization, loosening up, and rule of law are being relentlessly rolled back. All green shoots of civil society not under the regime’s thumb are being crushed. Sperm donors are now screened for political loyalty. Lawyers are no longer even allowed to defend regime targets. Xi is building a Big Brother 1984 surveillance state. As The Economist recently noted, technologists used to scoff that controlling the internet would require hiring hundreds of thousands of secret policemen. “Then China did more or less precisely that.”
China is also deploying a pervasive system of social control, a monster Santa Claus naughty-and-nice list, utilizing “Big Data” to assign citizens points for good behavior and black marks for things the regime doesn’t like. High scorers get favored with privileges; low scorers had better watch out. And the government will indeed be watching for them. It is outfitting policemen with facial recognition software to scan crowds seeking targeted individuals.
And not only within China. Thousands in other countries have been grabbed and whisked back for punishment.
There seems to be remarkably little resistance inside China; nothing resembling the dissident movement that harried the USSR’s regime. Of course, with such strong internet and other social controls, there’s very little opportunity for dissidence to surface. China’s Communist Party is actually more fiercely repressive than its Russian counterpart was (at least post-Stalin), and it’s working. But even so, the populace seems weirdly acquiescent to its massive civic emasculation. Were we wrong after all to consider Enlightenment values human universals? Are the Chinese really that different from us?
Another of our hopes was that a more prosperous China would grow to be a more mature and responsible world citizen, playing nice with others in the global sandbox. That’s not happening either; here too China is going the other way, with Xi flexing his muscles not just at home but abroad. A regular bully China has become, brooking no restraints upon its aggressive aims. Even a previously unthinkable seizure of Taiwan by force begins to seem frighteningly thinkable. Wouldn’t that be just the thing to feed Xi’s strutting vainglory. If Putin could get away with it in Crimea, why not Taiwan?
Xi seems intent on proving us Enlightenment suckers wrong not only for China but for the whole world. How much more comfortable the rulers will be in their Beijing palace if the rest of the world looks more like China than its American antithesis. Xi’s touted “Belt and Road Initiative” is an infrastructure development plan aiming to almost literally bind a big part of the world to China. “Confucius Institutes” proliferate around the globe to promote, in reality, not China’s ancient wisdom but its modern outlook. All over, China is buying up media outlets and pliant political stooges, bullying publications, and making its overseas students into an army of nationalistic propagandists.
If Xi wants to Chinify the rest of the world, Trump seems to wish it too. Thus he mused that maybe America should follow China’s lead and abolish presidential term limits.
Tags:Xi Jinping
Posted in Politics, Society, World affairs | 1 Comment »
Visiting sunny tropical Iceland
Years back we made the mistake of visiting Washington, D.C., over Christmas. It was bitterly cold. I vowed no more icy vacations!
My wife’s windblown selfie
So this time we chose . . . Iceland. Well, how cold could it be in April? And wet, and windy? I didn’t realize it’s supposedly the third windiest place on Earth. The other two are uninhabited.
But it was fun. Long underwear helped.
Iceland is a small country, and sparsely settled; population only a third of a million (about equal to Anaheim’s). Partly because it is indeed fairly inhospitable. Its first settlers, in the Ninth Century, could just barely eke out survival. They came from Norway. How awful must Norway have been?
During Iceland’s next thousand years things only got worse. They quickly consumed all the island’s trees, thereafter making do with driftwood. And it grew colder.
The only saving grace was self government, of a sort, embodied in the Althing, an annual gathering for making laws and settling disputes (which seemed to be legion), presided over not by a king but the “law speaker.” Iceland’s Althing continued more or less continuously since the year 930; today the parliament still bears that name. We visited the place where the ancient Althings were convened.
Luxurious traditional Icelandic homes
But otherwise Iceland’s history was grimly depressing. Windy though the place is, the winds of progress passed Iceland by, and the Middle Ages continued there until the middle of the Twentieth Century. Epitomizing this is the language being virtually unchanged over the millennium. Try reading or understanding Ninth Century English (if you could call it “English”).
Also, Iceland never developed the modern convention of people having last names. Instead, Bjorn’s son Eric goes by Eric Bjornsson; his daughter Ingrid is Ingrid Bjornsdottir. (I suppose transsexuals change both their names.) This makes it fun trying to look someone up in a phone book.
Iceland was finally blasted from a medieval existence into modernity during World War II. A possession of Denmark, which was occupied by the Nazis, Iceland was preemptively occupied by the Brits and Americans. Then it took the opportunity to declare independence from Denmark in 1944. Foreign investment, and tourists, poured in, and Iceland, in a few decades, vaulted into First World ranks.
Seeking some breakfast our first morning in Reykjavik, we went into what looked like a very modest little place. A chocolate covered croissant seemed tempting until we saw it was $17! Such prices are very typical, showing how “advanced” Iceland has become. The Economist has a “Big Mac Index” gauging how over- or under-valued a nation’s currency is by reference to the local price for a Big Mac. That’s a universal commodity — except in Iceland, which has no McDonalds restaurants. But according to one analysis based on comparable burger prices, Iceland’s currency is actually the most overvalued in the world (i.e., its prices are the highest).
Nevertheless, its people are imbued with a very positive attitude. We got a wool-making demonstration, by a gal named Harpa who characterized herself as “hyper.” She was so animated and bubbly that it made this wool demonstration a highlight of the trip for me.
Speaking of positive attitude, my wife’s, as always, greatly enhanced the experience. She enthusiastically appreciates everything and never complains about anything.
Me, under a waterfall
Another trip highlight was our glacial lagoon boat ride. That glacier is the biggest in Europe. The lagoon had only just unfrozen, and was still full of ice crunching under our open rubber boat. We were encased in rubber ourselves — looking like astronauts in space suits. Getting suited up took longer than the boat ride. And it didn’t keep us from getting wet in the cold rain. But . . . you had to be there.
We also visited the Eyjafjallajokull Volcano, whose 2010 eruption messed up European air travel. Actually, we couldn’t see the volcano itself; but a farm at its foot had set up a visitor center, showing a really excellent home-made film about the eruption’s impact on them. Our visit was just about the last before the facility was closing so the family could get back to full-time farming.
Then there was the Blue Lagoon, touted as the world’s biggest jacuzzi. It’s heated by geothermal action and clouded with silica and other minerals. It was a weird sensation to have one’s body in hot water with the head (slathered with mineral goop) exposed to a cold breezy drizzle, while the whole scene is enveloped in a steamy mist (so I couldn’t see much of the bikinied babes). But, again, you had to be there.
The one key attraction we missed was Reykjavik’s Penis Museum. Maybe next time.
Tags:travel
Posted in Economics, history | 4 Comments »
“Without God everything is permitted”
My wife and I have been reading, aloud to each other, The Brothers Karamazov, Dostoevsky’s 1880 novel. A key motif is whether “without God everything is permitted.” That’s become a major talking point against atheism; the notion that atheists have no reason to be moral. Indeed, the idea’s societal reverberations may well be traceable back to Karamazov.
It was written when atheism was beginning to be important. Nietzsche soon declared, “God is dead.” Dostoevsky was himself deeply religious, yet in Karamazov he does not cavalierly dismiss the opposing point of view. Rather, he wrestles with the moral implications.
I have previously discussed morality without God. If we need him for morality, we’d be in trouble, because of course he’s a fiction. But in truth, whatever moral codes religions prescribe, they are merely a reflection of our pre-existing moral intuitions, rooted in evolution. Our ancestors lived in groups wherein cooperation, morality, and even altruism aided survival. People with tendencies toward those virtues lived to pass along their genes. These norms became further embedded through culture; religions are cultural inventions and again merely incorporate the moral ideas already a part of a given culture.
Further, each of us figures out, using common sense and our rational minds, how to live. Most of us do what’s right because it feels right. Our empathy for others dissuades us from actions harming them. And we realize it’s better to live in a society where people treat each other decently than in a Hobbesian “war of all against all.” None of this requires a God.
In Karamazov, Ivan hallucinates a conversation with the Devil. And in it, the Devil makes this remarkable speech — imagining what he thinks Ivan himself would say:
“Once every member of the human race discards the idea of God (and I believe that such an era will come, like some new geological age), the old world-view will collapse by itself without recourse to cannibalism . . . . Men will unite in their efforts to get everything out of life that it can offer them, but only for joy and happiness in this world. Man will be exalted spiritually with a divine, titanic pride and the man-god will come into being. Extending his conquest over nature beyond all bounds through his will and his science, man will constantly experience such great joy that it will replace for him his former anticipation of the pleasures that await him in heaven. Everyone will know that he is mortal, and will accept his death with calm and dignity, like a god. He will understand, out of sheer pride, that there is no point in protesting that life lasts only a fleeting moment, and he will love his brother man without expecting any reward for it. Love will satisfy only a moment in life, but the very awareness of its momentary nature will concentrate its flames, which before were diffused and made pale by the anticipation of eternal life beyond the grave . . . And so on and so forth. Very sweet!”
The Devil is being sardonic, as the final words show. He’s mocking Ivan. And yet this speech — put in the Devil’s mouth by the very religious author — actually expresses pretty well my own humanist ethos.
In the next passage the Devil invokes twice the “everything is permitted” trope — the new “man-god” can “jump without scruple over every barrier of the old moral code devised for the man-slave.”
Yet scruples are integral to our essential human nature. Our morality, which is self-built, does not enslave us, but liberates us, to live good lives, despite lacking ennoblement conferred by a god.
Tags:atheism, morality, religion
Posted in Philosophy, Society | 3 Comments »
Pecha Kucha Night – My love affair with numismatics
The Opalka Gallery at the local Sage College has a great event called “Pecha Kucha Night;” they’re held all the world. A bunch of presenters each shows and talks about 20 slides, each shown for exactly 20 seconds. I did one recently. It was quite a challenge to time my verbiage so that it matched up with the slides. Here’s my presentation:
Hello. My topic is my 60 year love affair with numismatics, which is the fancy word for coin collecting. It has enriched my life beyond measure. Eventually it took over my life, and I quit my real job and became a full time coin dealer. I’ll show you a couple of pictures of my coin office.
This is a small part of my “fulfillment center,” coins I have for sale. I assure you it’s very well organized, and I can locate any coin to fill an order. Usually. By the way, I sell coins only by mail. Quite a lot of them, as this picture suggests.
Now, often coins require some research, and here’s a picture of part of my numismatic library. Much of this kind of research can now be done on the internet, but it hasn’t totally replaced the need for reference books.
And speaking of books, I did write one myself about coin collecting, in 1992, called “Confessions of a Numismatic Fanatic.” Note the subtle, understated color I picked for the cover. Almost nobody noticed that the coins on it form a smiley face.
I’m going to focus tonight on just two things. The first is ancient coins, which I especially love. Here’s one from Parion, in what is now Turkey, around 300 BC. Every Greek city had its own coins. The face is Medusa. Supposedly, seeing it would turn you to stone. But this picture is safe to look at.
Now, that coin is in superb condition, which is rare. Quality is the name of this game. Here we see the more typical condition for ancient coins. I bought this boxful of junk to re-sell. But when it comes to my own collection, I’m very much a condition snob.
The next coin, from Larissa, is notable for its artistic quality. Also, it happens to come from the greatest collection of Greek coins ever formed. That collector is still around, he’s actually bought coins from me; my wife and I once had dinner with him in Athens. (And with his full time librarian.)
Next is a coin from the Roman Republic. This depicts the story of Tarpeia; she’s the figure in the center; with two soldiers bashing her to death with their shields. I’m showing this delightful coin to illustrate how ancient people had a different mentality about violence.
The main thing I want to illustrate is portraiture on ancient coins. Often again the artistry was pretty amazing. Here is Alexander the Great. He really had an amazing career. Note that he’s depicted deified with the horn of Ammon, an Egyptian God.
The next guy is not so famous: Philetairos, the eunuch king of Pergamon. One time my toddler daughter climbed into my lap while I had a coin like this in my hand. I explained to her that it had a picture of an ancient king. And she asked me: “Was he nice?” I had to say probably not.
And here we have Cleopatra. A realistic portrait. She was not in fact a great beauty. This coin is actually more worn than I like to have in my collection, but it’s fairly rare, and about as good a portrait coin of Cleopatra as you can get.
Next we have her lover boy, Julius Caesar. “Yuli-oos KAI-sar” as the Romans would have pronounced it. He was the first guy who dared to put his own portrait on a Roman coin. It was one of the things that got him assassinated; it was felt he had too much power.
The next coin is Caligula’s. I’m showing you the back, because this was again something unprecedented — it names and depicts Caligula’s three sisters. Whom he slept with, at least according to the ancient historian Suetonius, who wrote “The Twelve Caesars.”
Here we have another famously disreputable Emperor, Nero. His coin portraits are particularly impressive. Now this is the kind of condition quality I like in my collection. This is a bronze coin; notice the beautiful green patina. This is a coin to die for.
Next is Hadrian, another superb portrait. Look at this artistry. And again, a bronze coin. I do have some gold ones, but I really much prefer bronze and silver. The reason is that for the price of a very routine ho-hum gold coin, you can get a fantastic bronze.
This is the last portrait: Antinous. Who was he? The boy toy of the previous guy, Hadrian. (Do you think there’s too much sex in my talk?) Antinous seems to have killed himself at age 21 because he felt he’d lost the bloom of youth. This coin is from Egypt and is very rare.
Now for the second part we jump to the early 19th century, and a little tin coin from Palembang, a Sultanate on Sumatra. A few years ago I happened to discover that quantities of these coins, apparently recovered from a river, were being sold quite cheap by several guys in Indonesia.
So I e-mailed each of them: how many have you got? Want to make a deal? I wound up with 35,000 coins. This picture shows just a portion. The cool thing is that these coins come in many variations, which had never been properly studied and catalogued.
So I decided to tackle it myself, and published a little book. It was a monumental job to sort through all those coins to make sense of them; I now have a real appreciation for just how big a number 35,000 is. In the end, I identified 18 distinct issues, with 291 significant varieties.
This final picture shows two sample pages from the book. And in case you’re wondering, I have sold thousands of these coins, but still have many thousands left. So if any of you are interested in a great deal on Palembang coins, you can see me outside.
Fake News and government propagandists
Researching my 1973 book on Albany politics, I pored over early 20th century local newspapers. I was astonished how partisan they were, openly touting candidates, with no division between news and opinion pages. This was typical; many American papers called themselves “The Democrat” or “The Republican.” Some still retain those vestigial names. But the standard journalism model has changed, and for a long time now it’s been universally understood in the news media that opinions go on the editorial page, while news reporting is just that: reporting.
It’s true that most journalists, due to their cultural backgrounds, personally lean liberal. Yet it’s really a lie that their work is skewed by bias (let alone calling it “fake news”). Modern professional journalists are steeped in the ethos of accuracy and neutral objectivity, and generally strive hard to uphold it. Making stuff up is an absolute no-no; correcting errors a must. And if anything, they bend over too far in giving both sides of a story, even when one side is rubbish (for example, lending credence to climate or vaccination science denialism).
I’ve regularly watched PBS’s Washington Week, where reporters discuss the news. It’s striking how their personal opinions are never detectable. Indeed, it’s almost maddening to hear them talk, in bland neutral tones, about Trumpian outrages. And even Jon Stewart, on The Daily Show, making no secret of a liberal stance, was an equal-opportunity satirist, often freely skewering Obama and other Democrats.
But then there’s Fox “News.”
I put it in quotes because Fox is in fact the regime’s fawning cheerleader and propaganda mouthpiece — making a cruel joke of its former slogan, “Fair and Balanced.” Fox is anything but. It’s the real fake news channel, shattering the longstanding paradigm of news media striving for accuracy and objectivity.
And now too Sinclair Broadcast Group. Sinclair owns about 200 local TV stations covering 40% of the country, and aggressively seeks to gobble up more. Like Fox, Sinclair is uncritically all-in for Trump. While it can’t, like Fox, control every word going out over its airwaves, Sinclair can and does put words in broadcasters’ mouths. Recently we saw every Sinclair station (including Albany’s WRGB Channel 6) required to air a script about “fake news.” While the lockstep parroting in these hostage videos was itself ludicrous enough, so was the content: straight out of Trump’s potty mouth, telling viewers not to believe what they hear from supposedly biased mainstream news media, which Sinclair called a threat to democracy. At least Sinclair stopped short of calling them “the enemy of the American people.”
See what’s going on. Trump lauds slimy Fox and Sinclair while demonizing all legitimate news sources. It’s a concerted effort to cripple news media not in the government’s thrall, and replace them with ones that are — with regime propagandists. This is something very new to America, and very chilling. THIS is the threat to democracy.
We saw its apotheosis in Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and the Communist world; we see it today in Russia, China, Turkey, Venezuela, and too many more places. Malaysia just passed a law with stiff jail terms for “fake news” — defined as anything the government doesn’t approve (presumably including any reference to Prime Minister Rajak’s billion dollar theft from a state development fund).
Am I being alarmist? Yes, I am very alarmed. I do not want America with a government of lies unaccountable to a free press. Like Russia, Turkey, Venezuela, Malaysia, and other such shit-hole countries.
Tags:free press
Posted in history, Politics, stinking piece of shit | 1 Comment »
America’s war on refugees
Way back in 2015 (a different epoch), when I wrote here comparing America unfavorably with Germany regarding refugees, my daughter (working in the Middle East for a refugee aid organization) chided me that we’ve actually taken in more refugees than any other Western nation.
My lawn sign
Our annual refugee quota had averaged 95,000. Now it’s been slashed to 45,000, and actual admissions will likely be far lower. Our infrastructure of charities helping refugees is crumbling because the pipeline is running dry. Partly it’s because Trump has put additional restrictions on intake from 11 countries on a secret list, said to include South Sudan, Syria, and Iraq. In other words, many of the people most desperately in need of refuge.
This panders to Trump’s most rabid nativist fans, and reflects his own personal vileness.
He’s also trying to build a wall, impose a Muslim travel ban, kick out dreamers and millions of other undocumented residents, and even to cut traditional legal immigration almost in half. He’s already ordered out tens of thousands of Haitian, Salvadoran, Liberian, and other refugees, many of whom have lived here legally for decades under a special program.
A lot of them are now heading north to Canada: refugees FROM America!
All these policies are not only cruel, but harm our own country. We should welcome immigrants and refugees not just because it’s the right thing to do, the humane thing, but because they’re good for America, making it stronger and better. (As it does for Canada.)
Trump’s saying other countries “send” us their worst people is a moronic lie. Migrants are not sent, they’re self-selected, and those with the courage and grit to leave behind everything familiar and start fresh in a new country are the best people. Certainly better than those creeps who revile them.
It’s a lie that migrants cost us money. To the contrary, their productive efforts and talents add to our national prosperity. In fact, with an aging population (collecting ever more benefits) and declining workforce participation rates, we desperately need the new blood of immigrants to refresh our employment pool. It’s a major reason why America’s economy is fizzier than in other countries even less receptive to immigration.
And it’s a lie that immigrants and refugees cause crime or threaten terrorism. In fact their crime rate is lower than for the native-born. None of the three million refugees we accepted since 1980 has ever been involved in a fatal terrorist attack.
All these lying arguments against immigrants and refugees are fig leaves to cover up the naked truth. This is racism. The people being kept out and kicked out mainly have brown skins. That, plain and simple, is the animus behind Trump’s actions.
He also lies in blaming Democrats for lack of a DACA solution. He himself was responsible for creating the problem in the first place; he lied when he said he wanted a legislative fix; he did his utmost to torpedo every effort. And he blames Democrats. What a sicko.
From The Economist
The Economist’s Lexington columnist (who covers America) wrote recently about a South Sudanese teenager he’d met in an African refugee camp in 2000. Read his great article. That refugee now lives in Michigan in a four bedroom house with two cars; he’s so far contributed over $100,000 in taxes. Lexington tells this success story not because it’s exceptional but because it’s typical. And the goodness doesn’t shine just in America. Most migrants doing well here send money back to home-country relatives, uplifting those people and places too.*
Finally, immigrants and refugees understand and uphold, far better than most natives, what America is all about, the ideals and values it stands for (or used to). Everything Trump turns his back on. He’s un-American.
America was great because it was good. Now it’s breaking my heart.
* I wrote here a poem in 2016 inspired by a Somali refugee. I sent him a check; he told me he sent the money to his mother in Africa.
Tags:immigration
Posted in Politics, Society, stinking piece of shit, World affairs | 2 Comments »
Words you can’t say on TV — or can you?
The late great comedian George Carlin’s most famous routine was “The seven words you can’t say on TV.” That was in 1972.
My wife and I are longtime devotees of The Daily Show on Comedy Central. Naughty words — “fuck” came up constantly — have always been bleeped. I found this annoying and silly. If you know the word will be bleeped, why say it?
We’ve also been watching Jordan Klepper’s The Opposition (a sort of Daily Show spin-off). The other night, Jordan said “shitty” and it was not bleeped. I turned to my wife and pointed this out. She, ever word-wise, suggested that perhaps “shitty” (even though it includes the four-letter word) wasn’t bleepworthy because it merely means having the characteristics of shit, which is not the same as shit itself.
Immediately afterwards we watched a DVR’d Daily Show. And guess what? Shit! The plain word was spoken — unbleeped.
So apparently we’re down to six words. Still a long way to go before George Carlin’s ghost can find rest. But at least now I feel free to properly revise this blog’s “posted in” category list.
Posted in Society, stinking piece of shit | 3 Comments »
Christ is risen
Posted in Philosophy | 2 Comments »
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Home Recipe TestersGoat Cheese
Recipe Testers, Social
https://relish.com/articles/goat-cheese/
By Relish on July 20, 2011
https://relish.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/105643571-1-150x150.jpg
The dog was the first animal domesticated by humans; the goat was the second. Goats were first kept as a source of meat and hide, but by about 9000 B.C., keepers realized they were even more valuable alive. A year's milking provided the nutritional equivalent of a slaughtered animal, and while sheep require grass, goats are defiantly unpicky, happily munching on scrubby woods, in areas otherwise unsuited to agriculture.
"Milk" in the Western Hemisphere conjures images of a cow, but goat's milk is favored elsewhere. Goats seem born to meet that demand, giving more milk per pound of body weight than any other dairy animal. Goat's milk has slightly less lactose (sugar) than cow's milk. More significantly, its fats are of the short-chain variety, so people with milk allergies can often digest goat's milk. It doesn't separate like cow's milk, making homogenizing unnecessary.
Where there's milk, cheese follows. Since goat's milk lacks carotene, the resulting cheeses are pristine white. Goat cheese is generally tart, and traditional varieties are often heavily salted (think brine cured feta).
Goat cheese wasn't produced commercially in the United States until the 1980s, but artisan cheese-makers are quickly rectifying that situation. No country has developed a more diverse selection of goat cheeses than France. Chevre (SHEHV-ruh or SHEHV), French for "goat," is a soft, white cheese with a tart but delicate taste; Bucheron, Banon and Montrachet are some common types.
—By Jo Marshall, Creator of Cookcabulary
Related: Chicken Farfalle with Broccoli, Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Goat Cheese, Double Walnut Grilled Goat Cheese Pizza, Goat Cheese Mashed Potatoes, Goat Cheese Torte, Goat Cheese and Roasted Garlic Dip, Herbed Chicken Focaccia Pizza with Roasted Pears and Goat Cheese, Mushrooms Stuffed with Walnuts, Smoked Bacon and Goat Cheese
Found in: Recipe Testers, Social
What Is Gelato?
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Will the BrightSource-Abengoa tower be last CSP project in US?
Can concentrated solar thermal (with or without storage) ever compete with photovoltaics in terms of electrical generation?
Eric Wesoff Posted on 22 September 2014 6 Comments
Late last week, the California Energy Commission approved the Palen Solar Power Project, after scaling down the concentrated solar project from two 750-foot, 250-megawatt towers to one tower on a smaller piece of real estate. The final decision on the controversial solar project will be made at the end of October.
The Palen project has a long and contentious history.
In 2009, the 500-megawatt concentrated solar power (CSP) facility was planned, based on solar parabolic trough technology.
In 2012, the project was transferred from bankrupt Solar Millennium to BrightSource Energy. BrightSource is the venture-funded startup that built the Ivanpah CSP plant, but which failed to make it through the IPO window in 2012.
BrightSource formed a joint venture with Abengoa Solar to develop the site using BrightSource’s solar power tower technology instead of trough technology, albeit without thermal storage capability. Spain’s Abengoa Solar has already built 743 megawatts of operating CSP tower and trough projects.
Last week, the committee released a revised Presiding Member’s Proposed Decision on the project.
BrightSource has seen its CSP pipeline diminish as a result of the regulatory process over the past few years.
As reported in GTM, in 2012, the California Public Utilities Commission approved revised power-purchase agreements between BrightSource Energy and Southern California Edison for electricity generated by one 250-megawatt unit of BSE’s proposed 500-megawatt Rio Mesa solar power tower project and one 250-megawatt unit of its proposed Sonoran West tower project. The CPUC also rejected three proposed BSE-SCE PPAs. The revised Sonoran West PPA provided for incorporation of “a few hours” of storage capacity with BSE’s steam-heated molten salts storage system.
Abengoa will handle the engineering, procurement and construction for the Palen project. After the project’s optimistically targeted 2016 completion (which would be in time to qualify Palen for the 30 percent federal Investment Tax Credit), Abengoa will also oversee operations and maintenance.
Abengoa noted at the time, “The fact that we are joining BrightSource in this project doesn’t mean we are abandoning trough technology.”
Permitting, which is always challenging in California, might have been a bit easier because Palen is in a Department of the Interior Solar Energy Zone in Riverside County, near California’s Joshua Tree National Monument.
Wildlife and environmental concerns
It would be premature to buy suntan lotion for your Palen suntan just yet. Now that the California Energy Commission’s recommendation has been made, there will be a 30-day public comment period. And environmentalists and bird-lovers everywhere are certainly going to comment. The CEC’s preliminary decision acknowledged that the project will cause “significant unmitigated impacts to biological, cultural, and visual resources,” but suggests that the benefits outweigh those environmental issues. CEC staff have reported that Palen will pose a greater risk to bird life than BrightSource’s Ivanpah project.
BrightSource has spent millions of dollars studying the sex life and respiratory conditions of the desert tortoise, a threatened resident of the Ivanpah area.
The Desert Sun‘s Sammy Roth reports, “Palen’s approval is sure to anger environmental and Native American groups, which have vigorously opposed the project,” adding, “Seth Shteir, California desert senior field representative for the National Parks Conservation Association, said in an email that Palen’s approval ‘is as dangerous as it is disheartening for wildlife, scenic vistas and our responsible renewable energy future.’ He said that the project will be located directly underneath the Pacific Flyway, a migratory bird pathway a few miles from Joshua Tree National Park, and that it will kill eagles, raptors and songbirds. Shteir added, ‘The Palen project would also mar Joshua Tree National Park’s pristine undeveloped vistas and cause light pollution that would harm the park’s clear, dark night skies.'”
Roth interviewed Donna Charpied, who lives near the 550-megawatt Desert Sunlight solar project outside of Desert Center. She said that between Palen’s approval and successful efforts to develop other large-scale energy projects in the desert, “There’s just one conclusion I can come to: local, state, and federal governments hate the desert.” She called Palen’s approval “unconscionable and despicable.”
CSP in the U.S.
The U.S. installed 517 megawatts of CSP in Q1 2014, more than the 410 megawatts installed in all of 2013, according to GTM Research.
Recently completed CSP projects include Abengoa’s 280-megawatt Solana parabolic trough project in Arizona with six hours of storage, NextEra’s 250-megawatt Genesis solar project, and BrightSource Energy’s 370-megawatt Ivanpah solar power tower in California’s Mojave Desert. GTM Research says “the next notable project slated for completion is SolarReserve’s 110-megawatt Crescent Dunes plant, which entered the commissioning phase in February 2014.” Crescent Dunes is a solar power tower outside Tonopah, Nevada, with ten hours of molten salt storage and a PPA from NV Energy.
Can CSP compete with PV?
As GTM Research reports, “Declines in PV module costs have undercut trough technology and put it at a significant cost disadvantage. Since the beginning of 2013, CSP projects totaling 1 gigawatt have been suspended, and an additional 305 megawatts have been delayed.”
Firms such as Areva, Siemens, Sopogy and Infinia have exited the CSP business. Abengoa, the Spanish-owned CSP developer, still maintains that declining capital costs and improved efficiency levels will make CSP competitive with combined-cycle gas turbines on cost, efficiency and utility by 2020.
Other CSP firms include eSolar, which has attempted a pivot to enhanced oil recovery (see GlassPoint), along with BrightSource. Unfortunately, the tower-based architecture employed by BrightSource and eSolar might be the wrong design for EOR.
GTM Research solar analyst Cory Honeyman said in an email, “The preliminary approval of Palen Solar is a major win for BrightSource and NRG after a long, extensive regulatory proceeding administered by the CEC. However, the outlook for CSP remains uncertain, given the technology’s limited cost reductions and the early-stage permitting challenges seen over the past few years. Meanwhile, utility-scale PV projects have pushed the boundaries of competitive pricing for solar, with contracts signed between $50 per megawatt-hour and $70 per megawatt-hour.”
Recent proposed bid prices for CSP projects are more than three times the price of photovoltaics.
Honeyman adds, “With the federal ITC scheduled to drop off at the end of 2016, CSP faces the added challenge of landing new contracts in California with start dates several years down the line. Taking all of that into consideration, the outlook for CSP will depend on on commercializing innovations that reduce hardware costs and yield ancillary benefits, including CSP paired with storage.”
Source: Greentech Media. Reproduced with permission.
More : abengoa, alstom, Brightsource Energy, bse, california energy commission, concentrating solar power, cpuc, CSP, hidden hills, Ivanpah, mojave solar, pacific gas and electric, pg&e, rio mesa, solana
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Matthew Wright 5 years ago
Areva – wrong technology Linear fresnel it’s like comparing home brand scotch fingers to tim tams.
eSolar – speculative startup with a technology that didn’t actually work.
Siemens – purchased an old outdated technology.
Brightsource – ignored storage which today is the only driver for CSP over PV and built heliostats that are far too small and expensive to install.
SolarReserve, Abengoa and SENER/Torresol Energy – all capable of Molten salt power towers which can be hybridised with Solar Photovoltaic.
Connor Moran 5 years ago
The CLFR tech showed the greatest potential for cost reduction (very modular). Areva had pushed up the operating temperature nicely too, which I believe has been your objection.
It’s also the problem of designing for winter, a lot of raw material required for latitudes away from the tropics.
That said I’ve heard to achieve that with linear fresnel you can design your field running east-west. I haven’t seen any modelling on that though.
As for CSP – it must be hybridised with Photovoltaics as proposed by SolarReserve and Abengoa to be competitive. IT’s really PV + Chemical batteries versus PV +Solar thermal with storage as the two competing solutions.
Yes, David Mills himself concedes that PV + storage will probably be the ‘winner’.
JohnRD 5 years ago
A solar tower with molten salt storage and back-up molten salt heating (bio, oil or gas) can if required provide 24/7 power even if the sun don’t shine. Save money by reducing the number of mirrors and molten salt storage (but not reducing back-up) provides a reliable way of providing for the peak late afternoon early evening period.
Molten salt heating is a much cheaper form of back-up than providing back-up for solar PV in the form of a gas or oll fired gas turbine.
In correspondence I’ve had with Dr David Mills, he believes it’s going to be battery storage that will probably make CSP (of any kind) impossible.
One advantage of CSP w/storage has an onsite turbine which could accept reject heat from backup gas, effectively ‘combining’ the cycle for greater efficiency.
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Vegan sues Burger King for cooking Impossible Whopper on meat grill
WATCH: Plant-based burgers look, cook and are supposed to taste like real beef. Even meat eaters are making the switch, but just how healthy are they?
A vegan man in Atlanta, Ga., is suing Burger King after the restaurant allegedly served “contaminated” plant-based burgers, which he claims are being cooked on the same grill surface as beef burgers.
U.S. customer Phillip Williams is the lead plaintiff in a proposed class-action lawsuit surrounding the Impossible Whopper, Burger King’s answer to the plant-based meat craze sweeping through the fast-food industry.
Massive BBQ planned outside vegan’s home after she complained about meat smell
Williams claims he was served a contaminated Impossible Whopper at a Burger King drive-thru in Atlanta on Aug. 8. In the lawsuit, he says he would not have paid a premium price for the Impossible Whopper if he’d known that it was “coated in meat by-products.” He also took issue with Burger King’s marketing pitch, which says the Impossible Whopper is “0% beef and 100% Whopper.”
The lawsuit is seeking damages for all U.S. customers who bought the Impossible Whopper. It also seeks an injunction that would force Burger King to “plainly disclose” that it cooks Impossible Whoppers on the same grills as regular burgers.
The lawsuit was filed in a Miami court on Monday.
Burger King’s Toronto-based parent company, Restaurant Brands International Inc., has declined to comment due to pending litigation.
Drive-thru worker fired after allegedly refusing to serve deaf customer
The chain launched a plant-based version of its Whopper in August as part of a partnership with Impossible Foods Inc., one of the top meatless producers on the market.
Impossible Foods says the product was designed as a plant-based alternative for meat eaters. It wasn’t designed specifically for vegans or vegetarians.
“For people who are strictly vegan, there is a microwave prep procedure that they’re welcome to ask for in any store,” Dana Worth, Impossible Foods’ head of sales, recently told Reuters.
This July 31, 2019, file photo shows an Impossible Whopper burger at a Burger King restaurant in Alameda, Calif.
AP Photo/Ben Margot
Williams’ lawyer did not immediately respond to a Reuters question about the microwave cooking method.
On Tuesday, the Impossible Whopper was listed on Burger King’s U.S. website as “100% Whopper, 0% beef.” It also included a disclaimer for customers seeking a meat-free option.
“A non-broiler method of preparation is available upon request,” the disclaimer read.
Man fatally stabbed after cutting in line for Popeyes chicken sandwich, police say
An archived version of the same webpage shows that disclaimer was not present on Aug. 8, when Williams bought his burger.
The disclaimer on Aug. 8 warned that the Impossible Whopper is “flame-grilled in the same broiler used for beef and chicken.”
It’s unclear when the disclaimer was changed.
Burger King’s Canadian menu does not include the Impossible Whopper. Instead, it features a soya-based veggie burger.
—With files from Reuters
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Selena Gomez’s ‘Lose You to Love Me’ Lyrics: Listen to the New Release!
Kevin Winter, Getty Images
Selena Gomez has been hard at work on her upcoming third studio album, and on Friday (October 18) she gave fans a taste of just what she's been recording.
The 27-year-old released "Lose You To Love Me," her first single since releasing her collaboration with Benny Blanco, Tainy and J. Balvin on "I Can't Get Enough."
The new single also came with a stunning music video shot in black and white that focuses on Gomez's facial emotions and the lyrics of the track.
Listen to the track and watch the music video, below:
Gomez first created a stir on social media on Wednesday (October 16) by posting a cryptic childhood photo, writing, "We always go into it blindly." Fans quickly speculated that the "Back To You" singer would be releasing new music. Hours later, Gomez shared a snapshot of an Amazon billboard in Times Square that invited fans to follow her via Amazon's Alexa.
Check out the full lyrics to Selena Gomez's "Lose You To Love Me," below:
You promised the world and I fell for it
I put you first and you adored it
Set fires to my forest and you let it burn
Sang off key on my chorus
'Cause it wasn't yours
I saw the signs and I ignored it
Rose-colored glasses all distorted
Set fire to my purpose and I let it burn
You got off on the hurtin'
When it wasn't yours Yeah
We'd always go into it blindly
I needed to lose you to find me
This dancing was killing me softly
I needed to hate you to love me
To love, love, yeah
To love, yeah
I needed to lose you to love me
I gave my all and they all know it
You tore me down and now it's showing
In two months you replaced us like it was easy
Made me think I deserved it
In the thick of healing, yeah
Repeat Chorus X 2
And now the chapter is closed and done
And now it's goodbye
It's goodbye for us
Selena Gomez's Best Red Carpet Photos
Source: Selena Gomez’s ‘Lose You to Love Me’ Lyrics: Listen to the New Release!
Filed Under: Selena Gomez
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Reading BAME Voice
Reading Women’s Forum
Reading Young Labour
Reading LGBT Labour
Reading University Labour Students
Matt Rodda MP Reading East
John Howarth MEP
Abbey Ward
Battle Ward
Church Ward
Katesgrove Ward
Kentwood Ward
Minster Ward
Norcot Ward
North of the River Branch
Redlands Ward
Southcote Ward
Tilehurst Ward
Whitley Ward
Woodley & Whitegates Branch
Join the Labour Party
Help with the 2019 Elections
Motions in the Labour Party
Policy Suggestions
Election Volunteering
Join Up, Join In
About the Ward
The ward of Norcot is west of the town centre and is bordered by Kentwood (the far western ward), Battle (the inner western ward), Southcote and Tilehurst wards.
As with all wards, apart from smaller Mapledurham, it elects three councillors to Reading Borough Council. Elections since 2004 are held by thirds, with elections in three years out of four.
These Councillors are currently, in order of election: Graeme Hoskin, Jo Lovelock and Debs Absolom.
Debs Absolom
Debs.Absolom@reading.gov.uk 01189542663 3 Hampstead Court Grovelands Road Reading RG30 2QQ
01189542663 Debs.Absolom@reading.gov.uk
Graeme Hoskin
Graeme.Hoskin@reading.gov.uk 0118 958 9241 196 Waverley Road Reading RG30 2QG
0118 958 9241 Graeme.Hoskin@reading.gov.uk
Jo Lovelock
Jo.Lovelock@reading.gov.uk 01189415760 66 Brooksby Road Tilehurst Reading RG31 6LY
I was born in Reading and have two grown up children and four grandchildren.
I am a retired special needs teacher.
My hobbies include swimming, reading and socialising with friends and family.
I was first elected to represent Norcot ward in 1986, being re-elected in 1990, 1994, 1997, 2001, 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016. My current term of office runs until 2020.
I have been Chair of the Housing Committee (1988 to 1993), Chair of Equal Opportunities and Personnel (1993 to 1995), Chair of Community Action (1995 to 1996), Chair of Education (Lead Councillor under the new Council structures) from 1996 to 2004, Deputy Leader from 1996 to 2008, and also Lead Councillor for Corporate Affairs from 2004 to 2008. I was Leader of the Council from 2008 to 2010 and again from 2011 to the present time.
I am also a director of the Reading UK Community Interest Company and am the Council’s representative on the Local Enterprise Partnership Forum
01189415760 Jo.Lovelock@reading.gov.uk
Promoted by Helen Caney on behalf of Reading and District Labour Party both at 73 Waverley Road, Reading, RG30 2QB.
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Chris Cornell 1964-2017 | Soundgarden “Live To Rise”
One year ago today, the music world received the sad and shocking news that Chris Cornell had passed away.
In memory of one of my favorite musicians of all-time, I’ve been sharing Chris’s music throughout the month of May for Music Mondays. In addition, today I’d like to share a song Chris wrote from the Avengers Assemble album, which includes songs from Marvel’s The Avengers movie (2012). This album marked Soundgarden’s return with their first song in 15 years.
My family and I were at the drive-in when the song played during the closing credits of the movie. It was a breathtaking moment for me especially. I’ve loved the song ever since, but never really thought much about the meaning of the lyrics. The song adapts well with the movie and it’s not like I knew Chris personally or what he was going through, but it seems like he was on his own spiritual journey during this time, possibly even back when he was writing some of the earlier Audioslave songs. Everyone interprets songs differently, but to me, this one is fairly clear-cut.
“Live To Rise”
What if all you understand
Could fit into the center of our hand?
Then you found it wasn’t you
Who held the sum of everything you knew
We’re insane but not alone,
You hold on and let go
Like the sun we will live to rise
Like the sun we will live and die and then ignite again
Like the sun we will live to rise again
What if the one thing that I missed
Was everything I need to pass the test?
And if I fail what happens then?
Can I still count on you as a friend?
Like the sun we will live to rise again, again, again, again.
Warm my face
Warm your face
Like the sun we will live to rise again, again.
Thanks for reading! Do you like this song? Feel free to share your thoughts. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. 🖤
Avengers Assemble AlbumChris CornellChris Cornell MemorialIn Memory of Chris CornellLive To RiseMusicSoundgardenThe Avengers Movie 2012
Throwback Thursday: Dark Matter by Blake Crouch – May 17th
Flower Friday: Meyer Lilac
19 thoughts on “Chris Cornell 1964-2017 | Soundgarden “Live To Rise””
thebookwormdrinketh
What a great song!! 💖💖🍻
I feel the same. Thank you. ❤
Didn’t realize they had a song on the soundtrack – how did I miss this?
I don’t remember it playing during the movie at all, but it plays at the end credits which we always sit through waiting for any added extras. 😉 The soundtrack is amazing though! A collection of great artists. 🖤
We always sit through those credits too – guess I wasn’t paying attention. It’s a great song!
Maybe you were talking about how awesome the movie was haha! It’s a fave. ❤
A really great song. I think my favorite of Chris’ is “Like a Stone” from his Audioslave days.
It’s really sad; Chris Cornell, Scott Weiland, Lane Staley, Curt Cobain. Arguably the most influential and talented singers/songwriters from a whole music movement, all lost to depression and drug addiction.
“Like a Stone” is also an awesome tune. Pretty much every song on that album is a favorite lol. 😉
It is sad and hard to let go! What an incredible era and it seems to be coming to an end. We’ll always have the music though. Thanks, Michael. 🖤
I can’t believe it’s been a year! It seems like yesterday we were chatting about this. 😔 Wonderful tribute post. 💗 xo
It’s crazy, isn’t it? Thank you. ❤😙
So sad and such a great loss to the music world and fans. Great post in memory of Chris! 💕
I agree. Thanks for checking out the post. ❤
Thanks for sharing Mischenko 🙂
Thanks, Carrie. 💖
Pingback: Music Monday: Soundgarden “Rusty Cage” & “The Day I Tried To Live” | Audioslave “Show Me How To Live” & “I Am The Highway” | Chris Cornell “Sunshower” & “River of Deceit”
Lorilin
My husband was so depressed when Chris Cornell died. It felt like the end of an era!
I feel the same! That’s what it feels like. I’m thankful to always have the music. ❤ Thanks, Lorilin.
Ivan The Black
Never heard this song, but the lyrics are amazing. Cornell was one of my all-time favorite vocalist and his lyrics are incredible, including on his solo work. When I received the news that he had passed, especially from suicide, my world totally changed. I suffer from depression and I just thought that if one of my favorite singers, who seemed to have it all, couldn’t manage to beat his depression, what chance do I have to beat my mental illness? I’ve been extremely depressed lately and his songs help me cope with it. I still find it hard to believe that I won’t be hearing anything new from him. 😞
I’m sorry you were so effected by it. Honestly, I feel the same. It really hit me hard! I truly think it was all those meds he was taking though. I personally took one of those meds for some time and I can say that it CAN cause depression. I mean, it’s a tranquilizer! He took extra too, so I continue to remind myself that he (more than likely) wasn’t himself that night. Watching that final concert, you could just tell. He was all over the place.
I feel for you and if you ever want to talk, I’m here for you. Take care. ❤
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Реферат / Рефераты /category/by/type/referaty Иностранные языки /category/by/type/referaty/inostrannye-yazyki The Correlation Between Contemporary Transit And T
The Correlation Between Contemporary Transit And T
The Correlation Between Contemporary Transit And T Essay, Research Paper Almost every person in today’s society has been affected by the common cold at one time or another. The symptoms could include a headache or a fever. Usually it yields to the immune system, thus letting the carrier return to the daily routine that is followed. However, imagine a disease so lethal, that every person who comes in contact with it perishes. This is the risk that a majority of the world takes without even knowing it. Whether its through travel, trade, or tourism, humans put themselves in great danger of introducing old and new pathogens into today’s fast-paced society. The ability to travel around the globe in a matter of hours increases the probability of a deadly microbe disseminating
around the world, killing millions in its path. Despite the precautions that tourists and merchants take when traveling abroad, the ever increasing mobility of humans in today’s society is, and will always be, the biggest threat to global disease epidemics. Although ships are used to transfer people and goods safely from one port to another, the latter can also transport man’s greatest enemy. A ship can not rely on shape to help it stay afloat. Ballast tanks are needed. These tanks are designed to open and close to help fluctuate the height of the ship. When a tank floods with water, it permits a ship to safely cruise under a low lying bridge. Besides the water, many organisms especially microbes are taken in as well (Bright *). Since many waterborne diseases such as cholera
and dengue fever live in aquatic habitats, ships pose one of the biggest threats in the spreading of disease. Even though ballast tanks pose a great danger on cargo and freighting ships, containers play an equal role in the spreading of disease. Huge on-board storage containers used to transport seeds and grain have been recognized as superhighways for many small creatures. The Asian tiger mosquito is a belligerent insect that can carry at least 17 different viral diseases including encephalitis and malaria (Bright *). Unless society fails to see the risk that containers cause when ships travel abroad, maladies of all kinds will start making lethal manifestations. More than 28,000 ships make up the world’s major source of trade and transportation. On any given day, a ship’s
wake is transporting approximately 3,000 different species including pathogens (Bright *). Such a high abundance of microbial life transported on ships could pose numerous problems in the future.. Transportation-related outbreaks are not contemporary as the spread of diseases through sea travel spans many centuries. Smallpox, a terrible disease that traveled the world on ships, caused many physical deformities in the hundreds of millions it killed in the twentieth century (Armelagos *). Every ship docks in a port, and every port connects to a city, and every city connects to the world. Dr. Richard Horton states that, “…mega-cities are global cities in every sense; they are part of an international system of trade and communication – and disease. They have no limits; air
travel and other routes of transportation have rendered their influence and vulnerability boundless” (*). Thousands of people travel to cities everyday for business or pleasure. If just one person were the host of an infectious disease, an epidemic could surface. That person could travel to almost any other city by means of air travel and inadvertently propagate this disease. This is the problem that human beings face daily because, “The greatest threat to the health of human’s are cities, providing fertile breeding grounds for the deadliest known germs” (Horton *). Cities are probably the greatest danger in the spread of diseases, because of the high population density. “The city is the bug’s dream come true and the human’s greatest weakness” (Horton *). Unless
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Tag Archives: juniper
Central Texas Natural History
The Edward’s Plateau encompasses the hill country ecoregion of Central Texas. The Balcones escarpment, forming a semicircle from southwest to northeast surrounding central Texas, forms the Edward’s plateau to the west, which ends to the west and north with more uplifted terrain. The limestone bedrock of this plateau was formed in the Cretaceous by shallow sea deposits. The plateau uplifted in the Miocene while the Gulf Coast region to the east subsided. Subsequent erosion formed the karst topography characteristic of the area today, with abundant hills, creeks, springs, and caves. The Edward’s aquifer roughly follows the western border of the Balcones escarpment and several other aquifers are found in the plateau.
aquifers of the Edwards plateau and Balcones escarpment
google map of the hill country. “A” indicates Austin
The climate is mediterranean, with hot dry summers having mean temperatures around 85 degrees Fahrenheit, cool dry winters having mean temperatures around 50 degrees, and rainy seasons in both the fall and spring, in which rainfall is often intense. Over 30 inches of rain in a day is possible. I’ve read it’s the most rain per unit time for any area in the world! Mean annual rainfall is about 30 inches but often varies interannually as much as ten inches.
Savannas are the natural ecosystems representative of the hill country; a patchwork of forests and grass/scrublands, with the latter dominated by little-bluestem grass, prickly-pear cacti, yucca, mesquite, and other scrub which intergrade with forest dominated by Ashe’s juniper (Juniperus ashei) and oaks. Grass/shrublands of this region were historically maintained by fire, bison herd grazing, anthropogenic burning (including by American Indians for as long as since 15,000 years ago), and recently, cattle grazing. Grasslands form early seral stages that over succession would develop more scrub then a climax forest type dependent on local topography if left undisturbed in 50-100 years, when trees form closed canopies.
The grass/scrubland currently occurs in areas where burning or clearing creates disturbed sites preferred by the pioneer plants. The composition of these plant communities varies with habitat water and nutrient availability, in turn largely defined by the local topography. In general, disturbed hilltops are drier than the low-lying terrain. The steep hillsides have intermediate, but more variable microclimate, depending upon local drainage patterns. In general, cacti and yucca thrive in the drier microclimate, thorny shrubs thrive in the wetter microclimate, and though grass is ubiquitous throughout, grass species composition varies with water availability. In areas of extreme local temperature or water stress, such as steep hillsides or clifftops, this will be the climax seral stage.
Juniper-oak woodlands are the typical climax seral stage, with the species composition of the community of these climax stage species varying by local topography. In general, old-growth hilltops are both drier and hotter than old-growth low-lying terrain. All forests are most dominated by Ashe’s juniper (Juniperus ashei). Hilltop forests are co-dominated by escarpment live oak (Quercus virginiana var. fusiformis) and bastard oak (Quercus sinuata). Hillside forests are co-dominated by escarpment live oak and Texas oak (Quercus texana). Lower slope/creek forests are co-dominated by escarpment live oak, cedar elm (Ulmus crassifolia), and Texas oak (Quercus texana). Forest directly beside creeks are dominated by black willow, black walnut, eastern cottonwood, and American sycamore.
Rendering I made of a typical elevational profile from Wild Basin Wilderness Preserve, Austin TX showing tree diversity and biomass increasing from the hill to bottomlands along with the nutrient and water availability. Names denote select geological formations.
Drawing I made of a typical elevational profile from Wild Basin Wilderness Preserve, Austin TX showing the general ranges of abundant tree and shrub species
Plant communities are particularly species rich, with unique combinations of dominant plant species and forms from many ecosystem types since the central Texas ecoregion is at the confluence of five major distinct surrounding ecoregions. For example, pecans and live oaks are dominant in the gulf coast to the east, post oak and junipers are dominant in the post oak savanna to the northeast, grasses are dominant in the prairies to the northwest, yuccas and cacti are dominant in the Chihuahuan desert to the west, and mesquite and other thorny scrub are dominant to the south. As all of these plants can be dominant locally, the flora of central Texas reflects the diversity of the surrounding ecoregions. Similarly, here the fauna is particularly diverse. The abundant caves and springs provide home to many rare and endemic species of animals, from cave spiders to springs salamanders. Bats are common and abundant because of the abundance of caves in which to roost. The historical extirpation or persecution of large predators such as bears, wolves, and pumas, has contributed to ecosystem modification by outbreaks of white-tailed deer overbrowsing.
Fire suppression, bison and American Indian extirpation, and massive decimation of habitats in the region by development and ranching have reduced original savanna to about 2% of the pre-settlement area. Today, protected areas are somewhat distorted representations of the pre-settlement ecosystem since even they do not have fires or bison. The frequency and intensity of droughts have been rising with exponentially increasing human development in the area.
Central Texas is home to the earliest known archeological record of humans in the Americas. Pre-Clovis peoples lived 40 miles northwest of Austin around 15,000 years ago. The area was likely continuously occupied by humans, the last of whom before European settler extirpation, were the Apache and Comanche. These American Indians used burning to improve hunting, thus along with natural fires and bison, encouraged grassland and the savanna matrix rather than forest thickets, common in protected areas today.
A native Texan naturalist (pers. observ.).
Looking north from a hill on Wild Basin Wilderness Preserve
This entry was posted in Articles, Ecology / Natural History, Pictures and tagged Austin, austin ecology, balcones escarpment, cedar, Central Texas, climate, ecology, edward's plateau, hill country, juniper, live oak, natural history, oak-juniper, savanna, savannah, Texas, Texas Hill Country on October 11, 2013 by ringtailcats.
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Tag Archives: Lord Howe Island
Tree Lobsters Live!
A single Melaleuca bush precariously clings to the sharp sheer rock face 225 ft up on Ball’s Pyramid, a spire of remains of the oldest sea stack in the world. This jagged 1844 ft tall steep rock is officially part of Lord Howe Island in the South Pacific Ocean between Australia and New Zealand. Thrashed and battered by constant high winds, this humble plant, related to the renowned tea tree, exists and endures thanks to the choice defecation spot of some perching seabird that deposited a seed primed with fertilizer.
For this location was the only one on the rock where a tiny remnant of its earlier bush-covered glory survived the fell 1918 invasion of shipwrecked Norwegian rats, Rattus norvegicus. Perhaps their impish hands were just too big for the narrow ledges leading to this one bush (though certainly many a rat would’ve leaped to their death trying during the desperate crash phase of their population), or maybe some deserted sailor cat lurks in a crevice nearby, but for whatever reason, this single bush is the last of its kind.
No plant is an island (even on an island) and this plant has traveled through time as a single unitsample of the ecosystem 80 years ago, when bushes of its kind covered Ball’s Pyramid, supporting grazing herds of giant walking sticks, or “tree lobsters” bigger than your hand. Thanks to the investigations by Austalian scientists David Priddel, Nicholas Carlile, and two assistants, who spotted frass (=bug poo) on the plant during a survey climb in 2001, and the subsequent intrepid night climbing by Carlile and ranger Dean Hiscock to find the nocturnal frass-makers, a herd of 24 of the long-thought extinct tree lobster Dryococelus australis were found grazing upon the Melaleuca. These are the heaviest flightless insects in the world.
After the discovery, it took two years to get permission from the Australian government to remove just 4 of the walking sticks to breed in captivity. The first pair died within two weeks in the care of the private breeder assigned the job. The second pair were bred at Melbourne zoo, and the female nearly died after trying to lay eggs but was rescued with a calcium nectar concoction. Now nearly a thousand adults have been reared to adulthood in captivity.
It was noticed that mating pairs of this species exhibited strong bonds for insects, spooning each night.
Conservationists are now considering extirpating the rats on Ball’s Pyramid and repopulating it with captive-bred tree lobsters.
Rats are voracious for most insects and plant seeds. Most likely, they destroyed the native ecosystem in a top down and bottom up blitzkreig of trophic domination. First they went after the seabird eggs and tree lobsters, then smaller insects and seeds of the Melalueca bush. The desperate overpopulated descendents of the first gluttonous rats were driven to eat the toxic Melalueca and destroy and scavenge any organic bits and seeds til the island was scoured clean of plant and insects and soil alike. For though the walking sticks devour the plants, their frassfall and stimulated abscission of tissues by the bush formed the soil essential for water retention around the roots and recycling of nutrients to enriched forms for re-absorption by the plant.
In the age of species extinctions every few seconds, we’ve succeeded in domesticating a nearly extinct species. Farming the tree lobsters will surely become easier over time as they adapt to their streamlined, human-controlled environments. One big question remains: are they really as tasty as lobsters?
Pictures, videos, and news articles:
http://www.arkive.org/lord-howe-island-stick-insect/dryococelus-australis/image-G62716.html
http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2012/02/24/147367644/six-legged-giant-finds-secret-hideaway-hides-for-80-years
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2108736/Extinct-tree-lobster-alive-clinging-Pacific-rock-taller-Empire-State-Building.html
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2012/s3461664.htm
This entry was posted in Articles, Ethnozoology / hunting and tagged Ball's Pyramid, Dryococelus australis, Insect, Lord Howe Island, Melaleuca, phasmatodea, phasmid, Rat, Rattus norvegicus, sea stack, South Pacific Ocean, stick bug, stick insect, tree lobster, walking stick on September 3, 2013 by ringtailcats.
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Snuggling Up To Tagore
You could wrap yourself in some pricey art this winter.
Bangalore Agenda Task Force member Kalpana Kar (right) in one of Reetika Mehra Dalal’s (above) creations.
WHAT STARTED as a hobby to earn some pocket money is today bread and butter for Reetika Mehra Dalal — designer bread and exotic butter, if you please. The teenager, who started out with a borrowed sewing machine while studying English Literature, today heads a premier apparel brand, DAKS, touted as a favourite with the British royalty.
Ms. Dalal, 35, has been declared one of the five youngest women CEOs heading an international apparel brand in India. And when the bubbly lady isn’t expanding the DAKS showroom count from one to 21 within a year and a half, she is managing a 400-strong workforce in Lucknow, getting them to do chikan work.
And it is the beautiful craft of chikan needlework that is making news today. Ms. Dalal will be exhibiting 50 exquisite pashmina shawls featuring intricate chikan work. “When the CEO of Le Pashmina saw some of my work in London, he was impressed enough to ask me to try chikan embroidery on pashmina. The idea was brilliant, though for my artisans, it was a big challenge. But after four months of work, I think the result was definitely worth the effort!” said Ms. Dalal, as she displayed the beautifully embroidered shawls.
Le Pashmina, along with People For Animals, is having an exhibition-cum-sale of hand-woven pashminas with delicate embroidery and prints inspired by paintings of great masters like Rabindranath Tagore, Gulam Rasool Santosh, Jamini Roy, Nandalal Bose, Devyani Krishnan, Gopal Ghosh, and Benode Behare Mukherjee. With permission from the government, the paintings were taken to France, the prints made, and transferred on pashminas. The impressions have been hand-painted on pashminas of the finest count, say the organisers.
The Bangalore-based Dalal is one of the six designers chosen by Le Pashmina to create “wearable art” for the PFA fundraiser. The other designers are Rohit Bal, Monapali, Hemant Trivedi, Neeta Lulla, and Manoviraj Khosla. “I’m thrilled, of course, but all this constitutes work. Whether I’m making embroidered kurtis and exporting over a 1,000 each week, or opening DAKS showrooms, I’m just doing my job. But when there is creative touch to the job, then it becomes fun!” beamed the lady who has had a lot of fun designing for Bollywood heroines such as Kajol and Amrita Singh in films such as Baazigar, Aaina, and Yeh Dillagi. Reetika has also designed personal wardrobes for several Bollywood personalities under her label Reetika Signature Collection.
The Masterpiece Collection at Leela Palace Hotel today is scheduled to be launched by PFA Chairperson, Maneka Gandhi. The shawls, priced between Rs. 10,000 and Rs. 18,000 each, are guaranteed never to go out of fashion. “When you’re paying so much for it, you want to pass it on to your granddaughter!” exclaimed Ms. Dalal, whose artisans have done jaali, phanda, and murli chikan work.
If your purse is heavy, and your concern for animals deep, and your heart is set on a soft pashmina stole, scarf or shawl, then go ahead — wrap yourself in art. The exhibition is on till October 11 at The Leela Palace.
MALA KUMAR
Categories Kajol
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Home > Geography home > Research > Profile > Researchers > Mr William Jamieson
Mr William Jamieson
Postgraduate research student
William.Jamieson.2017@live.rhul.ac.uk
Supervised by
Katherine Brickell
Philip Crang First/primary/lead supervisor
I am a TECHNE AHRC-funded PhD student in Geography at Royal Holloway, University of London. My work is concerned with the integration of political geography and literary theory through critical creative writing methods to enhance our understanding of how space is 'read' and 'written' by capital. I completed my undergraduate degree in English with Creative Writing at Goldsmiths, University of London, and my Master's degree in Urban Studies at UCL, where I wrote my dissertation using a critical creative writing methodology to posit land reclamation in Singapore as a form of writing on the scale of the nation-state.
My PhD project, entitled 'Granular Geographies of Endless Growth: Singapore and the Spatial Cognitive Fix' explores dynamics of land reclamation in Singapore and sand extraction in Southeast Asia. As Singapore has been expanding geographically for five decades through land reclamation, they have imported vast quantities of sand to resource this construction of land. However, the sand has been extracted informally, by a network of contractors and subcontractors. This has produced tensions in the region, as Malaysia, Indonesia and Cambodia have illegalised different categories of sand export to Singapore. However, the sand still flows. I'm interested in how how this twinned mode of resource extraction and geographic expansion forms an infrastructure of Singaporean nationbuilding, spatially and cognitively. The research will connect the networks of sand extraction and land reclamation, examining sand as a material that makes the political, economic and spatial dynamics of the region legible. My approach is based in a reconfiguration of geographic and literary theory, by adapting geographic practices of writing landscape to the fragmented and dispersed sites of sand extraction and reclamation.
My fiction has appeared in Ambit and Myths of the Near Future. A pamplet of fiction, entitled Thirst for Sand, will be published in Spring 2018 by Goldsmiths Press. I erratically tend to a blog entitled: https://geoliterary.wordpress.com
and you can find me on twitter @drbillblack
There's Sand in My Infinity Pool: Land Reclamation and the Rewriting of Singapore
Site, Plot, Hole: Writing Outside-in
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VA Shows You Must See This Week: December 26 – December 31
Marilyn Drew Necci | December 26, 2019
Topics: Alcindor, Altria Theater, Bloat, Cary Street Cafe, Copperhead, Cybernetic Warkrab, Deli Kings, Demons, Fuzzy Cactus, High Voltage, Invaluable, Jouwala Collective, Kurtis Blow, Lord Nelson, Loud Night, Nervous System, No Mas, Organ Trail, Plaque Marks, Prabir, Prayer Group, Riffhouse Pub, Seraph, shows you must see, Sleepwalkers, Song of Praise, Special Ed and the Shortbus, Spiral Fracture, Taphouse Grill, Tauk, The Broadberry, The Hip Hop Nutcracker, The Hot Seats, The Trongone Band, The Vegabonds, Tinnarose, Wonderland
Saturday, December 28, 10 PM
The Return of Sp***** Ed and the Sh****** @ Cary Street Cafe – $10
This week’s show column is entirely focused on that weird end-of-year week between Christmas and New Year’s Day — that week we all are so sure will be a total loss that plenty of businesses shut down entirely until the new year rolls around. We’re still here, though, and while this whole week might feel like a goofy, lackadaisical lead-up to the big New Year’s Eve throwdown, make no mistake, there are some interesting things afoot around town.
One of the most interesting is this reunion show taking place at Cary Street Cafe on Saturday night. And it’s a great example of the way that, every once in a while, something from the recent past will spring to mind in a manner that reminds you how long ago the past actually was. This reunion of a local bluegrass band that was a Richmond music staple less than a decade ago is just such a reminder, in that they were both a really fun band that drew a following with a very original approach to what can be an extremely conservative music form… and a band whose efforts to be goofy led them to an extremely insensitive and inappropriate name.
In fact, the band once known as Special Ed And The Shortbus not only changed their name in 2012 to The Hot Seats, they are using stars to disguise that name in all promotion for this show that will reunite one of the band’s earliest and goofiest lineups to recreate their early-00s days as Cary Street Cafe’s Wednesday night house band. Their name has certainly not aged well, but their music and antics are still as entertaining and fun as they always were, so if you miss the days of their onstage hijinks even as you recognize that their name is culturally unacceptable in these modern times, you should definitely head down to Cary Street Cafe this Saturday night and catch the one-time return of Sp***** Ed and the Sh******… minus 11 letters.
Thursday, December 26, 7:30 PM
The Hip Hop Nutcracker, feat. Kurtis Blow @ Altria Theater – $37 – 67 (order tickets HERE)
People sing that old song without understanding its meaning all the time, but Christmas is technically a 12 day celebration that doesn’t end until nearly a week into January. Therefore, the fact that the Hip Hop Nutcracker won’t reach the Altria Theatre until tonight isn’t inappropriate at all. Tonight, there’s no reason for you not to shake off the food coma from yesterday’s dinner and celebrate the second day of Christmas with two turtle doves and a whole lot of great hip hop dancing set to Tchaikovsky’s classic Nutcracker Suite.
For the real old-school heads, there’s a bigtime bonus to this show as well — Kurtis Blow will be in the house. Blow is so old school, he released one of the first rap records ever; what’s more, it was a Christmas single, so Blow’s connection to this holiday has lasted his entire career. Before the official Nutcracker kicks off, Blow will begin the evening with a short solo set, and if, like me, you’re old enough to remember the days when “Basketball” and “The Breaks” were jams that always got the party started right, you’ll definitely want to be here and see Kurtis Blow strut his stuff.
Friday, December 27, 8 PM
Seraph, Spiral Fracture, Alcindor @ Wonderland – $10
It’s been five years since Richmond deathcore warriors Seraph released their mini-album, Embrace Your Demise, and they’ve been through a hell of a lot since then. At one point, a member’s overseas military deployment led to a lengthy hiatus; at another point, a member passed away unexpectedly. Most recently, one of their founding members has battled cancer; this Wonderland performance marks the first time he’s been healthy enough to play a show in nearly a year.
However, you have to admire any band with the tenacity to endure through all the tough times that have come Seraph’s way and keep going strong. Not only are they returning to action in the live arena once again, they’ve been working on new music that will eventually take the form of a long-awaited followup to Embrace Your Demise. If you love punishing, brutal death/metal/core, it’s hard not to be stoked about that. Celebrate Seraph’s return to action this Friday night at Wonderland, and enjoy two other Virginia heavy hitters — Spiral Fracture and Alcindor — in the bargain. Nothing about this will not rule.
Saturday, December 28, 9 PM
The Trongone Band, The Vegabonds, Lord Nelson @ The Broadberry – $15 in advance/$18 day of show (order tickets HERE)
As we have previously discussed, the holidays are prime time for jam bands. Their music has a spiritual kinship with those laid-back evenings we all associate with holiday times, when there’s no specific agenday, punctuality isn’t a factor, and the main things people are interested in are relaxing, having fun, and seeing where the night takes them. What musical ensemble could be more apropos to take us on that sort of journey than a jam band?
Where the loose arrangement of prog, folk, and Southern rock that makes up the jam-band universe is concerned, Richmond’s own Trongone Band and their compatriots for this evening, Tennessee’s Vegabonds, are concerned, they’re significantly closer to the Southern-rock axis. And there’s nothing wrong with that — the Trongone Band’s soulful, Muscle Shoals-influenced take on prime Allman/My Morning Jacket sounds is a whole lot of fun, and the Vegabonds’ slightly tougher Drive-By Truckers-ish approach is certainly welcome anytime. If you need a fun way to spend your post-Christmas/pre-New Years weekend, these two bands have just what you’re looking for.
Sunday, December 29, 9 PM
Plaque Marks, Prayer Group, Copperhead @ Wonderland – $10
The holidays don’t usually see a lot of touring bands coming through, but that just makes the few who buck the trend and hit the road all the more welcome. Philadelphia’s Plaque Marks is battling the post-Christmas traffic full of tired families on the way back from Grandma’s house this weekend to bring Richmond a heaping helping of noise for dinner, and it’s sure to be a treat.
So far, this quartet featuring members of Fight Amp, Creepoid, and others has only brought us one EP, 2017’s Anxiety Driven Nervous Worship. That EP’s sludgy, abrasive mix of anti-social punk and Jesus Lizard-style noise-rock is, however, enough reason on its own to head to Wonderland and catch these freaks. And by now, there’s no way they don’t have a few new songs with which to spice things up as well. Local metallic faves Prayer Group and newcomers Faucet, who feature members of Fat Spirit, Gumming, Among The Rocks And Roots, and more, will give us a full evening worthy of the beautiful punishment Plaque Marks dishes out.
Monday, December 30, 7 PM
Tauk, Jouwala Collective @ The Broadberry – $15 in advance/$18 at the door (order tickets HERE)
New Year’s Eve is the very next night, but that’s no excuse to spend your Monday evening holed up at home, bored out of your skull. And that’s doubly true in light of the fact that Tauk is coming to town. This New York-based instrumental combo has some excellent sounds to deliver to this city, sounds that are sure to expand our minds and get us thinking way outside the box — regardless of whether that box has a bow on top.
On last year’s Shapeshifter II: Outbreak, Tauk mingled guitars with synths and danceable beats to create a genre hybrid with appeal for post-rock nerds, jazz cats, and funk heads alike. The album was spawned by the group’s thoughts on the rise of artificial intelligence, but rest assured, no computer could come up with the riffs Tauk lays down. Get a glimpse for yourself, up close and personal at the Broadberry, and prepare for your New Year’s Eve with a thought-provoking night spent somewhere other than your couch.
Tuesday, December 31, 7:30 PM
NYE 1979, feat. Tinnarose as Blondie, High Voltage as AC/DC, Sleepwalkers as The Rolling Stones, Loud Night as Motorhead, Deli Kings as The Ramones, Prabir as Elvis Costello @ Fuzzy Cactus – $30 in advance/$40 day of show (order tickets HERE)
As we’ve discussed many times, punk rockers and metalheads often see holidays as an excuse to bust out some tribute bands. This celebration at Fuzzy Cactus is the first time I’ve seen this Halloween tradition extended to New Year’s Eve, though, so congrats to Fuzzy Cactus for breaking new ground in the punk-holiday-tribute game.
What’s even better about this show is that it has a unifying concept for its evening of tributes, bringing us an evening full of the sounds of 1979. It’s not just first-wave punk bands, either; with indie-folk crew Tinnarose bringing the sounds of Blondie to life, rock n’ rollers Sleepwalkers invoking the Rolling Stones, indie mainstay Prabir bringing the sounds of Elvis Costello, and more, this is an evening that will cover a lot of musical ground, even as it reminds us all that things were actually pretty great 40 years ago.
Demons, Song of Praise, Invaluable, Nervous System @ Taphouse Grill (Norfolk) – Price TBA
Punks and jam bands don’t have a monopoly on the holidays. Noise-rock bands can certainly bring the heat at Christmastime just as easily, and that’s exactly what Norfolk’s Demons are choosing to do with their post-holiday throwdown at Norfolk’s own Taphouse Grill. If you haven’t caught on with what Demons, the post-Mae project of singer-guitarist Zach Gehring, are up to just yet, you really should fix that.
In recent years, this quartet has followed up their abrasive 2017 debut LP, Embrace Wolf, with a pair of hard-hitting EPs showing their political side. Made In The USA and the “Uglier Americans” single show that it’s not just musical influence that they take from intelligent post-hardcore bands like Fugazi and Quicksand. The resulting sound is raw and furious, with an undeniable undercurrent of melody that keeps things catchy and memorable. This is one party you’re going to want to show up for — especially since Demons have invited a few other equally talented Tidewater bands to join in.
Tuesday, December 31, 9 PM
Organ Trail, No/Mas, Cybernetic Warkrab, Bloat @ RiffHouse Pub (Chesapeake) – $5
OK, so picture this: It’s New Year’s Eve. There are more parties happening than you can shake a stick at (that’s a phrase my mother says, I have no idea what it means). All of them are full of champagne toasts, photobooths, and assorted other gimcracks and geegaws. You, on the other hand, don’t feel like dealing with a bunch of ballyhoo — you really just want to rock. Well, I know where you need to go.
Your destination is deep in the land of Tidewater, in the municipality known as Chesapeake, where RiffHouse Pub is bringing us the sort of no-frills affair that is so refreshing on the most overhyped party night of the year. Pennsylvania’s Organ Trail and DC’s No/Mas will be on hand to blast you with some gore-soaked death metal (the former) and hyperspeed grind (the latter), along with some local ragers from Cybernetic Warkrab and Bloat. There will be a toast at midnight, but it’ll be with PBR, because you don’t need all that frou-frou bullshit and neither do any of these bands. Leave the novelty glasses at home; bring your steel-toed boots for this one.
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Wrath of the Titans Review – Swords and Sam-dals
March 29, 2012 October 7, 2014 / Reshoot&Rewind / Leave a comment
Director: Jonathan Liebesman
Writers: Dan Mazeau, David Johnson
Stars: Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Rosamund Pike
Release date: March 30th, 2012
2½/5
Best part: The sumptuous visuals.
Worst part: The lack of depth.
Illustrating a world of grotesque monsters, bearded gods and vivid desert landscapes, Wrath of the Titans, despite conveying many problems from the lacklustre 2010 original, emphasises and exaggerates its mythological action-adventure appeal; creating a fun, special effect fuelled popcorn feature aimed primarily at fathers and sons, but not carved into the stone of memorable Hollywood spectacle.
Sam Worthington.
This enjoyable romp through fantasised Greek mythology cleverly begins its journey with re-telling the brave events of fisherman turned demi-god Perseus (Sam Worthington) in the first adventure. We revisit him in a small village, fishing with his young son and teaching the ways of honest living. But war between the gods almost immediately disrupts the peace Perseus created as titans and traitors threaten the existence of mankind. With Zeus in great peril and murmurs of the titan’s release, its up to Perseus, spirited warrior queen Andromeda (Rosamund Pike) and the son of Poseidon, Agenor (Toby Kebbell), to reach the underworld and destroy the minions and masters of hell once and for all.
Liam Neeson.
Wrath of the Titans lives up to its name by delivering exactly what it promises. There’s Wrath, and there’s Titans. The film’s simplicity leaves room to showcase one cracking action sequence after another. Director Jonathan Liebesman (Battle: Los Angeles) Turns what could easily be video game-like hack and slash monster mashes into breath taking set pieces, each one excitingly increasing in quality. The fast pacing aids the brisk yet captivating action set pieces while the threats of annihilation by monsters, gods and the almighty Kronos build to a thrilling and climactic final third. With shaky cam and quick cuts plaguing the original, the sequel defies all expectations in its most appealing elements by showcasing immersive tracking and panning shots, fluid choreography, beautiful CGI effects and sharp sound editing. The maze sequence is filmed and designed with the ingenuity and epic scope of a labyrinth inside the mind of Christopher Nolan. Unlike the disappointing misuse of the monsters in the original, the raw, wriggling and disgusting creations in this film create one startlingly imposing threat after another. They range from slobbering minotaurs, to blood stained siamese twin warriors called Makhai, to Cyclops’s looking remarkably like British soccer hooligans. Much like the original, its over dependence on action set pieces leaves much to be desired with the script and story telling.
“We may not be gods. But we do what people say can’t be done, we hope when there isn’t any… whatever odds we face, we prevail.” (Andromeda (Rosamund Pike), Wrath of the Titans).
Rosamund Pike & Bill Nighy.
With a story solely based on following the characters struggle against every monster in the Greek isles, it falls flat on its face as its hollow interior leaves nothing but a straightforward quest for our gaggle of misfit characters. Plot twists based on the bonds between fathers, sons and brothers become increasingly confusing as this theme is just one of many opportunities sorely wasted by a conventional screenplay. One and two dimensional characterisations and stilted dialogue also harm proceedings as Wrath of the Titans noticeably lacks a necessary emotional connection. The cast does an adequate job with the little they’re given. Worthington drastically improves on his dull performance in the original through a charismatic yet stoic portrayal of this fabled yet modest hero, while surprisingly convincing in his comedic moments. Kebbell as the wise-cracking thief and demigod Agenor lifts the tone slightly with clever one liners. Pike as the love interest seldom gets enough screen time to make her normally gorgeous presence known. While older actors such as Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Danny Huston and Bill Nighy are captivating yet suffer due to lacking screen time, unclear character motivation or diminutive story involvement. Fiennes and Neeson deliver great chemistry between each other; creating a believable relationship as brothers.
Banking on the success of Worthington and Liebesman, Wrath of the Titans is obviously a made-by-focus-group action flick. Being a sequel to one of the biggest flops of 2010, the movie barely scrapes by on pure adrenaline and brute force.
Verdict: A shallow yet entertaining action-adventure sequel.
The Hunger Games Review – On Fire!
Director: Gary Ross
Writers: Gary Ross, Suzanne Collins, Billy Ray (screenplay), Suzanne Collins (novels)
Stars: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson
Release date: March 23rd, 2012
Best part: The dynamic performances.
Worst part: The frustrating shaky-cam.
The first of this enormously successful trilogy of young adult novels by Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games, has finally been translated to the big screen. With the notoriety this book has received and the difficulty of projecting this harsh story to large audiences, you have to wonder how they could possibly do a competent job. Thankfully they have; creating a beautiful yet sombre perspective of a reality show contestant in the most dangerous competition ever imagined.
Jennifer Lawrence & Liam Hemsworth.
The Hunger Games starts out in the realm of District 12, one of 12 districts working their fingers to the bone to satisfy the needs of the futuristic landscape known as ‘The Capitol’. With the 12 districts given the appearance of coal mining towns in the 1800s, its inhabitants work hard and follow the oppressive rules to survive. Teenage wanderer Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) envisions a life away from restraints. Her protective nature over her sister Primrose is brought to light when Prim is chosen to be in the capitol’s favourite annual event, the Hunger Games, in which 24 citizens, two from each district, between the ages of 12 and 18 are chosen to forcefully participate in a bloodbath. 24 go in, one comes out. After volunteering for the event to save her sister, Katniss is accompanied by Peeta (Josh Hutcherson). They must both physically and mentally challenge themselves in and out of the arena as their moral judgements, both for humanity and social indifference, will be greatly tested.
Lenny Kravitz, Josh Hutcherson & Woody Harrelson.
Someone who hasn’t read the books (myself Included) may see this for what it is; a bloodthirsty battle for survival featuring the teenage fantasy of good looking characters and romance in the face of danger, with an aim of pleasing the entire family. The translation of this book, while a hard one to pull off, brings elements from different genres and visual styles together in a charming fashion. The witty dialogue and chemistry between the characters is a unique and enlightening trait, sadly missing from similar adaptations such as Percy Jackson or The Golden Compass. Director Gary Ross (Pleasantville, Seabiscuit) creates a rightfully sombre depiction of events while being able to inject an appropriate amount of charisma. His direction in the slow, dialogue based parts is powerful. Poignant yet romantic technicolour dreams of The Capitol and moral ambiguity in the face of death is the perfect balance found right off the bat. The visual style delicately reflects Katniss’s strong emotional shifts. District 12 is reflected as a decrepit and colourless land surrounded by green forests, simulating her desperate desire to leave the borders of this lower class society. While The Capitol is certainly a sight to behold. A powerful and fixating mixture of Tokyo anime and New York fashion week depicts the technicolour plethora of futuristic yet concrete grey city settings and elaborate characters decked out in outrageous costumes and hairstyles. The performances also add to the charm needed for this depressing story.
“May the odds be ever in your favour.” (Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), The Hunger Games).
Donald Sutherland & Wes Bentley.
An impressive supporting cast including Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Wes Bentley, Stanley Tucci and Donald Sutherland deliver fun yet nuanced performances. While singer Lenny Kravitz is a revelation as Cinna, a stylist making the best of a bad situation for the participants. This is not a perfect film however as some of the more confronting themes and directions the book is known for are sadly lost in the translation. The film’s overall problem matches a similar problem with the Harry Potter films, in that it feels like there are so many elements brought in from the novel that the film loses focus and leaves behind any sense of emotional impact or connection. Jennifer Lawrence, Hutcherson and Hemsworth deliver dynamic performances, but the love triangle between them, when eventually touched on, feels forced. While the supporting characters fail to deliver a dramatic affect on any level and are strangely left out of most of the second half. Another major flaw is the game itself. The direction is uninspiring as Ross fails to deliver the technical ingenuity needed to tell this interpretation of kids being tested in brutal combat. Despite its shocking violence at certain times; quick cuts, uncomfortably close shot framing and an irritating shaky camera style unfortunately turn what should be affecting scenes of death into completely incomprehensible fist fights and blood splatters.
The Hunger Games, if anything, points directly at our love of big-budget entertainment. Revelling the hypocrisy, the movie utilises its impressive cast, solid writing team, and efficient director to bolster the YA genre. This adaptation is certainly worth fighting for!
Verdict: A flawed yet engaging action-drama.
21 Jump Street Review – Charismatic Cops
Directors: Phil Lord, Chris Miller
Writer: Michael Bacall
Stars: Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Brie Larson, Ice Cube
Distributor: Columbia Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Best part: Hill and Tatum’s chemistry.
Worst part: The bare-bones sub-plots.
The perfect mixture of old and new; 21 Jump Street smartly caters to different age demographics by gleefully commenting on our high school years. Whether 14 or 44, the issues and cliches of high school life are highlighted in a reflexive, relevant and witty fashion. This adaptation of the famous 80’s TV series also works through the electric chemistry of its two popular male leads.
Jonah Hill & Channing Tatum.
A flashback to high school in 2005 provides the basis for the issues of our two bumbling top cops. Schmit (Jonah Hill) is a nerd failing to find a girl for the prom, while Jenko (Channing Tatum) is an obnoxious yet stupid jock living the shallow life he loves. Years later, their bitter reunion comes with enrolment into the police academy. With Schmit an academic whiz and Jenko a lean, mean fighting machine; they work together to complete their police training and become the cops they desire to be. Their crazy, unprofessional antics however get them ousted from the force and transferred to an undercover division revived from the 80’s, down on 21 Jump Street. With an angry police chief breathing down their necks, they must go back to high school to find the supplier of a new synthetic drug sold by students before it spreads like a stupid Facebook message in the public sphere.
Ice Cube.
With an impressive writing, directing and production team under its belt, 21 Jump Street is a strong contender for this year’s funniest comedy. The direction by Phil Lord and Chris Miller (Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs) provides a consistent level of funny gags while finding room for a sincere fish out of water story. The comedy may be hit and miss at points, but what works are the consistent comparisons to high school life between the 1980’s, 2005 and present day. With a slick 80’s edge due to its TV show origins, the film subverts and conforms to 80’s action film and TV clichés; finding a way to make them both entertaining for younger viewers and hilarious to anyone aware of cheesy 80’s conventions. Cameos from two members of the original show, including one of the most beloved and dynamic actors in the world, are handled in a surprisingly effective manner. Its no surprise the script was co-written by Michael Bacall, co-writer of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, as both films find a perfect relationship between believability, cultural relevance and insane fantasy. The stand out gag involving the many stages of tripping on hardcore drugs, provides several hilarious moments and the visual stimulus of ascending levels and pixelated colour patterns of an arcade video game. The screenplay also delivers when depicting the changing labyrinth and factions of present day high school.
“Hey, hey! Stop f*ckin’ with Korean Jesus. He ain’t got time for yo problems, he’s busy wit Korean sh*t!” (Captain Dickson (Ice Cube), 21 Jump Street).
Our cool characters.
Providing suitable groundwork for this story of opposition and adaptation on evolved high school turf, the crazy vision provided depicts a world of environmentally friendly and study hardened popular kids and one type of culturally and technologically advanced hipster after another. Adding immensely to 21 Jump Street’s stock standard story are the performances and characterisations from everyone involved. It’s Hill and Tatum who wholeheartedly commit on every level, not only producing the film but playing on what their own lives may have been like in high school before their current popularity. With Hill’s acting and co-writing talents consistently proving worthy of his recent Oscar nomination, his influence on modern comedy pays off as this re- invigoration of the odd couple relationship provides strong chemistry and believable friendship between Schmit and Jenko. Tatum on the other hand, proving himself to be a very unconvincing actor in previous roles, silences his critics with powerful and charismatic comedic delivery as the jock turned imaginary lightsaber fighting science nerd. The supporting cast also provides a large amount crazy thrills and fun gags. Rob Riggle and Ellie Kemper as wacky members of the faculty, Dave Franco (James’s brother) as the most popular kid in school and Brie Larson as the love interest all provide laugh out loud performances in their small roles. While Ice Cube is a comedic stand out as the Black police Chief strongly embracing his stereotype while encouraging the embrace of stereotypes in others.
Ultimately, the odds of making a truly successful 21 Jump Street adaptation are about one in a billion. However, in this universe, the odds have jumped up to two in seven billion. Our two shining stars make the most of this glorious opportunity and boost their once-ailing careers.
Verdict: A bold and hilarious action-comedy.
Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance Review – Up in Flames
Director: Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor
Writers: Scott M. Gimple, Seth Hoffman, David S. Goyer
Stars: Nicholas Cage, Idris Elba, Violante Placido, Ciaran Hinds
Distributor: Columbia Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures
Best part: Idris Elba.
Worst part: The comedic moments.
Nicholas Cage proves once again that his crazy antics and bad script choices are still in full effect. This adaptation of the infamous Ghost Rider comic book series, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, may look cool, but one incomprehensibly ridiculous story and character element after another turns what could’ve been a fun exploitation flick into a barely watchable and stupid waste of time.
Nicholas Cage.
With Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, Things start off promisingly however when we’re immediately thrown into the thick of the action. Moreau (Idris Elba), an alcoholic French outcast but loyalist of the church, desperately tries to save a young boy, Danny (Fergus Riordan), and his mother, Nadya (Violante Placido), from the forces and leather clad henchman of the devil, in the form of Rourke (Ciaran Hinds). His need for a saviour leads him to the Ghost Rider himself, Johnny Blaze (Nicholas Cage). With Blaze clinging onto the hope of exterminating his own demonic torment, its up to this gang of misfits to expel the forces of evil from both themselves and the Earth forever.
Idris Elba.
Despite having a completely different vision and team behind it than the original, the many embarrassing flaws will give any comic book film fan a reason to audibly sigh and sense of deja vu at the same time. Agonisingly pursuing to tie this sequel into the lacklustre 2007 original while depicting a rebooted version of the Devil’s bounty hunter, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance still carries similar pathetic script and directorial failings. Most noticeably, the film stops every few minutes to throw in terrible moments of slapstick comedy and cheesy dialogue. Its painful to sit through scenes of pointless religious preaching and groan-able one liners making up the film’s entirety. Face-palming when Ghost Rider throws a villain under a moving car and says “roadkill” to himself or when pissing fire and laughing at the audience would be completely agreeable. The script goes even further into the bowels of hell with a cliche story, quickly turning from gothic action film to boring road trip, that moves increasingly slow throughout the second and third acts. The idea of the devil trying to force his body into a prepubescent boy is a stupid Exorcist style cliche to begin with. Not only do several plot twists throughout involving character consistency make no sense, but the final scene is forced to a point of throwing in one more cliché within the space of a minute.
“He’s scraping at the door. Scraping at the door! And if you don’t tell what I wanna know, I’m gonna let him out. And when he’s done with you, there won’t be anything left, you understand?” (Johnny Blaze/Ghost Rider (Nicholas Cage), Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance).
Johnny Whitworth.
Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor (The Crank Movies, Gamer) have taken their schizophrenic but innovative visual style and focus on a character perfect for their film-making eye. Their interpretation of the incinerating motorcycle rider starts off promising; bringing tight editing, cinematography and gritty 2D animated origin sequences together with the thrill of the chase and a climactic score to create a somewhat entertaining first 25 minutes. But soon their crazy style conflicts with the boring script to become increasingly irritating and somewhat useless, creating the obviously uneven pacing and tone. Also descending in quality after the strong opening are the performances. Cage plays it too far over the top to become an impersonation of himself, particularly when trying to contain the Ghost Rider. While Hinds and Johnny Whitworth as Carrigan start off exuding charisma but soon turn into corny and ineffectual villainous caricatures. Putting out the fires somewhat is Elba. Still sporting the same contact lenses he had in Thor, his cool reserve and endless charm provide a notable performance, despite delivering a strange French/Caribbean accent.
Adding to Nicholas Cage’s disastrous run of critical and commercial slip-ups, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance doesn’t even pack enough Cohoes to be considered a guilty pleasure. Sadly, this fire fizzles out quick!
Verdict: A lifeless and pointless superhero sequel.
John Carter Review – Kitsch’s Catastrophe
Director: Andrew Stanton
Writers: Andrew Stanton, Mark Andrews, Michael Chabon (screenplay), Edgar Rice Burroughs (novels)
Stars: Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Willem Dafoe, Mark Strong
Release date: March 9th, 2012
Distributor: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Best part: The Tharks.
Worst part: The cliched narrative.
The perfect way to describe this adaptation of the Barsoom series by Edgar Rice Burroughs is by comparing it to every classic action adventure film of its type. Charming yet tedious, John Carter is a sci-fi fantasy flick that will leave you underwhelmed, as great actors and a beautiful visual style are dragged through a slow pace and unoriginal script.
Taylor Kitsch.
The clichés begin with a young Rice Burroughs (Daryl Sabara) reading from the memoirs of civil war veteran and all around badass John Carter (Taylor Kitsch). Suddenly we are taken back to the end of the civil war, with Carter looking for lost treasure while trying to avoid both the cruel american forces and savage native american indians. Carter’s dangerous discoveries and run ins with the law of the land lead to his transportation from Earth (Jarsoom) to Mars (Barsoom). With the realisation of his new home comprising of warring factions not resembling any nationality on earth and a spiritual alien tribe, its up to Carter and feisty princess Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins) to save the dying planet from the forces of evil, with their hearts skipping a beat for each other along the way.
Lynn Collins & Ciaran Hinds.
John Carter is Avatar, Star Wars and Dances with Wolves all rolled into one. The film wears its cliches and influences on its sleeve, without displaying an even vaguely imaginative sci-fi action fairytale simultaneously. Despite this series of books being written in the early 20th century, this film was clearly the result of box office successes such as Avatar and Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean. Carter’s exploration of Mars is surprisingly dull due to the very simple quest our characters are placed in. Unlike Avatar, the film quickly loses focus and spends little time with its most unique characters. Whereas Avatar saw to the detailed exploration of a planet’s native inhabitants, The ‘Tharks’ in John Carter stand only for plot devices and comic relief. Unfortunately, the film focuses almost entirely on the warring Romanesque factions. Despite several clever moments of comedy, the human characters throughout are two dimensional at best while bland performances from British actors Ciaran Hinds and Dominic West prove costly for this already unenterprising adventure. Mark Strong is charismatic as the snarling, shape shifting Thern but suffers from a one dimensional character used specifically as a plot contrivance. This film proves that Hollywood’s fresh crop of young lead actors aren’t up to the task of carrying major Hollywood blockbusters.
“When I saw you, I believed it was a sign… that something new can come into this world.” (Tars Tarkas (Willem Dafoe), John Carter).
Mark Strong.
Kitsch and Collins are completely dull. Their thick accents and lack of expressions add to the tedium as they soon become uninteresting to watch. Their developing relationship also feels forced upon finding out Carter’s recently troubled past. This largely predictable quest and tale of love among the stars is not without its share of enjoyable moments. The technical aspects of the film reign supreme, especially when dealing with the alien characters. The Tharks are depicted as war ravaged and spiritually guided praying mantises. Their tusks, four arms and slender figures create a wonderful interpretation of the ancient Earth bound tribes from Africa to North America. While their strange body movements and reactions to John Carter himself create many fascinating character interactions. Willem Dafoe, Samantha Morton and Thomas Haden Church provide their usual screen prowess in their motion capture turns as tribe members Tars Tarkis, Sola and Tal Hajus respectively. The setting of Mars is also used to full effect. The idea of undiscovered worlds carved into the bright red planet is expressed through giant mechanised cities, flying machines, scary creatures, gigantic battles and alien inhabitants sticking to the old ways; brought to life through impeccable special effects and sickeningly harsh desert landscapes.
John Carter, for all the bravado and good-will of its typical summer blockbuster vibe, can’t help but trip over its own two alien feet. Despite the epic scope and fine cast, the movie comes off like a slap-dash studio decision. Sadly, Avatar‘s shadow is still too big!
Verdict: A perfunctory and uninspired sci-fi blockbuster.
Project X Review – Frat Boy Farce
March 3, 2012 October 8, 2014 / Reshoot&Rewind / Leave a comment
Director: Nima Nourizadeh
Writers: Matt Drake, Michael Bacall
Stars: Thomas Mann, Oliver Cooper, Jonathan Daniel Brown, Kirby Bliss Blanton
Release date: March 2nd, 2012
Best part: The party.
Worst part: The unlikeable characters.
With the increasing popularity of found footage films hitting theatres, the movement is constantly having to spread into different genres to stay fresh. Recent hits Chronicle and now Project X have both successfully interpreted common genres through the exploration of the american teenager. Project X re-invents the frat boy comedy through fun yet shocking almost apocalyptic events.
Thomas Mann, Oliver Cooper & Jonathan Daniel Brown.
With a similar set up to the 2007 cult hit Superbad, we are introduced to three horny, unpopular teenage boys all desperately wanting the life of boozing, drugs and girls so many of their classmates already have. Thomas (Thomas Mann) is forced by his obnoxious friends Costa (Oliver Cooper) and JB (Jonathan Daniel Brown) to throw a huge party for his 17th birthday. With his parents conveniently out of town for the weekend, what should’ve been a small get together soon spirals out of control as their insane desire for popularity and girls leads them into several preposterous situations.
Alexis Knapp.
Catering specifically towards the teenage audience definitely works for this film. It cuts all the crap as rules and curfews are replaced with one insatiable temptation after another. A bevy of topless chicks, drunken debauchery, drugs and even a large bouncy castle are on display, creating the perfect image of an insanely fun shindig. First time director Nima Nourizadeh does a surprisingly impressive job with keeping a tight leash on this documentation of american house parties. One montage after another, accompanied by one hell of a Rap and Hip Hop soundtrack, creates the slow motion turn on for any teenage boy. Bouncing bodies, destruction and instant popularity for geeky teenagers take up every hand held frame. This comes as no surprise from producer Todd Phillips as his directorial efforts (The Hangover films, Old School) illustrate exactly how to party. Every scene of this film is a reminder of the photo montages at the end of The Hangover films as we see what could have happened on both those nights. With the consequences of this off the wall gathering ready to kick in at any moment, the anticipation of what will set it of and where it will go, constantly builds; leading of course to one over the top and destructive plot twist after another. The cinema verite style strives to realistically document the ultimate night for an american public school teen.
“I’m gonna go have a long cry, and then start calling some lawyers.” (Costa (Oliver Cooper), Project X).
The host’s dog.
Though uncontrolled and unfocused at points, the characters behind the cameras manage to stay away from temptation and effectively capture everything going right and wrong for our three dweeby main characters. The hand held style does however feel unbelievable at points. Despite crediting Warner Bros. for the different sources of footage (an over used gimmick in itself), the constant slow motion montages and underwater effects distract from this so called ‘realistic’ version of event documentation. This celebration of bad behaviour owes many of its predictable plot lines and unrealistic characters to comedies such as Superbad and American Pie, with many of its themes of rebellion and positive new experiences paying homage to the Richard Linklater cult classic Dazed and Confused. The three main characters are completely unrealistic. Their views on girls and even each other rings true with Superbad, yet the chemistry between them never reaches the peaks met by the Judd Apatow produced comedy. Costa, remarkably looking like a cross between Jonah Hill and Shia LeBeouf, never shuts up. His sexist attitude towards women pushes it over the edge, while never delivering a feeling of growth for his character throughout the course of events. Thomas and JB however are nondescript to a point of coming off as stupid for following through with every one of Costa’s outrageous plans.
While already outraging many and probably influencing others, The main star of Project X is the party. Even the most cynical part of you will be shocked by how far events go. Vulgar, cruel and hilarious all at the same time, the stuck up critic in everyone will be thrown away at the sight of a midget being shoved in an oven or a neighbour being tasered by a small security guard.
Verdict: An outrageous and stylistic party flick.
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The Negative Impact of Self-Serving, Controlling Leaders
July 1, 2019 David Witt
There are two distinct categories of leaders as perceived by employees, says business author and management consultant Scott Blanchard.
“Employees perceive either that they have a good manager who has their back and is someone they can trust, or that they have a self-oriented leader who sees direct reports as less important, potentially interchangeable parts.”
Blanchard explains that it is critical for managers to be perceived by their direct reports as positive leaders. Companies need to make sure they are not allowing or incentivizing managers to do things that are damaging to people's engagement and performance in the workplace.
“People who perceive that their manager has their back have an overwhelmingly strong positive correlation toward performing at a high level,” says Blanchard. “That means going above and beyond the job description, staying with the organization, endorsing it as a good place to work, and being a good team member.”
In an upcoming webinar co-sponsored by Training magazine, Blanchard will share some of the latest leadership, learning, and talent development research—including the negative impact of self-centered leaders who use controlling behavior.
“When we looked at the negative impact of leaders who use controlling behavior, we found that self-oriented leaders tend to be more controlling where others-oriented leaders are more facilitating and enabling.”
Blanchard points to research conducted by Dr. Drea Zigarmi and Dr. Taylor Peyton Roberts, who looked at different motivation techniques used by athletic coaches.
“Zigarmi and Roberts found that controlling behavior is most often demonstrated in four different areas. One is a controlling use of rewards. In the study with athletes, this manifested as: My coach tries to motivate me by promising to reward me if I do well; My coach only rewards me to make me train harder; and My coach only uses rewards and praise so I can stay focused on the tasks during training.”
Even though this research was done in a sports coaching environment, Blanchard says it’s not hard to understand how it relates to a workplace environment.
“Another controlling tactic is negative conditional regard, which is: My coach is less friendly with me if I don't make the effort to see things their way; and My coach is less supportive of me when I'm not training and competing well.”
Intimidation is a third dimension, says Blanchard: “My coach shouts at me in front of others; My coach threatens to punish me; My coach intimidates me into doing things he or she wants me to do; and My coach embarrasses me when I don't do things that they want.”
The final controlling approach is excessive personal control: “My coach expects my whole life to center around my work; My coach tries to control what I do during my free time; and My coach tries to interfere with the aspects of my life outside of my work.”
Blanchard says that when managers and coaches use controlling behaviors, they crush the positive intentions people would naturally bring to their work or sport. These behaviors also have a negative effect on a direct report’s sense of self accountability, says Blanchard. This is described in academic circles as locus of control.
“A locus of control is the extent to which a person believes they have control over their own outcomes. Here’s the idea: if I have an internal locus of control, I believe that through my efforts, my thoughts, and my determination, I can achieve success in getting the kind of outcomes I'm looking for at work. An external locus of control is where I believe outcomes are determined not by internal forces such as my own grit and determination but by the external environment.”
Encouraging and cultivating a person’s belief in their internal ability to positively influence their environment is important, says Blanchard. He points to research done by hiring consultants at Hireology, which shows that a candidate with an internal locus of control has a 40% greater likelihood of success in a new role.
Blanchard explains that people who work for a manager who is self-oriented and controlling will actually begin to doubt or set aside their belief in their ability to achieve successful outcomes.
“If people experience overly controlling management, they have two choices: they can perform because they have to, which is called controlled regulation; or they can just do the minimum to get by—that’s called amotivation.
“Others-oriented managers support personal industriousness and reinforce a sense of personal accountability. When you engage in positive behaviors, you reinforce the notion of internal locus of control where you take responsibility for your own results. This leads to autonomous regulation—a high quality of motivation—where you perceive you’re doing something deeply connected to who you are and what’s important to you.
“Work becomes more motivating when it aligns with who you are. The old adage is true: ‘If you find a job that you're really passionate about, you never have to work another day in your life.’ Your work just feels like something that's natural.”
Others-oriented managers help instill that kind of meaning and accountability in their people, says Blanchard. “It’s about working side by side with people in a way that lets them grow into their autonomy. Managers who overtly control people squash or kill that initiative, which causes their direct reports to be less loyal, accountable, and motivated.
“If you want to have robotic employees who only do what they're told to do and what they're rewarded to do, then keep putting controlling managers in front of them. But if you want people who take ownership of their jobs, produce better results, and are eager to stay with the company, you have to hire and prepare managers to be others-oriented.”
Would you like to learn more about the latest research and implications for learning and development practices? Join us for a free webinar!
A Look Inside the Latest Research: Ego, Power, and Implications for L&D
In this webinar, Scott Blanchard, bestselling business author and executive vice president with The Ken Blanchard Companies, takes an inside look at the latest research on hiring, training, and developing leaders.
The four attributes to consider when making a hiring decision—and the one that matters most
More about the negative impact of “self-focused” versus “others-focused” leaders
The three ways people respond when they perceive an imbalance of power at work
Don’t miss this opportunity to take a deeper dive into the latest L&D research. You’ll walk away with a new perspective and applicable strategies to implement in your organization immediately! The event is free, courtesy of Training magazine and The Ken Blanchard Companies.
David Witt is a Program Director for The Ken Blanchard Companies. He is an award-winning researcher and host of the companies’ monthly webinar series. David has also authored or coauthored articles in Fast Company, Human Resource Development Review, Chief Learning Officer and US Business Review.
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Google’s Matt Cutts Lobbying To Reward Secure Sites With Better Rankings
Rolfe Winkler on the Wall Street Journal blog reports on “private conversations” that Google’s head of search spam, Matt Cutts has within Google about rewarding sites with higher rankings in the search results that have better security. This is news that has come out of SMX West, as we covered just about a month ago […]
Barry Schwartz on April 14, 2014 at 1:11 pm
Rolfe Winkler on the Wall Street Journal blog reports on “private conversations” that Google’s head of search spam, Matt Cutts has within Google about rewarding sites with higher rankings in the search results that have better security.
This is news that has come out of SMX West, as we covered just about a month ago with our story Ranking Benefit To Making Your Site SSL? Not Yet But Google’s Cutts Would Like To Make It Happen. But apparently, Cutts has been talking about this internally even more now, likely even more so since the OpenSSL exploit, Heartbleed.
Heartbleed was a huge security exploit impacting over a half a million web sites out there. It is known as a “catastrophic” bug that may be considered the most serious bug in the history of the web. With it, sites with sensitive data were like an open book to anyone who tried to use the loophole to acquire that data.
Winkler said:
Cutts also has spoken in private conversations of Google’s interest in making the change, according to a person familiar with the matter. The person says Google’s internal discussions about encryption are still at an early stage and any change wouldn’t happen soon.
Google would not comment on this at this time, but as we know from the SMX West show, Matt Cutts himself said he would love to see Google reward web sites that deploy better security. Although back then, he said it was his personal opinion and not everyone within Google agreed with him at this point.
For more on that, see our story from last month.
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What is a second victim?
Who is affected?
For Second Victims
To err is human
Legal duties and responsibilities
Preparing staff for adverse incidents
Profession specific resources
Second victim support systems
Why support second victims
Second victims are healthcare providers who are involved in an unanticipated adverse patient event, a medical error and/or a patient related injury and become victimized in the sense that the provider is traumatized by the event. Frequently, these individuals feel personally responsible for the patient outcome. Many feel as though they have failed the patient, second guessing their clinical skills and knowledge base.
(Scott et al, 2009)
The impact on the clinician can be considered in two areas:
Personal impact
For many people, being involved in a significant incident is an intensely emotional time. Feelings of distress, self-doubt and fear are common and may persist long after the original incident. These may be accompanied by physical symptoms, such as sleep disturbance, or difficulty concentrating.
For some individuals, involvement in a patient safety incident contributes to the development of mental health issues, including depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Professional Impact
Involvement in a patient safety incident can also affect an individual’s ongoing work in healthcare. Reduced professional confidence is common, and people may make defensive changes to their practice, such as avoiding similar patients. Becoming a second victim can increase the risk of burnout, and may result in thoughts of leaving their profession.
Prompting constructive change
A clinician who has experienced a patient safety incident or a near miss may wish to take constructive action to prevent further similar incidents from occurring; this might be through improving safety measures or changing a process to make it harder to make a mistake. It might be through highlighting or reducing risks which are "an accident waiting to happen".
Whilst nobody ever wants an incident to happen, they are much less likely to occur again if there is constructive learning and changes are implemented.
A healthcare professional involved in a patient safety incident can experience significant impact, both personally and professionally. It is therefore important that we understand both Who can become a second victim and How many are affected?
Who can become a second victim?
A second victim is a healthcare provider who experiences personal or professional impact as a result of involvement in a patient safety incident. This means that any healthcare professional who may be involved in a patient safety incident could become a second victim. The majority of research to date has focussed on the experiences of doctors, and more recently nursing staff, as second victims. However, where support for second victims has been put in place, it has been accessed by a wide range of professionals, including pharmacists, social workers, therapists, technicians and administrators.
Estimates vary, but it is possible that up to 50% of healthcare workers have experience of being a second victim. Given that the NHS is one of the world’s largest employers, this means that potentially hundreds of thousands of people across the UK are affected, yet at present there are very few specific support services available.
Over the last two decades, much research has been done to understand the issues second victims face, and how the impact on second victims can be alleviated. This research can broadly be considered under the following questions:
What is a ‘second victim’?
What is the impact on individual staff and teams?
How can second victims be supported?
What is the role of preventative staff support?
What might be future second victim research priorities?
Professor Albert Wu first coined the phrase ‘second victim’ in the 1980s to describe those who suffer emotionally when the care they provide leads to harm. The impact of patient safety incidents on patients and families remains the primary concern, but the effect on individual healthcare staff and teams is now widely recognised. Figures vary but up to 50% of healthcare workers report experiencing an incident in which they considered themselves to be a second victim (Wu & Steckelberg 2012).
Our systematic review (Sirriyeh et al 2010) found consistent evidence of an intense emotional response following an error with subsequent impact on the personal and professional lives of staff. This includes acute stress disorder (Wu & Steckelberg 2012), suicidal thoughts or even suicide (Pratt et al 2012). Differing responses to error by professional group have been explored, with doctors in training (Wu & Steckelberg 2012) and nurses (Sirriyeh et al 2010; Harrison et al 2015) identified as at potentially greater risk although such impact is not limited to clinicians (Hirschinger et al 2015). However, our most recent study (Johnson et al 2017) found not all staff experience significant emotional distress in response to failure, which points to personal resilience as a potential mitigating factor.
A six stage recovery trajectory is commonly experienced by second victims (Scott et al 2009). This includes:
a chaos & accident response
intrusive reflections
restoring personal integrity
enduring the inquisition
obtaining emotional first aid
This study also found that involvement in practice change/improvement as a result of the patient safety incident experience was associated with a positive response and recovery.
Systematic reviews have concluded more awareness is needed and that health care leaders should introduce and evaluate strategies designed to provide supportive interventions for second victims (Seys et al 2013a, 2013b). Existing knowledge is available to guide policy makers in developing effective support programmes (Chan, Khong & Wang 2017) and the consequences of not doing so include the potential for: ‘…a vicious cycle of adverse events, burnout, poor care, and more adverse events.’(Pratt et al 2012)
Various interventions have been developed in response to this growing understanding of the impact on second victims. These include:
The ForYou programme – is based on The Scott Three-Tiered Interventional Model of Support” (Scott et al 2010). This is a system-wide, escalating approach to addressing the support needs of second victims using an on-demand emotional support rapid response team. The three tiers cover:
basic emotional first-aid at local or department level
peer to peer, one to one support
access to professional counselling and guidance.
The MITSS (Medically Induced Trauma Support Services)Toolkit – launched in 2010 and freely available, this resource is designed to support organisations in developing and implementing programmes for staff suffering emotional impact from errors and adverse events (Pratt et al 2012). The toolkit comprises a range of resources and is suitable for adaptation by organisations based on local needs.
More recently the research focus has been on identifying the factors that confer resilience to emotional distress in this context. Our recent systematic review (Johnson et al 2017) found the strongest support for:
higher self-esteem
more positive attributional style, and
lower socially-prescribed perfectionism.
Such findings have been used to inform the development of preventative interventions such as online programmes like MISE (Mitigating Impact in Second Victims) (Mira et al 2015) that are designed to raise staff awareness, and psycho-education programmes designed to help staff develop the positive psychological characteristics associated with resilience which can moderate the degree of distress when faced with a patient safety event.
What might be the future second victim research priorities?
Evaluation of the impact of second victim support interventions is ongoing along with the need for further research to determine if the provision of effective emotional support for second victims actually does:
lead to better functioning staff
fewer staff leaving healthcare in response to a second victim experience
a reduction in adverse events (Pratt et al 2012).
Finally, exploration of the learning and positive consequences arising from patient safety events is limited and may prove a fruitful avenue for future work.
Chan ST, Khong PCB, Wang W (2017) Psychological responses, coping and supporting needs of healthcare professionals as second victims. International Nursing Review 64(2): 242-262 DOI: 10.1111/inr.12317
Harrison R, Lawton R, Perlo J, Gardner P, Armitage G, Shapiro J (2015) Emotion and Coping in the Aftermath of Medical Error: A Cross-Country Exploration. Journal of Patient Safety 11(1): 28–35
Hirschinger LE, Scott SD, Hahn-Cover MD (2015) Clinician Support: Five Years of Lessons Learned.
Johnson J, Panagioti M, Bass J, Ramsey L, Harrison R (2017) Resilience to emotional distress in response to failure, error or mistakes: A systematic review. Clinical Psychology Review 52 19–42
Mira JJ , Lorenzo S, Carrillo I, Ferrús L, Pérez-Pérez P, Iglesias P, Silvestre C, Olivera G, Zavala E, Nuño-Solinís R, Maderuelo-Fernández JA, Vitaller J, Astier P on behalf of the Research Group on Second and Third Victims (2015) BMC Health Services Research 15:341 DOI 10.1186/s12913-015-0994-x
Pratt S, Kenny L, Scott SD, Wu AW (2012) How to develop a second victim support program: a toolkit for health care organizations. Joint Commission Journal on Quality & Patient Safety, 38 (5): 235-240
Scott SD, Hirschinger LE, Cox KR, McCoig M, Brandt J, Hall LW (2009) The natural history of recovery for the healthcare provider “second victim” after adverse patient events. Qual Saf Health Care, 18 (5): 325-330
Scott SD, Hirschinger LE, Cox KR, McCoig M, Hahn-Cover K, Epperly KM, Phillips EC, Hall LW (2010) Caring for our own: deploying a system wide second victim rapid response team. Joint Commission Journal on Quality & Patient Safety, 36 (5): 233-240
Seys D, Wu AW, Gerven EV, Vleugels A, Euwema M, Panella M, Scott SD, Conway J, Sermeus W, Vanhaecht K (2013a) Health Care Professionals as Second Victims after Adverse Events: A Systematic Review. Evaluation and the Health Professions, 36 (2): 135-162
Seys D, Scott SD, Wu AW, Gerven EV, Vleugels A, Euwema M, Panella M, Conway J, Sermeus W, Vanhaecht K (2013b) Supporting involved health care professionals (second victims) following an adverse health event: A literature review. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 50 (5): 678-687
Sirriyeh R, Lawton R, Gardner P, Armitage G (2010) Coping with medical error: a systematic review of papers to assess the effects of involvement in medical errors on healthcare professionals’ psychological well-being. Qual Saf Health Care, doi:10.1136/qshc.2009.035253
Wu AW, Steckelberg RC (2012) Medical error, incident investigation and the second victim: doing better but feeling worse? BMJ Quality and Safety 21(4): 267-270
Copyright Bradford Teaching Hospitals Foundation NHS Trust 2019. All rights reserved. Permission should be sought prior to amending any resource from this or other pages contained in this site. This website should always be acknowledged as the source of these resources when they are used.
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‘She told me that life here is so easy’: Urban migration of Acholi youth, Uganda
Elizabeth Stites, Teddy Atim and Ayee Flora Tracy
Type: Uganda, Working Paper
Organisation: Feinstein International Center (FIC, Tufts University)
Full summary
This working paper presents findings on the migration of youth (aged 15–35) from Acholi, Uganda to the urban areas of Gulu and Pabbo in northern Uganda, and to the Acholi Quarter neighborhood in Kampala. The findings draw on qualitative data made up of semi-structured, open-ended individual interviews with both men and women in Gulu, Pabbo, Kampala, and two rural areas. In total, 112 qualitative interviews were carried out.
The findings of this report have important implications for national and international programming and interventions, especially given the expanding role urbanisation plays in Uganda and across the developing world. The provision of urban services, especially education, must meet the needs of the continuing influx of migrants, many of whom prioritize education. Decision making around migration involves not only concerns for the migrant, but also their family, whether or not family members also move.
Acholi youth migrate into urban areas for a diverse range of reasons; top among these are the lack of economic opportunities in rural areas, inadequate land access, and family disputes.
Female migrants in particular also cited being pushed off land and physical and sexual abuse as reasons for migrating, in addition to economic pull factors.
Many migrants maintain strong economic, livelihood, social and emotional ties to their rural places of origin, with split-household models being extremely common. Those who did not maintain such ties – mostly women – were among the most vulnerable.
The findings of this report are summarised in a four page briefing paper, which can be downloaded here.
Migration and work: are women’s work patterns changing in Bardiya, Nepal?
Nepal, Theme 1: Livelihoods instability, Working Paper
Schools out: Why northern Uganda’s girls and boys are not getting an education and what to do about it
Theme 1: Livelihoods instability, Uganda, Working Paper
Defining and identifying IDPs outside of camps in South Kivu: challenges, contradictions and consequences
Pathways to women’s empowerment: Navigating the hybrid social order in eastern DRC
DRC, Working Paper
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A Brief History of Flame: The Story of the Everyday Lighter
“It's not the order in which things are invented that makes them the most impressive, it's the importance they have to humanity. So my number one is this: fire with a flick of the fingers.” – Stephen Fry
Some items have been around for so long, and have become so embedded in the modern world, that it’s hard to imagine a world without them; the lighter may be one of these. Even Stephen Fry, as part of Channel 4’s 100 Greatest Gadgets documentary, named the cigarette lighter as the greatest invention in human history.
From the iconic Zippo lighter and disposable plastic varieties, to the obscure contraptions of old, the history of the lighter is a fascinating one, so we thought we’d tell you some more about it.
1823 - Döbereiner's lamp
In 1823, Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner, a German chemist and professor at the University of Jena, invented one of the earliest lighters; however, it looked nothing like a modern-day lighter.
Also known as a ‘tinderbox’ (or "Feuerzeug"), the lamp was an exceptionally popular item, reportedly selling over a million units in the 1820s.
The bizarre looking contraption worked by reacting zinc with dilute sulphuric acid in order to produce hydrogen. To use, a valve was lifted, firing the hydrogen towards a porous form of platinum known as ‘platinum sponge’. This then reacted with the atmospheric oxygen, heating the platinum and igniting the hydrogen – the result was a steady flame.
1903 - The Advent of Ferrocerium
Ferrocerium is a synthetic alloy that produces very hot and bright sparks when struck. Often incorrectly referred to as ‘flint’, ferrocerium is a different substance completely; the naming similarity stems from flint’s previous usage as a producer of sparks.
Invented in 1903 by Austrian chemist Carl Auer von Welsbach, ferrocerium revolutionised the lighter, as it made creating necessary sparks for ignition easy, and was also a relatively affordable material.
1910-12 - The Ronson Pist-O-Liter and Wonderlite
One of the most well-known classic lighter designs was the Pist-O-Liter, manufactured by Ronson in 1910.
Designed to closely resemble a long-barreled pistol, the trigger released a file-like component which rubbed against a flint-like surface contained in the barrel. This produced sufficient sparks to ignite flammable substances. The long barrel made the Pist-O-Liter a practical choice for applying sparks to harder-to-reach places, such as motor vehicle engines.
Shortly after this in 1912, Ronson developed the Wonderlite, a metal cased lighter more closely resembling modern varieties, known as a ‘permanent match’ style of lighter.
Image Source: https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-1910-cast-iron-ronson-pisto-434682521
1914-18 - World War I: Improvised lighters
Life in the trenches during the First World War was notably difficult, particularly on the front lines, where resources, tools and general supplies were extremely limited.
Soldiers therefore started to improvise and created everyday tools by hand using whatever discarded items they could find. One of these was a handmade lighter fashioned from an empty bullet cartridge; it even included a holed chimney cap to better protect the flame from wind.
1926 - Ronson Banjo
Ronson went on to refine their design with the Banjo lighter in 1926. Developed in New Jersey, USA, the Ronson Banjo was a huge success thanks to its simple usability and attractive design.
The world’s first automatic pocket lighter, the Ronson Banjo required only the press of a button to generate the flame.
It cost $5.00 at the time, but mint condition versions are worth many hundreds today as collectables.
Image Source: http://ronsonlighters.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/rare-vintage-unique-ronson-lighters.html
1933 - The first Zippo lighter
Inventor George G. Blaisdell introduced what would become the world’s most famous lighter in 1933. The design of the original Zippo proved so popular that it is still popular today, with only small changes.
Early Zippos were made of brass; however, during the Second World War they were manufactured from black crackle steel due to metal shortages. Zippos during wartime were commonly emblazoned with unit crests and other military symbols, a trend which is still popular today.
1945-55 – Post-war Zippos Become an Art-form
The inner mechanisms of Zippo lighters have barely changed since their introduction; however, following the Second World War, they developed into a popular fashion accessory with a huge variety of artistic designs and metals used.
The Zippo quickly became a cultural icon and was widely used in movies, television and advertising. Even today, vintage designs (such as the venetian brass model pictured) are hugely popular with collectors.
1955-75 - Zippo & the Vietnam War
The Zippo lighter developed into a symbol of the American armed forces during the twenty years of the Vietnam War.
American soldiers fighting in Vietnam would often have their Zippo lighters engraved with a variety of personal mottos, slogans, icons and individual designs, commonly reflecting the emotions, beliefs and values of the soldiers themselves during the now infamous conflict.
Vietnam war lighters are now valuable collectors’ items, some fetching huge amounts in auctions.
1962 - Piezoelectric Lighter
The piezoelectric lighter was introduced in the 1960s and was developed as an alternative to fuel burning lighters. Instead of a naked flame, the mechanism here used a small, spring-loaded hammer to hit a quartz crystal. This created voltage when deformed, resulting in an electrical discharge, which served as the ignition.
While still in use today, the piezoelectric lighter’s popularity was relatively short lived, fading out of mainstream use during the 1970s. While not used by smokers, variants of this technology remain in use for more practical purposes such as barbecue lighting.
1973 - The Bic Disposable Lighter
Bic introduced a new disposable variety of lighter in 1973 with the intention of rivaling the popular but relatively expensive metal cased Zippos at the time. Typically, the cheapest lighter on the market, the Bic disposable lighter was extremely popular and remains widely used to this day.
While lacking the artistic or fashion appeal of the Zippo, disposable lighters were perfect for a fast-moving, money conscious society, as they did not require refills and could be easily discarded.
So, what is the future of the lighter?
Despite the recent decrease in the number of smokers in both the UK and the USA, traditional lighters have managed to maintain popularity.
This is thanks in part to their status as a fashion accessory alongside its practical uses. To capitalise on this, Zippo’s brand has expanded in recent years to include a whole range of apparel, accessories and other gadgets. This is not dissimilar to the expansion made by Harley Davidson Motorcycles, who to this day are a significant fashion brand, as well as motorcycle manufacturer.
It’s unsurprising, then, that Harley Davidson and Zippo have collaborated to produce some of the most iconic and popular examples in the Zippo range.
We believe classic metal lighters have a brighter future than disposable varieties due to their long lifespan, individuality and vintage appeal. Of course, only time will tell...
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Georgia RFRA Vetoed
By Bryan Stillwagon At a press conference this morning, Georgia Governor Nathan Deal announced that he will veto HB 757, the “Free Exercise Protection Act” that Georgia’s legislature passed less than two weeks ago. Deal has faced intense pressure from…
By Bryan Stillwagon
At a press conference this morning, Georgia Governor Nathan Deal announced that he will veto HB 757, the “Free Exercise Protection Act” that Georgia’s legislature passed less than two weeks ago. Deal has faced intense pressure from Georgia’s business community, which warned of the severe economic consequences that would follow passage of a bill that appears to permit LGBT discrimination. Deal proclaimed that “Georgia is a welcoming state” that does not need to discriminate against anyone to protect religious liberty.
Posted in Discrimination | Tagged religious discrimination, Sexual Orientation Discrimination
Class Averaging
By Bryan Stillwagon The Supreme Court ruled today that Plaintiffs’ use of average donning and doffing times was proper and sufficient to affirm a $5.8 million judgment against Tyson Foods. Tyson Foods, Inc. v. Bouaphakeo, No. 14-1146 (Mar. 22, 2016). Plaintiffs (employees…
The Supreme Court ruled today that Plaintiffs’ use of average donning and doffing times was proper and sufficient to affirm a $5.8 million judgment against Tyson Foods. Tyson Foods, Inc. v. Bouaphakeo, No. 14-1146 (Mar. 22, 2016). Plaintiffs (employees in a pork processing plant in Iowa) relied at trial on an industrial relations expert’s calculations of the average time it took for employees to don and doff required protective gear. Tyson argued basing individual damages on the expert’s average failed to consider differences in the composition of the gear that may have altered the time each spent donning and doffing.
The Court disagreed. The employer’s failure to keep adequate time records created an “evidentiary gap” and the Plaintiffs had to fill that gap through the expert’s study. Tyson could have argued the representative evidence was statistically inadequate or based on implausible assumptions (under Daubert) but it did not challenge the methodology. The Court distinguished Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, 564 U.S. 338 (2011), where the Court ruled the individual class members could not rely on the experiences of other workers in different stores to establish discrimination against the class members generally. Here, Plaintiffs worked in the same Tyson facility, did similar work, and were paid under the same policy. Thus, the Court found, each class member could have introduced the expert’s study in his/her individual suit. For those reasons, the Court held that the representative evidence was a permissible means of showing individual hours worked.
Plaintiffs’ attorneys will now undoubtedly argue that the Court is signaling some backtracking from Dukes. The workers are similarly situated, for class or collective action purposes, in part because they are subject to the same employer policy. But crucial here is also the fact that there were no relevant individualized records for the Court’s use. “Trial by Formula” might not be dead, but the formula must be proper.
Posted in Class Action, Dukes Case, OHSA/Safety and Health | Tagged Class Action, collective action, donning and doffing, Supreme Court
OSHA UPDATE: Revised Procedures
By Rod Smith, Chuck Newcom, Pat Miller, and Matt Morrison On March 4, 2016, OSHA issued new procedures to deal with reported injuries and illnesses. These new procedures deserve attention from employers facing a reportable injury or illness. Under the new procedures,…
By Rod Smith, Chuck Newcom, Pat Miller, and Matt Morrison
On March 4, 2016, OSHA issued new procedures to deal with reported injuries and illnesses. These new procedures deserve attention from employers facing a reportable injury or illness. Under the new procedures, OSHA will ask employers to conduct and provide a detailed internal investigation. Despite a new “safe harbor” which purportedly stops OSHA from using the employer’s investigation report to cite violations, employers need to be aware of the pitfalls.
Please click here to read the full update.
Posted in OHSA/Safety and Health | Tagged Accident, OSHA, safety and health
GA “Free” Exercise
By Bryan Stillwagon On Wednesday, the Georgia legislature passed the “Free Exercise Protection Act” (HB 757), which combines aspects of a proposed Pastor Protection Act and Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Many Atlanta-based companies and industry groups oppose the bill and…
On Wednesday, the Georgia legislature passed the “Free Exercise Protection Act” (HB 757), which combines aspects of a proposed Pastor Protection Act and Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Many Atlanta-based companies and industry groups oppose the bill and have urged Governor Nathan Deal to veto it.
Sponsors claim the bill is necessary to protect religious freedom and “faith based organizations.” Opponents, however, argue the First Amendment already provides the necessary protections, and that the bill opens the door to discrimination in social services and employment against LGBT people. Although the bill states it shall not permit discrimination “on any grounds prohibited by federal or state law,” opponents claim the bill could undermine local non-discrimination ordinances that protect LGBT people, will create an “Indiana-style backlash” from corporations and organizations, and will negatively impact the state’s tourism and convention industries. Regardless of the bill’s legal effect if signed by the Governor, the negative media attention many hoped to avoid has already begun.
Arbitration Agreement Snafu
By Bill Wright A federal trial court in California rejected an employer’s attempt to compel arbitration over an employee claim; the employer didn’t keep its own policy exceptions in mind. In 2009, the employer’s job application provided that any significant…
By Bill Wright
A federal trial court in California rejected an employer’s attempt to compel arbitration over an employee claim; the employer didn’t keep its own policy exceptions in mind. In 2009, the employer’s job application provided that any significant change in the terms and conditions of employment had to be approved by the Director of Human Resources. In 2013, the employer rolled out an arbitration agreement, signed by the Vice President of Human Resources. To cut a long story short, the Court rejected the employer’s attempt to rely on the arbitration agreement, because the arbitration agreement was a significant change in the terms and conditions of employment and there was no evidence that the Director of Human Resources approved it. Of course, there might not still be a Director of Human Resources. Smith v. H.F.D. No. 55, Inc., No. 2:15-cv-01293-KJM-KJN (E.D. CA. March 8, 2016).
We need to watch out for those little restrictions we place on our own ability to contract with employees.
Posted in Arbitration, Human Resources/Employee Relations | Tagged Arbitration Agreements, Compel Arbitration, employer policy
California Rules!
By Bill Wright California’s new regulations concerning employment discrimination come into effect soon. Briefly, they require beefy policies and supervisor training concerning reporting discrimination and harassment. Naturally, they include protection for sexual orientation and gender identity. General “abusive conduct” is…
California’s new regulations concerning employment discrimination come into effect soon. Briefly, they require beefy policies and supervisor training concerning reporting discrimination and harassment. Naturally, they include protection for sexual orientation and gender identity. General “abusive conduct” is also covered.
Also of note, however, is how California is dealing with the application of its regulations to employers with employees outside California. In part of the definition of “employer,” the regulations say: “[E]mployees located outside of California are not themselves covered by the protections of the Act if the wrongful conduct did not occur in California and it was not ratified by decision makers or participants located in California.” Translation: if you have HR or managers in California who are responsible for employment actions occurring elsewhere, agency action and lawsuits based on those employment actions might arise in California, under California law. Be prepared!
Posted in Discrimination, Human Resources/Employee Relations | Tagged Employment Discrimination, gender identity, Manager and Supervisor, sexual orientation
Groundbreaking Discrimination Lawsuits
By Joe Hunt The EEOC filed two lawsuits yesterday alleging – for the first time – that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation violates Title VII. As you know, sexual orientation is not expressly protected under Title VII, so these suits…
By Joe Hunt
The EEOC filed two lawsuits yesterday alleging – for the first time – that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation violates Title VII. As you know, sexual orientation is not expressly protected under Title VII, so these suits mark the EEOC’s expansive interpretation of its statutory authority.
One EEOC complaint, filed in Pennsylvania federal court, alleges discrimination against a male employee because of his sexual orientation, and the second complaint, filed in Maryland federal court, alleges discrimination against a female employee because of her sexual orientation. Each complaint alleges the relevant employer subjected the employee to homophobic epithets and other offensive remarks about the employee’s sexual orientation.
The EEOC’s underlying rationale for these lawsuits is that an employer’s harassing conduct of an employee based on his or her sexual orientation is inherently discrimination based on sex. The EEOC argues that the employer’s unlawful conduct is motivated by an employee’s sex by virtue of his or her non-compliance with sex stereotypes or heterosexually defined gender norms. The Pennsylvania complaint can be found here and the Maryland complaint here.
Posted in Discrimination, EEOC | Tagged EEOC, harassment, Sex Discrimination, sexual orientation, Sexual Orientation Discrimination
Retroactive Exception to Employer’s Policy Is Not a Reasonable Accommodation Under the ADA
Per-Project Payments – Salary or Fee Basis Pay?
Joint Employer Status Muddied Further
No New News on Nondiscretionary Bonuses
H-1B “Professional” Work Authorization for Foreign Recruits
Dukes Case
Human Resources/Employee Relations
OHSA/Safety and Health
Union Issues
USERRA
Wacky Cases
Workforce Reduction
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The AB Guide to Music Theory, Part I
Taylor, Eric
Department: Music Theory - Theory resources
• provides an introduction to the basic elements in harmony and musical structure
• covers the basics of rhythm and tempo, an introduction to pitch, intervals and transposition, articulation, ornaments, and reiterations
"I'm a 73-year-old semi-pro in swing, jazz, ballroom, classical, Palm Court, church and traditional music, i.e. an old hack still gigging and in love with it all. Often, contact with the audience/congregation is quite close, so conversations spring up. People say kind things or ask questions and I try in return to enthuse non-musicians to have a go at learning. The most usual 'but' is age, which I try to counter with stories of adult pupils who have progressed as fast as children. The other main worry is that music is so complicated. Yup, there's quite a lot to it, and that's where this magic little volume comes in. It knits together so many aspects of musical theory in an understandable way, and at such an affordable price, that I unhesitatingly point people towards it. You don't have to plough through acres of increasingly complex formality seeking that little bit which answers your need, because it isn't arranged by progression of difficulty, but subject by subject. The language is user-friendly, and of course the appeal is wider now that AB have acknowledged and embraced Jazz. No longer does the intellectual/structural part of music have to be a dry and dusty pain.
My only reservation is that the word Theory will always have esoteric connotations, and if the title could be something like 'How and Why Music Works' or 'Musicians' Friend' the whole volume would be user friendly from absolute beginning to end, and deserve six out of five.
I wish I could have had this book in my teens.
Bravo, Eric Taylor!
Rating: 12/18/2010 By: Brian Willcocks
""This Guide is not only an excellent support to a good syllabus but also a fine reference work in its own right.""
By: MMA Journal
""Should really be on everyone’s shelf as a matter of course.""
By: Classical Guitar magazine
"'Twas a very addictive read, for the concepts were thoroughly explained and the text and notes were clearly printed. I honestly didn't think I would enjoy reading Music Theory (something I really disliked as a kid) so enjoyable! Eric Taylor did a marvellous job writing with as simple a structure built explaining such complex concepts!"
Rating: 11/7/2018 By: Wirayuda Gunawan
Music Theory in Practice, Grade 3
First Steps in Music Theory
Blackwell, Kathy/Blackwell, David
Piano Star: Theory
Music Theory in Practice Model Answers, Grade 5
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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2003.09.027
Title: Hydrological consequences of landscape fragmentation in mountainous northern Vietnam: Evidence of accelerated overland flow generation
Authors: Ziegler, A.D.
Giambelluca, T.W.
Vana, T.T.
Nullet, M.A.
Tran, L.T.
Fox, J.
Vien, T.D.
Pinthong, J.
Maxwell, J.F.
Evett, S.
Keywords: Deforestation
Disk permeameter
Land-cover change
Saturated hydraulic conductivity
Tropical watershed hydrology
Citation: Ziegler, A.D., Giambelluca, T.W., Vana, T.T., Nullet, M.A., Tran, L.T., Fox, J., Vien, T.D., Pinthong, J., Maxwell, J.F., Evett, S. (2004). Hydrological consequences of landscape fragmentation in mountainous northern Vietnam: Evidence of accelerated overland flow generation. Journal of Hydrology 287 (1-4) : 124-146. ScholarBank@NUS Repository. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2003.09.027
Abstract: Measurements of saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks) and indices of Horton overland flow (HOF) generation are used to assess the influence of landscape fragmentation on near-surface hydrologic response in two upland watersheds in northern Vietnam. The fragmented landscape, which results from timber extraction and swidden agriculture, is a mosaic of surfaces having distinct infiltration characteristics. In general, human activity has reduced infiltration and altered near-surface flow paths on all disturbed land covers. Compacted roads, paths, and dwelling sites, for example, have the propensity to generate HOF for small rainfall depths. Although these surfaces occupy a small fraction of a basin land area (estimated at <1%), they contribute disproportionately to overland flow response during typical rainfall events. Recently abandoned fields have the lowest Ks of all non-consolidated, post-cultivation surfaces tested. Beginning 1-2 years following abandonment, diminished Ks recovers over time with the succession to more advanced types of secondary regrowth. If a grassland emerges on the abandoned site, rather than a bamboo-dominated cover, Ks recovers more rapidly. The decrease in Ks with depth below disturbed surfaces is more acute than that found at undisturbed sites. This enhanced anisotropy in near-surface Ks increases the likelihood of the development of a lateral subsurface flow component during large storms of the monsoon rain season. Subsequently, the likelihood of return flow generation is increased. Because the recovery time of subsurface Ks is greater than that for the surface Ks, the impact human activity has on hydrologic response in the fragmented basin may linger long after the surface vegetation has evolved to a mature forested association. © 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Source Title: Journal of Hydrology
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2003.09.027
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developingintelligence
Attractors All the Way Up: Metastability, Rostrocaudal Hierarchies, and Synaptic Facilitation
By developinginte… on November 18, 2011.
In their wonderful Neuroimage article, Braun & Mattia present a comprehensive introduction to the possible neuronal implementations and cognitive sequelae of a particular dynamical phenomenon: the attractor state. In another excellent paper, just recently out in Frontiers, Itskov, Hansel and Tsodyks describe how such attractor dynamics may be insufficient to support working memory processing unless supplemented by rapid synaptic modification - a mechanism which has in fact been described neuroanatomically and previously utilized neurocomputationally to describe cognitive phenomena. To see how these ideas tie together a number of different neuroanatomical and cognitive discoveries, let's start with the basics of attraction.
Attractors are those patterns in some abstract state space (e.g., a 3 dimensional space as defined by the firing rates of 3 different neurons) towards which a system will naturally converge over time as it loses energy. These can be simple points (say, where despite its initial conditions, our 3-neuron system will always end up with firing rates of 0, 0, and 1 Hz respectively), or lines (where our 3-neuron system might end up with firing rates of 0, 0, and between .3 and .7Hz respectively), rings (where our 3-neuron system might ultimately end somewhere along a path encircling the value .5,.5.,5), or shapes with fractional dimensions (e.g., the classic "Lorenz attractor"). Systems can have multiple attractors of any type; the "energy landscape" of a dynamical system can be plotted as a function of how different initial conditions may ultimately fall into the "basin of attraction" for various attractors. Here's an example of the energy landscape of a multi-point attractor system, where the point attractors are illustrated in red:
But attractor dynamics can be far more complex. As pointed out by Braun & Mattia, neural dynamics may smoothly traverse multiple attractor states if, upon reaching a point of attraction, the energy landscape of the neural population changes (say, as a result of neuronal fatigue in the neurons supporting the pattern of firing that comprises the attractor). As such, neuronal dynamics might be understood as traversing an energy landscape that is itself composed of multiple such landscapes - that is, a kind of attractor dynamic of attractors, or what Braun & Mattia term a "metastable state."
As reviewed by Braun & Mattia, slices of visual, auditory and somatosensory cortex demonstrate spontaneous patterns of firing that are almost identical to those observed following stimulation of the thalamic areas that innervate them. This observation suggests that the cellular architecture of these regions defines a state space that is remarkably metastable, with spontaneous activity reflecting a serial transition through attractors within this state space. Spontaneous activity of this kind gives rise to a kind of "avalanche" dynamic in which synchronous neural firing in superficial cortical layers triggers a chain reaction of avalanches across interconnected cortical sites.
These physiological dynamics, as well as those from the domain of perceptual decision making (and associated signal detection as well as diffusion models of this domain) are well-captured by neural network models that include lateral inhibitory competitive dynamics that support winner-take-all processing, when superimposed on sparse excitation. Diffusion of perceptual information into the system can be understood as the neuronal population being perturbed from its initial low-energy state, and haphazardly navigating the energy landscape of the state space until a basin of attraction is found and the lowest-energy attractor reached.
One related perceptual domain is that of bistable perception, classically illustrated by the two depth interpretations that are possible of the necker cube:
But a more fun illustration of this phenomenon is the "dancer" animation. Which way does the dancer turn in your perception? And can you see the dancer turn in the other direction?
(Take a minute or two with that one if you fail to see her reverse; it's a sudden but unpredictable shift). One last one, since these are so much fun:
One can understand the perceptual transitions between these various interpretations as the state space traversal of neuronal populations responsible for depth and motion (respectively in the above two examples) between two different points of attraction, such that the energy landscape is itself dynamic. At a higher level, it could be understood as a kind of nested attractor, where there is a ring attractor that governs transitions between two point attractors.
Interestingly, tri-stable percepts can also be found. Transitions between the three interpretations of these ambiguous stimuli (which we'll call A, B, and C) are temporally interdependent, as would be expected if neuronal fatigue is driving the transition among the various points in state space. Here's an example - you should be able to see motion towards the left, the right, or straight up.
As reported by Naber et al., the shorter a percept has lasted and the longer since it has re-appeared, the more likely it is to re-appear.
(Interestingly, it has been noted that the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, the focus of yesterday's excruciating post, tracks the duration of transitional states in these multistable perceptions [as newly reported by Knappen et al], possibly suggestive of a role for the rVLPFC in detecting [but not initiating] shifts in the energy landscape of neuronal state space. Such a role would also be consistent with this area's functionally-interposed membership with the default and task-positive networks).
Braun & Mattie suggest that such nested attractors may also reflect a hierarchical structure of anatomical connectivity, either strictly corticocortical or those that may be more regionally-diverse (e.g., nested cortico-striatal loops).
Particularly relevant to this latter point is a recent computational exploration of the details of such attractor networks, presented by Itskov, Hansel, and Tsodyks. Itskov et al rightly point out that, while appealing in principle, attractor dynamics in what I'll call "runnable" neural network models can require exquisite hand tuning, and are particularly sensitive to noise in connectivity or activation. Although widely hypothesized to be a mechanism for the active maintenance of information over time, the noisy nature of the brain could be taken to imply that frameworks like Braun & Mattia's cannot actually apply to working memory in the physically-realized brain.
However, Itskov et al's elegant computational modeling work demonstrates that, so long as the connectivity is sufficient to support the presence of an attractor in response to a stimulus in the first place, that attractor can be stably maintained even in the absence of this stimulus so long as there is relatively minor and short-term, Hebbian-like synaptic facilitation of the weights of the units participating in the attractor. Without this form of short term weight change, plausible levels of noise in activation and connectivity is enough to so seriously damage the attractors that no delay-period stimulus maintenance is possible.
What's particularly interesting about this solution - in conjunction with the meta-stable nested attractor framework of Braun & Mattia - is that it confirms that attractor dynamics could indeed be a mechanism by which hierarchical frontal and frontostriatal processing occurs. It matches not only with previous computational models (e.g., that of Reynolds et al., who demonstrate that short-term synaptic facilitation in the prefrontal cortex may be important for capturing some important task-switching phenomena) but also with detailed neurophysiological investigations which confirm that, indeed, prefrontal neurons contain more short-term synaptic facilitation effects than observed in posterior sensory cortex. To be clear, I don't think this work settles the debate about whether the short-term facilitation is necessarily weight-based in nature, or whether it might instead be due to some kind of thalamocortical positive feedback loop (indeed, recent data from Freyer et al in the Journal of Neuroscience appear to be suggestive of the latter, with respect to the human alpha rhythm in the resting state, and a related paper implies this phenomenon may be functional interdependent with stimulus-evoked BOLD). Certainly both are present and operative, and this work provides further justification for believing there are important functional consequences to these neuroanatomical features.
Computational Modeling
The Fate of Forgotten Memories: Sudden Death, Not Gradual Decay
Every now and then, I read some science from some other dimension. That is, the methods are so unusual, the relevant theories so fringe, or the conclusions so startling that I feel like the authors must be building on work from a completely separate science, with its own theories and orthodoxy.…
New and Exciting in PLoS ONE
There are 13 new articles in PLoS ONE today. As always, you should rate the articles, post notes and comments and send trackbacks when you blog about the papers. Here are my own picks for the week - you go and look for your own favourites: Geographic and Genetic Population Differentiation of the…
There are 13 new articles in PLoS ONE today. As always, you should rate the articles, post notes and comments and send trackbacks when you blog about the papers. You can now also easily place articles on various social services (CiteULike, Connotea, Stumbleupon, Facebook and Digg) with just one…
Iterated Function Systems and Attractors
Most of the fractals that I've written about so far - including all of the L-system fractals - are examples of something called iterated function systems. Speaking informally, an iterated function system is one where you have a transformation function which you apply repeatedly. Most iterated…
Another animation with bistable perception, of a planar figure:
http://markdow.deviantart.com/art/Thue-Morse-in-rabbit-land-49687417
And an animated variation of the Necker cube four stable percepts:
http://markdow.deviantart.com/art/Enigmatic-cubes-106688257
By Mark Dow (not verified) on 28 Nov 2011 #permalink
Performance Improves with Transcranial Random Noise Stimulation
Stimulating the brain with high frequency electrical noise can supersede the beneficial effects observed from transcranial direct current stimulation, either anodal or cathodal (as well as those observed from sham stimulation), in perceptual learning, as newly reported by Fertonani, Pirully &…
In their wonderful Neuroimage article, Braun & Mattia present a comprehensive introduction to the possible neuronal implementations and cognitive sequelae of a particular dynamical phenomenon: the attractor state. In another excellent paper, just recently out in Frontiers, Itskov, Hansel and…
Architecture of the VLPFC and its Monkey/Human Mapping
If you ever said to yourself, "I wonder whether the human mid- and posterior ventrolateral prefrontal cortex has a homologue in the monkey, and what features of its cytoarchitecture or subcortical connectivity may differentiate it from other regions of PFC" then this post is for you. Otherwise,…
Modus Tollens, Modus Shmollens! When people commit a fallacy so absurd that it's only recently been given a name.
Suppose - rather reasonably - that soups which taste like garlic have garlic in them. You observe two people eating soup; one of them says to the other, "There is no garlic in this soup." Do you think it's likely that the soup taste like garlic? If you said yes, then congratulations! You've just…
Greater Performance Improvements When Quick Responses Are Rewarded More Than Accuracy Itself.
Last month's Frontiers in Psychology contains a fascinating study by Dambacher, HuÌbner, and Schlösser in which the authors demonstrate that the promise of financial reward can actually reduce performance when rewards are given for high accuracy. Counterintuitively, performance (characterized as…
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In Review: Kick-Ass # 1
KICK-ASS IS BACK—ready to wipe out the city's criminal lowlives, destroy its gangs, and save its communities from decay.
by Ian Cullen February 13, 2018
Synopsis: KICK-ASS IS BACK—ready to wipe out the city’s criminal lowlives, destroy its gangs, and save its communities from decay. But there’s a new face beneath the old mask, a new figure wearing that famous green and yellow spandex. Who is this new vigilante superhero? Who can fill Dave Lizewski’s shoes? WHO IS THE NEW KICK-ASS? Find out in the first issue of this new, ongoing monthly series.
Review: Mark Millar and John Romita JR. have reteamed to essentially reboot Kick-Ass and do something a little different. And thanks to the kind people at Millarworld we got an advance copy of the first issue which will be released tomorrow.
For obvious reasons, we can’t really say too much about the story or how it plays out, but we can reveal that the new Kick-Ass is a woman of color by the name of Patience Lee who is both a mum and a war veteran.
The opening pages show us our first glimpse at the new Patience in costume as Kick-Ass. But then goes to a flashback, which sets everything into motion.
What I will say about the new Kick-Ass is that it is not played for laughs like the original was. The original incarnation of Dave Lizewski was a comic book geek that was out of his element when he becomes Kick-Ass. This new version of the character isn’t in it for the fame or the coolness of going viral on the internet.
Patience Lee is a character who has very real problems and is someone that most people will be able to relate to on some level, but as important is the fact that most women will relate to her in some way too.
The first issue presents us with a Kick-Ass that feels more real and more socially responsible. And the world that Patience exists in is a world that many comics readers will know of first hand. Because it is the type of world that fans read comics in order to escape from.
As far as the Artwork goes. Its drawn really well and I loved the action beats that populate the final few pages as well as the few pages that give us the full reveal of Kick-Ass when she eventually unmasked. If you’re a fan of John Romita Jr’s artwork. You’ll not be disappointed with what is on offer here.
Noticeably missing is Hitgirl, but I’m sure we’ll likely run into more vigilante superheroes when we get to the second issue. But for now, I think fans will likely be accepting and happy to follow Patience Lee.
Overall. This is a strong first issue, which turns everything you think you know about Kick-Ass on its head and presents a less comedic version of the character who has real issues balancing life with the job of a vigilante. Bring on issue 2.
Kick-Ass #1
FeatureImage ComicsJohn Romita Jr.Kick-AssMark Millar
In Review: X-Men: Red #1
by Patrick Hayes - Feb 13, 2018
In Review: DC’s Legends of Tomorrow: 3×10: “Daddy Darhkest”
by Raissa Devereux - Feb 13, 2018
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January 21, 2020 | Atomic Tuning on Cobalt Enables an Eightfold Increase of Eco-Friendly H2O2 Production
January 21, 2020 | Science Revolution Sparked by Rapid Progress in Nanotechnology
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January 21, 2020 | Alzheimer’s Disease Linked to Exposure to Aluminum
January 21, 2020 | Black Hole Dynamic Behavior and Surroundings Mapped by XMM-Newton for the First Time
Home Science News
Why NASA Attached Sensors With Antennas to Elephant Seals
TOPICS:Jet Propulsion LaboratoryNASAOceanologyPopular
By NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory December 8, 2019
A tagged elephant seal basks on Kerguelen Island, a French territory in the Antarctic. Elephant seals are tagged as part of a French research program called SO-MEMO (Observing System — Mammals as Samplers of the Ocean Environment), operated by the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS). The tags — actually, sensors with antennas — are glued to the seals’ heads in accordance with established ethical standards when the animals come ashore either to breed or to molt. The researchers remove the tags to retrieve their data when the seals return to land. If they miss a tag, it drops off with the dead skin in the next molting season. Credit: Sorbonne University/Etienne Pauthenet
The Antarctic Circumpolar Current flows in a loop around Antarctica, connecting the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. It is one of the most significant ocean currents in our climate system because it facilitates the exchange of heat and other properties among the oceans it links.
But how the current transfers heat, particularly vertically from the top layer of the ocean to the bottom layers and vice versa, is still not fully understood. This current is very turbulent, producing eddies — swirling vortices of water similar to storms in the atmosphere — between 30 to 125 miles (50 to 200 kilometers) in diameter. It also spans some 13,000 miles (21,000 kilometers) through an especially remote and inhospitable part of the world, making it one of the most difficult currents for scientists — as least those of the human variety — to observe and measure.
Luckily for Lia Siegelman, a visiting scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, the rough seas posed no challenge for her scientific sidekick: a tagged southern elephant seal.
Equipped with a specialized sensor reminiscent of a small hat, the seal swam more than 3,000 miles (4,800 kilometers) on a three-month voyage, much of it through the turbulent, eddy-rich waters of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. The seal made around 80 dives at depths ranging from 550 to 1,090 yards (500 to 1,000 meters) per day during this time. All the while, it collected a continuous stream of data that has provided new insight into how heat moves vertically between ocean layers in this volatile region — insight that brings us one step closer to understanding how much heat from the Sun the ocean there is able to absorb.
This 3D schematic shows how a tagged elephant seal collects data by swimming long distances and diving to great depths through turbulent waters near Antarctica. Satellite data are used to identify characteristics of the waters through which the seals swim. The blue represents cold, dense water; the red areas are less dense and typically warmer. Credit: Tandi Reason Dahl
For a new paper published recently in Nature Geoscience, Siegelman and her co-authors combined the seal’s data with satellite altimetry data. The satellite data of the ocean surface showed where the swirling eddies were within the current and which eddies the seal was swimming through. Analyzing the combined dataset, the scientists paid particular attention to the role smaller ocean features played in vertical heat transport. Siegelman was surprised by the results.
“These medium-sized eddies are known to drive the production of small-scale fronts — sudden changes in water density similar to cold and warm fronts in the atmosphere,” she said. “We found that these fronts were evident some 500 meters [550 yards] into the ocean interior, not just in the surface layer like many studies suggest, and that they played an active role in vertical heat transport.”
According to Siegelman, their analysis showed that these fronts act like ducts that carry a lot of heat from the ocean interior back to the surface. “Most current modeling studies indicate that the heat would move from the surface to the ocean interior in these cases, but with the new observational data provided by the seal, we found that that’s not the case,” she said.
The ocean surface layer can absorb only a finite amount of heat before natural processes, like evaporation and precipitation, kick in to cool it down. When deep ocean fronts send heat to the surface, that heat warms the surface layer and pushes it closer to its heat threshold. So essentially, in the areas where this dynamic is present, the ocean isn’t able to absorb as much heat from the Sun as it otherwise could.
Current climate models and those used to estimate Earth’s heat budget don’t factor in the effects of these small-scale ocean fronts, but the paper’s authors argue that they should.
“Inaccurate representation of these small-scale fronts could considerably underestimate the amount of heat transferred from the ocean interior back to the surface and, as a consequence, potentially overestimate the amount of heat the ocean can absorb,” Siegelman said. “This could be an important implication for our climate and the ocean’s role in offsetting the effects of global warming by absorbing most of the heat.”
The scientists say this phenomenon is also likely present in other turbulent areas of the ocean where eddies are common, including the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic Ocean and the Kuroshio Extension in the North Pacific Ocean.
Although their results are significant, Siegelman says more research is needed to fully understand and quantify the long-term effects these fronts may have on the global ocean and our climate system. For example, the study is based on observations in the late spring and early summer. Results may be more pronounced during winter months, when these small-scale fronts tend to be stronger. This body of research will also benefit from additional studies in other locations.
Reference: “Enhanced upward heat transport at deep submesoscale ocean fronts” by Lia Siegelman, Patrice Klein, Pascal Rivière, Andrew F. Thompson, Hector S. Torres, Mar Flexas and Dimitris Menemenlis, 2 December 2019, Nature Geoscience.
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Virginia Plain – Part 5
July 16, 2017 by roxymusicsongs Leave a comment
Oh a false clock tries to tick out my time
To disgrace, distract, and bother me
And the dirt of gossip blows into my face
And the dust of rumors covers me
But if the arrow is straight
And the point is slick
It can pierce through dust no matter how thick
So I’ll make my stand
And remain as I am
And bid farewell and not give a damn.
-Bob Dylan, ‘Restless Farewell’, The Times They Are a-Changin‘ (1964).
Every decade popular music re-experiences what Pete Townshend called “the bloody explosion” – the wonderful collision of music, energy and sex, the desire to get out of your head, break chains, kill boredom, be free. ‘Virginia Plain’ is a 70s road movie about that bloody explosion, and it is in the details of its flamboyance that is has been most celebrated. The song performed a career-defining double for the band: the university crowd bought the first album Roxy Music by the truck-load; and the kids bought ‘Virginia Plain’, not once but twice, propelling it to #4 in the charts in 1972, and then five years later their younger brothers and sisters took it to #11. This was cross-pollination of a kind that only happens once or twice in a band’s career, and it provided Roxy with longevity in a tough and fickle business, re-uniting art, commerce, and accessibility most fully 10 years later in 1982 with Avalon.
In the meantime ‘Virginia Plain’ had to conclude its 2.58 minutes of pop art lunacy and Roxy had to get on with the business of taking a hit album and single on the road. Onwards and upwards and over to America, be damned, the country of origin for much, but not all, of ‘Virginia Plain’s imagery. One of the unexpected surprises of writing about VP over the past few months is the sheer depth and weight of its lyrical content – the five blog entries have totaled the same page count as that written for the first album Roxy Music. One song equaling one album! What a trip. And so it is fitting now to move on to the riches of ‘Pyjamarama’ and For Your Pleasure, as we arrive at the conclusion of our roller-coaster ride, destination reached, a place where Bryan Ferry, adopting the words of Bob Dylan, will make my stand/and remain as I am. And you may ask yourself
Where does that highway go to?
– ‘Once in a Lifetime‘ (Talking Heads/Eno)
Well, that highway could go something like this:
I: Make me a deal: The first verse presents the art project Roxy Music as they negotiate a music contract. As desperate as the band are to make the big time, the narrator reckons he may be making a deal with the devil. The verse cuts like a knife: make it/take it/show it/blow it.
II: What’s real and make belief: The journey kicks in, we lurch towards money, America, fame, and a walk with God. Don’t judge me or mess with my pride, the writer tells his Maker – isn’t it all just fiction anyway? The band hit the big time, leave Baby Jane in the dust and head for Rio. Take me/take me/take me.
III: Sinking fast: Enter teenage waste land for a hipster jive with fame. Take a trip to the dead desert for the Last Picture show; shake hands with dead and disposable rebels; drive in your mummified car and visit the ghosts of the sheer and the chic. Trying/jiving/driving (drive-in).
IV: Reach For Something New: Shaking off the vibes from the previous verse, we now enjoy the view from mountain peak, enjoying exclusive access to those blue casino floors. Oh wow! We are characters in the Great Gatsby, reaching for something new. Burn those blue jeans, slaps on some lipstick and join the revolution. Me and you/just we two.
V: Far Beyond the Pale Horizon
Far beyond the pale horizon
Some place near the desert strand
And where my Studebaker takes me
That’s where I’ll make my stand but wait
Can’t you see that Holzer mane?
What’s her name, Virginia Plain?
Verse 5 is a consolidation of the ideas and images that have taken us to this mythical place beyond the pale horizon. By the journey’s conclusion, Ferry has shared his dreams (Americana, fame), influences (jazz, dance, cars), and fears (clutching at straws, sinking fast). The song serves as a psychological review of an artist’s state of mind as it becomes aware of a radical change brewing on the horizon. Thankfully Ferry would continue this self-interrogation right through Roxy’s first five albums and beyond. The reason why ‘Virginia Plain’ is not cited as an example of meta-analysis in the same manner as, say, ‘Mother of Pearl’, is that the music is locomotive straight, lots of fun and catchy enough to captivate the ear on first listening without necessarily having to worry about the detail.
Eschewing a chorus in favor of a thrashing two-chord verse romp, ‘Virginia Plain’s forward moment is aided by a sentence structure that emphasizes the accents within each line. Look at the first three lines of each stanza and you see the repeating 8/7/8 pattern:
/ / / / / / / /
Make me a deal and make it straight [8]
All signed and sealed, I’ll take it [7]
To Robert E. Lee I’ll show it [8]
Take me on a roller coaster [8]
Take me for an airplane ride [7]
Take me for a six day wonder [8]
Throw me a line I’m sinking fast [8]
Clutching at straws can’t make it [7]
Havana sound we’re trying [8]
Flavours of the mountain streamline [8]
Midnight blue casino floors [7]
Dance the cha cha through till sunrise [8]
Far beyond the pale horizon [8]
Some place near the desert strand [7]
And where my Studebaker takes me [9]
Stanza five breaks the pattern for no reason other than “studebaker” is a bit of a mouthful! With this movement forward we eventually arrive at our destination, that mysterious place beyond the pale horizon. ‘Pale’ is an interesting word choice because being pale is to be without color: “lacking the usual intensity of color due to fear,” (Cambridge). To be beyond the pale is to “travel outside of a boundary. To leave behind all the rules and institutions of English society,” (Urbandictionary). The Irish origin of the word identifies The Pale as a geographical district for the well-heeled and educated; to live beyond The Pale was to be part of the lower social classes and, presumably, live among the uneducated and the Great Unwashed. Bryan Ferry, channeling his creative energies into a new style rock band, states his desire to seek out the new and leave polite society behind, break the chains of conformity, and live life on the edge with his new art. If this was biographical criticism then we have the coal-miner’s son trying to re-invent himself and leave behind his working-class background and origins. He takes us with him to party on the midnight blue casino floors and greet the pink flamingo morning, onwards and outwards as the day brightens (pale horizon) and intensifies (desert strand). Tracing both the desire and distrust of fame, Roxy Music move beyond the pale horizon and land “some place near” the desert strand. And where my Studebaker takes me… Acutely aware of the cruel nature of fame’s double-edged sword as lived by James Dean, Baby Jane, and Robert Johnson (he of devil-deal making) our singer/songwriter hero rides into the final scene of ‘Virginia Plain’ in his (un)trusty Studebaker, comically echoing the words of Bob Dylan and General Custer as he does so: And where my Studebaker takes me/That’s where I’ll make my stand. Ferry is referencing Bob Dylan’s song ‘Restless Farewell’, the last track on the seminal album The Times They Are a-Changin‘ (1964). The song was written by Dylan in anger in response to a newspaper article that he felt contained a number of hurtful comments and untruths. Dylan’s is a song of confession and moving on, of saying, this is me, I’ve done my best, that’s all I can do, that’s how I am: Oh a false clock tries to tick out my time/To disgrace,/distract, and bother me/And the dirt of gossip blows into my face/So I’ll make my stand/And stay as I am. Ferry would have been well familiar with the song – “[Dylan] brought poetry into pop music,” he told the Telegraph after completing an album of Dylan covers in 2007 – and the singer uses the sentiment to define his own professional modis operandi: remain as I am/bid farewell/not give a damn.
The problem for Ferry of course is that he does give a damn, and was sensitive to early criticisms of Roxy Music as a fake trumped-up band, dressing up, lacking talent, not paying dues. At the time of ‘Virginia Plain’s composition, Ferry explained the criticism away as Roxy being an art-project first and a pop band second: “I came into pop music from a different angle. And a lot of people still resent me for it. That was one of the strengths and also the cross that I was sort of impaled on,” (Rogan, 44). This observation is written into the song as a statement of independence, echoing Bob Dylan’s make my stand/remain as I am. Years later the criticism continued and intensified. In 1978, Ferry, sporting an LA tan, mirror sunglasses and fashion-model girlfriend (Jerry Hall) experienced a ground-shift in his support base, and a deep suspicion was cast over his ability to speak – or have empathy with – his fans and ordinary people. At the time of the Queen’s Jubilee and the punk rock explosion, “entertainment” and artifice in rock and pop was under attack, as it had been when Roxy started out in 1971 during the earnest scraggly beard era. Authenticity was identified as political and class-based. Street-cred was everything. Even the best music writers were hard-core drug users (NME scribes Nick Kent and Charles Shaar Murray were heroin and meta-amphetamine addicts, respectively). Unfortunately, Ferry took the bait and errors in judgement was made. Scrambling for direction, the singer grew a beard to promote one of his best and toughest solo recordings, ‘Sign of the Times‘ – growing a beard in 1977/8 was like putting a sign on your head that read BORING OLD FART. Interviews with the singer were printed in a harsh unedited format that made you feel like you were eavesdropping on a Church confessional. In fact one article was actually called Darkness Falls: Ferry in the Confessional, and reads like ‘Virginia Plain’s deal with the devil had now gone all horribly wrong, and the song’s lost idols and ghosts were now closing in on the pop idol: “If people hate me, fuck them” he said. “I know how good I am, and as long as I have faith in myself, I’ll continue. And, as far as I’m concerned at the moment, everybody else can just go and fuck themselves” (Melody Maker, 1978). Markedly prophetic, the sentiment in ‘Virginia Plain’ is both open (where my Studebaker takes me) and defiant (That’s where I’ll make my stand). It is also forward looking (far beyond the pale horizon) and exciting (but wait). And then it posits that final question…
That’s where I make my stand… Battle of the Little Bighorn (The Custer Fight) by Charles Marion Russell
But wait…
There’s a wonderful moment in ‘Virginia Plain’ when Roxy Music asks us, the listener, if we are going to share in this new future:
One of the many gifts of Bryan Ferry’s song-craft is his belief in his art, and his willingness to share his most intimate feelings, joys, fears and inadequacies. For this he is on par with his heroes Bob Dylan and John Lennon, men who often stumbled in public but always strove to tell the truth as close as they could perceive it at the time. This level of self-interrogation takes guts and no shortage of humor to stay the course. Our hero rides into scene on his (untrusty) Studebaker to beat the critical insurgence coming from the South. In a quest for understanding, he turns to address his audience:
Baby Jane Holzer, the signifier being her hair (not eyes or smile) but the appendage to which Warhol’s superstar is most famous for. Are you, the listener (just we two), seeing this as I do?
The age old songs-about-women is both celebrated and undercut: undercut in that the mystery of the girl is never revealed in the song, nor mentioned at all in the romantic sense. This is not ‘Sweet Caroline’ as a mystery woman, or ‘Ruby’ as she takes her love to town, or even love object ‘Peggy Sue’. This is a love story between singer and audience: Just as two flamingos look the same, me and you/just we too/got to reach for something new. Do you see what I see, or more importantly, do you see how I see it? For I am everything that I hear, read and watch – I am the Great Gatsby; I am the Last Picture Show; I am the teenage rebel; I am the New York art scene in the 1960s; I am James Dean; I am a flight to Rio; I am Andy Warhol.
Just look at the surface of my paintings and films… And there I am.
Credits: Pete Townshend, Rolling Stone interview, 1968; Roxy Music promo and in the studio with Chris Thomas, 1972, More Dark Than Shark; Battle of the Little Bighorn (The Custer Fight) by Charles Marion Russell; Marilyn Munroe photographed by Philippe Halsman.
If Roxy Music never wrote a good song the rest of their careers, they still have that, and it’s great.
-John Lydon, interview, 2012
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How does Planescape need to be adjusted to work with 3.5e rules?
The Planescape setting is a really big one. If you are familiar with it, you know that it takes pretty much everything outside of the "standard" D&D setting and opens it all up for adventures. The problem is that Planescape is almost too big or too variable for RAW D&D, which is designed for "standard" settings.
My friends and I are really excited for branching out into a bigger setting where so much crazy awesome stuff can happen, but I (as the GM) have noticed some hurdles with the setting according to D&D 3.5 rules.
Some problems:
Magic Items.
Magic items on the planes can get affected pretty badly. There's a system in place where items lose their enhancement bonuses as they get away from their home planes. I think it's -1 to the enhancement for each set of planes away from the source. We like the idea, but we think it's too hard to keep track of. Is there an easier system, perhaps?
Divine Magic.
We honestly do not know why anyone would choose to be a cleric in the Planescape setting. They are totally nerfed on the Planes unless you are in your deity's domain loss of one caster level, plus accompanying spells, per plane between you and your deity. Are there bonuses to offset this that we have not yet discovered, or should we be houseruling?
The rest I think we can handle with the help of some old Planescape sourcebooks.
Beside the problems, the more important part of the question relates to the positive side of optimization. There are some great concepts in Planescape like Rule of Three and Power of Belief. If one of you guys has some familiarity with the setting, maybe you could suggest some new game mechanics or roleplay mechanics that use Planescape-specific features to enhance the game further. We've had fun brainstorming this one and we are really open to some more fun ideas.
dnd-3.5e planescape
TanthosTanthos
There's a few things I can think of that might mitigate the problems you're worried about.
Magic Items The writers of the original Planescape setting seem to have foreseen the problems you're worried about, and included some countermeasures in the rules themselves.
First, most magic items come from a very small number of places: The Prime Material Plane is a big manufacturer of magic items, and so is the Outlands. Most of the other planes, however, are not: The Inner and Transitive Planes are either too environmentally hostile or poor in resources for magic item creation to be widespread, and the Powers who make their kips on the Outer Planes tend to be leery of allowing magic weapons and armour to be stockpiled without a blessed good reason. There are exceptions, of course (certain powers of artisanship and magic actually encourage magic item creation, and the foundries of the City of Brass are legendary) but in the scheme of things, these don't make much of a difference: There's a high chance that every magic weapon and item of armour in the party came from a very small list of places.
Second, even if a magic weapon loses bonuses due to not being on its plane of origin, those bonuses still count for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction. As far as I can tell, the canny bloods who scribed the Planescape knew that having magic items be affected by travelling between planes would cause cannon problems with earlier adventures that didn't mention those effects, so they wrote in this rule specifically to make the effect of bonuses being lost so subtle that players (and characters) could plausibly have not noticed it. More importantly for your purposes, it means you can slip up and apply the wrong amount of bonus every now and then without straining the credibility of the setting: Even if the +1 light mace your fighter bought in the Cage shouldn't get that +1 when she's in the Abyss, it can still smash a vrock's beak if it hits one.
Taking those two together: There won't be as much paperwork generated by magic weapons and armour as you expect, and it won't matter too much even if you make the odd mistake. (A player or two might tumble to the idea of getting a magic item made in a particular place specifically in order to get around the penalty. This is a good thing: If they care that much, then they shouldn't mind keeping track of their bonuses themselves.)
Divine casters are generally nerfed on the Outer Planes, yes. (On the Inner, Transitive and Prime Material Planes, no clerics of any power take penalties due to distance.) There's three ways around the penalties, though.
First, clerics who follow a cause rather than a specific deity can simply ignore the whole issue. Personally I like to follow a deity when I play a cleric, but that's a matter of personal taste.
Second, only clerics whose Powers have set their divine realm on an Outer Plane are affected. There's a fair few elemental powers with realms on the Inner Planes for obvious reasons, and there's even a few who've established realms on the Prime; Their clerics can go anywhere on the planes and not have to worry about how far it might be from their deity's doorstep.
Finally, there are a vast number of powers - mostly neutral, but also of other alignments - who have placed their divine realms in the Outlands, and the great thing about the Outlands is that it's conveniently close to everywhere: It's only one step, maximum, to any other outer plane, and so only a -1 level penalty, max, to be faced by those powers' clerics - and of course, outside of the Outer Planes, there's no penalty at all.
Admittedly, the above options do limit the list of deities available to players who want to avoid penalties, but still, it should give you some options. (Incidentally, the reasons why people are clerics in the Planescape setting are the same as they are in any other setting: Because they Believe in their deity, and because they Believe that serving their deity is worth it. I suspect you knew that, though.)
Other suggestions for mechanics are off-topic for this site, I believe. Unless you want to describe a specific problem they should address?
GMJoeGMJoe
\$\begingroup\$ This is a great answer! I want just to point a few clarifications regarding Divine Casters: 1- number of levels lost for a priest is the number of planes between his deity and the priest (i.e. a priest in any outer plane whose deity is in the outlands do not lose a level). 2- Deities in the inner planes are also affected by the plane distance rule (priests suffer a -3 adjustment if they are in any outer plane). This is referenced in the DM Guide to the Planes, page 14, in the Planescape Campaign Setting Box. \$\endgroup\$ – Erizo Apr 26 '17 at 11:16
Our group has been playing in the Planescape setting for years now using the 3.5 edition rules and we haven’t had any real problems with using the 3.5 edition rules in the Planescape setting. For converting monsters (and other rules although we rarely had to use that) to 3.5 edition you can use the Planewalker site.
The effect of the planes on magic and the other thinks you mention such as the Rule of Three, all give flavour to the Planescape setting and give great possibilities for roleplay, which is one of reasons our group likes playing this setting.
Divine Magic
As @GMJoe mentions, by choosing a power with a domain on the Outlands you are only one plane removed from all of the planes on the outer ring.
Because powers are (or can be) actively involved on the planes, they are a great trigger for adventures (even if the party does not have a cleric). A cleric has to have a good reason to refuse a request from his power to get involved in something. In our case this usually also means we have support from the power (+pantheon) in our adventure. This can be in magic items (also see next point), in assistance in getting around the planes, or whatever.
Powers can give their followers Power Keys which enables clerics to cast without penalties on other planes (see page 14 in DM guide of the Planescape setting) or even to enhance certain spells (e.g. always maximum effect). These things should be rare and their use should be limited because they are very powerful. You could think of giving your cleric a Power Key for the duration of a mission undertaken by the party for the Power; or perhaps tie it with a specific plane (i.e. it only works on Baator). Great opportunities for story.
Also, it are not just the clerics whose magic are affected. Other magic is also affected by the planes (see table II in the DM guide of the Planescape setting). For example, illusions don’t work on Mechanus. This effect is, however, not as dramatic as the effect on clerics can be in some planes.
The effects of planes on magic and armour are not too difficult to keep track of. The armour class and attack roll are for the plane of origin of the armour/weapon and I subtract the appropriate penalties from my roll.
Besides magical weapons and armour, other items are also affected just like magic performed by wizards and sorcerers (as mentioned earlier). From the DM guide: ‘A wand of wonder, which uses wild magic, is a useless stick on orderly Mechanus. And unlike spells, there are no keys to make magical items work properly.’ So it is actually a bit more complex, but also fun.
Your other points are a bit difficult to answer without concrete question. For the ‘Power of Belief’ I would like to mention that a classic adventure in Planescape is preventing or causing a certain location to planeshift.
PantalaimonPantalaimon
Magic Items: The fact that dispeling and banishing a magic item to it's "native" plane could be scary enough - not to mention the player characters themselves. I don't see a need to nerf an enhancement bonus. I am sure the Githyanki when they leave the Astral Plane to invade a group of Illithid in the Underdark on the Prime Material Plane aren't having their magic items nerfed. To each his own.
Divine Magic: Use clerics that are not deity specific, such as alignment based casters - of course that presents challenges in and of itself on planes opposing their alignment. There are other divine casters that shouldn't be as penalized, such as the Archivist, the Healer and the Favored Soul.
Also, there are Spontaneous Divine spellcasting variants rules in Urban Arcana.
Environmental Effects: Get a hold of the Manual of the Planes, and the Fiendish Codex I and II, as well as the Fiend Folio and Deities and Demigods. Some of the material may be 3.0 but is still good information for 3.5. A good thing for everyone to keep in mind is each planes environmental effects that will need to be prepared for. Astral Plane, for example, has no inherent gravity and spells are cast as if quickened. Is the plane the players on extremely hot? Is the plane the players on extremely cold? I think the best thing that can be done is come up with a "menu" of planes that can be visited and adventured, work them out one at a time, and soon enough, your will have your own "Manual" of the Planes.
RuutRuut
\$\begingroup\$ This answer doesn't show much awareness of the Planescape campaign setting's unique features. \$\endgroup\$ – GMJoe Jul 20 '14 at 2:13
\$\begingroup\$ @GMJoe I haven't done any "Planescape" since 2nd Edition, but I have done lots of adventuring across the planes utilizing the Great Wheel as a backdrop; things happening in threes and so forth. But we always used each plane's effects on the player characters (environment, magic, native inhabitants, etc.) as they were written in the Manual of the Planes and other resources as they came available. If that isn't the awareness needed, my apologies. I will stand corrected. \$\endgroup\$ – Ruut Jul 21 '14 at 14:48
Despite it not being a standard D&D game (more like a shared world with lots of PCs of different levels) I play in a Planescape game, 3.5e
All we did to get the Planescape feel was to have factions grant faction-specific bonuses, inspired from those we found on planewalkers. The site also has a 3.x conversion of the setting.
We also consider all beings to be outsiders or extraplanar not in relation to the plane they're currently in but just looking at the race's statblock, otherwise most 3.5e mechanics would become less or too useful.
We use many other houserules, but none of them looks related to the specific setting to me.
ZachielZachiel
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Home / Film Interviews / In Her Chair / Niki Lindroth von Bahr on The Burden and tap dancing mice
Alex Heeney / September 10, 2017
Niki Lindroth von Bahr on The Burden and tap dancing mice
Filmmaker, costume designer, and artist Niki Lindroth von Bahr discusses the making of her short film The Burden, a stop-motion musical with animal puppets who sing about existential despair.
The Burden is available to stream on The Criterion Channel and Hoopla in Canada and the US. You can rent or purchase the film on Vimeo here.
Scene from The Burden directed by Niki Lindroth von Bahr. Courtesy of TIFF
“I wanted to ask the question: if you were, for example, night cleaning a hamburger restaurant, and suddenly found yourself in a musical, what would you sing about?” And so Niki Lindroth von Bahr’s hilarious and moving short film The Burden was born. Made over two and a half years, this highly original stop motion animation film is screening in the TIFF Short Cuts section, and it’s one of the best things you’ll see at the festival. Inspired by Old Hollywood musicals like Singin’ in the Rain and Anchors Aweigh, The Burden features tap dancing mice cleaning in a hamburger restaurant, lonely fish at a long stay hotel, and monkeys in a call centre who find themselves in a Busby Berkeley number — all singing about existential despair, anxiety, and loneliness.
Despite its modern, suburban setting, The Burden really does feel like a Golden Age musical — and that’s intentional. “I thought about the new musicals that you see now. I saw La La Land just a few weeks ago for the first time, and I really hated it. I was really offended by [it], I felt like, ‘Wow, you really can’t do this now’. That kind of naïve way of telling a story feels so wrong now. You can really enjoy it from the old days but now it doesn’t really work for me.” The Burden’s bleak themes, sung by anthropomorphic animal puppets dancing in classic choreography, make this very much a product of the 21st century, even as it cleverly calls back to days of yore.
'That naïve way of telling a story feels so wrong now, but you can enjoy it from the old days.'Click To Tweet
“I’ve made three films with animal characters,” explained von Bahr. “I like to see my films as some kind of modern fables. That’s why I use animals.” When choosing the specific animals for her films, she likes to have a theme that unites them. For The Burden, she picked animals that were all very common in medical experiments. The film never explicitly explains what “the burden” is that the characters keep singing about. Perhaps it’s depression, or a more run-of-the-mill existential despair at the banality of modern life. The animal characters make sense of this abstract concept, allowing us to project our own ideas of what “the burden” could be.
The fish at the long-term hotel in The Burden, directed by Niki Lindroth von Bahr
In the first episode, a group of fish at a long-term hotel are looking to change their lives once “the burden” is lifted. A fish in a bathrobe emerges from her room, hoping for better skin. Her neighbour across the hall, a fish in a sweatsuit, has just left a bad relationship and further despairs at not getting the room she wanted. The fish puppets each have an eye at the centre of the head that stares right at you. “I looked at a lot of aquarium YouTube films. I realized that fish don’t blink. They just move their eyes in a really weird way. It suits that first episode: it’s very emotional and the fish, with its big eyes, can look quite emotional.”
Crafting this musical was challenging because the lyrics were written in isolation from the music. “I wanted the music to guide the way for my editing,” von Bahr explained. So she went over the story and her intention for each scene with composer Hans Appelqvist, asking him to begin writing music based on this outline. Next, she met with lyricist and comedian Martin Luuk. She laid out “what the atmosphere would be like, what the themes of the songs would be. They’re tired of their jobs, or they’re lonely. He just made up the lyrics not hearing the music at all because the music was [not] done yet.” Finally, von Bahr gave the lyrics to Appelqvist and asked him to make it work. “I’m so amazed by these two people just being so genius and making this happen,” said von Bahr.
Still from The Burden of a monkey in a call centre.
The Burden owes its lush sound to von Bahr’s decision to record the music live with a 15-person orchestra. “We killed the budget from day one by deciding to record the music live, but it was also so fantastic. It has such a huge effect on the music itself. It just feels so much more like these Old Hollywood musicals.”
The all-male Swedish comedy troupe Klungan provided the voices. But von Bahr didn’t want all of her characters to be male. “We worked a lot with autotune and stuff for the voices so there’s just more, like, a weird voice. The characters don’t have a gender, basically. I wanted to create a situation where you, as an audience, don’t care [about gender], or you don’t hear it.”
'We worked a lot with autotune so there’s a weird voice. The characters don’t have a gender.'Click To Tweet
The Burden’s choreography lives up to the standard set by its music. When a pair of mice start tap dancing on the tables of the hamburger restaurant they’re cleaning, it’s a moment of pure joy. It’s hard to believe these are actually puppets who are stop motion animated.
“When the music was done, I contacted a few choreographers. I just took a chance and asked them if they wanted to make up some tiny choreographies for me, for free, because I had such a shitty budget with the film. But they were really nice to me and helped me out. I recorded these dancers doing the dances, and then we worked with that footage, frame by frame. The actual tap dance I think it’s like a minute or something but that took my two animators eight weeks to animate.”
'I recorded these dancers doing the dances, and then we worked with that footage, frame by frame.'Click To Tweet
The film’s pièce de résistance comes when monkeys staffing a call centre find themselves in a vast 1930s-style musical dance number. The refrain is “I don’t demand much, my life is drifting away.” The number begins with a closeup on pair of monkeys at their desks, whose tails suddenly start moving in time. The lyrics may be bleak, but von Bahr finds great visual wit in how characters enter and exit the frame, popping in and out at opportune moments. In a cheeky callback to her inspirations, von Bahr translates that classic over-the-head shot of faces being revealed from behind a feathered fan to a monkey revealing his face from behind a fan of sticky notes. “I was very inspired by the choreographer Busby Berkeley, like ‘The Lady in the Tutti Fruitti Hat’ and these really huge dance scenes. I looked at a lot of old clips, especially from him, and just had fun with it.”
It’s easy to willingly suspend your disbelief when watching The Burden because these singing and dancing animals exist in a familiar world, which is realised with great detail. This starts with von Bahr’s costumes: “When I chose the wrong kind of fabric, it really looked like a puppet’s clothing. I really needed to work to find the right kind of fabric that looked natural — not making it too much of a caricature. I had to throw away a lot of the clothes that I made as well because it just didn’t look real in the camera.”
Perhaps even more impressive is the film’s set design, which really places you in familiar suburban, strip mall shops or an office of depressing cubicles. You forget that you’re looking at a model that’s only a couple of metres long and wide. The detailed sets are a product of extensive research which von Bahr conducted over the course of a year. “I actually went by car to a lot of these areas, in real life, and took a lot of pictures. That cheap long term hotel in the first episode really exists. It looks exactly like that! They’re supposed to look expensive, but the quality of everything is just crap. I wanted to capture the exact atmosphere of all of these places.”
Rent or purchase The Burden on Vimeo here.
The Burden screens in Short Cuts Programme 6 at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Filed Under: Film Festivals, Film Interviews, In Her Chair Tagged With: Short Films, Toronto International Film Festival, Women Directors
Sydney Theatre Company’s rollicking Cloud Nine subverts stereotypes
TIFF17 Review: Xavier Legrand makes a strong directorial debut with Custody
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Archive | January 2013
Guest Author Tessa Stockton
Today we have Tessa Stockton, and information on her new novella, Wind’s Aria, the first in her fantasy romance eNovella series, The Brother’s Keep. On Feb 1, we’ll randomly draw a winner from everyone who comments, and that person will get a free copy of Wind’s Aria!
Elected as the Songstress, Aria takes her place on the sacred platform to sing before every dawn. As long as she does so, peace and abundant life belong to her people. One morning, amidst a strange wind that brings with it a curse in its eerie howl, Aria loses her ability to make music. But the encroaching death that transpires isn’t her biggest tragedy. It’s that she adores the cause of her blunder, for he’s a magnificent winged creature who’s stolen more than her voice.
Excerpt From Wind’s Aria:
He pushed further back into the shadows as she strode closer. “Someone you need not know.”
When he didn’t answer, she sighed.
“What a strange, terrible day,” she mumbled. “Well, at least tell me your name . . .”
He stood, speechless, knowing he shouldn’t be there at all—conversing with a Meleyan—especially not their musical deliverer that he was set to doom the day after tomorrow.
A peculiar grumbling interrupted her insistence, to his relief.
“Sorry.” She patted her stomach. He could see, even in the blackened night, how her face turned a deeper shade of red than her hair. “I’ve forgotten to eat. I guess I’m hungrier than I realized.”
He plucked an apple from the tree he’d nearly become a part of and held it out to her. The girl approached tentatively. She reached for the fruit but recoiled when her fingers brushed his.
“Is touching me so horrible?” he asked.
Her jaw dropped open and her delicate brow furrowed. She inclined her head. “It . . . hurt.”
“How?” he asked, for her fingers felt good to him, soothing. Warm. He wanted to try again.
Coming soon! eNovella #2, Sea God’s Siren.
A former choreographer, dancer, and musician, Tessa Stockton now writes romance and intrigue novels in a variety of genres. Wind’s Aria is the first in her fantasy romance eNovella series, The Brother’s Keep. For more information visit www.TessaStockton.com
Links for Wind’s Aria:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Winds-Aria-ebook/dp/B00B1FEC2A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1358964244&sr=8-1&keywords=wind%27s+Aria
B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/winds-aria-tessa-stockton/1114146612?ean=2940016000206
This entry was posted on January 28, 2013, in Contest, On the Shelves and tagged authors, contest, fantasy, novellas, romance, tessa stockton, win free book. 1 Comment
Things That Go Bump
When I first started writing, I started off writing SF and Fantasy. This was partly due to being in my teens–I was on a total SF/Fantasy kick for reading. And it was what I was drawn to. Years later, I switched over to Regency romance–quite a jump most folks think, but not really. You see–it’s all about the world building. And the emotions.
In between the SF/Fantasy and Regency (and there’s a bigger cross-over in that audience than you’d ever know, given the Regency dancing that’s shown up at most SF conventions), I did some YA Horror stories–stuff that goes bump in the dark. Again, it’s all about the world building–and the emotions.
Now I’m back to SF/Fantasy for an edgy Urban Fantasy–Edge Walkers. This is one of those things where you shake your head as a writer and wonder what are you doing…but then you write the story anyway. When I wrote the story, I needed a change up from the Regency writing. I also wanted to get back to my roots with SF/Fantasy, and wanted to do a zombie book that worked for me (most of them don’t, however, I adore the movie, Zombieland–but Edge Walkers is nothing like that). I also wanted to do a book where the sex needed to be in the story–I was at a phase where I’d been reading too man books with sexy scenes that just seemed to have the scenes stuffed in there to add the sex. That didn’t work for me.
The trouble with all of this is that Edge Walkers isn’t part of the Urban Fantasy series I’m doing–the Demons & Warders series with Burn Baby Burn and Riding in on a Burning Tire, which is due out soon (and the third book is going to be Angels Don’t Burn). It’s not a Regency, and is nothing like those books in tone, so it’s going to have to find it’s own readership. I love the book, but then you always love your babies–even the challenged ones.
But now it’s out I do plan to get back to the Regencies–I have plans there. And I’m more than ready to step back into that other, lighter world.
That’s the best part of taking a diversion with the writing–it leaves you eager to go back to the other stuff.
Will Edge Walkers do well on it’s own? Maybe–or maybe it’ll be a grand experiment that leaves everyone (even me) shaking their heads. But a writer’s got to go what a writer’s got to do. It would just be nice, from the marketing side of things, if all my ideas fit better into a single box.
This entry was posted on January 22, 2013, in On the Shelves, Urban Fantasy and tagged Edge Walkers, SF Romance, Urban Fantasy, zombies. 4 Comments
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'On the Eve of the First World War, the single Siberian province of Irkutsk was larger than all of India'
W.Bruce Lincoln
Tragedy as British tourist, 69, dies in motorbike accident on Road of Bones
Graham Vavangas collided with Scania tanker, say police in Yakutia.
Anatoly Chernyavsky, Russian bike-traveler, blogger and photographer at on of the most dangerous places of Kolyma Highway. Picture: Anatoly Chernyavsky
The tourist was on a trip organised by a Moscow travel company when he ‘lost control of his BMW motorbike’ hitting the oncoming tanker, it was reported.
Pictures from the crash scene were published by regional media.
The British tourist was named as Graham Demitros Vavangas, born in 1949.
He died at the scene of the crash, said reports.
The Road of Bones or Kolyma Highway connecting Yakutsk to Magadan was built in the Stalin era by Gulag prisoners - many of whom perished during the construction.
Vavangas was killed some 325 kilometres from Yakutsk on the in the direction of Khandyga village in Yakutia, the world’s coldest region.
The Briton's body was later transported to Khandyga.
Interpreter Alexander Pakhomov said: 'Graham Demitros Vavangas from Great Britain has been killed.
'On 25 July he would have turned 70.
The British tourist was named as Graham Demitros Vavangas, born in 1949. Picture: RusMotoTravel
'We met on Sunday in Yakutsk for the excursion for a group of bikers.
'They planned to reach Magadan. Their tour had began in Vladivostok.'
Vavangas, believed to be from West Sussex in the UK and to have had a career in the aviation industry, had posted on the travel company site: 'This is truly an adventure trip of amazing proportions (Moscow-Vladivostok).
'The great distances across this vast country, stunning scenery, fascinating traditional Russian villages and life all packaged, arranged and led by highly experienced and responsible guides.
'One of the most interesting and enlightening motorcycle tours you could join which will leave you with a snapshot and better understanding of Russia from west to east. Thoroughly recommended.'
A group of six were on the trip including the Briton, a Canadian and Russians.
None of the others were involved in the accident. The group included a back-up car.
The Road of Bones or Kolyma Highway connecting Yakutsk to Magadan was built in the Stalin era by Gulag prisoners - many of whom perished during the construction. Pictures: Social media, Stas Mikhailov
Tass reported that the British Embassy in Moscow were providing consular assistance to the bereaved family.
'The British Embassy in Moscow is in contact with local authorities regarding the death of a British citizen in Yakutia and is ready to provide consular assistance to the family of the deceased,' said a report.
UK tourists
Road of Bones
I had the privilege of meeting Graham on a ride through Russia then followed up with a camping night in a Glencoe. He was a true gentleman. Sad sad story.. my heart goes out to his family. RIP amigo.
Steve Mason, Lenzie, Scotland
I had the privilege of serving with Grahem in the British Army (Airborne Forces) he was a great guy who even then lived life to the full. At least he died doing something he loved. My thoughts and respects go to his family.
RIP Grahem your duty is done.
Tony Bauer, Bideford Devon. UK.
Ich habe Graham 2018 auf der Tour nach Vladivostok kennengelernt. Wir sind tausende Kilometer gemeinsam gefahren.
Danke für diese schöne Zeit.
Josef Rachinger, Eggelsberg, Austria
May Graham Rest In Peace.
GD, Turkmenbashi/Turkmenistan
We have been very close Friends, Shocked to hear this. Rest in peace Gray, you have been a true friend, we‘ll never forget you
Heidrun Becker, Berlin
Met Graham many , many times during his time in Turkmenistan both for business and socially.
Real professional and a great guy to boot. I always admired his energy and enthusiasm so makes very sad reading to see Graham leave this world early.
My sincere condolences to Graham's family at this time.
Tom Hardy, Ashgabat , Turkmenistan
Some 20 years ago I worked with Graham as the operations director having a great passion for HD, riding between 6 and 9k km during my holidays. Graham never understood or shared my passion but when I met him and Elaine again early this year, I talked to a more than enthusiast biker. He understood the risk involved but took all safety precautions you would expect from a pilot and manager in the aviation industry. My thoughts are with Elaine and her family and I am sure that Graham only regrets to have left them behind. Wish you all strength.
Renee De Jong, Stavanger, Norway
I flew many times with Graham, he was a fantastic pilot and a gentleman, my thoughts are with his family, Rest in peace my friend.
David Ellis, Scotland
A very sad incident but I salute the man for continuing to live life to the full, at 70 years old (I am the same age and doing the same; refusing to slow down just because I am older now).
He died with his boots on and so will I; Siberia is on my 'bucket list' as well.
David Mann, Kremenchuk, Poltava Oblast, Ukraine
Lioba Multer, Florence, OR
I hope you read it. Uncle Graham, thank you for everything what you have done for me and my family. I will never forget you and I believe that your journey continues in the next world. Bon Voyage my friend...
Ann Sh., Moscow
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City and unitary authority
Motto(s):
"Upon this rock I will build my church" (Upon this rock)
Peterborough Unitary Authority Area shown within Cambridgeshire
Sovereign state
Ceremonial county
Admin HQ
City status
Non-metropolitan district
• Governing body
Leader and Cabinet
• Executive
• MPs
Stewart Jackson (Con)
Shailesh Vara (Con)
132.58 sq mi (343.38 km2)
(2005 est.)
1,480/sq mi (573/km2)
• Ethnicity
82.5% White
11.7% Asian
2.3% Black
0.8% Other
2.8% Mixed
UTC±0 (GMT)
UTC+1 (BST)
Postcode area
GB-PTE
ONS code
00JA (ONS)
E06000031 (GSS)
UKH11
www.peterborough.gov.uk
Peterborough (/ˈpiːtərbrə/ or /ˈpiːtərbərə/ ( listen)) is a cathedral city in the East of England. The population is about 184,500 as of mid–2011. The city is well known for its cathedral.
Even though it is part of Northamptonshire, for ceremonial purposes it is inside the county of Cambridgeshire. The city is 75 miles (121 km) north of London. It is on the River Nene which flows into the North Sea, about 30 miles (48 km) to the north-east.
The railway station is an important stop on the East Coast Main Line between London and Edinburgh. The local government area includes Northamptonshire and Rutland to the west, Lincolnshire to the north, and non-metropolitan Cambridgeshire to the south and east.
The topography of the land is flat. In some places it is below sea level, for example in the Fens that are east of Peterborough.
Human settlement began before the Bronze Age, as seen at the Flag Fen archaeological site to the east. There is also evidence of Roman occupation. In the Anglo-Saxon English period of time, a monastery, Medeshamstede was built. This later became Peterborough Cathedral.
The population grew fast after rail transport began in the 19th century. At that time, Peterborough became known for the manufacturing of bricks.
Historic cast iron railway bridge over the River Nene (1847), built by Lewis Cubitt
The River Nene embankment, seen from Frank Perkins Parkway
1 Population growth
2 Suburbs
2.1 Parnwell
Population growth[change | change source]
After World War II, the city did not grow much, until the 1960s. Peterborough was named a "New Town" in 1967, by the government. This was part of the New Towns Act of 1946. It planned new towns to move people into better homes, who were still living in poor or bombed-out housing from the war.
Housing and population are still growing in the 21st century. Peterborough's population growth was the fastest of any British city over the ten years from 2002. This was partly due to immigration.[3]
Because the city is still getting larger, the city council has passed a law for a new development plan.[4] This is to add an additional 22,000 homes, 18,000 jobs and over 40,000 people who will live in Peterborough by 2020. The newly developing Hampton township will be finished. There will also be a 1,500-homes built in Stanground, and a 1,200-homes built in Paston.
Suburbs[change | change source]
Parnwell[change | change source]
Parnwell is a housing estate in the east of the city. Situated off Parnwell Way, it is easily accessible using the Frank Perkins Way (A1139). It is served by a convenience store at the Parnwell Centre and has a Sure Start Centre and a health centre.
The local primary school is Parnwell Primary School, which was opened in 1989 to serve children from 4 to 11 years. Children over this age may choose to attend the City of Peterborough Academy (COPA), Thomas Deacon Academy or the Stanground Academy.
↑ Beckett, John V. City Status in the British Isles, 1830–2002 (p.14) Ashgate Publishing, Aldershot, 2005. Retrieved 14 June 2015
↑ Grant of arms by letters patent sealed by Garter, Clarenceux and Norroy & Ulster Kings of Arms dated 6 September 1960.
↑ Grinnell, Paul (29 January 2014). "Population growth rate is fastest in UK but Peterborough people are not that happy - report". Peterborough Telegraph. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
↑ Peterborough Local Plan (First Replacement) Peterborough City Council, July 2005. retrieved 14 June 2015
Cities in the United Kingdom
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Small Business Trends News • Resources • Advice
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Trending: Online Marketing Gadgets Event Marketing Content Marketing
YouTube, Vine Making Headlines for Small Businesses
Published: Dec 15, 2017 Last Updated: Dec 9, 2019 by Small Business Editor In Small Business News 0
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Video has become a very powerful marketing avenue for businesses. And YouTube is at the forefront of that. So when the platform adds community features like it announced recently, it could provide a major boon for marketers.
And YouTube isn’t the only video platform out there for marketers. Vine was once a popular outlet for short video clips. And the once-defunct platform could be making a comeback according to a recent announcement.
You can read about these headlines and more in this week’s Small Business Trends news and information roundup.
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Vine 2 Launch May Give New Opportunities for Marketing Your Business with Video
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Department of Labor Wants to Reverse Rule on Tip Sharing for Restaurant Servers
The Department of Labor recently proposed a reversal of part of its current tip regulations from the Fair Labor Standards Act. Currently, employees who make at least the federal minimum wage in regular hourly pay are ineligible to receive tips through a tip pooling system without a special tip credit.
Intuit Will Acquire Employee Time Tracking Software Tsheets for $340 million
Intuit Inc. (Nasdaq: INTU), parent company of accounting software QuickBooks and TurboTax, has signed an agreement to acquire the time tracking and employee scheduling software company Tsheets for $340 million. The acquisition will reportedly make manual time tracking a thing of the past for small businesses, the self-employed, accountants and gig workers.
New Dialpad Free Claims to Kill the Desk Phone But May Kill Your Business Phone Bill Too
Do you have a small business with five employees or less? Well, if you do, Dialpad has released a new service called Dialpad Free which will get rid of your phone bill. The company’s slogan says “Kill the Desk Phone,” but with this new service, it is striving to do the same with the phone bill.
1 in 4 Small Businesses Believe Their Payment System Can’t Handle a Holiday Rush
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81% of Millennials Say Business Success Means Having a Purpose, Even if it Costs Them Money
Millennials prioritize different things than past generations have when it comes to business success. In fact, 81 percent of them think that a business needs a genuine purpose that resonates with people in order to be successful, according to a recent survey from American Express and Kantar Futures.
Can Microsoft’s Whiteboard App for Windows 10 Devices Help Your Team Collaborate?
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Wix Code Introduces Dynamic Web Design for Business – No Tech Knowledge Required
Website building platform Wix.com Ltd. (NASDAQ: WIX) has launched Wix Code, a web development solution that allows you to extend substantially the functionality of your Wix website. With Wix Code, you can enrich your website or web application with hundreds of design and website components without needing technical knowledge or coding — all from the visual elements of the Wix Editor.
Cortana Partners with Insteon on Smart Building Tech for the Home Office
Until recently, Microsoft’s voice assistant Cortana has been limited to functions on your computer. The main rivals in the voice assistant arena can do a lot more than that, especially in your home office. Alexa can order supplies. Google can give you travel information. Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) may be trying to catch up though.
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Top News: New W-4 Form Arrives, Businesses Examine Marketing Options
Demand for Small Business Advisory Services Growing, Reports MyBoard
40% of Business Owners Have at Least 1 Unfilled Job
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The climate for investing
Written By: Nick Murphy
Published: Tue, 29 Oct 2019 12:23 GMT
Climate change has become a global emergency, with individuals, corporations, charities and policymakers increasingly recognising the urgency of tackling carbon emissions. More and more investors believe that they have an important role to play in addressing the problem, with a growing amount of capital now invested within a climate change framework. This term implies some sort of awareness or restriction based on climate change metrics/concerns
Charities are increasingly looking to demonstrate that their portfolios reflect their values which has led to a greater emphasis over time on measuring their ESG (environmental, social and governance) impact. This feeds into the current interest in proactively investing using a climate change framework.
Organisations with a poor carbon footprint are increasingly paying the price. Recent analysis by Citi* estimates that borrowing costs for European integrated oil companies are 2% higher than for their US equivalents (where there is less concern on climate change), a huge difference at the current level of interest rates. Growing political attention, combined with the rapid fall in the cost of fossil fuel alternatives, shows investors cannot remain agnostic.
The potential impact goes well beyond oil exploration and production companies. Electricity, resource, chemical, manufacturing and transport sectors face significant disruption, plus a huge potential write down of previous investment and massive capital expenditure requirements to adapt, survive and take advantage of the opportunities. These changes are already happening and having a growing impact now – witness the car manufacturers’ investment in electric vehicles or the fall-off in demand for huge turbines at GE.
Political momentum
The Paris Agreement, which seeks to limit the global temperature rise this century to below 2 degrees Celsius and to drive efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels, sets the global framework. This agreement has broad global support (even in the USA) and has set five key focus areas:
Mitigation by reducing emissions
Implementation of a transparency system to account for climate action
Adaptation to climate impacts
trengthening countries’ ability to recover from climate related impacts
Providing support, including financial, for climate resilience
The UK and Continental Europe have led the charge. The European Union has committed to a 40% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and to improve energy efficiency by 27%. In the UK, the 2008 Climate Change Act created the basis for tackling and responding to climate change. The Act provides the UK with a legal framework including a 2050 target for emissions reductions, five-yearly ‘carbon budgets’ (limits on emissions over a set time period which act as stepping stones towards the 2050 target), and the development of a climate change adaptation plan.
The Task Force on Climate Related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) and the Financial Stability Board now recognise climate change as a major systemic risk to investment which can alter the risk return profile of organisations exposed to fossil fuels.
Risk management and positive impact
The motivation of charity investors to invest through a climate change framework may be a desire to save the planet, but it also makes sound investment sense. The financial risk is a combination of several factors: if global warming is to be restricted to 2 degrees centigrade, many of the fossil fuel reserves can never be used and have no value – they will become ‘stranded assets’. This applies to infrastructure such as power stations, pipelines, chemical plants, cement and transport technology as well.
Increased legislation is another risk. This might include carbon taxes to make carbon producers pay for the societal costs of generating carbon dioxide, redirect demand and tilt the competitive landscape in favour of cleaner technologies. Another risk, already acknowledged, is that the sheer weight of money invested in this area changes valuations and the cost of capital for companies in many areas.
Managing risk is just one part: equally important is to identify the beneficiaries from these structural changes in areas such as energy efficiency or alternative energy technologies, plus changes in food consumption, animal feeds and alternatives to plastic.
From an investment point of view, climate change implies meaningful changes in portfolio construction, which may in turn influence portfolio performance under differing scenarios. This brings some challenges to traditional risk assessment frameworks. Excluding major sectors from a portfolio will have an impact in terms of returns timing, income generation, risk, cross-correlation, investment style and performance through the investment cycle relative to the main indices.
Another major challenge is to integrate conflicting objectives and achieve a balance. Tie this in with other social and governance objectives, plus all the usual factors in running a portfolio - extraordinary monetary policy, the rapid pace of technological disruption and geopolitical risk - and it is easy to be somewhat daunted. Good information and good communication between trustees and the investment managers making the decisions is key.
It is relatively straightforward to assess the long-term outcome of the Paris Accord if governments follow through on their commitments. How this plays out in the shorter term is harder to call. In the long-term, fossil fuels might be going the same way as the horse and cart, but this doesn’t mean that the oil sector is an immediate sell. In the dotcom bubble, markets correctly predicted that the internet would have a material impact on bricks and mortar retail, but it has taken until now for this to flow through.
More investors, particularly in the charity sector, are under pressure to explicitly sell some or all of their fossil fuel extraction holdings, to look beyond fossil fuel extraction to companies generating revenues from fossil fuels and, more broadly, to engage actively with their investments. In short, they are under pressure to integrate climate change risk across their entire investment process. This needs a high level of quality information as it relies on being able to identify fossil fuel reserves, fossil fuel related revenues, carbon emissions, intensity and efficiency, plus climate change leaders and laggards company by company and then collate it sector by sector and for each portfolio.
Data problems
The starting point is always to establish the carbon footprint for each portfolio so that progress over time can be established. The information allows the portfolio to be compared to standard indices and helps identification of climate related risks. It also prioritises areas for future action and engagement and gives a framework for communication with other stakeholders and donors.
The quality of the data remains a major issue. Disclosure levels differ between companies, countries and regions. Definitions vary widely and much of the analysis is subjective. Some issues are black and white, but there are more grey areas that require discussion with trustees. Different screening services each have their own methodologies and so the same data can be interpreted differently, depending on the service used.
Developed world companies have much higher disclosure levels than emerging market companies so they naturally score better. European companies tend to score better than US companies because there is greater focus on these issues in Europe. The European Union is putting together a taxonomy of definitions and there are other initiatives on disclosure standards, but this will take time.
The evolution will continue. This is a rapidly developing area, with many learning as they go. Good communication with investment managers is key, while taking a steady step by step approach will ensure that all the stakeholders are comfortable and fully understand the implications of each step.
* The Changing Investment Climate – Navigating the uneven ESG playing field in the oil industry. Alastair R. Syme, Kate O’Sullivan, Oliver G. Connor, Prashant Rao. (Citi Research 27 June 2019)
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Head of Charities, Investment management
Nick Murphy appointed as head of charities
Nick Murphy joined Smith & Williamson as a partner in the investment management team in 2012 and has successfully built up a client base of charity portfolios, as well as other client types.
Ethical and ESG
Are ethical and ESG considerations essential for a charity?
Measuring a charity’s performance
What are the biggest risks for a charity?
What proportion of annual expenditure should charities hold as reserves?
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Case Study: Tyrel Fuchs' Journey to Cat 1 Upgrade
Tyrel Fuchs just got his Cat 1 upgrade at 19 years old! Nice work! It took a ton of work on Tyrel’s part to get here and this article is a way to highlight his work and a follow up the Junior / U23 trajectories article before this.
Tyrel’s brother Caleb was a very fast bike racer and Source Endurance client. Caleb had a high ability to move oxygen to his muscles and a high level of muscular strength. Tyrel with the same build and genetics, after some testing, shows the same characteristics. Also like his brother, Tyrel is a student of the sport, and I would argue a better student than Caleb. I think Caleb would agree. Where Tyrel’s weaknesses may be in total anaerobic capacity still he is learning how to mitigate this with tactics and always working on his corning skills.
With Tyrel being in Texas and New Mexico most of the time we have to choose a different trajectory than a rider residing in a larger city. On the east coast, a rider like this may go directly to a bigger Junior program, but with supportive parents and some local clubs, Tyrel has a real ability to push himself on his own and train to a high level for big races. We can plan out some larger peaks and really push towards race goals and plan out the season accordingly.
Natural talent + hard work + proper coaching + fun = success in cycling.
Tyrel for the last two years has really focused on training with some key races each year. While racking up points is easy for him at local time trials, the crits prove a bit tougher. The major goal this year was to finish off his Cat 1 upgrade and have good legs at Tour of the Gila in the Cat 1/2 race. For that race we really focused on long term power for the 30 min+ climbs. He also kept track of nutrition so as not to focus on weight loss on a hard run into Gila. From 2017-2018 we saw the largest overall gains in sustained power from Tyrel. Some of this is due to cadence work and variable durations of threshold work getting more specific and intense as we got closer to race day.
Tracking Tyrel’s power though Gila (last 90 days) versus the previous history since 2016 we see here that we had a successful peak and hit some great new numbers and Tyrel is still progressing. He had a great race with top 20’s every stage and a 4th place on the Mogollon at Stage 1.
With some later race goals we rest post-Gila. There won’t be a need for a full “base” period but we are always training aerobic powers and we will be ramping back up the intensity to build anaerobic capacity on this amazing aerobic base.
Moving forward, the biggest thing I can do for Tyrel as his coach is making his career sustainable as he makes his way onto better and better teams. We have to work hard and progress yes but we have to have fun doing it. Natural talent + hard work + proper coaching + fun = success in cycling.
Zack Allison earned his bachelor’s degree in Exercise Science at Colorado State University. As part of his education, he participated in many hands on exercise science practicum and internships, coaching many types of athletes, specifically cyclists.
Zack’s affinity for cycling started at the early age of 14 racing on the east coast. He quickly moved up the amateur ranks to race on the elite national circuit. This level of competition sparked his interest in exercise science, taking him to Colorado State University. While racing for his alma-mater and on various amateur teams he saw many podiums at the Collegiate Championships and Pro/Am events. Zack is currently living in Fort Collins, Colorado and has raced for Elevate Pro Cycling and currently races for Clif Bar.
Growing up with great mentors and coaches, Zack has a goal of paying it forward. He hopes to use his education and racing experience to bring success to Source Endurance and his clients. Zack also owns and operated the Source Endurance Training Center of the Rockies, a training and bike fit studio in Fort Collins, CO.
Randy Fitzgerald on June 6, 2018 at 2:33 pm
Congratulations to Zack Allison, on his CSU degree! My wife, Becka, and I, hope Zack continued success.
Zack helped each of us with a road bike fit and we’re very happy with the results. In our 60’s, the fact we have hip and knee arthritis does not slow us down. The fit Zack provided keeps us pain free while riding big hills and 65 mile days.
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URMS
WAFW
Book Publications
Institutional Quality Assurance Cell
Quality. ULAB is a leader among private universities in Bangladesh. Our vision is to transform education in the country, as well as in the region. Our exclusive partnerships with universities, NGOs, GOs, and research organizations support us in bringing a world-class education to students.
Clubs and Co-curriculars
ULAB Prospectus
What is Liberal Arts?
Where Graduates get Jobs
Dynamic. ULAB students are young, energetic, and committed. Here, you will be sustained, but also challenged, as you make friends and colleagues you will keep your whole life. When you join ULAB, you join a new generation of successful graduates who are influencing the country.
Vision. Our unique curriculum fosters the values of creativity, freedom and service. ULAB students become real learners, not just job-seekers; and our faculty generators of knowledge, not mere suppliers. We draw upon the world's intellectual traditions to respond to urgencies of the present.
School of Science & Engineering
School of Social Science
Knowledge. Universities must be creators and disseminators of knowledge. ULAB has vibrant centers of inquiry that produce cross-disciplinary research in education, sustainability, media, business, engineering, and more. Their work will reach out the world and inform global intellectual platforms
Center for Bangla Studies
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Center for Enterprise & Society
Center for Sustainable Development
Center for Advanced Theory (CAT)
Dhaka Translation Center
Center for Archaeological Studies
Bengal Lights Books
Center for Critical and Qualitative Studies
Office of Faculty Research
Leadership. ULAB forms a community of Bangladesh's brightest minds and most committed educators; and create opportunities for them to meet their academic and human potential. We believe in open and respectful interaction with students, and among its staff at all levels.
IT Office
Proctor's Office
My ULAB
Community. Based in the lively Dhanmondi area of Dhaka, ULAB is your second home. You form an energetic fellowship of students, faculty, and staff who challenge and inspire. Find all the resources you need here to thrive during your tenure at ULAB.
Co Curriculars
Academic Calander
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Bachelor of Science, Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering (ETE)
Engineering with social awareness
University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh Sites > Bachelor of Science, Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering (ETE)
Home ETE
GED Courses
Major/Core Courses
Major/Elective Courses
Minor/Optional Courses
4-Year Course Distribution
“ULAB is one the leading private universities of Bangladesh. It has an international standard curriculum for both electronics and telecommunication, with highly qualified faculty members. It has well-equipped laboratories and allows students to engage in dynamic research activities. The department organizes weekly seminars and workshops on recent engineering and technology-related research topics. It also organizes electronic projects and programming competitions, which enable students to get …
Mohammad Abdullah Al-Mamun
ULAB is one the leading private universities of Bangladesh. It has an international standard curriculum for both electronics and telecommunication, with highly qualified faculty members. It has well-equipped laboratories and allows students to engage in dynamic research activities. The department organizes weekly seminars and workshops on recent engineering and technology-related research topics. It also organizes electronic projects and programming competitions, which enable students to get co…
Mohammad Abdullah Al-Mamun, PhD Student Computational Intelligence Group (CIG) Computing, Engineering and Information Sciences Northumbria University at Newcastle, UK
During my student days at ULAB, I received more than I have ever given to ULAB. The teachers were always friendly and helpful. Events organized by both ULAB and Electronics Club were something that immensely helped me reach where I am now. Classes were multifaceted not only for the way of teachers’ teaching method, but also for the lab works and hands-on experiences. Classes were also very well structured. Our lab was full of state-of-the-art lab equipment.
While providing quality education, ULA…
Mohammad Modasshir, Software Engineer at Samsung Bangladesh (R&D)
It is my pleasure to welcome you to the website of the Department of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering at the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh. I hope these pages will give you a good understanding about the liberal approach to engineering education and excellent academic environment in this department..
– Prof. M. Mofazzal Hossain, PhD
Head, Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering
Mission Statement of Department/Research Center:
The department of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering at the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh commenced operation in 2005. The department is proud to have an excellent teaching environment that aligns with the core concept of a liberal arts university and imparts our students with outstanding engineering education. The department currently offers an undergraduate program with the same title. The program curriculum covers a broad range of topics in electronics and communication engineering along with a strong focus on topics in general education. The department boasts a highly qualified faculty consisting of top graduates from renowned local and international universities.
The goal of the department is to give our student high quality engineering education with practical training that is relevant both locally and internationally. The coursework includes subjects in physics, engineering mathematics, statistics, computer architecture and programming, analog and digital electronic devices and circuits, analog and digital communication, power electronics and measurements, and more. In order to make our students more socially aware and effective in social development, the coursework includes a number of general education subjects, such as English language, Bangla bhasha and Bangladesh studies, world civilization, etc. In the final term of the undergraduate program, students take a term long research project under a faculty member or internship in a relevant organization. These are aimed at giving the students real world experience in academic research and job.
The department provides a variety of scholarships and financial support for student with good academic grades. The scholarships range from partial to complete waiver of tuition fees and various amounts of stipends based on the students’ SSC and HSC (or equivalent) results and continuing performance in the university.
The aim of the Bachelor of Science in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering (ETE) degree is to produce competent professionals, who will possess excellent skills to develop and implement their knowledge in the fields of electronics and telecommunication engineering; and who will graduate with the proficiency to complete successfully anywhere in the world.
This program is based on a solid foundation of Mathematics, Physics and a wide range of general education courses like English, Business and other Liberal Arts and Social Science courses. The focus of this degree is to provide excellent education in modern development of ETE. Students of this program are also given an opportunity to learn to extend their ability to analyze and solve complex problems and to design new users of technology to serve today’s rapidly growing demand of the society in the context of ever faster societal changes.
Degree Requirement ( B.Sc in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering (ETE)
Type of Courses Courses Credits
Major Core 24 86
Major Electives 04 14
General Education Courses 10 30
Optional / Minor 05 15
Project 01 03
Total 44 148
ETE Events
ETE News
Department of EEE and ETE jointly organized “Field trip” to DPDC Substation
ULAB ETE and EEE Organized “MATLAB for Beginners” Workshop
ULAB ETE and EEE with CSO Organized a CV Writing Workshop
Bachelor of Science, Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering (ETE) Faculty
Prof. H.M. Jahirul Haque, PhD
Prof. Md. Abdul Mottalib, PhD
Prof. M. Mofazzal Hossain, PhD
S M Mahbubur Rahman, PhD (Former Head of EEE)
Prof. Mohammad Rezwan Khan, PhD
Prof. Shorif Uddin, PhD
Mirza Rasheduzzaman, PhD
Abul Barkat Mollah Sayeed Ud Doulah, PhD
Rabiul Islam Jony
Protap Kumar Mahanta
Ashfaque E Alam
Bashirul Azam Biswas
Apply Online Jobs at ULAB Contact Us
House 56, Rd 4/A @ Satmasjid Road Dhanmondi, Dhaka-1209, Bangladesh
Mobile: 01730-082197, 01713-091936, 01714-161613.
Phone: 966-1255 Fax: +88-02-9660610
The Universityof Liberal Arts Bangladesh and its curricula are accredited by the University Grants Commission (UGC) of Bangladesh, and approved by the Ministry of Education, Government of People's Republic of Bangladesh.
© 2006-2020 UNIVERSITY OF LIBERAL ARTS BANGLADESH All Rights Reserved
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Branson Woman Said To Have Planned Killings — (St Louis Post Dispatch)
Original Link no longer available
Author: By The Associated Press
BRANSON, Mo. (AP) – Jane Duston told her sister that she planned to wait until all her family members were together and then kill them and herself so they would ”all go through the pearly gates together,” Dr. Charles Spears, the Taney County coroner, said Monday.
A coroner’s jury ruled Monday that Duston, 46, shot and killed her husband and two daughters as they slept, wounded a son and then committed suicide early Sunday.
Spears quoted the dead woman’s sister as saying also that Tom Duston, the husband, had removed guns from the home as a precaution.
But Spears said, ”We would like to think it was spontaneous, that it was not premeditated, that something just went wrong with Jane.” Jane Duston left no suicide note, police said.
William Duston, her 17-year-old son, was shot once in the chest but managed to crawl from his bedroom to a kitchen phone to call police. He was hospitalized in serious condition in Springfield and is expected to live, officials said.
Tom Duston was alive when police arrived and told officers that his wife had done the shooting, said Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Jack Merritt. Duston died at a hospital.
The six-member coroner’s jury heard evidence and deliberated about 30 minutes before concluding that Jane Duston had committed the murders and then fired two shots into her own chest.
”Anyone who knew Jane would marvel that she would even know which end of the gun to hold,” said Spears. A .38-caliber revolver was used.
Spears said Jane Duston underwent successful surgery for uterine cancer about a month ago and had been taking medication for depression.
Tom Duston, 49, an insurance agent and former city councilman, was shot four times in the master bedroom, Police Chief Steve Mefford said. After shooting him, Jane Duston apparently shot 16-year-old Mary Beth Duston, who was asleep in her room; her 21-year-old daughter, Leslie, asleep on a couch in the den; and William, who climbed out of bed after hearing gunshots and was shot in his bedroom.
Jane Duston then returned to the master bedroom and killed herself, the police chief said.
Nine shots were fired in all. Each of the children was struck once, Mefford said.
Copyright 1991 St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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Audience: Men Remove This Item
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