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The Challenge of Siphonous Green Algae
Peter S Vroom & Celia M Smith. American Scientist. Volume 89, Issue 6. Nov/Dec 2001.
Imagine for a moment that an alien organism is after you. And suppose further that your otherworldly adversary defies being killed: You slash at it with a knife only to find that its severed limbs stop oozing blood and quickly regenerate. You chop it into pieces, but each tiny sliver regrows into a complete organism. This scene, which could have been taken from a 1950s science-fiction film, is actually taking place in the Mediterranean Sea, where the frightening alien is not a space monster but an exotic form of marine algae called Caulerpa taxifolia. Native species of marine plants are unable to compete with the ability of Caulerpa to proliferate. Indeed, this plant spreads so fast that its range in the Mediterranean expands on average by some 50 kilometers each year.
What makes this organism so unstoppable? The answer can be understood, in part, by first recognizing that Caulerpa belongs to a unique group of marine plants called siphonous green algae (order Bryopsidales). Athough they all possess the same qualities that make Caulerpa such an effective invader, most siphonous green algae do not overwhelm their aquatic habitats. Indeed, some species survive only under the most ideal conditions. We have been studying how siphonous green algae grow and reproduce in hopes of discerning better the evolutionary relationships between the different species, understanding how they affect the health of tropical ecosystems and figuring out what exactly causes the proliferation of “weedy” types in some environments.
Siphonous green algae are unlike most other plants, which typically use different compartments, or cells, for specific purposes. For instance, in an average house plant, millions of cells in the leaves carry out photosynthesis, the process that converts sunlight into food. Specialized, nonphotosynthetic cells transport water, move sugars around and provide structural support. To survive, such a plant requires millions of these cells functioning together. And as any gardener knows, the permanent loss of one part-say, the roots or the leaves-kills the plant.
Unlike roses or forsythia, marine plants have the luxury of living in an environment where such specialized structures are not required. Because water is so much denser than air, marine plants are buoyed upright and do not need the rigid internal supports typical of their terrestrial counterparts.
And being surrounded by the sea, they need no elaborate vascular system to transport water. Consequently, most of the algae one finds growing, say, on a tropical reef consist of little else than millions of photosynthetic “leaf” cells.
Siphonous green algae simplify their anatomy still further by forming themselves into one big compartment. With this configuration there is a lot less cell wall to make, potentially allowing growth to take place quite rapidly. Although the most efficient geometry in terms of minimizing cell wall would, in theory, be a large sphere, this shape is not common in reef settings, probably because it offers little opportunity for the plant to anchor itself to a surface and survive the turbulence that waves create. Rather, these organisms take the form of tubes (or “siphons”) arranged in elaborate networks that, in some genera, can affix to the sea floor at many points. Indeed, siphonous green algae use this general body plan to produce an amazing array of sophisticated structures-some resembling leaves and stems-all with a single cell.
Living Garden Hoses
An easy way to visualize these peculiar plants is to imagine a living garden hose. The outside of the hose is the cell wall. The interior provides room for all the other essential components needed in eukaryotic cells (complex cells that contain nuclei and other specialized organelles). Strangely, most of this space is taken up by nothing more than the central vacuole, essentially a bag filled with water and ions. The vacuole pushes against the inside of the cell wall, forming a characteristic shape for each species. The thin layer of cytoplasm sandwiched between the cell wall and the vacuole contains everything else: nuclei, chloroplasts, mitochondria and various other cellular constituents.
The hoses, or siphons, in 14 of the 32 genera of these algae are arranged rather simply, like delicate branches.
These genera are termed uniaxial by phycologists, the scientists who study marine algae. The least complicated geometry, seen for example in Derbesia, consists of siphons that divide in two again and again. In other uniaxial varieties, such as Bryopsis, the siphons look more like feathers than branches, whereas in Caulerpa, the siphons can assume a dizzying range of shapes: broad leaves, thin blades, cacti or even clusters of grapes. Internal extensions of the cell wall support these large, complex arrangements.
The 18 remaining genera are considered multiaxial, because their branching siphons weave around one another to form the fleshy bodies of these plants. The most common configuration (seen, for example, in the genus Avrainvillea) looks somewhat like a fan. But everything from umbrellas to stalked cups can also be found easily in a day’s exploration on many tropical reefs. Some multiaxial genera (notably, Halimeda) have developed bendable bodies in which broad, plate-shaped segments alternate with thin, flexible joints. Other genera (in particular Codium) appear as felty, green fingers. The variety is enormous, but even the most complex multiaxial species, if somehow unraveled, would reveal itself to be a single undivided siphon. So cytoplasm is free to move from one end of the plant to the other-which can be tens of meters away in some extreme cases.
Multiaxial species seem better able to endure turbulent settings than their uniaxial relatives, which favor sheltered lagoons. Why? Just as a single strand of rope or fishing line has limited strength in comparison with a braided line made of the same material, so too with these algae, which attach to the floor of the reef using a series of small colorless siphons, termed rhizoids (part of the overall unicellular structure). In some sandy locales, large bulbous aggregates anchor the algae to the seafloor. Where the substrate is harder, many individual rhizoids affix the plant to the bottom. Interestingly, experiments have shown that the rhizoids of at least some siphonous algae absorb nutrients, which can then move rapidly to other areas of the body, a feature paralleling the function of roots in terrestrial plants. But siphonous green algae, being composed of enormous cells, are unlike land plants in most other ways. Indeed, in their cellular construction, they differ markedly from most other eukaryotic organisms.
Most plant and animal cells, for example, are measured in micrometers, with one nucleus being normally sufficient to direct all the goings-on within. But the giant cells of siphonous green algae are millions of times larger. Caulerpa, for instance, readily grows 80 centimeters tall in the Mediterranean. And if all the siphons in a 20-gram Codium plant (one small enough to fit in a demitasse cup) were unwound and placed end to end, they would stretch almost 30 kilometers! Such an extended cell requires billions of nuclei. To attain the requisite number, these organisms have uncoupled the processes of nuclear and cell division. Nuclei divide rapidly, along with chloroplasts and mitochondria. Indeed, millions of nuclei flow constantly around these large single cells, which do not divide but rather grow by expanding their walls. How then do these peculiar organisms reproduce?
Giving Up on Sex?
Human beings, like most animals, procreate by producing gametes (eggs and sperm), which fuse to form an offspring who ends up looking like a small (often endearingly cute) version of its parents. Although this strategy works well for people, many siphonous green algae do not follow this time-tested formula. Rather, they produce gametes that fuse to form an organism quite unlike its “parents”-so different, in fact, that a casual observer would not guess they were related. The newly formed entity grows and produces asexual spores, which when released into the environment eventually become adult copies of the original organism. This type of life history has two independent, free-living forms, which can resemble each other so little that they challenge an investigator’s ability to figure out just what is related to what.
In some species of siphonous green algae, the large plants commonly found in reef settings represent a gamete-producing phase, whereas their asexual phase results in a plant that is microscopic. Other species exhibit exactly the opposite pattern: A dominant, asexual configuration alternates with a microscopic gamete producer. Yet other species exhibit life histories more like our own, with only a single (gamete-generating) form. In this regard, this one order of green algae displays more diversity than is found anywhere else in the entire plant kingdom.
Even more intriguing than the range of sexual life histories seen among these organisms are their clonal abilities, whereby a single individual can produce genetically identical offspring by breaking apart and regrowing. This means of procreation is quite surprising. After all, when a tree is chopped up into little bits, the pieces do not grow back. With these algae, they do. The ecological implications of this reproductive strategy are mind-boggling. Instead of being vulnerable to, say, storm damage, these plants benefit when they are smashed to pieces, each of which can then sprout and become an adult.
We began studying this curious trait in earnest in the early 1990s, when Takaaki Kobara of Senchu University in Japan demonstrated to us how to culture tiny fragments of Bryopsis, a simple, uniaxial alga that typically reproduces sexually. Because the life histories of Hawaiian representatives of Bryopsis had never been studied, we thought that culturing native species might reveal some new insights about their biology. We then observed that excised siphon tips as small as a millimeter across-chunks that weighed less than a milligram-grew into 60gram “pompons” within just weeks. (Indeed, we were so amazed by the clonal abilities of these species that we almost forgot to examine their sexual reproduction.)
About the same time that we were studying Bryopsis, a colleague in our lab, Linda Walters, was cutting up different kinds of reef algae to examine how readily invertebrates could settle on their surfaces. The aim of her project was to discern whether these plants had physical or chemical defenses that might be exploited to produce novel antifouling compounds for ships. Along the way, she discovered that tiny pieces of the siphonous green alga Halimeda remained alive after cutting and produced new attachment rhizoids. Walters then began laboratory and field experiments to determine the smallest possible fragment that could remain alive, and whether the type or orientation of initial injury played a part in determining survival. In the course of this study, she conducted some jaw-dropping experiments at the Waikiki Aquarium, where she documented that herbivorous fish will take bites of Halimeda but then spit them out, whereupon the tiny morsels can regrow into new plants. Who would have suspected that grazing fish might be helping to increase the population of a marine plant?
As our laboratory work continued, Mother Nature stepped in and provided a natural experiment: Hurricane Iniki passed south of Oahu on September 11, 1992, roiling the local waters. Within hours, members of our group were out in the field looking for hurricane–generated fragments of Halimeda. To our delight, many such pieces drifted to shore. When collected and cultured, they remained healthy and quickly developed attachment rhizoids. So we knew that, for Halimeda at least, clonal reproduction through fragmentation must take place naturally. We then wanted to find out how often such episodes happen and how much proliferation ensues.
Getting to the Bottom
The opportunity to probe those questions in a meaningful way came in 1994, when Walters and one of us (Smith) began a research project that would galvanize our lab for the next seven years-studying Halimeda at the National Undersea Research Center in Key Largo, Florida. This center, a joint venture of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, operates Aquarius, the world’s only underwater laboratory. It is located on Conch Reef, which lies several miles offshore. For our project there, we tapped scientists from nine other institutions, including the University of Groningen, the University of Tampa, the University of Central Florida, the University of California, Santa Cruz, the University of Alaska, Fairbanks and Moss Landing Marine Laboratory.
Four members of the team lived and worked in and around the Aquarius habitat at a depth of about 40 feet for 10-day intervals. The great advantage of working from a submerged habitat is that a diver’s “bottom time” is not limited by the risk of suffering from the bends, the malady that ensues when nitrogen slowly dissolves into the blood at depth and then bubbles out dangerously after he or she surfaces. Normally, a scuba diver can remain at 40 feet for only 130 minutes. But living in Aquarius gave members of our group access to deeper-water populations of Halimeda for up to nine hours a day. At the same time, a team of surface divers studied Halimeda growing at a depth of about 20 feet. The technical support provided through this federally sponsored research facility, combined with the chance to work on the relatively undisturbed reefs of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, offered us an unparalleled opportunity to examine the ecology of this plant.
Halimeda is special because it is one of a few genera of siphonous green algae that produce calcium carbonate, the same material that clams use to construct their shells and corals use to build their skeletons. The observation that Halimeda contains calcium carbonate caused much confusion during the early 1800s, leading scientists of the time mistakenly to place this alga along with coral in the animal kingdom. The calcium carbonate, which fills gaps between the siphons of the plant, gives Halimeda a stony texture, allowing it and its evolutionary ancestors to survive in the fossil record. Indeed, fragments of dead Halimeda are quite robust: The tropical white-sand beaches one finds in Florida and elsewhere are normally thought to be the remnants of pulverized corals, but this is not always the case. While diving we see many patches of sand made up primarily of whitened fragments of Halimeda. The tiny pieces often remain relatively intact, allowing us sometimes to identify the particular species from the distincive shape of the sand grain.
Our research in the Florida Keys, which is far from complete, aims to answer several questions about this algal species. How, for example does the abundance of Halimeda affect the many other organisms living on the reef? How does this alga respond to changing environmental conditions? How does depth affect growth rate? And does clonal propagation increase the density of Halimeda after large storms, as our Hawaiian experience would suggest?
To address such unknowns, we began a suite of observations and experimental manipulations. Perhaps the most straightforward component of our work has been in monitoring the abundance of this alga. Some scientists concerned with the degradation of coral reefs around the world have suggested that increases of Halimeda and other algae indicate deteriorating ecosystems. But in monitoring the reef floor at least once and often twice a year, we found that although coral cover has declined since 1994, the abundance of Halimeda has remained relatively stable. Thus it does not appear to be displacing other organisms. But the observation that the plant is maintaining an equilibrium says nothing about whether its means of reproduction is sexual, clonal or a combination of both.
To test whether clonal reproduction could be significant, Walters gauged the intensity of fish-grazing and counted the number of Halimeda fragments in prescribed study areas. Naturally produced fragments could be found at low levels under most conditions, and we observed an elevated number immediately following the passing of Hurricane Irene in October 1999. Walters found that some fragments could survive being buried shallowly in sand for months before conditions were right for their growth. Our work on Conch Reef indicates that at least part of the population is clonal and leads us to wonder about how much genetic diversity is, in fact, present on a single reef.
We also conducted studies to determine whether sexual reproduction is taking place. Halimeda, like many other siphonous green algae, exhibits a curious reproductive strategy. Gamete-producing structures called gametangia develop along the upper margins of each segment over a one-day period, and the cellular constituents of the entire plant are diverted into them. The gametangia then turn a deep green while the rest of the plant fades to white. We found that about 5 percent of the population develop these reproductive structures over a period of several hours. Then, just before dawn, all reproductive individuals release their gametes within minutes of one another, leaving behind nothing but blanched husks. The whole process lasts about 36 hours, and once the plants have reproduced, they die. Sexual reproduction thus removes adults from the population. The whole process takes place so quickly that few investigators have witnessed it in the field: If you quit early one day from field work, you miss the entire cycle and find only your tags lying in the sand where adults once stood.
In other experiments, we colored the calcium carbonate of plants pink by enclosing certain specimens overnight in bags of stain. New, green segments that developed after staining could easily be distinguished from the older pink segments, giving us a way to assess their growth. Using this technique, we discovered that plants from different parts of the reef grow at different rates, which can be attributed perhaps to variations in dissolved nutrients or in their ability to harvest the available light.
Some of the plants we studied grew at fantastic speeds (adding as many as 25 segments a week in some cases), which goes to show that not having to produce internal cell walls allows these algae to increase in size extraordinarily rapidly. The growth takes place in a manner akin to a long balloon inflating: Just as air forces the balloon to expand, pressure from the central vacuole forces a siphon to increase in size. This internal pressurization is most evident when a siphon is cut. Green “blood” shoots forcefully out of the wound, just as soda shoots out of a shaken bottle. But miraculously within 2 to 3 seconds of such an injury, the cell plugs the rupture, and regrowth slowly ensues. Siphonous green algae are indeed a hardy lot.
Ecological Success Story
So what does all this tell us about the ecological importance of these organisms? Clearly, these algae have advantages not held by other marine plants. For example, at night, when photosynthesis does not take place, Halimeda pulls all of its chloroplasts from the siphon tips, which protrude out of its central core of calcium carbonate. The one-compartment structure of the plant allows it to shift cellular constituents for this strategic withdrawal, which is thought to minimize what the many marine animals grazing at night are able to consume. How many organisms can so elegantly and effectively preserve their most important assets?
Such tactics, along with their ability to fragment and regrow, give siphonous green algae a competitive edge over many multicellular marine creatures. Nowhere is their success more apparent than in the explosive spread of Caulerpa taxifolia in the Mediterranean and of Codium fragile in the nearshore waters of the American Northeast and off the coasts of New Zealand. Both these algae are exotic to those locales, where they can aggressively outcompete a diverse array of native species.
Such invasions are worrisome because they upset ecological balances in natural communities. They can also have some serious economic consequences. For example, the Codium introduced into New England waters often settle on the oyster and scallop shells found in commercial fishing beds. Codium attain heights of 20 centimeters and weigh tens of grams. Their shape and size cause them to be swept away during storms, taking the underlying scallops and oysters with them. They are thus responsible for episodically decimating the local shellfish industries.
Caulerpa taxifolia now dominates much of the subtidal terrain in the Mediterranean, where it was accidentally released from a Monaco aquarium in 1984. Although the same species is common in Hawaiian waters, it remains sparsely distributed; what keeps it in check is a mystery. Many regulators and environmentalists are concerned about the discovery of this species at two sites in California in 1999, because it is impossible to guess whether a massive proliferation could ensue there too. Both Caulerpa and Codium can reproduce clonally, making eradication efforts difficult: Unless every single microscopic fragment is removed from an area, the plants quickly reappear.
These two species are indeed weedy pests in some regions, yet other species of siphonous green algae are so specialized that they are truly rare. Boodleopsis hawaiiensis, an endemic Hawaiian alga, lives only in splash-zones underneath overhangs of coral islands and requires pristine conditions. In the places where it resides, it forms dense mats, but because suitable habitats are rare, this species is now quite limited-possibly to one site in the world. B. hawaiiensis could well become the first alga to be listed as an endangered species.
Beginning students of marine biology may think that all the easy questions have already been answered. For these important reef algae at least, nothing could be further from the truth: Descriptions of their life histories, reproductive structures and ecological distributions are still completely lacking for about a third of the known genera. Environmental managers need such fundamental information to assess the health of tropical ecosystems. Without such knowledge, how will scientists ever understand what is natural for a reef? And without a good handle on the ecology of undisturbed areas, how can people ever hope to control the weedy varieties? Society could indeed benefit from more scientists doing research in this field. The pay is not great, but the fringe benefits are excellent, especially for people who like working in idyllic tropical locations. The biggest challenge, we have discovered, is diving every day in cobalt-blue waters without becoming too distracted by all the dazzling fish.
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The New Gender Binary →
Phobic Football
Posted on February 5, 2016 by raisingmyrainbow
Yay sportsing! Yay football! Yay Super Bowl!
Chase likes football. He played flag football for three years and really enjoyed it; but he didn’t enjoy getting teased by his peers for it. Apparently flag football isn’t cool. You know what is cool? Spending $1,000+ a year and giving up all of your weekends to play Pop Warner and risk a traumatic injury.
I don’t want my kids – or anybody – to be tackled. I can’t think of many times in life when tackling is necessary.
Our family agreed that when Chase started middle school he could start Pop Warner. We signed him up, paid the dues and cleared our schedules. I sprung for the safest helmet money could buy. The first week was all conditioning and no contact. That was a good week.
Then came the first practice in pads with full contact and it went like this:
Pop Warner Coach: Do you have any experience playing defensive end?
Chase: Yeah, I played it in flag football.
Pop Warner Coach: Don’t ever say that again or I’ll kick you in the nuts. Flag football is fag football.
I didn’t hear the exchange, but I could tell something was wrong as I walked to the car with Chase after practice. He wouldn’t say a word until we were in the car and on our way home; because he’s smart enough to know that when he told me, I might march myself back to the field and say something to the coach.
“Are you (bit my tongue so the eff word wouldn’t escape) kidding me?!” I said.
“I know, right?!” Chase was a little relieved that he had told me — and that I was past the point of turning the car and making my way to the field.
I tried my hardest to use it as a teachable moment. Adults shouldn’t use that language. Playing flag football doesn’t make you gay. No one should say that they are going to kick someone in the nuts. Blah. Blah. Blah.
“I know all of that. I’m straight. I just feel bad because there has to be at least one gay kid on my team and if they heard that they probably feel sad and horrible,” he explained.
My heart melted.
When we got home we filled Matt in and I have to admit that a teensy tiny part of me worried that he would say that it sucks but that’s how it is in football. That was a ridiculous worry; he was more upset than I was.
After we got the kids settled in bed for the night, I called my brother.
“That is horrible! Ugh! That makes me so mad! I knew this was going to happen. I just knew it. When I played Pop Warner, I was bullied and called the worst names because I was the little gay kid whose parents signed him up for tackle football. Chase is too good for football,” he said.
I was ready to spend the evening crafting a strongly worded email to Pop Warner backed by the effects of bullying and homophobia on LGBTQ kids, but Matt wanted to actually talk to the appropriate people about the situation. So, I wrote that email in my head over and over all night, perfecting it, because I can’t let go of words and because I’m better at writing words than talking to people.
He called the head coach who was shocked. Minutes before the next practice Matt brought it up to another parent from the team (and Pop Warner board member) with others in earshot — which always gives me anxiety because where we live there’s usually a good chance that people will brush it off or defend homophobic slurs. But, every other parent who heard was appalled. I wanted to hug them all.
Turns out that along with being homophobic at practice, he was also drunk. He was immediately excused from practice and can no longer coach Pop Warner.
Then, Chase broke his leg and was out for the season. And, I felt guilty. Like the broken leg was somehow the result of me wanting so badly for him to not play tackle football. I had to remind myself that broken legs can happen in any of the footballs: fag, flag, tackle, two-hand touch, powder-puff, etcetera.
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This entry was posted in All Posts and tagged bullying, Chase, Football, Gay, homosexual, LGBTQ, Orange County, parenting, Pop Warner. Bookmark the permalink.
23 Responses to Phobic Football
gramatiqueen says:
Such a powerful message in this! Glad you guys came out of it all right! Drunk at practice. *begin slow clap for the sloppy drunk degenerate* So sorry about the broken leg, though! Ouch! Isn’t that always the way?
mdaniels4 says:
While all the comments here are really supportive and thats a good thing, i wonder how many people follow this truly in their own lives? With their own kids? How many activities ate you carting your kids to? So they can be well rounded and competitive in today’s culture. Mind, I’m not criticicizing. It is way yo easy to get caught up in the mindset going on. Surrounded by your peers on the benches and afraid to make that personal stand when you see it going on. All to easy. Been there done that. In my first year of coaching i laid out my vision. I saw first derision on many of the parents faces as well as some looking at me like i was an alien. Remember. This was now at least 20 years ago. One of my kid’s parents was a big corporation CEO and chairman of the board. Not a lightweight. I think he wanted to know if i would stick to what i said. My final word was that if they wanted to change teams based on my philosophy of learning and fun that was fine. I understood. But if they think they can do a better job of coaching then please come forward as i would gladly hand over the reigns to them. I was also fortunate but didn’t know it at the time to have as my assistant coach a former catcher for the Detroit Tigers as well as a parent who was a retired pitcher from the Brewers.
Did i sometimes get caught up in the process and lose my way? Of course i did. Its natural to when you have passion. But i also had great professionals behind me to bring me back to reality. My teamstayed together for 4 years as the kids moved up past where i was capable of getting then any farther if they wanted to stay with that game.
My sole point here is that understand rstand what YOU want and what your kids want and be consistent with both dreams. Some kids have the desire and the innate talent to want that push from a really competitive and traditionally stereotypical coach. Dont berate the coach in those cases but work just to make sure the coaching is betterment for your child. And sometimes it does take verbal flogging to bring out that passion and drive to be a bit better than anyone else out there. If that’s your kid or yourself you’re not doing them any favors by holding that experience back from them. They’re smarter than you’d think. Theyll figure out what motivates them and what doesn’t work.
Sorry this was so long. I just think we sometimes forget how different and special we all are.
Anne Johnson says:
I’m so glad that coach was stopped before he could hurt anyone else physically and/aor emotionally. If anybody gets kicked in the nuts it should be him.
pinktruck says:
Unfortunately, one bad coach can ruin a kid’s budding interest in a sport. Many of us, looking back on our own childhoods, can recall coaches and teachers who left us with a lack in interest in a given activity, sports or otherwise. Stinks. My 5yo twin girls start flag football again this Spring.
They were enrolled last Spring, but I pulled them out of it after the 1st game, because the coaches (a male and female) were noticeably unprepared to coach (i.e., encourage) kids who were nothing less than “phenoms” like their own 6yo daughter (who, admittedly, was pretty spectacular). My step-daughter played in the same i9 Sports league years ago with the opposite type of coach — one who pulled joy out of the heart of a timid and somewhat unathletic 9yo girl on a flag football team populated mostly by boys. Because of that experience, my step-daughter loves watching football now, even though she never continued with the sport. So yes . . . coaches’ attitudes make all the difference.
vercellonopace says:
What a powerful story! I must say that even though Chase broke his leg, maybe just maybe, God’s purpose for him was using him to get rid of the coach. Don’t allow the enemy in your thought process because God gets the glory. This is the first time I have written that my youngest son is gay, and loves dressing like a female. He hated football. I wanted him to like football just like my older son, but he didn’t. I love him despite all of this. However, your blog is giving me insight and courage. It took me years to accept. My eyes were blinded on purpose. What I have come to understand though is that I love my child, no matter what.
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David A Morse says:
I love your family. You are doing a great job raising them Both your boys are caring and compassionate. Chase is wonderful. He will be a great dad someday.
I’m speechless. But I’m so glad it was handled and that such a vulgar man was dismissed. I’m sorry your boy had to witness such homophobia but luckily he saw the results of such behavior.
K. L. Romo says:
Reblogged this on K. L. Romo and commented:
Lori’s second son is gender nonconforming. Her blog gives readers a glimpse of her family’s journey to understand and educate, and to love her son for who he is.
Ed Ferrara says:
I think Matt did an awesome job in
bringing it up. Great to hear that the
parents were appalled and the higher
ups in Pop Warner took action and
banned this coach. Chase I do hope
your feeling better and thank goodness
legs heal quicker than feelings. Hope all
is going well for you in middle school
Chase.
Omg he broke his leg! I find this way more upsetting than the awful coach, who I’m glad you got rid of so fast.
But! Leg! And with the CTE reports…maybe the broken leg was for the best. 😦
I just read this latest football post, then saw the link to an older post about CJ being drafted by the Sailors baseball team. Our gay son is 26 years old now. The post about CJ sounded just like our son playing tee ball when he was 5. Even though he wanted to try it, he HATED it. We tried everything to get him to enjoy it: dad coaching, friends on the team, bribery with ice cream; nothing worked. We did find a few sports that he enjoyed: swimming, also running track & cross country. The other kids on the teams & coaches were wonderful. Thank you so much for your book & your blog! I’ve recommended them to many people.
ravinj says:
Definitely a teachable moment–but Chase is ahead of the class already. It’s good to hear the Pop Warner organization dealt with it appropriately at the local level!
What a great blog post. It made me angry and hopeful. Thank you for writing what you write.
That’s not a coach. A coach tries to get the best out of his players. Belittling them NEVER does. I coached youth baseball for 7 years and i heard derivatives of that tome. Not so much the gay slurring but the winners at all cost and manly man routines. I never did that to my kids. Some were talented in the making ball players and some were given the opportunity to learn. Learn alot that probably would never be realized. But who cares. We were a team and played together as such and i never allowed my team to bicker within or criticize each other. Ever. Chase gets this early on. He’s going to be a heckuva an adult.
merdman2013 says:
I don’t understand if this event was recent. If so, I hope Chase’s leg heals quickly.
raisingmyrainbow says:
So sorry I didn’t specify. This happened in the late summer/early fall. I waited to post until the Pop Warner season ended. His leg is all better now!
Bubsatreides says:
Unfortunately there so many people and organisations that should be addressed with such message
bestpi says:
It sounds to me like a mention to the national Pop Warner league needs to be addressed. Apparently they haven’t heard that being LGBTQ is normal. Perhaps they need to send out an anti-homophobe email to address it to ALL regions.
Dan Woog says:
As an openly gay high school soccer coach, I apologize on behalf of all my coaching colleagues. And it’s nice to know the swift reaction from the Pop Warner administrators. THANKS, as always, for shining such a wonderful and important light on so many areas of life.
I weep for the day you stop writing. Yours is like the voice in my own head…except your sassier.
dsnitkin says:
Honestly can that coach be beaten up?
I’ll volunteer
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Raj Bhavan Goa राजभवन गोवा
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Raj Bhavan is a residential palace situated in Dona Paula, Goa which serves as the official residence of the Hon’ble Governor of Goa. The sprawling 88 acres estate is located on a cape in the Goan capital, Panjim, known by the name "Palacio do Cabo". It hosts a number of residential suites along with the landmarks such as “Our Lady of the Cape Church”, “Grotto”, “The Estate”, “The Estate Beach”, “The Canon Point” and “The Jetty”. Till date these landmarks were not open for the general public, however the Hon’ble Governor has decided to open the doors of Raj Bhavan for the general public w.e.f 5th Jan 2019. Citizens will get to explore the grandeur and architectural beauty of Raj Bhavan, which will in turn generate revenue to the Government.
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CANON POINT
Down the estate, on the Western side, just 3 minutes' drive from the Raj Bhavan through the forests, is a spot, named as 'Cannon Point'. A suitable small park, pathways and lighting have been provided at this scenic spot. Two old cannons, which were located and lifted from the shore waters, are placed on pedestals here. This place offers a beautiful view of the sunset and the ever-surging tides of the Arabian sea lustily lashing at the shore.
OUR LADY OF THE CAPE CHURCH
It is small yet extremely elegant. The main altar is of wood with very rich carvings and painted in white and gold. It was probably erected in the early seventeenth century alongwith the renovations and additions which had been made by the Governor-General D. Matias de Albuquerque.
A short distance away from the chapel, laterite steps lead down to a grotto where there is an altar dedicated to Santa Paula. Her image lies in a recumbent position. Her legs are maimed. Behind St. Paula is the image of Jesus Christ on a trefoil cross. How this statue of Santa Paula came to the grotto is shrouded in mystery. There is a legend that the figure was washed ashore. It was thrown back into the sea by the villagers but it kept coming back. It was then placed in the grotto by the villagers. There is a belief that anyone who prays to Santa Paula and lights a candle, has his wish fulfilled. Santa Paula lived from 347 to 404 AD. She hailed from an illustrious Roman family and was a staunch devotee of St. Jeromme. On losing her husband, she donated all her property to charity. She followed St. Jeromme on a pilgrimage to Bethlehem, alongwith her daughter and a group of Roman ladies who had vowed to lead a life of religious austerity. They settled down in a convent around the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem.
The Feast of the Grotto is celebrated on 2nd August (evening). A large number of persons, living in the Raj Bhavan campus, as well as the nearby villages, attend this event.
The Raj Bhavan Estate, which is comprised of a spur surrounded on three sides by sea, has an area of about 80 acres. One massive laterite stone wall exists to the East, which serves as its boundary on that side. On the sea-shore, there are masonry walls, which have withstood the onslaught of time for over four centuries. The flat table land of the spur, which is about 3/4th of the total land, has steep side slopes. About 5 hectares of the flat table land is occupied by buildings, gardens, lawns, and the remaining is full of vegetations, consisting of large number of species of trees, plants, shrubs, creepers, etc. Adding new species of trees in large number has been an annual phenomenon. There is a kitchen garden, where seasonal vegetables are grown.
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12 Schuring, Martin
11 Rogers, Rodney
10 Gardner, Joshua
10 Hill, Gary
10 Spring, Robert
8 Holbrook, Amy
6 Micklich, Albie
5 Rotaru, Catalin
5 Ryan, Russell
5 Spring, Robert S
4 Creviston, Christopher
4 Hackbarth, Glenn
4 Kocour, Michael
4 Norton, Kay
4 Rockmaker, Jody
3 Campbell, Andrew
3 Feisst, Sabine
3 Gardner, Joshua T
3 Solis, Ted
2 Bush, Jeffrey
2 Carpenter, Ellon
2 Levy, Benjamin
2 Oldani, Robert
2 Pagano, Caio
2 Russell, Timothy
2 Smith, Jeffrey
2 Stauffer, Sandra
2 Sunkett, Mark
1 Alvarez, Rodolfo Nicolas
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1 DEMARS, JAMES
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1 Hill, Gary W
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47 Doctoral Dissertation
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1 A Newly Commissioned Work for Cello
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A Recording and Overview of the Solo Piano Works by John La Montaine (b. 1920)
John La Montaine (b. 1920) has devoted his life to music composition. His major works total 62 opus numbers, including operas, concertos, songs, chamber music, and orchestral works as well as eleven compositions for solo piano. Among his composition teachers were Nadia Boulanger and Howard Hanson, and his first piano concerto was awarded the 1959 Pulitzer Prize for Music. He was active also as a concert soloist and collaborative pianist, appearing on prestigious concert series and with first-rank orchestras. Despite his obvious success, La Montaine did not seek publicity. As a result, the majority of his music is not widely …
O'Brien, Andrew, Hamilton, Robert, Cosand, Walter, et al.
In My Dreams: Creating a Song Cycle Based on the Poetry of Child Sex Trafficking Survivors, with music by Gerard Yun
In My Dreams is a song cycle for mezzo-soprano, narrator, and piano, based on the poetry of survivors of childhood sex trafficking. It was created to raise awareness of trafficking through music and poetry through the expression of individual dreams and voices. In My Dreams recounts the devastating loss of childhood and celebrates empowering words of survival. The poetry was collected in poetry workshops held in Calcutta and Delhi India in January 2009. After the poems were selected, translated, and edited, composer Dr. Gerard Yun set them to music. This document outlines the process of creating and performing this unique …
Glenn, Melissa Walker, Fitzpatrick, Carole, Pritchard, Melissa, et al.
A Compact Disc Recording of Three Flute Works by Daniel Dorff: April Whirlwind, Nocturne Caprice, and 9 Walks Down 7th Avenue
ABSTRACT Many musicians, both amateur and professional alike, are continuously seeking to expand and explore their performance literature and repertory. Introducing new works into the standard repertory is an exciting endeavor for any active musician. Establishing connections, commissioning new works, and collaborating on performances can all work together toward the acceptance and success of a composer's music within an instrument community. For the flute, one such composer is Daniel Dorff (b. 1956). Dorff, a Philadelphia-based composer, has written for symphony orchestra, clarinet, contrabassoon, and others; however, his award-winning works for flute and piccolo are earning him much recognition. He has …
Rich, Angela Marie, Buck, Elizabeth Y, Hill, Gary W, et al.
An Orchestra Audition Handbook for Bass Players.
The following project is an audition preparation handbook for double bass players. The materials and techniques included are designed for use by advanced collegiate bass players seeking work as freelance or contracted musicians. Subjects ranging from finding an opening, becoming mentally and physically prepared, and developing the skills and experience necessary to be successful will be examined. The most frequently requested audition excerpts are included in this document, carefully extracted from the original orchestra parts and notated with efficient fingerings. Elements of style and performance are discussed. Each of the excerpts is recorded on the enclosed CD, performed by the …
Rose, Christopher Steven, Rotaru, Catalin, Landschoot, Thomas, et al.
Alyssa Morris Forecast: A Commissioned Work for Oboe and Percussion
The purpose of this project was to commission, perform, and discuss a new work for an instrument pairing not often utilized, oboe and percussion. The composer, Alyssa Morris, was selected in June 2009. Her work, titled Forecast, was completed in October of 2009 and premiered in February of 2010, as part of a program showcasing music for oboe and percussion. Included in this document is a detailed biography of the composer, a description of the four movements of Forecast, performance notes for each movement, a diagram for stage set-up, the full score, the program from the premiere performance with biographies …
Creamer, Caryn, Schuring, Martin, Hill, Gary, et al.
Bryan Johanson's 13 Ways of Looking at 12 Strings for Two Guitars: Recording and Critical Investigation
The purpose of this project is to introduce Bryan Johanson's composition for two guitars, 13 Ways of Looking at 12 Strings, and present an authoritative recording appropriate for publishing. This fifty-minute piece represents a fascinating suite in thirteen movements. The author of this project performed both guitar parts, recorded them separately in a music studio, then mixed them together into one recording. This document focuses on the critical investigation and description of the piece with a brief theoretical analysis, a discussion of performance difficulties, and guitar preparation. The composer approved the use and the scope of this project. Bryan Johanson …
Savic, Nenad, Koonce, Frank, Rotaru, Catalin, et al.
Delirium is a piece for large wind ensemble that synthesizes compositional techniques to generate unique juxtapositions of contrasting musical elements. The piece is about 8:30 long and uses the full complement of winds, brass, and percussion. Although the composition begins tonally, chromatic alterations gradually shift the melodic content outside of the tonal center. In addition to changes in the melody, octatonic, chromatic, and synthetic scales and quartal and quintal harmonies are progressively introduced throughout the piece to add color and create dissonance. Delirium contains four primary sections that are all related by chromatic mediant. The subdivisions of the first part …
Bell, Jeremy Edward, Rogers, Rodney, Oldani, Robert, et al.
Stanislav Binicki's Opera Na Uranku: Genesis of Critical Analysis of the First Serbian Opera
The focus of this study was the first Serbian opera, Na Uranku (At Dawn). It was written by Stanislav Binièki (1872-1942) and was first performed in 1903 at the National Theatre in Belgrade. There were two objectives of this project: (1) a live concert performance of the opera, which produced an audio recording that can be found as an appendix; and, (2) an accompanying document containing a history and an analysis of the work. While Binièki's opera is recognized as an extraordinary artistic achievement, and a new genre of musical enrichment for Serbian music, little had been previously written either …
Minov, Jana, Russell, Timothy, Levy, Benjamin, et al.
An Informed Pedagogy: Using the Writing Program Administrators Outcomes Statement to Design First-Year Composition Curriculum
The discipline of rhetoric and composition established the Writing Program Administrators Outcomes Statement (WPA OS) to fulfill a general expectation about the skills and knowledge students should be able to demonstrate by the end of first-year composition. Regardless of pedagogy used, academic preparation of the teacher, or preference of particular topics or types of assignments, the WPA OS is versatile. This dissertation employs a problem-solution argument showcasing methods to improve assignments through intentional use of the WPA OS for a fluid conversation throughout first-year composition and a more clear articulation of course goals. This dissertation includes summation, analysis, and synthesis …
Rankins-Robertson, Sherry, Roen, Duane H, Miller, Keith, et al.
A Study of the Solo Piano Works by Owen Middleton (b. 1941) With a Recording of Selected Works from 1962-1993
Owen Middleton (b. 1941) enjoys an established and growing reputation as a composer of classical guitar music, but his works for piano are comparatively little known. The close investigation offered here of Middleton's works for piano reveals the same impressive craftsmanship, compelling character, and innovative spirit found in his works for guitar. Indeed, the only significant thing Middleton's piano music currently lacks is the well-deserved attention of professional players and a wider audience. Middleton's piano music needs to be heard, not just discussed, so one of this document's purposes is to provide a recorded sample of his piano works. While …
Moreau, Barton Andrew, Hamilton, Robert, Holbrook, Amy, et al.
A Transcription of Four Viola Works by York Bowen for Clarinet and Piano
Works for clarinet in the twentieth century exist in abundance; furthermore, the number of extant works from the Classical period is substantial. However, works for solo clarinet in the late-Romantic style are lacking; most of the significant literature for clarinet is contained in orchestral works. Therefore, the purpose of this project is to add to the solo clarinet repertoire of the late Romantic-style through the transcription of works written originally for viola. The four works transcribed for this project are by York Bowen. Bowen was a British composer and pianist who taught at the Royal Academy of Music in England. …
Deboer, Andrew Caleb, Spring, Robert S, Hill, Gary, et al.
A Catalog of Solo Works for Marimba with Electronics and An Examination and Performance Guide of "Flux" for Marimba and Electronic Tape by Mei-Fang Lin
The marimba has garnered increased attention in percussion performance over the past thirty years. Literature for beginners through professionals in a multitude of styles have been written. With the ever-growing number of marimbists since the 1980's there has been a high demand for new works. Numerous pieces were created through commissions: composers contracted to write music by individuals, institutions, and consortia. Three primary types of marimba solo music were written: unaccompanied solos, concerti, and marimba solos with electronic accompaniment. Since electronic music is relatively new in marimba performance, there is very little information published regarding this topic. Only a handful …
Chen, Yi-Chia, Smith, J.B., Bush, Jeffery, et al.
The Confluence of Folkloric Maraca Performance and Contemporary Artistry: Assessing the Past, Present, and Inspiring the Future
Venezuelan maraca playing is largely unknown to musicians with Western Art Music backgrounds. While some composers utilize the instrument and its associated performance practices, the resources available to learn about the subject are limited and scattered. Through research, observations, and studying with correspondences, this document will explore the vastness of Venezuelan musical concepts and maraca techniques to seek out common goals and generate a resource that is accessible to musicians and musicologists. A large part of this research will focus on the Contemporary Music in the Western tradition that has been inspired by Venezuelan maraca playing. I will explain the …
Muller, Jeremy, Smith, Jeffrey, Kocour, Michael, et al.
Salvation Army Solo Repertoire for Euphonium and Piano: A Recording and Annotated Bibliography
The purpose of this project was to: (1) describe a brief history of Salvation Army works for euphonium and piano that are relevant to the larger euphonium repertoire, and (2) produce a professional-quality compact disc recording of these works for study and reference. Part I of this project is an annotated bibliography discussing selected works for euphonium and piano written exclusively by Salvation Army composers. Each bibliographic entry is accompanied by a brief annotation, including information on each composer, hymn tunes used in each work, and difficulties encountered in performance. Part II of this project consists of a professional-level recording …
Draper, Andrew, Pilafian, Samuel, Hickman, David, et al.
Six Chinese Piano Pieces of the Twentieth Century - A Recording Project
This paper describes six representative works by twentieth-century Chinese composers: Jian-Zhong Wang, Er-Yao Lin, Yi-Qiang Sun, Pei-Xun Chen, Ying-Hai Li, and Yi Chen, which are recorded by the author on the CD. The six pieces selected for the CD all exemplify traits of Nationalism, with or without Western influences. Of the six works on the CD, two are transcriptions of the Han Chinese folk-like songs, one is a composition in the style of the Uyghur folk music, two are transcriptions of traditional Chinese instrumental music dating back to the eighteenth century, and one is an original composition in a contemporary …
Luo, Yali, Hamilton, Robert, Campbell, Andrew, et al.
Illuminating Silent Voices: An African-American Contribution to the Percussion Literature in the Western Art Music Tradition
Illuminating Silent Voices: An African-American Contribution to the Percussion Literature in the Western Art Music Tradition will discuss how Raymond Ridley's original composition, FyrStar (2009), is comparable to other pre-existing percussion works in the literature. Selected compositions for comparison included Darius Milhaud's Concerto for Marimba, Vibraphone and Orchestra, Op. 278 (1949); David Friedman's and Dave Samuels's Carousel (1985); Raymond Helble's Duo Concertante for Vibraphone and Marimba, Op. 54 (2009); Tera de Marez Oyens's Octopus: for Bass Clarinet and one Percussionist (marimba/vibraphone) (1982). In the course of this document, the author will discuss the uniqueness of FyrStar's instrumentation of nine single …
Thompson, Darrell Irwin, Sunkett, Mark E, Bush, Jeffrey, et al.
The Complete Solo Piano Works of Chen Yi: A Recording, Analysis, and Interpretation
This dissertation focuses on seven solo piano works written by contemporary Chinese-American composer Chen Yi. It is presented in the form of a recording project, with a written analysis of each recorded composition. The seven recorded pieces are Variations on "Awariguli", Duo Ye, Guessing, Two Chinese bagatelles: Yu Diao and Small Beijing Gong, Ba Ban, Singing in the Mountain, and Ji-Dong-Nuo. They were written between 1978 and 2005, presenting a wide range of Chen Yi's compositional style. The written portion consists of five chapters. After the introductory chapter, a sketch of Chen Yi's life is presented in Chapter Two. This …
Feeken, Qing Nadia, Meir, Baruch, Carpenter, Ellon, et al.
The Cavaillé-Coll Organ and César Franck's Six Pièces
Nineteenth-century French organ builder Aristide Cavaillé-Coll and organist-composer César Franck established a foundation for the revival of organ music in France. Following the French Revolution, organ culture had degenerated because of the instrument's association with the church. Beginning with his instrument at St. Dénis, Cavaillé-Coll created a new symphonic organ that made it possible for composers to write organ music in the new Romantic aesthetic. In 1859, Franck received a new Cavaillé-Coll organ at the Parisian church where he served as organist, Sainte-Clotilde. He began experimenting with the innovations of this instrument: an expressive division, mechanical assists, new types of …
Sung, Anna, Marshall, Kimberly, Ryan, Russell, et al.
A Pedagogical and Performance Edition of J. S. Bach's Violin Sonata I in G minor, BWV 1001, Transcribed for Guitar: Transcription, Analysis, Performance Guide, Pedagogical Practice Guide, and Recording.
Johann Sebastian Bach's violin Sonata I in G minor, BWV 1001, is a significant and widely performed work that exists in numerous editions and also as transcriptions or arrangements for various other instruments, including the guitar. A pedagogical guitar performance edition of this sonata, however, has yet to be published. Therefore, the core of my project is a transcription and pedagogical edition of this work for guitar. The transcription is supported by an analysis, performance and pedagogical practice guide, and a recording. The analysis and graphing of phrase structures illuminate Bach's use of compositional devices and the architectural function of …
Felice, Joseph Philip, Koonce, Frank, Feisst, Sabine, et al.
The Cello Music of Leo Ornstein
In addition to his many other works, Russian-American composer Leo Ornstein (1893-2002) contributed a substantial body of literature for cello and piano, including Sonata No. 1 (1915-1916), Sonata No. 2 (circa 1920), Composition No. 1 (date unknown), Two Pieces (date unknown), and Six Preludes (1930-1931). His cello music is an eclectic mix of twentieth-century Neoromantic and atonal styles. This study includes a recording of the complete works for cello and piano by Leo Ornstein and a description of the music that details the formal procedures and how the cello and piano relate to one another. The discussion offers extensive musical …
Alvarez, Rodolfo Nicolas, Landschoot, Thomas, Rotaru, Catalin, et al.
A Performer's Guide to the Solo Flute Works of Kaija Saariaho: Laconisme de l'aile and NoaNoa
The works of premier Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho demonstrate a fascination with the exploration and expansion of timbral possibilities. This project explores Laconisme de l'aile and NoaNoa, the only two of her works written for solo C-flute. Saariaho has developed a unique compositional style for the flute, characterized by extremes of color which are expressed through extended techniques such as the integration of the voice, with and without text, into the music, the exploration of "noise," the transformation between different timbres, and the use of electronic effects. Laconisme de l'aile (1982) is a dramatic and passionate work filled with lyrical …
Hodjati, Katayoon, Buck, Elizabeth, Hackbarth, Glenn, et al.
The Effect of Musical Mode, Major or Minor, on Motivating Children with Asperger's Syndrome
The purpose of this research project is to explore which musical mode, major and minor, is more effective to motivate children with Asperger's syndrome. To determine the more effective mode, the researcher has conducted experiments with seven students, two female and five male, with Asperger's syndrome on motivation for participation. Simple dance movements were used as a method of measurement for their motivation. The subjects' task was copying the researcher's simple dance with music, in major or minor mode, or with no music. There were three conditions, no music, major music, and minor music. However, the first dance of the …
Yun, Yeo Kwang, Crowe, Barbara, Rio, Robin, et al.
A Compact Disc Recording of Three Commissioned Works Featuring the Clarinet by Portuguese Composers, which include Portuguese Folk Music Elements
Despite the wealth of folk music traditions in Portugal and the importance of the clarinet in the music of bandas filarmonicas, it is uncommon to find works featuring the clarinet using Portuguese folk music elements. In the interest of expanding this type of repertoire, three new works were commissioned from three different composers. The resulting works are Seres Imaginarios 3 by Luis Cardoso; Delirio Barroco by Tiago Derrica; and Memória by Pedro Faria Gomes. In an effort to submit these new works for inclusion into mainstream performance literature, the author has recorded these works on compact disc. This document includes …
Ferreira, Wesley, Spring, Robert S, Bailey, Wayne, et al.
A Study of Selected Clarinet Works by Christopher Caliendo
Christopher Caliendo is a guitarist/composer who has written for a variety of performance mediums. His works been performed on international concert stages and recorded for film and television media. His compositions have garnered him the Henry Mancini Award for Film Composition, the Artin Arslanian Scholarship for Humanities, and the Peabody Grant for Scholarship. He has also received two commissions from the Vatican in 1992 and 1995. In 1988, he received an Emmy nomination for his work with the television series Paradise. The purpose of this project is to present a study of selected clarinet works by Christopher Caliendo: The Tango …
Quamo, Jeff, Spring, Robert, Gardner, Joshua, et al.
A Recording Project Featuring Four Newly Commissioned Duets for Clarinet and Bass Clarinet with Tenor Saxophone and Bassoon
Four new duets by different composers were commissioned for this project that utilize the clarinet and bass clarinet with tenor saxophone and bassoon. The pieces are Three Southwest Landscapes by Dan Caputo, Gestures by Michael Lanci, Connotations and Denotations by Jeffery Brooks, and Lyddimy by Thomas Breadon, Jr. The present document includes background information and a performance guide for each of the pieces. The guide gives recommendations to aid musicians wishing to perform these works. Also included are transcripts of interviews conducted with each composer and performer, as well as full scores of each piece. In addition to the document …
Miller, Audrey Jakub, Spring, Robert, Gardner, Joshua T, et al.
A Study of Marcel Dupré's Variations sur un Noël as Correlated with American Visual Art
By studying of a piece of music paired with specific artwork from the time and place of its composition, one can learn more about the character and artistic merits of both the art and music, as well as their relationship to the culture in which they were created. It is the purpose of this paper to examine one specific idea within this vein of interdisciplinary study. This study explores the presentation of American visual art from the 1920s alongside Dupré's Variations sur un Noël, Op. 20. This correlation provides a platform for deeper insight into the composition. The sights and …
Snavley, Ashley Nicole, Marshall, Kimberlt, Rogers, Rodney, et al.
Commissioned Works for Cello by Composers Christian Asplund and Joseph Hallman Through Analytical Studies
The commissioning and recording of music from living composers is a very important tradition in the art of music. The ability to work with living composers gives the performer insight into the music that is far beyond reading the notes on the page. For my research paper, I commissioned two new works for the cello by the composers Joseph Hallman and Christian Asplund, in an effort to continue adding great pieces to the cello repertoire. This paper documents my experiences in finding and working with selected composers. It includes detailed descriptions of the pieces with practice and performance suggestions as …
Kesler, Michelle, Landschoot, Thomas, Landschoot, Thomas, et al.
Performer and Electronic-Activated Acoustics: Three New Works for Solo Percussion and Live Electronics
Technological advancements in computers and audio software and hardware devices in the twenty-first century have led to the expansion of possibilities for music composition, including works for acoustic instruments and live electronics. Electroacoustic composition is rapidly and continually evolving, and much that has been written about compositional techniques for percussion and live electronics is becoming outdated. Live electronics include performer-triggered events, audio processing, electronic responses to various inputs, and electronic decision-making during live performances. These techniques can be employed in a variety of ways. This project sheds light on how modern composers of different musical and cultural backgrounds reimagine the …
Wier, Alexander Carl, Smith, Jeffrey, Feisst, Sabine, et al.
A Newly Commissioned Work for Cello, A Recording and Performance Practice Guide by Yu-Ting Tseng
The introduction of a new instrumental piece—specifically Taiwanese—into the cello repertoire is as exciting as it is important. Currently, the majority of works for cello and piano include predominantly Western compositions that is repeatedly taught and performed. Reflections, by Taiwanese composer Ming-Hsiu Yen (Ms. Yen) is a response to this saturation. It is a piece that is both demanding for the performers and entertaining for the audience. Brilliantly written by a composer who has intimate familiarity with both the cello and piano, it is highly suitable for scholarly study and performance. This document details ensemble issues, interpretative suggestions for both …
Tseng, Yu-Ting, Landschoot, Thomas, Rogers, Rodney, et al.
A Recording and Performance Guide for Three New Works Featuring Clarinet and Electronics, Clarinet and Piano, and Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, and Piano
This project includes a recording and performance guide for three newly commissioned pieces for the clarinet. The first piece, shimmer, was written by Grant Jahn and is for B-flat clarinet and electronics. The second piece, Paragon, is for B-flat clarinet and piano and was composed by Dr. Theresa Martin. The third and final piece, Duality in the Eye of a Bovine, was written by Kurt Mehlenbacher and is for B-flat clarinet, bass clarinet, and piano. In addition to the performance guide, this document also includes background information and program notes for the compositions, as well as composer biographical information, a …
Poupard, Caitlin Marie, Spring, Robert, Gardner, Joshua, et al.
A Recording Project Featuring Four Newly Commissioned Pieces For Clarinet
The primary objective of this research project is to expand the clarinet repertoire with the addition of four new pieces. Each of these new pieces use contemporary clarinet techniques, including electronics, prerecorded sounds, multiphonics, circular breathing, multiple articulation, demi-clarinet, and the clari-flute. The repertoire composed includes Grant Jahn’s Duo for Two Clarinets, Reggie Berg’s Funkalicious for Clarinet and Piano, Rusty Banks’ Star Juice for Clarinet and Fixed Media, and Chris Malloy’s A Celestial Breath for Clarinet and Electronics. In addition to the musical commissions, this project also includes interviews with the composers indicating how they wrote these works and what …
Case-Ruchala, Celeste Ann, Gardner, Joshua, Spring, Robert, et al.
Euphonium and Live Interactive Electronics: A Performers Examination of Three New Works
Electro-acoustic compositions throughout the twentieth-century have flourished due to the modern advancements and improvements in technology, including image based interactive software. This project aims to reveal how three composers of different backgrounds utilize the use of euphonium in combination with live interactive electronics. To this date no known works have been composed for this instrumentation. Advancements in the development of audio software and hardware have helped to improve and rapidly evolve the inclusion of live electronics including the use of performer-triggered events, audio processing, and live electronic decision-making. These technologies can be utilized and explored in various ways. Three composers …
Duron-VanTuinen, Danielle Rae, Swoboda, Deanna, Ericson, John, et al.
The Role of the Clarinet in China
Throughout western clarinet art music, there are not only a large number of great performers and classical works, but also a valuable body of literature that has laid a solid foundation for clarinet development and global dispersion. By contrast, Chinese clarinet literature is lacking in quantity and global distribution. However, this is the first comprehensive study that discloses the mysterious mask of China’s clarinet art. This study does not merely discuss the Chinese clarinet history, but it also introduces important historical events that influenced the development of the Chinese clarinet industry (excluding manufacturing), including Chinese military bands, clarinet music, pedagogy, …
Zhu, Shuang, Spring, Robert S, Gardner, Joshua T, et al.
An Integration of Ancient Chinese Musical Traditions and Western Musical Styles: Secluded Orchid and Spirit of Chimes for Violin, Cello and Piano by Zhou Long
Contemporary Chinese composers have a rich palette from which to draw inspirations of the distinctive timbres of ancient instruments, the diverse musical types, and the development of musical instruments. Zhou Long, an internationally recognized Chinese-American composer, has created a compositional style that transfers the sounds and techniques of ancient Chinese musical traditions to modern Western instruments. An examination of Zhou Long’s compositions Secluded Orchid and Spirit of Chimes demonstrates his synthesis of Chinese and Western techniques as well as cross-cultural integration. To gain a better understanding of the compositional process of these two piano trios, the author conducted a personal …
Li, Xiaolin, Jiang, Danwen, Campbell, Andrew, et al.
J. S. Bach's Arias for Soprano and Oboe Obbligato: The Oboe Family's Vital Role in the Expressive Dialogue
This document is an expansion of the information presented at a lecture-recital on March 24, 2017, at Arizona State University. The program consisted of ten arias selected from the cantatas and oratorios of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), all for soprano with oboe, oboe d'amore, or oboe da caccia obbligato. The document first discusses the place and importance of oboe obbligatos in Bach's vocal works. In all, there are 173 arias with oboe obbligatos from the sacred and secular cantatas, oratorios, and the passions. Of these, 56 are arias for soprano. The ten selected for this document are intended to illustrate …
Messing, Rachel Michelle, Schuring, Martin, Holbrook, Amy, et al.
An Adaptation of the Viola Sonatas of Julius Röntgen for Clarinet and Piano
The purpose of this project is to add to the repertoire of clarinet music written in the Romantic style. While there are some pieces written by composers such as Johannes Brahms, Robert Schumann, Max Reger, and a few others, it pales in comparison to the amount of highly regarded clarinet music written in the twentieth century. For this project, the three viola sonatas of Julius Röntgen have been adapted for clarinet and piano. Though these pieces were composed in 1924 and 1925 at the height of the expressionist movement, they are written in the late-Romantic style, with chromaticism and rhythmic …
Thompson, Anthony Martin, Spring, Robert S, Hill, Gary, et al.
Frank Martin’s Huit préludes pour le piano: A Representation of His Compositional Sound and Style
This research paper aims to understand Frank Martin’s Huit préludes pour le piano (1948) as a summary of his compositional styles, by demonstrating common elements between the preludes and Martin’s compositions of other genres. Swiss musician Frank Martin (1890-1974) composed in many genres, from theatrical and symphonic works to vocal, chamber, and solo works. Huit préludes pour le piano, his best-known piece for solo piano, merits more recognition in the modern repertoire than it currently receives, as it encompasses a wide range of pianistic techniques, colors, and atmospheres to challenge the mature pianist. This set of preludes represents Martin’s unique …
Tchoi, Lim Angela, Hamilton, Robert D, Thompson, Janice C, et al.
A Recording, Performance Guide, and Composer Interviews: Six New Original Works for Trios Involving Saxophone, Commissioned for the Rogue Trio and Lotus
This project includes a recording, composer biographies, performance guides, and composer questionnaires for seven original works commissioned for either the Rogue Trio or Lotus. The members of the Rogue Trio are violinist Kathleen Strahm, saxophonist Justin Rollefson, and pianist Mary Cota. Lotus’s members include Samuel Detweiler, Justin Rollefson, and Kristen Zelenak on saxophone. Both ensembles are based in Tempe, Arizona. All seven original compositions were recorded at Tempest Recording in February of 2018. The first piece, Four Impersonations (2016), was commissioned by the Rogue Trio and written by Theo Chandler (b.1992) for violin, soprano saxophone and piano. The second piece …
Rollefson, Justin David, Creviston, Christopher, Gardner, Joshua, et al.
A Performance Guide and Recordings for Four New Works Featuring Improvisation for Soprano Saxophone and Various Instruments
This project’s goal is to expand the repertoire for soprano saxophone featuring improvisation. Each work detailed in this document features improvisation as an integral component. The first piece, Impetus, was written by Grant Jahn for soprano saxophone and piano. The second piece, Sonata, was written for the same instrumentation by Brett Wery. Ethan Cypress wrote the third work for solo soprano saxophone, Noir et Bleu. The final composition on the project, Counterpunch by Gregory Wanamaker, was written for saxophone sextet. This paper also includes composer biographies, program notes, performance guides, and composer questionnaires. The central component of this project is …
Detweiler, Samuel, Creviston, Christopher, Kocour, Michael, et al.
A Brief Mindfulness Intervention: Effects on Counselor Trainees’ Multicultural Counseling Competence and Ethnocultural Empathy
Increasing counselor trainees’ self-efficacy for multicultural counseling competence (MCC) is an essential part of their professional development to serve racially and ethnically diverse clients effectively. The present study examined the impact of multicultural training and the effects of a brief mindfulness intervention, compared to a control condition, on counselor trainees’ self-reported ethnocultural empathy and MCC. Data obtained from a sample of masters (n = 63) and doctoral (n = 23) counselor trainees were analyzed through a series of linear multiple hierarchical regression analyses. Consistent with previous research, results revealed that multicultural training significantly predicted scores of self-reported multicultural counseling knowledge …
Smith, Bethany, Spanierman, Lisa B, Tran, Alisia G. T., et al.
A Recording Project Featuring Five Newly Commissioned Works for Clarinet by James Patrick Applegate
ABSTRACT This project features five new pieces for clarinet commissioned from three different composers including: 1. Rasa by Jeffrey Ouper 2. Faerie Tale Dances by Jeffrey Ouper 3. Amalgamated Widget by Tavia Sullens 4. Faerie Suite by Theresa Martin 5. Time Lapse by Theresa Martin Faerie Suite and Amalgamated Widget are for unaccompanied clarinet; Time Lapse is a trio for clarinet, bass clarinet, and piano; Faerie Tale Dances is a trio for E-flat clarinet, sopranino recorder, and toy piano; and Rasa is a quartet for E-flat clarinet, two A clarinets, and bass clarinet. These pieces challenge the performer in various …
Applegate, James Patrick, Spring, Robert, Gardner, Joshua, et al.
A Recording Project and Performance Guide for Three New Chamber Works Featuring Bassoon
The main objective of this research project is to expand the bassoon repertoire with the addition of three pieces. The first composition, Rust for bassoon and piano, was written by Christopher Marchant and is six minutes in duration; august, for woodwind quartet (flute, oboe, B-flat clarinet, and bassoon) was composed by Matthew Triplett and is four minutes in duration; the third composition, Rhapsody for woodwind quartet, was written by Conor Anderson and is six minutes in duration. The present document includes background information and a performance guide for each of the commissioned works. The performance guide provides recommendations and tips …
Strickland, Kiefer Philip, Micklich, Albie, Gardner, Joshua, et al.
Jody Rockmaker's Character Pieces for Viola and Piano (2014): A Study and Recording
This document is a study of Jody Rockmaker’s Character Pieces for viola and piano (2014). The study begins with discussion of the work’s origin, then goes on to describe each of its three movements in some detail. A recording of the work with the author as violist is included. The composer is a former violist and worked with the author on developing Character Pieces. Although the work is demanding, it was written with consideration of viola technique and the instrument’s characteristics and sound. The composition is of approximately 15 minutes’ duration. Each movement is in a different tempo, fast-slow-fast, and …
Yoon, Hyun Sun, Buck, Nancy, Holbrook, Amy, et al.
REVEREND STORMFIELD GOES TO HEAVEN: AN OPERETTA FOR SEVEN VOCALISTS AND INSTRUMENTAL ENSEMBLE
Reverend Stormfield Goes to Heaven is an operetta in six scenes for seven vocalists and flute, clarinet, horn, percussion, piano, violin, cello, and double bass. The work’s approximate length is 40 minutes. The libretto is written by the composer and based on the short story by Mark Twain titled “Captain Stormfield Goes to Heaven.” The short story features the typical biting sarcasm of Mark Twain. The libretto combines part of the original text with alterations to satirize modern day Christianity and religious values in general. The story follows Reverend Stormfield as she arrives in Heaven and quickly learns that the …
Sakamoto, Dale Toshio, ROGERS, RODNEY, ROCKMAKER, JODY, et al.
Liu Yintong’s Duet for Cello and Piano “Memorial II”
In an interview with the composer Liu Yintong, she shared her thoughts regarding her inspiration to compose the duet Memorial II. Liu studied under Chen Yi, who is a leading female contemporary composer. She has won many honors and awards worldwide, in addition to performing with major symphonies and musicians, including Yo-Yo Ma, Evelyn Glennie, the Cleveland Orchestra, the British Broadcasting Company (BBC), and Los Angeles Philharmonic. Chen Yi’s Percussion Concerto combines Eastern and Western music styles and also includes Chinese poetry, and elements of Beijing opera. Similarly, Liu uses Chinese poetry and elements of Hebei opera in Memorial II. …
Guo, Wei, Landschoot, Tom, Solis, Ted, et al.
A Program of Study for 21st Century Clarinet Techniques Featuring Five New Compositions for Unaccompanied Clarinet
As clarinet students progress in their studies, there comes a point at which many are assigned to perform contemporary repertoire that is either overplayed due to accessibility and use in pedagogy, or includes difficult extended techniques like microtones, multiphonics, and more. This project identifies a “gap” in unaccompanied clarinet repertoire and seeks to expand this repertoire by outlining a program of study featuring five newly commissioned unaccompanied clarinet solos through which students can learn both traditional and untraditional techniques. Each of the first four works focus on one aspect of clarinet technique—musicality, the altissimo register, microtones, and multiphonics, respectively—and the …
Meadows, Olivia Lauren, Spring, Robert S, Gardner, Joshua T, et al.
New and Lesser Known Works for Saxophone Quartet: A Recording, Performance Guide, and Composer Interviews
This project includes composer biographies, program notes, performance guides, composer questionnaires, and recordings of five new and lesser known works for saxophone quartet. Three of the compositions are new pieces commissioned by Woody Chenoweth for the Midwest-based saxophone quartet, The Shredtet. The other two pieces include a newer work for saxophone quartet never recorded in its final version, as well as an unpublished arrangement of a progressive rock masterpiece. The members of The Shredtet include saxophonists Woody Chenoweth, Jonathan Brink, Samuel Lana, and Austin Atkinson. The principal component of this project is a recording of each work, featuring the author …
Chenoweth, Woodrow, Creviston, Christopher, Kocour, Michael, et al.
A Transcription of Rebecca Clarke’s Sonata for Viola and Piano for Clarinet and Piano by Johnathan Christian Robinson
Throughout centuries of great classical music, many clarinet compositions have been adapted from a wealth of literature for string instruments and instruments of similar ranges. Viola, violin, and cello literature can often be adapted into challenging literature for the clarinet. While the works of English composer and violist, Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979), have gained popularity in the early 2000s, many of her compositions have yet to be discovered by musicians performing on wind instruments of similar ranges. While legendary western composers such as Mozart, Weber, and Brahms, will continue to be enduring icons in classic clarinet literature, performers and educators alike …
Robinson, Johnathan Christian, Spring, Robert, Garder, Joshua, et al.
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Ammon Salter
Professor, Management
International Centre for Higher Education Management (ICHEM)
Centre for Research in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Bath
EmailA.J.Salter@bath.ac.uk
8 WEST 3.36
Citizens of Somewhere:Examining the geography of foreign and native-born academics' engagement with external actors
Lawson, C., Salter, A., Hughes, A. & Kitson, M., 1 Apr 2019, In : Research Policy. 48, 3, p. 759-774 16 p.
DUAL NETWORKING: HOW COLLABORATORS NETWORK IN THEIR QUEST FOR INNOVATION
Ter Wal, A. L. J., Criscuolo, P., McEvily, B. & Salter, A., 21 Oct 2019, (Accepted/In press) In : Administrative Science Quarterly.
Foreign-born academics boost impact at home and abroad
Lawson, C., Salter, A., Hughes, A. & Kitson, M., 12 Feb 2019, Research Fortnight.
Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Article
Lifting the veil: Using a quasi-replication approach to assess sample selection bias in patent-based studies
Criscuolo, P., Alexy, O., Dmitry, S. & Salter, A., 1 Feb 2019, In : Strategic Management Journal. 40, 2, p. 230-252 23 p.
The Impact of Journal Re-grading on Perception of Ranking Systems: Exploring the Case of the Academic Journal Guide and Business and Management Scholars in the UK
Walker, J., Salter, A., Fontinha, R. & Salandra, R., 31 Jul 2019, In : Research Evaluation. 28, 3, p. 218-231
What influences business academics’ use of the Association of Business Schools’ (ABS) list? Evidence from a survey of UK academics
Walker, J., Fenton, E., Salter, A. & Salandra, R., 1 Jul 2019, In : British Journal of Management. 30, 3, p. 730-747 18 p.
Journal ranking
Winning combinations: search strategies and innovativeness in the UK
Criscuolo, P., Laursen, K., Reichstein, T. & Salter, A., 2018, In : Industry and Innovation. 25, 2, p. 115-143 29 p.
Innovativeness
Product and process innovation
Evaluating novelty: the role of panels in the selection of R&D projects
Criscuolo, P., Dahlander, L., Grohsjean, T. & Salter, A., 1 Apr 2017, In : Academy of Management Journal. 60, 2, p. 433-460 28 p.
Exploring preferences for impact versus publications among UK business and management academics
Salter, A., Salandra, R. & Walker, J., 1 Dec 2017, In : Research Policy. 46, 10, p. 1769-1782 14 p.
Research assessment
Making a marriage of materials: The role of gatekeepers and shepherds in the absorption of external knowledge and innovation performance
Ter Wal, A. L. J., Criscuolo, P. & Salter, A., 30 Jun 2017, In : Research Policy. 46, 5, p. 1039-1054 16 p.
The Biases That Keep Good R&D Projects from Getting Funded
Criscuolo, P., Dahlander, L., Grohsjean, T. & Salter, A., 17 Mar 2017, In : Harvard Business Review.
Evolutionary analysis of innovation and entrepreneurship: Sidney G winter, receipient of the 2015 Global Award for Entrepreneurship Research
Salter, A. J. & McKelvey, M., Jun 2016, In : Small Business Economics. 46, 3, p. 1-14
The impact of financial slack on explorative and exploitative knowledge sourcing from universities: evidence from the UK
Bruneel, J., D'Este, P. & Salter, A., Aug 2016, In : Industrial and Corporate Change. 25, 4, p. 689-706 18 p.
Financial slack
Knowledge sourcing
Geographical proximity
Toward an aspirational-level theory of open innovation
Alexy, O., Bascavusoglu-Moreau, E. & Salter, A. J., 2 Apr 2016, In : Industrial and Corporate Change. 25, 2, p. 289-306 18 p.
Behavioral theory of the firm
Accounting for universities¹ impact: using augmented data to measure academic engagement and commercialization by academic scientists
Perkmann, M., Fini, R., Jan, R., Salter, A., Cleo, S. & Tartari, V., Oct 2015, In : Research Evaluation. 24, 4, p. 380-391 12 p.
management counsulting
Open for ideation: Individual‐Level Openness and Idea Generation in R&D
Salter, A., Ter Wal, A. L. J., Criscuolo, P. & Alexy, O., 1 Jul 2015, In : Journal of Product Innovation Management. 32, 4, p. 488–504 17 p.
The engagement gap: exploring gender differences in university-industry collaboration activities
Tartari, V. & Salter, A., 1 Jul 2015, In : Research Policy. 44, 6, p. 1176-1191 16 p.
The fateful triangle: complementarities in performance between product, process and organizational innovation in France and the UK
Ballot, G., Fakhfakh, F., Galia, F. & Salter, A., Feb 2015, In : Research Policy. 44, 1, p. 217-232 16 p.
Process innovation
Coping with open innovation: responding to the challenges of external engagement in R&D
Salter, A., Criscuolo, P. & Ter Wal, A. L. J., 1 Dec 2014, In : California Management Review. 56, 2, p. 77-94 18 p.
Managerial practices
Organizational practices
Going underground: Bootlegging and individual innovative performance
Criscuolo, P., Salter, A. & Ter Wal, A. L. J., Oct 2014, In : Organization Science. 25, 5, p. 1287-1305 19 p.
Innovative performance
In good company: The influence of peers on industry engagement by academic scientists
Tartan, V., Perkmann, M. & Salter, A., 1 Sep 2014, In : Research Policy. 43, 7, p. 1189-1203 15 p.
Social comparison
Open innovation: The next decade
West, J., Salter, A., Vanhaverbeke, W. & Chesbrough, H., 1 Jun 2014, In : Research Policy. 43, 5, p. 805-811 7 p.
Appropriability
The paradox of openness: appropriability, external search and collaboration
Laursen, K. & Salter, A. J., 1 Jun 2014, In : Research Policy. 43, 5, p. 867-878 12 p.
Cui bono? The selective revealing of knowledge and its implications for innovative activity
Alexy, O., George, G. & Salter, A. J., 1 Apr 2013, In : Academy of Management Review. 38, 2, p. 270-291
Innovative activity
Crossing the rubicon: exploring the factors that shape academics' perceptions of the barriers to working with industry
Tartari, V., Salter, A. & D'Este, P., Apr 2012, In : Cambridge Journal of Economics. 36, 3, p. 655-677 23 p.
How to create productive partnerships with universities
Perkmann, M. & Salter, A., 1 Jun 2012, In : MIT Sloan Management Review. 53, 4, p. 79-88 10 p.
Inside the world of the project baron
Gann, D., Salter, A., Dodgson, M. & Philips, N., 1 Mar 2012, In : MIT Sloan Management Review. 53, 3, p. 63-71 9 p.
Managing unsolicited ideas for R&D
Alexy, O., Criscuolo, P. & Salter, A., 1 Mar 2012, In : California Management Review. 54, 3, p. 116-139 24 p.
The elixir (or burden) of youth? Exploring differences in innovation between start-ups and established firms
Criscuolo, P., Nicolaou, N. & Salter, A., Mar 2012, In : Research Policy. 41, 2, p. 319-333 15 p.
Exploring the effect of geographical proximity and university quality on university–industry collaboration in the United Kingdom
Laursen, K., Reichstein, T. & Salter, A., 1 Apr 2011, In : Regional Studies. 45, 4, p. 507-523
Investigating the factors that diminish the barriers to university-industry collaboration
Bruneel, J., D'Este, P. & Salter, A., Sep 2010, In : Research Policy. 39, 7, p. 858-868 11 p.
Inter-organizational trust
Does IP strategy have to cripple open innovation?
Alexy, O., Criscuolo, P. & Salter, A., 1 Sep 2009, In : MIT Sloan Management Review. 51, 1, p. 71-77 7 p.
Break on through: Sources and determinants of product and process innovation among UK construction firms
Reichstein, T., Salter, A. J. & Gann, D. M., 1 Jan 2008, In : Industry and Innovation. 15, 6, p. 601-625 25 p.
Fortune favours the brave. The distribution of innovative returns in Finland, the Netherlands and the UK
Ebersberger, B., Marsili, O., Reichstein, T. & Salter, A., 1 Dec 2008, In : Structural Change and Economic Dynamics. 19, 4, p. 357-362 6 p.
The extraction of manufacturing capability: A case of sophisticated transferee
Sapsed, J. & Salter, A. J., 1 Oct 2008, In : International Journal of Technology Management. 44, 3-4, p. 391-405 15 p.
"In case of fire, please use the elevator": simulation technology and organization in fire engineering
Dodgson, M., Gann, D. M. & Salter, A., 1 Sep 2007, In : Organization Science. 18, 5, p. 849-864 16 p.
Knowledge engineering
Making knowledge visible: Using expert yellow pages to map capabilities in professional services firms
Criscuolo, P., Salter, A. & Sheehan, T., 1 Dec 2007, In : Research Policy. 36, 10, p. 1603-1619
The impact of modelling and simulation technology on engineering problem solving
Dodgson, M., Gann, D. M. & Salter, A., 1 Jul 2007, In : Technology Analysis and Strategic Management. 19, 4, p. 471-489 19 p.
Investigating the sources of process innovation among UK manufacturing firms
Reichstein, T. & Salter, A., 1 Aug 2006, In : Industrial and Corporate Change. 15, 4, p. 653-682 30 p.
2518 Citations (Scopus)
Open for innovation: the role of openness in explaining innovation performance among U.K. manufacturing firms
Laursen, K. & Salter, A., 1 Feb 2006, In : Strategic Management Journal. 27, 2, p. 131-150 20 p.
The dark matter of innovation: Design and innovative performance in dutch manufacturing
Marsili, O. & Salter, A., 1 Dec 2006, In : Technology Analysis and Strategic Management. 18, 5, p. 515-534 20 p.
Innovation activities
The role of technology in the shift towards open innovation: The case of Procter & Gamble
Dodgson, M., Gann, D. & Salter, A., 1 Jun 2006, In : R and D Management. 36, 3, p. 333-346
Episodic innovation: R&D strategies for project-based environments
Acha, V., Gann, D. M. & Salter, A. J., 1 Jun 2005, In : Industry and Innovation. 12, 2, p. 255-281 27 p.
Drawing (graphics)
Organizational capabilities
From here to eternity? The practice of knowledge transfer in dispersed and co-located project organizations
Sapsed, J., Gann, D., Marshall, N. & Salter, A., 1 Sep 2005, In : European Planning Studies. 13, 6, p. 831-851 21 p.
'Inequality' of innovation: skewed distributions and the returns to innovation in Dutch manufacturing
Marsili, O. & Salter, A., 2005, In : Economics of Innovation and New Technology. 14, 1-2, p. 83 102 p.
Skewed distribution
Last among equals: A comparison of innovation in construction, services and manufacturing in the UK
Reichstein, T., Salter, A. J. & Gann, D. M., 1 Jul 2005, In : Construction Management and Economics. 23, 6, p. 631-644 14 p.
The fruits of intellectual production: economic and scientific specialisation among OECD countries
Laursen, K. & Salter, A., 1 Mar 2005, In : Cambridge Journal of Economics. 29, 2, p. 289-308 20 p.
Production economics
The role of codified sources of knowledge in innovation: Empirical evidence from Dutch manufacturing
Brusoni, S., Marsili, O. & Salter, A., 1 Apr 2005, In : Journal of Evolutionary Economics. 15, 2, p. 211-231 21 p.
Exploring the capital goods economy: complex product systems in the UK
Acha, V., Davies, A., Hobday, M. & Salter, A., 1 Jun 2004, In : Industrial and Corporate Change. 13, 3, p. 505-529 25 p.
Complex product
Classification system
Postcards from the edge: local communities, global programs and boundary objects
Sapsed, J. & Salter, A., 1 Nov 2004, In : Organization Studies. 25, 9, p. 1515-1534 20 p.
Contact Ammon Salter
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Egan Office
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Steans Center > Egan Office > Our Work > Community School Partners
Catholic and Public School partners
Every team at each of our partner schools consist of two or more tutors and one School Community Organizer (SCO). Tutors can serve in public schools as scholars in our Public School Scholarship program or as work study students in Catholic Schools. SCOs are typically graduate students assigned to one particular school and community area to identify potential resources and partners for the school. SCOs also provide support to their team of tutors. To find out how to get involved with one of our programs please visit Students Opportunities.
Leif Ericson Scholastic Academy (East Garfield Park)
For the past five years, the Egan Office has supported the development of several initiatives at Ericson Scholastic Academy. In partnership with community organizations such as the Garderneers, BUILD Chicago, and Taproot, and the faculty, staff, and parent community at Ericson, a school-community garden has continued to thrive as a positive and powerful space. An advisory commitee comprised of diverse stakeholders has been assembled to direct future
development of the garden in terms of both its physical build out and the ways in which the garden can be further integrated into the Garfield Park community as a whole. From hands on learning about nutrition and sustainable produce to Halloween candy hunts, the garden has become a hub for Ericson's students to learn, play and grow.
Egan student employees, Laylaa Carpenter and Anna Guitierrez, have done exceptional work providing academic support in literacy and mathematics to Ericson students. The relationships they have built and the academic results they have produced with the students they serve are a testament to the capacity of the Egan's programming to impact students in an immediate and positive way.
The Chicago Debate Commission continues to do amazing work building the Ericson debate program. Coach Ard and faculty sponsor Miss Felton have built a rigorous program, characterized by high expectations and equally high levels of support. Ericson's student debaters have taken their talents on the road, successfully competing in the city's debate circuit throughout the year.
Henderson Elementary School ( West Englewood)
The Girls Writing Workshop is an after-school program that focuses on increasing reading comprehension, critical thinking and expository writing skills while discussing issues related to identity, culture and adolescent concerns. The girls in the Writing
Workshop produce original work which they share in with other Henderson students in school-wide projects such as the African-American History Month activity in which they read original poems and performed dances and skits.
Other Henderson students are currently participating in a cultural exchange program with students from Accra, Ghana. The students exchange correspondence and learn about each other's cultures. Students are also participating in a “Little Entrepreneurs” program where they will receive raw materials from Ghana to create their own soaps, jewelry, clothing and more to sell at school functions.
Henderson is supported by tutors Yoann, Marcus and Angela. Tutors Marcus and Yoann have been at Henderson for over 2 years. Yoann created and teaches a French language class in the after-school program. Marcus has played an important role in the school's technology access and usage. He has used his skills to upgrade the schools systems, he has taught both teachers and parents how to use technology to improve the students' learning. He has also shown the students how technology can be both fun and educational. A great example of Marcus' work was using Google Cardboard to teach students about virtual reality. This allowed the students to create their own virtual reality viewers. Angela is the newest member to the tutor group at Henderson. She works with 3rd graders focusing on 1 on 1 work with students who need a little extra help with any given subject. Angela has a group of three students that she works with cosistently but she also works with other students as needed.
St. Sabina Academy (Auburn Gresham)
St. Sabina Academy, fulfills the educational ministry of the Faith Community of St. Sabina Church. The School serves 317 students from Pre-Kindergarten through eighth grade. Founded in 1916 and located in Auburn Gresham, a Chicago south side predominantly African-American community, St. Sabina Academy incorporates a well-developed curriculum which highlights the cultural values of African
Americans. Egan tutors have provided academic support and mentoring to St. Sabina students for over six years.
The Egan Office has secured a grant to be used towards a School-wide Recycling Project at St. Sabina. Two DePaul graduate students and three teachers and staff members are collaborating to ensure that the project is student-led and integrated into the schools's curriculum. Students grades 6 through 8 are selected and trained to lead the project. This program is intended to enhance the STEM curriculum and promote interdisciplinary teaching and learning. The student leaders will also help develop home-based environmental education for parents and family members.
San Miguel School (Back of the Yards)
San Miguel and the Egan Office have built a strong partnership over several years. School Community Organizer, Samuel Mayers-White has worked to take this partnership to new levels.
As a testimony to the enthusiastic support of Latino parents for their children's education, a group of Spanish-speaking Latino parents from San Miguel recentlycame to the DePaul's Lincoln Park campus for workshops on how to support and prepare their children for college. With support from the Egan office and other DePaul organizations, SCO Sam, was able to organize this college visit which focused on enhancing the
parent’s understanding of college life and the admissions process. During their visit, parents got to tour the campus, speak to current students and ask questions of admissions counselors. They were able to learn about DePaul and the college experience as a whole including information about financial aid.
The DePaul School of Nursing also partners with San Miguel. This partnership gives San Miguel two Master’s-level student nurses. The two student nurses work to supplement the San Miguel staff in serving the students. San Miguel also, currently has a partnership with three DePaul professors and thier service learning students. This includes a class on Mindful Activism. This class works with eight grade students from San Miguel to share personal stories with the aim of dismantling race and/or class barriers that can interrupt mutual understanding.
Tutors at San Miguel focus on Math and English Language Arts with three different grades. They assist in classrooms and pull students out to work one-on-one or in small groups. The tutors also help with reading support by reading aloud with students or working on assignments students are struggling with. The Egan tutors at San Miguel have built strong relationships with both the students and the school. They are involved with the School in any way they can be. San Miguel works to serve the community as a whole. In October 2017, they opened the San Miguel Community Center where they hold activities, classes and events for the community.
St. Pius V (Pilsen)
St. Pius V School is located in the Pilsen community which has a rich history and a number of community based organizations. In her initial asset-mapping of Pilsen's community assets, SCO Caitlin has had the chance to meet with staff from Mujeres Latinas en Acción
and El Valor. Egan School Community Organizers like Caitlin work to identify and connect potential resources and partners within the community and within the University.
Caitlin supports two Egan tutors at St. PIus, Justine and Leonor. Justine Carlson is a senior and has been a tutor for Egan since she was a freshman. She currently works with the kindergarten and second grade classes, where she assists with reading, writing, and math. When asked why she tutors she replied, “I continue to tutor because I have seen students who start to believe in themselves and continue to succeed by creating and building those relationships one-on-one. As a future teacher, if I can plant those small seeds with one child, a chain reaction occurs and grows.”
Leonor Guzman is also a senior and joined the Egan team as a tutor this past fall. Leonor is currently working with the 3rd and 5th graders on reading, writing, and math. When asked why she tutors she replied, “I tutor because I believe that all students deserve the opportunity to have a proper education. There are schools that lack funds and unable to provide students resources such as extra help due to budget cuts. I am a strong believer that if we all come together we can have a huge impact in this world. Even if we help one student, we are creating a trickle effect where this student may now seek to support others too. I tutor because I would like to be that positive role model for individuals who may not see any hope of success, but if I can do it, someone who is first generation and a student of color, I know that others can too.”
St. Malachy (West Side)
St. Malachy found that their approaches to student discipline were not in alignment with their mission. The focus on student suspensions pointed to the need to change from a punitive to a restorative response. The objective was to find a response system that would allow the students to take responsibility for their actions, learn to manage their own behavior and develop a deeper sense of community and caring for each other. The administration of St. Malachy concluded that the
Restorative Justice (RJ) model was the best alternative for their school and turned to Egan office for help. The implementation of restorative practices in schools required a total school approach and an immediate culture shift away from entrenched, punitive discipline. The Egan office found Alternatives for Youth, Inc., a community organization with a history of supporting restorative practices in schools, to provide training and consultation. The RJ model continues to be refined at St. Malachy and they have seen significant improvements in disciplinary actions throughout the school.
The Egan office's presence at St. Malachy is supported by two tutors, Alexis Malinowski and Gabrielle Carpenter. Alexis has been with the Egan office for three years. Alexis tutored the kindergarten class for two years and followed the last kindergarten class into the first grade during this past year. Lexi’s knowledge of the students whom she met as kindergarteners proved to be invaluable.
Gabriell joined the Egan office team at the beginning of the 2017-18 academic years and she has already made an impact at St. Malachy. Mrs. Nho the Assistant Principal and Ms. Kelly the second grade teacher rave about the connection Gabby has been able to make with the students. The class is split into small groups enabling Ms. Kelly and Gabby to focus more attention on the students that need it the most. There are different stations such as math, reading, and science that Gabby helps to facilitate and she use these times to make their activities both fun and engaging. Gabby also provides additional support to students who need a little more one-on-one assistance. When there is down time, Gabby is able to read with students and learn more about them, giving them both an opportunity to build on their relationship. Recently, Gabrielle has been joined by two new Egan tutors, Dagney Hill and Anthony Okocha.
Nixon Elementary School (Hermosa)
Nixon is a community school that aims to support the family and not just the student. They offer GED and ESL classes to parents during the school day. The principal has monthly coffee chats that are open to parents to come with questions and
requests for support. In order to be more than a bilingual school and embrace culture as well, Nixon has Family Heritage Nights to celebrate the diverse backgrounds of the families of their population.
Nixon has several after-school programs, including: homework help, band, yoga, dance, soccer, college readiness, and a daily program with Family Focus. Family Focus includes things like Spanish class, service learning, Lego builders, and science activities. Nixon is making strides with social emotional learning using a second step curriculum, a behavior health team and implementing restorative justice techniques.
Tutors from DePaul provide support throughout the day and during after school programming. Currently, they are in 2nd, 3rd, and 6th grade classrooms focusing on math and reading. After school, they help with band and Family Focus programming.
In addition to the Partnership with the Egan Office, Nixon partners with DePaul in several ways. In collaboration with the Steans Center and the Egan Office, the School of Nursing places student nurses at Nixon. DePaul also provides mental health services at the school. Nixon's community partners include Family Focus, Urban Initiatives, the Hermosa Neighborhood Association, and Communities in Schools.
School Community Organizers
Rosanna Cordero
rcorder4@depaul.edu
School Community Organizer
Lakeitta Harris
laharris09@gmail.com
Kevin Amaro
amarokevin@yahoo.com
Lexie Fisher
lexiefisher3@gmail.com
School Community Organizer
Paul Pearson
phpearson10@yahoo.com
School Community Organizer
Jumpstart Preschool Partners
Jumpstart Corps members implement the Jumpstart curriculum in preschool classrooms across the country and serve as an aid to teachers. Corps members serve on a team with 5-7 peers and work directly with a local Jumpstart staff member on training, session planning, service opportunities, and more. A typical Jumpstart session follows this routine: Welcome, Reading, Circle Time, Center Time, Let’s Find Out About It, and Sharing and Goodbye.
Jumpstart Team
Jeanette Estrada
jestrad8@depaul.edu
Jumpstart Site Manager
Genevieve Spina
gspina@depaul.edu
Jumpstart Graduate Program Assistant
Isabel Gomez
igomez7@depaul.edu
Jumpstart Program Assistant
Elizabeth Carrillo
ecarrill13@depaul.edu
Jumpstart Program Assisstant
Judy Rogel
rogel97@yahoo.com
Eleora Lebre
elebre@depaul.edu
Jumpstart Volunteer Coordinator
2653 Ogden Ave, Chicago, IL 60608
https://www.gadshillcenter.org/
Erie Neighborhood House
1701 W Superior St, Chicago, IL 60622
https://www.eriehouse.org/
1919 S Ashland Ave, Chicago, IL 60608
https://saintpiusv.org/
Lawndale Community Academy
3500 W Douglas Blvd, Chicago, IL 60623
https://lawndalepanthers.org/
Steans Center for Community-Based Service Learning & Community Service Studies
2233 N. Kenmore Ave.
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Video Game Underworld
Category Archives: Age of Empires
Age of Empires: Age of Kings – NDS
Posted on November 10, 2014 by jplaj
If you’ve kept up with me for even a few months, you’ve probably noticed a pattern. I play a game, like it, and jump immediately to another game in the series. Or, perhaps, I hate the game and want to play something better. Either way, you can expect another Onimusha entry soon. Maybe another Castlevania, too. But not this week. This week I’ll jump back into the past and re-create historical battles without the need to tolerate people who truly believe the South will rise again. You may recall a few weeks ago when I wrote about Age of Empires: Age of Kings. I felt that between juggling the tasks of deforestation, trading resources like a gambling addict at the New York Stock Exchange, whipping lazy peasants like a plantation overseer, and constantly buffing out the hoof dents in and removing arrows from the skulls of my soldiers, I didn’t feel like I had any time to enjoy the game. So when I finished–yes, and I also read all the way through Moby Dick. I abuse myself that way–I did what I could to rectify my frustration; I played through the turn-based Age of Kings on the Nintendo DS.
Yes, “turn-based.” The words reviewers always spit out like an angry dilophosaurus, meant to imply something infantile, unrealistic and boring, while still gives them an opening for lavishing praises on Mario, which really does play as infantile, unrealistic and boring. Reviewers use the term “turn-based” to justify abandoning a Final Fantasy game after playing for thirty minutes and not getting a Call-of-Duty-esque rush of testosterone and a story premise they can sum up into ten words or less. If you haven’t yet picked up on the tone here, I don’t necessarily think games where the enemy patiently waits for you to bash in their teeth before they do unto you actually suffer directly because of that feature. Consider this retribution for panning Assassin’s Creed; now I have to defend something no one else likes. For starters, people who play chess and go take turns, and we commonly believe that geniuses play those games. Now think back to some of the real-time games you’ve played. Kingdom Hearts–do you ever use any strategy other than mashing the X button and occasionally healing? How about Smash Brothers or other fighting games. Do you actually know how to pull off the special moves, or do you just hit buttons and hope to get lucky?
Yup. Grid-based strategy. Like chess, but with trees and rivers.
See, players will usually do the simplest, easiest thing that accomplishes their goals. Real-time games usually give you a swift, basic attack that you can execute in a pinch. Think about it this way; a spider falls on you while taking a shower. Do you rationally think out a plan to improve the situation, or do you freak the hell out? Real-time games make players freak out. I don’t like that. I constantly have to explain to friends that button-mashing never works better than actually knowing how to play the game, and they never believe me, and then they play as Gannondorf and I play as Jigglypuff and I beat them into submission within moments. The PC version of Age of Kings employed the freak-out strategy, where building a proper economy, scoping out the terrain and developing a strategy often took a back seat to giving a sword to any man, woman, child, horse or hedgehog within sight and pushing them out one at a time to get slaughtered by the hoards of enemy Rohirrim Riding into my village, smashing and hacking and destroying everything in their path.
Wait…doesn’t my advisor’s name mean “Toilet” in Japanese?
The DS game, however (to actually discuss today’s topic), gives you both the time to plan out a strategy and the need to do so. In addition to campaigns where you build towns and mine resources to support your army, this game gives you missions with a set number of non-renewable troops and tells you, “Go get ‘em, tiger!” And of course, attacking your enemy directly inevitably results in a wall of bodies–and not the useful kind, like in “300“–and a serious reflection as to your career choice of famous historical warlord. Different missions offer different objectives–destroy a town center, defeat an enemy hero, capture relics, build a tent for Genghis Kahn and make sure no one sets it on fire–and a number of ways to accomplish those tasks.
Hero units make the game. While in the PC version, you only ever took control of Joan of Arc, every mission in the DS game gives you control of a hero, and gives those heroes a number of special powers that effect game play. Joan of Arc can heal, Richard the Lionhearted can make his archers shoot farther, and Saladin will occasionally chip in a few coins to help you save up for that camel you’ve always wanted. Regular units, while only the monks and villagers have special commands, each have their own characteristics or abilities that tailor their uses to specific strategies. Archers can attack from a distance, preventing a counterattack, but if attacked at close range they have very low defense. Pikemen have less attack power than swordsmen, but deal more damage to cavalry. Cavalry deals a lot of damage to most things, but loses strength against buildings. This keeps the gameplay variable, and the bonuses and handicaps mostly feel intuitive, but sometimes come off a little weird. While I appreciate the challenges in ripping down a castle with your bare hands from the back of a camel, I find it difficult to understand how a rock hurled from a trebuchet can rip through that castle like tin foil, but an infantry unit can take the same blow and walk it off with only minor bleeding.
The game, of course, retains its titular feature, “Aging Up.” In campaigns that require economy building, your production lines turn out shabby, brand X fighters, and only by sinking money–and for some reason, food–into research each day can you expect to give them better weapons, stronger armor, or more efficient training. With enough research, a player can advance to the next “age,” beginning in the dark age, then progressing through the feudal, castle, and into the imperial age. With each new age, new buildings become available and new research opportunities along with them. In the feudal age, for example, you can build a blacksmith, which doesn’t create any units, but can improve weapons and armor for your existing soldiers. Likewise, by the time you reach the castle age, you can found–and underfund–your very own university, just like a real national governor.
Uhh…yep. More screenshots. Unfortunately, you don’t often see much action.
Age of Kings follows a historical path–sort of–for the five main heroes; Saladin, Minamoto Yoshitsune, Genghis Kahn, Joan of Arc, and Richard the Lionhearted. Occasionally it has to include a note here and there stating that Minamoto never actually fought the Mongols, that Richard never took Jerusalem, or that Joan of Arc didn’t really win all that many battles. I understand that not a lot of people out there nerd out over Medieval history, but I do, and as much as I appreciate science fiction and fantasy, game developers rarely realize that their products don’t have to fall into one of the two default categories. Unfortunately, it doesn’t include all that many historical re-creations, and the post-game falls short of expectations so hard I think I heard all its bones shatter. By accomplishing challenge goals in the main game, you can unlock extra maps and a few scenario battles to set up hypothetical and partially randomized campaigns to play through. However, all the heroes must have suffered a few too many blows to the head in the main game because even on the hardest settings, enemies often forget to build, research, age up, or attack. Not so much battles anymore, these campaigns have all the difficulty of erasing low-quality chalk off a chalkboard (you young ‘uns should think “dried up ink on a white board.” But then go find some chalk.) These additional campaigns serve only to wean me off the game while simultaneously looking toward Age of Empires: Mythologies, but in the interest of getting through this stack of games I bought by never played, you don’t have to worry for a while.
Posted in Age of Empires, Nintendo DS, Tactics / Strategy | Tagged Age of Empires; NDS, Tactics/Strategy | Leave a comment
Age of Empires II: Age of Kings – PC
Posted on October 6, 2014 by jplaj
Don’t let the Asian guy on the right fool you: you have to get the expansion if you don’t want a completely Euro-centric game.
I don’t play computer games. Yes, I know I have a catch-all category for any non-console based game off to the right, and obviously I do indulge in them every so often, slipping from my healthy diet of games that don’t lag, crash, freeze or glitch in favor of a doughy, glazed-over donut of wonder built strictly for computers, but it takes a mighty powerful game to push me over that edge. And yes, maybe I only say that because for the second day in a row, Anne went to work without bringing in the tray full of delicious brownies caked in cookies and cream frosting that I know I can’t eat, but my point still stands; it takes an impressively good game for the voices in my head to overpower me and get me to break. (Maybe I’ll just go look at the brownies for a minute…) Maybe I just don’t play them, though, because I grew up with an NES, SNES and a PC that predated windows and had a 5.25“ floppy disk drive, and when a friend introduced me to Warcraft, I had to learn the hard way that it would take a few hundred of those suckers to fit all the data from the game CD.
I loved Warcraft. I liked anything with a fantasy setting, and I probably had never played a strategy game–now my favorite genre–prior to that. Plus it didn’t hurt that the summoned scorpions looked more like lobsters, appealing to that little insane voice in my head (which, by the way, still wants me to devour all the sugar in my kitchen). Unfortunately, I wouldn’t get my own computer with a CD drive until long past when Windows would let people see it out in public with Warcraft, and Blizzard dropped out of college and started hitting the gym because using words like “grind” and “crawl” made it more popular than if it challenged people to think. But on the upside, in a move proving that nerds will inherit the Earth if we believe in the power of extended metaphors, Microsoft moved in to take over the spot vacated by Blizzard, releasing their Age of Empires strategy games in the late nineties.
For some reason, you can’t build fire ships. The game just likes to watch you burn, I guess.
After finding a collection of the first two games along with their expansions hiding unappreciated in a Goodwill, I jumped immediately to Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings. Having played the NDS spin-off already, I knew I wanted the version which, presumably, had a little more gusto. And, see, that might have ruined the game for me. The Age of Kings scored ungodly high marks in reviews, averaging about a 9.2 out of 10. It does have a lot going for it, but comparing it to the DS version, it had the organization of a bathtub full of Legos.
Maybe I should start with its better qualities, though. The game basically operates like the original Warcraft games; you use peasants to farm, mine for gold, and build military buildings and defenses. These support your war effort, allowing you to train different types of soldiers, which all have unique stats that make them more or less effective depending on enemy soldiers. From there, you have to interact with the terrain to accomplish goals, usually which involve not a small amount of murder and/or mayhem. Think urban planning with medieval combat. You know–if Sim City let you pillage other players’ towns.
Quoting Star Wars eight centuries before it became cool.
The major addition, though, that Microsoft made when stripping away any potential copyright infringement, gives the series its name. Sort of. Battles progress through a sort of time. You start off most battles in the Dark Ages, and as you build your society, each building lets you research technology that will help your marauding. With enough advancement–and a hefty down payment of food and gold, you can “age up” to the next period in time, which will make new construction and research options available for your disposal, as well as giving you the option to beef up your current forces. Flawless system. Pure genius. Well, it does stretch the imagination a bit. Yes, we know that between games, Link, Samus, et al. have to get stripped of all their equipment, forget all adventuring know-how and sit on the couch eating Doritos until they can no longer perform even the simplest of sword-thrusts or beam-blasts. But that all happens on a personal level, between adventures–half the time this happens between consoles. Yet somehow, Saladin, Islam’s greatest military mind, can conquer Jerusalem, then happens to forget that his soldiers can sit on a horse? Eh. Whatever. Game mechanics. Suspension of disbelief.
Look carefully and you’ll see a well-placed sheep contributing to the demise of this building.
But that brings up one of my major beefs in transitioning from the DS AoE to the Windows version. The DS filled you in on historical notes, putting you into the context of history and flushing out the moves of some pretty big names from history–not to mention giving you that character for use in each campaign. The Windows version…not so much. Not only does this make the game less interesting, but in order to let the player win, they kind of had to rewrite history. Joan of Arc didn’t succeed quite as much as AoE lets you believe, but no one wants to take an arrow to the eye for the sake of reenacting history–just ask anyone wearing a Confederate Army uniform in the 21st century. While the DS game will fill you in on these details after the battle, the Windows version lets you remain in a blissful state of believing whatever you want, enforcing yet another generation of people who think climate change is a myth, George W Bush attacked the World Trade Center, and that Barack Obama forged his birth certificate and wants to take away our guns to declare himself king. But as most political turmoil caused by William Wallace or Genghis Kahn has more or less petered out, that remains an irritation easily overlooked.
I did struggle with the difficulty. I started the game on the easy setting and it coddled me with the tenderness of an angry dominatrix with nipple clips, a bull whip, and a large supply of hot wax. I didn’t want to crank it down to “easiest,” but it felt excessively time-consuming and replaced free-thinking strategy with a puzzle–“How does the game expect me to turn back this onslaught without winding up as a puddle of goo on these rocks?” The difficulty ramps up even more since rather than handling the traditional two resources that Warcraft, Starcraft, and the DS AoE requires, they expect you to juggle food, gold, wood and stone like you want to join the Cirque du Soleil of feudal combat. Harvesting each resource permanently ties up a peasant, which wouldn’t complicate things all that much, but the resources don’t last forever, and the peasants don’t quite have the brainpower to plant new turnips after eating the old ones, so they require constant attention in order to prevent any slacking off in your ranks. The game includes a button that will jump the screen immediately to the next idle villager, a gesture about as welcome as a hooker who gives you a bottle of penicillin and a warning that you might want to get checked out. I found myself waiting for them to introduce an idle soldier button or an idle siege unit button, but apparently they didn’t think the player would want to find these things quite as much as lazy farmers.
Uhh…well, Wine gets all weird when I try to take screenshots, but they all look alike anyway, so what does it matter?
On the easiest setting, I still wasted countless hours upon each campaign, but I felt like I got to be creative with my strategy, play off the terrain, and solve problems in more than the single method Microsoft had envisioned. It usually ended up as some sort of variation of: 1) Build to Imperial Age, 2) Build trebuchets, 3) Move trebuchets forward slowly using other units to protect it. The trebuchets, while having the largest range and destructive force of any unit in the game, had a tendency to behave like frightened puppies. “Go over there,” I’d tell them. “Attack that castle.” Then I’d come back after slapping some sense into a peasant standing in the middle of an empty farm and find the trebuchet moving slowly, but confidently in the other direction.
Despite its immaculate ratings, the game suffers in comparison to the DS version, which lets you play with the heroes, focus on strategy instead of urban planning, and take your time to set your pieces into place–yes, I know most real wars happen in real time, but most real generals don’t have to issue individual commands to each soldier at all times. I like the turn-based features. Age of Kings might gray your hair with its difficulty, but I have to remind myself that all good strategy games do that at first, so you may want to put up with sleepless nights and clenched teeth for a little while, if you like this sort of thing.
Posted in Age of Empires, Android, Mac, other non-consoles, PC | Tagged Age of Empires, PC | Leave a comment
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Tag: rockfest records
Random Hero’s ‘Tension’ Rises To #1
on January 15, 2020 January 15, 2020 By Matt Durlin
"Tension," the latest single from fan-favorite rockers Random Hero, is currently the #1 Christian rock song in the country, according to Christian Music Weekly's January 8 Rock chart. The title-cut and lead single from the band’s 2019 RockFest Records debut, "Tension" chronicles a season of change for the group while offering encouragement for those navigating life’s unavoidable obstacles.
Zahna Announces New Tour
on January 10, 2020 January 10, 2020 By Mary Nikkel
Zahna has announced Drown: The Tour for March 2020, playing shows with Raviner.
The Persuaded Gallery | November 2019
on December 8, 2019 December 8, 2019 By Mary Nikkel
The Persuaded performed as part of a special show at The End in Nashville with Rockfest Records labelmates The Protest. All photography by Mary Nikkel.
The Persuaded Announces Drummer Change
on November 8, 2019 November 8, 2019 By Mary Nikkel
This week, Rockfest Records band The Persuaded announced that drummer Trent Russell will be stepping down. Stephen Cannon will be stepping in to fill the role of drummer.
Random Hero Announces Addition of Micah Labrosse
on September 17, 2019 September 17, 2019 By Mary Nikkel
Last week, Random Hero officially announced the addition of guitarist Micah Labrosse.
Random Hero Talks Tension
on August 28, 2019 August 28, 2019 By Mary Nikkel
In this in-depth interview, Random Hero takes us behind the album Tension, what the creative process looked like, how the got connected to Rockfest Records, and what their heart is for you-- the listener.
Random Hero Makes Peace With ‘Tension’
on August 23, 2019 August 23, 2019 By Mary Nikkel 1 Comment
Random Hero navigates these tracks musically as one tight unit, each song hitting every mark it aims for. Lyrically, there's an honesty that has always been a Random Hero hallmark. If you're trying to learn how to live in the tension, to find peace, to hold onto hope-- Tension reassures you that you're not alone, and you've got songs to walk with you until you reach the other side.
Random Hero: “Tension” Acoustic Performance and Story Behind the Song
Random Hero performed the track "Tension" from their upcoming album of the same name for Rock On Purpose. You can find Tension on all major digital retailers August 23, including Spotify and Apple Music.
Finding Light Through The Haze: ‘In The Dark’ By Silversyde
on July 31, 2019 July 31, 2019 By Matt Durlin
In The Dark is an album full of catchy melodies that serve as an invitation to sing along in worship, while providing plenty of rock and roll goodness. Silversyde delivers a performance that is full of passion and provides "wow" moments musically and lyrically that will leave listeners in higher spirits.
The Persuaded: Behind ‘Dawn of Destruction’
on July 7, 2019 July 7, 2019 By Mary Nikkel
We talked with The Persuaded about their debut Rockfest Records album, Dawn of Destruction, and the way that a heart for the suicidal, depressed, and broken informs everything the band does.
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Praxis Series
Pedagogies
Reviews & Receptions
About RC
Romantic Circles has moved! It also has a new look. Find out more about our move, redesign, and plans for the future here.
Romantic Circles
A refereed scholarly Website devoted to the study of Romantic-period literature and culture
< The Collected Letters of Robert Southey, Part Five
2913. Robert Southey to John Rickman, [c. 2 February 1817]
2913. Robert Southey to John Rickman, [c. 2 February 1817] *
My dear R.
I like your hint about the New Times, & write therefore to Bedford for the MS. in which alone the mutilated facts exist. There is stout preachment there about the wisdom of expenditure, – at which faint hearts were frightened. [1] But they suffered the text to stand that it was the power of the democracy which had increased &c –. [2]
This note to Wakefield [3] is in reply to an offer made thro him by Lord Sheffield of papers respecting the operations in the South of Spain. [4]
* Endorsement: RS/ Febry 2 1817
MS: Huntington Library, RS 310. ALS; 1p.
Unpublished.
Dating note: Dating from endorsement BACK
[1] Southey’s article ‘Parliamentary Reform’, Quarterly Review, 16 (October 1816), 225–278 argued strongly for the value of increased government expenditure to the economy (277–278), but Southey indicates more of his argument was cut out. Rickman had suggested Southey should make the same point at greater length and without editorial censorship in the new pro-government newspaper, The New Times (1817–1828). BACK
[2] ‘At present it is the influence of the democracy which has increased, is increasing, and ought to be diminished’, ‘Parliamentary Reform’, Quarterly Review, 16 (October 1816), 252. BACK
[3] Possibly Edward Wakefield (1774–1854; DNB), philanthropist and statistician. BACK
[4] For Southey’s reply see his letter to John Baker Holroyd, 1st Earl of Sheffield, 8 May 1817, Letter 2990. BACK
Rickman, John (1771–1840)
People mentioned
Bedford, Grosvenor Charles (1773–1839) (mentioned 1 time)
Holroyd, John Baker, 1st Earl of Sheffield (1735–1821) (mentioned 1 time)
The Collected Letters of Robert Southey, Part Five
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General Editors
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Technical Editor:
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About Romantic Circles
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Rare opportunity, rare experience
The only way I can think to describe President Obama’s speech is to say that it was exactly like a rock concert.
I have been to countless other events at the Summerfest Grounds, which is where Obama’s speech took place, but to my surprise, this wasn’t much different.
Thanks to the organization of Royal Purple Multimedia Editor Paul Usher, I was able to join four other editors in attending Obama’s campaign re-election speech last Saturday as an official member of the media.
Walking onto the Summerfest Grounds was pure craziness. People were lined up from the door all the way around the block by 10:30 a.m., five hours before the scheduled speech.
As we walked through the first gate, Gillian Morris, the Obama campaign’s Wisconsin press secretary, greeted us. When we told her we were students from UW-Whitewater, she said she was so happy with the amount of student coverage the speech was getting.
Commentary by Abbey Bowen
Spotlight Editor
We were then escorted to an empty Marcus Amphitheater. The only things visible were an American flag, the podium and a huge “Forward” Obama campaign sign. We all started snapping pictures on our phones and sending them to friends and family.
At that point, it hadn’t hit me that I was going to see the president of the United States in a few hours. I kept saying, “this is not real life.”
Lucky for me, however, it was real. After dropping off equipment and a long coffee break, we arrived back at the grounds and waited by the press gate. Once allowed in, we were searched by the Secret Service and given credentials, which were large name tags reading “The White House Press Pool.”
We walked into the theater behind barricades put in place specifically for the media. It made me feel so official. Crowd members were even stopped by the volunteers so we could walk by.
Many spectators were wearing shirts with an image of the iconic “HOPE” poster created by Shepard Fairey, which represented Obama’s 2008 campaign. I even saw a woman who was wearing a shirt picturing the entire Obama family. She also had a handbag with four pictures of the Obamas transferred onto cloth and sewn together.
Crowd members slowly erupted in applause when Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., walked into their view. However, this didn’t even compare to the roar of the crowd when the car Obama was in passed the back stage.
The speech was opened with a prayer, and many speakers led up to Obama’s appearance including Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, D-Wis.
When the time came for Obama to walk on stage, an outside listener would’ve thought that John and George of The Beatles had been reincarnated and joined Paul and Ringo. Supporters were screaming, clapping and yelling. One audience member even fainted as Obama took the stage.
Obama began by shouting, “hello, Wisconsin,” which the crowd responded with a roar of applause.
In his speech, Obama covered many controversial issues including healthcare reforms, changes in schools, the creation of jobs and other changes the country has seen under his presidency and will see with his re-election.
At one point, he went over his successes and said, “a new tower rises in New York City and Osama Bin Laden is dead.” The audience responded by chanting, “U.S.A, U.S.A, U.S.A.”
It was an incredible atmosphere to be a part of. You could tell everyone in attendance truly had “HOPE” in Obama, and whole-heartedly felt he was the best person to lead the country. It was surreal to see so many people united under one goal.
After the speech, we were able to catch members of the crowd as they left and got their reactions.
Everyone we talked to said they enjoyed Obama’s speech and agreed with the topics he covered.
All in all, seeing Obama and acting as a professional member of the media was an incredible experience I will not soon forget.
I’m so thankful I was given this opportunity, and I am so happy I got to share it with other members of the Royal Purple editorial staff.
Gillian Morris
Herb Kohl
Marcus Ampitheatre
Milwaukee Mayor
Paul Usher
rare experience
Rare opportunity
Sen.
Summerfest Grounds
Tammy Baldwim
The White House Press Pool
The Royal Purple encourages readers to voice their opinions via the online comments section. Comments may be monitored for appropriateness and viewer safety. If a comment is harassing, threatening or inappropriate in nature, it may be taken down with editor's discretion.
The burning history of Old Main Hall
Kudy term comes to an end
VP becomes new president
UW-W pumps millions into area economy
The battle of the plows, the city and complaints
New hall gets a name
Whitewater City Market moves indoors
We need to #HugMore
Warhawks flock back to UW-W
LEAP into student success
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'Souls Comprehensive Roleplay Guide
An in-depth guide to ideas, concepts, and other information related to roleplaying at 'Souls RPG!
About Guide
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Home » ‘Soulsverse » Realism
First Check…
‘Souls Resources
Ask ‘Souls!
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‘Souls is not a fantasy-styled game. With the exception of obvious scientific liberties where our Luperci are concerned and minor allowances for supernatural specters, most elements of the game can be considered semi-realistic. Members should account for realism wherever possible, whether considering character history, personality, skills, companions, travel, or whatever else.
No one wants research-paper quality citations for every roleplaying post — but if you want to do something particularly outlandish, a bit of research and investigation is necessary. So, how do you roleplay realistically? The following resources can help with virtually all your realism-check needs!
The Roleplay Information forum contains the must-know information about the game — from the Procedures to the FAQ, there’s a lot of information here.
This RP Guide addresses many core aspects of the game in-depth, providing answers and reference material for the many common roleplay scenarios at ‘Souls.
The ‘Souls Wiki provides many more detailed guides for a wider variety of concerns and situations, as well as the overarching ‘Soulsverse.
‘Souls resources are there so you can check them later. After over a decade of roleplay, you probably are not the first person to consider a given scenario. Poke around to see what others have discovered for you!
As cute as this is, it’d be nearly impossible for a Luperci to 1) find a gas mask intended for canines in usable condition, 2) know what it’s used for.
If you can’t find what you’re looking for amongst ‘Souls materials, Wikipedia is an amazing resource that provides a lot of basic information — many of our materials cite Wikipedia as a source anyway! If Wikipedia itself is not enough, its articles often provide sources. Scroll to the bottom of an article and click some links. You’ll find accredited sources and random web pages alike, but maybe one of them has what you need!
Just Google it! Scientists have studied some pretty weird stuff, and you can find a scientific source — research papers, scientific journals, or e-zine articles — for many things. Be careful when looking over question/answer sites though. Remember that anyone can provide answers on such sites, and they’re not necessarily accredited sources — some may even be providing wrong information for a laugh!
Ask in the Questions and Help forum if you’re really stumped. Often, someone will assist you, or at least point you in the right direction for research. Many folks are quite willing to evaluate the realism of ideas and can provide a quick response. This option is great when, for example, you’ve already determined if your idea is possible within a post-apocalyptic world, but you’re not sure if it’s something a Luperci would do, or if you’re concerned about the idea’s relevance to ‘Souls in particular.
It’s best if you come to the Questions and Help forum with a bit of your own research already done — don’t expect others to do all the work for you!
If you’re trying to determine whether or not it is realistic for a Luperci to engage in a certain behavior or whether they can have a particular skill, you can ask yourself a series of questions to help come to a proper conclusion.
Does it make sense for a canine to do this?
Luperci are canines at heart — they don’t necessarily enjoy or care about the same things as humans. Luperci are not naturally inclined towards advanced subjects like physics, chemistry, astronomy, etc. Their understanding of the world is not as advanced as a modern human. Many may outright reject true, scientific explanations of things.
Example: A Luperci with no horse experience will look at a feral horse as dinner, not a pack animal!
Example: A Luperci might pick up literature on germs, and reject said literature for a simpler explanation of “bad spirits” or “bad blood.”
Are Luperci physically capable of doing this?
Some things are simply uncomfortable for a Luperci to do, if not impossible. Some things takes more dexterity and finesse than Luperci have — other things are not possible with a Luperci’s body shape. Luperci are simply not physically capable of the same exact things as humans — with their thick fingers more suited to tear and pull than hold small instruments and place tiny parts.
Example: Wearing human-made clothes without special tailoring isn’t impossible for Luperci — but it is extremely uncomfortable for them to do so. Doing so may impair balance and speed.
Example: An extremely tall, heavy Luperci not be able to safely explore city ruins as well as a shorter, lighter canine.
Why would a Luperci want to do this?
Some things are just things Luperci wouldn’t want to do. There’s no reason for them to do it — or it’s too dangerous to do without a seriously good reason.
Example: Running water and interior plumbing inside of a home. Luperci are canines and are perfectly capable of drinking from a muddy puddle or dirty creek. It’s possible Luperci would use running water for irrigation purposes, or to have a constant supply of fresh water nearby the home. However, it’s unlikely Luperci would ever have a use for complex interior plumbing systems within their homes (and therefore unlikely they’d ever develop).
Example: Bungee jumping and skydiving, or other extreme sports where severe injury is common. Luperci may do extreme things in the course of survival — but without advanced medicine, Luperci are highly unlikely to place themselves in positions where injury may occur.
Books are a valid way of learning, but receiving mentorship from a teacher is usually better!
Where did my character get this knowledge?
Many Luperci can read, but there’s no reason for a Luperci to trust everything they read, and theoretical knowledge is not the same as experience. Some skills are best learned via apprenticeship, spoken word, experimentation, and so forth. Magically acquiring a skill is not possible. Like real canines, Luperci are born knowing how to suckle their mothers for milk and little else. Every skill beyond this must be taught and learned. Though wolves are instinctively inclined to hunt, even these basic survival skills are refined by parents and through young learning.
Example: If you want your character to repair a lightning rod on a building — hold on! How do they know what a lightning rod is and what it’s used for? How do they know how to install it? How do they know what materials to use? How do they know how to make it? There are a lot of questions involved in even tasks that seem relatively simple.
How advanced is my character’s skill level?
Most skills — including “basics” like reading, writing, and how to ride a horse — often require years of studious apprenticeship and study to master. Natural talent and inclination to engage in a particular skill doesn’t mean the character is instantly capable of comprehending everything about that particular skill — even if the character is naturally good at something, they’ll still need time to refine their skills and they should still make mistakes along the way.
Example: It’s not feasible for a Luperci to read a book and become an expert glass or metalworker. This skill in particular requires a lot of practice before you even make a working item, let alone a good, useful item. Having a mentor and sharing knowledge can speed up the process somewhat, but experimentation and experience are still necessary.
Example: It’s not feasbile for a Luperci to become a Metalworker in less than a few years. Some skills simply take a lot of time and dedication, especially when they are already rare in the Luperci world.
This guy doesn’t look like he’s going to pick up swinging a sword anytime soon!
Is it technologically possible for Luperci to do this?
Some human technologies are simply impossible for Luperci to use: studies of advanced, rare phenomenon (electricity, engines, chemicals, etc.) are extremely rare — as well as limited (e.g., theoretical studies only). For those rare few canines who do study these rare things — they are highly unlikely to uproot and move to a relatively “backwater” place such as ‘Souls — they’d stay put and keep practicing their skills! So it’s very unlikely a canine would study these things in the first place, and canines who do study these things are even less likely to show up at ‘Souls.
Example: It’s simply not possible for Luperci to have working electricity, nor is it possible for them to synthesize advanced chemicals. Canines lack the infrastructure to have electric grids and power, as well as the knowledge to repair said grids. Advanced chemicals require processes unknown to Luperci.
The technology available to a given Luperci depends a lot on their location and upbringing. Most Luperci populations in the Americas remain relatively feral, though some have begun adapting to more humanized lifestyles and learning to use tools and techniques brought over by European traders and explorers.
Many Luperci-made tools correspond to those from the Neolithic period. However, the most advanced populations may be capable of using scavenged or partially scavenged technologies from the Bronze Age through the Middle Ages. More humanized Luperci lifestyles may involve responsibilities like raising livestock, growing crops, and building homes.
One thing to keep in mind is the fact that it has only been about twenty years since Luperci came into existence with the ability to stand on two legs and use opposable thumbs. This is not really enough time for Luperci to either 1) develop significant technology on their own, or 2) learn how to read human texts and find an intact written source to learn from and actually learn that skill.
Human knowledge has accumulated for centuries and we take many aspects of our knowledge for granted. Fundamental concepts in many sciences are obvious to us — we know that gravity exists (physics), we know that heat softens metals (chemistry), we know that plants contain both helpful and harmful components (biology) — but they are things that a canine would not know innately, so they are things a Luperci would need to learn before doing things like mastering projectile weapons (physics) or metalworking (chemistry) or creating medicines from plants (biology).
Advanced technology, including electricity, synthesis of chemicals, etc. is not permitted.
‘Souls does give a fair bit of leniency in regards to these points — after all, how long did it take for you to learn how to read? And how many years of reading did it take before you could really comprehend writing on things like plant biology and raising livestock? Before you could understand enough to try to apply the knowledge? At least ten years, right? Probably more?
Luperci, even with their lengthened lifespans, do not live very long compared to humans. As such, they do learn and pick things up at a faster pace, but faster does not mean immediately, and mere comprehension on a subject does not equate expert knowledge or skill. Over time, as younger Luperci grow up in communities which have already adapted to some level of humanized normalcy, the learning curve for many skills, like reading, may diminish. All the same, it bears repeating that Luperci are still canines, and the ceiling to their desire and ability to become more humanized may not be far off.
Last updated: February 9, 2014
No external links. :(
Realism Member Guide
'Souls Tumblr Realism Tag
'Souls Help
Overwhelmed? Start with the Quick and Dirty Guide to 'Souls and read more from there!
Questions? Check the FAQ, then try the Questions and Help forum. If you're still lost, contact a member of staff!
© 2001 - 2020 'Souls RPG. All rights reserved.
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FROM SMALL CAGE BACK TO FOREST FREEDOM, ORANGUTAN THRIVING
News provided by Orangutan Foundation on Wednesday 11th Oct 2017
“Each orphaned infant we rescue represents the loss of the forest. Rescuing and caring for orphaned orangutans will never be enough.
London, United Kingdom – 11th October 2017. It is wonderful that orphaned orangutans can be rescued and released back to the wild but we must not forget it is their forest home that really needs protection, cautions UK wildlife charity, Orangutan Foundation.
Two-year-old orphaned orangutan Mona was being kept in a small cage, as a pet, before she was rescued and handed over to the Orangutan Foundation. How she became a pet is unknown but it is highly likely her mother was killed in the process.
Despite this tragic start in life, Mona is now thriving. She joined a handful of other orphaned orangutans undergoing a ‘soft-release’ programme in a protected wildlife reserve in Central Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo. Mona enjoys playing in the forest with the other orangutans, especially Nyunyu, an orphan who was rescued after being found chained up by the neck.
This soft-release programme is a unique approach by Orangutan Foundation. Unlike most orangutan rescue centres, it is small and individualised, only caring for up to 12 apes at a time. The apes spend their day in the same forest where they will eventually be fully released. The aim is to get the young apes fully back to wild as soon as they are ready.
Most of the orphaned orangutans learn the skills needed to survive in the wild, such as nest-building, within a few years and can be fully released. Two orangutans, Jessica and Ketty, were fully released in June. But, as soon as one is gone another orphan takes their place. Bumi entered the soft-release programme after being kept as a pet. When examined, the Orangutan Foundation’s vet found small bullets embedded in his body, presumably a result of being caught in the crossfire when his mother was shot.
The loss of forest habitat and food sources is forcing wild orangutans to come ever closer to humans, which frequently ends up with orangutans being injured or killed. Ashley Leiman OBE, director of the Orangutan Foundation is concerned that the real message is being lost.
“Each orphaned infant we rescue represents the loss of the forest. Rescuing and caring for orphaned orangutans will never be enough. The only way to halt the decline of this critically endangered species is to protect their habitat.”
Ms Leiman continued, “Our priority is to keep the forests standing and orangutans in the wild. We need to prevent orangutans from becoming orphaned in the first place. The way to do this is to protect their habitat.”
It will be a few years until Mona, Nyunyu and Bumi are fully returned to the wild. To ensure they have a future in the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve, home to 500 critically endangered orangutans plus thousands of other species, the Orangutan Foundation’s team of committed Indonesian staff continually guard and protect the 158,000 acre forest reserve.
For further information please contact Orangutan Foundation
Ashley Leiman OBE, Director/Trustee, +44 (0) 20 7724 2912 or ashley@orangutan.orguk
Cathy Smith, Head of Development, 07791 168986 or cathy@orangutan.org.uk
High resolution images can be downloaded from Dropbox here: http://bit.ly/2y4x4jq
or www.orangutan.org.uk/current-news/photo-gallery
Notes to the editors
Orangutan Foundation is a UK registered charity established in 1990. It works in Indonesian Borneo to protect the critically endangered orangutan by protecting their tropical forest habitat, working with local communities and promoting research and education. It recognises that orangutan habitat is unique in its richness of biodiversity and is crucial for local communities, who are as dependant on the forest as is the orangutan.
The Foundation’s work is focused towards Central Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo. In collaboration with the Indonesian government’s Conservation Authority (BKSDA), the Orangutan Foundation runs a release site for translocated wild orangutans and rescued orangutans requiring soft-release in the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve.
www.orangutan.org.uk
Press release distributed by Pressat on behalf of Orangutan Foundation, on Wednesday 11 October, 2017. For more information subscribe and follow https://pressat.co.uk/
Orangutan Orphaned Infants Borneo Indonesia Deforestation Rescue Wildlife Charities & non-profits Children & Teenagers Environment & Nature Farming & Animals Leisure & Hobbies Lifestyle & Relationships Travel & Tourism
Orangutan Foundation
cathy@orangutan.org.uk
http://www.orangutan.org.uk/
Ashley Leiman ashley@orangutan.org.uk
Photograph of Mona back in the forest. Credit Orangutan Foundation
Photograph of orangutan, Mona's rescue. Credit Orangutan Foundation
* For more information regarding media usage, ownership and rights please contact Orangutan Foundation.
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ELECTORATE OFFICES:
Meet Rick
About O’Connor
What We’ve Delivered
Committee to examine technological advancement in agriculture
By Bethany Findlay | August 17, 2015
The House of Representatives Agriculture and Industry Committee will conduct an inquiry into agricultural innovation. Member of the Agriculture and Industry Committee and Federal Member for O’Connor Rick Wilson MP welcomed the referral of this inquiry from the Minister for Agriculture the Hon Barnaby Joyce MP. Mr Wilson said Australian farmers have always…
Indigenous Advancements Strategy rolls out in Narrogin
Community Arts Network (CAN) WA will receive $200,000 over two years under the Australian Government’s Indigenous Advancement Strategy (IAS) grant round to deliver a project in Narrogin aimed at increasing school attendance that will improve outcomes for First Australians. Federal Member for O’Connor Rick Wilson MP said CANWA’s project will deliver demonstrable benefits for…
Funding for Indigenous aged care in Wanarn
The Australian Government is providing the Ngaanyatjarra Health Service Aboriginal Corporation with more than $1.1 million for capital works upgrades and the construction of accommodation for aged care workers in the Wanarn community. Federal Member for O’Connor Rick Wilson MP said this funding is part of a $10.8 million investment in critical staff accommodation…
Calling for local people and local projects for the Green Army
Federal Member for O’Connor Rick Wilson MP is calling for more local people to join the Green Army to work on local projects that will make a real difference to our environment. Applications for projects under Round four of the Green Army programme are now open. Mr Wilson said we want local people…
TO NEWS HOME
GRANT CHANGES TO ALLOW MORE COMMEMORATIVE PROJECTS TO BE FUNDED IN O’CONNOR
STEP UP IN DROUGHT BUDGET SUPPORT
Safer and Better Roads for O’Connor
Activists face jail
PROMOTION FOR MP
I was inspired to run for Parliament following my involvement in a decade-long campaign to deregulate the wheat industry, which brought about the end of the Australia Wheat Board’s monopoly.
“I stand proudly for the Liberal philosophy of free markets, vigorous competition, small government and individual responsibility. These are the principles that guide me in my life and in this place. My track record in public life shows clearly that I am prepared to stand up for those principles.”
“To the electors of O'Connor, I reiterate the commitment that I have made to work tirelessly on your behalf, to always be frank and honest about the challenges we face, and to work cooperatively and collaboratively to improve the lives of the people who live in the greatest part of the greatest nation on earth”
– Rick Wilson MP Maiden Speech.
RICK WILSON MP
Authorised by Rick Wilson MP,
WA Liberal Party, 345 Hannan
Street Kalgoorlie WA 6430
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More efficient and safer: How drones are changing the workplace
by Jonathan Downey - June 23, 2017
Advances in robotics and AI have led to modern commercial drone technology, which is changing the fundamental way enterprises interact with the world. Drones bridge the physical and digital worlds. They enable companies to combine the power of scalable computing resources with pervasive, affordable sensors that can go anywhere. This creates an environment in which businesses can make quick, accurate decisions based on enormous datasets derived from the physical world.
Indoor show drones make history on Broadway
by Christian Hoffmann - June 14, 2017
Photo: Cirque du Soleil – PARAMOUR on Broadway – at the Lyric Theatre. Featuring Flying Machine Design and Choreography by Verity Studios. Pictured: Ruby Lewis as ‘Indigo’ Ryan Vona as ‘Joey’. ©, Cirque du Soleil Theatrical. Photo by: Richard Termine
Over the past year, 398 audiences of up to 2,000 people witnessed an octet of colorful lampshades perform an airborne choreography during Cirque du Soleil’s Broadway show Paramour, which ran until April 20th. The work behind the design and choreography of the flying lampshades, which turn out to be self-piloted show drones, bears the signature of the Swiss high-tech company Verity Studios.
But how novel is it really that robots have appeared in theater? Since Karel Capek’s science fiction play R.U.R. (short for Rossum’s Universal Robots) introduced the word “robot” to the English language and to science fiction almost 100 years ago, the technical challenges of incorporating robots into live performance and theater have been difficult to master. Before these Broadway drones, nearly all theater robots were remote-controlled puppets, relying on humans hidden off-scene to steer their movements and provide their intelligence.
Engineers design drones that can stay aloft for five days
by MIT News - June 9, 2017
New design could provide communication support in disaster zones.
Drones land back to Earth at Xponential 2017
by Oliver Mitchell - May 15, 2017
PhoneDrone Ethos, Kickstarter campaign. Credit: xCraft/YouTube
JD Claridge’s story epitomizes the current state of the drone industry. Claridge, founder of xCraft, is best known for being the first contestant on Shark Tank to receive money from all the Sharks – even Kevin O’Leary! Walking the floor of Xponential 2017, the annual convention of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems Integration (AUVSI), Claridge remarked to me how the drone industry has grown up since his TV appearance.
The Drone Center’s Weekly Roundup: 4/10/17
by Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College - April 10, 2017
The Weekly Drone Roundup is a newsletter from the Center for the Study of the Drone. It covers news, commentary, analysis and technology from the drone world.
Collaborating machines and avoiding soil compression
Environment-Agriculture
by John Payne - March 17, 2017
Image: Swarmfarm
Soil compression can be a serious problem, but it isn’t always, or in all ways, a bad thing. For example, impressions made by hoofed animals, so long as they only cover a minor fraction of the soil surface, create spaces in which water can accumulate and help it percolate into the soil more effectively, avoiding erosion runoff.
The Drone Center’s Weekly Roundup: 3/6/17
by Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College - March 6, 2017
Lady Gaga, 300 Intel drones, and the Super Bowl
by Frank Tobe - February 7, 2017
Lady Gaga performing at Super bowl LI Source: NFL/YouTube
Three hundred drones flashed their colored lights and created a flying American flag as Lady Gaga sang a blend of “God Bless America” and “This Land Is Your Land” to 160 million viewers of the Super Bowl. Oh, and two football teams played into overtime, and the final score was 34 to 28.
Parrot struggling, Lily fails and Google closes Titan Project as drone industry disunites
by Frank Tobe - January 13, 2017
Toy and entertainment drones, camera drones for professional and business use, moon-shot drones and military drones are all becoming more and more distinct as much of the drone industry gets commoditized. Prices are dropping even as impressive new features are added. It’s a difficult time in the drone business.
UPDATED 1/13/2017: SF District Attorney files false advertising suit against Lily Robotics. Details added below.
A drone that flies (almost) like a bird
by NCCR Robotics - December 16, 2016
Source: École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)
Bioinspired robots that take their designs from biology has been a big research area in recent years, but a team from NCCR Robotics, Floreano Lab have just gone one step further and designed a feathered drone to fully replicate the agile flight of birds.
Lofty goals crash land while B2B drones prosper
by Frank Tobe - November 15, 2016
Credit: Aeryon labs inc.
Key executives leaving (or were requested to leave) Goggle’s drone delivery Project Wing; GoPro recalls all of its newly launched Karma drones and doesn’t offer a replacement; DJI slashes prices. What’s going on?
Report examines China’s expansion into unmanned industrial, service, and military robotics systems
Military-Defense
by Robohub Editors - November 3, 2016
In October, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission released a report, China’s Industrial and Military Robotics Development, prepared by the Defense Group, Inc. at the Commission’s request. The report examines the development of China’s unmanned industrial, service, and military robotics systems, such as drones and driverless cars, and the economic and national security implications of these trends for the United States.
No GPS, no problem: Next-generation navigation
Mapping-Surveillance
by Sarah Nightingale - October 28, 2016
UC Riverside Team is developing a navigation system that uses existing cellular signals, not GPS, and will support autonomous vehicle development
The changing landscape of drone funding
by Frank Tobe - October 26, 2016
CB Insights Drone Quarterly Financing Trends to VC-Backed Companies shows a downward trend. The Robot Report’s monthly funding reports show something different: a change in the nature of drone applications getting funded.
Protecting infrastructure and innovation, under Section 2209 of the FAA extension
by Diana Marina Cooper - October 25, 2016
Drone flying over a field.
On July 15, 2016, Congress enacted the FAA Extension, Safety, and Security Act (the “Act”), which among other things, directs the Secretary of Transportation to establish a process to enable applicants to petition the FAA Administrator to “prohibit or restrict the operation of an unmanned aircraft in close proximity to a fixed site facility.” Congress tasked the FAA with establishing a process for designating fixed site facilities no later than 180 days from the date of enactment. Below is an outline of the key problematic provisions in Section 2209 and a proposed path forward for establishing a process that meets the Congressional directive while not unnecessarily restricting industry.
Drone learns to see in zero-gravity
by Guido de Croon
Cargo drones deliver in the Amazon rainforest
by Patrick Meier
Winning team story: The ups and downs of building a drilling robot for the Airbus Shopfloor Challenge
by Felix von Drigalski and Airbus Group
When you need someone from Canada to calibrate your robot in New Zealand
by Ilian Bonev
Money continues to flow into robotics startups
by Frank Tobe
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Functional and morphologic alterations secondary to superior repositioning of the maxilla
Hooman M. Zarrinkelk, Gaylord S. Throckmorton, Edward Ellis, Douglas P. Sinn
Purpose: The purpose of this investigation was to 1) compare morphological characteristics and functional performance of a sample of patients with vertical maxillary excess (VME) with controls, and to 2) examine how the patients' oral motor function adapts to surgery. Materials and Methods: Fifteen female VME patients were compared with 26 female controls before and up to 3 years after maxillary intrusion surgery. Measures of skeletal morphology, mandibular range of motion, maximum isometric bite force, and levels of electromyogram (EMG) activity in some of the muscles of mastication were made on all subjects over time. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare the controls with the patients before and after surgery. Univariate repeated measures ANOVA was used to study longitudinal changes in the patients. Results: Preoperatively, the patients possessed morphological measurements characteristic of vertical maxillary excess. Superior repositioning of the maxilla averaged 3.3 mm. Concurrently, most skeletal measures were brought closer to normal values. Masseter muscle mechanical advantage was significantly lower in the patients than in controls both before and after surgery (P < .05). There was no significant difference between patients and controls for other biomechanical measurements. Mandibular hypomobility was apparent at 6 weeks after surgery, but returned to control values within 6 to 12 months. Before surgery, the patients had maximum isometric bite forces significantly less than those of controls. Bite forces steadily increased after surgery, approaching normal values within 2 years. Before surgery the patients' muscle activity levels per unit of bite forces were equivalent to those of controls or somewhat lower. After surgery some of the patients' muscles had significantly lower levels of muscle activity per unit of bite force than did controls. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that correction of vertical maxillary excess with maxillary intrusion surgery improves some characteristic functional deficits.
Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
Maxilla
Bite Force
Masseter Muscle
Mastication
Electromyography
Articular Range of Motion
Zarrinkelk, H. M., Throckmorton, G. S., Ellis, E., & Sinn, D. P. (1995). Functional and morphologic alterations secondary to superior repositioning of the maxilla. Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, 53(11), 1258-1267. https://doi.org/10.1016/0278-2391(95)90581-2
Functional and morphologic alterations secondary to superior repositioning of the maxilla. / Zarrinkelk, Hooman M.; Throckmorton, Gaylord S.; Ellis, Edward; Sinn, Douglas P.
In: Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Vol. 53, No. 11, 1995, p. 1258-1267.
Zarrinkelk, HM, Throckmorton, GS, Ellis, E & Sinn, DP 1995, 'Functional and morphologic alterations secondary to superior repositioning of the maxilla', Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, vol. 53, no. 11, pp. 1258-1267. https://doi.org/10.1016/0278-2391(95)90581-2
Zarrinkelk HM, Throckmorton GS, Ellis E, Sinn DP. Functional and morphologic alterations secondary to superior repositioning of the maxilla. Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. 1995;53(11):1258-1267. https://doi.org/10.1016/0278-2391(95)90581-2
Zarrinkelk, Hooman M. ; Throckmorton, Gaylord S. ; Ellis, Edward ; Sinn, Douglas P. / Functional and morphologic alterations secondary to superior repositioning of the maxilla. In: Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. 1995 ; Vol. 53, No. 11. pp. 1258-1267.
@article{02176282e40948a587f35e1303b80a19,
title = "Functional and morphologic alterations secondary to superior repositioning of the maxilla",
abstract = "Purpose: The purpose of this investigation was to 1) compare morphological characteristics and functional performance of a sample of patients with vertical maxillary excess (VME) with controls, and to 2) examine how the patients' oral motor function adapts to surgery. Materials and Methods: Fifteen female VME patients were compared with 26 female controls before and up to 3 years after maxillary intrusion surgery. Measures of skeletal morphology, mandibular range of motion, maximum isometric bite force, and levels of electromyogram (EMG) activity in some of the muscles of mastication were made on all subjects over time. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare the controls with the patients before and after surgery. Univariate repeated measures ANOVA was used to study longitudinal changes in the patients. Results: Preoperatively, the patients possessed morphological measurements characteristic of vertical maxillary excess. Superior repositioning of the maxilla averaged 3.3 mm. Concurrently, most skeletal measures were brought closer to normal values. Masseter muscle mechanical advantage was significantly lower in the patients than in controls both before and after surgery (P < .05). There was no significant difference between patients and controls for other biomechanical measurements. Mandibular hypomobility was apparent at 6 weeks after surgery, but returned to control values within 6 to 12 months. Before surgery, the patients had maximum isometric bite forces significantly less than those of controls. Bite forces steadily increased after surgery, approaching normal values within 2 years. Before surgery the patients' muscle activity levels per unit of bite forces were equivalent to those of controls or somewhat lower. After surgery some of the patients' muscles had significantly lower levels of muscle activity per unit of bite force than did controls. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that correction of vertical maxillary excess with maxillary intrusion surgery improves some characteristic functional deficits.",
author = "Zarrinkelk, {Hooman M.} and Throckmorton, {Gaylord S.} and Edward Ellis and Sinn, {Douglas P.}",
journal = "Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery",
T1 - Functional and morphologic alterations secondary to superior repositioning of the maxilla
AU - Zarrinkelk, Hooman M.
AU - Throckmorton, Gaylord S.
AU - Ellis, Edward
AU - Sinn, Douglas P.
N2 - Purpose: The purpose of this investigation was to 1) compare morphological characteristics and functional performance of a sample of patients with vertical maxillary excess (VME) with controls, and to 2) examine how the patients' oral motor function adapts to surgery. Materials and Methods: Fifteen female VME patients were compared with 26 female controls before and up to 3 years after maxillary intrusion surgery. Measures of skeletal morphology, mandibular range of motion, maximum isometric bite force, and levels of electromyogram (EMG) activity in some of the muscles of mastication were made on all subjects over time. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare the controls with the patients before and after surgery. Univariate repeated measures ANOVA was used to study longitudinal changes in the patients. Results: Preoperatively, the patients possessed morphological measurements characteristic of vertical maxillary excess. Superior repositioning of the maxilla averaged 3.3 mm. Concurrently, most skeletal measures were brought closer to normal values. Masseter muscle mechanical advantage was significantly lower in the patients than in controls both before and after surgery (P < .05). There was no significant difference between patients and controls for other biomechanical measurements. Mandibular hypomobility was apparent at 6 weeks after surgery, but returned to control values within 6 to 12 months. Before surgery, the patients had maximum isometric bite forces significantly less than those of controls. Bite forces steadily increased after surgery, approaching normal values within 2 years. Before surgery the patients' muscle activity levels per unit of bite forces were equivalent to those of controls or somewhat lower. After surgery some of the patients' muscles had significantly lower levels of muscle activity per unit of bite force than did controls. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that correction of vertical maxillary excess with maxillary intrusion surgery improves some characteristic functional deficits.
AB - Purpose: The purpose of this investigation was to 1) compare morphological characteristics and functional performance of a sample of patients with vertical maxillary excess (VME) with controls, and to 2) examine how the patients' oral motor function adapts to surgery. Materials and Methods: Fifteen female VME patients were compared with 26 female controls before and up to 3 years after maxillary intrusion surgery. Measures of skeletal morphology, mandibular range of motion, maximum isometric bite force, and levels of electromyogram (EMG) activity in some of the muscles of mastication were made on all subjects over time. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare the controls with the patients before and after surgery. Univariate repeated measures ANOVA was used to study longitudinal changes in the patients. Results: Preoperatively, the patients possessed morphological measurements characteristic of vertical maxillary excess. Superior repositioning of the maxilla averaged 3.3 mm. Concurrently, most skeletal measures were brought closer to normal values. Masseter muscle mechanical advantage was significantly lower in the patients than in controls both before and after surgery (P < .05). There was no significant difference between patients and controls for other biomechanical measurements. Mandibular hypomobility was apparent at 6 weeks after surgery, but returned to control values within 6 to 12 months. Before surgery, the patients had maximum isometric bite forces significantly less than those of controls. Bite forces steadily increased after surgery, approaching normal values within 2 years. Before surgery the patients' muscle activity levels per unit of bite forces were equivalent to those of controls or somewhat lower. After surgery some of the patients' muscles had significantly lower levels of muscle activity per unit of bite force than did controls. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that correction of vertical maxillary excess with maxillary intrusion surgery improves some characteristic functional deficits.
JO - Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
JF - Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
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Solid pharmaceutical composition with content of levothyroxine and/or liothyroninum salts
A61P5/14 - of the thyroid hormones, e.g. T3, T4
A61K9/20 - Pills, lozenges or tablets
A61K9/14 - Particulate form, e.g. powders (microcapsules A61K0009500000)
A61K31/198 -
SUBSTANCE: invention relates to a chemico-pharmaceutical industry, and concerns the solid pharmaceutical composition containing water-soluble salts of levothyroxine and-or liothyroninum as an active substance where water activity is set equal to less than 0.4 at measurement at a room temperature. The composition with 0.4 water activity or less possesses high stability at storage.
EFFECT: development of a composition which possesses high stability at storage.
18 cl, 4 ex
The technical field to which the invention relates.
The invention relates to solid pharmaceutical compositions containing as active substance, a water-soluble salt of levothyroxine and/or liotironina.
The level of technology
Thyroid hormones the above-mentioned type are produced for sale in a different form. For the production of traditional tablet of thyroid hormones requires a number of measures ensuring uniform distribution of the active substances on all tablets of one party and keeping it the same content for a certain period of time. Such problems in relation to the provision of the so-called “same content” (content uniformity) also include issues related to the stability of the active substance. For example, it is known that the sodium salt of levothyroxine or liotironina in case of their presence in the form of potassium salts are insoluble in water and more effective for the body. In addition, it was found that depending on humidity, temperature and light they are unstable, particularly during storage. In this regard, many attempts have been made to improve stability of tablets with thyroid hormones, and so far has been the attempt to improve the resistance to what esteem additives of the positive impact of excipients. In the US 5225204 for this purpose it is proposed to apply along with the corresponding sodium salts are water-soluble polyvinylpyrrolidon and adsorption of the mixture to cellulose media for production in subsequent tablets, powders or capsules.
In the US 5635209 described the application along with the sodium salt sodium levothyroxine well as sodium iodide, means for breaking the tablets and sizing.
In the US 5958979 proposed sodium thiosulfate as a stabilizing component.
From US 6399101 it follows that the use of siliconized microcrystalline cellulose provides certain advantages.
All these known attempts though and contributed to increased resistance, however, still sufficient resistance at the required storage time was not reached, when this was not provided and trudnoobogatimye uniformity at relatively low dosage of thyroid hormones.
Levothyroxine sodium is usually kind of stable at room temperature pentahydrate. This pentahydrate detects at room temperature for a certain water activity, comprising about 0.4 to 0.6. Under the water activity is an equilibrium moisture content and 50% relative humidity at a certain temperature correspond to a water activity of 0.5.
Disclosure of inventions
The purpose of ISO is retene is to provide, largely irrespective of additives, excipients and, in particular, without the use of specific additives, allegedly improving the resistance of auxiliary substances, enhanced stability of the pharmaceutical composition, its quick and easy preparation, improved uniformity of distribution of the active substance and its rapid dissolution (biological availability). To achieve this goal, the solid pharmaceutical composition according to the invention lead mainly in the state in which the water activity of this composition is set equal to the index of less than 0.4, mostly 0.1 to 0.3 at room temperature. Unexpectedly, it was found that in the case when the active substance is present, usually in the form of the pentahydrate, is removed, at least one mole of water, the resistance increases substantially, it is necessary only to ensure that later, when the choice may become necessary for the use of auxiliary chemicals were not applied hygroscopic excipients in order to prevent re-water saturation. This unexpected effect is due to the fact that one mole of water normally present in the pentahydrate is in contrast to the rest of 4 moles of water is not a classic hydrate, and cluster. This part of the water way is t excess water, able to easily move into the gas phase and also easy to get back in the form of cluster crystals of levothyroxine. Thus, this present in the form of cluster mol of water is relatively easily movable and loosely coupled with the crystal, and this is reflected in increased activity of water at room temperature. If the active substance itself is quite stable, despite the presence of this fifth, relatively easy rolling mole of water, volatile and easily movable, is not associated with the crystal water leads together with the usual, necessary for the manufacture of tablets excipients to the fact that this cluster mol of water causes the interaction, in particular the dissolution of auxiliary substances, and dissolved excipients in combination with free water in the form of a cluster in an invalid extent degrade the stability of levothyroxine sodium. Liotironin sodium also contains up to 4% water and has the same resistance with levothyroxine sodium. It has been unexpectedly found that in the case when this relatively movable water is removed due to the decrease of water activity at room temperature to less than 0.4 and, in particular, to a value of from 0.1 to 0.3, then reached a corresponding resistance during long-term storage without the use of the special stabilizing additives auxiliary substances. When uncontrolled drying and reduction of water activity below 0.1 levothyroxine sodium passes into the amorphous state, and this makes it even more unstable. This also deteriorates the solubility. The specified optimal water activity can be achieved either as a result of corresponding dry processing in the manufacture of tablets, applying dry source of substances with controlled water activity, and the active substance may also in appropriate dry form (water activity) and then directly tabletroute, either by drying, tableting the mixture to the desired water activity, either by target additional drying of the finished tablets. Manufacturing of tablets with such a low water activity in practice is not straightforward, as it requires you to carefully follow the uniform application of the active substance on the carrier with a large surface area. In the Supplement of the relevant quantities of substances for destruction tablets can provide accurate adaptation to low water activity in the range of 0.1. If such a pill, for example, with a water activity of 0.1-0.3 then firmly Packed, it can be ensured durability and safety. Along with the possibility of applying for the NGOs dense packing can also provide optimal water activity due to the fact, used mostly or exclusively non-hygroscopic excipients, known for its low water activity at room temperature, as, for example, mannitol, and others, in the manufacture of tablets and then tablets are packaged in a conventional transparent materials.
The problem with the lack of constant rapid solubility of the active substance in the known compositions and, therefore, with rapid and complete bioavailability, especially easily solved due to the fact that the active substance is evenly applied onto the water-soluble carrier. Such water-soluble carrier has subsequently after taking the pills, the effect that the active substance dissolves quickly and reliably, without the need to use damaging substances as insoluble in water, the active substance is applied onto a water-soluble carrier, a finely on it are distributed and with it quickly goes into solution. With optimal use mannitol as a water-soluble media.
It is advisable to prevent the problem of reduced activity due to the formation of water-insoluble salts to consider the content of calcium when using substances-carriers, excipients and solvents. The best option run is the tsya such when the carrier is treated with EDTA-sodium, the amount of which corresponds mainly to the content of CA++in the media, if necessary with the addition of citric acid to prevent the harmful effects of ions of CA++which is inevitably present, particularly in water-soluble media. The processing is carried out with an aqueous solution, and it is necessary to constantly monitor the removal of water to maintain a given water activity. In General, the required homogeneity, solubility and, in particular, the solubility with the formation of a clear solution, the ability to quickly manufacture and due to waterless technology enhanced resistance can be guaranteed due to the fact that composition was prepared in the form of tablets and its preparation are not used hygroscopic excipients and/or packaging is applicable with little or no permeability to water vapor.
The method is simple and fast preparation of the pharmaceutical compositions of the above type differs in the fact that the media of mannitol is filled or deposited methanol or alcohol solution of the active substance, after which the alcohol solvent is evaporated to obtain a water factor less than 0.4, in particular less than 0.3, and tabletirujut when necessary is Timoti with the addition of magnesium stearate as lubricant. In the use of alcoholic solvents, particularly methanol or ethanol solutions of sodium salts is achieved corresponding to a uniform distribution of the active substance on the carrier. Thus resolves the problems associated with a uniform distribution of active ingredients in the tablets (content uniformity). After evaporation of the solvent provided the corresponding uniform distribution of soluble salts in the media, and monitoring compliance with the required water factor can be obtained directly lasting product. Evaporation of the residual moisture with a drying process for evaporating solvent, such as methanol and/or ethanol, conducted for the water-soluble salts levothyroxine sodium or liotironin sodium provides immediate compliance required water factor, and using methanol or ethanol solutions can be observed during evaporation of some semblance effect of grip when drainage of excess water, resulting in rapid drying.
If during the tabletting process it is necessary to abandon other auxiliary substances, such as, for example, hygroscopic means the destruction of the tablets, as the carrier can be used directly tableting mannitol, the company shall and, pearlite. In any case, when choosing the necessary excipients for tableting, you must renounce the use of hygroscopic substances to avoid re-hydration. To do this optimally apply tabletiruemye excipients, in particular, oil, hydrophobic excipients such as magnesium stearate.
To avoid formation of water-insoluble salts of hormones, as mentioned above, the callee may be contained in the substance-carriers ions of CA++before applying or spraying of a solution of the active substance to the media mix EDTA-sodium, if necessary, with addition of citric acid, in a quantity sufficient to bind divalent ions of the carrier. After intermediate drying, including elevated temperature, put alcohol solution of the active substance. Immediately after that, add a further quantity of aqueous complexing solution, as described above, to link present additional ions, originating from the solvent or production equipment. The amount of EDTA-sodium, designed to bind ions of CA++in any case, should not be excessive, so as EDTA-PA/citric acid by themselves do not increase the resistance of the sodium salts of l is of vothyroxine and liotironina.
Alternatively, the carrier consisting of mannitol, after mixing, if necessary, with starch, guar or other auxiliary granulating agents can be filled with methanol or alcohol solution of the active substance and immediately thereafter subjected to wet granulation using water solution with the content if necessary EDTA-sodium and/or citric acid. The water is evaporated before reaching the corresponding water activity, optionally with further addition of destroying pill substances. After mixing sizing pills get low water activity. Used preferred packaging should be impervious to water vapor. Manufactured in this way and stored at 25°C tablets exceptional durability.
Below the invention is explained more by using examples of its implementation and comparative experiments.
The water-soluble salts of the active substances are dissolved in an organic anhydrous solvent such as, for example, methanol and ethanol. A small amount of hygroscopic substance carrier in the form of mannitol (Pearlitol 400 DC) moistened with a solution of the active substance coating liquid layer or coating. Then the solvent is removed by drying in a fluidized bed or vacuumed who eat in the drying process the water factor set equal to 0.3. When pelletizing completely abandoned the use of substances for the destruction of the tablets. As lubricant when pelletizing was used stearate.
In this example implementation used the following structure:
Pearlitol 400 DC 2749 g
methanol 60 g
levothyroxine sodium 1632
magnesium stearate 32 g
Thus prepared mixture were easy to direct pelletizing, and worked tablets with a flawless appearance, hardness, friability and other pharmaceutical properties. Decomposition of the tablets occurred within one minute, thus formed solution, which is transparent except for floating on the water surface of the stearate. It should be borne in mind that optimum bioavailability of active substances, as with the exception of small amounts of insoluble stearate solution does not contain any other insoluble substances.
At room temperature the re 25°With a water factor of tablets was 0.2. Water absorption was tested in the course of experience on storage at 25°C, 60% relative humidity and duration of 24 hours and compared with traditional tablets formulation (for example, media content for the destruction of tablets and other pharmaceutical auxiliary substances, which are also pre-dried before reaching the water factor of 0.2. In the embodiment of the invention was as follows: water absorption only of 0.11% and a water factor of 0.3, while the tablet formulation had a water absorption of 0.75% (almost 7 times more) and water factor of 0.5.
In example 2, before applying the solution of methanol and levothyroxine sodium, as described in example 1, the same amount pearlitol, 2749 g, moisturize first 60 g of methanol and then pretreated with a solution consisting of 40 g of water, 0.12 g of anhydrous citric acid and 4.0 g of EDTA-disodium. The resulting mixture is dried to achieve a water factor of 0.2-0.25 and then tabletirujut, at the same time was a good tabletirovanie, the disintegration of the tablets was within about 1 minute. The results of example 1 was confirmed in this case. The active substance as in example 1 was uniformly applied on the carrier, there was no risk of delamination (content uniformity). Additional protection against divalent ions generated by the application of complexing solution is, protected active substance from the corresponding loss of activity.
In example 3, the drying was carried out in two stages, with the first drying occurred after treatment pearlitol described above EDTA and methanol, after which the active substance is applied using the above methanol solution and at the same time additional partial amount of EDTA-disodium, after which drying is repeated.
This example suggests that in the manufacture of conventional methods of water granulation using traditional tabletiruemyh excipients, such as carriers (mannitol), granulating means (guar), means for breaking the tablets (natrocarbonatite starch), oiling agents (magnesium stearate, talc), and conventional complexing funds (EDTA-sodium, citric acid), you can get a tablet with an unusual resistance of the active substance, provided that the water activity will correspond to the specified values (0,3) and is hermetically sealed packaging.
mannitol 11,78944 kg
guar 0,44 kg
methanol 0.3 kg
levothyroxine sodium 0,00816 kg
water 2.5 kg
EDTA-sodium 0.08 kg
citric acid 0,0024 kg
natrocarbonatite starch 1.2 kg
talc 0.32 kg
magnesium stearate 0.16 kg
Mixed with guar carrier filled with a solution of the active substance, then stirred into an aqueous solution of EDTA-sodium and citric acid and damp granulation, and then dried to a water activity of less than 0.3. Tablets are manufactured with a water activity of 0.45, Packed in PVC at 25°C and 60% relative humidity and stored over 12 months, the content of the active substance was more than 88,6% of the stated rate (100% output), therefore, the tablets were to apply not suitable. Similar tablets, which are dried to achieve a water activity of 0.3, Packed in PVC and impermeable to water vapor bags, stored in similar conditions within 12 m of the months, have, taking into account normal fluctuations composition, the initial content (99,6%), that is, these pills have extraordinary durability.
The resistance of the preparations described in examples 1-3, increased as follows, and this increase was installed at various concentrations of the active substance: 100 mcg levothyroxine sodium, a relative humidity of 40-50% (water factor of 0.4-0.5). Within three months, the content of levothyroxine sodium had dropped to 87 wt.%, moreover, in order to faster results storage was carried out at 40°C and 75% relative humidity. Accordingly, the preparations containing 100 mcg levothyroxine sodium with a water factor of 0.3 three months had still the activity of 92.9%. For preparations containing 160 μg of levothyroxine sodium under the same storage conditions and measurements obtained with a water factor of 0.4-0.5 three months residual activity 90.7 percent, while when the water factor of 0.3 activity has accounted for 95.2 wt.% from the original number. In respect of the combined preparations containing levothyroxine sodium and liotironin sodium, observed comparable performance improvements, and drug content of pure liotironina sodium in the amount of 25 μg in a month with a water factor of 0.4-0.5 of its contents fell to 87.2%, at the same time when the water factor of 0.25 after one month according to stuudy analysis showed active content of 97.7 wt.% the used amount.
In General, it was found that the direct tableting in dry conditions is particularly quick and simple method of making homogeneous and persistent long time stand composition.
1. Solid pharmaceutical composition comprising as active substance a water-soluble salt of levothyroxine and/or liotironina, wherein the water activity of the pharmaceutical composition is less than 0.4 when measured at room temperature.
2. The pharmaceutical composition according to claim 1, characterized in that the water activity of the pharmaceutical composition is set to 0.1 to 0.3 when measured at room temperature.
3. The pharmaceutical composition according to claim 1, characterized in that the active substance contained in the methanol/ethanol solution, evenly applied to the carrier, mixed if necessary with starch, guar or granulating auxiliaries.
5. The pharmaceutical composition according to claim 1, characterized in that the active substance is applied in water-soluble media.
6. farmacevticheskaja composition according to claim 2, characterized in that the active substance is applied in water-soluble media.
7. The pharmaceutical composition according to claim 5, characterized in that as the water-soluble carrier is mannitol.
9. The pharmaceutical composition according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the carrier is processed EDTA-Na and optionally citric acid, the amount of which basically corresponds to the content of CA++in the carrier.
10. The pharmaceutical composition according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the composition has the form of tablets and made using non-hygroscopic excipients and/or Packed in the material, which is slightly or completely impermeable to water vapor.
11. A method of obtaining a pharmaceutical composition according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the carrier of mannitol is applied or sprayed alcohol solution of the active substance, after which the alcohol solvent is evaporated to obtain a water factor less than 0.4, in particular less than 0.3, and then tabletirujut.
12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that before evaporation of the solvent causing the water or aqueous solution with a content of EDTA-Na and/or citric acid.
13. Pic is b according to item 11, characterized in that as the carrier is applied directly tableting mannitol, in particular pearlitol.
14. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that as tabletiruemyh AIDS are used, in particular, oil, hydrophobic excipients, such as, for example, magnesium stearate.
15. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that before applying or spraying of a solution of the active substance on the carrier, supplementing it with EDTA-Na and optionally citric acid in a quantity sufficient to bind divalent ions from media and other sources, such as a solvent.
16. The method according to item 15, wherein before the adulteration of EDTA-Na and optionally citric acid carrier moistened with methanol.
17. The method according to any of § § 11 to 16, characterized in that the composition does not contain hygroscopic excipients.
18. The method according to any of § § 11 to 16, characterized in that the composition contains hygroscopic excipients, but Packed in impermeable to water vapor material.
Method of taking preventive measures aimed at treatment of thyroid gland diseases in children of early age born from mothers with opportunistic infections // 2355447
SUBSTANCE: invention relates to pediatrics and endocrinology and can be used for taking preventive measures aimed at treatment of thyroid gland diseases in children of early age born from mothers with opportunistic infections. Molecular-biological investigation of biological material is carried out by PCR method in order to indicate CMV and herpes infection. Immunoferment child's blood test is carried out with determination of IgM and IgG level. Also ultrasound examination of mother's and child's thyroid gland is performed, by results of diagnostics drug therapy is carried out in two stages. At first stage starting with twentieth week of pregnancy pregnant women are administered preventive therapy with iodine preparations: "iodomarin - 200" 200 mkg/day, "potassium iodide - 200" 200 mkg/day and vitamin-mineral complexes (VMC): "materna", "elevit", "folic acid". At second stage combined therapy is carried out in children with anti-viral medications famvir 0.25 in dose 10 mg/kg a day during 7-10 days, acyclovir 0.2 in dose 10 mg/kg a day during 10-14 days and viferon-1 in dose 150000 units 2 times a day during one month. Mothers in lactation period are administered therapy similar to preventive therapy.
EFFECT: ensuring increase of efficiency of thyroid gland treatment in children of early age.
14 tbl
Method of euthyroid goiter treatment // 2350337
SUBSTANCE: method concerns medicine, namely to endocrinology, and concerns treatments of a diffusive euthyroid struma. For this purpose the complex therapy including Iodidum of potassium is carried out - in a dose of 200 mkg/day, sodium selenate - in a dose - 150 mkg/day and Rekicene RD in a dose 10 g 3 times a day.
EFFECT: such complex of medicamental therapy provides effective pathogenetic treatment at the expense of a restore of deficiency of necessary trace substances in a combination to a selective sorption of salts of serious metals, arsenic and other potential goitrogens.
Modality therapy treatment for fatty children // 2342115
FIELD: medicine; endocrinology.
SUBSTANCE: lowered caloric content diet #5 is prescribed, in combination with fasting days 2 times a week with caloricity of 1000-1200 kilocalorie per day. Therapeutic physical training with individual exercise dosage is carried out daily in the first half the day for 30-40 minutes, within 21-24 days. The general manual massage is alternated by days with Charcot's douche, during the course of 8-10 procedures. A Charcot's douche effects the back thigh surface , buttocks, frontal abdominal wall - clockwise at pressure of 1.5-2 atmospheres, water temperature of 36°C, 0.5-1 minute per zone, total effect time is 4 minutes. The procedure is caried out in the second half of the day, in the course of 10-12 procedures. Electrosleep is carried out by oculo-cervical method at frequency of 10-20 Hz, current intensity up to 1-2 mA, exposure time is 30 minutes. Besides the procedure is carried out in the middle of the day, daily, in the course of 10-15 procedures. Group and individual appointments with the psychologist are carried out on the daily basis, during 45-60 minutes, within 21-24 days. Patients with combination of obesity and struma in addition are provided with iodide-bromine baths with iodine concentration of 10 mg/l, Bromum of 25 mg/l, water temperature is 37°C, procedure duration is 8-10 minutes, alternating by days with Charcot's douche, in the course of 8-10 procedures. The general massage is carried out at the same day with iodide-bromine baths, iodbalance intake is 100-200 mkg/per day, daily, after meal. In case of psychocorection additional activities are done for formation of motivation, loss of weight and long-term iodine drugs intake, reduction of anxiety, aggression and increase of self-appraisal.
EFFECT: body weight reduction, normalisation of arterial pressure, increase of exercise tolerance, correction of metabolic, hormonal and vegetative status parameters.
Benzoxazepin derivatives, their production method, medicine based on them, and their application // 2337100
FIELD: chemistry, pharmacology.
SUBSTANCE: compound of formula [I]: is described, where the ring A represents halogen substituted benzene ring; the ring B represents benzene ring substituted with two lower, 1 to 4 carbon atoms, alcoxy-groups; the ring C represents benzene ring or five-member aromatic heterocyclic ring, that may be optionally substituted with substitute as follows: carboxyl group, C1-4-alkyl group, C2-7-alkanoiloxy-C1-6-alkyl group, phenyl-C1-4-alkyl group, phenyl group, optionally substituted with carboxyl group, or oxo-group; R1 represents C1-6-alkyl group, optionally substituted with hydroxyl group, that optionally substituted with C2-20-alkanoil or C1-7-alkyl group; X1a represents bound or C1-6-alkylen, optionally substituted with hydroxyl or oxo-group; X1b represents bound or C1-6-alkylen, optionally substituted with hydroxyl or oxo-group; X2 represents bound, -O- or -S- ; X3 represents bound or group, formed by one hydrogen atom elimination from either straight or branched chain C1-7-alkyl, or C2-6-alkenyl group, that optionally substituted with hydroxyl or oxo-group; and Y represents optionally etherified carboxyl group; or its salt. Benzoxazepin derivatives production method, medicine based on them, and their application are also described.
EFFECT: novel compounds have high lipids-decreasing effect and are helpful as hyperlipidemia prevention and treatment medicine.
20 cl, 168 ex
Method of treatment of thyroid gland diffuse-nodular goiter // 2336895
SUBSTANCE: invention concerns medicine, endocrinology. Perform insertion of an extract of dry roots of dropwort on 5 ml 3 times a day for 20 mines before meals. Course of treatment takes 20 days. Perform from 1 to 4 courses.
EFFECT: decrease of frequency and volume of operative measures.
Method of aftertreatment of children and teenagers with autoimmune thyroiditis in combination with chronic pharyngotonsillitis // 2332978
SUBSTANCE: method involves carrying out balneotherapy, foing physiotherapy exercises and intaking iodomarine and/or L-tiroksin. In first half of the day, physiotherapy exercises are performed, general artificial radon baths being performed in the second half of the day. Manual massages of a collar zone are perform in days free from baths. From November till March phonophoresis of Traumel S ointment on a thyroid gland projection is also performed with an intensity of 0.05 W/cm2, continuous regimen, duration of influence of 3-5 minutes on the right and at the left, general time of influence of 6-10 minutes, in a day with a magnetotherapy on a projection of palatine tonsils, size of a magnetic induction being 6-9 mT, for 5-6 minutes from each party, general time of 10-12 minutes, in a course of 8-10 procedures. At treatment during the period from April till October, patients are additionally prescribed a group galotherapy in the second half of the day, in a course of 10-15 procedures, and phototherapy of red range at a wavelength of 660-675 nanometers, densities of power of radiation of 1 mW/cm2 and an infra-red range at a wavelength of 840-950 nanometers, densities of power of radiation of 2.7 mW/cm2 to biologically active points: VC-20, VC-22, E-36 symmetrically on the right and the left, Gi-4 symmetrically on the right and the left. Time of influence for one point is 1.5-2 minutes, general time of influence being 9-12 minutes, daily, in 10-12 procedures, with duration of treatment making up 21-24 days.
EFFECT: decrease of exacerbations of chronic centres infection frequency; normalising action on the immunologic status during the most adverse periods of a year and maintenance of a condition of euthyroidism within all year.
Medicine stimulating thyrotrophic and thyroid hormones // 2325397
SUBSTANCE: invention can be used for medical treatment of secondary hypothyroid state accompanied by low synthesis of thyrotrophic hormone by hypophysis and of iodine hormone by thyroid gland. Substance of invention implies application of peptide Lys-Glu-Asp-Gly as a medicine stimulating synthesis of thyrotrophic hormone by hypophysis and of thyroid hormone by thyroid gland.
EFFECT: high specific activity of introduced peptide and decrease of side effect risk.
Agent "grepol-c" and method for its using in hypothyroidism // 2315613
FIELD: medicine, endocrinology, chemical-pharmaceutical industry, pharmacy.
SUBSTANCE: invention relates to design of agent used in treatment of iodine-deficient diseases, in particular, hypothyroidism. Agent for treatment of hypothyroidism comprises the following medicinal plants: walnut green fruits, wormwood herb, warty birch buds, licorice roots and clove flower buds taken in the ratio = 30:2:10:2:2, respectively. Agent is prepared as tincture in 35% ethyl alcohol. Method for treatment of hypothyroidism involves prescription of abovementioned agent to a patient orally in the dose 7-30 drops, 3 times per a day, 15 min before eating with 50 ml of water for 5-35 days. In all cases treatment of patients with the proposed agent resulted to the stable therapeutic effect without adverse effects.
EFFECT: valuable medicinal properties of agent.
Method for treating autoimmune thyroiditis with cycloferon // 2306932
FIELD: medicine, endocrinology.
SUBSTANCE: one should inject cycloferon per 2.0 ml during the first 10 d daily and during the next 20 d - every 2 d. The course should be repeated in 6 mo. Moreover, in case of subclinical flow of hypothyroidism cycloferon should be injected as monotherapy. In case of light, average and severe degrees of hypothyroidism cycloferon should be injected at the background of L-thyroxine maintaining dosages.
EFFECT: higher efficiency of therapy.
1 ex, 1 tbl
Agent normalizing pancreas function and method for its preparing // 2302875
FIELD: medicinal industry.
SUBSTANCE: invention relates to a method for isolating biologically active substance from mammalian pancreas and preparing a medicinal formulation for parenteral administration that can be used in medicine as agent normalizing functions of pancreas. Agent is made as a medicinal formulation for parenteral administration and represents peptide complex with the content of low-molecular fraction from 70% to 890%, molecular mass of its peptide components in the range 74-222 Da and the concentration of polypeptides 2.5-2.9 mg/ml. Agent is prepared from calf pancreas (age is 12 months, not above) or pigs by tissue extraction with acetic acid in the presence of zinc chloride. Method for preparing agent from calf pancreas (age is 12 months, not above) or pigs involves freezing at temperature -40°C (not less), keeping at temperature -20-22°C for two months (not less) and adding 3% acetic acid solution in the volume ratio = 1:5 at temperature 20 ± 5°C. Extraction is carried out at constant stirring and 1% zinc chloride solution is added to the prepared homogenous suspension in the volume ratio = 50:1 followed by cooling at constant stirring to temperature 7-16°C and the following stirring for 1 h in each 4 h in settling for 48 h. Extract is separated from inert substances by separating and acetone is added to extract in the volume ratio = 1:5 and kept at temperature 3-5°C for 4 h. Formed homogenized deposit is precipitated with acetone repeatedly twice (not less) and deposit containing active substance is washed out on Nutch filter with two-fold volume of acetone cooled to temperature 7-16° up to preparing light-gray deposit. Deposit is rubbed through metallic sieve, dried, dissolved in distilled water at room temperature at constant stirring up to the concentration of polypeptides 2.5-2.9 mg/ml. Solution is centrifuged, filtered and subjected for ultrafiltration treatment in device under anti-pressure 1.0 kgf/cm2 (not above) through materials with retaining capacity 15000 Da. Glycocol is added to ultrafiltrate to its final concentration 10-20 mg/ml at pH = 5.6-6.6, solution is subjected for sterilizing filtration under pressure 2.0 kgf/cm2 (not above), poured into ampoules in volume 2 ml and subjected for autoclaving at temperature 120°C for 8 min and under atmosphere pressure 1.1 kgf/cm2. Invention provides optimal technology in isolating peptide complex from calf pancreas (age is 12 months, not above) or pigs with the content of low-molecular fraction from 70% to 90%, molecular mass of its peptide components in the range 74-228 Da, and preparing aqueous solution of extract with the concentration of polypeptides 2.5-2.9 mg/ml. Invention provides both purifying the prepared product from impurities and to enhance its yield. The isolated substance differs from the known substances early prepared from mammalian raw by molecular mass of its peptide components, absence of toxicity and apyretic properties based on the complete removing impurities.
EFFECT: improved preparing method, valuable properties of agent.
3 cl, 2 tbl, 1 dwg, 4 ex
Tablets containing enrofloxacin and gustatory and-or aromatic substances // 2359699
FIELD: medicine, pharmaceutics.
SUBSTANCE: present invention concerns area of medical products, in particular to a tablet for preventive maintenance or treatment of bacteriemic diseases at the animals, containing from 20 to 45 wt % of enrofloxacin, from 18 to 35 wt % of lactose, from 5 to 10 wt % of microcrystallic cellulose and from 5 to 20 wt % of meat aromatisers. Besides the invention concerns a way of reception of the specified tablet.
EFFECT: maintenance of optimum mechanical properties of tablets.
Solid medicinal form intended for treatment of arterial hypertensia and stenocardia, and way of its reception // 2359672
SUBSTANCE: invention concerns area of a chemicopharmaceutical industry and concerns the solid medicinal form possessing antianginal and hypotensive activity, containing amlodipine besylate and target additives in quality of active substance at a following parity of ingredients, wt %: amlodipine besylate - 6-10, lactose - 65-90, starch potato - 0.3-0.6, sodium croscarmellose - 1.5-3, stearin acid and-or its salts - 0.5-1, pre-gelled starch - the rest.
EFFECT: reception of tablets with the lowered total weight.
8 cl, 1 ex, 2 tbl
Solifenacin composition or its salts for use in solid preparation // 2359670
SUBSTANCE: invention concerns medical products and concerns the method of obtaining of a Solifenacin composition or its salts for use in a solid preparation which includes at least one stage chosen of the group consisting of (i) stage of wet granulation with use of a dissolvent for Solifenacin or its salts, thereat quantity of Solifenacin or its salts which should be dissolved in 1 ml of a dissolvent makes less than 0.1 mg, (ii) stage of dicrease of quantity or rate of addition of a dissolvent if the dissolvent moves Solifenacin or its salt in an amorphous condition, and quantity of Solifenacin or its salts which should be dissolved in 1 ml of a dissolvent 10 mg or more and (iii) stage of activisation of process of crystallisation of a composition of the wet granulation received by means of a usual way. Also the pharmaceutical composition for use in the solid preparation, showing selective opposing action against muscarinic M3 receptors is revealed.
EFFECT: rising of stability of the compositions containing Solifenacin or its salt.
12 cl, 3 tbl, 10 ex
Organic compounds // 2358716
SUBSTANCE: invention refers to pharmaceutics and concerns a solid pharmaceutical composition applicable for oral introduction and containing: (a) S1P receptor agonist; and (b) sugar alcohol.
EFFECT: invention provides homogeneous distribution of an active component in the solid composition with its high stability.
Solid medication // 2357757
FIELD: pharmacology.
SUBSTANCE: invention relates to pharmacon immediately dealing with preparation of a solid medication for treatment of diabetes and its sequela. The medication contains metformin or a salt thereof, pioglitazone or a salt thereof, homogenously dispersed, as well as target admixtures. The ratio of the average particle size of metformin or the salt thereof to the average particle size of pioglitazone or the salt thereof varies from 2.23:1 to 8.06:1.
EFFECT: provision for high homogeneity and dissolution degree of the active ingredient.
5 cl, 3 tbl, 14 ex
Method for making antiulcer and antacid tablets vicair-n // 2356571
SUBSTANCE: invention refers to pharmaceutical industry and concerns method for making antiulcer and antacid tablets containing an active material made of hairgrass rhizome and buckthorn bark, as well as base bismuth nitrate, base magnesium carbonate, sodium hydrocarbonate and microcrystalline cellulose, all being mixed with humid granulation and pelletisation. Herewith the active material is polyextracted buckthorn bark and hairgrass rhizome resulted from multistage counter-current extraction of hairgrass rhizome and buckthorn bark in specific environment followed by graduation of the extract.
EFFECT: method allows for tablets made of standardised extractive complexes of natural raw materials with low microbial semination, high biological activity of components, improved biological availability and stability.
2 tbl, 18 ex
Combined activator (activators) of receptor activated with peroxise proliferator (rapp), and sterol absorption inhibitor (inhibitors) and treatment of vessel diseases // 2356550
SUBSTANCE: invention refers to pharmacology and medicine and concerns a pharmaceutical composition for treatment or prevention of vascular pathological condition, diabetes, obesity or low-sterol plasma concentration in mammals containing sterol absorption inhibitor of formula (II), lactose monohydrate, microcrystalline cellulose, polyvinylpyrrolidone, croscarmellose sodium salt, sodium lauryl sulphate and magnesium stearate.
EFFECT: invention provides improved solubility of the composition.
21 cl, 4 tbl, 1 ex
Solid formulation betahistine dihydrochloride and related production procedure // 2356539
SUBSTANCE: invention refers to chemical-pharmaceutical industry and medicine, namely to solid formulation betahistine dihydrochloride containing lactose, microcrystalline cellulose, copolymer vinylpyrrolidone and vinyl acetate, as well as stearic acid and/or its salts as additives in ratio as specified in the patent claim, and to production procedure of the present formulation.
EFFECT: solid formulation under the invention is characterised with good disintergration and high strength.
Controlled-release pharmaceutical proxodolol composition // 2356532
SUBSTANCE: invention refers to medicine, particularly to pharmacy. There is disclosed new preparation. Controlled-release Proxodolol is prepared effectively and conveniently with applying one or more mixed swelling or gelling components, an active component and pharmaceutically acceptable filler. It is preferential to apply a tableted preparation containing Proxodolol dosed 120 mg, hypromellose and pharmaceutically acceptable fillers, e.g. microcrystalline cellulose, calcium stearate and aerosil. New pharmaceutical forms with a suitable Proxodolol release profile allow reducing number of daily dosages while concentration of active component is constant within a therapeutic dose.
EFFECT: stable kinetic indicators of active material delivery.
Auxiliary binding substance and drop-shaped tablet prepared on its base // 2354403
SUBSTANCE: claimed invention relates to chemical-pharmaceutical industry and concerns auxiliary binding substances for manufacturing drop-shaped tablets and to preparation of drop-shaped tablets. Auxiliary binding substances according to claimed invention are selected from group which consists of monosaccharide, oligosaccharide, polysaccharide, sugar ester, sugar of alcohol structure, alpha-hydroxy acid, higher fatty acid derivative, higher aliphatic alcohol, polyol, urea and poly(ethyleneoxide) derivative.
EFFECT: claimed invention reduces toxicity caused by polyethylene glycol, improves drop-shaped tablet quality and accelerates development of drop-shaped tablets.
20 cl, 68 ex, 2 tbl
Method of obtaining molecular complexes // 2353392
FIELD: chemistry.
SUBSTANCE: method of obtaining soluble molecular complexes, containing one or several acting substances, poorly soluble in water medium, included into one or several host molecules representing cyclodextrin, which is distinguished by the fact that it includes following stages: (a) bringing one or several acting substances in contact with one or several host-molecules; (b) carrying out stage of molecular diffusion by bringing liquid liquefied under pressure in contact in static conditions with mixture obtained at stage (a), in presence of one or several agents favouring diffusion; (c) isolation of thus obtained molecular complex. Carrying out stage of molecular diffusion also favours dissolution in water medium with increase of solubility approximately by 100 fold.
EFFECT: method, including stage of molecular diffusion in static conditions applying liquid liquefied under pressure, excluding stage of further washing with liquid with supercritical parameters, considerably increases part of including depending on amount of favouring diffusion agent, added to medium.
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Oblique & Otherwise: An overview of the usefulness of doubt (Part 10)
There is something of being unhinged, or dislodged, in what David Greig mentioned in one of our exchanges about how he uses fragmentation: ‘I use fragmentation a lot. So I create a very secure logical story and then I fragment it. I tell it in the wrong order, for example. This gives the audience the sense that there is a story – so they feel secure – but they can’t quite piece it together – and so it creates a tension. They have to work.’75 This is purposeful unhinging to create doubt. How short or how expansive does the sense of time need to be in his work or the digestion of a duckrabbit?
Where the relationship between security and insecurity where uncertainty is concerned, creatives are divided. Boris Achour replied to my question about that relationship saying: ‘Not feeling secure, as an artist or as a viewer, means to me that I want and need to be surprised by the art I do or see. That is something very simple but quite rare to achieve as an artist (to me, at least) and quite rare to meet as a spectator.’76 But that might be different than what David Greig said later in conversation: ‘I don’t like people to feel doubt or uncertainly when they watch my work. I like them to feel secure. I am telling them a story. The story will have a logic and an inner consistency. They will be able to feel like they are in ‘good hands’ of a story teller. Once people feel secure you can then take them into very dark, uncertain places. You can offer ideas and images that are ‘beyond the pale’ in normal life.’77 Both those ideas have similarities but different textures that rub against each other a little. Since both creatives are storytellers, there isn’t a difference in medium that justifies that discrepancy. Those statements are similar enough that they look like they just boil down to timing. Where does all the temporality live with the public?
Even though it was hinted at within the concepts of affective labor, the question format itself, and in the prevalence of upspeak users, where does this doubt, uncertainty, and general unknowing fit within the tradition of feminist critique? We didn’t land on those squares doing our play, but that isn’t to say they weren’t on the board.78 The Interrobang might also be on this board sitting with its emphatic ambiguity.79 Choices and decisions had to be made during this play. And is Heidegger one of our players, or involved in this dialogue? Perhaps something like his thoughts on choice and decision are worth mentioning here. What is decision at all? In my eyes it certainly isn’t choice. Choosing always involves only what is pre-given and can be taken or rejected. Decision here means grounding and creating, disposing in advance and beyond oneself.’80 That idea could very well sit within this discussion. All those squares left unplayed this time, because of time. And like many artists in a social engagement project, we are without the benefit of this being a repeatable event.
Let’s take a final look at a section of the abstract for the Pleasure of Doubt conference.
Irritation, uncertainty, disbelief; distrust, skepticism, wariness – the spectrum of doubt is rich and diverse. But traditionally, philosophy and humanistic scholars tend to turn their back on it… To capture this transformative power, one has to look beyond purely intellectual changes – which is what our conference wants to do. Doubt can only exert its force because it engages the doubting subject as a whole: not just on the level of concepts and beliefs, but also on the aesthetic level of feeling and perception. The starting point of doubt is emotional, taking hold not only of the mind but also of the feeling and perceiving body. Doubt, in short, is not just a state of mind: it is a complex experience with irreducible aesthetic dimensions.81
The phrase ‘irreducible aesthetic dimensions’ has an elemental sound to it, as if doubt and uncertainty are atoms on the periodic chart of creative elements alongside beauty, sublime, dumpy or dainty; as if doubt truly has a primal nature that exists within human experience. Whether creatives use or reduce it in the production of work, or induce it in others, or experience it along with the public, it is a quality that is part of their toolbox. And like the bombed-out car, doubt has as many stories as those who experience it.
Should we conclude that what has transpired is unteachable and unlearnable? Or is it worth the time to start giving these tactics a try within contemporary art practice? Now that we know how these works could be constructed and the rules involved, is there any longer a reason to create work like these within contemporary art? Can we be certain of ways to produce uncertainty? Knowing that we can use tactics and rules like Eco’s ‘unhinging,’ pulling a card from the Oblique Strategies deck, or issuing surprise through more covert approach like Deller’s, might result in a paradox, but one that we can live with and use as a tool in the toolbox. Or is this analysis its own undoing, like asking: are you firing me? Is this a date? Are you breaking up with me? And beyond the undoing question, what is the value of not knowing? In the end, is it worth just not knowing?
75 Greig, David 2017, pers. comm., 25 Jan.
76 Achour, Boris 2017, pers. comm., 16 Jan.
78 ‘Rachel Jones also considers what might constitute an ethics of not knowing, and calls on us to recognise its wider social and political resonance. Her essay [On the Value of Not Knowing: Wonder, Beginning Again and Letting Be] celebrates the transformative potential of not knowing, but hints at a darker side, citing examples where it has been deployed within “epistemologies of ignorance” to support and perpetuate unjust social structures such as those based on sexism or racism. Historically, even the knowing subject has traditionally been gendered as male, thus aligning not knowing and its negative connotations with the other, female.’ On Not Knowing (pg 12-13)
79 The interrobang (‽) conceived as punctuation in 1962 by Martin K. Speckter (often represented by ?! or !?), is a punctuation mark that functions as both the question mark and the exclamation point.
80 Heidegger, Martin, Contributions to Philosophy (pg 69)
81 http://pleasure-of-doubt.com/#2
Oblique & Otherwise: An overview of the usefulness of doubt (Part 9)
Scratching in the dirt and yet we have only scratched the surface, conscious that throughout I’ve had to make decisions about the path we have taken to get here, mindful of the brief time we had to play which kept us from examining doubt and uncertainty in other work. I’m thinking of Bas Jan Ader and where his art might stand in relation to risk and failure or how in fighting the moment you succumb to gravity – accepting it might have its tactics of uncertainty. And how the texture of doubt in Ader’s work like Fall II where he rides a bicycle into an Amsterdam canal might be a good lens for looking at Simon Starling’s Autoxylopyrocycloboros. Or Cady Noland’s act of disavowing her artworks or refusing to work with galleries, and what that might bring into question.69 I’m also thinking particularly of Deller’s tactics in not wanting We’re Here Because We’re Here to be seen as a work of art at its performance, but not being worried about it being identified with him or as an artwork later, or indeed his bombed-out car not being viewed as a work of art in the Imperial War Museum.70
Does Walt Whitman’s constant revision of poems in his Leaves of Grass collection lead to a lack of real authority and perhaps create an open system of possibility, a living document? Is this related to The World’s First Collaborative Sentence, a work created by Douglas Davis? Could this be another possibility in creating uncertainty? Where does Andy Warhol’s Blue Door stand when he says “I like the door, because you go in and out and you never get anywhere.”71 We just walked around that free-standing door as well as many others. We can say we got somewhere. We started with a roll of the dice as if in a board game and normally you don’t land on every square when you play. We have just finished the first play of the game. I’m not sure if we have won but we know there are other possibilities out there, and it’s worth playing again. It is just the beginning of a dialogue.
Can we converse about the relationship of uncertainty in play, and in particular meaningful play, and games? We have examined artworks as an open system. But we still need to discuss whether all artworks are open systems and, if so, to what extent. Is Eco’s ‘unhinging’ a way of creating an open system for collaborators to create platforms of engagement? Is the duckrabbit enough of a paradox and visual ambiguity that we can use it as a shorthand to explain how doubt and uncertainty might work in less temporal works?
We might find some answer in what David Cross emailed to me about his use of a similar situation.
‘As an artist I have collaborated to make context-specific installations that critically engaged with particular situations and social moments. Starting from a position that ‘knowledge’ can be produced through the encounter of different subject positions and social groups (with class interests that can be in tension or conflict), I have focused on public places and conventional interactions which structure the relationship between them. What we are able to ‘know’ is a question of agency and power. Through art projects, I have tried to draw out the tensions underlying a situation by presenting paradox in aesthetic form, aiming to engage people beyond passive spectatorship, towards more active social agency. Hopefully, the aesthetic form might attract people’s attention, and maybe offer them some reward for the work of engaging with the paradox. Borrowing from the practice of ‘Socratic questioning’, if a paradox is well poised, then engaging with it should somehow mobilize rather than stabilize one’s thought processes.’72 Could we talk about that tactic as creating a duckrabbit desire?
My coffee is quickly growing cold. Maybe when I leave the cottage and get back to Rhenigidale clachan I’ll draw a hot bath, light some candles and incense to warm up and think about it? It’s not like I’m under deadline anytime soon.
Strong work, original work, doesn’t come through a menu or other set of established rules. Did I find myself agreeing with Lyotard? Lyotard asserts ‘Art is not a genre defined in terms of an end (the pleasure of the addressee), and still less is it a game whose rules have to be discovered; it accomplishes an ontological task, that is, a ‘chronological task.’73 That could be extended to have Lyotard asking, ‘Should art have rules? If there are rules one could follow does following them create art or once the rules are known is that something else?’ If I seem to contradict myself it is because of the subtleties between the definitions of rules, frameworks, recipes, and matrixes. The fact is, there are tools and whether it’s a platitude, truism, or cliché it is a poor craftsman who blames the tools. Besides, we also happen to be the ones who make those tools. We make new tools precisely because you can’t solve a problem with the same mindset that created them.74
69 Cady Noland has gained a reputation for the difficulty in exhibiting her works or working with curators, auctioneers, and interviewer’s. One exhibit in 2014 came with a disclaimer: “Because Ms. Noland have [has] not been involved with the chain of provenance with many of my [her] pieces there are more situations like this show which place demands on her time and the artist’s attention to ensure proper presentation of her artwork (including its representation in photographs), than she has time or capacity to be involved with. She reserves her attention for projects of her own choosing and declined to be involved in this exhibition. The artist, or C.N., hasn’t given her approval or blessing to this show.” (Is Cady Noland More Difficult to Work With Than Richard Prince?) And though it was the only interview Noland had given in 24 years, Noland refused to approve the chapter in 33 Artists in 3 Acts, requesting the author Sarah Thornton note, “would like it to be known that she has not approved.” (Is Cady Noland More Difficult to Work With Than Richard Prince?)
70 (Deller, Jeremy; ‘Situations Bristol’) and Deller, Jeremy 2017, pers. comm., 10 Jan.
71 Andy Warhol’s Circa 1780 Door from His Personal Collection
72 Cross, David 2017, pers. comm., 19 Jan.
73 The Inhuman: Reflections on Time (pg 88)
74 ‘Problems cannot be solved with the same mindset that created them.’ is attributed to Albert Einstein but it has become unhinged from its origin and brought into the public domain by the proliferation of image-based memes on the internet.
Let’s go down a hole briefly, and look at Sonia Boyce’s Gulp, where Sarah Cole retells a story she presented at the On Not Knowing conference. When she retold the story she used water as a prop that she drank, gurgled, and dribbled.66 Cole was working at a primary school and encountered a story while she was investigating play with the kids there. She was asking several questions, including “how do we understand play?” and “how can play offer risks and test the boundaries of what is allowed in a playground?” {dribble} but also to sort of respect and understand that there are boundaries for different reasons, to understand what they are and why they’re there.”67 What she found out was that the kids dug a hole in an area of the playground they weren’t normally allowed to play within. In order to do this, they smuggled mouthfuls of water from the drinking fountain to the bit of flowerbed during recess. After 8-10 mouthfuls the hard soil was soft enough to dig. These kids wanted the chance to get dirty. Whose idea was it for a hole? Who decided the hole was big enough? They took turns concealing their child-sized mouthfuls across the playground past those supervising them. Were they excited by the risks? Probably. It was a collaborative effort, a form of playing a game of us versus them. Perhaps one of them set up the framework of “let’s dig a hole” as a way to play in the dirt, but once that was established, it was cooperative play. Each, in turn, taking risks and uncertain of when, or why it would stop. Part of the play was rule-making and rule-breaking.
One of the themes that underlies the works we discussed is this testing of boundaries, risks, and play. This “making a game of it” comes from the artists themselves being unsure where the boundaries lie and noting that it is worth investigating. Unknown to those artists is whether or not society wants to play, or how they want to play and whether the ideas that the artists use to kick off the conversation are worth investigating. What happens when they push at the boundaries? Perhaps there is a space created for a fight to happen out on this playground. Is that part of the rule-making and rule-breaking activities of creation?
These artists create a playground of sorts outside more traditional spheres of exhibition. Are these playgrounds the worlds Deller talks about?68 Artists who participate in this specific type of social engagement are creating a game in the playground and asking us to play. Are Deller and Cross engaging us and asking: “Do you want to dig a hole?” If so they squat next to us scratching their uncertainty along with us in the dirt, wondering what defines a hole and whether we will discover that before someone outside steps in and makes us stop.
66 On Not Knowing (pg 146)
67 GULP is a video that came out of the On Not Knowing symposium. The story, told by Sarah Cole, is a recollection of a practice she encountered whilst working in a primary school. Having heard the story, Sonia Boyce asked Sarah to repeat the tale on video, some two years later, whilst standing [with water bottles that she drank, gurgled, and dribbled] on the roof tops of the former Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design building in Charing Cross Road. This [section] is a transcript of Sonia’s video, made with Sarah, Trish Scott and Dan Scott in 2011. On Not Knowing (pg 146-148)
68 (Deller, Jeremy; ‘Situations Bristol’)
For a month, “the most amazing month of his life”, Jeremy Deller realized he was putting himself at risk traveling with a US soldier and Iraqi civilian, towing a wrecked heap around the US. This is one of the moments in Deller’s life where he asked himself, “what I have done; what am I doing here?”50 Let’s examine this instance in creative practice where both the artist and the public are in a state of doubt or uncertainty.
Frequently this is the case in a piece that uses temporality, especially those that exist in the moment. They work differently than those which rely on the concept of the creator having doubt or creating uncertainty in themselves, or the work, than the process of sharing that doubt through affective labor.51 They are perhaps best understood and examined when the artist is not the exclusive creator, but relies on the public to be a collaborator. Where is the work? Who are the creators? When a creator designs frameworks, matrixes or recipes are they removing themselves from an authority and allowing discovery and play in a space no longer directed by themselves? What roles do archives, documentation, and artifacts take in this process, and are they part of the piece, or something else? Where does failure lie? Is it useful to think about failure in such work?
These sensations aren’t exclusive to art and happen within game design as well. Playtesting is an important and time-consuming part of the game design process that is recommended to commence in the early conceptualization of a play experience and runs vigorously to the end, informing production through what is called the rapid iterative process.52 Unlike the benefits game designers receive during this approach to their outcomes, artists are frequently in the dark, and on the brink of failure. They face this risk because the play-based design process that generates games is very different to the one-off, often event-based aspect of art that involves an extended group of collaborators, and may also include the audience. Consequently, what artists sense during this process is unteachable and unlearnable. Yet the artist is similar to the game designer in that through enacting such a work the role shifts from designer to player, either suspending knowledge of the outcome or experiencing uncertainty.
In the establishment of the framework of his engagement projects, Deller focuses on projects that do things, instead of making things, by inviting people to collaborate through social engagement. When he deals with something like a strike or war his focus isn’t the social impact of war, or why it happened or even particular battles. Instead, Deller seeks to create a structure that becomes open research, bringing people together, and unlike more typical uses of social engagement, the purpose is to make people angry and investigate that anger.53
David Cross also has a similar approach, yet the work of Cornford and Cross is far less dynamic than the open system that Deller constructs. Cross summed up his process and goals when he admitted in our conversation: “I keep returning to art in the belief that although our perceptions — and therefore our choices — are ‘framed’ by ideology, the non-linear dynamic nature of cultural practices continually generate new possibilities for thought and action. The game is rigged, but it’s worth playing because it combines skill and chance, so the outcomes are never entirely certain. When the stakes are high and I don’t know what will happen, I feel more alive… I’m attracted to dynamic situations, so my approach as an artist is less strategic or directive than it is tactical and responsive. What I love about critical, socially engaged art projects is the chance to find an edge, like placing a bet on the limit of what is acceptable. I look for contact through projects that invite people to come forward as players in heightened and unpredictable situations.”54 Cross’s approach is different than Deller’s, but they both involve degrees of risk and uncertainty, and entertain the possibility of failure. Could failure be defined as ‘going wrong’? Or is no engagement the greater failure? Or what if the engagement was interpreted as farce?
Deller admits there is inherent difficulty in enacting a riot, in particular the possibility that it could ‘go horribly wrong quite easily with one wrong punch thrown for real’, sparking a real riot instead of a questioning.55 It is this questioning and this anger that are the real goals of what Deller wants to achieve. He ‘didn’t want to tick the engagement boxes, or have the goal of people feeling better for participating. That isn’t where his interest is.’56 The original concept of the exploded car was to sit atop the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square, London. When that proposal was rejected, Deller created what game designers would call an open system that invites input for open discussion. As little or as much space as the Battle of Orgreave or the bombed-out car occupy in three-dimensions, they open an infinite space for discussion. The chosen route for the car was through US Southern states and Republican areas. In an attempt to keep the car from being framed as an anti-war piece, Deller set out to make a very clinical, descriptive introduction to the work by posting a sign on the trailer stating: This car was destroyed in a bomb attack in Baghdad marketplace March 5, 2007. Each of the passengers gave out flyers and exposed themselves to the consequences of this in the hope that the idea spoke for itself. Or you could say spoke enough for itself; an opening line or gesture of an idea to create a dialogue to invite people to respond, with the bland title and twisted heap resulting in a blank page for people to write their stories.
Deller later said they were, ‘terrified because we weren’t sure what would happen and that was the exciting thing about making art within the public realm’.57 The uncertainty of the unexpected. He followed with: ‘If you do something in a museum it is warm and dry, and in a sense, people know how to behave.’58 Does that change in the public realm? Does an artist have less control because it is outside the norms of more established art experiences? Maybe there is a similarity here between Deller’s public realm and Cross’s ‘placing a bet on the limit of what is acceptable.’
What was acceptable to the public Deller encountered on his road trip? Where did the public start their stories? The most commonly asked question was “what kind of car was it?” next to “did anyone die?” Beyond that, the trio was working with ‘their wits, lucky that at the end of the day they could still talk to each other.’59 Is this space that Deller and Cross construct any different than Umberto Eco’s ‘unhinging’? Is that what they are doing in the public realm? The bombed car ended up in the Imperial War Museum where it ceased to be an artwork, placed in a space where the public wouldn’t tend to think in aesthetic terms, where they wouldn’t refer to the rust as patina and compare it to a Richard Sera or John Chamberlin understanding. It rests on a short grey plinth archived but not preserved, permanently unhinged.
Knowing that the vehicle ended up displayed with the machines of war in a museum dedicated to wars of empire, is it now removed from the concept of that original artwork? Deller would say so and you could agree. That isn’t to say Imperial War Museum isn’t without art or aesthetics. The museum shows art and commissions new works in a bid to debate different conflicts around the world. The Spitfire that is suspended above the exploded car is a graceful design that appears to move fast even when standing still. Imagine if it was in British racing green with stripes. The V2 rocket that stands nearby could evoke Constantin Brancusi’s Bird in Space. Though the content of the museum is primarily objects of war, there is no certainty in whether the public will view Deller’s work aesthetically or not. A dialogue could evolve either way. That may just bring us back to the duckrabbit ambiguity inherent in Deller’s car. Some may see the picture-duck and others the picture-rabbit. ‘Unhinged’ among the machines of war and flight, it can sit framed as a significant work in the museum. But without that frame saying, in a heavy-handed way, this is art. Functionally it could also approximate to the parking-lot experience of the original tour or the WWI soldiers in Ikea.
There was little if any documentation of those daily events of Deller’s on the road experiment. Did that make the experience more human, more natural, or importantly more unexpected? Every day on this trip these three cooks followed their recipe. Every day they played the game, and each time it was a new moment of play. During these repeated interactions not only did they hear multiple stories and experience multiple interactions about this lump of oxidizing iron, but they probably learned about themselves. If they were approaching the scenario in the same way every day, it is doubtful that they would consider themselves ‘lucky’ to be able to be still able to talk to each other that evening.60
Elsewhere, Sol Lewitt’s work is created even after his death following his instructions. Yoko Ono tweets out ideas for work for others to complete. These frameworks are directive and limited and outside the meaningful play that Deller and Cross create and emerge themselves in. We can imagine Ono and Lewitt rarely see themselves in doubt or experiencing uncertainty mostly because they aren’t looking for collaborators, they are exclusively looking
for fabricators.
A strong wind whistles in the window and hums through the drainage vent pipe. Harris sheep must eat rocks, or be rock; otherwise they would be Newfoundland sheep.
Brian Eno doesn’t think art bursts out into reality by some unstoppable divine force. He defines his way of working not as setting a goal and trying to reach it, but seeing what he does anyway and how he can make use of it in a different way of working.62 He studied as a painter and sees his ideas in music coming from looking at painting and wondering how you could make music about that.63 The idea of ambient music came from the idea to make music that existed in a steady state like a painting or a sculpture. No longer does he use Oblique Strategies because he feels that he can call upon them from his memory if needed and use creative adventurous mind games to be able to understand things. I doubt whether James Gardner or David Greig would disagree.
I follow the two writers down the steps through the kitchen, past the French butcher block island, the knives, and forks, pots, and pans. We put our dry boots on and brace against the world. We sit on the cold concrete base at the top of the trolley rail structure. My legs are cold and are growing wet. I am the first to drink from the flask of coffee, and the dogs are ecstatic at the appearance of digestives. Their muddy paws leave prints on anything not dirt.
Eno said, “children learn through play, adults play through art.”64 Perhaps he casts art as unteachable and unlearnable, in that once you find the tools to solve the problem you only have them stolen when you need them next.65 That could be a projection on my part. He certainly didn’t say that adults learn through art, though. Whether faced with an empty house, a blank page, a freshly primed canvas, or working on a sculpture, or any other creation that you don’t know how to finish, creatives and creators face doubt and uncertainty during the creation of work. Often they find a way out through establishing gridworks of abstractions, platitudes, metaphors, and imaginary inventions to induce or reduce those feelings of doubt till they achieve the result they are looking for. Maybe Nietzsche was also right about the will to endure. Who defines the ‘mistake’ or the ‘intention’ in Eno’s suggestion?
51 Thinking of David Greig earlier quote in the introduction section I, around how he approaches doubt and uncertainty and expresses that within his work.
52 Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals (pg 11)
61 Here is a bit of an ‘Easter egg’ that fits within the gaming framework as well as the ‘picture-rabbit.’ There is an essay that might be worth a read if you are interested in redaction. London Fieldworks and The Office of Experiments contributed to On being overt: secrecy and covert culture in On Not Knowing. Two investigations feature in the paper: Gustav Metzger thinking about nothing in an EEG machine and the resulting sculpture London Fieldworks made from that image, paired with the hiding in plain sight of military secrets.
62 2015 sample played during the introduction to Brian Eno’s John Peel Lecture
63 2001 Jools Holland interview.
64 2015 John Peel Lecture
65 Unteachable and Unlearnable: The Ignorance of Artists, an essay in On not Knowing Atkinson Warstat considers the difficulties of finding room for not knowing within a pedagogic framework using a mix of James Elkin’s Why Art Cannot Be Taught: A Handbook for Art Students, Kafka, and a good dose of Blanchot. On not Knowing (pg 42-52)
My Dog Has Jumping Fleas
In the heat of a July summer sun, a plastic human figure with its translucent plastic grass skirt sways on the dashboard with every bump and turn watching the world roll by. You have probably seen this particular piece of kitsch. Typically, it is used to sell car related items, the cars themselves, air fresheners, insurance, and toy cars to children. It is the dashboard doll hula girl. When the hula girl isn’t enough, you can see a tiki or two thrown in to prop up the island lifestyle message. Though there were hula dolls made in Hawaii by Hawaiians since 1900, the dashboard hula doll was created and popularized among soldiers post-WWII and was mostly manufactured in postwar Japan. Two types exist: one is where the hula girls hands are in her hair, and the other features her strategically holding a ukulele to cover what otherwise would be a bare chest.1
I would like to say I don’t understand why companies, and their marketing departments, use a misogynistic, colonial, exploitive lens to sell products to consumers as young as 8, but I know because I have.2 That being said let’s stick with the two poses for a moment if just to say that hula is an interpretive dance in which the motion and gesture of the hands are the most significant aspect of the communication. To remove the hands or to otherwise occupy them is to remove the voice of the dancer. The rhythm of hula comes from traditional and contemporary chanting rhythms and their original Polynesian beats. You could further conclude that occupying the hands of a hula dancer is a denial of the cultural memory of the Kanaka Maoli, who for thousands of years without a written language communicated the values, memories, and stories through dance and chant. Many never ask how the ukulele ended up in this dashboard hula doll’s otherwise silent hands or used by companies on its own to symbolically “inspire customers to relax in style.”
Where did a string instrument come from in a culture that uses chants, percussion, and performance to communicate its oral history? Before we begin that answer, I want to say that I will use two spellings of Hawai’i/Hawaii, but will not use them interchangeably. I will try to keep Hawaii to mean the United States protectorate and state, and Hawai’i to mean the sovereign nation and traditional culture of the Kanaka Maoli.3 Using the diacritical mark as a wayfinding symbol of native versus alien. As we go, we will find how easy it gets confused and could have the same and more productive conversation as “native AND alien” instead. We will start to tell this story through two island chains across the world from each other and in separate oceans. It is a fitting start since we just talked about hula gestures whose bulk are for geographic features that help with the wayfinding in Hawai’ian story tradition.
These two archipelagoes are linked in exploitation, colonization, questionable farming practices, and the introduction of disease. By 1840, Hawai’i had radically changed because of the arrival of Captain James Cook in the late 1770s.4 Once great explorers themselves, around 300 AD the first colonizers of what would become Hawaii set off on a 3,760 km journey from the Marquesas Islands with chickens, bananas, coconut, taro root, and sweet potatoes with the expectation of finding land.5 Around the twelfth century, Hawaii was again colonized by Tahitians.6 The Tahitian priest Pa’ao was instrumental in establishing a caste system that oppressed the current inhabitants’ culture and instituted kapu.7 The arrival of Cook set off a chain of events that within 50 years lead to the rapid decline in population, loss of sovereignty for the Kanaka Maoli, the ending of kapu, the exportation and deforestation of the sandalwood trees, and the first sugar plantation. Shortly after the end of kapu, Christian missionaries arrive in Hawai’i and quickly fill the religious vacuum. Hula and other traditions were banned.
The 60 years after Cook saw the population drop through war and disease from around 400,000 to 40,000 decimating the Kanaka Maoli. In 1848-1850 faster ships made the travel of smallpox and influenza possible with the influx of missionaries and international commerce. Oahu lost half its population, and thousands died of influenza compounding the population crisis.
Kapu had determined how land was distributed among the Kanaka Maoli. But in 1845 Kamehameha III issued the Great Mehele, which allowed foreigners to own land. The population drop fed into the growth of foreign landowners. When the American Civil War started the new landowners profited greatly from their sugar exports to the North, who no longer imported the commodity from the South. Plantations grew and required labor. The sources for this workforce came from, Mexico, China, Filipinos, Japan and eventually the Portuguese islands of Madeira.
I am conscious that a human timescale has been compressed to function more like a geological timeframe. What I have mentioned about the political and cultural history of Hawai’i is just an outline of the forces that pushed the ukulele into creation. Similar forces both geologically and politically acted across the world on Madeira. Around 800 AD the Iberian peninsula is conquered by the Moors. During the next 400 years, there is a blending of musical instruments, tuning, and composition. Most notably for our purposes the introduction to Spanish and Portuguese cultures of reentrant tuning.8 When the Portuguese achieved independence in 1249 from the Moors and Spain by 1385, they began their age of exploration leading to the rediscovery of Madeira.
Land was cleared through burning and exportation of timber and two crops were planted grapes and sugar cane. The Braga settlers also brought the machete de Braga or braguinha. This instrument would be the basis for the musical ensembles in Madeira and led to the creation of accompanying instruments and notably for us the rajao. By 1500, Madeira was the world’s largest sugar producer. Unable to compete with the less expensive sugar from Brazil, and the West Indies, Madeiran sugar production waned, and wine production filled the economic gap.
Again winning their independence from Spain, Portugal signs a protection treaty with England in 1640 that gives the English the economic upper hand. The Marquis of Pombal, the current Prime Minister of Portugal, remarked in 1755, that the British,” conquered us without the inconvenience of a conquest.”9 After the Napoleonic Wars, England removed its garrison from Madeira, but the wars themselves found Portugal burdened with debt further exacerbating the already fragile economy. Madeira became a vacation spot for the Brittish, who enjoyed the mild weather, and English money became the used currency for the area. The majority use of the land was for the cash crop of wine, and the bulk of food for the people had to be imported. Consequently, in the 1840s a series of crop failures met with international recession that when coupled with a Brittish dominated monoculture agriculture and overpopulation caused famine to sweep the land.10 Mass emigration began when Brittish needed cheap labor in the wake of the abolition of slavery.
With starvation, and exploitation facing them at home, there should be no surprise that three Portuguese cabinet makers would join the thousand already working and living in underpopulated Hawai’i. What did come as a surprise to many arriving in Honolulu was the vista of a large American-style city in contrast to the expectation of tropical nature and wild savages. In fact, these three would have left one of the most illiterate European countries for the most literate country in the world. One of the most valuable things the missionaries brought with them was writing and using the latin alphabet the Hawai’ians codified the Kanaka Maoli language into a written form.
After the five months long British occupation of Hawai’i and the restoration of the monarchy by the US Navy, Hawai’i and the United States of America entered into several diplomatic agreements. US currency was the currency used throughout the islands. Eventually, these agreements led to the 1875 Reciprocity Treaty, which removed any tariffs on the import of Hawai’ian sugar to the USA and gave the US Navy the use of Pearl Harbor.
Manuel Nunes, Augusto Dias and Jose Espirito Santo, the three Portagues cabinet makers, found themselves living in another society where music making was an essential part of everyday life. King David Kalakaua had inspired the continuation of Hawai’ian arts, the reinstatement of the hula, and played several instruments including the Spanish guitar. There was also “tarro-patch” music, music that was played in the fields of the plantations. None of these three cabinet makers came to Hawai’i to create a musical instrument, but they could see the opportunity for an easy to learn, easy to play instrument to accompany short structured songs.
The year they landed, 1879, they produced the first ukulele. The scale was similar to the braguinha, but the tuning came from the rajao. They took the DGCEA strings of the five-string rajao and used four for the ukulele GCEA.11 The braguinha used four different dimensioned strings; the rajao can get by with three; the ukulele uses two and cheaper versions of the ukulele use just one. The marketing plan kicked off with an introduction of the ukulele to the royal family who enjoyed it. King Kalakaua gave Manuel Nunes the right to use the royal seal on the ukuleles he manufactured. Both poor and wealthy bought the instrument, and it was played throughout Hawai’i. And the ukulele and hula appeared together for the first time as part of Kalakaua’s Jubilee celebration in 1886.
Debates continue on the origin of the name of the ukulele. The explanations vary from jumping fleas to the cat flea, it could reference the ukulele as a “gift that came here” or a pun on a previous Hawai’ian instrument and to sing and dance. The royal family was known to utilize the limited consonants of the Kanaka Maoli language to make double or triple meanings within their everyday speech. It is recorded that Queen Lili’uokalani preferred the meaning “the gift that came here.”12
The descendants of the Christian missionaries had grown wealthy, powerful and influential within Hawai’ian society and the US government.13 Two coup attempts were made. The first in 1887 after an armed rebellion installed a constitution that stripped the elected monarchy of much of its power. And the second came as a result of the monarchy abrogation of the 1887 Bayonet Constitution in 1893 with the idea of preserving Hawai’ian sovereignty. On January 17, 1893, the grandson of missionaries Lorrin Thurston and the rest of the Committee of Saftey took control of the government building, Aliʻiōlani Hale. With Thurston’s connections to the US government, the Committee was recognized as the de facto government of the new Republic of Hawai’i, which was annexed by the United States as the Territory of Hawaii in 1898. Despite formal protest by the former Queen Lili’uokalani, the Kanaka Maoli and immigrated people of Hawai’i.
Hawai’ian culture was exhibited at the 1915 Pan Pacific Exposition in San Francisco, a celebration of the opening of the Panama Canal and the rebuilding of San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake and fire. The most popular pavilion by far was the one that featured the hula and ukuleles performances. Two of Manuel Nunes’ granddaughters were among those who taught ukulele lessons during the exhibition.14 The ukulele crossed as one of the latest fads, spreading through vaudeville acts and jazz music. When Manuel Nunes died in 1922, his obituary was picked up by wire services and printed in newspapers nationwide as the death of the inventor of the ukulele. The instrument was so entrenched within US society as a Hawai’ian instrument that when the anthropologist Helen Robert published her 400-page report on the ancient chants and songs of the Hawai’ian Islands in 1924 that the small blip the ukulele was not “native” eclipsed the rest of the documentation. This revelation satisfied beliefs at the time that a non-white mind wouldn’t be capable of making such a creation. Between 1915 and 1924 over 4 million ukuleles had been sold on the mainland. By the late thirties, the first wave of the ukulele had come to a close and musicians sought to de-Hawaiianize the sound.
The next wave was coupled with plastic ukulele production in post-WWII Japan. The inexpensive nature of the production helped place a ukulele in almost every child’s hands. In mainstream music at the time even the more traditionally manufactured ukulele was seen as a background sound or novelty instrument (even just a prop) especially when featured on the popular variety shows at the time. There was a movement to take the ukulele seriously on its own as an instrument which failed to get traction. The ukulele was saved from being only a novelty and disappearing after this was in many ways itself and the importance of music in education.
Unlike the recorder, and penny whistle the ukulele lends itself to the study of harmony. As an instrument, the ukulele has found its place in the world appreciated for the same reasons it was created: ease of play, inexpensive to manufacture, and capable of being played solo as well as in ensembles. The world is following Hawaii’s and Canada’s example in utilizing it for musical education. Consequently, you see its use growing among bands, at home with users of youtube, and protest and peace rallies.
Though the ukulele has found its ecological nitch, Hawaii swims in the ocean of new discussions of how Hawaiian is defined in an ever-shrinking globalized world. Hula itself is open to contemporary practices as much as traditional, and a hula competition called the Merrie Monarch happens every year, but versions that satisfy the tourist expectation of hula are still performed nightly.15 As a series of islands, Hawaii has become the poster child for ecological areas suffering from invasive species. Airplanes bringing tourist and ballast water from cruise ships and cargo vessels have brought disease and competitive species to the otherwise isolated archipelago.16
Within the political sphere, the term “native species” could mean something that has always geographically Hawai’ian or something the Polynesians brought with them, which included over thirty species of plants. Unique to the Hawai’ian islands is the concept whether or not something that is culturally introduced is necessarily alien. As the Hawaiians observe the front lines of their ecology one of the first test whether or not something is alien or native is if it has a Hawai’ian name. That discussion continues to grow as well as who defines what is truly Hawai’ian. There is even still debate of the island chain again becoming a sovereign nation. Most importantly for our discussion is the question if these islands will see the same ecological and commercial effects that Madeira saw little over 150 years ago and the similar unfortunate consequences.
Off the coast of Hawaii, a new island forms and will appear in ten thousand years. The islands that exist now will continue their march towards Alaska joining their predecessors in the mountain chain and will sink below the waves in a million years. The aloha this new island receives, and the aloha the old islands get is uncertain. It is necessary that every member of the human race understand the political, economic and ecological implications of our actions. And through open, honest exchange coupled with recognition of our past successes and mistakes, we can learn to harmonize together and be here on earth to witness these geological processes while in peace with ourselves.
1 Ukulele is pronounced “OOH-kuh-leh-leh” by those speak the Kanaka Maoli language. The most common pronunciation is “You-koo-ley-lee” and some people call it the uke, but that can be used as a derogatory term for the instrument. Occasionally in the UK you see it spelled Ukelele.
2 From January of 2012 till August of 2015 I worked the ecommerce division of the retail company Tommy Bahama. It considers itself to be a purveyor of the island lifestyle creating floral printed camp shirts and other products that are positioned to inspire our customers to relax in style. There I worked with many Hawaiians particularly within the “Live the Life” section of the website. An area where Tommy Bahama creates the feeling of authenticity by utilizing its employees’ legitimate culture as its own. Notably for this paper is the sections on the ukulele and hula which are pages that I designed.
3 When I mention the island of Hawaii I will say the “big island” as it is referred to in Hawaii.
4 Kamehameha was impressed by much of what Captain Cook had to offer especially guns and cannon. After the encounter, Kamehameha changed the way he dressed adopting the English style and learned English. He began trading the sandalwood trees for guns and cannon with anyone who was willing and with these arms united through conquest first the Big Island and the rest of the archipelago.
5 Current theory is that it took the Polynesians about 400 years to calculate where Hawaii was. Through a feat of persistence and cultural memory year after year they followed the migration of the pacific golden plover. Rowing their canoes to keep up with the birds as long as they could and then navigating back to that spot and waiting for the birds again trying to keep up with the migration. Eventually being the first humans reaching the island chain.
6Depending on the source the Tahitians are second wave of settlers or the first conquers of Hawaii. They marked a radical change in the current culture bringing new gods and social structure to the land.
7 Kapu is a rule system similar to taboo which ruled the activity of daily life. Including laws of who could eat what, what was planted and when. The punishment for violating almost every kapu was death.
8 Reentrant tuning is a way of tuning an string instrument without maintaining an ascending or descending order.
9 (the Brittish had) “conquered [us] without the inconvenience of a conquest. . . . England has become mistress of the entire commerce of Portugal.”
Tranquada, Jim; King, John, ‘The Ukulele: A History’, (University of Hawai‘i Press, 2012) pp. 18-19
11 The mnemonic frequently taught for ukulele tuning is “my dog has fleas.” It should also be pointed out that the research of the origins of the ukulele evolution through its anatomy comes from the research of Dan Scanlan, and Gisa Jähnichen. Both of these researchers reference each other, but seem to be the only ones talking about it. The other resources trace it to the machete mostly through the similarity of size.
12 ‘The gift that came here’ has grown in popularity since the 1980 publication of Ukulele, a gift of the Portuguese. “Leslie Nunes, a great-grandson of Manuel (Nunes), gave some acknowledgement to this meaning when he titled his book on the history of the ukulele Ukulele, the Gift of the Portuguese”
Scanlan, Dan, ‘Extended History of the Ukulele’, (2012) pp. 10
13 At the time US citizens could serve in the Hawai’ian government without giving up their US citizenship.
14 It was one of these granddaughters that started the research that replaced the machete with the rajao as the origin instrument in a 1989 interview with Dan Scanlan on her 104th birthday.
““Flora Fox: “I have that ukulele… but a bigger one. My grandfather was the originator of the ukulele. He made the rajaos [rezzaos]. And then from there he went to Honolulu. And the Hawaiians couldn’t play that big guitar, so, he made a small one. That was his idea.”
Jähnichen, Gisa, ‘Lies in Music: A Case Study on Qualitative Research in Ethnomusicology’, Observing – Analysing – Contextualising MUSIC. Edited by Gisa Jähnichen & Chan Cheong 2nd edition (Serdang: UPM Press, 2015 [2008])pp. 10
It should be noted that the decedents of all three cabinet makers still debate origins and level of involvement, but by 1900 Nunes was the only one who’s shop was still open and producing ukuleles.
15 The Merrie Monarch is named for King David Kalākaua was called the Merrie Monarch.
“Merrie Monarch festival” Merrie Monarch festival website.
URL: http://www.merriemonarch.com (23/03/16)
16 This is a prime example of a literal consequence of the fluid nature and flow of globalization.
Appadurai, Arjun, ‘The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective’, (Cambridge University Press, 1988)
Barthes, Rolland, ‘Mythologies’, translated by Dr. Annette Lavers (Vintage 2000, London, 2009)
Dean, Paul: Ritzer, George, ‘Globalization: A Basic Text’, 2nd Edition, (Wiley-Blackwell, 2015)
Helmreich, Stefan, ‘Alien Ocean: Anthropological Voyages in Microbial Seas’, (University of California Press, 2009)
Jähnichen, Gisa, ‘Lies in Music: A Case Study on Qualitative Research in Ethnomusicology’, Observing – Analysing – Contextualising MUSIC. Edited by Gisa Jähnichen & Chan Cheong 2nd edition (Serdang: UPM Press, 2015 [2008])
Scanlan, Dan, ‘Extended History of the Ukulele’, (2012)
Tranquada, Jim; King, John, ‘The Ukulele: A History’, (University of Hawai‘i Press, 2012)
“The Art & History of Hula” Tommy Bahama website.
URL: http://www.tommybahama.com/live-the-life/sports-and-culture/art-and-culture/the-art-andhistory-
of-hula.html (23/03/16)
“Island Life 101: Ukulele Basics” Tommy Bahama website.
URL: http://www.tommybahama.com/live-the-life/sports-and-culture/art-and-culture/ukulelebasics.html (23/03/16)
“Merrie Monarch 2016 – Halau O Ka Ua Kani Lehua – Wahine Kahiko 1st Place” youtube.com website.
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Thzoe8Yhx4 (15/04/16)
“R.E.V. Robotic Enhanced Vehicles TV Spot, ‘Hula Girl’” www.ispot.tv website.
URL: https://www.ispot.tv/ad/A7BQ/rev-robotic-enhanced-vehicles-hula-girl (15/04/16)
Thank you Secret Santa
Yesterday, I was a little confused about this new object in my life. Easily understood as a consumable of some sort, his hand raised in a welcoming “hello!”, my feeling moved from confusion to joy as I walked from my flat to the studio this morning and realized how much of a contribution he makes in my life. And, quite simply, how much I love him.
Since he is an eraser he isn’t saying hello, he is saying goodbye. In the world, he acts as a foil to me. I create; he removes. Together we are in balance. Ultimately, he behaves as a mushroom or other fungi, transforming existence. Simultaneously he becomes a non-object as he fulfills his duties. He doesn’t simply say goodbye to things – he completes their journey to a different realm. And he does so not by an abstract gesture, but by a final caress, while slowly moving towards that realm himself.
How fitting he has taken the form of a garden gnome, an image and symbolic shorthand for travel, journey, and the general qualities of transience given to us by pop culture. Is he black as an acknowledgment of death or is the purpose practical? Or maybe it is more like in China, where he is a stand-in for water and flow, cycles and exchange within an esoteric ether. He was made in China after all.
There he stands in my studio, symbolic of the transience of being while also being the action completing his transmutation. I love him; I will miss him.
Over coffee, I ask him questions. Can we say that he destroys? What lies beyond for him? On the other side of existence does his image look the same? In this new realm is he welcoming and saying hello? What things exist in that imagined plain we will never come to know? He stands there mute not revealing his secrets.
Thank you Secret Santa,
In a time period a few months longer than the Allies took to plan D-Day, Jeremy Deller planned his invasion of the United Kingdom. July 1, 2016, was the deployment date when he, the National Theatre, and 1600 volunteers based in 27 locations converged on 17 transport hubs and marched through 30 communities across the UK.32 The campaign, called We’re Here Because We’re Here, was aimed at creating a living memorial to those who lost their lives at the Somme, 100 years before.33
One of the tactics that Deller felt made this successful was his ‘no prior press release’ approach.34 Stating that, “like any battle that has to be kept a secret, this project had to be kept a secret as well,”35 Deller made a very conscious decision in the early stages of the project to employ shock, visual jolts and uncertainty in what the audience was witnessing. Does shock at that instant invoke a moment of doubt and uncertainty in a viewer? One of the artist’s initial goals was to make something which would ‘make children cry.’36
Were the soldiers at the Battle of the Somme prepared? Were they shocked? The volunteer army selected for We’re Here Because We’re Here had agreed to take on a task bigger and more protracted than they were aware of in the beginning, but stuck with the project to the end. In an interesting parallel, it wasn’t until they were fully committed that the scope of the full plan was revealed.
Deller wanted to disrupt, dislodge, and, one could say, unhinge the rituals he saw in society for honoring or commemorating its dead warriors. His goals were to create something that didn’t conform to the established acts of mourning and the paying of respects. He sees annual Armistice Day visits to the Cenotaph in Whitehall as creating both a sense of peace within the public and a ‘sentimentality’ that makes the deaths of the hundreds of thousands appear heroic.37
Deller wanted to make a human memorial that wasn’t comforting, had a random quality, and was decentralized; one that confronts or disrupts the audience. To avoid sentimentality Deller’s army was to avoid religious buildings, memorials and cemeteries. Instead they were ordered to deploy to shopping centers, bus stations, parks and Ikeas, places where they would be incongruent, a visual disruption. Places that didn’t exist in 1916. Ikea was specifically highlighted as a target because of the sense of ‘purposelessness’ and ‘soullessness’ the space has to Deller.38 The planned marches were in public partially because it was a public work, but more than that he wanted to confront the public. Deller said: “if people didn’t want to see it they would have to see it.”39
What keeps it from being street theater instead of an artwork? If you come across something that you aren’t prepared for is it more unexpected than anything else that happens within daily life? It seems these are the questions we could be asking. But our mission here is to examine the tactics used by contemporary artists to create doubt and uncertainty. The title of Deller’s memorial work was taken from a battle song sung during the Great War. We’re Here Because We’re Here were the repetitive lyrics sung to the tune of Auld Lang Syne, which spoke to Deller. He heard: “we don’t know why we are here, we don’t know what’s going on. No one is telling us anything. What is the point of this?”40 Is this the secret message Deller is transmitting to the public? The campaign ended in a purposeless ‘vortex’ of human beings as the soldiers congregated in the transport hubs where they were originally deployed and ceased linear marching, and instead synchronizing in concentric circles, each group in step but headed in opposite rotations.41 With one final rendition of the battle song, then the work stopped with a cry. The planned push ended Deller’s tactics and left the troops exhausted. Two pre-planed tactics were later awarded for leading to the success of that day: surprise and the wish to unhinge.42 Both of these were covert.
Much of the major work Deller has done is based around conflict. It is as if Deller has to push the limits of acceptability and the way he does that is by serving up conflict. Now, however, he is also a veteran at working with open systems and creating a platform for engagement. Losing control, he says, was something he used to be concerned about, but with We’re Here Because We’re Here he expected such a loss, certainly in terms of social media, that this battle plan wouldn’t survive the first bullet, or first tweet, in a digitally networked world. In the end, it would be a battle, he would lose, and the public would finally take control of the project. It was for the public; it would be documented by them, talked about by them.
Knowing or recognizing this beforehand, Deller included game plans around the public having no forewarning of the work, and while the work was shared on social media there would be no reference to it as an artwork; any such reference would be deleted or removed, and the soldiers would be on unexpected fronts.43 Those fronts, meanwhile, were temporarily incongruent to the period costumes of the volunteers. There is a rhyming of sentiment between this and Eco’s ‘unhinging’. The mute soldiers walking through Ikea looks like an excerpt of a book, with the soldiers being only part of a story visibly dislodged from the contained and restrained ritual of the cenotaph. On that day, the limited reconnaissance available to the public through the internet and subsequent social media denied an association to classify the experience and understanding where it fitted within cultural production. Deller left the public with only the experience itself and, if they had an ‘encounter’, they received a card with a particular soldier’s name, regiment and – if known – his age the day he died at the Somme.44 This mute exchange was as close to an explanation as possible at the time. Does the card function as two things at once – both an explanation and a tombstone? Could that card be the duckrabbit of that excursion?
Does unhinging a work from context, or creating visual ambiguities, or contradictions do more than work to dislodge our expectation? These are tactics that have worked and continue to satisfy when looking to create something that results in doubt and uncertainty. They are easier to accomplish within works that have some temporality. Works that function in a more static time, or a narrower existence for the public’s examination, seem to be more limited to suspending the time by ambiguity. On that can we be sure? Only in the continued march of time, that inevitable journey we must all thole, will we tell.
Let’s allow time to continue its endless march and rest ourselves while we rejoin Ilsa Lund in her romantic, soft-focus, upper-story flat in Paris and return to her question: ‘“Was that artillery fire, or is it my heart pounding?” Now, with our refreshed eyes, we ask a similar question we could apply to works that we are in doubt about, or uncertain of: Is our expectation of reality, or our everyday existence, at risk of being challenged by an outside force, or are we excited by the prospect of the sublime?
Back in the Harris gale, I’m struggling to focus on finding an outline for my dissertation. And I’m beating myself up about it. David Greig described having writer’s block as not getting the feeling of losing himself in the work, like he feels he used to or should. You could see this as an extension of the romanticization of the artist, or even the individual, that leads to the multi-billion dollar self-help industry.45 James Garner’s view, meanwhile, is more of a Will to Power argument, like Jasper Johns’ ‘Do something, do something to that, and then do something to that.’46
Could it be that both ways are a door for stepping outside to look into what you have done to see if it’s working? Like hoping a sculpture falls in the middle of the night so you can rebuild it.47 I’m tempted to agree, but can the strategy of this be distilled to establishing gridwork, platitudes, metaphors, and imaginary inventions? Can this remove uncertainty and doubt within the creator and even be used to induce doubt or at least a healthy skepticism as a personal Anxiety of Influence? In Harold Bloom’s mid-seventies book The Anxiety of Influence: A Theory of Poetry he sees creatives as struggling against their knowledge of the historic cannon. Bloom then outlines ways in which that struggle can be reduced by reinterpretation of the past. A creative could misquote/misread to find room for themselves, by sharpening the point of their predecessor. As preposterous as it might seem, the creative could also invite the predecessor to read his work. In doing so no matter how distant in the past the predecessor existed in, he could rationalize that the predecessor was the successor operating in a non-linear time. Or, the creative could see that history has taken a certain route and choose an antithetical path. Does Bloom’s book even work as he asserts, or is it just a version of the self-help book? What other creative lanes exist? There is an accepted mythology in the music industry that all the best studios have Brian Eno’s and Peter Schmidt’s Oblique Strategies within them.48 One of those cards comes to mind: ‘Honor thy mistake as a hidden intention.’49 Is that a line from Hamlet? Did I misremember that?
32 (Jeremy Deller: We’re here because we’re here, 2016)
34 Deller, Jeremy 2017, pers. comm., 10 Jan.
36 (Jeremy Deller: We’re here because we’re here, 2016) and (Meet the creatives behind ‘we’re here because we’re here’, 2016)
42 There were two social media teams in the We’re Here Because We’re here project: one dedicated to getting the word out, the other to stopping anyone from believing it was an artwork by removing references to Jeremy Deller, the National Theatre, Birmingham Rep, anything that might suggest that, by requesting they remove posts that ‘would give the game away.’ (Meet the creatives behind ‘we’re here because we’re here’, 2016)
43 (Meet the creatives behind ‘we’re here because we’re here’, 2016)
45 Stats from Huffington Post
46 Jasper Johns’ now famous 1964 sketchbook quote and The Will to Power refers to a selection of Friedrich Nietzsche notebook writings that is translated as “To those human beings who are of any concern to me I wish suffering, desolation, sickness, ill-treatment, indignities – I wish that they should not remain unfamiliar with profound self-contempt, the torture of self-mistrust, the wretchedness of the vanquished: I have no pity for them, because I wish them the only thing that they can prove today whether one is worth anything or not – that one endures.”
47 Phyllida Barlow talks about pushing sculptures over and being disappointed if they didn’t fall over in the night in Unidentified Foreign Objects: Phyllida Barlow in conversation with Elizabeth Fisher in the transcript of the On not Knowing conference within On Not Knowing (pg 108)
48 Jools Holland asserted this during his 2001 interview of Brian Eno. (Later…)
49 The actual line from the card is “Honor thy error as a hidden intention.” It was misremembered.
Now that we have marched a bit further perhaps there should be a bit of rest, and we join back with, if not Ilsa, at least Casablanca and the idea of holding more than one idea; or, more fittingly, holding only a couple of ideas within a complex and contradictory many. In the essay Casablanca: Cult Movies and Intertextual Collage, Umberto Eco explores systems for creating a cult movie. A cult movie, he argues, ‘must display some organic imperfections.’17 Even beyond that, he says, ‘one must be able to break, dislocate, unhinge it so that one can remember only parts of it, irrespective of their original relationship with the whole.’18
Though you could perhaps do this to a written text by reducing it to a series of excerpts, the tactic he proposes for time-based media is that ‘[a movie] must be already ramshackle, rickety, unhinged in itself.’19 He continues ‘an unhinged movie survives as a disconnected series of images’.20 And a cult movie should ‘display not one central idea but many. It should not reveal a coherent philosophy of composition.’21
Eco argues that Casablanca was ‘ramshackle’ in its production because nobody knew what was going to happen next, citing one of its stars, Ingrid Bergman.22 He further argues that it uses all the cinematic and narrative archetypes, counting 24 sometimes conflicting, at other times genre-bending, within the first 20 minutes. ‘It even [contains] memories of movies made after Casablanca’ listing the work of Woody Allen and Steven Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark, which might appear something of a leap, but perhaps only temporally.23 Marcel Duchamp once said, ‘art is a game between all people of all periods’ and you can see at least one echo of that argument in Eco’s work as set out above, and also later in Harold Bloom’s book The Anxiety of Influence where he examines the concept of the ‘predecessor/successor swap’.24
If one way in which a film could be ‘unhinged’ and become ‘ramshackle’ is through its production, then a similar argument can be made for The Rocky Horror Picture Show, the 1975 musical comedy horror film directed by Jim Sharman. Eco could have talked about its use of archetypes from pantomime tropes, to B-movie horror clichés, musicals and even in Rocky’s birth tank, which reminds one of Damien Hirst’s work The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living. Hirst’s formaldehyde suspended shark has similar coloring and proportion to the wrapped, neutrally buoyant body of Dr. Frank N. Furter’s monster.
We will recoil from the correlation of a moneymaking children’s theater, genres of the worst movies ever made and a dead shark on the indeterminate shores of reality for now, and maybe some beachcomber or romantically beach strolling couple will find it interesting. Let’s move on to other animals at the beach, ducks and rabbits, or the interrelated duckrabbit, a drawn illusion of either duck or a rabbit, in which it is impossible to see both simultaneously. Without being able to say which the drawing truly is, we find ourselves in, if not doubt, then a flux of uncertainty. This visually ambiguous linear creation has the possibility of being seen as three things: duck, rabbit, or duckrabbit and in time the relationship between your eye and your mind can transition through all of them. And unlike Schrödinger’s cat, simply looking at the image doesn’t resolve this uncertainty – in fact, it only aggravates it.25 So, within Eco’s essay are we seeing something new, or perhaps a re-envisioning of the duckrabbit argument?26 Are Eco’s argument of the possibility of unhinging in a film and the duckrabbit examples of two different ways of creating doubt or uncertainty in the viewer? Do we see a tactic emerging? Is creating something complex, something that is two things at the same time, like the duckrabbit, something that is large and contains its contradictions like a cult movie, a useful tactic for inducing uncertainty within the audience? Even Wittgenstein had his doubts.
Wittgenstein considers the duckrabbit a temporal idea tied to its paradox and ambiguity, and in a thought experiment he explored the temporality of seeing, but came to no defined conclusion. When pondering the difference between duck or rabbit he questioned, ‘But what is different: my impression? My point of view? Can I say? I describe the alteration like a perception; quite as if the object had altered before my eyes.’ Following further investigations, he mused: ‘Imagine the duck-rabbit hidden in a tangle of lines. Now I suddenly notice it in the picture, and notice it simply as the head of a rabbit. At some later time I look at the same picture and notice the same figure, but see it as the duck, without necessarily realizing that it was the same figure both times.—If I later see the aspect change—can I say that the duck and rabbit aspects are now seen quite differently from when I recognized them separately in the tangle of lines? No. But the change produces a surprise not produced by the recognition.’ In his language, he tries to fix the image in a time with words like ‘now,’ ‘then’ and ‘suddenly’ the ‘picture-rabbit’ and picture-duck’ but the outmaneuvering duckrabbit escapes him.
Within this frame, it is possible to see ties between this and Eco’s ‘unhinging’, the duckrabbit as an imperfect rabbit, and an imperfect duck not ‘reveal[ing] a coherent philosophy of composition’ and whether duck, rabbit or duckrabbit, it is seemingly a ‘rashackle’ construction in our minds. And if we now look back at Wittgenstein ‘then is… the figure an incomplete description of my visual experience? No.—But the circumstances decide whether, and what, more detailed specifications are necessary.—It may be an incomplete description; if there is still something to ask.’ Is Wittgenstein’s duckrabbit with its visual ambiguity a more static, and notably less temporal, but temporal none-the-less ‘unhinging’ within two dimensions? Is an ‘unhinging’ one of the rules, or more aptly a tactic one can use to certainly induce uncertainty, if that isn’t a paradox?
I’m thinking about butchers in Stornoway and it is inducing doubt in my mind. Was that Macleod & Macleod or Charles Macleod black pudding we ate before the hike? Was Charles Macleod the one who died this spring leaving 3.3 million pounds in his will? The conversation in the cottage piques my interest.27 How long was I away? Did they say, shaman? I’m still in the doorway half on the tiles.
David Greig talked about shamans in his BBC radio piece about dealing with his writer’s block.28 How many shamans are there in Scotland, or the UK for that matter?
When Greig can write he says he has the sensation of bridging the world between the imaginary world he created and the real world. On an occasion when he was blocked and unable to feel that connection, he tried drink, jogging, and beating his head off the desk as if some sort of brain damage would unlock or knock loose the writer’s block like a stopped up pipe. When he envisions a shaman, he also sees a person who bridges the gap between worlds. The Fife shaman he visits during the piece in a bid to beat the writer’s block runs a school of creative shamanism and induces a visionary state of being by using a drum and other tools.
As a writer, Greig feels that every time he makes a play he has to ‘confront part of himself’ and must ‘dig into the darkness’ of his soul.29 He is quick to say he has doubts about the concept of having a soul at all, that perhaps he does not understand existence in that way. But he doesn’t discount how that abstraction is a tool for people in understanding their own personal universes. Is the beating drum of a shaman a tool for sharpening Greig’s tools?
Months later, after going for a ‘soul retrieval’ with the shaman, his creativity, his mojo, is back.30 He has ‘recovered a sense of play’ and a ‘series of new metaphors and imaginary interventions [have entered] into his interior world’, concluding that ‘shamanism, religion, psychotherapy are all ways of finding new metaphors to guide us through the world.’31
Is he asking the audience to suspend their disbelief? I’m not sure James Garner, my former Creative Director at clothing brand Tommy Bahama, would agree. He would say that work isn’t the type of place you could light a couple of candles and some incense to solve your creative problems. Most of the time he’d recommend taking 15 or 45 minutes to solve the problem with pencil and paper, or a sharpie if he hadn’t stolen it from you and absent-mindedly left a cooling coffee cup behind on your desk. On a big project maybe I would get 8 hours. I’m sure the writers I’m with now in the dreich Outer Hebrides would understand James’ view. It must be a matter of creative perception.
17 ‘Casablanca’: Cult Movies and Intertextual Collage (pg 3)
24 Though it seems unlikely, in physics time isn’t as linear as we experience it. But Eco and Bloom are discussing a different thing. If you are interested in further investigating how the past is being shaped by the present, I hear you should look at Mieke Bal’s Quoting Caravaggio: Contemporary Art, Preposterous History. It explores ‘preposterous history’ and how the meaning of the past can never be fixed in place and is cast into doubt by the present.
25 Schrödinger’s cat is a 1935 thought experiment, or paradox, devised by Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger in 1935. It illustrates what he saw as the problem quantum mechanics applied to everyday objects. The conclusion of this experiment was that you would not know if the cat was alive or dead till you looked within the box. Until then the cat was both alive and dead hence the paradox.
26Wittgenstein considers the duckrabbit issue to be its paradox and ambiguity and the experiment resolution explores the temporality of seeing, but came to no defined solution.
27 Mr. Macleod was instrumental in getting European protection for the pudding, putting it on the same level as Parma ham and Cornish pasties. The status – Protected Geographical Indication – means it can be described as Stornoway black pudding, or marag dubh in Gaelic, only if it is produced in the town or parish of Stornoway. It has now emerged that Mr Macleod had an estate valued at £3,334,072 at the time of his death. His wealth included his £2.4m share in the family butcher business, Charles Macleod Ltd.
28 Butterfly Mind, BBC Radio 4. David Greig goes on a personal quest to find out if a Fife shaman can cure his writer’s block in a first person documentary radio broadcast.
29 Quotes from Butterfly Mind
30 Described in Butterfly Mind
31 Concluded in Butterfly Mind
‘Was that artillery fire, or is it my heart pounding?’12 Ilsa Lund’s question in the movie Casablanca typifies the confusion one could feel over very different but mistakenly similar things. You could also see it as two contradictory yet interchangeable things. Her heart could be pounding due to the proximity of the artillery fire. She could also say something like, ‘Is that artillery fire? Now, is that my heart pounding?’ But let’s part with that idea for now and not rob her situation of its archetypal romance. We will continue with something that is even more in step with artillery: conflict.
With a slightly more militaristic mind, let us think of strategies. Tactics and situations exist within a work to induce a sensation of unknowing within the audience. But can we assume that such a feeling of uncertainty is intentionally induced? That is, how can we assume that the audience is experiencing doubt or uncertainty within a work, and that an artist could purposely generate such sensations?
Are there situations where we can prove an audience not only senses unknowing but seeks it out? All we have to do is look to the gaming industry. Through creating situations of meaningful play, this industry sells the sensations of doubt and uncertainty to those who want to experience unknowing.13 Indeed, uncertainty has been given as part of the definition of a game.14 Furthermore, note how central this aspect is to every game when you consider the following, written by Bernard Dekoven in The Well-Played Game: ‘Imagine how incomplete you would feel if, before the game, you were already declared the winner, imagine how purposeless the game would feel.’15 Without free will and choice, if the outcome is predetermined, why even bother to play? With this in mind we ask, how do artists create layers of doubt within their work?
My other two companions at the cottage certainly didn’t decorate this way. Their homes are full of personal style. Fiona, a writer, journalist and translator, and Marianne, also a writer and journalist, and a lover of music culture, can both do better than flipping through a catalog selecting style like one selects suggested wine pairings off a restaurant menu. They may not be as conscious of their style as I am – theirs may have come from a life worth living – a behavior similar to the vocabulary of personal accumulation, like an artist who collects found objects to discover the relationships later.16 But because of its recentness, I know how I developed my style. Shortly after I arrived in Glasgow, I put my house under construction for what should have been a couple of weeks, at best a month. The contractor I hired either didn’t understand the job or was incompetent because he started refinishing all the floors when only the kitchen that was needed. The dust he kicked up while running the heater destroyed my climate control system. After I had spent over ten thousand dollars more for a new system, he ignored my calls and never returned to complete the job he shouldn’t have started.
In the spring I finally got another contractor on site, a man who turned out to be a heroin user and billed me for work he didn’t do, and work I later had to pay others to redo, simultaneously systematically robbing my house. I lost every bit of furniture, plumbing, light fixtures, kitchenware, tools, my artwork (which he sold for $5 for the small ones, $10 for the big ones), bicycle, a 1963 Mercury Monterey car, and things I’ll never remember I owned. All this was sold in garage sales from my front yard while he should have been working, prompting me to fly back to Memphis for a week to oversee completion and go through the house to provide a list to the police. One night, when I couldn’t sleep for the time change and stress I left the house late for a twenty-four-hour drugstore to pick up a kettle to make coffee in the French presses I brought from Glasgow.
While I was in the kitchen aisle, I decided to pick up a set of dishware that was on sale to have something to eat off of the next few days; as an added bonus it came with a set of mugs for the coffee. As I sat at a chair and table I found in the street, drinking fresh coffee in the early hours in the morning and not able to do any actual construction work for lack of tools, which were the first things to go in the theft, I thought about the blank canvas of the house and began to write the brand guidelines for my new home decor on the back of the paper bag. The plan was to refurnish the home based on the dishware set I just bought, my life experiences, and the history of the city of Memphis.
12 (Casablanca, 1942)
13 French sociologist Roger Caillois published Man, Play, and Games, a book that is in many ways a direct response to Homo Ludens [Huizinga, 1955]. Building on Huizinga’s work, Caillois also presents a definition of play, describing including ‘uncertainty: the course of which cannot be determined, nor the result attained beforehand, and some latitude for innovations being left to the player’s initiative’ Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals (pg 75-76)
14 ‘Imagine how incomplete you would feel if, before the game, you were already declared the winner. Imagine how purposeless the game would feel.—Bernard DeKoven, The Well-Played Game. Uncertainty is a central feature of every game. That’s right: every single game. As game designer and philosopher Bernard DeKoven points out, uncertainty about the outcome of a game is a necessary ingredient in giving a game a feeling of purpose.’ Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals (pg 174)
15 Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals (pg 174)
16 Jyrki Siukonen writes about the idea of discovering the relationship between found objects in the conference and the later constructed essay Made in Silence: On Words and Bricolage within On Not Knowing page (pg 91-92) ‘Let us take as an example a recent work: Tripod, 2012, is as simple as it gets, its materials are sparingly used and found to hand in my studio. The three steel rods that form the frugal freestanding structure are recycled parts from a large museum installation from 1992, and have not only lain dormant for 20 years but have also survived five moves from one studio location to another. The rope-shaped bundle of papyrus for its part has been on the shelf awaiting its first deployment since summer 2006. The smaller parts of the work (nut, bolt, metal wire) are ubiquitous detritus. Depending on the viewpoint, the making of Tripod took anything from 15 minutes to six years of my time. Judging by the result one can hardly call it a muscular affair. How to unravel such a project?’
It’s #Tasty
What we have covered within the Pop Culture course in my MFA was mostly based on a Marxist material perspective and results in an analysis of a culture through the objects it produces and otherwise consumes. Furthermore, we, much like Barthes, critiqued the structure of that society, by the divisions within consumption, and the frustration of those divisions by a cross-class consumption especially when the intended result is to align an individual with another part of the social strata. This can include Barack Obama drinking Bud Light, hipsters drinking Pabst, or Glaswegians drinking Buckfast.1
The creative work submitted for exploring this material and social perspective is a white cube and operates from adapted mechanics of the white elephant gift exchange.2 The requested instructions are as follows: 1) Remove the lid. 2) Photograph the object inside. 3) Share the photo on any social media with #taste. 4) Take the object. 5) Place any object of yours. 6) Replace the lid.
One of the questions that immediately comes to mind is, “where should this work be placed?” And it is a good question. In order to frustrate culture hierarchies the work needs to be placed outside art institutional structures, such as galleries or museums, so it is without the perception of either ‘high’ or ‘low’ culture, or matters of taste.3 Unfortunately, with only a few participants, or users of the machine, in two locations within Glasgow City Center (Sauchiehall Street, and outside GoMA) I ended up moving it within the J D Kelly Building on the Glasgow School of Art campus and placing a call for participation on Facebook. The call to action was placed on a private group available to all current MFA students with the added instruction ‘some things you can think about, the capitalistic economy, the gift or sharing economy, cultural appropriation, the assimilation of subcultures.’4
The intent in creating this platform was for individuals to create their own art and have the ability to raise any object to a ‘high culture status’ through it passing through the white cube and simultaneously lowering the status of a previous object through social media dissemination, yet they hold onto the physical original lower status object as a sculpture. Therefore the co-creator retains both ‘high’ and ‘low culture’ within one object whether they are conscious of the consequence or not.
Instead of content creators one can more aptly talk about content curators. My unintended consequence through encouraging the documentation of this material exchange by sharing of photos on social media the documenter is allowed to show their ‘taste’ of social media.5 And is also subject to an implied social scrutiny through the object they leave behind.6
As participants shared their photos on social media they made a series of choices. They could share on snapchat and share their taste in participating in an art project in a short-lived share to intimate friends mostly of similar age, sex, education and income. Facebook acts more like a walled garden with that result only likely seen by those identified as friends even if it was selected as a public share giving a wider range of the previously mentioned metrics. Instagram and Twitter would fair better with the idea of sharing an image with the world and would be more permanently archived presumably the widest range of metrics. There is also a blending of social media that can be inferred and one image may have been seen on multiple platforms.7
Individuals also shared their ideas of what they could do. Sharing their ideas not only showed their imagination and what they would of like to be perceived to do with such an opportunity, but also what they find valuable in the exchange. During the exchanges several ideas can be inferred.8
People expressed anxiety over opening the lid with the idea they will have to complete the exchange with the result of getting an item of less commercial value than what they were going to provide. And in a similar group, those going for a capitalistic exchange, were individuals who were very pleased that they got something of greater or equal value to the item they provided. Another type of user might be either an optimist, or have buyers regret and justify the experience by finding value in a bit of string, an empty container, or a hairpin.
A different type of user saw more value in a gift, or share economy. They were excited to provide what they either happened to have on them or had specifically brought to share. One co-creator even went on a thought experiment placing tickets to an upcoming event and spoke of ‘paying it forward.’9 This group was ultimately more pleased with what they placed within the box and the surprise, or entertainment, the next person would receive than concerned with the social media sharing, or object they obtained. There is much in common with how this person perceived the exchange and the values within the white elephant gifting game.
There is a similarity with individuals who participated in a capitalistic economy, and those who envisioned a share economy to how individuals approach competitive or cooperative games respectively because the white elephant gift exchange is essentially a game.10 Removing authorship and thinning out authenticity, more accurately creating an inauthentic desire, for others to empower themselves created a vacuum and allowed in game theory and politics.11 One can say these things; or more accurately say that these things are true within those that interacted with the work. What is left out though is individuals without access. Individuals who do not feel they have enough education to interact with this project, or not having smartphones, or phones with cameras, or even internet access. They are not without the ability to participate in the simple material exchange, but due to reasons of class/economic, ethnic, and geographic prejudice have an ingrained perception that participation does not belong to them.
1“Beer summit between President Obama, Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Cambridge, Mass., police Sgt. Joseph Crowley… (For Obama: Bud Light, owned by Belgian beverage giant InBev; for Gates, Red Stripe, Jamaica-brewed and owned by premium drink behemoth Diageo; and for Crowley, Blue Moon, owned by MillerCoors.)” Liz Halloran, ‘”Obama Beer Summit Choices Make For A Happy Hour” – Interview with Matt Simpson. NPR website. URL: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111373030. (31/07/09)
“Ten years ago, a man wearing a plain V-neck tee and drinking a Pabst would never be accused of being a trend-follower. But in 2008, such things have become shameless clichés of a class of individuals that seek to escape their own wealth and privilege by immersing themselves in the aesthetic of the working class.”
Douglas Haddow, ‘”Hipster: The Dead End of Western Civilization” The Rag Blog website.
URL: http://theragblog.blogspot.co.uk/2008/08/hipster-dead-end-of-western.html (10/08/08)
2White cube is a common expression for a commercial contemporary art gallery. With the origin of that type of gallery attributed to James Abbott McNeill Whistler. The white cube described here is 311 mm3 containing 305 mm3 of space. The white comes from the structural material itself, white acrylic. White acrylic is used in commercial photography to give a sleek, clean, and high tech feel to the object being photographed frequently used for objects like cell phones and sneakers. The white acrylic commercial photography association comes from my own experience as an art director and associate creative director in the fashion industry dealing with Seattle ecommerce.
A History of Art in Three Colours (Episode 3: White: the darkest colour of all). BBC4 (BBC4, 25/07/12)
White Elephant Gift Exchange is a Christmas holiday practice frequently used in place of secret santa gifting in offices and corporate teams. The main goal not being of getting a valuable object but in the entertainment within the exchange.
Kelly Roberson, ‘”White Elephant Christmas Game” Better Homes and Gardens website. URL: http://www.bhg.com/christmas/games/white-elephant-christmas-game/ (07/10/14)
3 The distinction of cultural hierarchy and the legitimization of taste comes from Cultural Capital theory of Pierre Bourdieu. ‘Low’ and ‘high’ refer to amount of educational capital. And he defines ‘taste’ as one of ‘deepest level of the habitus’ and the higher one gets in the social hierarchy ‘the more one’s tastes are shaped by the organization and operation of the educational system.’
Bouraieu, Pierre, ‘DIstInctIon A social Critique of the Judgement of Taste ’, translated. by Richard Nice (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1984), pp. 1-96
4 It should be noted that not all currently enrolled Master of Fine Art students are on Facebook. Until recently 3 were not. One has conceded to join the social media platform, but add no friends. The justification was to alleviate the anxiety of missing out on something. Or in social media terms the FOMO. The objections of the others were not expressed as aligning with or not wanting to align with a demographic, instead a wish to maintain control of their personal information. You could read that wish as a maintenance of authenticity.
5 Though self reported data of social media use show a wide variety of use with 24% of adults using at least two social sites and 8% using four social sites. There is some ties with a particular social platform and education, income level and gender. i.e. 42% of the women who participated in the survey use Pinterest 34% of them make over $75k, have some college, and are between 18-29 years of age, while SnapChat users are 70% female, 71% younger than 25, and earn less than $50k. There is a perception that Facebook is trending older but 18-24 age range is still the largest demographic. ‘Facebook is losing some traction among a younger audience, causing it to skew a bit older. While this trend may be true, Facebook’s youthful base remains strong.’
Michael Patterson, ‘”Social Media Demographics to Inform a Better Segmentation Strategy” sproutsocial website. URL: http://sproutsocial.com/insights/new-social-media-demographics/#facebook (04/05/15)
What is left out of this observation of Facebook is the particular social influences of why a youth would join Facebook, i.e. to keep in touch with parents. Or the inflation of the demographic by multiple accounts, one for friends, one for family. (I will admit that Van Grove’s article is anecdotal, and perhaps cherrypicked data, even using data from a CNET editors daughter for part of the under-13 data. Gathering such data is problematic due to age and consent. But it does confirm the perception of social media usage.) Jennifer Van Grove, ‘”Why teens are tiring of Facebook” CNET website. URL: http://www.cnet.com/news/why-teens-are-tiring-of-facebook/ (02/03/13)
6 To delve more into public scrutiny, shame and social media check out “How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco’s Life” Jon Ronson, “How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco’s Life” The New York Times Magazine website. URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/magazine/how-one-stupidtweet-ruined-justine-saccos-life.html?_r=0 (12/02/15)
7 Here ‘one image may have been seen on multiple platforms’ refers to Instagram’s ability to simultaneously share an image on six or more other platforms. “How do I share from Instagram to other social networks?” Instagram website. URL: https://help.instagram.com/365696916849749 (10/12/15)
8 Exchanges is a purposely loaded term and covers a variety of the exchanges throughout the project, the material exchanges, thought experiment dialogues, and social sharing.
9‘ Pay it forward is an expression for describing the beneficiary of a good deed repaying it to others instead of to the original benefactor.’ “Pay it forward” Wikipedia website. URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pay_it_forward (10/12/15)
10 My knowledge of cooperative and competitive game theory comes from years of playing games and working in the game industry. I worked in the Research and Development Department for Sabertooth Games, a division of Games Workshop, as a designer/producer for Fantasy Flight Games, and finally a designer with Microsoft’s Entertainment and Media Division for Xbox. You can get a survey of the idea from the article “Cooperative and Competitive Games” and social evolvement in “The Effects of Cooperative and Competitive Games on Classroom Interaction Frequencies” Kai Guenster, “Cooperative and Competitive Games” Meeple Magazine website. URL: http://www.meoplesmagazine.com/2013/02/12/cooperative-and-competitive-games/ (12/02/13)
Susan Creighton, Andrea Szymkowiak, “The Effects of Cooperative and Competitive Games on Classroom Interaction Frequencies” ScienceDirect website. URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S187704281403328X (22/08/14)
11 The action of creating an inauthentic desire comes from the request ‘4) Take the object.’ since the desire comes from completing gameplay and is without desire for the object. The underlying assertion that the removal of the authentic increasing the input of politics follows Walter Benjamin’s similar assertion in ‘The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.’
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Community Heritage Commission Special Projects fonds
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Burnaby Centennial Anthology series
https://search.heritageburnaby.ca/permalink/archivemultipleformat25
City of Burnaby Archives
Collection/Fonds
30 cm of textual records and approx. 550 photographs
Series consists of more than one hundred articles and stories written for inclusion within the book along with over 500 photographs depicting the life and times of early Burnaby residents.
Reproduction Restriction
May be restricted by third party rights
History/Biography
In 1992, the City of Burnaby celebrated its 100th birthday and to mark this event a Centennial Committee was struck by the Mayor and Council to coordinate activities and oversee the year-long celebrations. One of the sub-committees that was formed to help with this work was the History and Heritage Committee whose goal was to collect and preserve historic materials detailing the development of Burnaby. In November of 1992, the committee advertised for the submission of personal stories, photos and other memorabilia and as a result received material from over 150 early Burnaby residents. Although the Centennial Committee disbanded at the end of 1992, the work that had been begun by the History and Heritage Sub-Committee continued under the direction of the Burnaby Heritage Advisory Committee (Community Heritage Commission) and proceeded under its authority until the project was completed.
The stories that were captured to accompany this material and the memories of some of Burnaby’s earliest residents were brought together in the form of book which was published in 1994 and titled Burnaby Centennial Anthology: Stories of Early Burnaby. The records in this collection were all acquired during the production of this book, chronicling the experiences of Burnaby’s earliest citizens.
All photographs have been scanned and digital copies exist.
Title based on contents of series.
Community Heritage Commission Special Project fonds
https://search.heritageburnaby.ca/permalink/archivemultipleformat74546
43 photographs : col. (tiffs) ; 600ppi + 2306 photographs : copied (tiffs) + 219 photographs : copied (jpegs) + 30 interviews (wav) : digital sound files + 79 photographs (jpegs) + 56 cm of textual records + 662 photographs : b&w + 1 sound recording (microcassette tape)
Photo catalogue 512
MSS198
Fonds consists of project records created by Burnaby's Community Heritage Commission as part of their initiative and mandate.The fonds is organized into the following project series: 1. Charting Change Project series 2. Burna-Boom Oral History Project series 3. Burnaby Centennial series 4. In t…
Fonds consists of project records created by Burnaby's Community Heritage Commission as part of their initiative and mandate.The fonds is organized into the following project series: 1. Charting Change Project series 2. Burna-Boom Oral History Project series 3. Burnaby Centennial series 4. In the Shadow by the Sea series 5. Burnaby Mountain Oral History Project series 6. Life with the Moores of Hart House series
The History and Heritage Committee was established in 1992 under Burnaby's Centennial Committee. When the Centennial Committee was disbanded on December 31, 1992 , the History and Heritage Committee was made a part of the Burnaby Heritage Advisory Committee and proceeded under it's authority until 1995 when it was renamed The Community Heritage Commission (CHC) as a municipal heritage advisory committee by the Burnaby City Council under section 15 of the Heritage Conservation Act.The commission endeavours to provide comprehensive community heritage and history projects and programs to bring together the 'personal history' of citizens and facilitate a wider understanding and appreciation of Burnaby's 'collective memory'. Projects undertaken by Burnaby's Community Heritage Commission include: Burnaby Centennial Anthology: Stories of Early Burnaby; In the Shadow by the Sea: Recollections of Burnaby's Barnet Village, the Heritage Burnaby website (www.heritageburnaby.ca); Charting Change: An Interactive Atlas and various oral history projects. These projects fall under the Community Heritage Commission's mandate to provide the citizens of Burnaby and the wider public with access to information about the city and its unique history through publications and online finding aids.
Title based on contents of fonds
Burna-Boom Oral History Project series
30 interviews (wav) : digital sound files + 79 photographs (jpegs)
Series consists of Oral History Project records which were created under the direction of the Community Heritage Commission. Series includes audio files as well as visual records collected to support the project. Interviews were completed, featuring current Burnaby residents and indexed recordings …
Series consists of Oral History Project records which were created under the direction of the Community Heritage Commission. Series includes audio files as well as visual records collected to support the project. Interviews were completed, featuring current Burnaby residents and indexed recordings of their memories of Burnaby in the 1940s and 1950s are available to listen to on Heritage Burnaby.
Title based on contents of series
Interview with Elsie Ansdell by Eric Damer September 18, 2012 - Track 1
https://search.heritageburnaby.ca/permalink/oralhistory287
This portion of the recording pertains to the Brown-Johns first settling in Burnaby. Elsie (Brown-John) Ansdell discusses land clearing for the family home, each of her parents and her brothers.
1 Audio 1 Image
Elsie Brown-John (bottom, far right) with her class at Kitchener Street School, [1936]. Item no. 549-001.
Brown-John, Victor Joseph Charles
Brown-John, Winnifred Douglas
Geographic Access
Burnaby - Napier Street
Historic Neighbourhood
Vancouver Heights (Historic Neighbourhood)
Planning Study Area
Willingdon Heights Area
Damer, Eric
Recording is an interview with early Burnaby resident Elsie (Brown-John) Ansdell conducted by Burnaby Village Museum employee Eric Damer, September 18, 2012. Major themes discussed are: settling in Burnaby and the early years of the Brown-John family.
Biographical Notes
Elsie (Brown-John) Ansdell’s father, a trained carpenter and cabinet maker, Victor Brown-John came to Canada from Wales in 1910. He cleared three lots at Napier and Gilmore Streets and built a two-roomed house. In 1912, he was joined by his wife and two eldest sons, Victor and Archie. Twin boys, Frank and Roy, were born in 1914 in the Burnaby home and their fifth son, Clive, was born in 1915. From 1916 to 1919 Victor John-Brown left Burnaby to serve overseas. Elsie Brown-John (later Ansdell) was born in 1921. Her younger brother, Gwyn "Jerry" was born in 1923. In 1925 Victor Brown-John suffered a fatal accident while working as a longshoreman in Northern British Columbia. Elsie attended Kitchener Elementary and North Burnaby High School. She married during the Second World War and moved to South Burnaby to raise her family whilst continuing to work in various department stores both in Vancouver and Burnaby.
Total Tracks
Other Tracks
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Ansdell, Elsie Brown-John
Interview Location
Burnaby Village Museum
Interviewer Bio
Eric Damer is a lifelong British Columbian born in Victoria, raised in Kamloops, and currently residing in Burnaby. After studying philosophy at the University of Victoria, he became interested in the educational forces that had shaped his own life. He completed master’s and doctoral degrees in educational studies at the University of British Columbia with a particular interest in the history of adult and higher education in the province. In 2012, Eric worked for the City of Burnaby as a field researcher and writer, conducting interviews for the City Archives and Museum Oral History Program.
MSS171-001_ Track_1
Transcript Available
Track one of recording of interview with Elsie Ansdell
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This portion of the recording pertains to Elsie (Brown-John) Ansdell's memories of a trip she and her mother and brothers took to the Cariboo region of British Columbia. She also discusses attendance records and photographs from her time as a student at Kitchener Street School. A neighbourhood stor…
This portion of the recording pertains to Elsie (Brown-John) Ansdell's memories of a trip she and her mother and brothers took to the Cariboo region of British Columbia. She also discusses attendance records and photographs from her time as a student at Kitchener Street School. A neighbourhood storekeeper is also briefly mentioned.
Kitchener Street School
Track two of recording of interview with Elsie Ansdell
This portion of the recording pertains to Elsie (Brown-John) Ansdell's early years of marriage while also a member of the work force. She talks about her own children; their early years spent in South Burnaby.
Track three of recording of interview with Elsie Ansdell
This portion of the recording pertains to Elsie (Brown-John) Ansdell's early memories of recreational activities and daily life as a young person in Burnaby (activities include swimming, skating and going to the movies). She mentions Frank Walsh's Garage and discusses photographs of Brown-John Truc…
This portion of the recording pertains to Elsie (Brown-John) Ansdell's early memories of recreational activities and daily life as a young person in Burnaby (activities include swimming, skating and going to the movies). She mentions Frank Walsh's Garage and discusses photographs of Brown-John Trucking, "the blasting stump" and Burns Acreage.
Recreational Activities - Swimming
Track four of recording of interview with Elsie Ansdell
Interview with Charmaine Bayntun by Eric Damer October 22, 2012 - Track 1
This portion of the recording pertains to Charmaine (Yanko) Bayntun's earliest memories of her family home with family members and friends living nearby. Charmaine tells the story of how her parents met and how they first came to live in Burnaby.
Charmaine Yanko (later Bayntun) nursing a goat from a bottle, [1969]. Item no. 549-015.
Yanko, John Ivan
Yanko, Leida Doria "Lillian Doris" Carman
Buildings - Residences - Houses
Recording is an interview with Charmaine (Yanko) Bayntun conducted by Burnaby Village Museum employee Eric Damer, October 22, 2012. Major themes discussed are: education and family heritage.
At the age of twenty, John Ivan Yanko met his future wife Leida Doria "Lillian Doris" Carman while visiting relatives in Burnaby. Lillian received a rail pass because of her dad’s employment with the CPR and at fourteen had gone to visit her Godmother in Burnaby. John Ivan Yanko and Lillian Doris (Carman) Yanko were married October 16, 1948 in Nelson, British Columbia and moved into the basement of John’s sister’s house on Union Street. Lillian began working at the downtown Woodward’s store as a cashier in 1948. In 1950, the young couple bought property at 7385 (later renumbered 7391) Broadway in Burnaby and began constructing a house as they could afford it. Knowing she’d be let go if she was pregnant, when Lillian was expecting her first child, Jenny sewed her several versions of the same outfit; they all used the same material, but each was a little bit larger than the last to accommodate her expanding girth. Rhonda, born in 1953 and Charmaine, born in 1955, grew up in the Broadway home. They attended school at Sperling Elementary, and later at Burnaby North high school. Lillian left her job to be a stay-at-home mom when Rhonda was born, but that changed in 1963 when John and Charmaine were in a car accident that left John temporarily unable to work. John Yanko later returned to work, establishing his own tile setting business and working until age eighty-two. John and Lillian lived out the rest of their married lives on the Broadway property. John Ivan Yanko passed away in 2010; his wife Lillian Doria Leida (Carman) Yanko passed away in 2011. Charmaine (Yanko) Bayntun completed her schooling in Burnaby and became a teacher for twenty-two years, followed by ten years as a Burnaby elementary school principal.
Bayntun, Charmaine "Sherrie" Yanko
Track one of recording of interview with Charmaine Bayntun
This portion of the recording pertains to Charmaine (Yanko) Bayntun's memories of childhood recreational activities and early friendships. She discusses the canning practices of her family as well.
Geographic Features - Gardens
Track two of recording of interview with Charmaine Bayntun
This portion of the recording pertains to Charmaine (Yanko) Bayntun's memories of sewing and craft-making as a teen, as well as her student days at Sperling Avenue Elementary School. She compares school of that time to her working years as a teacher and principal.
Track three of recording of interview with Charmaine Bayntun
This portion of the recording pertains to Charmaine (Yanko) Bayntun's father and the influence he had on her in her enjoyment of school as well as on her decision to become an educator herself. She discusses her family's interest in music and gardening, and how it is closely tied to being members o…
This portion of the recording pertains to Charmaine (Yanko) Bayntun's father and the influence he had on her in her enjoyment of school as well as on her decision to become an educator herself. She discusses her family's interest in music and gardening, and how it is closely tied to being members of the Ukrainian Community.
Occupations - Musicians
Track four of recording of interview with Charmaine Bayntun
This portion of the recording pertains to Charmaine (Yanko) Bayntun's memories of being raised on a more traditionally rural diet and how that was different from her peers. She discusses popular culture and events of the nineteen-sixties and seventies, and concludes with present day changes to the …
This portion of the recording pertains to Charmaine (Yanko) Bayntun's memories of being raised on a more traditionally rural diet and how that was different from her peers. She discusses popular culture and events of the nineteen-sixties and seventies, and concludes with present day changes to the neighbourhood.
Protests and Demonstrations
Track five of recording of interview with Charmaine Bayntun
Interview with Betty Blair by Eric Damer October 17, 2012 - Track 1
This portion of the recording pertains to Betty (Warburton) (Atkinson) Blair's memories of her early years in Burnaby, including school days at Kingsway West School, Nelson Avenue School and Burnaby North High School. She discusses her family's circumstances and experiences through the war years.
Graduating class at Burnaby South High School; Betty Warburton is third from the right in the front row, [1942 or 1943]. Item no. BV004.82.5.
Recording is an interview with Betty (Warburton) (Atkinson) Blair conducted by Burnaby Village Museum employee Eric Damer, October 17, 2012. Major theme discussed: life in Burnaby during the war years.
Betty Warburton (later Atkinson) (later Blair) was born in 1926 and grew up at three different locations on Frederick Avenue in Burnaby. She went to school in Burnaby; first at Kingsway West for two years, then Nelson Avenue and then Burnaby South High School where she completed senior matriculation. After graduation, Betty worked for a few years in Vancouver before marrying her first husband Don Atkinson and raising their children in Burnaby. Betty (Warburton) (Atkinson) Blair has participated in a range of activities from hiking and Girl Guides to volunteer arthritis care. By the nineteen-sixties she had began to learn pottery and take lessons at Mather House in Burnaby.
Blair, Betty Warburton Atkinson
Track one of recording of interview with Betty Blair
This portion of the recording pertains to Betty (Warburton) (Atkinson) Blair's memories of the war years, including her involvement in fundraising activities. She discusses her high school experience, her sister's influence in her life, taking the Central Park interurban line and playing field hock…
This portion of the recording pertains to Betty (Warburton) (Atkinson) Blair's memories of the war years, including her involvement in fundraising activities. She discusses her high school experience, her sister's influence in her life, taking the Central Park interurban line and playing field hockey.
Wars - World War, 1939-1945
Sports - Field Hockey
Track two of recording of interview with Betty Blair
This portion of the recording pertains to Betty (Warburton) (Atkinson) Blair's involvement in Field Hockey as a member of the Women's League. She also discusses her earlier involvement in Girl Guides.
Track three of recording of interview with Betty Blair
This portion of the recording pertains to Betty (Warburton) (Atkinson) Blair's memories of events held at the Church, including her own wedding. She discusses her involvement with the church group Canadian Girls in Training. She also discusses her volunteer years at the Burnaby Hospital and her lif…
This portion of the recording pertains to Betty (Warburton) (Atkinson) Blair's memories of events held at the Church, including her own wedding. She discusses her involvement with the church group Canadian Girls in Training. She also discusses her volunteer years at the Burnaby Hospital and her life when her children were small.
Canadian Girls in Training
Persons - Volunteers
Track four of recording of interview with Betty Blair
This portion of the recording pertains to Betty (Warburton) (Atkinson) Blair's teaching of parenting effectiveness training and the role of the Parent-Teacher Association. She discusses her love for libraries and secondhand books and how she passed that on to her own children. Betty tells a story o…
This portion of the recording pertains to Betty (Warburton) (Atkinson) Blair's teaching of parenting effectiveness training and the role of the Parent-Teacher Association. She discusses her love for libraries and secondhand books and how she passed that on to her own children. Betty tells a story of her early political life, and of her and her mother's respect for Ernie and Harold Winch.
Political Theories
Track five of recording of interview with Betty Blair
This portion of the recording pertains to Betty (Warburton) (Atkinson) Blair's memories of popular culture activities that she has enjoyed. Betty discusses listening to the radio, singing around the piano and going out to the theatre as a girl. She also mentions her more recent pottery practice.
Track six of recording of interview with Betty Blair
Interview with Roy Brainerd by Eric Damer October 23, 2012 - Track 1
This portion of the recording pertains to Roy Brainerd's early memories of growing up in Burnaby, including his school days at Douglas Road School, and his parents' working life.
Roy Brainerd walking along Granville Street in Vancouver, [1945 or 1946]. Item no. 549-016
Brainerd, Lawrence Roy
Brainerd, Violet Baker
Recording is an interview with Roy Brainerd conducted by Burnaby Village Museum employee Eric Damer, October 23, 2012. Major theme discussed: growing up in Burnaby with particular focus on school days and the automobile industry.
Roy Brainerd’s parents, Lawrence and Violet Brainerd came to Vancouver in 1925 or 1926 and purchased a small house on Harwood Street in North Burnaby. There were two older children in the family already when Roy was born in 1928 at Royal Columbian hospital. His sister Patricia Brainerd (later White) was born in 1931, also at Royal Columbian Hospital. Roy’s father Lawrence rebuilt and renovated the house to fit his growing family, planting abundant vegetable gardens and building a chicken coop. Roy started at Douglas Road School in 1934 and then attended Hugh M. Fraser High School. Roy left his high school at fifteen to work for Snap-On Tools, working his way up from pushing a broom to becoming a branch manager. He retired in 1983 after forty-one years of service. Together with his wife Carol, Roy raised three daughters.
Brainerd, Roy
Track one of recording of interview with Roy Brainerd
This portion of the recording pertains to Roy Brainerd's early memories of his mother and father. He discusses family friends in the neighbourhood including the Knott family, the Moore family and Tom Irvine.
Track two of recording of interview with Roy Brainerd
This portion of the recording pertains to Roy Brainerd's memories of his older brother's and father's work history, as well as his own with Snap on Tools.
Track three of recording of interview with Roy Brainerd
This portion of the recording pertains to Roy Brainerd's working life during the early years of his marriage. He discusses the automobile industry in Burnaby, the importance of the interurban tram and concludes with a story of a "stolen" bus.
Industries - Automobile
Track four of recording of interview with Roy Brainerd
Interview with Dennis Brown by Eric Damer September 18, 2012 - Track 1
This portion of the recording pertains to Dennis Brown's early life in Burnaby as a teenager, attending Burnaby South High School as well as completing basic training for the air force in 1944.
Dennis Brown (far left) with his wife Cice (Chandler) Brown (far right) and their five children, [1964]. Item no. 549-018.
Burnaby South High School
Recording is an interview with Dennis Brown conducted by Burnaby Village Museum employee Eric Damer, September 18, 2012. Major theme discussed: life in Burnaby during the war years.
Dennis Brown’s family moved from North Vancouver to South Burnaby, near Central Park, in 1941. Dennis finished his high school in Burnaby and enlisted in the air force, completing basic training. He returned to Burnaby looking for work and found employment stoking the boiler of a cargo ship. He and a friend spent the next year sailing around the world. When Dennis returned to Burnaby, he found work at a local shingle mill, married Cice Chandler and began work on a new home at Willingdon and Imperial. He and Cice had two children in 1948 and 1950, and three more in the later nineteen-fifties. By this time, Dennis had retrained as an accountant and worked in several large businesses in Vancouver. In their later years, both Dennis and Cice were active in the restoration of the Parker Carousel and Interurban 1223 (now on display at the Burnaby Village Museum) and both were honoured independently with “Citizen of the Year” awards. Cice (Chandler) Brown was, additionally, Honourary Reeve of the Burnaby Village Museum.
Brown, Dennis
Track one of recording of interview with Dennis Brown
This portion of the recording pertains to Dennis Brown's days in the merchant marines as well as his first memories of meeting his wife Cice (Chandler) Brown.
Brown, Cice Chandler
Track two of recording of interview with Dennis Brown
This portion of the recording pertains to Dennis Brown's memories of reconnecting with his wife Cice (Chandler) Brown on the interurban tram. He discusses his job history and tells the story of single-handedly clearing land for their family home.
Track three of recording of interview with Dennis Brown
This portion of the recording pertains to Dennis Brown's memories of the time when he was taking correspondence and university courses while finishing the house off. He tells the story of the purchasing a car on a whim.
Transportation - Automobiles
Track four of recording of interview with Dennis Brown
This portion of the recording pertains to Dennis Brown's memories of recreational activities he and his wife Cice (Chandler) Brown and their children participated in. He discusses the changes that he's seen in Burnaby, mainly as density increases.
Track five of recording of interview with Dennis Brown
Interview with Ted Burnham by Eric Damer September 19, 2012 - Track 1
This portion of the recording pertains to Edward Lewis "Ted" Burnham's early memories of growing up in Burnaby. He talks of his brothers going into the service and of his own work history which includes working for the municipality of Burnaby.
Edward Lewis "Ted" Burnham, [195-]. Item no. 549-021.
Occupations - Civic Workers
Recording is an interview with Edward Lewis "Ted" Burnham conducted by Burnaby Village Museum employee Eric Damer, September 19, 2012. Major theme discussed: the role of the municipal worker in the nineteen-fifties and nineteen-sixties.
E.L. "Ted" Burnham was born in 1930 and grew up in East Burnaby. He attended Armstrong Street and Edmonds Schools and then Trapp Technical High School before beginning work at a range of occupations in the late nineteen-forties. Ted studied business administration at the University of British Columbia and worked from 1953 to about 1958 for the municipality of Burnaby in the engineering and welfare departments, then briefly for Remington-Rand computers, and then at the Hannah Medical Clinic until 1973. After marrying in 1957, Ted and his wife moved from McKay Avenue to Kaymar Drive and raised two daughters. In the ninteen-seventies and later, Ted became involved in municipal politics, the Heritage Village, and in his own real estate and insurance business.
Burnham, Edward Lewis "Ted"
Track one of recording of interview with Ted Burnham
This portion of the recording pertains to Edward Lewis "Ted" Burnham's memories of the interurban tram. He mentions getting his driver's license and goes on to discuss more of his work history; in the computer industry, then in the medical industry.
Transportation - Electric Railroads
Track two of recording of interview with Ted Burnham
This portion of the recording pertains to Edward Lewis "Ted" Burnham's personal life. He discusses activities undertaken by his daughters and his wife while living in Burnaby. He also discusses the changes that have happened in Burnaby, including during his time on the assessment appeal board. He m…
This portion of the recording pertains to Edward Lewis "Ted" Burnham's personal life. He discusses activities undertaken by his daughters and his wife while living in Burnaby. He also discusses the changes that have happened in Burnaby, including during his time on the assessment appeal board. He mentions controversy surrounding Oakalla land development in the nineteen-fifties and nineteen-sixties.
Track three of recording of interview with Ted Burnham
Interview with Jim and Linda Champion by Eric Damer October 21, 2012 - Track 1
This portion of the recording pertains to Jim Champion's memories of first coming to Burnaby with his wife Ethel. He mentions the neighbouring creek near their property, along with a number of neighbours. Jim also tells the story of cutting down cottonwood trees growing on nearby crown land.
Geographic Features - Neighbourhoods
Central Park (Historic Neighbourhood)
Recording is an interview with Jim Champion and his daughter Linda Champion conducted by Burnaby Village Museum employee Eric Damer, October 21, 2012. Major themes discussed are: raising a family in Burnaby as well as the experience of growing up in the area as it developed from farmland to suburbia.
Although Jim Champion was born in Burnaby in 1924, he grew up and attended school in White Rock. After serving in the navy during the war, Jim Champion came back to Vancouver, met and married Ethel (Danielson) Champion and began working for the Vancouver Fire Department. Jim and Ethel Champion's eldest daughter, Linda Champion, was born in 1948. In 1949, the Champions bought 1.8 undeveloped acres on Gilpin Street and began to build. By the time their house was built, they had become a family of six, so Jim and Ethel worked to built a larger house adjacent to the first. The Champions had chickens and a horse as their neighbourhood changed from farmland to suburbia. Jim has retired from the Vancouver Fire Department and his daughter Linda Champion is currently a City of Burnaby employee.
Champion, Jim
Champion, Linda
Track one of recording of interview with Jim and Linda Champion
This portion of the recording pertains to Jim Champion's memories of the help he received building a house for his family and the barn he built at the back for their horse. He describes household amenities of the time.
Track two of recording of interview with Jim and Linda Champion
This portion of the recording pertains to Linda Champion's memories of growing up on the family property and the fun she and her siblings had with their father. She and her father discuss events and landmarks within the neighbourhood. Linda also mentions popular culture of the time.
Track three of recording of interview with Jim and Linda Champion
This portion of the recording pertains to Linda and Jim Champion's memories of living so close to the Oakalla Prison Farm. They also tell stories about changes to the neighbourhood, the family horse and living "a country life."
Oakalla Prison Farm
Burnaby Lake (Historic Neighbourhood)
Track four of recording of interview with Jim and Linda Champion
Interview with Eleanor Dricos by Eric Damer October 15, 2012 - Track 1
This portion of the recording pertains to Eleanor (Toebeart) Dricos' memories of her early years in Burnaby, from the age of nine, when her interest in music first began.
Musical Instruments - Piano
Recording is an interview with Eleanor (Toebeart) Dricos conducted by Burnaby Village Museum employee Eric Damer, October 15, 2012. Major themes discussed are: music students and music teachers.
Born in Vancouver in 1947 Eleanor Toebaert (later Dricos) and her parents came to the new Parkcrest neighbourhood of Burnaby nine years later. While at Sperling Elementary, Eleanor took group piano lessons with June Perry and began her career studying, playing, and teaching piano. Eleanor finished her schooling at Kensington Junior High and North Burnaby High Schools. During the mid-nineteen-sixties Eleanor often attended concerts at North Burnaby community halls to listen to her fiance’s band play. After getting married, Eleanor (Toebaert) Dricos and her husband settled in Port Coquitlam where she continues to teach private piano lessons.
Dricos, Eleanor Toebeart
Track one of recording of interview with Eleanor Dricos
This portion of the recording pertains to Eleanor (Toebeart) Dricos' memories of getting her music degree and how it influenced her own teaching style. She discusses the music she played on days off as well as competitions, recitals, and exams as well as concerts in the neighbourhood.
Occupations - Teachers
Track two of recording of interview with Eleanor Dricos
This portion of the recording pertains to Eleanor (Toebeart) Dricos' memories of the concert scene in Vancouver and of listening to music on the radio and television as a child. She tells the story of getting married in her parent's backyard. Eleanor also explains why she moved to Port Coquitlam fo…
This portion of the recording pertains to Eleanor (Toebeart) Dricos' memories of the concert scene in Vancouver and of listening to music on the radio and television as a child. She tells the story of getting married in her parent's backyard. Eleanor also explains why she moved to Port Coquitlam for teaching.
Track three of recording of interview with Eleanor Dricos
Interview with Tony Fabian by Eric Damer October 10, 2012 - Track 1
This portion of the recording pertains to Tony Fabian's memories of first coming to Burnaby and establishing a vegetable garden. He talks about his interest in conservation from an early age.
Tony Fabian relaxing at a picnic table, [1970]. Item no. 549-026.
Geographic Features - Lakes and Ponds
Recording is an interview with Tony Fabian conducted by Burnaby Village Museum employee Eric Damer, October 10, 2012. Major theme discussed: environmental conservation practices in Burnaby.
Tony Fabian was born and raised in rural Saskatchewan in 1934. He and his wife moved to Burnaby in 1957, where he worked for the telephone company and raised a family. Tony has been an advocate for preservation of parklands and watercourses, helping to protect Burnaby and Deer Lake Parks and to create the Burnaby Fraser Foreshore and Barnet Marine Parks in the early nineteen-seventies, serving as a member of Burnaby’s Parks and Recreation Commission. Tony Fabian was presented with the 2008 City of Burnaby Environment Award for Community Stewardship.
Fabian, Tony
Track one of recording of interview with Tony Fabian
This portion of the recording pertains to Tony Fabian's memories of conservation practices in Burnaby, focusing on the lakes and ravines, including Burnaby Lake.
Geographic Features - Ravines
Track two of recording of interview with Tony Fabian
This portion of the recording pertains to Tony Fabian's understanding of how neighbourhood parks came about during the Depression. He also discusses the development of the Burnaby Mountain Conservation Area.
Geographic Features - Parks
Track three of recording of interview with Tony Fabian
This portion of the recording pertains to Tony Fabian's involvement in the development of the Stream Preservation Bylaw in Burnaby. He discusses fish populations, air quality, and bird populations in Burnaby as well.
Geographic Features - Streams
Track four of recording of interview with Tony Fabian
This portion of the recording pertains to Tony Fabian's memories of the development of the Fraser River Foreshore and the Confederation Community Centre (previously named Confederation House).
Confederation Community Centre
Geographic Features - Rivers
Track five of recording of interview with Tony Fabian
Interview with Les Francis by Eric Damer October 16, 2012 - Track 1
This portion of the recording pertains to Les Francis's early years. He begins by mentioning his school days and moves into a detailed account of working with the municipality of Burnaby in the Hall and in the Stores.
Les Francis (far right) receiving a Burnaby Long Service Award at the Gai Paree Supper Club, 1964. Item no. 485-070.
Public Services - Public Works
Recording is an interview with Les Francis conducted by Burnaby Village Museum employee Eric Damer, October 16, 2012. Major theme discussed: the role of the municipal worker in the nineteen-thirties through the war years.
Les Francis was born in London, England, in 1914 and came with his family to Burnaby in 1919. Except for a few years away on special projects, Les has lived in Burnaby ever since. After attending Kingsway West Elementary and Burnaby South High Schools, Les joined the municipal work force. He first worked as a clerk in 1930 and later joined the Engineering Department where he spent his career maintaining and extending the municipal water system. Les Francis retired in 1979 as the City of Burnaby's Work's Superintendent.
Francis, Les
Interviewee's residence
Track one of recording of interview with Les Francis
This portion of the recording pertains to Les Francis's years of working with the municipality of Burnaby, with a focus on waterworks.
Track two of recording of interview with Les Francis
This portion of the recording pertains to Les Francis's years of working with the municipality of Burnaby, with a focus on waterworks. Les describes the influence of industry and population on the water system as well as the history of the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) Water Board.
Track three of recording of interview with Les Francis
This portion of the recording pertains to Les Francis's years of working with the municipality of Burnaby in the waterworks department and the changes he has noticed for present day workers.
Track four of recording of interview with Les Francis
Interview with Judy Hagen by Eric Damer November 7, 2012 - Track 1
This portion of the recording pertains to Judith "Judy" (Robins) Hagen's views on the neighbourhood of Dover Street in Burnaby. She begins by discussing how her family first arrived on Dover Street (when her father Jack Robins was only two years old) and continues their story through her childhood …
This portion of the recording pertains to Judith "Judy" (Robins) Hagen's views on the neighbourhood of Dover Street in Burnaby. She begins by discussing how her family first arrived on Dover Street (when her father Jack Robins was only two years old) and continues their story through her childhood during the war years, including neighbours and neighbouring buildings.
Judith "Judy" Robins (later Hagen) posing in a dance costume, 1949. Item no. 549-036.
Burnaby - Dover Street
Recording is an interview with Judith "Judy" (Robins) Hagen conducted by Burnaby Village Museum employee Eric Damer, November 7, 2012. Major theme discussed: the neighbourhood of Dover Street.
Judy Robins (later Hagen) was born in 1941 and grew up in South Burnaby. Her paternal grandfather, a master stone mason from Devon, moved to Vancouver in 1912 to find work before bringing over the rest of the family. He bought three lots in Burnaby and in 1918 moved his family to a small house on Dover Street (formerly Paul Street). Judy’s father, Jack, married, bought one of his father’s lots and built a new home for his family. Judy attended school and church nearby, took dance and piano lessons and participated actively in Girl Guides. After high school, she attended the University of British Columbia (UBC) and then Simon Fraser University (SFU), worked for a few years and then married in 1967 before moving to Courtaney, British Columbia.
Hagen, Judith "Judy" Robins
Nanaimo Museum on Vancouver Island
Track one of recording of interview with Judy Hagen
This portion of the recording pertains to Judith "Judy" (Robins) Hagen's grandfather Sam Robins who also lived in the family home. Judy mentions a number of her neighbours, discusses her aunt and uncles, and tells a short story involving Kingsway West School.
Track two of recording of interview with Judy Hagen
This portion of the recording pertains to Judith "Judy" (Robins) Hagen's memories of the influx of people into the neighbourhood at the end of the war. She mentions various delivery men who sold wares along Dover Street and also mentions her uncle Fred Robins and his wife.
Track three of recording of interview with Judy Hagen
City of Burnaby Archives 787
Multiple Format 3
Photograph 507
Sound Recording 281
Textual Record 3
Academic Disciplines 3
Advertising Medium - Signs and Signboards 6
Agricultural Tools and Equipment 2
Agricultural Tools and Equipment - Gardening Equipment 1
Agriculture - Farms 9
Agriculture - Fruit and Berries 2
Animals - Bears 3
Animals - Birds 1
Animals - Cats 2
Animals - Cows 3
Animals - Deer 4
Animals - Dogs 13
Animals - Fish 1
Animals - Goats 3
Animals - Horses 4
Animals - Livestock 1
Animals - Poultry 1
Armament - Firearms 1
Arts - Drawings 1
Buildings 1
Buildings - Agricultural 1
Buildings - Agricultural - Barns 2
Buildings - Agricultural - Greenhouses 3
Buildings - Agricultural - Nurseries 1
Buildings - Agriculture 2
Buildings - Civic 1
Buildings - Civic - Archives 1
Buildings - Civic - City Halls 2
Buildings - Civic - Libraries 2
Buildings - Commercial 6
Buildings - Commercial - Automobile Dealerships 1
Buildings - Commercial - Department Stores 1
Buildings - Commercial - Grocery Stores 1
Buildings - Commercial - Hotels and Motels 1
Buildings - Commercial - Malls 1
Buildings - Commercial - Restaurants 2
Buildings - Commercial - Service Stations 5
Buildings - Commercial - Stores 12
Buildings - Commercial - Train Stations 1
Buildings - Heritage 1
Buildings - Industrial 2
Buildings - Industrial - Dairies 1
Buildings - Industrial - Mills 2
Buildings - Institutional - Hospitals 1
Buildings - Institutional - Prisons 1
Buildings - Other 2
Buildings - Recreational 4
Buildings - Religious - Churches 6
Person/Organization
Adair, Annie T 1
Allen, Cecil 1
Allen, Marjorie 1
Allen, Stephanie 2
Alpha Secondary School 1
Ansdell, Elsie Brown-John 7
Anthony, Mary 1
Atchison, Jennifer 3
Atkinson, Nina 1
Aubrey Elementary School 1
Baker, Olivia Mary "Bunty" 1
Baker, Ronald J. "Ron" 7
Barclay, Bella 1
Barnet Mountain Park 2
Barnet Park 1
Barnet Rifle Club 4
Basil, Anastasia 1
Basil, Jim 1
Basil, Peter 1
Bayley, Anne Phillips 1
Bayntun, Charmaine "Sherrie" Yanko 6
Beamish, William Randolph "Ran" 3
Bearn, Audrey 2
Bearn, Doris 2
Bearn, Gladys 2
Bearn, Helen 2
Bearn, Jean 2
Bearn, Lavinia Lee 2
Bearn, Shirley 1
Bearn, William "Bill" 2
Bearn, William "Bud" 1
Beaton, Allan 1
Beaton, Rod 1
Belhouse, Jack 9
Bellinger, Eileen 1
Bellinger, Mrs. 1
Belton, Mabel 1
Bettles, Frances 1
Bettles, Gilbert 1
Bettles, Helen 2
Bettles, Lilly 1
Bettles, Percy 1
Bickerton, Edgar "Ed" 1
Bickerton, Edward "Ed" 1
Bickerton, Jane 1
Bickerton, Nancy "Nan" 1
Bickerton, Patricia "Pat" 1
Bill Copeland Sports Centre 1
Bissett, Bill 1
Black, Dorothy 2
British Columbia - Coquitlam 1
British Columbia - Fraser River 3
British Columbia - New Westminster 1
British Columbia - Port Moody 1
British Columbia - Richmond 1
British Columbia - Roberts Creek 1
British Columbia - Seymour River 1
British Columbia - Skeena River 1
British Columbia - Vancouver 10
British Columbia - Victoria 1
British Columbia - White Rock 1
Burnaby 109
Burnaby - 104 Gilmore Avenue 1
Burnaby - 1075 Stratford Avenue 1
Burnaby - 10th Avenue 1
Burnaby - 1351 Gilmore Avenue 1
Burnaby - 140 Esmond Avenue 1
Burnaby - 1455 Delta Avenue 1
Burnaby - 18th Street 1
Burnaby - 21 Hythe Avenue North 1
Burnaby - 2176 Duthie Avenue 1
Burnaby - 224 Boundary Road North 1
Burnaby - 2740 Beaverbrook Crescent 1
Burnaby - 2nd Street 1
Burnaby - 3338 Royal Oak Avenue 1
Burnaby - 350 Holdom Avenue 7
Burnaby - 3676 Kensington Avenue 1
Burnaby - 3777 Kingsway 2
Burnaby - 3793 Frances Street 4
Burnaby - 3800 Venables Street 1
Burnaby - 3883 Imperial Street 11
Burnaby - 3883 Rumble Street 1
Burnaby - 3900 Block Albert Street 2
Burnaby - 3935 Kincaid Street 1
Burnaby - 3959 Hastings Street 1
Burnaby - 3963 Brandon Street 3
Burnaby - 3966 Parker Street 3
Burnaby - 3976 McGill Street 2
Burnaby - 4015 Triumph Street 1
Burnaby - 4041 Canada Way 5
Burnaby - 4055 Union Street 5
Burnaby - 4200 Maywood Street 4
Burnaby - 4343 Smith Avenue 1
100 Years of Gilmore School video collection 7
Action Line Housing Society collection 2
Alan Fish fonds 2
Albert Parker fonds 26
Alfred Bingham fonds 171
Alfred Hickman fonds 2
Allan Amundsen collection 40
Alvin Burtch fonds 4
Andrew Johnson fonds 24
Archie Miller collection 14
B. Keisler collection 13
Bailey family collection 27
Baldwin family fonds 9
Bancroft family collection 45
Ben Bradley collection 6
Bernard Bellinger fonds 10
Bill Jeffries fonds 126
Bill Sutherland collection 2
Brainerd family fonds 8
Britton family fonds 12
Building Department fonds 5
Burnaby Art Gallery Collection 60
Burnaby Arts Council fonds 520
Burnaby Chamber of Commerce fonds 33
Burnaby Civic Employees collection 2
Burnaby Clef society fonds 38
Burnaby Community Heritage Commission 125 Video Collection 6
Burnaby Family fonds 1
Burnaby Gem and Mineral fonds 17
Burnaby Girl Guides fonds 22
Burnaby Historical Society Community Archives Collection 997
Burnaby Lake Men’s Community Service Club collection 8
Burnaby NewsLeader photograph collection 1517
Burnaby Outdoor Club fonds 1
Burnaby Public Library Contemporary Visual Archive Project 667
Burnaby Public Library collection 67
Burnaby Retired Teachers collection 32
Burnaby Scouts fonds 220
Burnaby Village Museum Document collection 4
Burnaby Village Museum Map collection 42
Burnaby Village Museum Oral History Collection 37
Burnaby Village Museum Photograph Collection 2491
Burnaby Village Museum Video collection 6
Buxton Family collection 17
Byrne Family collection 12
Capitol Hill Community Association collection 4
Central Burnaby Ratepayers and Citizens Association fonds 16
Century Park Museum Association fonds 1
Chamberlain family fonds 16
Online Media Type
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Topic Infrastructure
SubTopic Wireless technology
Open source networks
Three ways to improve wireless network access for your users
Here are three things an administrator can do to improve your company's wireless strategy on the client side.
Serdar Yegulalp
This tip originally appeared on SearchWinSystems.com.
Wireless networking has been a massive boon for those organizations with employees constantly on the go. Whether they're staying in hotels across the country, or just roaming around the building doesn't matter. What does matter is that they need to have network access no matter how far they are from a LAN port.
If your company has workers who rely on wireless networking, here are three tips to improve your wireless strategy -- especially if the company has multiple wireless locations.
Tip #1. Consider a client-side DNS cache. When you're roaming, the biggest disadvantage isn't just that you're at the mercy of different ISPs, but also different public DNS servers. The one you use at work might be lightning-fast, but the one you use from home or on the road may be intolerably slow. Slow DNS translates to slow browsing, slow email, and slow everything else.
To work around this problem, set up a DNS cache on the user's notebook computer. Such a program retains and asynchronously checks DNS entries for far longer than their usual lifetime. Since DNS entries for domain names rarely change, this works out well. Furthermore, it translates into a speed boost for wireless browsing, since it's one less lookup the computer needs to perform. One such cache is the freeware program, AnalogX's FastCache.
Tip #2. Use a network profile switcher for multiple network setups. Windows is smart enough to recognize different wireless networks and allow you to connect to them individually, but it doesn't do the complete job. If at home a user has different mapped drives or other network resources than at work, putting them all in the same network profile may not be such a good idea -- they might possibly be in collision with each other. It gets worse if you travel between multiple job sites.
For a solution to this, consider a third-party application like JitBit's Net Profile Switch, which automatically changes between multiple network scenarios such as drive and directory mappings, third-party program profiles and many others.
Tip #3. Avoid wi-fi hotspot mail blocks. Many public and for-pay wireless networks in hotels, airports and public places routinely block port 25 for outgoing email. If users routinely send outgoing mail from their machines and don't have access to a VPN, there are three workarounds:
Set up a VPN (whenever possible) to your mail server. This is a big undertaking, but in the long run it'll probably be worth it.
For your users on the road, set up a dedicated mail sender that does not use port 25. Admittedly, this solution is a little unorthodox, and you need to make sure it will only accept mail from people with the proper credentials to avoid having it turned into a spammer's paradise.
Use a third-party product like SpotLock, which allows for email delivery from wi-fi hotspots and adds a host of other security and enhancement features on top of it.
Editor's note: After this tip appeared, a reader wrote in wondering why the article did not mention the solution of setting up SMTP through the standard port of 587. The author responded, "Most clients can indeed handle using secure SMTP, but it may not be available for all servers. For instance, if you get your email from a conventional provider rather than (for instance) your own Exchange boxes, many of them don't offer this feature."
About the author: Serdar Yegulalp is editor of the Windows Power Users Newsletter, which is devoted to hints, tips, tricks, news and goodies for Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows XP users and administrators. He has more than 10 years of Windows experience under his belt, and contributes regularly to SearchWinSystems.com and SearchSQLServer.com.
This was last published in August 2006
Dig Deeper on Mobile and wireless network technology
Top 10 networking tips for solution providers of 2008
Top 10 networking tips of 2007
Locate 'missing' SPF record on an external DNS domain
By: Richard Luckett
SMTP 550 relay error when sending large attachments
Keeping Up the Pace of Transformation to Ensure Your Organization Stays on Top –Citrix
Optimizing Your Digital Workspaces? Look to Analytics –Citrix
Delivering the Promise of Hyperconvergence with Intel Optane Technology –Intel
How to improve wireless network access for your users – SearchCIO
How to improve wireless network access for your users2 – SearchCIO
Three ways to improve wireless network access for ... – SearchWindowsServer
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SEI's IdeaFarm to Cultivate Innovative Thinking and Culture
Historic Farmhouse Reveals Past Chronicles and Nurtures Future Inspiration
Leslie Wojcik SEI +1 610-676-4191 lwojcik@seic.com
OAKS, Pa., March 27, 2017 – SEI (NASDAQ:SEIC) today announced the grand opening of the IdeaFarm, a centuries-old farmhouse renovated into an innovation space. Located on the campus of SEI’s corporate headquarters in Oaks, PA, the historic building offers employees, clients, and partners a stimulating and interactive environment to foster and develop problem-solving skills and revolutionary thinking.
The IdeaFarm provides innovation champions with a wide array of tools to encourage creativity:
Cutting-edge technology, such as digital/touch-screen white boards, wireless audio, and wireless projection.
Software to facilitate mind mapping, card sorting, and prototyping.
Manual tools to stimulate the brain, including Play-Doh, Legos, Yo-Yos, playbooks, and Rubik’s cubes.
Contemporary furniture on wheels replaces traditional seated conference tables, contrasting the original farmhouse architecture and allowing innovators to adapt the environment to their collaborative needs. The space also features a wooden swing, a bench crafted from the front end of a London taxi, and glass doors that double as writable surfaces for brainstorming. The original hardwood floors have been repurposed as shelving throughout the space, and compromised support beams have been replaced with ones from historic barns.
SEI employees will be certified by third-party professionals to facilitate creative sessions at the IdeaFarm. These trained facilitators will help direct effective engagement, collaboration, and discovery through various strategies and processes, including storyboarding and journey mapping.
"The IdeaFarm strengthens our innovative culture, which is the very foundation of our company,” said Russ Kliman, Head of Strategic Programs and Innovation for SEI. “This space empowers forward thinking to explore next steps in business evolution, as well as grow ideas that enable our clients to take full advantage of our products and services."
Built around 1740 and situated near the defunct Perkiomen Railroad, the farmhouse walls literally hold hundreds of years of history. While transforming the weary farmhouse into the IdeaFarm, contractors tearing down drywall uncovered a revised second-edition spelling book, which was inscribed with the year 1799 and the name Thomas Wade (born in 1776 and died in 1870). Caleb Cresson purchased the home in 1862, shortly before Wade died. Cresson was related to the Wetherills, an affluent and legendary family in the Oaks area. The farmhouse’s continued sense of purpose provides opportunities for past reflection and future inspiration.
Take a Look Inside the New SEI IdeaFarm
About SEI
SEI (NASDAQ:SEIC) is a leading global provider of investment processing, investment management, and investment operations solutions that help corporations, financial institutions, financial advisors, and ultra-high-net-worth families create and manage wealth. As of December 31, 2016, through its subsidiaries and partnerships in which the company has a significant interest, SEI manages or administers $751 billion in hedge, private equity, mutual fund and pooled or separately managed assets, including $283 billion in assets under management and $468 billion in client assets under administration. For more information, visit seic.com.
Check out some of our other recent announcements and press.
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SEI to Announce Fourth-Quarter 2019 Earnings on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2020 Public Invited to Monitor Conference Call at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time
SEI Names Kendra Kaake Director of Investment Strategy in Canada OCIO Deepens Expertise to Support North American Business
Media Mention Dec 31, 2019
Jim Smigiel on Yahoo Finance Live What are market expectations heading into 2020?
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"Hannah", page 3 of 3
Previous page on path Path end, continue
Who is "Hannah"?
"Hannah" is referred to in quotations throughout the exhibit because there is no way to track if the story conveyed about a young girl who escaped a mass murder during the Holocaust and emigrated to Palestine with Youth Aliyah was a real girl named Hannah.
Archival evidence suggests that Youth Aliyah and Hadassah representatives in Palestine were concerned with the experiences of their young charges and listened to stories of violence, fear, and trauma regularly. Hadassah also recognized the power of these survivor stories for publicity purposes. Both of these impulses may have helped shape the brochure and radio script about Hannah.
A letter dated August 29, 1946 sent from Mrs. Siegfried Kramarsky, co-chairman of Youth Aliyah stated, “We understand that the material for publicity on the 20,000th child did not actually refer to that specific child, as at the time you sent it to us the child had not yet reached Palestine.”
This letter suggests that Hadassah wanted to celebrate the immigration of 20,000 Jewish children to Palestine and could not wait until this child arrived to produce publicity materials. The framing of "Hannah" as the 20,000 Youth Aliyah child is thus fabricated. But that does not mean that her story is untrue. Rather, it raises questions about the relationship between a survivor and their story as well as the relationship between organizational publicity and Holocaust narratives. Is the truth of the stories the primary value? Or, at the time, were stories of this kind intended to be representational in a way that told a general story and motivated philanthropic action?
Discussion of "Who is 'Hannah'?"
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"Hannah" Children
Related: The Spielberg Jewish Film Archive - The Future Can Be Theirs, Irene: Popular Press, "Hannah": Radio Script, Child Logo: United Service for New Americans, Irene and Charles NYT Oct 22, Life Magazine Cover: November 17, 1947, "Case History #20,000," Hadassah, Irene Guttman: Rene and I, Lea Grunsteinova, United National Clothing Collection Drive, 1945, Irene Guttman: Life Magazine, "Hannah": Brochure
Version 5 id 27970 of this page, updated 22 November 2014 by Rachel Deblinger. Created by Rachel Deblinger.
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All categories Park News Sheriff Snohomish County News Your Elected Officials
Snohomish County News
Snohomish County Executive Appoints Kelly Snyder as Public Works Director
Contact: Kent Patton
Kent.Patton@snoco.org
Ms. Snyder’s experience in the private and public sectors will help her lead a transformational agenda
EVERETT, Wash., January 14, 2020 – Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers today announced the appointment of Kelly Snyder as Snohomish County’s new Public Works Director. Kelly will take the helm on January 21st. She succeeds the former director, Steve Thomsen, who retired in December after thirty-three years with the county.
“Kelly Snyder is the leader we need for our Public Works Department to help us chart the course as we reach one million residents by 2040,” said Executive Somers. “Kelly’s mix of private and public sector experience and her innovative nature will be important assets in helping to address traffic congestion, maintain safe roads, protect and restore our natural environment, and ensure that our infrastructure keeps pace with our population growth. We are excited to have her join our Snohomish County team and look forward to working closely with her on these complex issues and more.”
Kelly served most recently as an Assistant Vice Chancellor at the University of Washington-Bothell, where she oversaw a wide range of responsibilities including leading the campus expansion and community development team, managing campus facilities, and overseeing government and community relations. She served the State of Washington as the Director of the Public Works Board within the Department of Commerce where she managed $2.5 billion in funding for infrastructure projects across the state. Prior to her career in public service, Kelly was a co-owner and principal in a civil engineering firm for thirteen years.
“I am excited to assume leadership of Snohomish County’s Department of Public Works at this critical time,” said Kelly. “From building and maintaining roads, to ensuring we have clean water, to handling the county’s solid waste, the work of this department touches everyone’s life in the county. I look forward to building strong partnerships and collaborating across the county, region and state. I will work hard to improve our service to the public, ensure we are being good stewards of public funds, and build upon the great legacy of my predecessors and the staff.”
About Snohomish County Public Works
The Snohomish County Public Works Department constructs and maintains county roads; controls and manages surface water quantity, quality, and fish habitats; and oversees the recycling and disposal of solid waste. The department’s main office is located at 3000 Rockefeller Ave., Everett, WA 98201. For more information about Snohomish County Public Works, visit www.snohomishcountywa.gov/PublicWorks.
Press Release...
⇐Previous Snohomish County Receives $3.1 Million in Grants for Road Safety ImprovementsNext⇒ Point-in-Time Homeless Count to take place Thursday, January 23, 2020
Other News in Snohomish County News
Snohomish County Executive Somers Names James Henderson Chief of Economic and Workforce Development
Snohomish County Receives $3.1 Million in Grants for Road Safety Improvements
Point-in-Time Homeless Count to take place Thursday, January 23, 2020
Snohomish County Small Grant Program Supporting Culture and the Arts Now Accepting Applications
Snohomish County’s Healthy Forests Project Kick-Off Event
Snohomish County Engineering Manager Selected to American Public Works Association Board
Snohomish County Executive Somers Announces Partnership to Establish the First Physical CleanTech
Shannon Tipple-Leen’s Botanical Photography on Display at the Robert J. Drewel Building in Everett
Recycle Lithium-Ion Batteries: Protecting the Environment is a Gift One Can Give Mother Nature
Snohomish County Receives Grant for Construction of 35th Ave SE – Phase II Project
Snohomish County Tools and Tips for Snow Storm Preparedness
Snohomish County Provides Resources to Help You Prepare for Flood Season
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Snohomish County Government 3000 Rockefeller Avenue Everett, WA 98201 Phone: 425-388-3411
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The SOCCO research strategy focuses on the hypothesis that fine scale ocean dynamics are key to understanding the role of the Southern Ocean in global century-scale trends of atmospheric CO2 and regional climate change. We use this scale sensitivity approach towards:
Understanding the contemporary variability and the century-scale evolution of carbon fluxes and ocean productivity
Modelling and observating the interaction of seasonal and sub-seasonal time scales with meso and submesoscale dynamics
Increasing the reliability of past and future projections of the changing role of the Southern Ocean in global climate
The 5-year strategy 2014 – 2019 has three main Themes
Advance understanding of the scale-sensitivity of Carbon – Climate linkages in the Southern Ocean
Derive low uncertainty annual CO2 exchange fluxes in the Southern Ocean through sustained observations and empirical modelling and contribute to the assessment of the effectiveness of national and international carbon mitigation goals through SA-ICON
Contribute to the optimization and robustness of the South African (CSIR) Variable Resolution Earth Systems Model and its contribution to AR6 in 2019 and the development of Robotics Engineering research in South Africa
Fig.1: Depicts the SOCCO scale-centred approach which hypothesises that in order to understand and predict the century scale evolution CO2 and its radiative and ocean acidification forcing it is necessary to understand and correctly parametrize the processes inside the seasonal – sub-seasonal and meso and sub-mesoscale “window”. This scale sensitivity links to the CO2 through the feedback of the upwelling of CO2 rich water, the biological pump and the solubility pump.
SOCCO takes an inter-disciplinary approach to understanding and projecting the Carbon – Climate links in the Southern Ocean. It comprises research groups with focus on dynamics of upper ocean physics, ocean CO2 and oxygen, ocean productivity and carbon export, Iron and nutrient biogeochemistry. Our approach involves a combination of long term observations linked to regular voyages of the SA Agulhas II to the Southern Ocean, Seasonal Cycle Experiments and high resolution modelling. More recently we are also introducing the use of robotics into both the long term observations and the experimental approaches.
The global carbon cycle comprises two parts: firstly, the human derived (anthropogenic) flux of about 8 PgCy-1of which the oceans take up about 2 PgCy-1, and the Southern Ocean contributes about 1PgCy-1. Secondly, a very much larger but up to now balanced ocean – atmosphere exchange of natural CO2 of approximately 90GtCy-1.
The steady-state magnitudes of the anthropogenic and natural CO2 fluxes are robustly constrained by the global and regional decadal mean data sets. The science gap lies in the non-steady-state part of these fluxes: both in terms of variability and long-term trends. SOCCO research is focused on understanding and quantifying the non-steady state part of the CO2 variability and trends.
Century-scale trends in atmospheric and ocean CO2 face a dual problem which impacts on global and regional scale mitigation of CO2 emissions to limit climate change risk: not only will the uptake rate of anthropogenic CO2 decrease because of changing CO2 chemistry (Ocean Acidification) and warming but as importantly, climate forcing will begin to alter the ocean physics that controls the much larger natural CO2 flux in the Southern Ocean.
Carbon research in SOCCO approaches these questions along three lines:
It has established a long-term ship –based CO2 observations system making underway observations in the southeast Atlantic Ocean and the southwest Indian Ocean (Fig. 1). These data are made available to the national (SADCO) and global (CDIAC) databases from where they are then integrated after 2nd level QC into the SOCAT and later ocean acidification databases. Through this SOCCO builds up a data set, which includes a wide range of ancillary variables, to support its own research as well as global community initiatives.
As part of its scientific focus on fine scale ocean dynamics the CO2 research makes a strong contribution to dedicated experiments which aim to understand the sensitivity of the carbon cycle in and CO2 fluxes to the seasonal and intraseasonal dynamics of upper ocean physics (meso and sub-mesoscale). In this domain we are exploring the use of robotics (surface wave gliders and ocean interior buoyancy gliders) to make observations within these spatial and temporal scale constraints. The Southern Ocean Seasonal Cycle Experiment (SOSCEx) is our platform for these experiments, which target the core hypothesis of the programme: fine scale (carbon) – large scale (climate) links.
Modelling: in SOCCO we undertake CO2 modelling research in two main areas: firstly, we explore the use of different empirical numerical / machine learning methods to address the need for high precision (< 0.1PgCy-1) CO2 air – sea exchange fluxes in a data sparse system. This part of a global effort to reduce the global uncertainty of CO2 fluxes to ~10% of the mean annual flux necessary to resolve inter-annual variability and long-term trends. Secondly, we use a hierarchy of global and regional coarse (200km) to very high resolution (2km) model runs to test both scale sensitivity research questions for CO2 and the carbon cycle as well as explore the understanding and use of the seasonal cycle as a mode that provides a rigorous test to model outputs.
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Related News and Publications
For the iron chemistry project, seawater samples are collected during our annual relief voyages to Antarctica on board RV Agulhas II. A GEOTRACES trace metal clean 24 x 12L GoFlo carousel and Kevlar cable winch (Figure 1) is used to collect seawater along a vertical profile. Subsampling is conducted inside a certified trace metal clean container lab equipped with circulating HEPA filters for clean air supply (Figures 2 and 3). Concentrations for total dissolvable Fe (TDFe, unfiltered), dissolved Fe (DFe, filtered through 0.22 µm) and soluble Fe (SFe, filtered through 0.02µm) are measured using a Flow Injection Analyser (FIA; Figures 3 and 4) with chemiluminescence detection inside a trace metal clean class 100 laboratory at Stellenbosch University. An ICP-MS is also available at Stellenbosch University.
Seawater samples are also collected from the GoFlo bottles for the incubation experiments (Figure 6). Phytoplankton physiological parameters are measured using a Chelsea Fast Repetition fluorimeter (FRRf; Figure 4), dissolved Fe using the dedicated FIA in the trace metal clean laboratory at Stellenbosch University, and macro-nutrients using FIA at CSIR. The culture experiments are also conducted inside the trace metal clean class 1000 laboratory at Stellenbosch University
FRRF system
FIA analysis for Fe concentration
FI-Auto-analyser
Bioassay sample filtration
Ocean colour remote sensing can provide routine, synoptic and highly cost-effective observations of biological and biogeochemical response to physical drivers across oceanic ecosystems, over decadal time scales and at high frequency. In many cases, remotely sensed data are the only systematic observations available for chronically under-sampled marine systems (e.g. the polar oceans), and there is thus a need to maximise the value of these observations by developing ecosystem-appropriate, well characterised products.
A primary focus of SOCCO’s bio-optical research is on gathering the necessary bio-optical and physiological data to develop and validate appropriate regional ocean colour algorithms for the Southern Ocean. This includes bio-optical data in the form of Inherent Optical Properties (IOP’s) (scattering, beam attenuation and absorption) and Apparent Optical Properties (AOP) (radiance, irradiance, reflectance, diffuse attenuation coefficient) and biogeochemical data that characterises the phytoplankton community (e.g. carbon content, size structure and dominant functional type). This information in conjunction with radiative transfer models and reflectance inversion algorithms will allow us to use satellite derived ocean colour data to investigate biological responses (through changes in biomass, community structure and physiology) to event, seasonal and inter-annual variability in ecosystem physical drivers at the required spatial and temporal scales. Given the important relationship between community size and carbon export these approaches will allow us to assess the potential for carbon cycling and carbon sequestration at the regional scale.
Scientists on the SA Agulhas collecting biogeochemical data to characterise the phytoplankton community structure.
Spatial distribution of mean chlorophyll concentrations for the Southern Ocean south of 30oS for Summer (January) taken from SeaWiFS ocean colour data. Frontal positions calculated from MADT contours are shown for the STF (red), the SAF (black), the PF (orange) and the SACCF (blue).
An example of absorption spectra for different monospecific phytoplankton cultures. Note the difference between diatoms grown at different light levels. Figure reproduced from Roesler (2013).
A variety of phytoplankton seen from a microscope
Filtration rig used to collect biogeochemical data that characterises the phytoplankton community structure.
The underway Inherent Optical Property system onboard the SA Agulhas
Regression of POC and cp (650 nm) for the Weddel Gyre (red line) compared with a global dataset from six different surveys (black dotted line). Taken from Ceinwen Smith MSc Thesis.
Scientists at work in the bio-optics and bio-geochemistry wet lab on the SA Agulhas II.
A section of chlorophyll and particulate organic carbon across the Weddell Gyre in the Southern Ocean calculated from the optical properties of fluorescence and beam attenuation respectively. Taken from Ceinwen Smith MSc Thesis.
The biogeochemistry laboratory in the Oceanography department at UCT performs routine hydrographic measurements such as nutrient concentrations (NO3, NO2, NH4, SiO4, PO4, urea), dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll and pH. An automated system (flow injection auto-analyser) is available for NO3, SiO4 and PO4 analyses while NH4 is determined fluorometrically. All of the above nutrient concentrations can be determined manually using a colourimetric method.
The following equipment is available:
Lachat QuikChem 8500 series 2 – 3 channels : currently set-up for the automated determination of NO3, SiO4 and PO4
Turner fluorometer
Metrohm 848 Titrino+
Digital burette
Crison pH meter
Spectrophotometers (UV/vis)
Access to mass spectrometer for 15N analyses
Filter stand used to filter seawater samples during nutrient cycling experiments.
For the measurements of primary productivity and nutrient cycling rates, samples can be incubated in-situ instead of using incubators.
Incubators are used to replicate light levels from various depths and maintain a controlled temperature in order to estimate primary productivity and nitrogen cycling rates.
Incubators which have been set up on the SA Agulhas II during a research cruise in the Southern Ocean.
Collection of samples for a nitrogen cycling study in St Helena Bay.
In order to fully account for the atmosphere-ocean carbon exchange in the Southern Ocean, it has become increasingly important to resolve and understand the small-scale features of the upper ocean.
One of the tools, SOCCO uses to understand the upper ocean and its exchanges are numerical ocean models. SOCCO uses the NEMO ocean modelling platform which includes interacting ocean, ice and biogeochemical models. The question of spatial scale on the upper ocean processes can be examined using a suite of models: ranging from global coarse-resolution (2º) to finer-scale regional ocean models (½, 1/12º) with the eventual goal to model a localised region of the Southern Ocean at very high resolution (1/36º), corresponding to the domain of the high-resolution in situ sampling campaign of SOSCEX .
Using these model configurations, researchers and students are able to understand processes and compare them to observations. These may help account for the differences between observations and the models that are used in long-term climate prediction.
Global ocean-ice-biogeochemistry configuration ORCA2, January-mean SST.
Total chlorophyll for the regional 0.5 degree ocean-ice-bigeochemistry model configuration (BIOSATLANTIC05).
EKE for the regional 0.5 degree ocean-ice model configuration (SATLANTIC05).
EKE for the regional 1/12 degree ocean-ice model configuration (SATLANTIC12).
Ocean and atmospheric physical characteristics and dynamics are crucial to understanding key SOCCO related scientific focus areas where a multi-disciplinary approach is taken to understanding the links between climate, biogeochemistry and ecosystems. SOCCO researchers pursue research focused predominantly on submesoscale (<10km) to mesoscale (10-200km) oceanographic processes that have an impact on upper ocean mixing and stratification dynamics and variability. Core to this science includes understanding the link between the ocean and the atmosphere through air-sea exchange and interaction. Our work also extends to the deeper ocean processes and ventilation, while laterally to the larger scale circulation of the Southern Ocean from the Subtropical to Antarctic sea-ice domains. These approaches make South Africa a leading contributor to Southern Hemisphere ocean and climate science.
SOCCO’s physics-related research is underpinned by an integrated approach, combining the use of numerical modelling simulations, ship-based observations and high-resolution measurements collected by autonomous ocean gliders and floats. Recent emphasis has been placed on resolving the seasonal cycle of upper ocean physical processes in the Southern Ocean and relating this to biogeochemical responses. This was undertaken through unique experimental design by deploying marine robotic instruments in the Southern Ocean that continuously observe the ocean and air-sea exchange processes for extended periods of time (6 months) and resolving the temporal and spatial scales of variability at unprecedentedly high resolution.
Our research contributes to South Africa’s developmental needs by using novel approaches in advanced observations, numerical modelling and analysis to train undergraduate and post graduate students.
A CTD station being completed at the Antarctic ice shelf to investigate the diurnal and event scale variability of upper ocean physics and biogeochemistry in the ice impacted polar seas.
SOCCO and South Africa’s geographical coverage of the Southern Hemisphere oceans and access to the Antarctic region. The coloured lines represent the domains covered by annual South African research and logistical voyages (carried out on the SA Agulhas II): Marion Island, Gough and Tristan du Cunha Islands, SANAE base, South Georgia Island and South Sandwich Islands. The blue lines represent the northern and southern extent of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, while the magenta line represents the position of the Agulhas Current and Retroflection. The maximum winter sea-ice extent is indicated. The background shading represents the ocean depth.
High-resolution time series of (a) temperature, (b) stratification and (c) chlorophyll-a collected by an ocean glider in the Subantarctic region. These observations provide a first look at the seasonal evolution of upper ocean physics and biogeochemistry in the Southern Ocean.
Profiling gliders are deployed in the coastal regions of South Africa and the Southern Ocean to observe key physical and biogeochemical properties of the water column.Compared to ships and moorings, these innovative and high-tech robots provide a cost-effective means to monitor the environment over extended paeriods of time.
Deployment of a underway UCTD from the research ship, the SA Agulhas II. The underway mode profiling instrument collects temperature, salinity and pressure measurements up to 500m depth.UCTD deployments means we are able to collect sub surface water column measurements in underway mode without stopping the ship.
The Southern Ocean Seasonal Cycle Experiment (SOSCEx): Tow glider tracks overlaid onto the spring-summer surface chlorophyll-a concentrations, as measured from satellite.
A Wave Glider is retrieved with a combined ship and small boat approach after spending numerous months sampling the Southerrn Ocean air-sea interface. These rare and valuable data are crucial to understanding the variability of the upper ocean currents and CO2 fluxes. Note the severe barnacle growth on thee underside of the glider’s surface float.
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Sulfur adsorption and sulfidation of transition metal carbides as hydrotreating catalysts
Ping Liu, José A. Rodriguez, James Muckerman
The formation of MoSxCy compounds has been observed on/in the surface of molybdenum-sulfide catalysts during the hydrodesulfurization (HDS) process, and it is a major factor for determining the activity of molybdenum-carbide catalysts. Density functional theory (DFT) was employed to investigate the adsorption of sulfur and sulfidation of transition metal carbides from groups 4-6 in the periodic table, including extended surfaces [MC(0 0 1) (M = Ti, V, Mo, Ta)], nanocrystals [M14C 13 (M = Ti, V, Mo)] and metcar [M8C12 (M = Ti, V, Mo)] nanoparticles. It was found that with increasing carbon/metal ratio, the reactivity of the metal carbides towards sulfur decreased in the sequence: Mo2C > M14C13, M8C12 > MC(0 0 1). In terms of sulfidation, M8C12 and MC(0 0 1) display a stronger resistance than M14C13. The presence of corner or edge sites in the M14C13 nanocrystal favors the formation of MoSxCy compounds. Following Sabatier's principle, our results suggest that flat MC(0 0 1) surfaces are too inert to catalyze HDS reactions, while M14C13 is too active to resist the sulfidation that leads to degradation of the carbides. For reactions involving sulfur and sulfur-containing molecules, nanoparticles adopting the special geometry of metcars should display a better catalytic activity than the corresponding bulk materials and carbide nanoparticles that have a cubic-based structure like nanocrystals. Indeed, DFT calculations indicate that Ti 8C12 and Mo8C12 are good catalysts for the HDS of thiophene.
Journal of Molecular Catalysis A: Chemical
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molcata.2005.06.002
sulfidation
carbides
Hydrodesulfurization
Transition metals
Density functional theory
molybdenum carbides
Metal carbide
Metcar
Nanocrystal
Sulfur adsorption
Liu, P., Rodriguez, J. A., & Muckerman, J. (2005). Sulfur adsorption and sulfidation of transition metal carbides as hydrotreating catalysts. Journal of Molecular Catalysis A: Chemical, 239(1-2), 116-124. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molcata.2005.06.002
Sulfur adsorption and sulfidation of transition metal carbides as hydrotreating catalysts. / Liu, Ping; Rodriguez, José A.; Muckerman, James.
In: Journal of Molecular Catalysis A: Chemical, Vol. 239, No. 1-2, 14.09.2005, p. 116-124.
Liu, P, Rodriguez, JA & Muckerman, J 2005, 'Sulfur adsorption and sulfidation of transition metal carbides as hydrotreating catalysts', Journal of Molecular Catalysis A: Chemical, vol. 239, no. 1-2, pp. 116-124. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molcata.2005.06.002
Liu P, Rodriguez JA, Muckerman J. Sulfur adsorption and sulfidation of transition metal carbides as hydrotreating catalysts. Journal of Molecular Catalysis A: Chemical. 2005 Sep 14;239(1-2):116-124. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molcata.2005.06.002
Liu, Ping ; Rodriguez, José A. ; Muckerman, James. / Sulfur adsorption and sulfidation of transition metal carbides as hydrotreating catalysts. In: Journal of Molecular Catalysis A: Chemical. 2005 ; Vol. 239, No. 1-2. pp. 116-124.
@article{24c831d2b8fb4bae817d8b7218d5b402,
title = "Sulfur adsorption and sulfidation of transition metal carbides as hydrotreating catalysts",
abstract = "The formation of MoSxCy compounds has been observed on/in the surface of molybdenum-sulfide catalysts during the hydrodesulfurization (HDS) process, and it is a major factor for determining the activity of molybdenum-carbide catalysts. Density functional theory (DFT) was employed to investigate the adsorption of sulfur and sulfidation of transition metal carbides from groups 4-6 in the periodic table, including extended surfaces [MC(0 0 1) (M = Ti, V, Mo, Ta)], nanocrystals [M14C 13 (M = Ti, V, Mo)] and metcar [M8C12 (M = Ti, V, Mo)] nanoparticles. It was found that with increasing carbon/metal ratio, the reactivity of the metal carbides towards sulfur decreased in the sequence: Mo2C > M14C13, M8C12 > MC(0 0 1). In terms of sulfidation, M8C12 and MC(0 0 1) display a stronger resistance than M14C13. The presence of corner or edge sites in the M14C13 nanocrystal favors the formation of MoSxCy compounds. Following Sabatier's principle, our results suggest that flat MC(0 0 1) surfaces are too inert to catalyze HDS reactions, while M14C13 is too active to resist the sulfidation that leads to degradation of the carbides. For reactions involving sulfur and sulfur-containing molecules, nanoparticles adopting the special geometry of metcars should display a better catalytic activity than the corresponding bulk materials and carbide nanoparticles that have a cubic-based structure like nanocrystals. Indeed, DFT calculations indicate that Ti 8C12 and Mo8C12 are good catalysts for the HDS of thiophene.",
keywords = "Density functional theory, Metal carbide, Metcar, Nanocrystal, Sulfidation, Sulfur adsorption",
author = "Ping Liu and Rodriguez, {Jos{\'e} A.} and James Muckerman",
doi = "10.1016/j.molcata.2005.06.002",
journal = "Journal of Molecular Catalysis A: Chemical",
T1 - Sulfur adsorption and sulfidation of transition metal carbides as hydrotreating catalysts
AU - Liu, Ping
AU - Rodriguez, José A.
AU - Muckerman, James
N2 - The formation of MoSxCy compounds has been observed on/in the surface of molybdenum-sulfide catalysts during the hydrodesulfurization (HDS) process, and it is a major factor for determining the activity of molybdenum-carbide catalysts. Density functional theory (DFT) was employed to investigate the adsorption of sulfur and sulfidation of transition metal carbides from groups 4-6 in the periodic table, including extended surfaces [MC(0 0 1) (M = Ti, V, Mo, Ta)], nanocrystals [M14C 13 (M = Ti, V, Mo)] and metcar [M8C12 (M = Ti, V, Mo)] nanoparticles. It was found that with increasing carbon/metal ratio, the reactivity of the metal carbides towards sulfur decreased in the sequence: Mo2C > M14C13, M8C12 > MC(0 0 1). In terms of sulfidation, M8C12 and MC(0 0 1) display a stronger resistance than M14C13. The presence of corner or edge sites in the M14C13 nanocrystal favors the formation of MoSxCy compounds. Following Sabatier's principle, our results suggest that flat MC(0 0 1) surfaces are too inert to catalyze HDS reactions, while M14C13 is too active to resist the sulfidation that leads to degradation of the carbides. For reactions involving sulfur and sulfur-containing molecules, nanoparticles adopting the special geometry of metcars should display a better catalytic activity than the corresponding bulk materials and carbide nanoparticles that have a cubic-based structure like nanocrystals. Indeed, DFT calculations indicate that Ti 8C12 and Mo8C12 are good catalysts for the HDS of thiophene.
AB - The formation of MoSxCy compounds has been observed on/in the surface of molybdenum-sulfide catalysts during the hydrodesulfurization (HDS) process, and it is a major factor for determining the activity of molybdenum-carbide catalysts. Density functional theory (DFT) was employed to investigate the adsorption of sulfur and sulfidation of transition metal carbides from groups 4-6 in the periodic table, including extended surfaces [MC(0 0 1) (M = Ti, V, Mo, Ta)], nanocrystals [M14C 13 (M = Ti, V, Mo)] and metcar [M8C12 (M = Ti, V, Mo)] nanoparticles. It was found that with increasing carbon/metal ratio, the reactivity of the metal carbides towards sulfur decreased in the sequence: Mo2C > M14C13, M8C12 > MC(0 0 1). In terms of sulfidation, M8C12 and MC(0 0 1) display a stronger resistance than M14C13. The presence of corner or edge sites in the M14C13 nanocrystal favors the formation of MoSxCy compounds. Following Sabatier's principle, our results suggest that flat MC(0 0 1) surfaces are too inert to catalyze HDS reactions, while M14C13 is too active to resist the sulfidation that leads to degradation of the carbides. For reactions involving sulfur and sulfur-containing molecules, nanoparticles adopting the special geometry of metcars should display a better catalytic activity than the corresponding bulk materials and carbide nanoparticles that have a cubic-based structure like nanocrystals. Indeed, DFT calculations indicate that Ti 8C12 and Mo8C12 are good catalysts for the HDS of thiophene.
KW - Density functional theory
KW - Metal carbide
KW - Metcar
KW - Nanocrystal
KW - Sulfidation
KW - Sulfur adsorption
U2 - 10.1016/j.molcata.2005.06.002
DO - 10.1016/j.molcata.2005.06.002
JO - Journal of Molecular Catalysis A: Chemical
JF - Journal of Molecular Catalysis A: Chemical
10.1016/j.molcata.2005.06.002
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AN INTERVIEW WITH SIX LEGENDARY SKIERS
What does a rush of speed feel like? And can adrenaline be addictive? Six legendary athletes on their personal feelings before, during and after the fastest ski races in the world. Look forward to six skiers of different generations that we have interviewed: Markus Wasmeier, Viktoria Rebensburg, Thomas Dressen, Luc Alphand, Josef Ferstl and Bernhard Russi.
THOMAS DRESSEN ON ADRENALINE
Thomas Dressen: THE speed specialist. For him, not only the speed is fascinating, but all that it brings with it. A certain unpredictability, for instance: Just how fast is the track really? How far do the jumps go? The adrenaline rush is therefore extremely important for him - according to Dressen, it’s an essential factor in competing with speed.
ABOUT THOMAS DRESSEN
Born in 1993 in Garmisch-Patenkirchen, Thomas Dressen has progressively battled his way to the top of the competition. His greatest success so far was the victory at the Hahnenkamm descent in Kitzbühel in 2018. According to his own statement, he is proud of the characteristic flames on the BOGNER racing suit - as he stands alongside ski legends and BOGNER brand ambassadors such as Felix Neureuther and Markus Wasmeier.
SHOP ATHLETE'S FAVOURITES
Chief Down ski jacket in Red
Verti First layer in Red/Blue/White
Kalino Hoodie in Black
Scott Ski trousers in Black
JOSEF FERSTL TALKS SPEED
It felt like a good omen when, in January 2019, Josef Ferstl began the race as start number one and ended by taking home the victory at the Super-G in Kitzbühel. He won by eight hundredths of a second - 40 years after his father’s victory. For Ferstl, speed means an incredible rush of energy. It feels like tunnel vision and requires extreme concentration. At the start his mind is clear, then he simply shifts into attack mode and it’s time to go.
ABOUT JOSEF FERSTL
Born in 1988 in Traunstein, Josef Ferstl was destined for greatness from the start: His father Sepp Ferstl was a successful ski racer in the 70s. After “Pepi” entered his first races in 2003/2004 and had his first taste of success, he placed in the top 30 for the first time in 2010 and collected Europa Cup points. In 2012 he celebrated his first Europa Cup victory in the downhill. And his greatest victory to date: the Super-G win in 2019.
Kaleo Ski jacket in Red/White/Black
Verti First layer in Black/White/Red
Gordy Ski trousers in Red
BERNHARD RUSSI TALKS SPEED
Bernhard Russi’s need for speed was clear even as a child - back then he used to challenge his friends to see who could ski perfectly straight from the top all the way to the bottom. Russi feels the real speed rush skiing at 120km/h: “suddenly there’s something there that carries you.” That’s also the reason why a downhill skier always feels the need to go faster.
ABOUT BERNHARD RUSSI
Born in 1948 in Andermatt, Bernhard Russi was one of the world’s best downhill skiers in the 70s. Among his greatest achievements were an Olympic gold medal win (in 1972 in Sapporo, Japan) and two world championship titles. After being named Swiss Sportsman of the Year twice, in 1970 and 1972, other accolades soon followed, including the Skieur d’Or and the Skiing Legend Award.
LUC ALPHAND TALKS ABOUT SPEED
228 km/h - that is the number of kilometres per hour that Luc Alphand once reached at speed skiing. And he admits that it felt more than good and even talks about what he calls the speed gene. Having a preference for it is something you are born with - it has never caused him fear, but always great fun. Alphand even goes one step further: he needs speed to feel alive.
ABOUT LUC ALPHAND
Born in 1965 in the Southern Alps, Luc Alphand can look back on a 15-year career in skiing. During his career, he won twelve World Cup races, including ten downhill races and two times the Super-G. His greatest success followed in 1997, when Alphand won the overall Ski World Cup ranking. He then swapped his skis for racing cars and took part in various rallies.
VIKTORIA REBENSBURG ON THE FORCES IN RUNNING
In the eyes of Viktoria Rebensburg, speed is exactly what defines her sport and what drives her during the race - from goal to goal. But not in the sense of km/h - the forces that affect the body during the race fascinate her most. The higher the speed, she remarks, the more control you have to exert to withstand it.
ABOUT VIKTORIA REBENSBURG
Born in 1989, on skis for the first time at the age of three, surprise Olympic champion in 2010. Speciality: Super G and giant slalom. Distinguishing characteristic: fights her way back time and again. Since her tremendous gold medal at the Olympic Games in Vancouver, giant slalom specialist Viktoria Rebensburg, from Kreuth, has also been a regular guest on the winner's podium. BOGNER connects her with the thrill of competition that she loves so much before every race.
Rachel Ski jacket in Navy blue/White
Grace Wool fleece jacket in Navy blue
Madei Ski trousers in Cobalt blue
Rania Knitted hat in Cobalt blue
MARKUS WASMEIER TALKS ABOUT SPEED
For Markus Wasmeier, it was always THE ultimate feeling, being able to move with speed - especially when performing downhill jumps. When it came to jumping, he was always the one to go the furthest; in Val-d'Isère in the French Alps, he once flew a staggering 95 metres. His greatest fascination during the race was the change in speed. There are worlds between giant slalom, slalom and downhill disciplines. While technique is the key, downhill racing is all about super speed - for Wasmeier, it's a game with the elements.
ABOUT MARKUS WASMEIER
Markus Wasmeier is a true skiing legend. Born in 1963 by the Schliersee lake, he is one of the few skiers to have been successful in all alpine disciplines. At 21, he became world champion in giant slalom in 1985, followed by a career highlight in 1994, when Wasmeier won two gold medals at the Olympic Games in Lillehammer.
He has been associated with BOGNER for decades. Not only as a brand ambassador - in 1995, he even designed his own ski collection for BOGNER. He also shot the ski film “White Magic” with Willy Bogner.
Barry Down jacket in Dark grey
Remy Knit jacket in Grey melange
Vitus Down vest in Light grey
Neal Ski trousers in Black
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When the dying is done
The large, oblong, solid wood table, is littered with the detritus of various breakfasts strung out over the past few hours as people have dropped in and out of a friend’s comfortable room where conversational chaos competes with the gas fire for heat. No one, it appears, agrees on anything on this cold Islamabad morning except, that is, that Pakistan is dying on its tottering feet and that this is happening because, quite simply, we have, all of us, allowed it to happen.
It is further agreed that no one gives a damn about anything except consumerism and cash….or…in the case of a banker, well invested cash which will bring a rapid and large return. The fact that cash invested in land will not double in the anticipated year if – as it well could – the country implodes on various levels, is poo-pooed as impossible which is a prime example of the ‘double bind’ the country is in.
This double bind is exemplified by, on the one hand, the nation negligently ignoring the fact that, over the years, one by one, our rights are being firstly eroded. And then, slowly or sometimes swiftly, these rights are completely taken away and, on the other hand, having opted not to object or just to grieve in private – such as during extended breakfasts like this – to a blind denial of reality.
Until that is, it is way too late, the horse has bolted and silently closing the gate with yet another freedom lost and gone, does nothing to bring it back. The nation then, at some undecipherable point in future time, shrugs its collective shoulders and goes, largely silently, with the flow. A nation of lemmings no less.
As a nation we pay far more serious attention to, for example, the price of a pair of shoddy, ‘slave made’ Chinese sandals than to the fact that people decked the neck of an admitted murderer – Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, one of the Elite Police personal guards of then Punjab Governor, Mr. Salman Tasser who shot and killed him because of his outspoken objections to blasphemy laws, at Khosar Market, Islamabad on January 2011. People decked him with rose garlands and showered him with rose petals, hailing a self confessed murderer as a hero, when he was being taken to the Anti-Terrorist court in Rawalpindi. There he was sentenced to death despite the fact that cheering this assassin on, was to cheer on a ‘brand’ of Islam which could very well – and is in the process of – bringing the country to its knees.
The rights and blatant wrongs of the aforementioned case did little more than raise the eyebrows of those who have since expressed shock, mostly only momentarily. Meanwhile Christians have been burnt out of their homes, usually with accusations of blasphemy fanning the flames, by voracious land grabbers. This is despite the fact that – Christians are ‘People of the Book’ – according to our Founding Fathers, and have as much right to follow their religion here in Pakistan as do the Muslims for which the country was created. Yes, when such things, atrocities occur – the horrendous murder of Shia’s being another – not only Hazara Shia’s in Quetta but Shia’s elsewhere in Pakistan too - there is a hue and cry but only momentary and nothing is done other than a repeat performance when the same, or something similar, happens again.
Society simply, except for a small minority, does not care and is not about to stand up, right out there in public, and take a permanent stance against atrocities – these are legions and take many shapes and forms - but simply standby and let ‘it’ happen and will continue doing so until their own turn comes and it is their own, personal, back against the wall. And when this time comes – followed by a short, sharp, bang – it is already way too late and this is the ‘crossroads’ the country stands at right now.
I write ‘crossroads’ because whilst, in some respects it is already too late, in other respects it is not. If society will open its eyes, realize the double bind, self-denial they exist in and find the courage to act and act now, then the country can, in time and with tremendous hard work all round, still be saved – saved from itself!
It is stupid to point fingers, no matter how briefly, in the direction of ‘others’ for the ‘shrinkage’ of freedoms that we are, daily now, allowing to not just occur but to become so firmly entrenched that, in no time at all, they are taken as ‘written’ and therefore must be observed.
Blaming rapidly declining educational standards for all of the daily ills of life is not the way – although ignorance and shortage of forward thinking are a basic part of the problem. This is necessary to prevent this so-called ‘Land of the Pure’ from, – ultimately and maybe not as far in to the realms of future as people, many of who should know better, prefer to believe, – going the way of countries such as Iraq, Syria. And, this goes without saying, for our northern neighbour Afghanistan which is, yet again, teetering on the brink. And no, the writer is not ‘scare mongering’ – but simply asking people to see the double bind for what it is: To look in the mirror and see not a self perceived image but the stark reality of truth.
The writer has authored two books titled The Gun Tree: One Woman’s War, The Parwan Wind - Dust Motes and lives in Bhurban.
Email:zahrahnasir@hotmail.com
Humanity dying in distress in occupied Kashmir
Chronicles of a dying system!
The Dying Sigh
A dying planet
The Great Circular threat Inefficiency corruption poor law&order bhatta mafia target killings land mafia inflation nepotism
Stories of a dying empire
Drones under UN scrutiny
Dr Shahnaz Khan
Chief Justice and justice
Repeating history
Up against inflation
A cultural journey
A long way to peace!
Playing fair
New National Security Policy
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Archive for masterpiece
ENDLESS NIGHT By Richard Laymon – Reviewed
Posted in Reviews with tags action-drive plot, action-packed, bedroom, blood games, book, character, cop, cranking up, deph, development, edge of your seat, endless night, fact paced, film, film-like, gang, horror novel, jody fargo, killers, killing, laymon, massacre, masterpiece, most, murder, novels, review, richard laymon, serial killer, simon quirt, simple story, Stephen King, survivors, tense, tension, tight written on September 2, 2009 by stanleyriiks
Straight from the start this is typical Laymon, hard, fast and tension-filled.
Jody Fargo is sixteen and having a sleepover at her friend Evelyn’s house when Evelyn hears something and wakes Jody up. Evelyn tries to persuade Jody to go with her to check on the noise, or wake up her father for him to check, when a huge fat man enters the bedroom and puts a spear through the middle of Evelyn. He mustn’t have seen Jody because he leaves with Evelyn skewed on his pole and joins his friends having fun killing Evelyn’s parents. Jody rushes to Evelyn’s little brother’s bedroom and finds his alive, together they must escape the group of killers in a run for their lives that will last much longer than just the night…
The two young survivors are stalked by the serial killer Simon Quirt, one of the gang of killers who massacred Evelyn’s family, with only Jody’s dad, a cop, and his female friend to help them.
Tightly written, fast-paced and action-packed, Laymon manages to squeeze a whole load of tension into the three hundred pages. The characters are all pretty good, but film good, not Stephen King good.
The main killer Simon Quirt gets his own piece of the action, recording his thoughts on a tape recorder throughout so we get his warped version of events, which helps no end at cranking up the tension.
As with other Laymon novels it’s got a very film-like quality, simple story, action-driven plot, tense edge of your seat stuff. Standard Laymon is still better than most horror novels. But there’s no depth, little character development. You finish reading the book thinking that was good, and you have been entertained, but that’s it.
OK, so some bits are a little ridiculous, but are there to help the story along or work to increase the tension and feel a bit heavy handed. But they still work.
From the Laymon canon this is slightly above average, but he always delivers. The last Laymon book I read, Blood Games, wasn’t a patch on this. It you like your books fast, action-packed and gruesome then you can’t go far wrong, just don’t expect a masterpiece.
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Home » Culture » Innovating & collaborating with people - Power to the People!
Innovating & collaborating with people - Power to the People!
by Startacus Admin
With Startacus' own collaboration platform on its way very soon, the subject of ideas, innovation and collaboration is close to Startacus' heart.
Guest Writer Clare Griffiths asks; Innovating with people? What’s that all about?
Many people mistakenly limit innovation with technological developments. However, as I have already asserted in this series, innovation is much more than that – it is about doing things differently to create positive impact for you and your business. So far in this series, we have explored where businesses innovate in terms of product development and user experience, and we have also seen how businesses innovate through business model generation to create alternative streams of revenue. In this post “Power to the People”, we will look at how companies use people to innovate, so that you can then explore how you could utilise your own networks to help you innovate in your venture.
There are a few different ways in which businesses can use people to innovate. They can invite their employees to submit ideas for new products, services or processes, for example, or they can even change their teams around to get staff members to see and experience the company from different perspectives. Alternatively, they can collaborate with their customers to think up new ways of doing things and to improve their current business offering. (Just the other day, Startacus invited ideas from its network members to develop new initiatives!) Increasingly, companies are also seeking expertise from outside the organisation, in recognition that industry experts and opinion leaders exist beyond the four walls of the organisation. This is often referred to as “open innovation”.
How are other businesses innovating with people?
There are a lot of companies now who have embraced the concept of open innovation, and who regularly invite ideas from people both inside and outside their organisation. Here are two recent examples which may interest you:
Creative Swap Week– Between 24 and 28 September 2012, a range of different creative agencies took part in a week-long event, swapping one member of their team with staff from another creative agency. This initiative was designed to encourage participants to share ideas, knowledge and experience, and inspire creative thinking and collaboration. Undoubtedly, the agencies who participated in the initiative did not only gain new ideas and fresh insights, but also benefited from meeting potential partners for future collaborative work.
Un Jour, Un Chef – is a 50-cover Parisian restaurant which allows an amateur cook to be Head Chef for one night. With expert support from the restaurant staff, the amateur cook can use their creative flair and culinary passion to create and serve their own dream meals. Not only does this give amateur cooks some valuable professional work experience, but it also keeps the restaurant menu varied, and is an attention-grabbing unique quality for the restaurant! (Whenever you are next in Paris, why not treat yourself: http://www.1jour1chef.com/index.php)?
So, how can I work out whom to innovate with?
If you would like to engage with other people to help you come up with new ways of doing things, then a good starting point is to analyse who is currently in your professional network, who may be able to support you during the innovation process. To do this, you can simply draw a mindmap featuring all the different types of people you are already in contact with. Group the people into different categories (for example, business partners, former and current colleagues, customers, end users, suppliers, distributors, mentors, professional associates, key opinion leaders and experts etc.) and then think about which particular aspects of your business they know most about (e.g. the quality of your products and/or services, the user experience, your customer service, your supply chain etc.). Once you have analysed which areas they are most familiar with, you then need to decide which of those different groups you want to approach in order to gather ideas for improving the different areas of your business.
In the words of Jozek Gruskovnjak (Director,Emerging Markets, Cisco Systems), “Open innovation reflects the main trends of the present time, when the power moves away from centralised institutions towards the individuals”.
The sooner businesses recognise the value of innovating with people outside their own organisation – the better their business will be. Collaborating with others externally does not necessarily have to cost you much – or anything even – so whatever stage you are at with your business development, it is never too early to start giving more power to the people!
Clare Griffiths is the Director of The Ideas People which specialises in supporting businesses and organisations to generate, manage and implement their ideas, so that they can gain competitive advantage, achieve business growth and bring about positive change. Cheers Clare for your words - great stuff.
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Thank you so much for your support of our community. We are working hard on major improvements for you! To bring these upgrades to life, login and signup will be temporarily offline.
•If you are looking to sign up as a member please fill out the form below, and we will manually enter your information and confirm with you upon going live. Thank you, and welcome to our community!
https://startout.typeform.com/to/KuwrZs
•If you are currently a member, we look forward to introducing you to our new and streamlined features once they are online. Please check back later this week for more information.
– StartOut Rising
Founders Program
Growth Lab
JPMorgan Chase and StartOut Announce Collaboration on the StartOut Pride Economic Impact Index
Written by: Andres Wydler, Executive Director
The Index will measure the contributions of LGBTQ entrepreneurs to society and provide tools to improve enabling environments for future business leaders
New York, June 28, 2019 – In honor of Pride month, StartOut is proud to announce a new collaboration with JPMorgan Chase in the development and launch of the StartOut Pride Economic Impact Index, as part of JPMorgan Chase’s $150 million Small Business Forward initiative to invest in underserved entrepreneurs. StartOut is the largest national non-profit organization to support LGBTQ entrepreneurs.
An industry first, the StartOut Pride Economic Impact Index (SPEII) will be an agile online tool for governments (especially municipalities), investors, ecosystem builders, and founders to collaborate on improving enabling environments for founders of diverse backgrounds, and make informed decisions based on their predictive economic impact. By leveraging massive online datasets in as close to real-time as possible, the SPEII will demonstrate the economic contributions and growth opportunities through the creation of more welcoming environments; and conversely, the profound negative impact of discrimination on job creation, angel and venture funding, and other metrics.
There is no reliable data on the contributions of LGBTQ entrepreneurs. However, the gender gap between privileged men and underprivileged groups in terms of pay, e.g., has been well documented and continues to hinder innovation and job creation in the US. Moreover, the Wall Street Journal in late 2018 reported on the equity gap between women and male employees at start-ups, with the former earning just 47 cents on the dollar. To address disparities like these, JPMorgan Chase is working with StartOut to bridge that gap and provide equal access for underrepresented groups.
Ted Archer, head of Small Business Forward for JPMorgan Chase, stated: “Creating an environment where all Americans have a chance to share in economic opportunity requires collaboration of business, government, nonprofit and other civic organizations. Getting reliable data in near real-time will enable decision-makers to make data-driven investments to spur growth, and we are proud to support StartOut in this ground breaking endeavor.”
Andres Wydler, StartOut’s executive director, added: “Mayors, investors, and founders want to support our community, but there is limited data available to quantify the tremendous contributions of LGBTQ entrepreneurs. We are most excited about JPMorgan Chase’s generous support, as the SPEII will provide a powerful tool to level the playing field.”
The StartOut Pride Economic Impact Index is scheduled to launch later in the year. The adaptive, interactive website will be widely accessible on www.startout2018.alternative-spaces.com.
About JPMorgan Chase:
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) is a leading global financial services firm with assets of $2.7 trillion and operations worldwide. The Firm is a leader in investment banking, financial services for consumers and small businesses, commercial banking, financial transaction processing, and asset management. A component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, JPMorgan Chase & Co. serves millions of consumers in the United States and many of the world’s most prominent corporate, institutional and government clients under its J.P. Morgan and Chase brands. Information about JPMorgan Chase & Co. is available at www.jpmorganchase.com.
About StartOut:
Founded in 2009, StartOut, a national 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, is the largest national organization to support LGBTQ entrepreneurs with 15,000 members nationwide. Its mission is to increase the number, diversity, and impact of LGBTQ entrepreneurs and amplify their stories to drive the economic empowerment of the community. StartOut helps aspiring LGBTQ entrepreneurs start new companies; supports current entrepreneurs as they grow and expand their existing businesses; and engages successful entrepreneurs as role models and mentors, on its online portal and through targeted events nationwide. For more information, please visit www.startout2018.alternative-spaces.com.
Caitlin Legacki
caitlin.a.legacki@jpmorgan.com
StartOut:
Andres Wydler, Executive Director
Email: andres.wydler@startout2018.alternative-spaces.com
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Startups 100: Winners announced!
UK’s most exciting high-growth start-ups unveiled, with record average turnover and employee numbers for 2014’s prestigious index
by Megan Dunsby
Updated: May 23, 2014 Published: May 22, 2014
The wait is finally over and Startups.co.uk can now reveal the winning businesses to have made the 2014 Startups 100 index – the definitive list of the UK’s 100 most exciting and innovative new companies launched in the last three years.
Now in its fifth year, the Startups 100 seeks to identify – from hundreds of detailed entries and research that considered hundreds more – the early-stage companies with the biggest growth potential.
The annual ranking recorded record average turnover and employee numbers across the index, demonstrating the importance of trailblazers to the economy.
Taking the prestigious number one spot is advertising technology company Captify Media, which leapt five positions from sixth in 2013.
With fabulous revenue growth, a highly desirable client portfolio, and having built a team of 40 staff in under three years, Captify pipped Startups Award winning “going out” app YPlan to the top position.
Online recipe box delivery service Hello Fresh, mobile marketing platform Senscraft and fellow ad technology firm Adzuna complete an outstanding top five.
Startups.co.uk’s editorial director, Ian Wallis, said: “Diverse and utterly brilliant in so many ways, it’s staggering to think the average turnover for the 100 companies in this list is close to £1m – and very reassuring to know that many are already turning a good profit.”
Among this year’s winners – all of which had to have started trading on, or after, January 1 2011:
A third of the businesses have female co-founders
The average turnover was £973,543
The youngest entrepreneur is 21-year-old Oliver Murphy of Reviveaphone
The oldest is 66-year-old Martin Freeman of Bath-based PropertECO
13 businesses already generate annual revenues of more than £2m
Around 1,300 are employed
36 companies were started outside London, with four each in Scotland and Wales
To qualify for the Startups 100, businesses have to be privately owned and UK-based, and this year the index saw more applications than ever before.
Celebrating businesses from a range of industries including retail, food, technology, and fashion, the 2014 list boasts 62 brand new entries.
Startups’ Ian Wallis added: “Game-changing tech start-ups are all the rage, but don’t be fooled into thinking the best new businesses launching in the UK are not steeped in tradition. So many of the exciting businesses in this list have used technology as an enabler to provide a unique twist on products and services that have existed for decades.”
The highest placed new entry is sixth-placed international payments service The Currency Cloud, with discount sports goods platform SportPursuit making the top 10. Consultancy Gate One and “guilt-free” popcorn company PROPERCORN were also high-placed new additions, with top 20 placings.
This year’s Startup 100 also comprises its highest number of businesses from Wales and Scotland, such as “funky, fresh” hotel venue Hammet House, and top 10-listed Aberdeen-based Maritime Assurance and Consulting, among those featuring.
The 2014 Startups 100 will build on the success of the Startups 100 alumni with many previous winners having scaled to become industry leading businesses such as Zoopla, Huddle, and last year’s overall winner My Parcel Delivery.
To view the full list of the 2014 Startups 100, click here.
You can share and tweet about this year’s Startups 100 using the hashtag #startups100
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Pathogen Mediated Diversity and Response to Changing Climate awarded by National Science Foundation (Principal Investigator). 2010 to 2014
Fitting Models of the Population Consequences of Acoustic Disturbance to Data from Marine Mammal Populations awarded by Office of Naval Research (Principal Investigator). 2010 to 2014
Effects of drought on competition for water in southeastern Forests awarded by (Principal Investigator). 2009 to 2013
Dynamic Sensor Networks-Enabling the Measurement, Modeling, and Prediction of Biophysical Change in a Landscape awarded by National Science Foundation (Principal Investigator). 2006 to 2012
Dissertation Improvement Grant: The Role of Seedling Pathogens in Temperate Forest Recuitment awarded by National Science Foundation (Principal Investigator). 2007 to 2010
Collaborative Research: SEI(BIO)--Automated Methods for Generating High Resolution GIS Databases from Remotely Sensed awarded by National Science Foundation (Principal Investigator). 2004 to 2009
Integration of Data and Models to Assess Forest Biodiversity awarded by National Science Foundation (Principal Investigator). 2004 to 2008
The 2nd Summer Institute: Uncertainty in Ecological Inference, Forecasting, and Decision-Modern Statistical Computation awarded by National Science Foundation (Principal Investigator). 2005 to 2006
Experimental and Model Analysis of Large Disturbance Consequences for Forest Diversity awarded by National Science Foundation (Principal Investigator). 2000 to 2005
Collaborative Research: Holocene Drought Cycles and Impacts on the Northern Great Plains awarded by National Science Foundation (Principal Investigator). 2002 to 2005
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Field Commander Interviews, Interviews & Accounts
Interview with Alexey Mozgovoy, Commander of the “Ghost” Brigade, 29/08/14
Posted by S. Naylor ⋅ Sep 2, 2014 ⋅ 19 Comments
Filed Under Donetsk People's Republic, DPR, Lugansk People's Republic, Military Briefings, Militia, Mozgovoy
Translated by Maria Razdiak
Edited by S. Naylor
Original Article here.
Traveling around Moscow, Alexey Mozgovoy has painted over the Ukrainian flag on the number plates of his car with the flag of the People’s Republic of Lugansk (LPR). The traffic police constantly pulled the strange car over and, with obvious surprise, studied the man clad in full field-camouflage, sensing danger. In the centre of the idle capital, among the glamourous boutiques and expensive restaurants, he seemed alien, like a wild lynx at a competition among the groomed cats. Once recognition set in, the policemen would ask for an autograph and would wish him to make it to Kiev. Talking to Mozgovoy, one understands: he will make it. He is a man who “only now started living”.
Q: Alexey Borisovich, what is the current situation at the front?
A: I would say it is not easy. Difficult, in the sense that we have no front line as such, like during those wars we have seen in history. It is more like guerrilla warfare. Either we are at their rear, or they are at our rear. Surrounding large enemy groups happens in these days. The parts of the Ukrainian Army which were sent to unblock the “south cauldron” got surrounded together with the other military units that had managed to seep north from the caldron.
Q: Did you manage to clear any residential areas in the last few days?
A: All those freed, which were mentioned in reports, are part of the Donetsk region. In Lugansk, we also occupied a few residential areas, but we were unable to hold them. We do not have sufficient people to man the garrisons.
Q: Does the military action continue?
A: The war does not stop, not even for a single day. And the high-level meeting in Minsk did not alter this fact in any way.
Q: How many people are under your command?
A: A thousand. Today I command the “Ghost” Brigade. But, initially, I was creating the Lugansk Militia, from the very first day. This is why I am often named the leader of the People’s Militia, even though I am only a commander of a brigade.
Q: Why is the brigade called that?
A: Because the Ukie “comrades” often claim that they have destroyed us. Even though, during the whole course of military activity, our losses amount to forty dead. Initially, “Ghost” was a platoon, which began to take shape before the seizure of buildings in Lugansk in April. Then the platoon became the basis for a battalion. This was the first time the Ukrainian media announced that they had destroyed us, during an aviation raid on the “Yaseny” base, where our training camp was set up. They wrote about the destruction of a “major Russian terrorist group”. We had only one injured.
Q: In reality, are there any Russians in the brigade? What kind of people serve there?
A: Local Militia. Labourers. We have Russians, and not only Russians. We have Bulgarians, Slovaks, the Germans should be arriving soon…
Q: Germans?
A: Yes, volunteers; anti-fascists. People are coming from Europe now. A whole military company of European and Russian volunteers.
Q: What is the “Ghost” Brigade?
A: It was the first Militia unit created in Novorossia. From the very beginning, we worked closely with Igor Ivanovich Strelkov; I aided him with personnel. The guys trained in our camp, before heading out to Slavyansk. They are still fighting valiantly. There is a Semenovskaya company, those are our men. Do you remember the Semenovka events? They proved themselves worthy.
Q: The Semenovskaya company is still fighting?
Q: Do you have any information about possible mercenaries fighting for Kiev?
A: Of course. We have seen them in action. We have seen first-hand some black men in Lisichansk. Since when do blacks serve in the Ukrainian Army? Other units have identified mercenaries and their documents.
Q: Did you capture any mercenaries?
A: We do not have an objective to capture prisoners. Our objective is to free the territory of Novorossia from the enemy forces.
Q: So, you do not take prisoners?
A: No. Why?
Q: Well, for exchange…
A: In order to enter into an exchange, we must make contact. But, I cannot find—on the other side—any people with whom contact is possible.
Q: Bezler managed to exchange Olga Kulygina for the prisoners. If he had not, she might have been killed.
A: Any of us might be killed, including right now. Is that not so?
Q: What are the reasons for the resignation of the Head of the Lugansk Republic, Valeriy Bolotov?
A: I am more interested in the reasons for his initial appointment.
Q: How am I to understand that? Weren’t the two of you friends?
A: We were acquainted; no more. I had an initial, negative, reaction to the seizing of the administrative buildings, which took place on the 6th April. Lugansk SBU (Security Service of Ukraine) was seized, if you can remember. That day I was in Antratsit, meeting with the locals; when I returned, the SBU had already been seized. But, taking into account that the building had been left unguarded, it was not a seizure, but a submission. Come, take whatever you want. And for some reason, the empty, unmanned government security building was full of weapons. I view this a planned operation of the Security Service.
Q: To get everyone in one place? To capture them?
A: Why capture? There is a better use. And that is how it worked out. The building filled up with people who were capable of decisive actions. And all of them just sat there, all that time. Many had nervous breakdowns, sitting ducks, waiting for the threatened, looming assault. The people were under constant strain.
Q: I get that. In Donetsk, we spent every April night waiting for an attack. Sudden calls, at four o’clock in the morning: “It’s about to start!” The journalists would run to the regional administration, but everything was completely calm. After a few sleepless nights, we stopped reacting to the “signals”.
A: Plus the civilian population was pulled in from the region, standing like a “human-shield”. Nothing constructive happened during that whole period, no forward progress. After seizing the SBU and apprehending a vast amount of weapons, the whole region could have been taken under control within two weeks, at most. All branches of government, all the administrative buildings should have been occupied by the LPR activists. Because Ukrainian military forces were nowhere near Lugansk at the time. There was a single column of armoured vehicles, near the Olihovaya station; it could have been dismantled with bare hands. When I announced, on the 7th of April, that it is necessary to leave a hundred people on guard at the SBU, and to send three hundred people to seize the Regional Administration and three hundred more to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, I was accused of provocation. They should not have sat in a sealed building waiting for the wind to change. They should have acted. They could have taken control of the whole region. But they did nothing. Those who prepared the building to be “seized”, wanted a different outcome. The outcome that happened.
Q: Where is Bolotov now?
A: I do not have a clue.
Q: When did you last see Strelkov?
A: Three or four weeks ago, before his resignation. And I hope he will soon return to his post, because there is no one else who can replace him.
Q: Who do you take orders from now?
A: The people of Novorossia. I was always against the creation of the two separate “duchies”—The LPR and the DPR.
Q: How should it have been done?
A: Novorossia is made from the two regions and the whole of the south-east. One government, one parliament, one leader. That is how it should be.
Q: Does Russia aid you?
A: Of course. They send us the humanitarian aid, mostly. We do not really need anything more from Russia. Because certain circles are waiting for Russia to get involved in the whole affair. To stain Russia with the blood poured by Kiev. I do not want that. Russia is my second home.
Q: Are you worried that Russia might “surrender” Novorossia? What will happen if Putin reaches an agreement with Poroshenko?
A: Considering that I oppose the intervention of Moscow, I do not really anticipate it. And Russia cannot “surrender” anyone. This is our internal affair, the affair of the citizens of Novorossia. If we do not want anyone to “surrender” us, no one will be able to. None of Poroshenko’s agreements will influence the decision of the Novorossian population to physically destroy him. He will answer to the victims of our land.
Q: Moscow can prevent Russian volunteers from crossing over the border.
A: Can Moscow prevent the volunteers from Europe, from America? Currently, the whole world is against us. Even if the borders are shut, we will not be left without volunteers. If there is a will, there is a way.
Q: We heard a lot about the counter-attack plans. Is this possible?
A: A counter-attack is not possible for three reasons:
1. Not enough man power. In order to carry out a counterattack, reserves are necessary. We have no reserves.
2. The quantity and quality of the weaponry at our disposal is lacking.
3. The fact that there are enemy units in our rear. Currently, the combat field is like a chessboard. Until we can clean up the rear, we cannot go forward. This is what we are doing right now.
Q: And afterwards?
A: We will march straight to Kiev.
Q: Kiev?
A: Where else?
Q: You need more support from other Ukrainian regions. Two is not enough.
A: Who told you that they do not support us? Militias are currently forming in a few other regions. One region has four thousand men. And as soon as we destroy the enemy in our rear, we will march forward, joined by more and more people along the way.
Q: Your target is Kiev?
A: Our target—to free Ukraine from the oligarchs and from the corrupt officials. Maybe it is time to stop slaving for those whose personal budget is a multiple of the state budget? It is time to share.
Q: But that was the desire of the people who stood on Maidan. I do not understand the conflict.
A: Neither do I. Those who fight against us fight for the interests of the oligarchs. I would take pleasure from a conversation with the privates, the officers, the civilians, who stood on Maidan. Our interests and theirs are the same: we want to be free. Why are we fighting? From the days of the Teutonic Knights, the West was warned: you should not touch the Slavs. Whoever comes with a sword, he will die by the sword. That is why they put their Teutonic sword into Slav hands. The Slavs were forced to march against each other. Our objective is to explain to our brothers that we are the same, and our aim is one.
Q: Are you planning to assault Kiev?
A: Why not? For some reason they are allowed to assault Lugansk, Donetsk. Is Kiev any better than those cities?
Q: And after Kiev? Further west?
A: It depends. If the soldiers on the other side finally realise that they are fighting themselves, the war could be over tomorrow.
Q: You stand against the oligarchs. But the local oligarchs—Akhmetov, Efimov—do they have influence on the events within Lugansk and Donetsk?
A: The representatives of the Party of Regions have not always been a particularly good influence. When our struggle first started, many screamed: “Bring back Yanukovych!” Not under any circumstances. Not Yanukovych, not Efimov, not Akhmetov, not a single representative of the Party of Regions, of the Communist Party, of Svoboda, of Batkivshchina—should be allowed anywhere near the governments of Ukraine and Novorossia.
Q: How do you view Oleg Tsarev? It appears Moscow would like to see him in charge of Novorossia.
A: The wishes of Moscow and the wishes of Novorossia—they are slightly different things. The leader of Novorossia should be chosen by the citizens of Novorossia. As a human being I am fine with him. But for the fact that he is a representative of the Party of Regions, I am negative.
Q: Did the Ukrainian army utilise Tochka-U (SS-21 Scarab) against you?
A: Yes. Most recently a city called Rovenki, in the Lugansk region, was fired at with Tochka-U.
Q: Why did this idea come into being—the creation of Novorossia, separate from Ukraine?
A: I, like many people in Novorossia, cannot live with the ideology which the West has forced upon Kiev. I cannot understand same-sex marriages; juvenile justice; when the parents are not allowed to bring up their children. They have already torn us from our roots. And now, they are forbidding from being ourselves.
Q: And where are your roots? What is your nationality?
A: My nationality is Human.
Q: Who are you ancestors? Just out of curiosity…
A: My ancestors are the Don Cossacks. I was born in Ukraine, in a village called Nizhnyaya Duvanka, in the Svatovsk area, Lugansk region.
Q: Do you have a military education or background?
A: Seven years in service in the Ukrainian Army. Two years compulsory, five on contract.
Q: What did you do after the army?
A: You can say that before these events, I did nothing at all. Only now have I started living.
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19 thoughts on “Interview with Alexey Mozgovoy, Commander of the “Ghost” Brigade, 29/08/14”
A comment note on the UK Telegraph site, with their newest article on the Novorossiya conflict:
« Bloody murderous guilt of both Nato-EU and Russia here, that is the truth few are facing. Of 15,000 or so perhaps dead in Ukraine’s civil war this year, there are over 5000 civilians dead there, bombed, shelled & butchered to death by Kiev, starting with burning dozens alive & even strangling a pregnant woman to death in Odessa on 2 May. And among soldiers / militia dead are hundreds of Nato country ‘contractors’ dead, from US-CIA companies, and Poland and other EU nations.
« Putin’s crime is different than what media and Nato allege – Putin’s crime is that he has gone along with bloodshed and carnage set up by the US-Nato-EU putsch in Kiev, and its new regime including neo-Nazis, which tried to outlaw speaking Russian (half of Ukraine!), menacing to murder its Russian citizens, giving them no option. Putin encouraged referenda, promised to protect the Russian-speakers, but then let thousands die at hands of US-Nato backed Kiev killers, Putin giving back-door support but not what he promised. As the ‘fix was in’ from Nato, with sanctions etc. to go against Putin anyway, why didn’t he just partition Ukraine with Russian troops in May, and prevent Ukraine’s civil war before it started?
« Nato’s Rasmussen with his whiny dishonest-sounding voice, was lead Danish liar pumping the Iraq ‘weapons of mass destruction’ hoax 10 years ago. While Vladimir Putin has been full of praise for his good friend Henry Kissinger (!) … as if Putin is US-Nato’s secret ‘fake opposition’ partner making and expanding war & chaos and bloody death … sadly, Ukraine looks more and more like part of the long-predicted pre-stage horror ‘edge of WW3’ to set up some ugly ‘New World Order’ resolution … May God help the people of Ukraine, and indeed all of us, as blood tragically flows, while so few see both the lies of EU-Nato, and Putin’s sad betrayals. »
Posted by brabantian | Sep 2, 2014, 21:30
Ghost’s brigade commander “Brain” is a beautiful man of intellect and character, clean-thinking, moral, upright. A model for any nation to emulate. He knows what he stands for and has shown great leadership under awful odds and conditions. Human, indeed. He wants Liberty. And he will not suffer fools, corrupt or otherwise.
Thank you for this publication.
Posted by Bull Durham | Sep 2, 2014, 22:31
Reblogged this on HERSTELPOLITIEK and commented:
Alles draait om geld.
Posted by ADMINISTRATOR | Sep 3, 2014, 09:04
Alexey Mozgovoy, you have many friends in the West. Your fight is also our fight – unbloody so far in the West, but on the level of the soul we are all connected. Here is a comment from the world of music you might enjoy …
"British singer David Bowie:I bow my knees before the courage and the will to be free citizens of Eastern Ukraine. http://t.co/rz7fY3ILeB—
War No More (@WorldWarNoMore) September 02, 2014
Posted by Heinz | Sep 3, 2014, 10:38
Τό του Μιλτιάδου τρόπαιον | vgiannelakis
http://vgiannelakis.wordpress.com/2013/07/19/%cf%84%cf%84%cf%8c-%cf%84%ce%bf%cf%85-%ce%bc%ce%b9%ce%bb%cf%84%ce%b9%ce%ac%ce%b4%ce%bf%cf%85-%cf%84%cf%81%cf%8c%cf%80%ce%b1%ce%b9%ce%bf%ce%bd/
Posted by rizes | Sep 3, 2014, 16:54
To Kiev!!! Lead the pack, Human brother Alexey Mozgovoy!!! Down with the neo-fascists!! Down with the US/NATO puppets!! Down with the corrupt oligarchs!! March on Kiev, brother, all the righteous Humans will back you up.
Posted by Lone Wolf | Sep 3, 2014, 19:24
I am from Canada too, and I am very happy to find at least one Canadian who shares my views on the Ukraine crisis.
With all my heart I hope and pray that fascism will not be born again.
Posted by lsammart | Sep 4, 2014, 17:39
Really seems that Maydan has much in common with the ideas of Alexey Mozgovoy.
There could be peace in days if all agree on that.
But why do you think that oligarchs in russia are different from those in Kiev?
Posted by Olga | Sep 6, 2014, 11:38
The Russians should now tread very carefully because the US and EU are hell bent on replacing President Putin by some kind of NWO puppet.
So as to achieve this goal they are going to spread propaganda in Russia saying that Putin is a treator and should be replaced.
I do hope that the Russian People will not fall into this trap.
One should take into account that 98 percent of the western media is in the hands of the NWO oligarchs and that this media is continually lying and misleading public opinion.
Posted by BAB | Sep 6, 2014, 15:18
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Social Policy in Ontario
Drug spending slowing: report
Posted on April 23, 2010 in Health Debates
Source: Toronto Star — Authors: Theresa Boyle
TheStar.com – Ontario – Canada spent an estimated $30 billion on drugs last year
Published On Thu Apr 22 2010. Theresa Boyle Health Reporter
As the provincial government tries to rein in drug spending, a national report shows Ontario was the only province or territory where public funding for prescribed drugs fell last year.
The per capita cost of publicly funded drugs was $330.79 in Ontario in 2009, according to the report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information. That’s 0.8 per cent lower than the previous year. The other 12 provinces and territories all saw increases, with an average hike of 3.2 per cent. Nationally, the per capita average for spending on publicly funded drugs was $339.66.
Ontario is embroiled in a battle with pharmacists over its plans to slash the price of generic drugs by banning millions in payouts from drug companies to pharmacies.
When private spending on prescribed drugs is factored in, Ontario was still at the bottom of the list for growth in spending between 2008 and 2009. The provincial increase was 2.7 per cent, while the average national increase was 4.8 per cent.
Michael Gaucher, manager of pharmaceuticals for CIHI, said there could be many reasons for the drop in Ontario, such as ongoing efforts by the province to contain drug costs. It could also be a reflection of a healthier population, perhaps because of other policy changes affecting disease prevention and health promotion, he added.
Despite the decrease, Ontario ranks just slightly above the national average in the proportion of total health spending devoted to drugs. In 2009, 16.5 per cent of health spending in Ontario went to drugs, compared with the national average of 16.4 per cent. This includes prescribed and nonprescribed drugs, privately and publicly funded.
Spending on drugs is the second-largest piece of the health-care pie, after hospital spending.
Meantime, total drug spending in Canada reached an estimated $30 billion last year, $1.5 billion more than 2008, according to the study. This represents an annual increase of 5.1 per cent, the lowest hike in more than a decade.
The growth rate was at its highest between 1985 and 1986, when it jumped by 16.2 per cent. The average rate of increase since then has been 9.2 per cent.
“Spending on pharmaceuticals has consistently remained one of the major components of total health expenditure over the last two decades,” said Michael Hunt, director of pharmaceuticals and health workforce at CIHI.
< http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/article/799360–drug-spending-slowing-report >
Tags: budget, Health, pharmaceutical
This entry was posted on Friday, April 23rd, 2010 at 9:35 am and is filed under Health Debates. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
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There's some sense in Kyrie Irving's trade request to leave LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers
Jay Asser 20:27 22/07/2017
Poles apart: LeBron James and Kyrie Irving. Picture: Getty Images.
Before the world could wait on pins and needles for LeBron James’ ‘The Decision’ vol. 3, Kyrie Irving decided to preemptively press the eject button.
The All-Star point guard’s tenure with the Cleveland Cavaliers could be over after he requested a trade last week and according to ESPN, his reasons for wanting to leave are centred on being “more of a focal point” elsewhere as he “no longer wants to play alongside LeBron James”.
Irving has also allegedly made it known to Cleveland the four teams he prefers a trade to: San Antonio, Miami, New York and Minnesota.
James was reportedly “blindsided and disappointed” by the request, while the NBA world was similarly stunned when the news broke on Friday night.
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No one saw this coming, but if you reverse engineer how Irving reached this point, it starts to make more sense.
For starters, the Cavaliers organisation has been a dumpster fire this summer, stemming from the franchise parting ways with general manager David Griffin after the two sides couldn’t agree on a contract extension.
The loss of Griffin may have been overstated as far as team-building, but there’s no doubting he had fostered relationships with players like James and Irving in his three years, which featured a trip to the Finals every season and the team’s first title in 2016.
If nothing else, his presence at least afforded the Cavaliers stability amidst the volatility of owner Dan Gilbert and the questionable future of James.
Even if Gilbert was still around, however, it’s hard to imagine the roster being much better. A bloated payroll has limited the Cavaliers’ ability to add players this offseason as they’ve so far come up empty on Paul George and Carmelo Anthony.
Life is amazing. No complaints. Things are a little peculiar. But no complaints. Now go kick some rocks 🙌🏼 https://t.co/Tz62YyGeYt
— Kevin Love (@kevinlove) July 21, 2017
The situation just doesn’t seem like it can change much in the near future, at least not for the better.
It can get a whole lot worse though – or more desirable depending on perspective – if James bolts in free agency next summer.
In that case, Irving would once again be the face of the franchise, which he believed he was becoming for the long-term when he signed a five-year extension days before James’ arrival in 2014.
Maybe Irving wants that but doesn’t want to wait another year for the possibility, or maybe he doesn’t want to be a slave to James’ decision and potentially be left out in the cold like Dwyane Wade was.
Irving could very well want to be main man somewhere else, but each of the four teams he named for his preferred new home have at least one star or star in the making.
It’s more likely he just wants to get away from James, who, for all his unworldly talent and skill, has a leadership style that can often rub teammates the wrong way – whether that’s through subtweets, screaming in the huddle, eye rolls or body language.
LeBron casts an undeniably large shadow and for Irving, it may be time to get out in the sun.
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PBA: We had a lot of good effort from a lot of people today -- Black
Mark Escarlote on Dec 17, 2019 11:05 PM
We had a lot of good effort from a lot of people today -- Meralco coach Norman Black
Allen Durham played a monster triple-double game but Meralco head coach Norman Black credited the Bolts’ great team effort for their rousing Game 2 win against TNT.
Meralco was on fire early and sustained its hot shooting with Durham at the helm for a 114-94 demolition of KaTropa to tie the best-of-five series 2019 PBA Governors’ Cup at 1-1 on Tuesday at the Big Dome.
“We had a lot of good effort from a lot of people today,” said Black, whose squad can take the series lead on Thursday.
Durham dropped 44 points, grabbed 19 rebounds and dished 11 assists while Baser Amer, who had an early altercation with TNT’s Roger Pogoy who he accused of pinching him during the game, tallied 20 points including four triples for Meralco.
“I know Durham played a very good game today for us,” said Black. “Baser Amer was able to score the basketball for us, which is what we need. We need him to be a leader as far as our scoring is concerned, and he has to put his points up on the board and he did a great job.”
Down, 2-3, to start the duel, Meralco ignited a big 16-0 run to take control of the match and even opened a 60-25 separation with 1:27 left in in the second period off a pair of charities by Raymond Almazan.
Bong Quinto had 12 markers while Chris Newsome and Almazan scored 12 and 11, respectively, for the Bolts.
“Everybody contributed, everybody pitched in. It was a good defensive effort, and our offense was much, much better today,” added Black.
The mentor explained that the Bolts were able to execute their plays – something that was missing in their Game 1 loss to TNT.
“We just wanted to run our offense. We felt in Game One, we were too individualistic and we didn't really execute offensively. Normally when you play good offense, everybody's in the right spot and we have great spacing. In Game One, we had none of that,” he said.
“But today, because we really focused in on just making sure we executed our offense, got the ball to our point of attack, which is AD on our team, because we were able to do that, it made it a lot easy for us to space the floor and for him to score,’” Black added. “That's something we just have to continue to do in this series.”
Durham shot 15-of-26 from the field and missed just one of his 11 free throws.
But the 31-year old Durham was quick to deflect all the credit.
“Yeah, yeah. I mean, that's more on my teammates hitting shots, having confidence to take their shots and obviously, just doing what I've been doing all conference -- getting rebounds, getting a bucket when I can,” said Durham.
Follow this writer on Twitter, @fromtheriles
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The International Hockey Federation Uses Sprout to Win With Fans Around the World
The social team for the International Hockey Federation (FIH) has a big job to do. As an organization, FIH doesn’t represent one team or even just the teams of one country. It’s the single international governing body for the sport of hockey and indoor hockey across more than 130 countries.
Where a typical team’s social audience is limited to its own fans, FIH’s social pages have to cater to the fans of every single team within the organization. This massive audience presents several challenges for the FIH social team, including the difficult task of managing a mammoth library of visual assets, maintaining consistency across multiple content contributors and catering to a global audience.
Score One for the Asset Library
The majority of FIH’s social posts consist of year-round event and game coverage, hype and celebration. FIH Digital Manager Nikki Symmons is often in a different country every week, traveling from event to event to provide real-time updates. She credits Sprout’s Asset Library with her ability to quickly locate what she’s looking for amongst the myriad of team logos and visuals at her disposal—an otherwise daunting task while on the go and under the time constraints of a live event.
“Our team frequently shares assets across Dropbox, email and a variety of other file sharing mediums,” Symmons said. “But the last thing you want to be doing during an event is hunting down and downloading a bunch of different assets to create a post. It’s brilliant to have everything in one place to pull from in the Asset Library.”
Man-To-Calendar Coverage
With the organization’s event schedule ramping up, the workload—and the team—is about to undergo significant growth.
“As to be expected from a quickly growing team, sometimes we see people begin to do their own thing with content, which can be a challenge in terms of consistency,” Symmons said.
Not only does the Asset Library allow for quick file retrieval, but shared assets also allow for greater consistency across multi-sourced content. As does Sprout’s Publishing Calendar.
Symmons uses the Publishing Calendar’s monthly view so she can monitor for consistency, as well as any content gaps that may need filling.
“We’ve got multiple contributors pumping out content on a regular basis, including an agency we work with that puts content right into Sprout where I can review and approve it,” Symmons said. “Having the bird’s-eye view of the Publishing Calendar is really, really helpful.”
A Goal for Global
Because FIH represents the sport in its entirety as opposed to an individual team, it has to talk to the entire world of international hockey fans. That means posting content around the clock, publishing across different time zones and appealing to some very diverse audiences.
“Not too many brands have to have a 24-hour presence on social,” said Eric Gaydos, FIH’s Customer Success partner at Sprout. “That’s where Sprout’s advanced scheduling and publishing features really come in handy.”
Symmons and her team can schedule overnight posts in advance to maintain an active presence on their social channels at all times. And the Smart Inbox makes it easy to catch up on any messages or mentions they miss over the course of the night.
Maintaining a 24-hour, global presence on social, managing multiple contributors and cranking out quality content under time constraints is made simple for FIH by Sprout Social’s powerful publishing and team workflow features. Even a small team is capable of winning on social with the right tools.
How Evernote uses Sprout Social to streamline and scale customer care
Engagement • Mobile
Using Sprout Social’s Mobile App to Engage & Publish in Real Time
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SCS/Track (CAS)
SCS/Track 4.9.1 (January 17, 2020)
SCS/Track 4.9.0 (January 6, 2020)
SCS/Track 4.8.0-3 (November 19, 2019)
SCS/Track 4.8.0-0 (October 25, 2019)
SCS/Track 4.7.0-1 (September 12, 2019)
SCS/Track 4.7.0-0 (August 30, 2019)
SCS/Track 4.5.1-1 (August 5, 2019)
SCS/Track 4.4.1-0 (May 10, 2019)
Michael Grabowski
SCS/Track™ 4.4.1-0
SCS/Track
Fixed a bug where the ad preview on the Ad Info page would never be recovered for an archived ad. This bug was introduced in version 4.4.0-0 of SCS/Track (CAS), previous versions did not have this issue. The notification on the Ad Info page when the archive recovery is complete is also working again.
Changed several GET requests to POST requests through SCS/Track (CAS). This would cause searches to fail in Ad Inquiry, if for example the advertiser name being searched on was too long. Another symptom would be that the page would hang when trying to change table settings, moving columns around in the Ad Inquiry table.
Ad paths and custom fields are now cleaned up as part of the ad purge process. This would cause odd behavior like custom fields associated with a different ad than intended or files appearing for a new ad that were leftovers from a purged ad.
Advertiser/sales and site/advertisers now honor the inactive flag, not appearing in drop-down lists or searches for selection. This issue was reported by and currently only affects Times-Shamrock (Scranton, PA).
Fixed a bug where several job assignments were not working properly. This issue was reported by Kapp Advertising (Lebanon, PA).
The Grid View versus List View in Ad Inquiry was changed so as either layout could be saved separately. The views did not always save properly and changes to one view would appear in the other, this was related to the GET and POST issues explained above and is now resolved.
SCS/Track 4.4.1-1 (June 6, 2019)
Versions 10.53 to 10.94 (Oct 2018 to Jan 2020)
SCS/Track 4.4.0-0 (March 31, 2019)
PCAB 1.4.10 (March 22, 2019)
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Un-Rested, Regan Smith Drops 4:41 500 Free at Club Meet
14-year-old phenom Regan Smith just posted the 6th-fastest time ever in the girl's 13-14 age group in the 500 free, and she didn't even taper for it. Current photo via Paul Smith
Reid Carlson
by Reid Carlson 37
January 14th, 2017 Club, National, News
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14-year-old phenom Regan Smith just posted the 6th-fastest-time-ever in the girl’s 13-14 age group in the 500 free, and she didn’t even taper for it.
Smith, swimming at the Foxjet Invite at the University of Minnesota, posted a blistering 4:41.93 in the 500 freestyle tonight to easily win the race and establish the 6th-fastest time ever in the in the girl’s 13-14 age group. It should come as no surprise that the NAG record holder in the event is Katie Ledecky with a 4:35.14 established in 2011.
Speaking to SwimSwam this evening, Regan’s father, Paul (a USA Swimming coach, though not Regan’s coach) said that it was a huge swim and that the family was really happy with the results.
The 500 was one of several events that Smith passed on swimming at the Speedo Junior Championships (West) in December. Concerning the swim this evening Regan’s father, Paul Smith, said “Regan dropped a 4:41 in the 500 tonight. No shave or taper. Huge swim. Really happy. Wish she could have swam it tapered.” Regan herself said that she “really felt it on the back half.”
However Smith felt on the back half of the race, her splits remained solid. While it’s impossible to know how fast Smith might have gone had she swam the 500 at Junior’s, it is reasonable to conclude that she could become a national-contender in the middle-distance freestyles in the future. Ledecky will likely remain atop the heap for years to come, though even she will someday rely on great up-and-comers such as Smith to keep pushing her to continued greatness.
Smith’s splits this evening are as follows:
Increment All By 50 By 100
100 52.21 27.54 52.21
200 1:48.35 28.15 56.14
« MP स्विम टिप्स पार्ट 5- फ्रीस्टाइल ड्रिल ट्रिपल टच स्विच 3TS
Friday’s Meet Between St. Louis and Eastern Illinois Cancelled »
Katie Ledecky
Regan Smith
Sick time. Dad sounds like a handful
bobo gigi
Sorry for my English language ignorance but what do you mean exactly by “handful”? Is it pejorative in your mind?
Daaaave
Hi Bobo, yes, if someone is “a handful” it’s not necessarily damning, but it’s not meant to flatter (unless, SCCoach, you were thinking of a handful…of candy!).
Quote might be better had it ended after “Really happy.”
In any case, an epic January swim showcasing versatility from the young star with a very exciting future–Regan should be very proud of her accomplishment! No doubt she and her teammates are working hard.
WIcoach
Sounds to me like he was asked directly by Reid Carlson about the swim and told the truth. I’d have been pleased too. I doubt it was widely expected. After seeing her at Juniors, it’s a fair thought to wonder if she could have gone faster rested. But, I guess it’s easier to just take a pot shot at the guy, huh?
Wait a minute. According to coverage on this site, she broke two NAG records (100 fly & back) by wide margins at Juniors 5 or 6 weeks ago and missed the 200 back by a hair. Her 100 back 13-14 NAG is faster than the 15-16 NAG as well. So, now she apparently surprises with a REALLY fast 500 free after what was, under Mike Parratto (old school), very likely a HEAVY volume holiday break period and it’s bad for him to say he’d like to have seen a tapered shot at Ledecky’s REALLY impressive NAG record? She ages up fairly soon. That’s “a handful”? What’s happened to being able to be honest? I’d like to see that too! I’m… Read more »
No parents should not do any commentary on their kids even if it’s the truth. Stick to standard sports cliche such as: “She is amazing” or “I am so proud of her” or the standard “I wish someone could help me with my high grocery bills”
He’s also a USA Swimming coach. He’s been part of her training and development for years. He’s not some parent popping off. Carlson asked him for his impressions of the swim. The guy doesn’t walk around bragging about his kid. Quite the opposite. Relax please.
the fact that Braden came on here to clarify proves my point. In the future the general media could care less how it plays out and they may even intentionally misquote to make the dad look bad. Look what they did to Gabby Douglas in Rio. Read the comments on this website on Missy Franklin come on people this girl is 14. People don’t care if you are a good parent or actually know a lot about swimming. I could easily take that quote and title my article. “Reagan Smith’s dad second guesses coaches decision to not rest his child for last meet as a 14 year old”
Regan or her coach should be the ones talking to the media if they want to, the dad making “a statement” to swimswam raises red flags. The dad could be cool but is likely a handful. Coaches can spot these red flags pretty easily.
Unless he is Debbie Phelps or something, the media isn’t tracking him down for a statement, he is the one tracking swimswam down to make a statement.
Hey Sccoach – actually, in this case, we did track him down. Reid Carlson, the author of this piece has a long relationship with Regan’s dad, and as the coach was busy coaching, we asked Paul whether or not Regan was rested, shaved, or taper so that we could give good context to the swim. Also – her dad is a swim coach, although he doesn’t coach her directly.
Looks like I am wrong. I apologize to anyone I offended. I spoke up because personally I don’t like seeing young kids being rushed into the spotlight, but it’s bound to happen since this girl is so fast.
Thanks for clarifying the FACTS, Braden. I appreciate it.
Paul, if you are Regan’s father, best wishes to your daughter who has a bright future. And congratulations to her coach who does a great job.
Yes, Bobo. Thank you very much.
NEWTOSWIMSWAM
Like most champions, Regan has a solid support system including a great family. Paul certainly could brag about Regan but never does! All he did, when asked, was stating the facts. Actually I was hoping she could rest a little as this is her last meet before turning 15. Her times would even be more impressive!
That’s an astonishing performance from Regan Smith and totally unexpected. At least for me. I knew her freestyle and her endurance overall had improved in the last year but 4.41 in January with no taper…. 😯
She’s amazing on backstroke, great on fly and now she adds freestyle to her greatness.
It’s very fun to see her develop for 5 years. We don’t know where her limits are.
Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow!
Not only was she not tapered she had bricks tied to her feet
Cacrushers
Cos a 14 year old needs a taper to do a pb, right?
If you believe an elite, 14/15 year old female isn’t impacted positively by relative rest and taper, I have some land I’d like to sell you. Kids at her level don’t cut time easily. If you’re talking about a 10 year old, yes. But you’re wrong. Take a look at any mid season meet on meet mobile and see how many of these 14 year old kids cut. Then look at the TOP 14 year old kids and check that number again. Neither is good. The latter is LOW.
In one of her best events, like her recent 100 back and fly at juniors, then yes she’s positively impacted by a taper but for a secondary event like the 500 a pb isn’t surprising
About Reid Carlson
Reid Carlson originally hails from Clay Center, Kansas, where he began swimming at age six. At age 14 he began swimming club year-round and later with his high school team, making state all four years. He was fortunate enough to draw the attention of Kalamazoo College where he went on to …
More from Reid Carlson
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Cody Bybee Is Back With a Vengeance After Missing the 2019 Post-Season (Video)
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The University of Sydney Law School
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Where can a Juris Doctor degree lead you?
The Juris Doctor in Australia is a highly regarded graduate entry degree. At the University of Sydney School of Law we prepare professional lawyers with strong analysis, research, writing and advocacy skills.
Global push for Australia’s leading criminal justice and law journal
From 2019 The Sydney Institute of Criminology will partner with world-leading academic publisher Taylor and Francis to publish its 'Current Issues in Criminal Justice' law journal.
Our First Nations people in custody
Leading senior criminal barrister Phillip Boulten SC addresses the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australian prisons.
Honours lists recognise alumni achievements
The University of Sydney Law School congratulates our alumni who have been recognised in the 2018 Queen’s Birthday and Australia Day honours for their outstanding contributions in a broad range of fields.
Insights from a successful deanship
Professor Joellen Riley is about to complete her term as Head of School and Dean of the University of Sydney Law School. As she prepares to teach and research again next year, we asked her to reflect on her deanship.
Transforming the future of banking
Final year arts/law student Isabella Ledden speaks on teaching Westpac about artificial intelligence and the value of seeking out interdisciplinary perspectives.
The challenges of prosecuting gender-based crimes in international courts
The University’s newest postdoctoral fellow Dr Rosemary Grey brings her expertise in international criminal law and gender to the University of Sydney Law School.
Can human rights tame the bull?
The revelations of the banking and financial services royal commission have provided a fortuitous background to the arguments Professor David Kinley advances in his new book 'Necessary Evil'.
Environmental law expert named in 100 Women of Influence
University of Sydney Law School’s Professor Rosemary Lyster earns a spot in the 2018 Australian Financial Review’s 100 Women of Influence.
Criminologist and artist Carolyn McKay highlights injustice through innovative exhibition
Artists exploring criminal injustices is not a new genre, but lawyers taking the lead in collaborating with artists in an exhibition that exposes these injustices definitely is.
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And the Sun Will Shine
by Krisanthi Pappas
© Copyright - Krisanthi Pappas / Music Box Records (884501943055)
Billboard® award winning jazz and cabaret singer/songwriter
Genre: Jazz: Jazz Vocals
2. So High
3. Just Another Day Without You
4. You Make Me Crazy
5. Purple Jazz Waltz
6. Just Want to Run Away
7. Move On
8. I've Always Been Cool
9. Going On Vacation
10. Oh What a Day, Feeling Good!
11. Congratulations On Graduation!
12. Celebratin' Swing
13. The Big Apple Lingo
14. Holding On to You
15. If I Had Only Known
Jazz and cabaret singer Krisanthi Pappas has been compared to Diana Krall and Norah Jones by Jazz Times Magazine. Also a Billboard® award winning composer and lyricist, Cadence Magazine compares her songwriting style to Randy Newman (music of “Toy Story”, etc). Her original songs have been featured in ABC television’s “One Life To Live”, NBC’s “Parenthood” and “Passions”, as well as in the films "Green River" and “Tying The Not”.
Krisanthi has recorded five CDs and performs full-time throughout New England and New York City, having opened for Branford Marsalis, Chuck Mangione and many others. Her voice and music have received high accolades from Jazz Times Magazine, Downbeat Magazine, Cabaret Scenes New York, Cabaret Hotline, The Boston Globe, The Boston Herald, Cadence Magazine, and many radio personalities nationwide.
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Peace (Bitter Wash Road #2)
Author(s): Garry Disher
Constable Paul Hirschhausen runs a one-cop station in the dry farming country south of the Flinders Ranges. He's still new in town but the community work - welfare checks and working bees - is starting to pay off. Now Christmas is here and, apart from a grass fire, two boys stealing a ute and Brenda Flann entering the front bar of the pub without exiting her car, Hirsch's life has been peaceful. Until he's called to a strange, vicious incident in Kitchener Street. And Sydney police ask him to look in on a family living outside town on a forgotten back road. Suddenly, it doesn't look like a season of goodwill at all. 'Disher is the gold standard for rural noir.' Chris Hammer 'There is no peace for a good man when the mercury rises, tempers fray and violence simmers. This is a scorchingly good novel.' Michael Robotham 'Peace tells the story of a cop exiled to a wounded town in South Australia's dry country. In this brilliant novel Disher takes his readers on a harrowing journey.' Jock Serong 'I loved Peace. It is an an uplifting book, an utterly compelling mystery with rare heart and humanity. If you enjoyed Jane Harper's The Lost Man, this novel is for you.' Dervla McTiernan 'Peter Temple and Garry Disher will be identified as the crime writers who redefined Australian crime fiction in terms of its form, content and style.' Sydney Morning Herald
I haven't read an Australian crime novel this good for a long time. Disher is the rightful heir to Peter Temple and Peace is the work of an author at the very top of their game. Set in the Flinders Ranges, a vast landscape that impacts on everyone and everything, Disher artfully portrays a small town forced to confront several shocking crimes. The prose is a bone dry as the countryside it describes and the characters are drawn vividly in all their petty grievances and desires. If you like dramatic, propulsive thrillers imbued with a literary sensibility, Peace is the book for you. Gavin
Publisher : Text Publishing Company
Imprint : Text Publishing Company
Publication date : July 2019
Author : Garry Disher
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Home » Telangana » Telangana announces building material manufacturing park
Telangana announces building material manufacturing park
To come up 250 acres near Hyderabad; KEF Infra to be anchor company with Rs 650 cr investment.
By AuthorTelanganaToday | Business Bureau | Published: 10th Feb 2018 11:53 pmUpdated: 10th Feb 2018 11:54 pm
Telangana state and KEF holdings to join hands and set up a one of its kind Construction & Building Materials Manufacturing Park in Telangana. Photo:Hrudayanand
Hyderabad: Telangana is slowly but steadily providing opportunities for each and every industry to set up base here and the launch of Pharma City, electronics cluster and others are testimony to this. In the same breadth, the government is all set to provide impetus to the companies in the space of building and construction material by setting up a Construction and Building Material Manufacturing Park near Hyderabad. The park that will come up about 250 acres will have UAE-based KEF Infra as its anchor company and it will house a plant in about 50 acres in the park. KEF’s plant in Telangana will be set up at a cost of Rs 650 crore.
The park will be the first one-of-its-kind set up in India and will provide employment opportunities to about 10,000 people – both direct and indirect. This park is an extension of government’s agenda to encourage local manufacturing by not only providing them amenities at subsidised rates but also to procure their products for State building.
Telangana announces Textile and Apparel Incentive Scheme
Speaking at the announcement of the park, Telangana IT Minister K T Rama Rao said, “When KEF Infra decided to invest in the State we were very delighted to help them in any way possible. And that also led to us taking the decision of having a dedicated Construction and Building Material Manufacturing Park that will not only house international companies like KEF but will also provide opportunities for local small and medium enterprises. We are exploring four locations in and around Hyderabad to set up this park and it could either be in Ranga Reddy district or Medchal area.”
In terms of support being provided from the government’s side, Rama Rao also opined that other than procuring land, the government will also provide infrastructure in terms of water, electricity and will also train the required manpower for the different units to run in the park. This will in turn lead to creation of local employment and the promotion of the park done under Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TSIIC).
Elaborating on the park and their plant, KEF Holdings chairman, Faizal E Kottikollon said, “The offsite manufacturing mother plant in Telangana is going to be our second biggest after our maiden plant in Krishnagiri in Tamil Nadu. We hope to create at least employment for at least 1,600 people and more indirect employment. For other units in the park, we will also be promoting to our other investors from Middle East to invest in this. It can house almost 180-200 units from 60-70 different industries from this sector.” KEF Infra is an end-to-end solutions provider that sets up entire buildings for its clients.
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May 27, 2016 NK No comments
Dutch author publishes MH-17 The Cover-Up – Joost Niemoller
The Netherlands were given charge of the investigation into the cause of the disaster, but signed a cover-up deal with Kiev, and thus became a pawn in an international political game. Unvarnished Cold War rhetoric makes a comeback, in which Putin is the ultimate bad guy. The West labels his words as poisonous propaganda. Meanwhile, it seems, everyone involved in the investigation suffers from a tunnel vision. Can we be sure that the investigators do their work independently and objectively? The Russians show material which suggests that the crash was caused by either an attack by a Ukrainian fighter jet or by a missile fired with a Ukrainian Buk-M1. However, the EU countries and the US assume that the separatists in eastern Ukraine have shot down the Boeing, maybe accidentally, maybe not. In “MH17: The Cover-up Deal”, Dutch author Joost Niemöller connects the dots. The most striking facts are listed and the main theories – from all camps – are evaluated. The author observes worrying developments, and outlines a world where major interests stand in the way of finding out the truth, and where a deal is more important than forensic material.”
The Malaysian government is pressing charges that the Ukranian government in collusion with NATO shot down the Malaysian MH-17 aircraft over Ukraine (August 6th). We here explore this.
Was it shot down by a couple of Su-25 jet fighter planes? On the day of the shootdown, July 17th, Kiev government officials insisted that, “No military aircraft were available in the region,” clearly untrue as various sources have confirmed the Su-25 Ukrainian Fighter jets on radar, trailing MH17 at the same altitude, some 4km behind it.
Even OSCE officials (Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe) have (on July 31) confirmed evidence for bullets shot through the cockpit of the plane. (See large PDF of the bullet-holes here.) They are agreeing with aerospace expert Peter Haisenko. We here note four points from him:
1. The crashed Boeing photos showed clearly multiple bullet holes from machine gun bullets, which consistently showed a frontal angle and hardly could result from a ground-air missile.
2. This aircraft was not hit by a missile in the central portion. The destruction is limited to the cockpit area.
3. it becomes abundantly clear that an explosion took place inside the aircraft.
4. I was amazed at how few photos can be found from the wreckage with Google. All are in low resolution, except one: The fragment of the cockpit below the window on the pilots side. I found that both the high-resolution photo of the fragment of bullet riddled cockpit as well as the segment of grazed wing have in the meantime disappeared from Google Images. One can find virtually no more pictures of the wreckage, except the well-known smoking ruins.
– suggesting that whoever is responsible for this has the ability to remove images from Google.
THE Su25 is equipped with a 250-round magazine of anti-tank incendiary shells. Haisenko saw evidence of these having gone right through the cockpit from both sides. There was some problem over this SU25 ffighter jet reaching 33,000 feet, normally it doesn’t go above 25,000 feet, however experts reckon it can stay at 33,000 feet for a limited period.
This would explain why the Malaysian MH17 was not allowed to cruise at its normal height of 36,000 feet but was given a limit of 33,000 feet.
An authoritative German report likewise concluded: ‘Surface-to-air-missile attack ruled out as calibre of cockpit bullet holes puts Ukraine pilots in the frame for MH17 murders’:
You can see the entry holes and some exit points. The edges of the bullet holes are bent inwards, these are much smaller and round in shape. A 30mm calibre. The exit holes are less well formed and the edges are torn outwards. Furthermore it is visible that the exit holes have torn the double aluminium skin and bent them outwards. That is to say, splinters from inside the cockpit blew through the outside of the cabin. The open rivets have also been bent outwards….There is only one conclusion one can make, and that is that this: the aircraft was not hit by a missile. The damage to the aircraft is exclusively in the cockpit area…. The cockpit of MH 017 was hit from TWO sides, as there are entry and exit holes on the same side….’
The BBC has deleted its own news report on this matter – a report with the too-shocking title, “Ukrainian Fighter Jet Shot Down MHI7 – Donetsk Eyewitnesses”. The original BBC Video Report was published by BBC Russian Service on July 23, 2014.
Earlier on July 17th, the BBC had reported on confiscation of essential last recordings with the pilot just before the shootdown: “Ukraine’s SBU security service has confiscated recordings of conversations between Ukrainian air traffic control officers and the crew of the doomed airliner, a source in Kiev has told Interfax news agency.”
These details do matter, as the Western media seem to be trying to generate a WW3 situation out of what is in essence just another false-flag terror event – and doing this over the precise 100-year anniversary of the WW1 Outbreak. I will believe the stories of 293 deaths from this event as and when the flight passenger list is published – still, there is NO LIST of allegedly-dead passengers.
Pilot Confesses
On 25 July, the pilot of the Ukrainian Su-25, as shown in a presentation by the Russian General Staff, admitted to have shot at the MH17 plane cannon. The plane was, however, flown during that particular mission by a Polish pilot with a US citizenship. “Peter Hiller” [Heller?], age 41. The US contractor/mercenary was supposed to have left Ukraine on July 20 for Poland and then with a new passport (and a name?) for another country.
Comparisons with earlier Malaysian Airlines tragedy – the MH370 shot down March 8th over Indian Ocean: As with that earlier tragedy, there is evidence that contact with Malaysia Airlines flight 17 was lost in advance of the wayward event. Next, and once more like flight 370, there is evidence that the pilot of Flight 17 actually diverted–purportedly on the basis of a vague sense of being “uncomfortable”–the craft into the dangerous warzone region where it was shot down.
A July 17 Coincidence?
Russia’s last ruling monarch of the Romanov family Tsar Nicholas II, together with his wife Tsarina Alexandra and their five children Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and Alexei were executed on 17 July 1918. A subliminal message to Putin? Or just another “coincidence”? The MH 17 crash also shares an anniversary with the demise of TWA 800, which some view as having been brought down by a missile on July 17, 1996 and subsequently covered up by the US government. The maiden flight of MH17 was also on 17 July!
Russia has called for a non-political investigation of the crash. That is the one thing which cannot be allowed to occur for a state-fabricated terror event. Instead, the Netherlands, Australia, Malaysia, Britain, Belgium, Germany, the Philippines, Canada, New Zealand, Indonesia, the United States and Ukraine agreed to a joint ‘prosecutor’ team, said a Eurojust statement. – See more at: ‘Countries agree to MH17 prosecutor team’ What is America doing in this ‘Eurojust’ (?) team, as it had no casualties? Why isn’t Russia in it, as it has much relevant evidence? This isn’t an investigation – clearly, the team ‘already knows’ who is responsible, it canot be allowed to debate that.
Kiev Government collapses
On Thurs 24th Kiev parliament and its entire cabinet collapsed with Yats resigning – was this due to the shock and demoralisation of realising it was party to state-fabricated terror? Ostensibly it was due to the parliament’s refusal to sign the IMF’s ‘shock therapy’ – i.e selling off all national assets to repay debts. Yats explained: “Our government now does not have an answer to the question how to pay salaries,” he said. “How to support the army and armed forces? How not to demoralize the spirits of those tens of thousands of people who are sitting not in this hall, but in trenches under bullets?”
Soon after the incident, British news outlets began floating the story – without evidence, that MH17 was diverted to “avoid thunderstorms in southern Ukraine”. This was also placed onWikipedia at the same time. The Dutch Nico Voorbach, president of the European Cockpit Association, was the man used to nudge out this talking point. Voorbach casually slides this crucial fabrication out there, telling The Guardian of all papers, “”I heard that MH17 was diverting from some showers as there were thunderclouds”. Malaysian Airlines immediately refuted this in a report from Malaysia News:
“MAS operations director Captain Izham Ismail has also refuted claims that heavy weather led to MH17 changing its flight plan. “There were no reports from the pilot to suggest that this was the case,” Izham said.
Thereby Western media have acknowledged that a change in the flight path did occur – later admitting that “heavy weather” narrative was a fabrication.
E-mails plotting the Terror-Event
email pre-event https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWfrfxerKp0
(this has quickly become unavailable, in a few days – but see here) Intercepted e-mails
Ihor,
Events are moving rapidly in Crimea. Our friends in Washington expect more decisive actions from your network.
I think it’s time to implement the plan we discussed lately. Your job is to cause some problems to the transport hubs in the south-east in order to frame-up the neighbor.
It will create favorable conditions for Pentagon and the Company to act.
Do not waste time, my friend.
Jason P. Gresh
Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army
Assistant Army Attaché
U.S. Embassy, Kyiv
So the Pentagon and ‘the company’ are planning something.
Proceed with caution. speak only Russian…There is a lot of scrap metal, with it you can do anything. Damaged aircraft you specify. It is essential that all was as real attack. Neighbours special forces. But without corpses.
So ‘corpses’ may have to be provided. A fabricated scene is envisaged.
‘Remember, you need everything to be as real attack of the Russian Special Forces’ Igor Protsyk (cocmmander of General Staff of Armed forces of Ukraine) to Basil
It has to look like a real attack by the ‘Russian Special forces’
Crisis actors are around at once after the event, as usual: http://nodisinfo.com/ukrainian-crisis-actors-zionist-mh17-hoax/ Fake corpses are lying around http://nodisinfo.com/synthetic-gore-real-dead-bodies-mh17-hoax/ forged new passports are lying around http://nodisinfo.com/mh17-passport-staging-proves-hoax-nodisinfo-video/
Always in state-fabricated terror, the morphing of the wargame/terror drill into the real thing is the crux of the matter, it’s the secret. Thus a US navy expert has described how: ” “The entire MH 17 “exercise” was run by the US Navy ships with the NATO multinational exercises taking place offshore from Crimea. Everyone in the NATO exercise was involved in order to implicate them in the crime just like MH 370 The US also had a new hi-tech satellite over the Ukraine during this time. He also said the Ukrainian forces went into Donetsk two days ahead of the crash with 9 communications posts so they could synchronize everything with the NATO forces offshore.” (Source: Leuren Moret) The area ‘held by rebels’ was very small and the weather was cloudy and MH17 was not visible from the ground, so getting it to crash into that small area way off the proper flight path involved skilful co-ordination between the wargame-elements.
Rage of the Empire
On 16th an epoch-making event happened in Brazil, the formation of a BRICS bank. This “will promote the global system of economic governance to develop in a just and fair direction,” aimed at funding infrastructure projects in developing nations. It will be based in Shanghai, and India will preside over its operations for the first five years, aiming to “alleviate challenges” nations face the “international financial system”. The strategy emerges from the China-Russia alliance, recently featured via the gas “deal of the century” and at the St. Petersburg economic forum. Putin’s symbolic meeting with Fidel Castro in Havana, as well as writing off $36 billion in Cuban debt. A large contingent of Latin American leaders joining Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and the other BRICS leaders in Brazil for a summit where the United States will not have a seat at the table. Putin also attended the final game of the World Cup in Rio. Russia is the host of 2018 World Cup. Putin also visited Argentina where he signed a deal on nuclear energy. The interest of Iran, Argentina, Nigeria, Syria, and Egypt in joining BRICS may soon see the group’s acronym become BRICSIANSE. The Obama administration could not convince a single South American leader to avoid the BRICS summit in Brazil!
This meeting, culminating on the 16th, gives a new hope for the world’s future – and so had a lot to do with the MH-17 shootdown. The very intense demonization of Putin – or even his ‘Hitlerization’ one may say – has followed this BRICS event. The G8 summits no longer exist, after Russia was expelled – they’re called G7 now.
See earlier article, Ukraine: 777 and state-Fabricated Terror.
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How to Manage Workplace Stress in Tech
Tim Cannon April 27th 2017 8:30 pm
Workers in all types of jobs are often expected to be “on call” at all times, creating a significant problem with workplace stress and work-life balance — and it’s especially bad in the tech industry. In fact, The 2016 Health IT Stress Report found that 55 percent of professionals in the field are at least frequently or constantly stressed.
What’s more, 38 percent rated their stress intensity as high or extremely high, while 45 percent said their stress occurs on a frequent or chronic basis. Tech professionals are stressed out and burnt out, and if employers and managers don’t take action, they’re going to face major talent problems.
To get to the bottom of this issue, we talked to tech managers and executives about the drivers of stress in tech, and how to get it under control. Here’s what they had to say:
The Root of the Problem
Workplace stress in the tech industry goes beyond the stress found in most offices, but how did it get that way? What makes stress in tech so bad? There are a few underlying reasons. One is that the technology is so unpredictable, said Erica Scott, an operations manager at ezLandlordForms.
“Our company today just experienced a bug because of one minor change on our website,” she said. “This uncorrelated minuscule change made an entire system malfunction.”
All technology workers deal with constantly changing priorities that arise from errors, but many are putting out these fires in young companies without much experience and resources.
“Most tech companies are very early in the business lifecycle,” said Abhishek Lal, CEO and cofounder of Vedsutra. “As an employee, you not only have to keep an eye on your individual work, but also on the hundreds of continuous changes happening around you within your company, and very often even outside it from new competitors and investor pressure.”
And as more and more tech startups pop up, that means more competition, more pressure, and more stress for employees.
“The level of competition in all aspects of tech is at the highest it has ever been,” said Mike Catania, CTO of the savings community PromotionCode.org. “In a more global environment, it's simply expected that you'll work as needed because of the constant threat of outsourcing and contracting.”
And as if all that wasn’t enough, tech professionals work everyday knowing that one mistake can have devastating effects.
“If you mess up, you very rarely get a second chance,” said Sam Williamson, Office Manager at European Circuits. “Especially when building circuit boards as we do — mistakes are worth thousands.”
But in other areas of tech, such as healthcare, more than money is on the line. Mistakes can cost a patient’s life.
“I can’t think of another industry where technology disruptions can have an impact on a patient’s life and you have that kind of pressure on you,” said Kim Garriott, Principal Consultant, Healthcare Strategies for Logicalis Healthcare Solutions. “Sure things can be dire in any industry, but you don’t have literal life and death.”
The Signs of Stress
Workplace stress has become an expected part of the tech industry because of each of these underlying factors. That means when the stress becomes too much, many employees don’t speak up. When employees keep their stress, questions, and concerns bottled up, there’s a direct ripple effect up to C-suite leaders.
As stress continues growing, employee productivity and motivation will drop, putting even more pressure on the C-suite to solve major issues impacted by the drop.
“I can always tell when an employee is stressed because they become short when dealing with customers and get over emotional at any hump they need to overcome,” said Scott.
It’s important for tech employers to recognize when employees are stressed, and then take steps to help relieve the pressure.
“The single most important indicator of stress is how often you see your employees socializing with each other in the office,” said Lal. “During periods where employees are stressed, you will often see them rushing through their breaks to get back to work and cutting down on social activities. Increasing health-related problems in the office and sometimes even verbal fights are indicative of increased office stress.”
Managing Stress in Tech
While much of the workplace stress professionals encounter is caused by the nature of the tech industry, C-suite leaders play an important role in keeping it under control.
“At the end of the day, management is a huge factor to stress,” said Ted Chan, Founder and CEO of the online healthcare portal CareDash.com. “Things go wrong a lot in tech. Managers need to take accountability and guide employees without losing faith in them. The relationship between managers and employees needs to be built on trust.”
A big part of building solid relationships with employees is communication from the company’s leaders and how trust flows from the top down.
“Keeping lines of communication open throughout the organization is also very important so that red flags can be raised sooner rather than later,” Lal said. A very simple way to do this is to maintain an online form employees can fill out if they have any suggestions or concerns.”
Part of changing workplace stress comes down to changing the office culture. Employees need to know that taking a break is OK. Seeing C-suite executives lead by example and encourage self-care is the best way to ensure employees are comfortable taking the same liberties.
“It's particularly challenging in a team environment to be away because an employee can feel like they're letting everyone down,” said Catania. “It's important to reinforce that you work better when you're under less stress and a less-stressed version of you is more integral to the team.”
Offering employees freedom and flexibility to structure their days is another solution to the workplace stress problem, Chan shared.
“At CareDash, we have a completely flexible work environment. We find that if you hire smart people, give them the right direction, and let them optimize company and personal goals, we can get a lot of things done without unnecessary stress.”
Read more about being a healthy entrepreneur here on Tech.Co
Photo: Flickr / aaayyymm eeelectriik
Tim Cannon
@HealthITJobscom
Tim Cannon the vice president of product management and marketing at HealthITJobs.com, a free job search resource that provides health IT professionals access to nearly 2,000 industry health IT jobs at home or on the go. Connect with Tim and HealthITJobs.com on LinkedIn.
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Technori
Three Principal Lessons in Disruption from Drew Lydecker
Drew Lydecker admits that his company, AVANT Communications, can’t be summed up easily.
Drew Lydecker, AVANT Communications co-founder and president (John Rosin/Technori)
“What we are in a nutshell –– it’s not the easiest thing to explain,” the founder and president says. “We’re a platform. But we’re a sales enablement company at our core.”
The nine-year-old Chicago company (not to be confused with the also-local personal loan company Avant) is fundamentally a distributor of the three C’s of communications technology: cloud, colocation, and connectivity. “Everything that all your equipment here is plugged into,” says Drew, as we talk in the WGN studio on Navy Pier.
AVANT represents more than 1,500 data centers, 110 cloud computing companies, and 93 carriers globally. Its partners include massive telecom providers as well as a host of smaller companies that provide specialized security, data storage, and networking. Arguably, its specialty is cloud solutions: a raft of “as-a-service” technologies like IaaS, UCaaS, DRaaS, DaaS, and BaaS. “You could probably make one up. We represent it,” he jokes.
The platform is, as Drew explains, a way for experts –– particularly consultants who position themselves as Trusted Advisors –– to go for their own expertise, empowering them to make the best choices –– and the best deals.
AVANT is not only disruptive. It researches, curates, and promotes other disruptors. What drives Drew and his company forward? Here, he discusses three core principles that guide their work.
The speed of advancement in information technology is head-spinning. Keeping up to date on, much less assessing, every new product or service is too much for even the biggest companies (or consulting firms) to do alone. Plus, every customer is unique.
“We study the ins and the outs of every bit of that technology,” Drew says. “All the carrier services, the data centers, the cloud market. We have a massive team of engineers.”
Because the landscape is constantly evolving, AVANT partners with new vendors all the time. One of the latest additions to the AVANT Communications portfolio is Chicago’s own Trustwave, a cloud platform for automated, efficient, and cost-effective threat, vulnerability,8 and compliance management. Three million companies worldwide use Trustwave’s platform.
“Cloud security is just completely cuckoo hot right now,” says Drew.
AVANT is also emerging as a leader in another red-hot space: the SD-WAN market. The technology –– software-defined networking in a wide area network –– is a way to optimize digital traffic by automatically determining the best route to and from branch offices and data center sites. It’s incredibly versatile, too. It allows small companies to use cheaper internet connections, and large enterprises with worldwide locations can manage network connectivity more efficiently.
“The only constant is the rate of change, and the rate of change is getting faster and faster every day,” says Drew.
Capitalize on the Growing Need for Trusted Advisors
Rapid change has a way of leaving chaos, or at least confusion, in its wake. Enter the Trusted Advisor.
The term itself is loosely defined. Though it was coined by Dale Carnegie, it was popularized for our era by business consultants David Maister, Charles Green, and Robert Galford in their 2001 book of the same name. They devised a trust “formula” based on credibility, reliability, intimacy, and working transparently in the client’s best interest. In the age of disruption, that kind of trust is relevant, and in demand, than ever.
Drew sees AVANT as a path to Trusted Advisor status.
“Our sales enablement allows companies, whether you’re CDW or a standalone consultant, to get into that game, monetize it, and be that Trusted Advisor to help navigate the confusion that every customer has around next-gen technology,” he says.
Perhaps the most compelling solution AVANT offers is BattleApp, a suite of interactive digital sales tools that can be customized to each partners unique needs, including their own branding and intellectual property. Users can sort and filter through providers to quickly find the best options for each client, and access content like case studies and sales document templates. AVANT calls it “your customer-facing sales weapon.”
Drew sees BattleApp as a way to stand out in a hyper-competitive environment. “It differentiates you when you get a seat at the table,” he says. “The Trusted Advisor is an exploding market. We’re the platform for that. We give you the tools and the technology. We train you.”
A solo consultant, says Drew, can take advantage of AVANT’s platform to exponentially increase their expertise. “A one-man shop can be as powerful as Accenture,” he says.
Focus = Agility
“If you’re a really, really big company right now, you’re staving off extinction,” Drew says. “Because companies that are laser focused, that you’ve never heard of in your life, are eating the candy from the big companies that aren’t very nimble.”
This is a trend he identified early in his career, and it ties into AVANT’s origin story. Like many local tech leaders, Drew and his founding partner, CEO Ian Kieninger, got their start at local IT solutions stalwart CDW, where they were part of a specialized telecommunications team. “We helped navigate the waters of carrier services for our clients, and while we were there, we saw this massive gap in distribution,” he says. “There was nobody taking advantage of these laser-focused, small firms. Nobody was studying them, nobody was enabling them.”
Drew saw a gap, as well, in the area of sales enablement. There wasn’t technology for it yet. Salespeople needed tools, training, resources, and to be able to differentiate themselves in the market. “It was that ‘aha moment’ that every good entrepreneur has,” he says. “We could disrupt something and create something that didn’t exist. And thus, AVANT.”
Today, the company is rapidly expanding its user base. Drew notes that they’ve had about 600 new individual partners in the last two years, not counting the big-business corporations in its portfolio. “I think that what’s so exciting about the time that we live in right now is that you can be anything and anyone in any company,” he says. “You don’t have to work for IBM. You can be on your own. It’s an explosion of entrepreneurs in our ecosystem.”
Category: ListenBy Scott Kitun December 31, 2018
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14 Women Business Leaders Share Their Top Business Tips
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Home » Cryptocurrency
Stream: The better future of streaming monetization
TechStartups Team Posted On September 15, 2017
If you’re a content creator on some of the most popular hosting sites like YouTube, Netflix, Twitch and Periscope, chances are you’re looking for a better way to get paid fairly for your creations. Many content hosting sites are taking away significant fees from their creator partners, usually ranging between 30% and 55%. With the birth and rise of blockchain technology to the mainstream, a new platform has been designed from the ground up to let you and your content get paid for what it’s really worth. Introducing Stream, a decentralized economic backbone that lets content creators be fairly incentivized for anything they put into the broad media space. It empowers an open yet secure environment for content creators to get rewarded in the most seamless and easiest way possible.
Spearheaded by a team of passionate people from diverse tech backgrounds, Stream is a blockchain-based token system where users can source their payments for their content from anywhere in the world – all without paying exorbitant transaction fees. Since the goal of Stream is to provide the most seamless and easiest way for content creators to monetize their craft, users can be free to make great content without having restrictions to centralized platforms. Stream aims to make payments hassle-free and secure by eliminating the need of requiring users to provide certain information that may be linked to their personal online identity. It also axes out illiquidity, a standard practice of centralized platforms to make profit out of floating payments, since Stream lets content creators have a greater flexibility and access to their payments as they wish.
Powered by the Ethereum decentralized blockchain, streamers on Stream are awarded with newly-minted tokens called the Stream token as they contribute their content to the media ecosystem. Through Ethereum, these tokens can be easily converted into cash at any time without restrictions on maximum or minimum withdrawals. Stream also lets content creators use the tokens to further grow their content reach and monetization potential by incentivizing their own content over other decentralized broadcasting platforms.
Stream brings a fresh take on content monetization, allowing streamers to get the most out of their content and be paid for what they’re really worth. By tapping into the power of decentralized blockchain technology, Stream focuses heavily on making content more profitable by taking away the downsides of centralized platforms, and empower each and every content creator to build their future and make a great living out of their passion for creating incredibly engaging digital content.
bitcoinethereum
Stream Takes the Lead; Content Creation Breaks Free From the Shackles of Big Players.
Top ICO List Review: The Best Place for ICO Information and Updates
YouCan BlueWater 1: Explore the ocean without being there
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An Ode to Bruce
Andrew Williams — arts@theaggie.org
Photo Credits: ANDREW WILLIAMS / AGGIE
An unabashed love story about a boy and his fish
I have never considered myself a fish guy. What good is a pet fish? They aren’t fluffy, they don’t cuddle, they certainly aren’t cute. I believed a pet fish to be a useless, nitwitted conglomerate of helpless cells that offers no benefit to any self-respecting human being. Everything changed, however, once I laid my eyes on a certain fish — my sweet darling Bruce.
This fish tale all began when my parents decided to take a trip to Europe and informed me that they were to leave a parting gift — a puny, nondescript fish that my sister won at the County Fair. It had been passed from sister to parents and now, finally, it was landing at my doorstep. I initially pushed back, but eventually I caved and agreed to take in the sad sap.
It was a crisp mid-September’s day when my parents came to deliver the glorified guppy. I took the fish in and the kitchen counter became his residence. At first, he was just another common object in sight — comparable to the dusty knife rack next to which he lived next. Regardless, my roommates and I decided that if he was going to live under our roof, he would have a name. We settled on Bruce: an homage to the late Australian Great White Shark in Pixar’s “Finding Nemo.” Weeks went by and I found that Bruce and I were getting along just swimmingly. He became a constant in my life. Through thick and thin, he was always there, zipping about his bowl.
Bruce is no ordinary fish. He is a smart cookie with a sparkling personality. How do I know this? He does tricks. Bruce gallantly follows your finger round and round the bowl. He is a symphony at my fingers’ command, twisting and twirling about, seeking nothing but companionship. Perhaps to a heartless fish despiser, this might not sound like much, but in person, it is quite the spectacle and a sure-fire way to entertain a small crowd at any social gathering.
Bruce gradually became the pride of the manor and proved himself to be a true renaissance fish. I am sure some readers are still doubting the benefits Bruce provides because at the end of the day, despite his sparkling scales and inquisitive kind eyes, he still is, after all, a fish. But nay, he is so much more.
Bruce is discipline. Every day at 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. sharp, I pop four fish pellets in his tank. This simple routine adds consistency to collegiate chaos.
Bruce is compassion. I can always count on him to hear me out in times of distress. Let’s be honest, as we vent about our pent up day’s frustrations, do we ever really have someone who responds in just the right way? All he has to do is pace knowingly by opening and shutting his mouth in comforting acknowledgment, which never fails to put my mind at ease.
Bruce is a conversation piece. Trying to schmooze a lovely lady or a handsome man? I say pshaw to the voluptuous corgi or labradoodle. Get yourself a fish that does tricks.
My relationship with Bruce hasn’t all been peaches and cream. Recently, it almost went spiraling down the drain (quite literally) last week when Bruce’s bowl was due for a deep scrub. When I poured Bruce out of the bowl and into a bag, I missed and he went plummeting into the depths of the garbage disposal. Without thinking, I thrust my hand down the hole in a last-ditch effort to save my beloved friend. I felt something slippery and wet. Was it my beloved aquatic compatriot? No, just some soggy leftover penne pasta. I tried once again and alas, he emerged from the brink of death, flopping and out of breath, but unscathed.
His flirt with peril made me realize how much he truly meant to me. I had turned a complete-180 on the idea of a pet fish and now could not bear the idea of a life without my dear Bruce. To any tentative fish parents out there considering bringing a scaly finned companion into the fold, I say take the plunge. (Disclaimer: No guarantees they live up to Bruce).
Written by: Andrew Williams — arts@theaggie.org
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The Arts Desks’ weekly picks for movies, books, music and television
An exploration of music as community Campus is a strange place. Don’t get
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Judicial System, Political, Voting
Democratic Supreme Court Justices Go Too Far
Daily Conspiracy Writers
The world is nothing like you thought it was..
With elections looming, the Democrats are pulling out all the stops to ensure a victory. This includes messing with the district maps.
In fact, a dozen GOP Pennsylvania lawmakers are now pushing back by introducing legislation to impeach four Democratic Supreme Court Justices for ruling the state’s congressional district maps were unconstitutionally gerrymandered.
In January, Pennsylvania Supreme Court determined that the current congressional districts in the state were unfair to the Democratic party. Then the GOP-led state Senate and House was tasked with redrawing the districts.
Then in February, two Pennsylvania Republicans submitted a new map prior to the deadline that was given last month after the ruling.
Now Republicans are making a push to impeach the justices for the ruling.
“The Republicans moved to impeach Justices David Wecht, Christine Donahue, Kevin Dougherty and Debra McCloskey Todd, all Democrats who found the state’s congressional map was designed to favor Republicans and must be replaced before the May primary. Justice Max Baer (D), who also voted to strike down the map, but said it could remain in place until 2020, wasn’t mentioned in the impeachment resolutions,” writes The Huffington Post. “The legislation comes a little more than a month after state Rep. Cris Dush (R) urged impeachment of the Democratic justices. The state Supreme Court ruled in January 5-2, along party lines, that congressional districts drawn in 2011 were so lopsided to benefit Republicans that they violated the guarantee of free and equal elections. The court gave lawmakers three weeks to draw a new map with Gov. Tom Wolf (D), but imposed its own plan once they failed to reach an agreement. Two Republican appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court and a federal lawsuit have been unsuccessful in blocking the new map.”
Gerrymandering is when political boundaries are drawn purposely to give a party a numeric and political advantage over an opposing party. There is no law against gerrymandering and is a common technique often used by both the GOP and Democrats.
Dush said in a memo that the ruling forcing the Pennsylvania congressional district maps to be redrawn was an overstep of judicial authority.
“The five Justices who signed this order that blatantly and clearly contradicts the plain language of the Pennsylvania Constitution engaged in misbehavior in office,” said Dush in the memo to fellow House members.
The resolution legislation was drafted back in January when the Supreme court made the ruling. The U.S. Supreme Court also denied the GOP lawmakers’ request to challenge the decision.
Pennsylvania Democratic Governor Tom Wolf disagreed and called the new map “fair.”
“I applaud these decisions that will allow the upcoming election to move forward with the new and fair congressional maps,” said Wolf in a statement. “The people of Pennsylvania are tired of gerrymandering and the new map corrects past mistakes that created unfair congressional districts and attempted to diminish the impact of citizens’ votes.”
The new map will likely help the Democrats pick up two more seats.
“This is basically 7th-grade civics class all over again, the separation of powers and the authority of the legislature,” said Dush to The Hill. “The courts basically are there to interpret when there’s conflict in the law, and they don’t have any sovereignty.”
“But Republicans control both chambers of the state legislature, and therefore the impeachment process. Dush said Republican leaders in the state legislature were especially keen to target Wecht, who won election to his ten-year term in 2015 while promising to examine the legality of district maps,” writes The Hill.
President Donald Trump said that Penn. GOP lawmakers should challenge the new map “all the way to the Supreme Court, if necessary.”
“Your Original was correct!” tweeted Trump. “Don’t let the Dems take elections away from you so that they can raise taxes & waste money!”
Not all Republican lawmakers seem up to the challenge though.
“Nonetheless, we respect the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court and are prepared to move on to other issues of importance to the people of Pennsylvania,” said Mike Turza, Penn. House Speaker.
Not to mention, the last time a judge was impeached in Pennsylvania was back in 1994, after a justice was found guilty of a felony.
Even if the lawmakers are unsuccessful, this move will likely inspire more states to focus on gerrymandering and make Democrats think twice before trying to pull the same stunt.
When judges play politics as these 5 “Democrat” Justices did, it is “live by the sword, die by the sword.”
When judges legislate, they can expect legislators to respond in kind. Even in California, the voters recalled Chief Justice Buird who refused to enforce its death penalty ever.
Well, I’ll say it for the umpteenth time: REVOLUTIUON will be the final SOLUTION – guaranteed; the Godless, Satan worshiping, power-mad NWO-elitist ghouls are large and in charge and voting has become akin to a third world banana Republic – we’ll be voting with our guns and they know that and that is why their NWO-FBI is committing all of these gun-control, false flag mass shootings! They have stacked the judicial system with, as M. Savage has defined them, with Red Diaper Doper Baby judges so they are always in a win-win situation! Armr================== ? – – – – – , we definitely will be needing them against Them!
Philadelphia is already a Third World African s—hole which should be given to Camden NJ. Think of all the welfare payments that the PA taxpayers won’t have to make when all the African welfare cases are New Jersey’s problem.
I used to be a Field Service Engineer traveling all over the states and occasionally across the pond. The “City of Brotherly Love” was one of my most dreaded trips. Plainly and bluntly, if you ain’t a “brother”, you ain’t “loved.”
Wow!! Paranoia at its peak! Another gun loving redneck who thinks that his gun will solve a political problem. If the judges favor the GOP they are doing a great job, if they favor the Dems. they are unpatriotic, should be impeached and shot on sight. What drivel from an ignoramus.
The issue is that the judges don’t have the authority to make up the new districts. It is up to the state legislature.
Hmmmm! Now what did your Lord tell you people. Jesus Christ would be astounded as to why you just don’t seem to get it – “I didn’t tell you to HATE anyone!”. Get over it!
By far, most politicians are in office to protect their job in office, in any way possible, legal or not.
Something else that needs doing but I doubt it will ever happen, impeach a few of the judges on the US Supreme Court, it can begin with Ginsberg and Sotomayor. Ginsberg is as useless as mammary glands on a bore hog! she is 60 YO and is a prime candidate for a nursing home, I am 79 and ashamed of SCOTUS! As I understand it, SCOTUS was not established to make or pass laws, it’s sole function is to interpret the Constitution by giving its opinion which carries NO WEIGHT, at most it would be a mere suggestion of its understanding of the Constitution and nothing more!
Nuff said!!!!
Yes, you are right, NUFF SAID, because you want the Supreme Court to rule according to your delusional view of the Constitution. If that were true the Justices should be elected by the people and not by the President who stacks the Court with his favorites in order for them to rule in favor of whatever he wants. Yes, NUFF SAID, because if you keep writing you´ll make me throw up.
“Nuff said”!!!! Why do you keep saying ‘Nuff said, then keep on boring us by coming back and saying ‘Nuff said’ over and over again. Don’t bother replying, it’s a rhetorical question! NUFF SAID!!!!
When he says NUFF SAID he means that what he has just said is the only truth in the universe and the rest of us should just shut up and fear his wrath. A right wing pseudo patriot.
This case may ultimately force the U.S. Supreme Court to revisit the issue of whether we should allow the party in power to monopolize its power thru gerrymandering. Gerrymandering has gone on for more than 2 centuries but it’s much nastier and much more cutthroat than ever before. Gerrymandering of Congressional districts thwarts the will of the people. We should force ALL STATES to use non-partisan commissions to draw Congressional districts, legislative districts, and set the rules for voting locations, hours, and qualifications to vote. There is way too much manipulation going on by the political party in power.
There needs to be a better way to draw district maps; perhaps if both parties actually tried to draw maps that didn’t favor their own position then there could be elections that truly represented the will of the residents. What a concept, something bipartisan and fair, but don’t hold your breath.
This has been a ploy of the GOP in many states to win elections. seat
dont think it was the GOP that brought this up. it wasnt a ploy till democrats trying to redistrict maps to gain seats. the GOP had nothing to do with it!!
THREE US Supreme Court Justices will be taken out of office. Wait and see !
The truth will come out re: Justice Scalia and the chemical given to him to
simulate a heart attack will be known.
BTW, Justice Ginsberg is 85 years……plus nine months !
Leave a Reply to Enrique S. Rasmussen Cancel reply
Facebook is Losing its Value Proposition March 23, 2018
Question Authority March 26, 2018
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30th April 2015 JohnHHill Leave a comment
I am innocent of the blood of this Person. (Mathew 27.24)
His wild heart beats with painful sobs
His strained hands clench an ice cold rifle
His aching jaws grip a hot parched tongue
His wild eyes search unconsciously
He cannot shriek. (Herbert Read, 1915)
Easter 2015.
This Easter there was a stark reminder of a modern day Pontius Pilate washing his hands before the Australian multitude and intoning “I am innocent of the blood of this Person. (Mathew 27.24)
In a Perth hospital a young Iranian refugee, Saeed Hassanloo, lay dying. He is on a hunger strike, he has been in detention for four and a half years, he is a Christian. His application for a visa was rejected and he is to be deported to Shia Iran. He claims he will be tortured or killed because of his faith.
The Minister for Immigration, Mr Dutton, has indicated to the Press he is unable to assist this refugee now that his application has failed. Like Pontius Pilate, Mr Dutton is washing his hands of this professed Christian. Some two thousand years later The Minister, like the Governor of Judea, intends to hand this man over to the (Iranian) mob for some form of crucifixion. So ends the Easter message.
It is by curious chance Mrs J Bishop, Australian Foreign Minister, was in Iran discussing the the repatriation of Iranian refugees. On Saturday Extra it was disconcerting to hear Mathew Brown, ABC Correspondent, discussing the forcible repatriation of Iranian refugees which requires them to be ‘drugged and cuffed’ prior to boarding the aircraft.
In the months before Easter, Christian Europe has witnessed a plethora of nationalistic gatherings demonstrating on the dilution of ‘national’ character by a decades long influx of migrants with their attendant Islamic faith. Western governments are endeavouring to hose down this widening concern. Despite the ‘tyranny of distance’ concern has now reached Australian shores. Supporters for multiculturalism and for ‘Reclaim Australia’ have faced off across police lines. The situation is exacerbated by a birth rate below replacement in the Christian West jostling with a higher birth rate of the Moslem immigrants, it is an inexorable trend line with a cross over point some decades ahead.
The world is no stranger to mass migrations and from these history shows there are two possible outcomes. Migrants will possess a similar faith to the host country and will assimilate or the migrants or colonists will impose their faith, law and culture on the original inhabitants. Turning back the pages of history show different faiths tend to have a fractious coexistence when sharing the same tribal or national space when cultural stability or dominance is threatened. The ‘blood lands’ of Europe do not lightly wear this appellation.
Further, on Saturday Extra and germane to the above was a discussion on Australian academics in south-east Asian universities, from this followed comments on how these Asian nations do not dilute their national characteristics by immigration. In this regard Australia, United States and Canada have a comparable policies of accepting immigrants, because it is to this process they owe their existence.
Outback Degradation
From the Mount Lofty Ranges, brooding over Adelaide to Victor Harbor on the Fleurieu Peninsular, where Flinders and Baudin exchanged compliments, the pasture lands are parched blighted grey dying stubble over which token sheep or horses slowly move. Scattered vineyards in autumn undress rustle in the wind. It has been a long hot summer, in keeping with the Mediterranean climate. On a flight from Sydney to Adelaide, across the sweeping dry plains of NSW and SA to the Gulf of Saint Vincent, it is indeed a wide brown land virtually devoid of visible surface water. The flight generated the question ‘by how much has the carrying capacity of the land decreased since first European settlement?’ A lot!
Unfortunately, unless there is change in land use, the trend ‘towards a final hour’ is apparent. Trawling through the Range Lands Journal 2012 (G M McKeon), the Australian Natural Resources Atlas, the NSW State Environment Report 2000 and an Australian Academy of Science publication has unearthed disturbing information.
Since the 1890s there have been nine major prolonged droughts over eastern and central Australia. Soil scientists have have reached four principal conclusions:
* drought on its own does not cause degradation,
* persistent over-grazing is doing irreparable harm,
* European grasses are destroying natural pasture resistance and promoting woody weeds,
* fertilisers are causing degradation and soil erosion.
Following drought, pasture recovery requires above average extended rainfall with low grazing pressure. An increasing problem for the Australian pastoral industry is that improved cattle breeding ensures cattle remain on drought stricken pasture longer. A no win situation. A final conclusion is that the cattle industry is facing a major management problem at a time of degrading pasture, higher input costs, declining income and worsening climatic conditions. Degradation accelerants are:
* Soil Salinity is one of the most serious issues facing NSW agriculture. Salinity degradation has increased from 4000 ha in 1982 to 370,000 ha in 2000. It has been estimated that by 2050 60% (480,000 sq km) of NSW will be salt affected. Major salinity drivers are: clearance of native vegetation and the decline in soil nutrients particularly in wheat areas due to the application of inappropriate fertiliser. Irrigated land in the Murray Basin is also witnessing rising salinity.
* Soil Acidification is on the increase due to application of nitrogen and sulphur fertilisers which causes nitrate leaching, loss of nitrogen and removal of alkaline material which renders soil acid. Some 4% of soils were affected in 1987 but by 2000 it is estimated 7% of NSW soils may be affected. To slow down acidification, around 1.5 million tonnes of lime are required each year, but this is insufficient to halt the degradation. Forgone income in 2003 was estimated as $378 million.
* Soil Erosion. A 1987 survey indicated 38% of NSW pastoral and arable land is degraded by water and wind erosion and mass movement. The State of Environment Report 2006 concluded that in the past century erosion rates have increased by up to one hundred times.
Towards a Final Hour. Degradation trends are proven, unless there is a fundamental change in agricultural management, the area of usable pastoral and arable land will continue to decrease. The Final Hour might seamlessly merge into Gilding’s forecast of the mid-century ‘Great Disruption’.
End of Mission Afghanistan.
This was no Victory Parade. This was a Welcome Home March for the military who had served in Afghanistan in Australia’s longest war. The raw statistics over the twelve year war were 30,000 troops served, 41 died in action, 262 were seriously injured and around 10% (3000) suffer from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Four Victoria Crosses were awarded. Cost to the tax payer is around $7.5 billion.
Australia entered the war under the ANZUS Treaty soon after the 9/11 attack on the Twin Towers, New York The objective was to destroy al Qaida which had master-minded the attack. The Australian force was part of the coalition, the NATO lead International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). During the war Australian troops were involved in several missions, initially to support the United States and finally to train Afghan forces to maintain their own national security. Australian strategy in Afghanistan was often contradictory and vacillating due to:
* politicians having a poor grasp of military strategic issues
* the Australian force was a niche operation with in the large American effort resulting in friction
* there was only a critical assessment of Australia’s role with rising casualties in 2005.
( MacArthur Foundation Security Project)
Afghanistan in 2014 is very different to that of 2001. Al Qaida is a spent force but the Taliban, although weakened, is endeavouring to re-establish a political presence. The country is a fragile functioning democracy, regional control is not absolute and corruption is endemic. However, terrorist groups are no longer rampant and social services have improved. ISAF forces have left a country with a potential for development but if this falters it may become Afghanistan’s nemesis.
Following the exit strategy controlled by the United States, the Australian Government will have difficulty defining to the Australian people what Australia achieved in Afghanistan. A tangible benefit is that Australia now has a military core capable of operating in challenging political and physical conditions.
Setting aside the political and military legacy, the enduring domestic issue is PTSD among returned service personnel. This is a largely unrecognised blight in our Australian community. Sitting couch potato-like, comfortably watching pointless violent bloodless television, many of our citizens can acquire no sense of a slow agonising death or the horrific injury of children or adults, endured or witnessed by those in the armed forces. Television is there for entertainment or ratings, education is a lesser third.
ANZAC Day quite rightly commemorates the bravery, suffering and sacrifice of Australian forces at Gallipoli but at the same time the concentration of Government orchestrated influence does a disservice to those Australians who served on the Western Front and other later conflicts where carnage or the carnage rate was even greater. Four battles, among many, soon after Gallipoli are significant, namely:
* 1915 Gallipoli———–26,663 casualties over nine months (awm.gov.au/encyclopedia)
* 1916 Fromelles———–5533 casualties in one night (awm.gov.au/wartime)
* 1917 Passchendaele——-38,000 casualties over three months (awm.gov.au/military-event)
* 1917 Polygon Wood——–5770 casualties over two days (awm.gov.au/event)
* 1918 Villers-Bretonneux–2400 casualties in one night (ww1westernfront.gov.au/villers-bretonneux).
Gallipoli The terrible conditions are in the public arena; it is however sad that a popular image of this campaign is Simpson and his donkey that sanitises the horrors of war.
Fromelles. This offensive has been described by senior officers as a “tactical abortion and a bloody holocaust”. After the failed attack, an eye witness records Australians writhing in agony in a nomans land covered in pieces of human meat.
Passchendaele (3rd Battle of Ypres). The “intensity and horrendous conditions” moved a military officer to say, “this offensive symbolised the great loss,tragedy and futility of this war”. Five Australian divisions were involved. From this carnage sprouted ‘Flanders Fields where poppies grow’.
Polygon Wood. Amid seas of mud, 10,000 Australian troops of the 5th Division retook this position from the Germans.
Villers-Bretonneux (Amiens). The 5th Division took this position. It was a significant victory and crucial to ending the war. The Commander was General Sir John Monash who was instrumental in changing British military tactics.
The selection of Gallipoli as a focus for national ethos and commemoration is understandable, but illogical. The “birth” of Australian ethos could have equally occurred at Passchendaele which was a far more terrible event. Perhaps Gallipoli is an easier assimilable focus than the more defuse Western Front. This is regrettable as it ensures Australian youth has a myopic view of Australian contribution and sacrifice in the First World War and later wars. Somehow the Government must bring to the public mind a better understanding of Australia’s military history. With the effluxion of time and the passing of generations, historical fact will become garnished by myth. At some stage Gallipoli will have to share its pre-eminent position with military events of perceived greater moment.
In the welter of Gallipoli remembrance there appears to be a Government inspired culture of silence on the sacrifice and achievements of Australian troops in the Second World War. The raw numbers are:
* 17,500 casualties in the Pacific theatre (wikipedia.org/militaryhistoryofaustralia)
* 2,650 deaths on the Thai-Burma railway (anzacday.org.au/history/ww2)
* 40,600 deaths in Europe and North Africa (secondworldwarhistory.com/ww2)
Again, why the silence?
Australian military history represents an interesting triumvirate of endeavour, a partial compilation illustrates the point:
* First. The support of British Empire and the ANZUS Treaty well beyond our borders, e.g. Boer War, Western Front, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan etc.
* Second. Missions and Peace-keeping in Timor Solomon Islands, Cyprus, Sumatra etc.
* Third. Timor, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Malaya etc. This third group is significant as fighting in this theatre was actually involved in the defence of Australian borders. Australia was very nearly invaded by Japanese forces but Australians hear almost nothing on Australian victories and sacrifice in the defence of the Commonwealth of Australia. Why not? This is a fraught question.
A dark development may be unfolding. Hitherto, for one hundred years, the Turkish government has encouraged a secular society. By culture and tradition, Turkey follows Islam. Voices are now raised that favour a jihadist approach to the war with Australia. If momentum grows the nature of ANZAC services could be profoundly affected in Turkey. It has not been lost on Moslem intellectuals that Australia frequently calls on the Christian God when memorialising the Gallipoli campaign. Clearly Allah must also become involved.
I commemorated ANZAC Day at Pearl Beach, a small seaside village on the Central Coast. It was a day of quiet reflection. The pomp of National marches and the camaraderie is necessary however for people all over Australia – it is a peoples’ day. Letters on display to and from the Front contain deep emotions and longings that, if reflected in our own society today, would make it a kinder gentler society.
Rural Bliss
The face of the Upper Hunter and contiguous rural regions have transformed into an almost emerald landscape. Rainfall for the month reached 92 mm (over 3.5 inches) but it is still not sufficient to fill dams or make the local rivers run. Towards the end of April, a savage East Coast low battered and flooded coastal areas north and south of Sydney. To the Winds of Climate Change (January blog) can be added this latest weather disaster. Deaths. floods and wind damage have stretched Emergency Services.
The Drug Trade
There are four issues swirling round the events in Bali:
* ‘Saving face’ in Asian cultures is important. The megaphone diplomacy employed by the Australian Government gave no option to the Indonesian President but to maintain his Government policy. A back-down in the face of increasing pressure became unthinkable.
* The Australian Prime Minister has ‘lost face’ by his constant carping, one quiet phone call would have been sufficient. It is reported the President no longer accepts calls from the Prime Minister. The remainder of the Australian Government term will require bridge building. Australia needs Indonesia rather than visa versa.
* Throughout this sorry saga there has been a murky silence on the role of the Australian Federal Police. Their informant action has been expensive, has pushed diplomacy beyond accepted norms, has probably put trade at risk and polarised the community. The Federal Police owe the Australian public an explanation.
* As a fallout the Australian public should now see a ferocious policy on drug use in Australia. Such a policy should reflect the implacable opposition to the death penalty and an even more determined effort to reduce drug use in Australia. Anything less and sincerity might be questioned.
In this tense international situation Condorcet’s eulogy on the death of Benjamin Franklin comes to mind.
“He pardoned the present for the sake of the future.”
Previous PostMARCH 2015Next PostMAY 2015
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Businesses wince at minimum wage hike in Britain's stagnant economy
Tom BelgerFinance and policy reporter
Firms fear the impact of a higher minimum wage on their bottom line. Photo: PA
Britain’s lowest-paid workers will welcome a 6.2% rise in the minimum wage next April, but the plans have sparked fears of rising prices, workloads, and risks of automation and lower employment.
Unions called the planned increase to £8.72-per-hour “long overdue,” helping many households living in poverty after a decade of weak pay growth and squeezed living standards.
But business leaders gave the announcement a far more lukewarm reaction, with increased costs dampening their brighter mood since prime minister Boris Johnson’s election victory earlier this month.
It could mark a headache for many firms as warning signs grow over the UK economy, with figures this month showing economic growth grinding to a halt and private sector activity hitting a 41-month low.
Firms will ‘find this rise challenging’
Matthew Fell, chief UK policy director at the Confederation of British Industry, warned the size and pace of future increases must not put Britain’s recent employment boom at risk.
“Whilst it’s the right thing to do and many workers will feel the benefit, some firms will find this rise challenging in the face of tough economic conditions,” he said.
READ MORE: Boris Johnson vows to raise minimum wage four times faster than inflation
Hannah Essex, co-executive director at the British Chambers of Commerce, added: “Businesses want to pay their staff a good wage. But many have struggled with increased costs in a time of great economic uncertainty.”
She also said it could eat into investment and training budgets and put pressure on cashflow.
Craig Beaumont, the Federation of Small Business’ director of external affairs, issued a similar warning in starker terms.
“There’s always a danger of being self-defeating in this space: Wage increases aren’t much good to workers if prices rise, jobs are lost and there’s no impact on productivity because employers are forced to cut back on investing in tech, training and equipment,” he said.
Increased risks of automation and higher workloads
Prime Minister Boris Johnson and chancellor Sajid Javid announced the minimum wage rise next year. Photo: PA
But a report published alongside the announcement on Tuesday by the Low Pay Commission (LPC), which advises the government on minimum wage rates, said increases had different impacts on different kinds of firm.
It said smaller firms were most likely to delay or scale down investment to fund higher employment costs.
Meanwhile it said large employers “told us they were looking to invest in automation and training as a result,” with the implications “not clear” for employment levels in future.
Most employers told the LPC productivity had to increase to make pay rises sustainable, with surveys indicating higher staff workloads rather than increased investment in technology or training.
READ MORE: UK employment hits record high despite alarm bells over health of the economy
The LPC also sounded the alarm over “work intensification,” noting: “Employers reported expecting more flexibility and effort from staff, adding tasks to job roles and raising performance standards.
“Workers told us of the increased pressure they have come under from such changes.”
It noted a growing number of employers also saying they would increase prices to cover costs, the main response alongside reduced profits.
But it said many employers, particularly those reliant on government contracts, were unable to pass on costs. “Adult social care and childcare are in this group, with stakeholders telling us the sectors’ funding crises had not improved,” the report added.
How high wages can go without hitting jobs
The national minimum wage, now rebranded as the 'national living wage' for over-25s, and the minimum rates for other groups. Chart: Low Pay Commission
Torsten Bell, chief executive of the Resolution Foundation think tank, said increases were “welcome but not risk-free” in potentially threatening employment in future.
He urged caution over the rise, which marks the biggest ever cash increase in the two decades since the pay floor was introduced.
“We need to closely monitor evidence because we don't know how high minimum wages can go,” he said.
A report by the foundation earlier this year warned increases beyond an as-yet unknown point could leave the government with the “undesirable choice” of slashing the minimum wage or accepting job losses in future.
READ MORE: The areas of Britain where people earn the most
A series of studies commissioned by the LPC have shown “little evidence” past increases have cost jobs, with employment levels rising among workers most likely to be low-paid.
But Bell suggested the increased pace of current wage growth took Britain into uncharted territory, moving from the middle to the top of global league tables.
He called the government’s plans to hike the minimum wage to two-thirds of median incomes over the next few years a “huge change.”
He added: “Minimum wage is a huge policy success of the last 20 years. But that doesn't mean we should take lightly the task of navigating further increases, or ask a minimum wage to solve the national disgrace of working poverty on its own.”
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Charles Seife
Making a subset of an agency’s scientists who “know how to stay in their scientific lane” available to the press as part of a “trust-building exercise”? I want no part of it. I’ll remain one of the untrustworthy reporters, thank you very much.
I appreciate Rick’s perspective on both sides — but the dichotomy between agencies taken over by “ideological extremists” that need to be watched via FOIA versus the good guys is a false one. Any agency, no matter how well-meaning, has its skeletons and scandals that it will fight tooth and nail to prevent coming to light. And that’s a lane worth driving in, whether the agency gives its employees permission to go there or not.
Michael Kenward
As an even older hand at this caper, I urge all science communicators to read this excellent account of lessons learned when working “on the dark side”.
One particular point appealed to me. “While as a reporter I had seen PIOs as tools for me to further my craft, I now saw reporters as tools to serve my needs.”
It underlines the true role of the reporter. As the late great Steve Connor, among others, insisted it was not his job to “sell science”. That was the job of the PIO. He was there to hold science, and scientists, to account.
Then there’s the PIOs that simply don’t respond to inquiries. Put together “All inquiries must come through me” with zero response, not even a “No Comment” ; or respond with “I’ll see what I can find out” leading to months of silence, and it’s not easy for me as a journalist to retain respect for the PIO. I’ve had the press rep listen in during a phone interview, so set limits on what questions her expert could answer; I had no problem with this, and it resulted in some fine columns. However, inquiries that disappear into the void are a different matter.
Dan Vergano
I appreciate Rick writing about this, he has had an interesting ride. As someone who deals with these agencies regularly, I think “a pilot project where a PIO at some science-based agency picks a subset of that agency’s scientists who are good communicators and know how to stay in their scientific lane and makes them directly available to reporters as needed, as a trust-building exercise” is a terrific idea. It would essentially reset the situation to what it was a few decades ago, before the agencies were so politicized by the political staffers now running most comms shop, and sometimes minding the appointees, at many federal agencies. This really helped educate me when I was a new reporter, and would doubtless help now in most or all cases.
But to be clear — reporters are not megaphones to get out a”message” for agencies, but critical observers meant to poke holes in propaganda (even earnestly well-intentioned propaganda) by challenging it with outside experts, data, events, colorful social media of cats, etc. It is meant to be a conflict, especially in our sad, sick era of message control. About this, there shouldn’t be any illusions.
Dennis Overbye
As someone who has watched you go back and forth across these lines from a relatively close distance I can only say how hilariously honest and painfully true thus is. Thanks for putting it out there so artfully, pal.
Tom Rickey
Great post, Rick. Your thoughts get to the heart of so much of the recent discussion among science writers who are members of NASW. There are PIOs everywhere, including in gov’t agencies, who already do as you suggest, putting forth scientists who are good, honest communicators about science. And there are reporters who are worth every ounce of a PIO’s trust. While there are a lot of opportunities (and some necessity) to be at odds, there is a great deal of common ground centered around truth.
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Opinion: Why Every Journalist Should ‘Do Time’ as a Public Information Officer
A veteran science reporter’s stint in the Obama White House forced some soul searching about journalistic access.
Left:Top: In a political world, there is often an inherent conflict between full openness and policy success
By Rick Weiss
This piece is adapted from plenary remarks delivered October 16, 2018, at the National Association of Science Writers’ Information Access Summit.
In the spring of 2009, I was given an amazing opportunity to become director of communications in the Obama administration’s Office of Science and Technology Policy. I had no experience as a public information officer. But I had been a reporter for 20-plus years, and I thought to myself, how hard can this be?
What’s more, I wasn’t going to be one of those in-your-face PR people, who stays on the phone line during a press call or sits off to the side during an in-person interview, pretending not to care or listen, when really they’re ready to pounce if the person being interviewed says one thing beyond the agreed-upon talking points.
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In other words, I was going to be a champion for openness. But it didn’t take me long to learn that in a political world, there is often an inherent conflict between full openness and policy success. That revelation was professionally and ethically wrenching, forcing some soul searching about means and ends. It also left me feeling that if we really want a world where evidence has a full seat at the policy-making table, then every journalist should “do time” as a public information officer, and see the world for a stint through that uniquely strategic lens.
As a journalist, I saw government public information officers, or PIOs, primarily as agents to serve us reporters. In fact, they owed it to us, because we were representing the interests of the American people, whose tax dollars were paying for all this research. So when we asked to speak to a scientist, or to get hold of a draft report, or to see some records from some research project, it was not a matter of if we could have it, but rather “How fast can you get that for me?”
Naively, I maintained that journalist-friendly approach as a government PIO — for about an hour, until a reporter wrote a story that stretched a comment made by my boss, the president’s science advisor, to make it seem as though there was a big White House initiative to start geoengineering the climate.
That caused problems, and it was around then that I had an epiphany: Actually, it’s the job of us PIOs — not the media — to serve the American people. In fact, it’s officially our job. And yes, we’ll disseminate the results of taxpayer-funded research and give updates on programs funded by and for the American public. But it’s not always going to be on the media’s schedule or in a way the media want it, because we have a plan for serving the American people and this administration was elected to implement that plan. So, no, I just might not be able to help you today on deadline. And who the hell do these freaking reporters think they are?
Clearly, I had evolved. While as a reporter I had seen PIOs as tools for me to further my craft, I now saw reporters as tools to serve my needs. I had a message, and they were messengers, and what didn’t they get about that?
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Imagine my frustration. I would put out a release about some new, very important, very smart and socially beneficial program or policy and these reporters would treat it, well, the same way I used to treat self-serving releases put out by various institutions. Which is to say, they’d ignore it. And not only would they not report on these very important, even historic, administration and agency accomplishments. They would call wanting to report on other things … things I didn’t want to talk about!
There were two kinds of trouble here.
First there were the forces of journalistic evil, which were essentially open about the fact that their goal in life was to prevent me and my colleagues from fulfilling our righteous, duly elected agenda. And they would take whatever thread of something they could grab, put the worst spin on it, and then pull it and keep on pulling it for as long as they could get some juice out of it.
That was the case with our behavioral economics initiative. Social science research had shown that sometimes a small “nudge” is the best way to encourage positive societal change. So, for example, instead of sending threatening messages saying that people who cheat on their taxes will be fined and imprisoned, you send out friendly letters just reminding people that — you know what? — most people in your community pay their taxes in full and on time. Nudge nudge. Or when research shows that a main reason people don’t insulate their attics is because they can’t deal with all the clutter they’ve accumulated up there, you offer attic cleaning services as you try to get people to install energy-saving insulation. Nudge nudge.
But when media outlets caught wind that the administration was toying with using these techniques to encourage people to make healthful or energy-saving or money-saving decisions for themselves, they pounced.
So that program had to get toned down for a while, and a potential force for good was delayed. Lesson learned: Sometimes you have to choose between the virtue of openness and the virtue of keeping some efforts a little under the radar in order to make the world a better place — a place where people pay their taxes and more attics are insulated.
Then there were the well-meaning reporters who just wanted to know the latest on some aspect of policymaking or governance that was still in process. What they didn’t seem to appreciate is that to get anything done in government you need to get a lot of people to agree. There’s an art to making that happen, including countless drafts of key documents on the way to achieving consensus. Early drafts, if released, would leave entirely the wrong impression of what is actually being sought — or maybe the right impression but too soon, if there are people who haven’t bought in yet and who need to be stroked or cajoled. If the drafts are published as news, those people are going to be offended and the policy could be set back, if not killed entirely.
And this isn’t a game. We’re talking about policies that have the potential to affect and, if done right, help thousands of Americans. Is it really that hard to understand? I mean, how do you feel when your editor comes around an hour before deadline to look over your shoulder and judge your copy? Worse, how would you like your editor to take that copy — which you know looks like crap but that you also know is going to be a gem with just another hour’s work — and have that editor publish it online for now just to satisfy readers who are impatient to know the latest news?
So please, Mr. or Ms. Reporter, I found myself thinking, if you would just put aside your petty, self-important infatuation with being first and behave more like the public servant you claim to be — which, let me remind you, is actually my noble profession as a PIO — well, let’s face it, the world would be a better place.
As you can see, my righteous transformation was complete. Or so I thought. Because then, 2016 happened, and suddenly, there was Hope. No, not the Obama kind. I mean Hope Hicks. And Sean. And Sarah. And all at once, it seemed, government-associated PIOs were telling us that facts are literally not facts. And the facts that are facts are alternative facts. And these were my peeps. With the same job titles as I had!
But hooray, here comes the cavalry — heroic reporters asking hard questions! Demanding to see documents! Clamoring to know what the new administration is planning to do — yes, before those plans are complete! But this is different, right? What was I thinking before? How could I not have seen that my transformation to a virtuous government PIO had actually been a grotesque descent to a lower life form, from righteous reportorial seeker of truth to a dissembling flack. What Kool-Aid had I swallowed?
And so, for a time, I struggled. I reflected. Because yes, though I had walked through the valley of the message-control mavens, surely I had done nothing shameful, had I? All this back and forth about who is the more noble, the reporter or the PIO — was I just making it all up as I went along, depending on who was signing my paychecks, who I liked, or how I felt about the particular issue at hand?
And if it isn’t about whether you are a reporter or a PIO, then what is it all about? Are there some core principles to which science writers and PIOs can claim mutual allegiance? Some standards of behavior, some reasonable expectation of respect and responsiveness, that we owe one another, no matter what, for the sake of the public — that vaunted public that we both claim to serve?
The challenge is in some ways tougher than ever today. Current government leaders, together with some business interests, have methodically politicized and stoked distrust in science, scientists, and, by association, science writers.
It’s easy to see why. Science, scientists, and science writers can uncomfortably document the impacts of continued burning of fossil fuels. They can publicize what happens when you take shortcuts with your lead-pipe water lines. They can raise questions about the true efficacy or safety of highly profitable drugs, or the ecological or economic impacts of engineered seeds, or the wisdom of unfettered sales of guns.
But to be fair, the remarkably rapid recent devolution of the communications landscape is also to blame. With social media’s enormous reach, and the concomitant decline in standards of honesty and civility on the web, institutions — including even well-meaning government agencies (and yes there are still some) — have never been so vulnerable. A single erroneous bit of coverage, intentional or not, can go viral, spin out of control, and do enormous damage.
Painful and derailing as those news stories about the Obama nudge efforts were, they were nothing compared to the virulence of today’s mediascape. Can you blame anyone for wanting to stay out of it?
So what’s the solution?
In some cases, ideological extremists have just taken total control over an agency’s communications, and science writers have no alternative but to fight with whatever tools are available: FOIA requests by the pound, constant probing for leaks, reliance on anonymous sources when necessary.
But for other departments and agencies across government, I suspect there’s room for experimentation. How about a pilot project where a PIO at some science-based agency picks a subset of that agency’s scientists who are good communicators and know how to stay in their scientific lane and makes them directly available to reporters as needed, as a trust-building exercise? It would be a baby step, but a possible start. Surely there are other creative possibilities that science writers and PIOs could come up with, if we can just keep this conversation going.
One thing I can say for certain, having been on both sides: As infuriatingly shortsighted, restrictive, and risk averse as some government PIOs are, some of their concerns about journalistic access are actually legitimate and are not going to go away. Without some sensitivity to those concerns, the gates that science reporters are rightly swarming will never swing open.
Rick Weiss is director of SciLine, a philanthropically funded service for reporters covering science, health, and the environment, hosted by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Podcast: Tree of Life, Science and Politics, 2018
Podcast: The Cosmos, a New Internet, Science Writing
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The Gallant Hours
by Glenn Erickson Apr 15, 2016
Director Robert Montgomery’s last is a war movie like no other, a study in leadership and command with no combat scenes. James Cagney uses none of his standard personality mannerisms; the result is something very affecting. And that music! You’ll think the whole show is the memory of a soul in heaven.
1960 / B&W / 1:66 widescreen / 115 min. / Street Date April 5, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring James Cagney, Dennis Weaver, Ward Costello, Vaughn Taylor, Richard Jaeckel, Les Tremayne, Walter Sande, Karl Swenson, Leon Lontoc, Robert Burton, Carleton Young, Raymond Bailey, Harry Landers, Richard Carlyle, James Yagi, James T. Goto, Carl Benton Reid, Selmer Jackson, Frank Latimore, Nelson Leigh, Herbert Lytton, Stuart Randall, William Schallert, Arthur Tovey, John Zaremba.
Cinematography Joseph MacDonald
Art Director Wiard Ihnen
Original Music Roger Wagner
Written by Beirne Lay Jr., Frank D. Gilroy
Produced and Directed by Robert Montgomery
Actor Robert Montgomery branched out after his wartime Naval service, eventually finding satisfaction as a TV producer. But he also directed a half-dozen movies, starting with the eccentric films noirs Lady in the Lake and Ride the Pink Horse. His final show from 1960, a modestly budgeted war movie from United Artists, is also unusual, but in a different way. 1960’s The Gallant Hours is practically a minimalist work, as if Robert Bresson had decided to film Midway without on-screen battles. Instead, a perfectly cast James Cagney spends a full two hours in a narrow-focus drama about the war hero Admiral Bull Halsey. It’s a study of leadership and decision-making that could apply to anyone burdened with great responsibility. Robert Montgomery had had served under Halsey during the war. He starred in and directed small parts of John Ford’s They Were Expendable, fifteen years before. He and James Cagney formed a to make the movie.
Much like Cagney’s Yankee Doodle Dandy, The Gallant Hours begins in the ‘present’ and flashes back to cover a five-week period that turned the course of the war in the Pacific. When things get tough in Guadalcanal, William F. ‘Bull’ Halsey Jr. (Cagney) is sent in to take over the command of the entire battle plan. He brings along several experts and aides (Vaughn Taylor, Les Tremaine, Karl Swenson), his personal pilot (Dennis Weaver) and his doctor (Walter Sande). Rather than dismiss the former commander’s top officer, a good organizer (Ward Costello), Halsey breaks the man of a habit of following rules rather than doing whatever’s necessary to win. Touring battle zones, he wins the respect of local commanders by staying out of their hair, dropping formalities and getting on with the job. Halsey has to explain to a frustrated flight commander (Richard Jaeckel) why he needs to stay on the job despite feeling he’s a failure because he loses pilots. Halsey tries to out-think the opposition, using the fact that the Japanese have so far failed to follow through after initial successful attacks. Back in Japan, Admiral Yamamoto (James T. Goto, also the film’s Japanese advisor) is doing the same thing. This battle of wits, with Halsey having to make his decisions based on Navy intelligence, leads to his most crucial decision. To stop an armada of Japanese ships en route to reinforce the Phillipines, Halsey sends two inferior battle groups into action. It’s a veritable suicide mission.
The Gallant Hours doesn’t satisfy some fans of war movies. There is no on-screen action, and the shots of vintage (and occasionally anachronistic) ships and planes is edited for clarity, not excitement. Bull Halsey must direct operations at long distance, and the emphasis is placed on the way the command system works, and how a leader removed from the action makes effective decisions. Halsey’s staff may look like a boys’ club, with its jokes and the camaraderie, but it’s a tight organization. Halsey insists on the formalities of the command relationship but drops the rest of the pomp and circumstance. Rather than constantly tell people what to do, he asks them for their advice. By dropping his insignia, he gets the honest thoughts of the men who know what’s happening, such as the opinionated pilot (William Schallert) who tells him that the battle plan is all screwed up. The Navy leaders back at Pearl or in Washington need Halsey to independently make the decisions and get results. A consummate poker player, Halsey intuits that the Japanese might be trying to score a win by shooting down his plane. As what he’s really commanding is a gang war on a grand scale, Halsey orders an intelligence program to try to catch Yamamoto in the air. It’s Al Capone vs. Bugs Moran, and anything that disrupts the enemy is within the rules, even a ‘mob’ hit. The Gallant Hours has no illusions that the honor of war is in the killing.
Screenwriters Beirne Lay Jr. (Twelve O’Clock High) and Frank D. Gilroy (The Subject Was Roses) manage the service dialogue and relationships without overstatement. When Les Tremayne’s officer speaks out of turn, he isn’t labeled as a liability to Halsey’s command. Jokey Dennis Weaver chases women and kids his boss to some degree, but when he asks to be transferred to a combat unit, there’s no sentimental baloney about it. To hold the movie together, Montgomery and his writers use narrators, one to explain what’s happening on the U.S. side, and one for the Japanese. The voiceovers take a reflective look, offering exposition but also placing the events in the past. Background information tells us about the men we see, and sometimes their future fates. It’s not as poetic, but the ‘voice of fate’ feeling reminds us of Terrence Malick’s The Thin Red Line — it’s kind of spooky, without the irony and political comment in the voiceover in Roger Corman’s The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.
Adding greatly to the tone of the film is a score track that consists of nothing but choral music arranged by Roger Wagner. Apparently chosen as a way of getting around a musician’s strike, the brooding chorus adds a welcome strange vibe to everything. At first we think that Halsey and his men are being compared to Monks, as they go about their business with a background of mostly downbeat harmonies. But the infrequent military hymns place our thoughts in a reflective mode. This is the main distinguishing aspect of Montgomery’s movie, and I’ve heard more than one non-fan complain that it’s the deciding flaw. I wonder if those are the same people who reject the layer of reflective, abstract poetry imposed on The Thin Red Line? I find that the chorus helps focus one’s attention on the film’s real subject, the civilians-turned warriors who stood up when the country was at its weakest, and for the commanders that did so well under terrible pressure. The movie spends much of its time watching Bull Halsey brood in isolation.
There are no battle scenes, which interestingly gives the show the style of some Japanese films, like Kenji Mizoguchi’s 1941 The 47 Ronin. Adapted from a play, all the action in that classic story occurs off-screen. By having no battle scenes, The Gallant Hours neatly sidesteps the pitfall of making the war look attractive. We see Halsey and his staff getting on and off ships and planes, and riding in jeeps to tour a battlefront. Halsey must mostly rely on second-hand information. Dennis Weaver’s pilot comes back from a mission, having shot down a number of Japanese planes. At that point we have the advantage, and it’s been a turkey shoot. He’s doing his job, and even though he’s a likely ace, there’s no glory in it.
To me the most impressive scene is when Halsey pulls two battleship commanders into his office, Admiral Norm Scott (Sydney Smith) and Admiral Dan Callaghan (Nelson Leigh). He tells them to ‘go forth and engage’ an enemy that has an overwhelming advantage. The Japanese have to be stopped or it will be disaster for the whole Theater of War. The commanders already know what’s up, and receive the assignment as if Halsey were doing them a personal favor. They’re not fanatics with a death wish, but experienced commanders well aware they weren’t put in charge of battleships to avoid combat. And we know that ever since they were cadets, they’ve dreamed of what it would be like to be in command of a desperate battle… the George S. Patton sentiment. Yet the meeting is unsentimental, a cordial ‘Godspeed’ moment. In their own way, the two commanders are as cool as western gunslingers.
Likewise The Gallant Hours goes for no big effects at its conclusion; it’s the anti- Yankee Doodle Dandy. Cagney plays everything straight, going for interior acting effects and leaving all of his personality tricks behind. He’s amazingly effective, I think. After this show he did Billy Wilder’s One, Two, Three, practically blowing a fuse to give Wilder the desired frantic performance. Then came a long retirement.
The Gallant Hours does one more interesting thing: it gives modest but meaty parts to a couple-dozen character actors that normally play faceless middle-aged authority figures — doctors, politicians, big businessmen, soldiers. Everybody gets a chance to shine, even if they only have one or two lines of dialogue. We spend a minute or so meeting a flyer or a chaplain, and then may be told that he becomes a congressman after the war, or is killed the next day. These are ‘familiar yet anonymous’ faces. Vaughn Taylor (Blue Denim) and Ward Costello (Terror from the Year 5.000) get to project deeper personalities than is usual. The interesting effect is that these ‘comfortable’ actors seem like family already, and make us feel closer to the generation that went out and did the fighting.
The KL Studio Classics Blu-ray of The Gallant Hours is a fine HD encoding of this weirdly serene war movie. The images are excellent throughout; the only element I can criticize is the choice of lenses in interiors, which make the good sets look like what they are rather than real locations. The exteriors, especially when actual ships are used, work better. The widescreen framing (1:66) helps to focus the action. Directors like John Frankenheimer would introduce more dynamic framing.
The audio is free of distortion, which helps with all that a cappella choral music in the mix. Earlier releases and TV prints weren’t always so clear. A song by actor Ward Costello is heard as well; it’s a lonely chantey about a boy who goes to sea.
The disc carries English subtitles (way to go, Kino!). Trailers for The Gallant Hours and Run Silent, Run Deep precede the double-length trailer for Kino’s disc of On the Beach, which carries film footage from the show’s simultaneous international premiere engagements.
Like those earlier Robert Montgomery pictures, The Gallant Hours is an interesting experiment. For my taste, it works very well. When all the fighting is over, we remember things like the way water laps up against the side of a boat, or how uncomfortable an Admiral feels changing back into civilian clothes. The ending follows through with the Warrior Monk theme. Halsey’s ritual retirement scene has a mild parallel with Audrey Hepburn’s harsh conversion back to the secular life at the end of Fred Zinnemann’s The Nun’s Story.
On a scale of Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor,
The Gallant Hours Blu-ray rates:
Movie: Very Good ++
Deaf and Hearing Impaired Friendly? YES; Subtitles: English
Reviewed: April 13, 2016
Visit DVD Savant’s Main Column Page
Glenn Erickson answers most reader mail: dvdsavant@mindspring.com
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← Ellie Kanner [Interview]
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Amber Coyle [Interview]
April 21, 2017 by rontrembathiii 1 Comment
It’s still all about the women, folks! And we are wrapping up our second week with another amazing showcase. What makes this one different though? Well, we are moving a bit in front of the camera as well this time with actress/model Amber Coyle. She is a hilarious woman who has worked diligently to establish herself in this business, and will soon reap all the rewards she has earned. And damn it all, if she isn’t working behind the scenes as a writer of original content, most likely knowing full well that if you are to succeed in this game, you have to do it for yourself.
Amber has recently developed a pilot, featuring an ALL FEMALE cast and crew, which if you have been paying attention for the last two weeks, we are HUGE fans of. Coyle is a woman who has proven herself to not only be a beautiful on screen actress, but a lovely person in all aspects of her life, and we are so excited to see where she goes and to follow her career that appears to only be moving up. To be young in Hollywood these days can not be easy (from an outsider’s perspective) but Amber seems to have that town by the reigns and will soon be pulling in more than the world can handle. And we here at Trainwreck’d Society think this is a damn good thing.
So, ladies and gentlemen, please enjoy some great words with the amazing Amber Coyle!
When did you first realize you wanted to be a person who plays pretend on screen for a living? Growing up in Texas, was it always something you aspired to do? What are your earliest memories that led you to the world of acting?
I loved theater as a kid, especially in junior high! I went to speech tournaments performing lip sync routines and improv. I was in every play including the Pink Panther Strikes Back playing Olga, the Russian spy. And one of the witches in The Wizard of Oz (yes, there was more than one witch in the play). I also went on a New York trip with our Thespian Troupe, visiting Juilliard and watching Broadway plays. That really set off the dream. I was having wayyy too much fun!
You have had some extensive training in the world of sketch comedy. What drew you to this world of comedic storytelling specifically? Was it just further practice, or your true aspiration?
I realized in my teens that I had way too much energy, probably classified with ADD and hyperactivity, LOL! I sometimes disrupted class, loved to be the center of attention, and always tried to make everybody laugh. I guess I just enjoyed expressing myself through comedy, escaping from the dramas of reality. I was even awarded “Class Clown” my senior year. I thought I was pretty good at it, and many people (not just family and friends) who have crossed my path have reiterated that to me over the years. It eventually solidified in my soul! I knew it was my calling. My dad really wanted me to go to college and get a degree, which I did. But then I set myself free and said, “That’s it! I am following my dreams! Goin’ to Hollywood!”
You’ve also done some great work in the world of stand up, which we are also very big fans of as well. How has this experience been for you? Have you found audiences to be receptive to your style of comedy?
Stand up is definitely one of the hardest things in life to do, and in my opinion its a great achievement- even if you’ve only done it once. It is the most vulnerable thing one can do. I was encouraged by a few well known comedians I had met. I just wrote down what I thought was funny, worked on it until I felt I had something solid. I went up at the Hollywood Hard Rock Improv in FL for the first time ever. It was a full house, and I was nervous as shit! But that 5 minutes flew by and I had them laughing loud! That is the best feeling in the world! But I have learned, not every high is that high- there can also be some lows. You can tell the same jokes to a different crowd and they will react differently. Its a lot about the energy. But thats how you grow, so its important to go through the motions. A lot of my material was very “blue.” Feedback would either be something like, “Whoa! I was not expecting that to come out of your mouth. That is awesome! I like how you keep true to yourself.” Or it would be, “Girl, you gotta clean that up if you want to go on tour or be on a network show.” Everyone has their opinions. You just have to know that you cannot please everyone in world, someone will always find something to complain about. But as long as you’re being yourself and doing what you think is funny (without being mean or hurting anyone of course) then that’s all you can do.
I have heard some great feedback about Buzzfeed Motion Picture’s comedy series, Up For Adoption. What has it been like to work on such a hilariously bizarre project like this? What was it like to bring the work of the brilliant Quinta Brunson to life?
It was great working with Quinta. Honestly, the whole experience was probably the most rewarding, and I learned a lot. Shooting 10 episodes in less than a month was tiring. But for what I am trying to do in Hollywood, it was exactly what I needed and in the direction of where I want to go. I am so grateful! I didn’t think I would book a mom role at all. I thought I looked too young to have two teenagers. They asked my age and liked the fact that I was a little older but looked younger. I have never been married or had any kids, so I was shocked to find that I landed the role of Tanya. The girls who played my daughters, Tess and Teagan made me laugh everyday. Those girls are hilarious and super-duper talented! Quinta is younger than me and she has accomplished so much. I am so happy we got to work together and share this experience. She has an artists mind. She knows exactly what she wants and she goes for it, no bullshit, Philly style! Her character is the most hilarious. Verizon Go90 bought the series and Quinta told me she did not even want to put herself in the project, but Verizon said, “No, we want you in it!” She made me laugh A LOT with Michelle. But Quinta as a person is very serious, and I respect that. I am praying for a season 2!
I understand you have recently also appeared in the hit comedy series New Girl, alongside re-occuring guest star Meghan Fox. How was this experience for you? Was it as fun to shoot the film as it is for an audience to watch it happen?
Shooting New Girl was quite the experience for me. When I auditioned, the role was a co-star with no lines. But for the auditions sake, they gave us some lines. They booked me and I literally prayed for lines for days. I couldn’t sleep the night before the shoot and I got an email at midnight from FOX with an updated script and thank the lord, I got some lines!!! I was so stoked, I got no sleep, LOL. I had my own trailer, everything was nice. Jake Johnson shook my hand before the scenes started and introduced himself. Megan however, did not do so. We went straight into the scene cold! That was a first for me. Usually you at least say hello before you work with someone. But we got through it, and later ended up chatting. It was a lot of fun. When it aired, we learned some of our lines were cut. But it was still a really great scene and so incredibly happy to be a part of one of the most successful sitcoms!
And be honest….is Jake Johnson even more adorable in person? Was it terribly hard to not get lost in those puppy dog eyes of his?
Jake is the man! He is really, really a talented dude! He liked to run through our lines each time before shooting to make sure everyone was comfortable. He also threw out some improv. And very impressive- the large amount of dialog they threw at him last minute, was nooooo problem! He is FANTASTICAL!
In the long run, what would you say is your ultimate goal as an actress in the world of film and television? What are you most yearning to accomplish in your career?
Right now I am working on a project of my own with a few friends. We wrote a TV pilot. All female cast (lead), female director, and working on getting an entire female crew. We will be shooting that this year then pitching. It would be a dream for it to be picked up by a network or even some type of new media platform. But aside from that, my dream is to book a series regular on a sitcom with longevity. Think Golden Girls, one of my favorite shows of all time. They were the original Sex in the City! Every actor has a thirst for not only success, but a consistent income! The struggle is real. Look, I am not trying to be Angelina. I want to get paid for doing what I love. I LOVE comedy! I want to work on feature films as well. And guest star on SNL!
My cats. Thats right folks…crazy cat lady! HAHAHA!
One Response to Amber Coyle [Interview]
Good job cant wait to see and hear more from you Amber
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You are here: Main » Europe Moves to Save Its Interests in Iran after US Withdrawal
Europe Moves to Save Its Interests in Iran after US Withdrawal
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said of EU-US relations: "We are prepared to talk... but also to fight for our positions where necessary". The deal allowed Iran to reconnect the machines and eventually build an industrial-scale enrichment program starting in 2025. "The U.S.is essentially, at least as of now, going it alone".
"There's a realisation among all European countries what we can not keep going from the way we all are headed today where we publish to Western decisions", Le Maire told reporters in Paris. Under worldwide law, and to most other countries, the agreement had the same force as a treaty would have.
The American withdrawal from the nuclear accord is considered a serious political blow to Hassan Rouhani, Iran's president, who had promised that the agreement would end the country's prolonged isolation and economic travails.
Iran had struck the JCPoA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) deal with the USA, the UK, Russia, China, France and Germany after years of negotiations. I did not always agree with all of their decisions, but I always felt that they had my country's best interest at heart until now.
The obvious intent of the JCPOA was to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. However, proponents of the deal have said those time limits were meant to encourage more discussion with Iran in the future.
So, Iran could comply with the agreement for 10 years, reducing its nuclear program.
TRUMP, referring to allies: "We are unified in our understanding of the threat, and in our conviction that Iran must never acquire a nuclear weapon".
I'm 'rooting' for Khloe: Kim Kardashian
Kim replied, "Yeah, I mean...okay, last time I went on TV and I answered some questions about her I got blocked on social media-and not from Khloe ".
"The President of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran has been tasked with taking all necessary steps in preparation for Iran to pursue industrial-scale enrichment without any restrictions, using the results of the latest research and development of Iran's courageous nuclear scientists", the statement said. Sanctions impact the people, not the regime.
By withdrawing from the flawed deal signed by Obama and reimposing the sanctions that had been lifted, Trump has regained our leverage over the regime in Tehran.
Southern Syria was quiet but tense early today, with monitors saying that Syrian, Iranian and allied Lebanese forces from Hezbollah were still on high alert. These sanctions, directed at Iran's energy, petrochemical, and financial industries, will target industries critical to Iran's economy.
"China is the largest commodity producer in the world and the largest commodity consumer in the world, so it would make sense that Chinese futures that are close to the areas of supply and demand would be a more natural benchmark than the USA markets", said Marwan Younes, founder and chief investment officer of Massar Capital Management in NY. It should expire at the end of 2018, but Bank of America analysts said OPEC and Russian Federation would probably continue to work together to prevent price falls.
Under the deal, Iran permanently altered a heavy water nuclear power plant to prevent it from ever producing plutonium for a bomb.
Finally, this decision without a broader strategy or plan leads to serious problems for US foreign policy.
The telephone call covered other global issues with Mrs May congratulating the U.S. president on the safe return of three Americans who had been held in prison in North Korea.
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Rabindranath Tagore Returned Nobel Prize in Protest Against British: Tripura CM
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Yale Police Called on Black Student Taking a Nap
Yale police Chief Ronnell Higgins issued a statement on Thursday with a full timeline of the response to the call. Cooley called the occurrence a reminder of the work that needs to be done to make Yale a truly inclusive place.
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Before the election, Mahathir had said he would step down and give the prime minister's post to Anwar when he is pardoned. However, Anwar will have to win a by-election or be elected senator in order for him to take over as prime minister.
Alberta's Notley launches pro-Trans Mountain pipeline advertisements in BC
She said the government would "defend our clear jurisdiction over interprovincial pipelines". Wilson-Raybould said Ottawa's view will prevail.
ISIS' 'most wanted' leaders captured in sting operation
The American leader Donald trump said that he had been caught five most wanted leaders of terrorist group Islamic state . Rankine-Galloway, said the US credited Iraqi security forces with the militants' capture "on the Iraq-Syria border".
UAE, US act jointly to disrupt funding to elite Iran group
The IDF said fighter jets struck 70 military targets belonging to Iran inside Syria, causing significant damage. IRGC-QF is described as "an elite unit in charge of the IRGC's overseas operations".
One injured in California school shooting
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Malaysian ex-PM Najib Razak and wife banned from leaving country
Najib's premiership was battered by allegations he oversaw the plundering of billions of dollars from sovereign wealth fund 1MDB. Najib has said the deposit was a donation by an unnamed member of the Saudi royal family which had been largely returned.
Lightning-Capitals: What to make of Andrei Vasilevskiy's Game 1
The Lightning excel at playing keep away, which means that the Washington defenders will be under heavy pressure all series long. Lightning coach Jon Cooper said earlier in the week the Lightning can not make a habit of losing Game 1 of the series.
Putin to discuss Iran nuclear deal with IAEA head, Merkel, Macron
Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu is known to be a huge critic of Iran and supports Donald Trump in pulling out of the Iran deal. Macron confirmed that the French and Iranian foreign ministers would meet soon to ensure progress.
Not just Michael Cohen: AT&T hit up other allies for Trump intel
The Justice Department filed suit a year ago seeking to block the deal, and a judge is expected to rule on the matter in June. If Cohen paid Daniels for her silence without Trump's knowledge, such action was unethical and can not be condoned.
Yes, Atlas is running, but please don't freak out
Atlas last year achieved the ability to backflip last year in November, and in a few months' time it has turned into a pro jogger. Boston Dynamics shared a new video Thursday of its famous humanoid robot jogging across a lawn and up a hill.
Star Wars Battlefront II Celebrates Han Solo Season
Similarly, the Millennium Falcon always seems to find its way out of trouble ahead by navigating obstacles with apparent ease. The Nissan Rogue is available now.
United Kingdom apology over Libyan dissident rendition
Jack Straw and Sir Mark Allen have denied any wrong-doing. "Neither of you should have been treated in this way", the letter said. Mr Wright said that the "unacceptable practices of some of our worldwide partners should have been realised sooner".
Penelope Cruz received equal pay for Everybody Knows
The couple married in July 2010, and have two children, 7-year-old son Leo and 4-year-old daughter Luna. In closed, tight spaces observing faces, listening in to their chatter, Farhadi is in control.
Global Medical Device Packaging Market Growth Opportunities: 3M Company, Sonoco Products Company
However, designers can make packaging sustainable by considering the environmental impacts during manufacture, usage and disposal. In a bid to build a strong business in an eco-friendly manner, companies are coming up with new offerings in the global market .
Carrie Underwood Admits Her Face Injury 'Wasn't Pretty' After Fall
Underwood then revealed that after an emotional few months, she often lets her tears flow by crying when she's alone in her auto . Cry Pretty will be out on September 14. "But it surely was one step that messed all the things up", she added.
These Are the Best Public High Schools in MA
Amistad was the only CT school to make the top 100 list of nationally-ranked schools, coming in at number 55 on the list. Roughly a quarter of eligible high schools in the Bay State earned a gold or silver medal, the U.S.
Netanyahu to meet Putin amid new round of Syria strikes
Netanyahu made his statements as the two leaders discussed bilateral relations, as well as the situation in the Middle East. A barrage of 20 rockets was sacked Wednesday night from Syria towards Israeli military outposts in the Golan Heights.
US Could Sanction European Countries Over Iran, Bolton says
Iran plans to OVERWHELM and DESTROY Israel, former general warns
Google will remind the user to stop watching videos on YouTube
NASA helicopter to fly on Mars during next mission
Tristan Thompson opens up about daughter True for the first time
David Moyes will reportedly hold talks with West Ham board next week
Iran deal pullout a blow to North Korea hopes, analysts say
Cardi B, Rita Ora, Charli XCX + Bebe Rexha Deliver on Sexy 'Girls'
Everton star Rooney's America move 'agreed in principle'
Biden: White House 'decency' at 'rock bottom' after McCain joke
Solo: A Star Wars Story gives Chewbacca his own theme song
Pakistan revokes special preivileges granted to USA diplomats
Former Arizona guard TJ McConnell says 76ers' season shouldn't be over
Biologist, 104, ends life to Beethoven's Ode To Joy
American Prisoners Held In North Korea Return Home
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You are here: Main » House panel issues subpoenas for Hope Hicks, Annie Donaldson
House panel issues subpoenas for Hope Hicks, Annie Donaldson
A federal judge in NY rejected President Donald Trump's request to keep his banks from producing financial records to lawmakers.
"We believe the president of the United States is engaged in a cover-up", Pelosi said told reporters afterward. "We have to see that [Mexico passes] the legislation, that they have the factors in place that will make sure it's implemented and they demonstrate some commitments in sincerity because it's a big issue how workers are treated in Mexico", Pelosi told Politico.
"No one is above the law", she wrote.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., while saying Pelosi is working to bring the party together, suggested Tuesday that politics are the main element preventing members from pressing ahead at this stage.
"It is just as politicized a maneuver to not impeach in the face of overwhelming evidence as it is to impeach w/o cause".
"Congress swore an oath to uphold the Constitution".
In a lawsuit filed on April 29, lawyers for Trump, his children and the Trump Organization argued that the subpoenas were too broad, and that Democrats are hoping they will "stumble upon something" that could be used for political attacks on the president.
How would an inquiry work?
The White House contends that even former employees like McGahn do not have to abide by subpoenas from Congress. An inquiry is the first step in the process of an impeachment vote in the House. With an election 18 months away, Democratic leaders have so far stuck to the position that determined investigations of Trump will serve a better objective than a politically fraught impeachment effort. Trump has committed impeachable offenses (his refusal to comply with Congressional subpoenas was one of Nixon's articles of impeachment), and by not impeaching him, Congress is abdicating their constitutionally mandated oversight duty. The rules require 48-hour notice, but many House members will be flying out of town on Thursday for the Memorial Day holiday, a logistical challenge that means any contempt vote would be unlikely before June.
Koepka survives multiple bogeys to win PGA Championship
Open at Pebble Beach, where Koepka already is the betting favorite as he defends his title for the second time. Koepka became the first player since Tiger Woods to win the PGA Championship in back-to-back years (2006-07).
On Wednesday, House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff said the department had reached an agreement to turn over some counterintelligence reports from the inquiry. When asked at the Center for American Progress event about impeachment, Pelosi urged measured restraint. When you're done we can talk.
In his report, Mueller found no conspiracy between Russian Federation and Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.
Trump met with the Democrats on infrastructure three weeks ago while the investigations were going on, and they were not brought up, the Democrats said.
But other members of her caucus are reported to have pressed for formal impeachment proceedings on grounds that Congress needs to assert its historical oversight powers as a check against the executive.
Numerous arguments for and against beginning impeachment proceedings will likely be aired during the special Wednesday caucus meeting.
Amash's comments were rejected by Republican leadership, including Minority Whip Steve Scalise, who called his assessment "dead wrong".
Later, in remarks to the Center for American Progress, Pelosi said: "This is why I think the president was so steamed off this morning: Because the fat is in plain sight, in the public domain, this president is obstructing justice and he's engaged in a cover up. And his reading is just way off base", Scalise added.
Likening it to Teddy Roosevelt's big lift in creating the national park system, Pelosi said she was ready to give Trump a once-a-century win.
Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost get engaged
After their divorce was settled in 2017, Scarlett and Romain have been working together to raise their now five-year-old daughter. Scarlett and Colin were first spotted getting close during an after party for " Saturday Night Live " season 42 in May, 2017.
Meghan And Harry Share Gorgeous Unseen Wedding Photographs To Mark First Anniversary
Following the May 6 birth of Harry and Meghan's son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, Gabriella is 52nd in line to the throne. The nuptials were held at Windsor Castle , where Princess Eugenie also Wednesday Jack Brooksbank on October 12, 2018.
Tyler, The Creator Has Had His UK Ban Lifted
Tyler - known for his eccentric style and character work in videos - rocked a baby blue suit and bowl-cut blonde wig. It is understood the ban was lifted from February 13 and he arrived at Luton Airport in the early hours of Saturday.
Ajit Pai oks T-Mobile/Sprint merger, "requires" 5G rollout that’ll happen anyway
Shares of T-Mobile rose $2.93, or nearly 4%, to $78.29, while Sprint's stock soared 19% to $7.34. We'll find out soon enough whether the Justice Department has reached a different conclusion.
Republican Justin Amash calls for Trump impeachment
Mitt Romney has defended the president after a Republican became the first of his party to call for Trump's impeachment. On Sunday, Romney said he did not think there was sufficient evidence or political will to impeach President Trump.
Blue Jays beat White Sox to snap 5-game skid
Blue Jays: RHP Trent Thornton (0-4, 5.06) is scheduled to start Tuesday at San Francisco and RHP Tyler Beede (0-1, 18.69). Jackson was traded on Saturday from the Oakland Athletics to the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for cash considerations.
Restaurant accidentally serves £4,500 bottle of wine to customer
Griezmann says he is leaving Atletico at end of the season
With one game left this season, Griezmann will have completed five years with Atletico , scoring 133 goals in 256 appearances. According to MARCA , a deal to take Griezmann to Barcelona was agreed some time ago and is set to be signed soon.
Missouri House expected to vote Friday on proposed ‘heartbeat bill’
Wade . "No abortions after a heartbeat is detected, no abortions after the baby can feel pain, abortions are outlawed after Roe v. Senators approved the legislation by 24 votes to 10 yesterday morning, just hours before a deadline to pass bills.
UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn moves closer to backing second Brexit referendum
The BBC and other media quoted him as saying he would push for a Brexit deal to "protect jobs, businesses and future prosperity". Former Prime Minister Tony Blair has been calling for a second referendum to cancel the first since 2016 .
Donald Trump's peace conference will fail, Palestinians say
The plan focuses on infrastructure, industry, empowering and investing in people and reforming the Palestinian government.
A Texas girl was abducted and thrown into a vehicle , police say
Those with information in Sabatka's disappearance are asked to call the Fort Worth Police Department at 817-392-4222. Fort Worth police said the girl was found safe Sunday, about eight hours later, at a hotel in nearby Forest Hill.
BP agent accused of striking migrant with his truck sent racist messages
The cause of death is unknown, the agency said. Bowen's mindset", according to court papers. Migrants are being dropped off by the U.S.
Sneaker makers and retailers tell Trump a shoe tariff would be catastrophic
The Chinese have now demanded that the next round of trade talks take place in Beijing, and nothing has been scheduled yet. The U.S. technology exports directly supported an estimated 858,000 American jobs in 2017, according to the report .
21 tornadoes ripped through 4 states, now millions are under flooding threat
Missouri Governor Mike Parson declared a state of emergency, citing flash flooding, "straight-line winds", heavy rain and hail. The National Weather Service in Tulsa urged people in those areas to move to higher ground, with more rain expected.
Gov: Abortion ban shows Alabama values 'sanctity of life'
She had the ability to walk into an abortion clinic and decide to leave. "(Or) I would have ended my life, if I'm being frank". In recent weeks several conservative states have passed laws aimed at prodding the court to overturn the 1973 Roe v.
Cricketer Asif Alis daughter dies after cancer treatment
Jones had broken down in tears at a media conference in March when talking about Ali and his daughter's condition. ISLU family pays its deepest condolences to @AasifAli2018 on the tragic loss of his daughter.
Formula One Legend Niki Lauda Passes Away Aged 70
Rememberings poured in from drivers, teams, and team managers, honouring the memory of one Grand Prix racing's greatest legends. The rivalry between the pair was later made into a film starring Daniel Bruhl as Lauda and Chris Hemsworth as Hunt in 2013.
US delay to Huawei ban gives tech sector time to adjust
The Commerce Department said it gave the grace period to give US companies time to adjust and prepare to cut out Huawei. The license also allows Huawei to engage in the development of standards for fifth-generation (5G) telecom networks.
Iran's Zarif says Trump's 'genocidal taunts won't end Iran'
Saudi Arabia's Sunni Muslim ally the UAE has not blamed anyone for the tanker sabotage operation, pending an investigation. USA government sources said they believe encouraged Houthi rebels to attack the oil tankers.
Johnson blasts Lakers GM after shock exit
Though he said the backstabbing came from only Pelinka, Johnson clearly had friction with other members of the organization. But that hasn't stopped him from making a few bold predictions. "I've got things happening being said behind my back".
Epic Games Store Sale Offers $10 Off Any Game Over $15
After a bit of a storm in a teacup backlash, they dropped the pricing again, and it's now available on Epic's store for $9.99. In the U.S. , it went on sale at $6.99, only for that discounted price to be revised up to $14.99, against an RRP of $24.99.
Kylian Mbappe Wants More Responsibilities 'Maybe at PSG, Maybe Elsewhere'
If I keep talking it would be too much and that's not the message I want to send", Mbappe explained. At the 2018 World Cup , Mbappe helped France win the tournament with four goals in seven matches.
Duchess of Cambridge posts 'sneak peak' of Chelsea show garden
The treehouse is made from chestnut, with hazel, stag horn oak and larch nest cladding. 3/4. Kate Middleton plans to swing into the annual Chelsea Flower Show!
UAE tempers response to offshore tanker attacks
This statement came out hours after Houthi-owned TV Almasirah reported that "7 Drones have targeted vital Saudi facilities". India Thursday strongly condemned the drone attacks targeting oil installations in Saudi Arabia two days ago.
Tyreke Evans Banned From NBA For Two Years
Evans sat out one game early in the season for violating team rules and issued an apology then for being late to practice. The former Memphis Tigers star entered the league in 2009 as the Sacramento Kings' fourth overall selection.
Hamilton to Ferrari?! - Formula One's biggest driver moves
But then there is never one question and one answer in Formula 1 , or a silver bullet that justifies good or bad performance. Renault , and to a lesser extent McLaren , looked like the pick of the bunch from the midfield teams on long runs.
Huawei puts Honor above Android at new smartphone launch
Vodafone and EE just killed Huawei's 5G launch in the UK
Sticky Keys? All MacBook Butterfly Keyboards Are Now Eligible for Free Repairs
Ukraine: Comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy sworn in as president
Emilia Clarke reveals how she would change the Game of Thrones finale
Trump must turn over financial records: U.S. Judge
President Trump denies Reports of Discord in the White House over Iran
Pompeo says 'quite possible' Iran behind Gulf attacks
F-22s intercept Russian bombers, fighters off Alaska coast
Nadal outlasts Djokovic for ninth Italian Open win
Eiffel Tower closed down after intruder tries to climb up
Why Winning Game 5 Was So Important — Louis Blues
Justin Bieber and Ed Sheeran's 'I Don't Care' Music Video
OnePlus 7 Pro goes on sale in India: Price, offers, features, specifications
Kevin Durant's calf injury 'more serious than we thought,' Warriors coach says
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Politics, Security
High-Ranking Anti-Trump FBI Agents Caught Leaking Classified Intel on Hillary Probe to Wall St. Journal, Washington Post
This is why they want to keep the FBI texts between Peter Strzok and Lisa Page away from public eyes.
The messages also provide fodder for Republicans and internal Justice Department investigators seeking evidence of potential leaks during the Clinton email investigation or the ongoing probe of connections between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Messages from October 28, 2016 show that Page was engaged in a protracted phone conversation with reporter Devlin Barrett, then with the Wall Street Journal. The discussion took place a few days after Barrett published a story reporting that the wife of FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe received nearly half a million dollars in campaign donations from a committee linked to then-Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D-Va.) and two days before Barrett reported that there was an “internal feud” at the FBI over efforts to investigate the Clinton Foundation.
Page was on the phone with Barrett just as news broke that the FBI had found State Department emails on a laptop it seized while investigating former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) for sexting with minors.
“Still on with devlin,” Page wrote. “Mike’s phone is ON FIRE,” she added, apparently referring to FBI public affairs chief Michael Kortan.
“You may want to tell Devlin he should turn on CNN, there’s news going on,” Strzok replied.
“He knows. He just got handed a note,” Page said.
“Ha. He asking about it now?” Strzok asked.
“Yeah. It was pretty funny,” Page wrote.
Barrett, who now works for the Washington Post, declined to comment.
BUSTED: Devlin Barrett Edition
OCT 28: Strzok text about "Devlin"
OCT 30: @DevlinBarrett drops a scoop
Article: https://t.co/L3CShmfyWJ
Twitter archive: https://t.co/8fZU4tVr3z
CTH Discussion: https://t.co/oy0oCqQcND pic.twitter.com/ReWeSUcUNl
— Katica (@GOPPollAnalyst) January 26, 2018
https://twitter.com/TheLastRefuge2/status/957003951639072768
The “secret society” referenced in a text message between Trump-bashing FBI lovers Peter Strzok and Lisa Page allegedly involved multiple “high-ranking FBI officials,” a top GOP lawmaker said Wednesday.
Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., revealed this week that his committee met with a whistleblower informant who gave more details on that “society,” claiming the group was known to meet “off-site.” Johnson elaborated in an interview Wednesday on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom,” indicating others were involved.
“I have heard from somebody who has talked to our committee that there is a group of individuals in the FBI who were holding secret, off-site meetings,” Johnson said Wednesday. “I think there are indications there were a number of high-level FBI officials that were holding secret meetings off-site.”
Johnson first revealed that the committee had an informant Tuesday on Fox News’ “Special Report.” He said Wednesday he is still “connecting the dots” between the source’s information and the text messages he and other lawmakers have reviewed. – READ MORE
A Rasmussen poll shows that a plurality of 49 percent of those polled want a special prosecutor to investigate the embattled FBI, while only 31 percent do not. Another 19 percent are on the fence.
According to this poll, the public vehemently disagrees with James Comey, the disgraced former FBI Director who has used his Twitter account to call for an “independent” FBI, which presumably means an FBI that is never criticized or investigated by the American people’s chosen representatives in Congress–a frightening thought by way of a banana republic attitude.
Thankfully, despite the best efforts of Deep Staters like Comey and the corrupted American media, the public is paying attention to the story and is very skeptical of an agency that appears to have been highly politicized during Comey’s reign.
About a year after President Trump fired Comey, we now know that Comey’s tenure resulted in the kind of partisan behavior that resembles the secret police, including the indefensible exoneration of Hillary Clinton over her email scandal, a “secret society” to bring down Trump, an “insurance plan” should Trump win the election, and a partnership with the Clinton campaign to fund a discredited dossier that was used to justify the FISA warrants so the Obama administration could spy on the Trump campaign. – READ MORE
Former deputy assistant director of the FBI counter-terror division Terry Turchie said the agency’s recent scandals symbolize “Watergate part two,” Wednesday on “Fox and Friends.”
“There is a lot of political dirty tricks going on here. I don’t think this trail is going to stop at the door of the Russians,” Turchie said. “I think it’s going to stop where the Democratic party came through the door of the FBI. I think this is Watergate part two.”
Turchie also discussed the texting scandal between former FBI agent Peter Strzok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page and called it a “catastrophic failure,” for the Bureau. – READ MORE
Hillary Clinton Chose to Shield a Top Adviser Accused of Sexual Harassment
Survey: 64% of Small Business Owners Believe Trump’s Policies Have Helped Their Business
Meghan’s Father Rips Daughter For ‘Cheapening’ Royals, Choosing ‘Money’ Over Family
Warren Wealth Tax Will Have Little Effect on Inequality, Wealth Tax Pioneer Says
San Antonio has spent more than $300K trying to keep Chick-fil-A out of its airport
Democrat Attorneys General Demand Fast-Track Work Permits for Illegals and Migrants
Politics, Sports
UFC Champion Conor McGregor: Trump ‘Phenomenal President’, Possibly ‘Greatest Of All Time’
2019 © True Pundit. All rights reserved.
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beyond command and control
Know How Transfer
CapChart
Vanguard Nuggets
We need to change the way we think about banking
Patrick Hoare, Vanguard Consulting
I started working for The Leeds Permanent Building Society in 1992. It was a different time and now feels like a different world. I was happy in work, as pretty soon I’d learnt to deal with most of the customers’ requests on my own. We didn’t measure it, but I’d guess that 99% of customer demands were dealt with at the first point of contact; efficiency was high, costs were low and service was good. Low costs – now that was something that was measured.
In the early 1990s, the only measure I remember receiving attention was the cost : income ratio (cost per pound of revenue made) and, for those interested, we kept it below 40%; if memory serves, we got it down to 38.6% in 1993. This was an explicit drive for the whole company that everyone bought into, and we used it to rate ourselves against other banks and building societies.
From being the one explicit driver, the cost : income ratio has now disappeared from view into the notes at the back of the annual accounts. In 2014, KPMG reported cost:income ratios at five major banks of between 51 and 87%, with the depressing long-term trend set to continue. Between 2009 and 2014, the UK banks’ cost : income ratios deteriorated faster than in any other developed nation.
KPMG 2015 ‘Banking results 2014: A paradox of forces’ April 2015, p11
How can this be when banks spend so much time, effort and, yes, money on controlling costs? What strategies are being put in place to bring about improvement, and is there any evidence that they work? Let’s look at some of them and the thinking they are based on.
1. Reduce costs by setting up ‘centres of excellence’ where roles are specialised and risk can be carefully managed and mitigated
The skills I used in 1992 have largely been transferred to remote service centres, ever bigger in size and smaller in numbers. This trend is based on a belief that economies of scale will reduce costs, a belief that has also led to service centres increasingly being outsourced and offshored. But we’re missing something here.
Something that used to involve one person (for instance agreeing and processing a secured loan) now requires input from up to 10 people, lengthening the time to complete the transaction and driving up customer frustration beyond recognition. The result is mushrooming failure demand (knock-on demand caused by the organisation doing something wrong or incompletely for the customer the first time), which is then dealt with by drafting in extra resources. Needless to say, the cost: income ratio soars. ‘Economies of scale thinking’ needs to be replaced by ‘economies of flow thinking’.
2. Drive change and cost control through central functions like IT
Large IT and change programmes designed to reduce long-term costs command huge budgets and are run by central teams remote from the reality of what happens on the front line. The programmes have plausible intentions, but 90% of IT projects fail to deliver. IT and change teams drain money and resource, while headcount is removed from a bemused and harassed front line. Since the initiatives are never used to study the system from a customer’s perspective, the real issues go unearthed and undealt with. In sum, the return from the massive IT spend is disappointing at best. Once again the current thinking – putting IT first as an instrument to drive change through to the customer – is exactly back-to-front, creating huge extra costs.
3. ‘We can drive improved performance by strengthening support functions’
IT and change programmes aside, I have seen a big increase in bank ‘support’ areas. Organisations have come to believe that the key to improvement is through performance management – managing people. Back in 1992, in an environment of low-cost : income ratios and flat-rate bonus schemes for all, six ‘personnel reps’ were sufficient for an entire company. Compare that to today’s small army of people dedicated to HR, performance management and bonus calculations. In some places, HR teams are outsourced and/or offshored and re-christened HR Direct. I see a similar growth in risk, audit and compliance teams, all adding substantial cost but no value. The problem is not the people, stupid; it’s the system!
4. Cost cutting by channel management
The thinking here is that moving customers to cheaper channels will reduce costs. If a transaction costs 67p online, £2.81 by phone and £9.50 face-to-face, pushing the online offering seems a plausible response. Yet it fails to take into account two things.
First, not all customers want to use online banking channels exclusively, and those that don’t will take their business elsewhere. Second, unless it is informed by understanding of demand and what matters to customers, the design of the banks’ internet offering is likely to be poor, meaning that frustrated customers have to visit the branches anyway to get what they require. Better to design against demand and free up customers to use the channel of their choice. Concentrate on creating value for customers, not cost per transaction.
5. ‘We need help – we can’t do this for ourselves’
As a consultant myself, I’m flabbergasted at the number of consultants employed by the banks these days. Some of the big consultancy firms have had teams in some banks for years. What is the return on these contracts? The justification must be that it will save money in the long-term – but is that really happening? With a different level of thinking, banks can learn to study their systems from a customer’s perspective and unlock massive potential for themselves, at the same time-saving a huge bill from the men and women in sharp suits – a double benefit.
6. Increase revenue by selling more products
What about increasing revenue while reducing costs? The preferred strategy in banking has been to increase marketing budgets to build better products which will bring in more customers. This done, the next stage is to incentivise staff to sell more of these products, the primary aim being to increase product holding per customer – for example, if the holding is currently 1.3 products per customer, the goal is to increase it to 2.5. Customer Relationship Management tools are then acquired at large expense to prompt colleagues to push products to customers, turning off many while persuading politer ones to accept the products only to regret it afterwards. Or ‘project teams are established to work with ‘Products’ to dream up ‘the best offering in the marketplace’. In my experience, this tends to be people swapping amazing ideas against a backdrop of wanting to at least match what their competitors are offering.
So, what’s the impact here? Once again, the key point is that decisions are made away from the front line. Analysis usually reveals that customers want products that work, rather than sing, dance and salute. Then, there’s the cost of incentivising people to sell the products. Banks are currently taking a hit of £40 billion – yes, that’s right, £40 billion – in compensation and fines for the mis-selling of endowments, personal pension schemes and PPI. After the endowment fiasco of the 1990s, you might think the banks had taken on board the dangers of incentivising people to meet sales targets, but experience suggests otherwise. Fines and costs of mis-selling packaged bank accounts are just starting. There are other hidden costs. Many ‘sold’ products are never used. In one study I carried out, 54% of new accounts opened in one of the major banks were never funded – so all the work selling the accounts and providing cards, PINs and statements to fill them was money tipped straight down the drain.
The startling upshot of all this? Overall, the major banks show a 227% increase in costs between 2000 and 2012. Meanwhile the cost : income ratio, at best stable, for most banks continues on its merry upward trend.
And, it’s set to get worse.
I recently had the dubious pleasure of spending six weeks with a project team tasked with the digitization of a bank. The top line was this. A team of 45 was put together in London, more than half of them external consultants and most of the remainder bank colleagues from areas such as ‘change’, ‘compliance’ and ‘risk’. The two token frontline colleagues were largely marginalised. We were asked to imagine customer journeys using personas, dream up what a perfect journey would look like and then play that journey out in front of ‘live’ customers (paid to come in and answer loaded questions). The ‘creative’ consultants drew up storyboards and imagined how a customer could walk past a bank and be sent a phone alert telling them about the latest products available online, while a business case was drawn up to show how many frontline staff could be culled on the back of these great ideas. So, huge costs and no study or understanding of demand or how the current system works for customers.
Doesn’t anyone care about profit?
When I began work in 1992, I had no targets and I worked with a set of principles based around ‘Customer First’. Morale and customer advocacy were high; staff turnover, fines, complaints and cost : income ratios low. Since that time, the drive for standardisation and centralised control and a fierce focus on reducing costs has perversely driven up costs inexorably. My conclusion: instead of worrying about costs, volumes of customers and market share, banks need to move back to a focus on the measure that says it all: the cost : income ratio.
The past 20 years have seen a wholesale destruction of banking morale, reputation and cost : income ratios. In the next 20 years that needs to be reversed by a return to customer-shaped profit centres where potential and innovation are unlocked, central support is available on a subservient ‘pull’ basis and the system is governed by principles and measures related to customer purpose. Using the right principles alongside 21st century technical and other advancements, properly employed, makes a return to cost : income ratios of 38.6, or perhaps even lower, entirely feasible. What’s needed to achieve them is not transformation through large investment programmes, but a change in management thinking. Are the banks prepared to embrace it?
This article appears in Edition One of The Vanguard Periodical: The Vanguard Method in Financial Services. Ask for your FREE hard copy or PDF.
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Gothic Steam Phantastic > Information > Deteronic Frombotzer
Deteronic Frombotzer and other hi-tech
-*- Home -*- Daleth-*- I&I RPG -*- Information -*- Forum -*- Credits -*- Links -*-
In steampunk, like in science fiction, a certain point is met when the technics of the age don't fit in the models of modern science. There are a couple of ways to explain the hi-tech to the ignorant tosser who dares to ask "but how does that actually work then, by Jove?"
The most simple of all is "magic", thus creating something like "steam fantasy" where magic is integrated in technology in a way no human being of today can possibly understand. It has its flair, it's own ways of giving an attitude to the setting, wizards and scientists are very close in such settings.
Remember the word "magic" comes from the Arabic word "magi", meaning "wise men". Wise men know more than the average mortal. Magic usually works the same way: nobody understands how it works, that is left to the wise men, the mages. Where, by the way, the word witch also goes down to a word that means "to know" - witches, like mages, know more than others.
In some cases, the word magic is not used. There is a given explanation, that, however, no-one with todays knowledge can understand. The magic has been given a more technological explanation, ranging from "red coals" that have the more magic ability to fuel spaceships, to "liftwood" that is so light you can fly with it to Mars and many other semi-scientific explanations.
Another way of telling "how things actually work" is to beat around the bush and give an answer like "it is powered by a deteronic frombotzer." The artist saying something like that with a poker-face will be believed: almost no one is willing to confess he or she doesn't know what a deteronic frombotzer actually is. And to clear things up, the deteronic frombotzer is nothing more than an imaginary hi-tech way to power an engine from the GURPS universe.
Steampunkers with a bit more technological knowledge than their readers/players/friends can also try to bluff their way into steam tech. It should be easy to deceive those who only went to high-school when you have a technical university degree yourself. Tough point is that many role players -and others interested in steampunk- are students and they will poke right through the bluff anyway.
I think the best way to bluff your way into steam tech is to create a rather solid universe, where you explain things with only one (Victorian) theory. Most nineteenth century scientific theories tried to explain all, and even if we now know it's wrong, they did make sense at the time. So be it aether theories or something more close to the atomic theories, maybe even a fully functioning prae-Darwinism theory (creationism), it can be build further upon to explain your steampunk universe. With a closed universe, it will be believable, which is the point of science fiction. Don't let any doubt crawl in by people asking for Einstein -the man wasn't even born in your universe- or putting some crazy inventions like the atom bomb on the table -atoms as such do not exist in your universe.
By having a scientific theory and referring to that, a steampunk world becomes believable. That is much better than having all kinds of magic devices turning up, where the functions go way beyond the functions of the commonly known steam engine, and the people start wondering how on earth these things might work. After all, we are talking a branch of science fiction here, and not a silly kind of fantasy were everything can happen, whether it is possible or not within the given universe.
What is your way to explain steampunk hi-tech to others? You have any glorious theories thought up? Go tell in the forum!
© Yaghish 2004
-*-© Steammasters 2003-*-
^ Up
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SafeNet partners with FIDO Alliance
SafeNet has announced its sponsorship with the FIDO (Fast IDentity Online) Alliance to contribute towards global secure authentication standards. The FIDO protocol will support a full range of authentication technologies, including biometrics such as fingerprint scanners, and voice and facial recognition, as well as existing solutions and communications standards, such as Trusted Platform Modules (TPM), USB Security Tokens, Near Field Communication (NFC), One Time Passwords (OTP), embedded Secure Elements (eSE), and many other existing and future technology options.
Andrew Young, Vice-President, Authentication, SafeNet, said, “As a leader in strong authentication solutions, SafeNet is proud to join the FIDO alliance, and help make strong authentication easier to deploy and use. The development of a common authentication protocol and standards facilitates the broader adoption of secure business practices and increases customer confidence.”
“SafeNet is a valued addition to the FIDO Alliance. The company’s recognized expertise and innovation in strong authentication solutions will contribute to fresh insights as the first versions of FIDO specifications are being prepared for public release and our members begin early implementations,” said Michael Barrett, President of FIDO Alliance.
The open protocol is designed to be extensible and to accommodate future innovation, as well as protect existing investments. The FIDO protocol will allow interaction……See More
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eScan wins Microsoft Certification
As per a latest update, eScan has announced that its antivirus solutions have achieved certification from Microsoft for Windows 8 (and Windows 8.1) operating system and will ensure secured computing environment to its users against evolving cyber threats.
The latest range of eScan security solutions is tailor-made in accordance with the IT security needs of the customers. eScan’s user-friendly security solutions can be easily installed on PCs, laptops, etc with Windows 8.x OS and will ensure required protection from growing cyber threats. It also enhances the user’s privacy, security to their important data, as well as their digital life.
Govind Rammurthy, MD & CEO, eScan, said, “We are happy to be certified by Microsoft for Windows 8. eScan’s latest Security Solutions are completely compatible with the latest generation of Windows Operating Systems and hence will ensure safe computing environment to the IT users using Windows 8.”
eScan has worked closely with Microsoft in order to eliminate all the anticipated problems users may have experienced when migrating from Windows 7 to Windows 8. Earlier, eScan had announced the compatibility of its latest desktop products with the recently launched Windows 8.1……..See More
govind rammurthy
Videocon slashes outgoing roaming call rates by half
After pioneering free incoming roaming calls on own Network, Videocon Telecom has taken another step forward by slashing outgoing roaming call rates by 50%. Now while roaming across the country, Videocon Telecom consumers can now make local outgoing calls at 50P/minute, and STD calls at 75P/minute.
Arvind Bali, CEO & Director, Videocon Telecom, said, “We are a young and innovative brand and it is owing to these offerings that we have been able to maintain this stance and positioning in the market. Conventionally, benefit of tariff cutters/special tariff vouchers is only given in the home network, and no operator has extended this kind of benefit with 50% straight drop to their customers while roaming, and thus I am pleased to bring this one of its own kind of offering. This is like a true ‘Roam like Home’ scenario.”
Bali further added, “Despite not being a pan-India player right now, we have rolled out this unique proposition offering 50% off on outgoing calls while roaming across the country, which even the pan-India players have not been able to do despite having their own network.”
Through this offering, Videocon Telecom consumers by using a special tariff voucher of Rs.45, will be able to enjoy outgoing local calls while roaming across the country at 50P/min instead of the earlier Re.1/minute and can make STD calls at 75P/min instead of Rs.1.50/minute……See More
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Celkon introduces Multilingual Feature-rich Phone – C76
Celkon Mobiles has announced the launch of its multilingual phone – C76 equipped with 8 regional languages to support lakhs of mobile phone users across the country.
Y. Guru, Chairman & Managing director, Celkon Mobiles, said, “The launch of C76 is another milestone for the company. We, at Celkon, have always catered to the increasing needs of mobile phone users. Introducing a multilingual phone will reach out to the majority people spread across the regional boundaries. This will enable users to send text messages in their respective mother tongue and perform other linguistic activity.”
The Celkon C76 supports wireless FM and comes with a 7.1cm (2.8-inch) display with a plethora of features like Dual-SIM, 1.3MP Camera, expandable memory up to 16GB, Bluetooth, Audio-Video Player and WAP/GPRS powered with a 1400mAh Battery…….See More
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celkon c76 smartphone
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SAP to host TechEd 2013 in Bangalore
SAP(NYSE:SAP) has announced commencement of SAP TechEd 2013 in Bangalore, the tenth edition of the annual, premier technology, education, and business process conference series at the Karnataka Trade Promotion Organization’s Trade Centre from December 11–13. This year’s key themes are – Analytics, Big Data, In-Memory Computing, Databases, Mobile, Cloud, and User Experience. Dr Vishal Sikka, Member of the Executive Board, Products and Innovation, SAP AG, will deliver the keynote address on December 11.
The three-day event will feature the latest innovations in technology, applications and services that enable IT companies to respond rapidly to development changes, expand capabilities and maximize business impact. The conference is targeted at software developers, IT managers, business analysts, system administrators, SAP partners, consultants, evaluation and implementation specialists, and business intelligence consultants.
The highlights of the event include educational breakout sessions to learn about the latest from SAP; a demo jam, featuring demonstrations on the latest SAP-related technology from the ecosystem; the ultimate developer competition; a guest keynote from Sourav Ganguly; speaker networking sessions; and exhibits……See More
Canon successfully concludes “Gurukul”
Canon India(NYSE:CAJ) has announced successful conclusion of a two-day residential programme “Gurukul” designed specially for its Channel partner’s sales team. Organized successfully for the last six years, this year’s theme was “CONQUERING NEW FRONTIERS” with focus on creating value for customers, product awareness, technical and soft skill set which will help them grow beyond ordinance of regular expectations and possibilities.
Gurukul, an annual property of Canon, marks the strong commitment Canon holds towards its customers and even stronger collaboration it has established with its partners.
The programme was well received and attended by Channel’s FOS at Hyderabad with their insatiable desire of learning. Gurukul’s sessions included episodes aimed at enhancing their proficiency by providing them with extensive knowledge on the technological advancements and innovations taking place at Canon India.
K. Bhaskhar, Senior Director, OIS Division, Canon India, said, “Gurukul – into its sixth year is continuing to instill new confidence in Canon’s Channel partner’s sales team. It is the highest level of motivational programme strategically designed to enhance team’s expertise and turn them to Brand Ambassadors of Canon. This forum, over the years, has witnessed many participants attending the event consecutively for five years, and has worked as an effective retention programme.”
The two-day session acted as a platform for the channel partner’s sales team to build relationship with Canon senior leadership. This year, the programme was attended by channel partners from across the country, covering sales teams……..See More
conquering new frontiers
k bhaskar
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ESET teams up with Kyrion to educate IT Students
Security solutions provider, ESET has announced its partnership with Kyrion to educate IT college students on the cybersecurity aspects. Kyrion has conducted Mini Chakravyuh competition in different colleges across India with an award “The Hunt for the India’s Best IT Security Expert“.
Pankaj Jain, Director, ESET, said, “Our aim is to encourage and enhance the students on security aspects by providing them a safer digital world. It is a very good platform to showcase our expertise and also to literate students and teachers community. Kyrion is one of the best groups, who work on information security training to students and professionals.”
In all the competitions, ESET’s respective area sales manager will represent ESET at the event. ESET has till now provided 1,200+ ESET Smart Security single user licence key for the contestants. For the contest, contestants also have online option where an average 500+ participants can participate. 100 finalists will be selected of all the participants who will then contest for “The Hunt for the India’s Best IT Security Expert” award…….See More
Pankaj Jain
security solutions provider eset
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"God of War" for the PS4 review
The upcoming 'God of War' has received a Metacritic score of 94 a week from its release.
'God of War' receives rave reviews by critics
The next PlayStation will come out not soon
"God of War" dethrones "Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End"
'God of War' Studio has plans for five more games in the series
'God of War' arrives with different difficulty levels
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"God of War" takes over gaming charts
God of War: A masterpiece of storytelling
'God of War': How to break the seals to the Hidden Chambers
PlayStation 4 players rejoice, games are going on sale
'God of War': The franchise lives on
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TV Shows General Hospital
'General Hospital' spoilers: Harrison Chase could take Willow into custody on June 25
Willow could be arrested on General Hospital. [Image Source: Jsms99 YouTube]
In the next 'General Hospital' episodes aired on ABC, Willow confesses, could be arrested.
by Susan B. (article) and Jane Flowers (video)
June 20, 2019 at 7:23 PM Updated on June 21, 2019 at 5:20 AM
'General Hospital' spoilers: Willow could be arrested - Video
"General Hospital" spoilers say the atmosphere in Port Charles will get hot. Nelle Benson, thanks to the help of Ryan Chamberlain, he will be able to get out of prison. The two will form a dangerous alliance, which could end in a murder. From the rumors of the soap opera we know in fact that, most likely, Crazy Nelle will lose his head and want to get rid of her ally. Other "GH" spoilers, tease that Willow's recent revelation will have very unexpected repercussions, bringing serious problems to her life.
In the June 20 episode, Willow confessed to Michael that he killed his father. However, we know that the story is not so simple and that there are many dark spots.
Willow's confession
In the "General Hospital" episode for June 20, Willow told Michael about the painful episode concerning the death of her father. Michael, listening carefully to the girl, sensed that she was forced to act in that way. Willow would never want to hurt her father. Willow Tait had been completely manipulated by the DoD and was forced to make a drastic choice.
Shiloh, on the other hand, was very good at feeding Willow's lies. It seems that the girl knew how the murder of her father took place, but she didn't do anything to prevent it from happening.
Moreover, it is not a secret that Shiloh ordered her to make a brutal gesture to hide the real dynamics of the murder. As we know, the DoD community is united, and always acts as a team. Soap fans don't think Willow is really a murderer.
A plausible hypothesis is that she doesn't really know what happened and that someone made her forget about it. Shiloh and Harmony could have manipulated Willow's memories to make her believe something that never really happened. As often happens at the Dawn of Day, the followers of the sect may have convinced her that she was really the one who killed her father, making her go over a murder that actually never happened.
Willow could be arrested
Other "General Hospital" spoilers reveal that Diana Miller will point out to Willow that the task of pleading innocent will be very difficult, as Shiloh's lawyer is very powerful and able to convince the court. Also, let's not forget that Shiloh has all the Dod behind him, ready to do anything to help. So, we can imagine that the court doesn't believe Willow and that he's right about Shiloh.
Interesting and shocking spoilers reveal that Willow could be taken into custody. Harrison Chase will arrest an unexpected character in the June 25 episode. The clues all lead to the name Willow.
In the June 28 episode, Chase will visit Willow. Chase is not going to the girl for a peaceful meeting at all, but he is visiting her. In all likelihood, she's going to be arrested. What will happen? We just have to wait for the next exciting "General Hospital" spoilers and watch the aired episodes on ABC.
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Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve..
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Read more on the same topic from Susan B.:
On '90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way,' Laura and Aladin Jallali split 'Days of Our Lives' Spoiler: Gabi plots to avenge the death of Stefan '90 Day Fiancé': Ashley Martson and Jay Smith split again over alleged pregnancy
Blasting News recommends '90 Day Fiance': Some fans think Syngin left Tania, returned to South Africa '90 Day Fiancé': Fans troll Mike and Natalie over the state of their confused relationship 'Sister Wives': Janelle Brown denies Meri being chased out her house was scripted '90 Day Fiance': Anna Campisi urges fans to check with doctors after she got blood clots '90 Day Fiance': Fans spot a now-deleted Live by Syngin, indicates he may have left Tania Video 'Sister Wives' Meri getting chased from her home was real says Janelle Brown Video
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View All News Updates »DL Student Achievements
LTC Eric Baptiste pictured here with his AOC Assistant Professor, Pat Crisler, while attending the Battalion Commanders Pre-Command Course, at Fort Leavenworth, KS (23 Oct 2018)
LTC Eric Baptiste is a former Distance Learning student and graduate of the Advance Operations Course Class 16-13 under the Department of Distance Education, was selected for Battalion Command of the 3rdBN, 209thRegional Training Institute (RTI), Camp Ashland, NE.
LTC Baptiste welcomed the challenges DDE/AOC had to offer as well as balancing his daily work and family obligations. Eric understood the value completing CGSOC offered to his military professional opportunities leading to his command selection. He was an outstanding performer in this highly demanding year long program accomplishing all academic requirements to an outstanding standard as well as gaining the respect of his classmates along the way. LTC Baptiste became an unspoken leader and subject mater expert supported by his divers' experiences which he gained through multiple deployments helping to enhance the instruction and increase the learning for the whole group. LTC Baptiste demonstrated his ability as a multi-faceted and professionally talented officer who will excel in the Army’s highest levels of commands and opportunities.
Major Chaveso “Chevy” L. Cook, a former Distance Learning student and graduate of the Advance Operations Course Class 15-51 under the Department of Distance Education, was a recipient of the Diversity and Leadership Award on June 6, 2017. The award was hosted by The Honorable Robert M. Speer, Acting Secretary of the Army.
Major Cook currently serves as the Commander of the 3d Military Information Support Battalion (Airborne), Fort Bragg, North Carolina. ...Read More
LTC Tomas Frisbie is a former Distance Learning student and graduate of the Advance Operations Course Class 14-130 under the Department of Distance Education, was selected for Battalion Command of the 3/378th BCT BN of the 95th Training Division, Norman, OK.
While balancing his daily work and family obligations, LTC Frisbie welcomed the challenges DDE/AOC had to offer. Tom understood the value completing CGSOC offered to his military professional opportunities leading to his command selection. He was an outstanding performer in this highly demanding year long program accomplishing all academic requirements to an outstanding standard as well as gaining the respect of his classmates along the way. LTC Frisbie became an unspoken leader and subject mater expert supported by his diverse experience which he gained through multiple deployments. Because of this, he was influential in helping to enhance the instruction and increase the learning for the whole group. LTC Frisbie demonstrated his ability as multi-faceted and a professionally talented officer, who will excel in the Army’s highest levels of commands. ...Read More
LTC Kacey Brashear is a former Distance Learning student and graduate of the Advance Operations Course Class 14-130 under the Department of Distance Education, was recently selected for Battalion Command of the 90th Aviation Support BN, Forth Worth, TX and also selected to attend the AWCDEP Class of 2019.
As an officer in the DDE/AOC program LTC Brashear was a superior performer in all demonstrated abilities of the distance education mode to the Command and General Staff Officer Course. She exemplified her leadership abilities in numerous group exercises culminating as the Joint Planning Group / J5 Leader for a highly demanding joint level exercise which tested all aspects of tactics, sustainment and intelligence resulting in a flawless review. Embracing every opportunity DDE/AOC had to offer, LTC Brashear was academically rated the number one student overall in her class. Just as impressive, she was ranked number one by her peers. LTC Brashear will absolutely succeed at the highest levels of the Army’s staff and commands. ...Read More
The Department of Distance Education graduates their first International DL Student from Lithuania. MAJ Denisas STARIKOVIČIUS, stationed on the West Coast of the city of Klaipeda. He currently serves as the Operations Officer for the Lithuanian Land Forces Griffin Brigade under the command of LTC Arturas Radvilas. MAJ Denisas enrolled in Distance Learning 03 MAR 2014 and completed is studies on 09 March 2016. MAJ Denisas graduated with a 3.794 GPA all while serving as the operations officer. Outstanding performance by MAJ Denisas Starikovičius. ...Read More
Last Reviewed: August 17, 2017
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Why DSS is detaining Sowore — Presidency
The Presidency has dismissed insinuations in the media about the re-arrest by the Department of State Services of Omoyele Sowore, saying no government will allow anybody to openly call for destabilization in the country and do nothing.
The President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, who stated this in a statement in Abuja on Sunday, said:
“Nigerians do not need another spate of lawlessness and loss of lives all in the name of ‘revolution’, especially not one that is orchestrated by a man who makes his home in faraway New York – and who can easily disappear and leave behind whatever instability he intends to cause, to wit, Nnamdi Kanu”.
The Presidency notes some of the insinuations in the media about the arrest by the Department of State Services of the agitator, Omoyele Sowore.
According to the presidential aide, the DSS does not necessarily need the permission of the Presidency in all cases to carry out its essential responsibilities that are laid down in the Nigerian Constitution.
He maintained that Sowore, who called for a revolution to overthrow the democratically elected government of Nigeria, “is a person of interest to the DSS”.
Shehu said: “He did so on television, and from a privileged position as the owner of a widely read digital newspaper run from the US.
“He founded an organisation, Revolution Now, to launch, in their own words, “Days of Rage”, with the publicised purpose of fomenting mass civil unrest and the elected administration’s overthrow.
“No government will allow anybody to openly call for destabilisation in the country and do nothing.
“Mr Sowore is no ordinary citizen expressing his views freely on social media and the internet.
“He was a presidential candidate himself, who ran – and lost – as the flag bearer of the African Action Congress in the February 23 general elections.”
He further observed that Nigeria’s democracy was a long time in the making, and was achieved after “decades of often harsh, military-led overthrows of government: the kind of situation Sowore was advocating.
He added: “To believe in and desire armed revolution is not normal amongst ‘human rights activists’, as Sowore has been incorrectly described.
“Again, it is no surprise that he should be a person of interest to the DSS.’
According to Shehu, Nigeria is already dealing with an insurgency that has left millions of people displaced and desperate in the northeastern region of the country.
“The Boko Haram militants, who are behind the violence, also fancy themselves to be fighting for some sort of revolution.”
The presidential aide, therefore, opined that Sowore’s self-imposed predicament “is a matter for the DSS, acting under its powers”.
Omoyele Sowore
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Tag Archives: Sir William Brooke
Sir William Brooke, royal favourite and duelling victim
Posted on March 1, 2018 by JuliaH
Sir William Brooke (1565-1597) was the son of William Brooke, 10th Lord Cobham Warden of the Kent Cinque Ports (1527 to 1597) pictured at the start of this post. He was of a similar vintage to Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex and Elizabeth’s replacement for Dudley in the royal favourite stakes after his death in 1588. Like other Elizabethan gentlemen he did a stint in the continental religious wars being knighted by Essex in 1591 at Dieppe. He was, in short, one of the new breed of men in Elizabeth’s court.
Having done his time abroad he was then returned to Parliament as MP for Rochester at the behest of his father. Lord Cobham was not terribly amused that of the two MPS for Kent it was Sir Robert Sidney (brother of Sir Philip Sidney, nephew of Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester) who was returned as the senior parliamentarian. Elizabeth noted that it wasn’t very helpful that both men were abroad at the time. The fact that Brooke was also outlawed was also an issue. Elizabeth had decreed that members could not take their place until they had settled with their creditors. The matter must ultimately have been settled to Elizabeth’s satisfaction because he is described by Margaret Cavendish as one of her favourites. Certainly, in June 1597 William had been made Keeper of Eltham Great Park though whether it was because he was a royal favourite or because his family was an important one is something that probably bears further consideration.
The family links with Elizabeth are in themselves interesting. Clearly being a Kent family the Boleyn equation and Kent gentry affinity comes into play. Anne Boleyn sent George Brooke 9th Lord Cobham (1497-1558) a letter telling him about the birth of Elizabeth in September 1533 but he was also one of the judges that tried the queen just three years later. The following year at the christening of young Prince Edward it was Lord Cobham – our William’s grandfather- who carried consecrated wafers for both the illegitimised Tudor princesses.
George’s story continued to be tied to that of Henry VIII’s children and it is evident that he was of the reforming persuasion in his beliefs and the way in which he had chosen to have his children educated. The reign of Mary Tudor was made difficult not only by his faith but by the fact that he was related to Sir Thomas Wyatt through marriage. Wyatt even wrote to him demonstrating the belief that Cobham would side with him against Mary to put Elizabeth on the throne. He and his sons were arrested and there can be no doubt that Thomas Brooke had sided with Wyatt until the end. After that Lord Cobham who spent some time in the Tower kept his head down. He entertained Cardinal Pole and he made enquiries about heritics.. He died just before Mary so never saw Elizabeth ascend to the throne but the new Lord Cobham, William who had also been imprisoned in the Tower for his suspected part in Wyatt’s rebellion was on hand to play his allotted part in Elizabeth’s court and the administration of Kent as well as the Cinque Ports.
Clearly our Brooke was a bit of an Elizabethan wild boy and this led to his untimely end when he insulted Elizabeth Leighton the slightly pregnant lover of Sir Thomas Lucas of Colchester. Lucas called him out and he was mortally wounded one cold December morning in Mile End at a rapier’s end. He was carried home where friends and family visited him as he lay dying.
Brooke had made his will in June having gone on a sea voyage but on the morning of his death he had added an undated codicil to the will which left everything to his brother George:
‘Your jest and my haste would not suffer me to acquaint you with what I am gone about this morning, what hath called me out so early. I send you enclosed within these what I shall leave behind me. My will and meaning is you should have all lands, leases and prisoners which I desire you may as quietly enjoy as I sincerely mean…Wishing you the best fortune, your loving brother William Brooke
The will was proved on the 25 December 1597. For those of you who like to know these things, George Brooke was executed for plotting against James I in 1603.
One letter described William Brooke as “misfortunate.” Two arrest warrants were issued for Lucas by the privy council – on on the 24th of December and a second on the 30th. This was was very unfortunate for Elizabeth Leighton who bore an illegitimate child also called Thomas who would not meet his father until he was six years old when James I pardoned Lucas and he was able to return home. He and Elizabeth went on to have seven more children of whom the youngest, Margaret would go on to serve Queen Henrietta Maria and marry the Marquis of Newcastle going down in history as Mad Madge. She would also write her biography, just because she felt like it even though society disapproved of the idea of women writing books for publication and tell the story of her father’s duel.
It is perhaps not surprising that Lucas found himself at the wrong end of an arrest warrant, William Brooke’s father the 10th Lord Cobham (who had died on March 6 1597) was a man with clout. Brooke’s sister Elizabeth was the wife of Sir Robert Cecil – the most important man in the kingdom. She had also died at the beginning of 1597 but there were still family and political ties that were wielded by the new Lord Cobham – Henry Brooke – pictured left. He had been invested as Warden of the Cinque Ports on the same month that his father died.
In addition to which Whitaker makes the salient point that Elizabeth was already tetchy with the Lucas family because Sir Thomas’s sister Anne had gone to court to serve as a lady in waiting but then married for love against the queen’s wishes. Anne had defied the queen to marry Arthur Throckmorton who was the younger brother of Bess Throckmorton who, of course, irritated Elizabeth monumentally by marrying Sir Walter Raleigh demonstrating once again that everyone in the Tudor court is related somehow or another!
And who would have thought that in reading around the topic of Margaret Cavendish as part of the Stuarts in Derbyshire course I am currently delivering that I should encounter a tale of Tudor passion that correlates to Elizabeth I and her various favourites which happens to be part of another course that I am currently teaching.
Whitaker, Katie. (2003) Mad Madge. London: Chatto and Windus
http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/brooke-alias-cobham-william-1565-97
http://www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/Research/Pub/ArchCant/Vol.012%20-%201878/012-08.pdf
Posted in Sixteenth Century, surprising connections, The Tudors | Tagged 11th Lord Cobham, 9th Lord Cobham, Anne Boleyn, Anne Lucas, Arthur Throckmorton, Bess Throckmorton, Cardinal Pole, Colchester, Dieppe, Earl of Essex, Elizabeth Brooke, Elizabeth I, Elizabeth Leighton, Eltham Great Park, George Brooke, Henry Brooke, James I, Lord Cobham, Mad Madge, Margaret Cavendish, Mary Tudor, Sir Robert Cecil, Sir Robert Sidney, Sir Thomas Lucas, Sir Thomas Wyatt, Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir William Brooke, Thomas Brooke, Warden of Cinque POrts | 2 Replies
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Home Review Best Example of Word Processing Software
Best Example of Word Processing Software [Review]
Bittu Das
Word processing is the expression used to describe using a computer to create, edit, and print records. Of all computer applications, word processing is the most common. To complete word processing, you need a computer, a specialised program called a word processor, and a printer. A word processor is an electronic device or computer software application, that performs the task of writing, editing, formatting, and printing of documents. The word processor was a stand-alone office machine in the 1960s, connecting the keyboard text-entry and printing functions of an electric typewriter, with a recording unit, either tape or floppy disk with a simple dedicated computer processor for the editing of text. A word processor enables you to create a document, store it electronically on a disk, display it on a screen, change it by entering commands and characters from the keyboard, and print it on a printer.
Microsoft Word:
Microsoft Word or MS-WORD (often called word) is a graphical word processing program that users can type with. It is made by the computer company Microsoft. Its purpose is to allow users to type and save documents. Similar to other word processors, it has helpful tools to make documents. Microsoft Word is the most popular word-processing program – and justifiably so. It’s easy to use and allows you to create all different types of documents.
About Microsoft Word:
Developers(s) : Microsoft
Initial release: October 25, 1983
Stable release: 16 12 (Build 7668.2074) / 31st January 2017, [2016 (15.24.0) / 12th July 2016 – For maxOS
Operating system: Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows RT, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 7
Platform: IA-32, x64, ARM
Type: Word processor
Website: products.office.com/word
Features: Among its features, the word includes a built-in spell checker, a thesaurus, a dictionary, and utilities for manipulating and editing text. The following some aspects of its feature sets are:
Description: Templates, WordArt, Macros, Layout issues, Bullets and numbering, auto Summarize and many more But the 8 features that will take you to the next level are : Changing selection preferences, Turn off or customize AutoCorrect, Find out how well you write(technically), Seeing changes and edits, Leaving comments and suggestions, Write wherever you want without text boxes, Change capitalization, and Easily create citations(version-2016).
Why You Use Microsoft Word?
Many organisations now use computers to produce and organise written material, correspondence, membership lists and so on. But the most common programme, Ms-Word is used on most computers. It is written for people who have not used the programme before and had very basic information about the keyboard and Ms-Word. Ms-Word programme is called a word-processing package. This means that it is useful for typing and storing letters, articles, reports and anything that consists mainly of words. It is basically a fancy typewriter with a built in filing-system. If you think yourself to use Ms-Word, it may also be useful to you.
Text Maker
Original Author(s): soft maker
Initial release: 1987
Stable release: 2016
Operating system: MS Windows, Linux, Android,k Windows Mobile and Windows CE
Website: www.softmaker.de/ofwtm.htm
Features: Unicode Editor, Spell checker, Code folding, Fast navigation, Code completing, “Master” mode, Integrated Pdf viewer, Easy compilation, Mathematical symbols, Wizards, Latex documentation, Error handling, Rectangular block selection, Find in folders, Full asymptote support, Unlimited number of snippets.
Description: Tentmaker is a word processor Software developed by the Nuremberg (Germany) based software company Soft Maker and available as part of the soft Maker Office Suite which includes a presentation program, spreadsheet software, and even the Basic Maker scripting language. It has a fair number of publishing and editing tools which sets it in the same class with many desktop publishing software programs. Text Maker has a few features that can add a little something extra to your reports and documents, including soft shadows, mirror effects, image manipulation and transparencies.
Ability Office:
Developed By: Ability Plus Software
Initial release: September 1996
Stable release: March 2013 (Version 6)
Operating system: Microsoft windows
Type: Office Suite
Website: www.ability.com
Microsoft Office ribbon style interface.
Switch interfaces between traditional toolbar mode and Microsoft office 2010 or 2007 ribbon style.
Much improved OOXML import/export.
Open and save to the “cloud” with Dropbox.
Built with Visual Studio 2010.
Description: Ability Office is an office suite which consists of a word processor, spreadsheet, database, modules for presentation and photo or image editing, plus a photo/image organiser and vector line drawing application. The applications support most common file formats and also offer a PDF export.
Developer(s) : AbiSource
Initial release: 1st December 1998
Stable release: 2.8.6 (Windows) & 3.0.2 (Linux) , 20th October 2016
Preview release: Windows 2.9.4
Written In: C++
Operating system: Cross-platform
Website: abisource.org
Able to check spelling and grammar automatically
Works with popular file formats
Easy to install plugins
Documents can be saved automatically
Description: AbiWord is a free and open-source word processor software written in C++ that looks nice and easy to use. Its tools and menu items are actually ordered very well and the whole program is simple to use. All the basic formatting tools you need for writing are included, but it’s nice you also get access to some more advanced options like inserting tables and allowing real time collaboration, which some word processors don’t allow. Also in the settings, you can adjust AbiWord to automatically save documents as often as every minute, which is a wonder feature.
LyX ( The Document Processor)
Developer(s) : The LyX Team
Initial release : 2.2.2 / 15th october 2016
Written in: C++, Qt5
Type: document processor
Website: www.lyx.org
Automatically numbered headings, titles, and paragraphs with table of contents.
Support for the XeTex and LuaTex typesetting systems.
Standard operations like cut/paste, spell-checking.
Table Editor
Math Editor
Ability to import various common text formats
Ability to natively export the document to DocBook SGML, XHTML and plain text.
Description: LyX is an advanced open source document processor running on Linux/Unix, windows, and Mac OS X. It is called a “document processor”, because unlike standard word processors, LyX encourages an approach to writing based on the structure of your documents, not their appearance. LyX can produce HTML output via eLyXer (bypassing LaTeX), with a choice of ways to render mathematics which display beautifully in web browsers. It has real-time spellchecking, change tracking, version control, instant maths preview, image preview. It makes it easy to use the powerful features of LaTeX.
Last Words:-
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Fracking: An existential threat to green dogma
by Michelle J. Benton | Mar 28, 2012 | Green Dogma | 0 comments
Misleading claims about shale gas development serve dogma but not the public interest
By Paul Driessen
The Sierra Club and other environmental pressure groups are redoubling their efforts to “stop fracking in its tracks.” No wonder. The technology is an existential threat to fundamental “green” dogmas.
Horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing is a true “game changer.” In less than two years, this proven but still rapidly advancing technology has obliterated longstanding claims that we are running out of petroleum. Instead, the USA now finds itself blessed with centuries of oil and gas.
Thankfully, much of it is on state and private lands, which cannot easily be locked up by federal diktat.
Poland and Estonia are using it, China has invited companies to the Middle Kingdom, Britain, Israel and Jordan are evaluating their shale deposits, and other nations are following suit – coaxing oil and natural gas from shale and other rock formations that previously had refused to yield their hydrocarbon riches.
By making more natural gas available, fracking has reduced the US price for this clean-burning fuel to under $3 per thousand cubic feet (or million Btu), compared to a peak of $8 a few years ago.
Natural gas is also supplanting coal for electricity generation. Due to excessive, mostly unnecessary new Environmental Protection Agency regulations, many US coal-fired power plants are shutting down. Replacement plants are far more likely to be gas-powered than nuclear, especially in the near term.
Natural gas makes heating and electricity more affordable for families, hospitals, government buildings and businesses; feed stocks less expensive for makers of plastics, paints, fabrics and other petrochemical products; and the prospect of natural gas-power vehicles more enticing, without mandates or subsidies. That translates into thousands of jobs created or saved.
Companies are keeping chemical plants open that were slated to close, due to soaring prices for oil that they now can readily replace with cheap natural gas. Shell plans to build a $2-biillion ethane “cracking” plant near Pittsburgh – creating 10,000 construction jobs and 10,000 permanent jobs – thanks to abundant gas from Marcellus Shale. Louisiana, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Texas and other states are reporting subsidy-free employment and revenue gains from shale gas development. More are likely to follow, as companies seek new ways to capitalize on access to abundant, inexpensive, reliable gas.
Natural gas also provides essential backup power for wind turbines. Without such backup, electricity generation from these projects would plummet to zero 70-80% of the time, affecting assembly lines, computers, televisions, air conditioners and other electrical equipment dozens of times every day.
Even harder for environmentalists to accept, cheap natural gas also makes it harder to justify building redundant wind turbines that require large subsidies to generate far more expensive electricity only 5-8 hours a day, on average, while killing large numbers of raptors, migratory birds and bats. It makes more sense to simply build the gas turbines, and forget about the mostly useless wind turbines.
Fracking is also unlocking oil in the vast Bakken Shale formations beneath Montana, North Dakota and Saskatchewan. Oil production there has shot from 3,000 barrels a day in 2006 to nearly 500,000 today – creating thousands of jobs … and a growing need for the Keystone XL pipeline to Texas.
In response, eco-activists are spreading unfounded fears about this proven technology. Using words like “reckless,” “dangerous” and “poisonous,” they say unregulated fracking companies are operating with little concern for ecological values and causing cancer, earthquakes and groundwater contamination.
The claims have fanned borderline hysteria in some quarters and prompted Maryland, New York and other states to launch drawn-out studies or impose moratoria that will postpone drilling and the benefits it would bring. Facts are sorely needed.
Drilling and fracking have been carefully and effectively regulated by states for decades. As studies by the University of Texas and various state agencies have documented, there has never been a confirmed case of groundwater contamination due to fracking. Even EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson acknowledged that to a congressional panel.
These analysts, drilling companies and even an Environmental Defense expert now say fracking has not played a role in any of the rare cases where methane has gotten into drinking water.
Instead, the cause has generally been a failure of “well integrity” – the result of improper cementing between the well borehole and the steel “casing” and pipes that go down through aquifers and thousands of feet deeper into gas-laden shale formations. Similar failures occur in water wells drilled through rock formations containing methane (natural gas).
The solution is straightforward: better standards and procedures for cementing vertical pipes in place, and testing them initially and periodically to ensure there are no leaks.
Similarly, fracking fluids fail to match the “toxic” and “cancerous” opprobrium alleged by anti-drilling campaigns. Over 99.5% of the fluids is water and sand. The other 0.5% is chemicals to keep sand particles suspended in the liquid, fight bacterial growth and improve gas production.
Although industrial chemicals were once used, almost all of today’s are vegetable oil and chemicals used in cheese, beer, canned fish, dairy desserts, shampoo, and other food and cosmetic products.
As to “earthquakes,” barely detectable “tremors” have occasionally been measured near fracking operations and wastewater disposal injection wells. However, calling these snap, crackle and pop noises and movements “earthquakes” is akin to screaming “Earthquake!” when a cement truck goes by.
Despite these facts, EPA is nevertheless trying to invent problems and inject itself into already vigilant and responsive state regulatory efforts. The agency has conducted a roundly criticized study in Wyoming and is conducting water tests in Pennsylvania, where state officials view its activities as unnecessary meddling.
Additional over-reach and over-regulation would be hugely detrimental to US and global well-being. Fracking could help create numerous jobs and provide a far more secure, affordable, dependable and lower-pollution future than would ever be possible with wind or solar power.
By expanding oil and gas development, it could make North America the world’s new energy hub. Middle East sheiks, mullahs and OPEC ministers would lose economic, political and strategic power. Threats of Russian pipeline closures would no longer intimidate Eastern European countries. Politicians everywhere would waste less money on “renewable” energy T-Boonedoggles.
Unfortunately, though, fear campaigns are preventing some of America’s poorest counties and families from enjoying the economic benefits of Marcellus Shale development.
Baltimore’s Sage Policy Group calculated that fracking in western Maryland could reduce energy costs, create thousands of jobs, and generate millions of dollars annually in revenue for the state and Allegany and Garrett Counties. Similar studies in New York and elsewhere have reached similar conclusions.
Hydraulic fracturing technologies are proven. Regulations to protect drinking water are in place and improving steadily, as cementing and other legitimate concerns are recognized and addressed.
North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Texas, Poland and Israel are showing the way forward.
Communities that have not yet opened their doors to responsible drilling, fracking and production need to replace anti-hydrocarbon agendas and fears with facts, optimism and science-based regulations.
Standing Armies And Targets — T.F. STERN
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Copyrights © 2019 The Moral Liberal | All Rights Reserved.
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Just how far are you prepared to go to feel good about yourself?
Posted by Pointman on December 7, 2012 · 33 Comments
I believe the acid test of any political system or indeed any society, is how much compassion it has for its own people, who’re simply going through some travails or deeply in trouble. That very same test applies to such everyday organisations as a business enterprise and right down to an individual family. Where there’s no mutual loyalty and it’s every man for himself and to hell with anyone else, then it’s doomed to fall apart. If it has no compassion, lacks that essential humanity, that subconscious tacit safety net we all need to be there, it’s inherently unstable. The centre cannot hold.
The basis of any reasonably content life is building what I could only describe as networks of care. We make friendships for life, join clubs, have reunions and celebrate events like marriage, which is actually a joining of two care networks. We have a local bar, cafe or even a blog, we pop into on a regular basis and where more importantly, everyone knows your name, like it says in the song. The social compact being made in any care network is unspoken but unequivocal. If you need some help, you know I’ll do what I can for you, because I’m sure you’d do the same for me. Where people feel that deal just hasn’t been made, they’ll go elsewhere, where they can make it.
Care networks are so pervasive and systemic to our lives, that they’re almost invisible until you find yourself in the needy position of receiving help from one. As my grandmother used to say, a friend when you’re in need, is a friend indeed. That help ranges from the everyday to the life changing. It’s that friend of yours who fixes that wreck of a family car you really need to keep on the road but just can’t afford to get repaired, and for nothing more than a beer and a laugh. It’s that someone who puts in a good word for you, which gets you that job when you were down to the last of your savings.
But a care network is a two-way street. You help them out in return and that’s when you realise it’s a win win thing. You owe and not only is it a chance to pay that nagging debt back, perhaps to someone else, but also, there’s a genuine pleasure in doing it. You’ve been able to help out someone you care about, and you feel good about yourself for that.
Care networks engender strong and enduring emotions in us all, which anyone abuses at their peril, because if you do, you’ll never quite get back into where you were; ask any spouse who’s been caught being unfaithful. For the rest of your married life, no matter how well the relationship has been mended, there’ll aways be that tiny question mark over you. A crime that attracts strong universal condemnation is kidnapping; because it’s someone outside a family net, threatening harm to a loved young one, to ruthlessly exploit someone else’s love for them. It’s a direct threat to a type of care network we can all relate to.
The subconscious habit of those strong emotions is exploited in more subtle but none the less manipulative ways, because they scale up to events outside our particular networks. Politicians do things like ask us to pose for ourselves the question of what can we do for our country, rather than what it can do for us, and though it’s an elevated notion, it’s still exploitative, because it’s subtly co-opting us into that bigger care network of a nation.
We’re being emotionally drawn into something bigger than our immediate care networks, into what I suppose could be termed a projected care network. The biggest and habitual exploiters are charities or advocacy groups. They show us terrible scenes of awful things happening to defenseless people, so we quite naturally give out money to stop the cruelty.
Just this week, I read that the UK representative at the Doha climate conference has unexpectedly decided to donate two billion pounds sterling to the developing nations, such as Africa, so they can have their very own renewable power sources such as windmills and solar panels, to fight climate change. It’ll even help farmers in Columbia to plant more trees. It came out of the blue and no doubt, after a few token protests, will be nodded through.
We get shown pictures of those marginal farmers and peasants who’re supposedly going to be the beneficiaries but you’ve got to ask yourself a few questions. Does that skinny guy in the picture, whacking that emaciated cow with a stick, actually have any use for anything so unreliable as a windmill or a solar panel, especially when he doesn’t look likely to have a single electrical appliance in what I would guess is his far from palatial home?
I mean, it’s not as if there’s much point of the occasional and meager burst of power they might produce being used to charge his iPad, especially when he doesn’t have one, doesn’t have any use for one, but also that there’s no internet access there anyway? Surely the money would be better used to buy him a decent iron cooking pot or at least some drought resistant seeds? Yes, he needs our help and because of that care network impulse, you almost feel guilty raising any such awkward questions.
This is the sort of feel-good gesture aid that infuriates the developing nations. It’s inappropriate to the point of being an insult, it’s throwing ten feet of rope to a man drowning twenty feet from safety. If generation devices like that don’t work for us, why should they magically work there? Even if they did, they all require a maintenance infrastructure that simply doesn’t exist in poorer countries.
The real point about that generous donation of two billion pounds, is that financing it will cost the average UK household approximately £70. Can they afford to underwrite renewable projects in other countries, when renewable tax levies on their own power bills, are driving more and more people into fuel poverty? Domestic fuel bills have more than doubled in the last five years.
In the same week, I read the results of a poll conducted on two thousand people, to determine how soaring fuel prices are effecting them. The statistics are quite simply appalling. 10% of family households can no longer afford heating, with a further 14% estimating they won’t be able to afford it this winter. 20% now habitually wear outdoor clothing in their home.
It gets worse. Nearly 25% admitted to rationing food, so they could afford heating. What’s officially called Fuel Poverty now goes by the bitter name of Heat or Eat, by the families suffering from it. They’re down to heating one room, and turning that off when the kids aren’t at home.
As usual, the worst effected are the ones least able to handle it. Pensioners trying to get by on inflation ravaged state pensions and supplements, are now keeping warm by spending their waking hours using their free bus passes to endlessly ride around in warm buses. It’s that or libraries, malls or anywhere that’s heated. The UK now has a higher pro rata rate of cold-related deaths than the nordic countries. Numbers are just data, what’s important is what they mean. In this case it’s quite simple – the UK government is killing its own people to supposedly save the world from global warming.
Those numbers are worse than appalling; it’s a national bloody disgrace.
The human body has a well understood mechanism to cope with extreme cold. Where there’s no external heat, it’ll effectively stoke up the boiler inside you, and increase its consumption of nutrients. You’ll begin to shiver, which increases the burn rate of your calories. When it starts to run short of fuel, it effectively diverts life support from your non-essential organs, to the critical ones. Extremities like your fingers and toes will freeze, because they’re no longer getting an adequate blood supply. They feel as if they’re burning for a while, before you lose all feeling and any control of them altogether. They’ll get frostbitten, which actually means they’ll begin to rot.
The battle now moves to those vital remaining systems and it’s the last stand. As the body slowly runs out of fuel, it’ll gradually close them down, your brain, heart and lungs being the last ones. Mercifully, in the last stage, it starts putting you to sleep and you suddenly feel warm. It is not a nice way to die.
I read an article last year about fuel poverty that finished up with a paragraph about the bodies of two elderly people, in different areas of the UK, being found in their gardens after all the snow had melted. It took the easy condemnatory route of asking where their neighbours were and never asked the more curious question of why they were in their gardens in such bitter weather anyway.
I’m not a scientist, pretending to know everything beyond a shadow of a doubt, so all I can offer is a guess and it’s a very human one. On winter nights like that, the skies are clear, and you can see all the way through to the stars. Perhaps they didn’t want to be found frozen to death in their bed, wearing hats and scarves, overcoats and all the rest of their layers of clothing. Mebbe they felt the pinioned wings of death fast approaching and decided to leave this world with a final act of defiance or acceptance but either way, with some grace and human dignity.
They went out, sat in their snowy garden and looking up at the sky, froze to death, because up there above it all, was perhaps a deity they might have believed in, who was going to take them home to their loved ones. An end of all the slow suffering. Mebbe not. Mebbe it was just the way they wanted to go. Who knows.
I do know, that somewhere, we have to start drawing a line. The UK is now failing that acid test of any society. The price of feeling good about ourselves, has just got too high.
Is there a moral dimension to being anti-environmental?
Filed under Article · Tagged with Fuel Poverty, Heat or Eat, Renewables
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33 Responses to “Just how far are you prepared to go to feel good about yourself?”
kim2ooo says:
Reblogged this on Climate Ponderings.
Aye P,
Lavishly doling out our foreign aid stops indigent nations helping themselves, it makes them wholly dependent on gifts and charity and that is the biggest sin. Especially when the donor nation is in dire economic straits itself and requires its own citizens to make personal financial sacrifice to enable the nation to be able to repay its foreign debt.
What our politicians are good at, is being seen to care. The honest to God’s truth and here in the UK particularly, one can ‘hear’ the bile and loathing Joe and Joanne public engender in our ruling classes, why do I think this? Well the answer is in your poignant blog post.
Britain lacks, actually, there is a total vacuum of compassion and care in our society. It has been starkly highlighted recently when the new chief nursing officer, Jane Cummings averred things had to change in the NHS:
The guidelines, drawn up by chief nursing officer Jane Cummings, tell nurses to focus on the ‘six Cs’ – compassion, care, competence, communication, courage and commitment.
Mrs Cummings said: ‘It’s putting patients first which is the key thing.
Read here.
What a pretty pass, how low we have slithered when a chief nursing offer has to reinstate compassion into nursing students and seniors’ commitment to care and tending the sick. Indeed, I should know, I’ve seen nurses chatting at their station while patients cried out for water and basic care – believe it, for I’ve witnessed it.
That politicians can throw money [borrowed money at that] to fritter away at bone headed boondoggles planted in foreign fields – and all the while their own countrymen die of hypothermia – is a reflection of the crassly heartless uncaring society we’ve become.
It doesn’t surprise me though, it deeply pains me to say it: the country has gone to the dogs and mangy curs run it.
Ordinary people still have that compassion, it’s just the leadership have never seen the hungry day. They’re ignorant. There are enough Sullas left, even after the blood-letting in foreign fields, to do the neccessary job. Chin up Buster.
My good friend Punkt Mann,
I fear, in me it’s a little of the blood of Erin, sometimes makes me a little dark.
But I hate injustice, profligacy and waste and done ‘in my name’ without a ‘by your leave’ – something needs to change. Political power, is now way too distant from the people and that bodes ill for all of us.
Tiocfaidh ár lá, brother. Our day will come, we’ll take them, if only to chase that lonely impulse of delight.
Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix, Hail!
We humble legionaries are only too willing to take up a gladius and shield and close ranks to fight this campaign to the bitter end. Our only reward will be to see these murderous traitors thrown off the Tarpeian Rock – a fitting and ignominious end to their treachery.
The vulnerable in our communities can be seen in one of three ways – as people deserving of our help and humanity, or as of such insignificance as to not warrant our concern, or as prey to be fed upon and used to promote profitable ideologies.
It’s no coincidence that every second exhortation from the Alarmists urges us to think of our “children and grandchildren” when considering the calamity of Global Warming. Pity the same concern for our offspring doesn’t extend to their education or medical and dental care or whether we can put a roof over their heads or if they will ever have a job in a de-industrialised world.
You ask “Just how far are you prepared to go to feel good about yourself?” For starters, the CAGW Alarmists never made me feel bad about myself in the first place. Just angry. Secondly, when it comes to goodwill and altruism, writing a cheque or tossing lots of cash at a bureaucracy to solve a problem has never made me feel better either.
And while we have a Cabal of Socialist/Marxist/Fabians running our country and bleeding us dry, we won’t see change any time soon.
Ah Fabius … now there was a man who eschewed pitched battles which he might lose. He favoured patience and a war of attrition – lay siege to the enemy, poison their wells, starve them into submission and sell the survivors into slavery.
It looks like our modern Fabian acolytes are well on track – striking fear into whole populations with their Climate siege engines to sell us into Debt slavery. It’s only a matter of time before we see their worm-ridden ballistas crumble and fall in a heap.
Maybe then, men and women of honour will adjust our priorities, cast those parasitic grubs into oblivion and see those in most need taken care of first.
Indeed it will P.,
As is the way in all things and the truth will be our vanguard – me an’ thee out front – the Green Jackets – “Celer et Audax”.
And on a theme……………..http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&hl=en-GB&v=Wu4oy1IRTh8
Honestly it was playing on the radio as I was typing the “vanguard” comment – not completely apt but uncanny nevertheless.
We both know how freaky that Celtic thing is, and I kid meself I’m a rationalist. Some shite, I choose not to examine too closely. On the synchronisity front, Arthur Koestler was on to something. It’s no wonder that Freud said the only unique thing about the Irish was that they couldn’t be psychoanalysed.
Since we’re into that context, the words of a neglected poet, Patrick Kavanagh, put to a great air, the dawning of the day.
I sometimes wonder how many of the Western world’s ills (which naturally impact the Third World) can be ascribed to the feel-good self-esteem movement which has infiltrated our societies over the past 40 years or so.
If the only criterion by which an action can be judged is whether it makes you feel good or not, then you have become detached from any kind of moral compass whatsoever.
And we saw many unpleasant examples of how that can turn out in the 20th Century.
If I may, this needs no words from me but illustrates my point and starkly:
If you’re old, if you’re sick, if you’re inarticulate or incapacitated, if you haven’t got a sharp-elbowed champion to protect you from the NHS, then avoid hospital admission like Ebola. An NHS where consultants are the new GPs and the average junior doctor has about as much knowledge of medicine as a PC World salesboy has of motherboards, where nursing staff have never been so highly paid or so poorly vocationally committed, where staff have to be coerced to wash their hands, and where basic human dignity has little place. If you’re inconvenient, a nuisance or they simply can’t make a diagnosis, you risk being placed on the Liverpool Death Pathway, deprived of food and water and drugged to the point of unconsciousness until you die. It’s less offensive than the method used by the T4 clinics to euthanise patients – an exhaust hose from a truck – but none the less effective. […]
Managerial-ism, Marxist ideology = misanthropy and neglect – the cornerstones of the EU and now rampant here in Britain.
Thank you Swanny for that, a harrowing but quite superb post.
G’day Edward,
It’s an extraordinary state of affairs isn’t it? The extent of corruption and cover-up currently being revealed in the Australian government and their cronies in the judiciary, has us reeling right now. Makes Richard Nixon and his snoopy burglar mates look like choir boys.
It’s nothing less than Organised Crime. We have a federal election coming up in 2013 and our fervent hope is that the Labor/Union Administration of the Nation’s affairs will be annihilated for decades.
The only question is – how much more damage can they do in the meantime?
G’day mate,
Organised crime in the public sector – so right Swanny.
……. and when there is malfeasance, wrong doing, callousness and criminal negligence, they [managerial claque] all scream innocence and playing the Pontius Pilate metaphorically washing those ever so clean hands – mouthing, “procedure was followed to the letter”.
Then, they get a pay off [pension pot filled to the brim] and move on into another well paid sinecure – there is no individual responsibility – it’s almost impossible to nail them and the judiciary are complicit in the cover ups and lies…………………….you couldn’t run an army like that but I fear that the UK-political correctness is starting to infiltrate the RA – the last bastion of British professional service.
Two egregious egs, here here and try this for size – how do we allow this?
Australia and Britain both gone down the shi88er.
Jeez Ed,
You really know how to make a Swan’s day. Confronting the reality of our situation is painful isn’t it? That link of yours says it all, in spades. A few years back Sydney had a late-night radio jock, the late Stan Zemanek, who refused to ever refer to the Labor Party by name. He constantly called them “Socialist Criminals”. Nobody ever sued him over it. Good old Stan – he’d be in fits over this latest lot.
I think it’s time we stopped calling them “the Left”, and tell the truth about who/what they really are. Your link suggested they were “cultural Marxists” – I reckon they are Socialist/Marxist/Fabian criminals whose social engineering and wealth re-distribution (into their own pockets) has blighted entire nations and devastated the lives of individuals.
It seems to me that our respective ‘democracies’ have been seized from us in a series of bloodless coups while we were asleep at the wheel and we were so dozey we didn’t even notice.
Edward, you beat me to it. I was just about to post the link to Raedwald’s brilliant post myself.
David, UK says:
I know this like using a plaster (aka band aid) to fix a lost limb, but if you felt yourself dying of exposure, wouldn’t you – rather than going out into the garden – maybe dial 999? That is not to disagree with anything you said of course. It is a national disgrace.
David, your observation got me thinking.
I’m a frail aged soul who can’t afford heating while the snow drifts pile against the windows. I’m afraid. I need help. I should call 999. The ambulance can’t get through because nobody gritted the roads out where I live…. and even if they did, what then? I’ll be carted off to an overcrowded hospital where I’ll be put on a gurney and left in a corridor till the triage nurse decides how sick I am. I haven’t eaten for a day or two … or is it three? …. and my throat is dry – I’d love a cuppa tea.
Thinking of all that, no, I’m tired, I’m sick of being afraid. I’m sick of deciding if I should eat or pay the electricity bill. The kids are all grown with lives of their own – my time has come, and I’d best understand that. I don’t really feel cold anymore – I’ve heard you just go to sleep in the snow.
Now, if I can only get this door open …….
Didn’t know it was that cold in December……. ain’t it summer in Tassie Swanny?
Rogue that you are and yep – never give up and when the time comes save a bullet for yersel.
Ok Ed – the scorching desert winds are blowing in from the north. The mainland temperatures have been over 40C for a week. I’m a frail aged soul and I can’t afford to turn my airconditioning on …….
Pity you never got to come rambling over our island – you’d have loved it. Still, if you ever change your mind, the beer’s in the fridge ….
Hi David. I didn’t want to get too grisly about the details of dying from cold, but part of the process is a deterioration in judgement. You simply start making poor decisions.
We understand a lot about the process, partly because of the so-called experiments done on concentration camp inmates, by what passed as research by Nazi doctors. You need a strong stomach to read through that stuff. They were looking for ways of reviving Luftwaffe pilots who’d been downed into freezing seas. To that end, they froze people to the point of death, to ascertain the best resuscitation techniques. Some of the results, like sitting them up, rather than keeping them laying flat, were statistically significant.
The huge moral dilemma faced by the doctors reviewing the “research”, was whether to use it or not …
Blimey, my head is spinning, think I’ll dig out a geometry book, or bury myself in a Latin primer and the subjunctive – a bit of logic helps calm and soothe the spirits.
Or, a good murder novel………………..
Euclid and his principles are poor reading.Feed your head LOL.
The 21st of December, end of this year’s Pratties approaches. All around the world, panic begins to spread …
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9730618/Mayan-apocalypse-panic-spreads-as-December-21-nears.html
The Doomboosters are at it again with dire predictions of our future …
“In the worst case scenarios, rising population leads to conflict over water and food, especially in the Mideast and Africa, and the instability contributes to global economic collapse.”
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/world/spies-see-poverty-down-but-resource-fights-ahead/story-fnddckzi-1226534108099
“The report warns of the mostly catastrophic effect of possible “Black Swans,” extraordinary events that can change the course of history. These include a severe pandemic that could kill millions in a matter of months and more rapid climate change that could make it hard to feed the world’s population.”
The photo that illustrates the point is very confronting. Can we imagine turning on a tap and nothing happens? How would we fare? This is happening right here and now in the biggest city in the world’s biggest democracy. It is also happening in Africa where foreign owners of water supplies are contracted to allow “subsistence flows” to local people, who queue for hours as water dribbles slowly into plastic containers.
In Oz, our water and energy supplies are being systematically bought up by foreign corporations as our governments “sell off the farm” in a scramble to raise funding to service our mountainous debt. How far will our “care networks” extend when daily survival is at risk?
Forty years ago the prospect of the cash bonanza that CAGW theory could engender for Socialist/Marxist governments was just that – a theory. Today, with western countries neatly signed up to their UN treaties, the theory has crystallised into fuel poverty for too many people and the speculators and carpetbaggers are raking in the cash.
It’s one thing to expose Climate Fraud for what it is, but while our entire economies have been hitched to the Climate bandwagon, it won’t be turned around any time soon.
Okay, so Doha was such a fizzer that even the IPCC weren’t invited, but they succeeded in having our government sign up to extend our Kyoto obligations till 2020, and to bind us to spending AUD$3 Billion a year in compensation to foreign countries for natural disasters.
For us in Oz, our hopes reside in a change of government next year. It will be interesting to see how soon they can turn our Ship of State around. Still, if the Titanic had been turned a little sooner it would never have smashed into that iceberg.
This is a return to the 70’s. I remember the stat for old people dying of the cold back then, was about 60,000 – 70, 000 per annum. Last years figures (2011) were over 36,700 pensioners dying of cold-related illnesses, a death rate of 13 pensioners each hour. 2010’s rate was 9 pensioners per hour which is about 23,000 for the year. This is before the two price increases which we have had since then. So the deaths are probably a lagging indicator. It would be interesting to corrolate the pensioner death rate relative to the price of energy. I don’t have the figures available but my hunch is that it is probably an exponential relationship to the cost of energy. When are the govt going to act on this disgraceful situation? The answer is they won’t. We will eventually have to take to the streets to resolve this and the other major issues in society.
Hey Leon old pal, letting you in here might just possibly lower the whole tone of the blog, and bear in mind, it was pretty much crashed anyway.
One for you *http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVYFOlVB-Uo
“GREENHOUSE gas emissions from cars and buses are falling – but the “environmental taxes” on transport are rising.
According to an Australian Bureau of Statistics study, governments reaped $26 billion in green levies for 2010-11, an increase of $9.2 billion since 2000-01.
Households paid $8.6 billion in environmental taxes, more than one third of the all revenue generated.”
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/emissions-are-falling-but-tax-still-rising/story-e6freuy9-1226536449515
26 Billion Dollars?? Ten percent of that is being paid directly to the UN. Almost 9 Billion is from a population of 22 million people with probably less than 10 million workers actually paying income tax while everybody pays Goods & Services Tax plus green levies on everything. Of course, corporations haven’t stumped up with the rest of the cash without passing those costs on, and we are all footing those bills, either directly or indirectly.
How many homes could have been built for that? – there’s at least a fifteen year wait on affordable public housing for low income earners in Sydney, with other centres not far behind.
Too many families are living in cars (if they’re lucky enough to have one), with some being put up at motels/hotels as emergency accommodation. Charitable organisations don’t receive a cent of government funding but Centrelink (our Benefits dept) is telling desperate people to go to the Salvos or Vinnies for food and other assistance.
Our “care networks” have never been more stretched. Yet STILL the voracious Green Lobby remains unsatisfied. What do they want?…. our blood? It sure seems that way.
The Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) has outdone itself. Today (14th Dec), one of our bi-annual king tides occurs, and the CSIRO plus their partners-in-deception in Climate Fraud, are asking people around Australia (particularly in Tasmania and the mainland mid-eastern coast) to go out and take photos of the high water.
“Green Cross Australia CEO Mara Bún said sharing photos allows people to visualise how flooding from rising sea levels will impact our beaches, coastal areas and shoreline communities in the future.”
http://www.coffscoastadvocate.com.au/news/king-tide-data-help-gauge-sea-level-rise/1655544/
It seems they will use these photos to create ‘visual impact’ in convincing people that “our children and grandchildren” will be needing a snorkel and swim-fins to survive the coming tidal catastrophe. Why would that be necessary when the final par in the story says … “Although king tides are naturally occurring and not a result of climate change, the bi-annual occurrence provides an insight into the potential impacts of rising sea levels to the Australian coastline.”
They have even created a special-purpose web site to carry their message of doom …
http://www.witnesskingtides.org/
All of this is on the taxpayers’ dime. Along with all the staff to man official blogs and tweets. This is the site where our science students go to find answers to all their questions …
http://www.csiro.au/
One of the sites photographed on the king tides site is ten miles upriver from the coast, and water levels rise frequently, especially after extended rain periods in the mountain catchment areas. It’s all a Pea & Thimble game. There appears to be no limit to their utter gall.
Higher energy bills push 300,000 more Britons into fuel poverty.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/12/17/uk-britain-energy-poverty-idUKBRE8BG03G20121217
Quarter of mothers forced to turn their heating off to afford food for their children: Survey warns of increase in ‘fuel poverty’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2257849/Quarter-mothers-forced-turn-heating-afford-food-children-Survey-warns-increase-fuel-poverty.html
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City Council approves Cornell NYC Tech campus
May.May 09, 2013 01:30 PM
Cornell University has the city’s go-ahead to build a technology campus on Roosevelt Island, which paves the way for construction to begin next year on the 2.1 million-square-foot project, Crain’s reported.
The City Council approved the development yesterday.
“We’ve been talking about this project for a while now,” council member Jessica Lappin told Crain’s. “It’s fantastic to be past this very significant hurdle, and to have the land-use process come to a conclusion and allow them to get started.”
With construction to begin in 2014, Lappin told Crain’s that the vote keeps the development on track to open in 2017.
As reported, the City Planning Commission greenlighted plans for the campus in late March. The panel’s approval followed the thumbs-up from Manhattan Community Board 8 in December.
The development’s first phase encompasses 790,000 square feet, which will include the school’s first academic building; all work won’t be completed until 2037.
When finished, the campus will house about 2,000 graduate students. For now, a “beta” group of computer science grad students are studying inside a Chelsea space that was donated by Google. [Crain’s] —Zachary Kussin
city councilCornell NYC Tech
SL Green lends $59M for mixed-use Brooklyn project
Virtual brokerage Fathom Holdings files for IPO
Bronx councilman snuffs out another de Blasio rezoning
Queens candidates to return some real estate cash
Bushwick rezoning faces deadlock amid local opposition
Gentrification tax? Pols pitch fix for “completely screwed” system
Landlords face mandate to install safety devices
Mayor agrees to require units for homeless in city-backed projects
REBNY asks city to help landlords pay for lead abatement
Co-op owners get a quick fix on registration program aimed at rent-regulated apartments
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Broadsword calling Danny Boy
secretsofter
Rumble in the jungle
Winter drawers on
Return to Moldistan
A Sterling effort
Allycat on Rumble in the jungle
secretsofter on Rumble in the jungle
secretsofter on My Stupidly Long Rifle
اغانى 2018 on My Stupidly Long Rifle
Kit and caboodle
The philosophy of airsoft
Read any tactical manual and it will tell you that good communication between squad members is key to winning the fight.
That’s a little academic for me, as regular readers will know I generally operate as a Billy-no-mates lone wolf. But one day I might go to a proper event where I’m teamed up with a squad (or ‘section’, in Brit milspeak). This admittedly remote possibility has given me the perfect excuse to splash out on some comms kit.
Hello Moto.
Core to my comms set-up is a Motorola XTN 446 two-way radio. This is an entry-level commercial radio, as used by elite mall security teams worldwide. It has since been replaced by a model with more bells and whistles. Which means nearly-new examples are available for around £30 on ebay. This modest sum buys you quite an impressive piece of kit.
Its cheap and shiny plastic case belies the ruggedness of its basic construction. You can imagine this thing soaking up some pretty heavy abuse and still powering through. It is the Kalashnikov of two-way radios. By contemporary standards, its feature-set is quite modest. Even so, it boasts enough complexity to require me to re-read the instruction manual every time I use it. Though that could be something to do with my early-onset Alzheimers.
Like most PMR radios, the XTN features eight basic channels, each with 38 analogue interference eliminator codes and an additional 83 digital interference eliminator codes. It also has three voice scrambler codes, just in case your opposition has an electronic warfare capability to rival a small country.
Enough juice to last a whole war. If you’re French.
More importantly for me, the XTN is compatible with even the most basic radios the rest of your team might be running. You can operate it on any of the basic channels without an interference eliminator code or a voice scrambler code engaged. For simplicity’s sake, that’s probably best. It is after all very bad manners to snoop on the opposition’s chatter.
The XTN runs on either a rechargeable NiMH battery cell or a stack of ubiquitous AA batteries. It’s claimed that it will run for at least 24 hours between charges or battery replacements, though I’ve never tested this.
A neat feature is that calling and acknowledgement sounds can be disabled, so you don’t suddenly start sounding like an 80s video game as you creep up on the enemy.
It’s not the smallest of radios, but it fits neatly in a universal radio pouch round the back of my belt kit. Which may prompt you to wonder how exactly I plan to use it in the field if it’s dangling over my arse.
Get ahead. Get a headset.
The answer is my ex-British army PRR headset. The PRR (Personal Role Radio) was originally part of the Clansman battlefield radio project. However, thanks to the unparalleled efficiency of the MoD procurement system, it was subsequently decided to develop it as a separate system. Otherwise its in-service date would have been some time in the 22nd century, just in time for use in the war against Martian colonial separatists.
I’m sure the PRR is a great piece of kit, but looking at its spec on Wikipedia, I reckon my Motorola is superior. Whatever its failings, it has proved its worth in the latter unpleasantness in Afghanistan, probably saving lives by allowing infantry fireteams to co-ordinate their movements more effectively.
As used by hard bastards.
The PRR headset is a very compact and lightweight unit. Like the old 18-hour girdle, you barely know you have it on. It fits under a helmet or boonie hat, or over a beret. There’s a single earpiece and a flexible boom mic. My example has been fitted with a civvy press-to-talk switch, which is very rugged and big enough to be hard to miss, even in a panic.
Does my boom look big in this?
I bought mine about 10 years ago. It’s an ex-military item adapted by a specialist radio company and it cost me an arm and a leg. Equally good knock-off items are now available for a fraction of the cost via your favourite Hong Kong airsoft retailer. You can also get look-alike PRR radio units. However, their replica shells conceal low-quality PMR radios which lack both the features and the ruggedness of a decent commercial radio like my Motorola. I’d give them a miss.
So there you have it. My personal comms kit, ready to go the moment full-scale airsoft war is declared. All I need now is a few like-minded team-mates to talk to with it.
This entry was posted in Kit and caboodle and tagged communications, Radios, tactics, Teamwork. Bookmark the permalink.
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Study: Encouraging teens to diet screws up their attitudes toward food
Filed to:Diets
Photo: Laurence Mouton (Getty Images)
The results of a multidecade study published in the journal Pediatrics show teens whose parents encouraged them to lose weight have higher instances of obesity and eating disorders later, compared to those whose parents didn’t.
Reuters reports the researchers analyzed the results of food-attitude surveys given to 556 teenagers, and compared them to online surveys the same individuals completed 15 years later.
“When adolescents were encouraged to diet by their parents, they were more likely to be overweight, engage in unhealthy weight control behaviors, binge eat and diet, and to have lower body satisfaction as adults,” lead author Jerica Berge of the University of Minnesota School of Public Health told Reuters.
As adults, participants who were told to diet as teens were 25 percent more likely to be overweight and 37 percent more likely to be obese, and were 72 percent more likely to report binge eating.
Despite the negative effects of dieting pressure, adults who felt such pressure are still more likely to encourage their own kids to lose weight.
“As parents, people who were pushed to diet during their teen years were also roughly 50 percent more likely to push their own kids to diet,” Reuters reports.
These results indicate a cycle in which parents perpetuate attitudes about food and weight, even if those attitudes have negative outcomes. Of course, parents play a role in the health of their children, and researchers don’t suggest adults avoid discussing eating habits with teens. But it’s a wake-up call for adults to be cautious of how that message is delivered.
“In our weight-focused society, it’s very easy to get caught up in a high focus on weight and eating,” Katherine Bauer, a nutrition specialist at the University of Michigan School of Public Health and co-author of a related editorial, told Reuters. “Ultimately though, once we’re aware of our beliefs and behaviors, with the right resources we can create more supportive environments that focus on health and wellbeing, rather than the number on the scale.”
You’re a green one, Mr. Grinch: Boris Karloff’s guacamole recipe
Ask The Salty Waitress: Is it okay for adults to order from the kids’ menu?
The one place on the avocado to squeeze to tell whether it's fully ripe
Which non-alcoholic beer is marginally better than just drinking water?
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Momentum & Achievements
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New research vessel for UWM’s School of Freshwater Sciences
Anonymous donor commits $10M to new research vessel for UWM’s School of Freshwater Sciences
Posted by Fox6 News on November 6, 2019
MILWAUKEE — The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s School of Freshwater Sciences is getting a new research vessel thanks to an anonymous donor of the Greater Milwaukee Foundation that has committed $10 million to the project.
A news release says the $10 million gift equals the largest gifts ever received by UWM. In recognition of the gift, the vessel will be named the Research Vessel Maggi Sue.
The university continues to raise funds for this $20 million project, which includes $15 million to construct the research vessel and $5 million to sustain its operation.
Officials say the Maggi Sue will be the most advanced research vessel on the Great Lakes and the first designed specifically for conducting sophisticated research on these bodies of water. It will replace the Neeskay, a converted Army T-boat that is more than 65 years old. The 71-foot Neeskay was purchased by UWM in 1970 – nearly 50 years ago.
The Maggi Sue, measuring 120 feet in length, will possess onboard technology that will open new avenues of research and increase scientists’ ability to understand, explore and manage our freshwater resources. The vessel will feature sensors that collect real-time data, interchangeable lab pods that can be switched out depending on scientists’ needs, and a dynamic positioning system that allows the vessel to stay in one place despite the current, wind and waves.
The lab spaces will enable scientists to conduct experiments on the water. Classrooms aboard the vessel will allow groups of university students as well as K-12 students the opportunity to learn at sea. Unlike the Neeskay, the Maggi Sue will have sleeping accommodations for up to 18 people, allowing scientists and crew to remain on the water for longer periods of time to gather continuous readings without needing to return to shore.
News - January 9th 2020
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Israel Bonds Milwaukee and The Water Council
Blog - January 13th 2020
My water tech story: Michael Keleman
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Anti-Marijuana Candidate Jeff Sessions Confirmed for Attorney General
Chloe Sommers
After much deliberation, the U.S. Senate confirmed anti-marijuana candidate Senator Jeff Sessions for Attorney General, Wednesday with a vote of 52-47.
"I can't express how appreciative I am for those of you who stood by me during this difficult time", said Sessions, "By your vote tonight I have been given a real challenge. I'll do my best to be worthy of it."
The anti-marijuana Republican Senator from Alabama has a volatile past with cannabis reform, as the staunch conservative has been known to support anti-marijuana rhetoric, and the drug war during his time in office under the Reagan administration.
“I think one of [Obama’s] great failures…has been obvious to me, is his lax treatment and comments on marijuana. It reverses twenty years …of hostility towards drugs begun when Nancy Reagan started the ‘Just Say No’ program,” said Sessions, at a caucus meeting in April in Washington, D.C.
RELATED ARTICLE: ASA Responds to Senator Jeff Sessions’ Attorney General Confirmation Hearing
“Good people don’t smoke marijuana,” continued the southern Republican at The Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control meeting on the state of recreational marijuana.
"Jeff Sessions' views are out of step with mainstream America and they are in conflict with the laws regarding marijuana in over half of the states in this country," said Justin Strekal, Political Director for NORML, in a statement.
When asked about cannabis policy at last month's confirmation hearing, Sessions said, 'if Congress no longer wanted to criminalize marijuana, it should pass a law that changes the rules.' He added, "It’s not so much the attorney general’s job to decide what laws to enforce. We should do our job and enforce laws effectively as we are able."
RELATED ARTICLE: Senator Jeff Sessions: “Good People Don’t Smoke Marijuana”
Allen St. Pierre is one of the most prominent, longtime cannabis advocates and just this year, was named partner in the SAI (Sensible Alternative Investments), providing expertise in the cannabis space. Former the Executive Director of NORML, he says the new appointment should serve as motivation for cannabis supporters.
"The nascent cannabis industry should have laser-like focus on bi-partisan lobbying at the local, state and federal levels," advises St. Pierre.
St. Pierre also believes a cannabis-supporting FDA appointment could keep AG Session in-check when it comes to protecting state's rights to reform the plant.
"The precarious counterweight to a rabidly anti-cannabis Attorney General at DEA would be a forward-looking and non-prohibitionist Food and Drug Administration (FDA)," he explains, "If rumors are to be believed that Peter Thiel, a major cannabis space investor, will influence the selection of FDA commissioner, and that the next commissioner will be making a recommendation for de-scheduling cannabis (in effect treating cannabis like alcohol, tobacco and caffeine products) or down scheduling cannabis at minimum from Schedule I to II, then it’s likely that Sessions will begrudgingly implement the change in policy."
anti-marijuanaattorney generaljeff sessionsgood people don't smoke marijuana
ASA Responds to Senator Jeff Sessions' Attorney General Confirmation Hearing
Press Call with Civil Rights Leaders Opposing Jeff Sessions for Attorney General
Could Jeff Sessions Marijuana Policies Bring the Sea Change that Legalization Needs?
ICYMI: Session's New Controversial Statements on Pot and What they Mean for Cannabis Businesses
ASA Responds to Senator Jeff Sessions’ Attorney General Confirmation
Senator Jeff Sessions: "Good People Don't Smoke Marijuana"
California Attorney General Candidate Is Pro-Marijuana
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Thorneloe University Updates
Greetings from Thorneloe University!
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Brutality, Education, Food for Thought, News, Post A Day 2012, Terrorism, This is Life, United States
Texas School District To Allow Teachers to Carry Guns
December 19, 2012 tvaraj Leave a comment
. By T.V. Antony Raj
The massacre of school children known as the Columbine High School massacre or the Columbine Incident took place on April 20, 1999. Two senior students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold of Columbine High School in Columbine, in Jefferson County, Colorado, murdered 12 students and one teacher. They also injured more than 21 other students. After the shooting spree, the pair committed suicide.
The Columbine incident sparked heated debates across the nation over gun control laws, gun violence involving youths, and emphasis on increasing security in schools.
Last October, Trustees at the Harrold Independent School District approved a district policy change to allow teachers to carry guns to prevent any incident in the future, similar to the Columbine incident. Their employees can carry concealed firearms to deter and protect against school shootings. However, the teachers have to follow certain requirements.
The mass murder committed on December 14, 2012, at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, by a heavily armed young man who gunned down 20 children and six adults, has surpassed the atrocity that took place at the Columbine High School.
Scott Wilson, president of the Groton-based Connecticut Citizens Defense League suggested that lawfully arming school faculty and staff might help.
On Monday, December 17, Attorney General Greg Abbott said that 78 Texas school districts do not meet the state-mandated safety standards to protect their students.
State Rep. Jason Villalba, R-Dallas
Jason Villalba, the newly elected state representative from North Dallas said: “Unfortunately, law enforcement personnel cannot be everywhere at all times, … We need to talk very frankly, about how we can protect our children if the unthinkable should occur.” He further added that he would file legislation to allow public school teachers to carry concealed weapons while on campus.
The bill, which Villalba calls the “Protection of Texas Children Act,” would allow schools in Texas to appoint a member of their faculty as a “school marshal.” The marshal, with training and certification, would be able to “use lethal force upon the occurrence of an attack in the classroom or elsewhere on campus,” said a press release from Villalba’s office.
We can hear questions such as these floating around:
Should teachers be armed?
Should parents with permits be allowed to bring guns to school?
Would it give a school a fighting chance when under siege by armed lunatics?
Would the guns lead to more violence?
Now, debates have heated up between the advocates of “gun control” and those favoring “gun rights”. Both factions agree on what happened in Newtown on Friday as unthinkable, but when the discussion turns to preventing future school shootings, they disagree.
Texas School District Will Let Teachers Carry Guns (foxnews.com)
Rep. Villalba: Let teachers carry concealed guns (wfaa.com)l
Texas Approves Law For Teachers To Carry Guns!! (familysurvivalprotocol.com)
Jason Villalba, North Dallas’ New State Rep, Will File a Bill to Allow More Guns in Schools (blogs.dallasobserver.com)
Columbine High School massacre (en.wikipedia.org)
Photos: Columbine High School Shooting Anniversary (photos.denverpost.com)
ColoradoColumbineColumbine High SchoolConnecticutEducationfirearmsFood for ThoughtgungunsHarrold Independent School DistrictJefferson CountyNewtownNorth DallasSandy Hook Elementary SchoolschoolSchool districtSchool shootingsecond amendmentTeacherTexasThis is lifetvarajUnited States
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Tag Archives: Scott McCall
Very Unsanitary – A Recap of Teen Wolf’s “Ouroboros”
So, I’ve been thinking a lot about this, this past week. Do you want to know what I’ve decided makes the Dredd Doctors so terrifying?
It’s not the fact that I can never understand what the heck they are saying . . .
Or that they consider scuba masks with trench coats a fashion statement . . .
It’s not even that they enjoy finding creative ways to murder teenagers, because every villain on this show does that . . . (bo-ring!)
Honestly, the Dredd Doctors freak me out, because they are such unbelievable pigs!
You want to know why all your little medical experiments are such “failures”, Dredd Doctors?
Perhaps, it has something to do with the fact that you operate on your “patients” on top of cars . . .
. . . or on dirty floors and rusted operating tables . . .
. . . reusing the same bloody medical equipment over and over again . . .
. . . after “sterilizing” it in murky gross vomit water with little (but not cute) creatures living inside it . . .
. . . and then, after you operate, you leave all these kids’ wounds exposed, gory and festering . . .
They have these things called Bandaids now, Dredd Doctors. Maybe it’s time you learned to use them . . .
As if it wasn’t frustrating enough that the Dredd Doctors’ MO is murky at best: (Make the best wuzzle ever? Kill all the teenagers in Beacon Hills? Make everyone hallucinate for no conceivable reason? Turn Scott into a whiny b*tch?), they don’t even seem to be particularly good at their job!
A nice young studly doctor in a white lab coat, with a hospital full of sterile medical equipment, (not to mention lots and lots of bandaids!) would make way better wuzzles than these Dredd Dorks . . . just saying . . .
Anywhoo, let’s review, mmm-kay?
[As always, a special thanks to Andre, who somehow manages to make an episode that, to me, looked like a big ole ugly infected wound, into a work of screencapping art!]
Deaton Goes on Spring Break
Possibly because flights to Disney World, Vegas and Hawaii were too expensive (Since no one in Beacon Hills lives long enough to get themselves a pet, the vet business in Beacon Hills isn’t what it used to be.), Deaton decides to take his annual vacation to . . . a water treatment facility somewhere in Europe that is seemingly identical to the one in Beacon Hills?
Talk about a waste of frequent flier miles!
Apparently, the Dredd Doctors were there too. The Dredd Doctors just looooove water treatment facilities, which makes me really glad my liquid diet consists entirely of Sugar Free Energy Drinks and wine. Water is dangerous!
We know this particular water treatment facility is a hang out for the Dredd Doctors because it has their logo on it, the Ouroboros, which is basically a snake eating its tail. I don’t about you, but if I was a Franken Doctor, I would choose a mascot that inspired a bit more confidence . . .. like, for example, ANYTHING ELSE IN THE WHOLE WORLD!
Eating your own body parts is just a bad idea generally. I mean, I bite my nails on occasion, but you don’t see me listing it as a skill on my resume . . .
At the water treatment facility, Deaton meets Malia’s mom, the Desert Wolf, who helpfully kills Deaton’s Russian-accented friend, so that the two can have a “private conversation.” Why is Malia’s mom hanging out at a random water treatment facility in Europe? I don’t know. I decided to stop asking logical questions about this show around the same time Dead Peter became a ghost teenage version of himself, so that Lydia could dig up his grave and make out with his rotted corpse.
Anywhoo, Malia’s mom wants to kill Malia, supposedly, but hasn’t been able to do so for 18 years, even though she’s supposedly the best hit woman in the whole wide world.
Nice to meet you, Desert Wolf. You are going to fit right in on this show!
Meanwhile, back in Beacon Hills, Scott is frustrated, because Baby Wolf Liam has been kidnapped, and his Alpha Wolf nostrils can’t smell the kid anymore.
Damn you, Old Spice Deodorant! DAMN YOUUUUUUUU!!!!!
At the Adult Table . . .
Mama McCall is quickly becoming my second favorite character on this show. (First, is Stiles, obviously.) This makes me feel old and very uncool, but also like I have good taste, because Mama McCall is awesome. (Giving birth to Scott, notwithstanding.)
She calls her soon-to-be boyfriend, Sheriff Stilinski over to her house to help her with a rather pressing matter. “You’re a strong man, aren’t you Sheriff Stilinski?” Mama McCall inquires coyly. “Think you could help me move this monster teen’s corpse with Kira’s sword in it off my kitchen table for me? It is really hard to serve pot roast on top of her, as the murder weapon keeps getting in the way.”
“You do realize I have to report this dead body to the rest of the police department, don’t you?” Sheriff responds judgmentally.
“Oh, don’t be such a stick in the mud!” Mama McCall complains. “Teens on this show have the lifespans of fruit flies. Who is going to miss another dead one? This one didn’t even get a name. Now, move her, so I can eat my dinner!”
“No!” Sheriff Stilinski retorts. “This girl is dead and your son’s girlfriend killed her. I’m going to make sure she gets the death penalty, and try to get your son thrown in jail too, for having such awful taste in women. I’m not sure that’s a crime per se, but I’ll find a way to make it one.”
“Are you just behaving this way, so viewers will understand why Stiles is so freaked out about telling you he killed that punk who wanted to murder you in self-defense?” Mama McCall inquires.
“Pretty much,” responds Sheriff Stilinski.
So, Mama McCall does what any woman would do while hanging out with a corpse and a cop in the kitchen, she smacks Sheriff Stilinski in the face. “And to think, I was going to have sex with you on this murder table!” She mutters under her breath.
Mama McCall isn’t done having foreplay with Stiles’ dad yet though. She pops down to the station later on to file a police report about the dead body that is basically a recap of Seasons 1 through 5 of Teen Wolf.
“You know, I can’t file this, Melissa!” Sheriff Stilinski scolds. “There are way too many plot holes and inconsistent character development. Plus, who the heck is this Danny character? He’s around for four seasons, then he just disappears and everyone forgets he existed?”
Then, Mama McCall and Sheriff Stilinski start having hot angry hate sex right on Sheriff Stilinski’s desk . . . or at least they would if I wrote this episode . . .
Out on some random street, Kira is wandering around in a daze. So, Hayden’s sister tricks her into getting into the back of the cop car and arrests her for murder. Of course, she doesn’t read Kira her Miranda rights, so the arrest is totally invalid. But hey, at least they got the police code right. It’s 187 for homicide, like that 50 Cent song!
Kira’s dad confesses to the murder in Kira’s place, even though he totally thinks his daughter is a psycho fox killer, who will most definitely strike again. This makes him a good dad (better than Stiles’ dad!), but a bad member of society.
Meanwhile, over in the most unsanitary water treatment facility ever . . .
“Her condition worsens.”
The adorable Hayden and Liam are lying on matching operating tables, so that the Dredd Doctors can inject them with dirty water, and chop little pieces out of them for no logical reason. When the Dredd Doctors are done doing this, they leave the two teens on the dirty floor. They do this even though the operating tables aren’t in use, and it would make more sense to keep the teens on the tables, separated from one another, so they can’t (1) plot their escape; and (2) DIE FROM NASTY FLOOR INFECTIONS!
Liam tries to take Hayden’s pain from her by squeezing her hand in his own, but it doesn’t work, because his hands are not where Liam’s strength lies. (As we will find out, by the end of the episode, there are other parts of his body that are much stronger.)
Liam and Hayden are then taken to another room, where they meet another wuzzle, whose name is Zac, but whom, for purposes of convenience, I will call Exposition Chimera. Exposition Chimera helpfully tells Liam and Hayden that this is where the Dredd Doctors take all their failures, so they can morph into monsters, bleed silver, and then be subsequently murdered.
Exposition Chimera then shows Liam and Hayden his back, where he used to have wings, before the Dredd Doctors inexplicably chopped them off. We know they used to be wings, because the Dredd Doctors are terrible at using scissors, and only cut off ¾ of the wings, so that two p*nis-like stubs can stick out of Exposition Chimera’s back.
Having given us all the information we need for this episode, which, honestly, isn’t much, Exposition Chimera starts bleeding silver, and is subsequently dragged away by the Dredd Doctors.
“Don’t worry,” Liam reassures Hayden. “Scott will save us before we bleed silver.”
“Scott?” Hayden inquires. “Isn’t that your loser friend who took a nap, while we got kidnapped, and has asthma, but needed you to growl at him so that he could remember how to use his inhaler?”
“Yeah, that’s him,” Liam responds.
“We are SOOO dying!” Hayden replies.
We Interrupt this Important Plot Point to Bring You Deputy Parrish (a.k.a your friendly neighborhood Naked Garbage Man), in a Towel . . .
You are welcome . . .
Reading is Fun. . . damental
Teen Wolf continues its war against literacy, when Kira angrily throws her Dredd Doctor book against the wall. “Mom, I’m supposed to read this book for Scott’s book club. But it’s a really sucky book with boring villains, so I can’t finish it. Also, I’m illiterate this season, because I’m dumb as a fox. Get it? Dumb as a fox? See, that was a clever play on a well-known saying the likes of which you’d never read in this crappy book,” Kira complains.
“You should read the book backwards then,” Kira’s mom offers.
“But then I won’t understand it,” Kira argues.
“Which is exactly how fans feel about this Dredd Doctor plot . . .” Kira’s mom notes wisely.
Kira reads the book backwards, and it causes her to remember that time in the premiere episode, when the Dredd Doctors experimented on her right in the middle of a traffic jam on Highway 115, in front of thousands of people, but nobody cared or tried to stop it, including her parents, because most drivers are selfish bastards.
We interrupt this important plot point to bring you the first initial of Stiles’ real name
It’s “M”. Even though a few seasons back it was “G”.
Finding Liam
Desperate to locate Baby Wolf and Little Miss Baby Wolf, an increasingly desperate Scott rapes the back of chimera Corey’s neck to tap into his memories. Evil Theo watches him do this, and silently reminds himself to wear turtlenecks every day for the rest of the season . . .
Once Corey’s neck has been successfully impregnated, Scott draws what he was thinking about during the whole neck fondling incident. It looks a bit like this . . .
Just kidding. He draws the water plant! Scott, Malia and Mason immediately head there to find the baby wolves, while Theo continues to grill Corey on the information that was conveniently left out during the whole neck rape thing, like WHERE IN THE HUGE WATER PLANT CHIMERAS ARE ACTUALLY KEPT.
Long story short. Scott, Malia and Mason wander around the water plant aimlessly for hours, while Scott cries for his mother, and puffs on his inhaler. Then, Theo rescues both Baby Wolves in about the amount of time it takes someone to take a leak after they drank a small glass of soda . . .
In the car, on the way home, Liam the PLAYA has come up with another idea on how to remove Hayden’s pain. He’s going to do it with his p*nis! Just kidding . . . it’s with his tongue. But still. Smooth, Liam, very smooth!
Theo creepily watches the pair of baby wolves eating each others’ faces off in his rearview mirror, and contemplates canceling his internet porn subscription. Between this, and his front row seat to the neck raping earlier this episode, he’s totally covered in the sexual desires department.
A Naked Garbage Man’s Job is Never Done
Back at the morgue, Parrish successfully mists an entire police force to steal yet another body, and is back on the job before you can say, “These cops are terrible!”
Parrish acts so shady throughout the whole episode that it’s pretty much as if he’s wearing a t-shirt that says, “The Naked Garbage Man: Carrying Dead Bodies to a Tree without Wearing any Underwear Since Episode 2.”
“I knew I should never have smoked those twelve doobies before coming to work. So incredibly baked right now.”
But just in case you happen to be illiterate like Kira, he also leaves his nametag at the scene for Lydia to find.
“For most people, this would be a total dating dealbreaker,” Lydia explains. “But if you’ve met any of my previous boyfriends, you’d know that psychopathy, multiple personality disorder, and a generalized fear of wearing clothes are pretty much my three biggest turn-ons.”
Scott has a Major Case of the Sads
Good news, Kira’s dad fans . . . or should I say, the one person who really likes Kira’s dad . . . who is probably Kira’s mom? No dead body equals no murder, so the cops have to let him go.
Once this happens, Kira and her family decide to skip town, so that Kira won’t accidentally murder someone and leave her dead body on his boyfriend’s mom’s kitchen table. (I mean, obviously, she’ll keep murdering people, she’ll just leave them on kitchen tables that don’t belong to her boyfriend’s mom.)
Kira’s fox self has been hitting the steroids hard, since it first appeared on the show . . .
Kira says goodbye to Scott, and the Lord is so sad about this that he cries raindrops down on them from Heaven. I’m not talking one or two tears here either. This is some serious ugly-face cry, bawling that’s going on here.
We end the episode with Scott sitting in a closet, holding the leash of a dead dog. The pathetic scene is pretty much a metaphor for the character’s super crappy life right now. “I am the worst True Alpha ever,” Scott mopes.
“Yeah, pretty much,” Mama McCall agrees. “Now, if you excuse me, I’m going to see if I can find Sheriff Stilinski on Tinder, so I can right swipe his ass all night long.”
I love Mama McCall! Until next time, Werebangers!
Filed under Teen Wolf
Tagged as animated gifs, chimeras, corey, curing pain through tongue kissing, dead body, dessert wolf, dread doctors, evil theo, hayden, kidnapped, kira leaves, kira remembers, kira's dad, layden, Liam, Lydia, malia, malia's mom wants to kill her, mama mccall is the best, mason, naked garbage man, neck raping, ouroboros, parrish takes bodies, recap, Scott McCall, screencap, Season 5, skira, Stiles, Teen Wolf, the first initial of stiles' first name is m, true alpha, true asthma
August 7, 2015 · 11:17 pm
Daydream Believer – A Recap of Teen Wolf’s “Strange Frequencies”
Love hurts . . .
Those wacky head shrinking Dredd Doctors are at it again, Werebangers! For the second episode in a row they are hard at work, forcing our Scooby Gang to confront their darkest fears and kinkiest sex fantasies, one CGI’ed hallucination at a time.
Question: Why they are doing this, when it seemingly has no conceivable link to their ultimate plan to craft the ultimate teenage chimera murder machine?
Answer: Because mentally torturing teens is hilarious, obviously . . .
Also because when the characters are spending 98% of their screen time battling Big Bads each week, the most convenient type of character development is not the kind which is deftly drawn out through dialogue, facial and body language (Zzzzzzzzz, bo-ring!), but the kind that is beat into viewers brains with a sledge hammer and ground into a fine paste.
Let’s psychoanalyze, shall we?
[As always, special thanks to Andre, whose screencaps are always so spectacular, that I sometimes find myself wondering whether the episode he watched was better than the one I did.]
Playing Hard to Get Versus Just Getting Hard
When we last left Evil Theo and Stiles, Evil Theo had just saved Stiles life from a guy who liked to eat electric wires so much! It was like he was a hormonal female, and the wires were his favorite brand of potato chips for that special time of month (You can’t eat just one!).
“Hey, speaking of dead teens with effed up teeth, how about that douchebag you impaled a couple of weeks back. His chompers were insane, am-I-right?” Evil Theo brings up conversationally.
“Grrrrr, Evil Theo,” fumes Stiles. “It makes me totally furious that you would know about my deep dark past of two days ago, because I totally hate your guts, and aren’t at all interested in ripping off your clothes to have sex with you. So, you know what I’m going to do? I’m going to throw your Adonis body hard against this chain link fence, grip your strong muscular shoulders in my fingertips, press my face millimeters from yours, and show you just how not attracted to you I actually am.”
“This is spectacular! Everyone on this show wants me!” Theo exclaims to himself, laughing maniacally, as he thumbs the lettering on his ‘I am Evil’ t-shirt. “After I murder a litter of puppies, engage in some light devil worshipping, suffocate some adorable babies, and have intense animalistic sex with Kira and Malia, I am totally going to come back and have my way with Stiles.”
“OK, so here’s the deal. I won’ t tell Scott you are a murderer, if you don’t tell him I’m a murderer,” Theo offers his new boyfriend. “And just to make sure our mutual friend isn’t at all suspicious of us, we should (1) never play ‘Never Have I Ever’ with Scott at a party, just in case he’s tempted to say “Never have I ever murdered a hot teenage boy with weird teeth, in which case we would both have to drink, obviously, because no one can lie during ‘Never Have I Ever’. It’s the law. (2) Bring him this dead body to fondle, as we know how much virtuous Scott loves to manhandle the bodies of the recently deceased.”
“Awesome ideas, Theo!” Stiles responds. “Let’s also put some sunglasses on Dead-y over here, so we can drive around Beacon Hills with him in the back seat, and pretend he’s still alive, Weekend at Bernies’ style.”
Meanwhile, Liam is trying to charm his love interest, Hayden (I tried so hard not to learn her name, but then the Dredd Doctors said it about 85 times this episode, just to screw with my plans), by telling her she is a science experiment gone horribly wrong. Now, if a line like that isn’t enough to make your panties drop, ladies, you must be dead inside!
Then, Liam doubles down on the seduction techniques, by transforming into monster, and trying to chew Hayden’s face off . . .
Hayden is unimpressed . . . possibly because she is legitimately dead inside . . . because the Dredd Doctors made her that way. So, she punches Liam in the face and runs away.
These two are going to be the best couple ever!
Habeas Corpus (Translation: “You should have the body.”)
Scott is thrilled that Evil Theo and Stiles have brought him a brand new sexy chimera body to play with.
“I really hope that bastard, Naked Garbage Man, doesn’t take this one from me, like he took all the other ones,” Scott pouts. “I mean, seriously. What’s a guy got to do to keep a corpse as a pet around here?”
“Stiles and I will babysit the body for you tonight, while we have sex in the car outside,” Evil Theo offers generously.
“What?” Scott asks, confused.
“I said Stiles and I will babysit the body for you tonight, and Naked Garbage Man will have nowhere to hide,” Evil Theo covers cleverly.
“We will also keep the video camera on my cell phone trained on the body, so we can see who tries to take it. I am offering to use my cell phone to film this eight-hour snuff film, because even though I want everyone to believe I’m dirt poor, my cell phone has an insane unlimited data plan,” explains Stiles.
Stiles and Scott conveniently leave Evil Theo alone for a few minutes, so he can yell at one of the Dredd Doctors for not keeping him in the loop on the whole Naked Garbage Man thing. “Inconsequential,” the Dredd Doctor repeats over and over again to Theo’s lecture.
Why? No reason. It’s just a cool word . . .
Back on the spinoff show Baby Wolf and Friends, Hayden’s car has mysteriously broken down, and the radio in it will only play one channel: It’s All Dredd Doctors, All the Time. Now, the Dredd Doctors may be totally awesome at Frankenscience and giving people hallucinations that are thinly veiled metaphors for their life, but they suck at other stuff . . . like talking. This makes them horrible disc jockeys for the radio station to which Hayden is being forced to listen.
First of all, the Dredd Doctors are nearly impossible to understand most of the time . . . they sound like I imagine Darth Vader would sound . . . if he was lying at the bottom of the ocean underneath something very heavy.
“Hey, I resemble that remark.”
And then, when you do manage to hear what they are saying, it’s almost always something totally lame. (The word “inconsequential” notwithstanding.) Here’s what they say on Hayden’s radio: “Hayden . . . Hayden . . . Hayden . . . (wait for it) . . . Hayden.”
And “Your condition improves.”
Fortunately, Liam hops on top of her car, and bashes in the window, to free her from the mind-numbing nonsense of bad radio.
So, to recap, Hayden and Liam repeatedly punch one another in the face. And when they aren’t doing that, they are destroying one another’s private property on a regular basis. How can you not ship these two?
(Recapper’s note: In all seriousness, I actually do ship these two, which I think makes me a terrible person . . .)
Speaking of terrible people . . .
Child Abuse is Adorable!
Kira’s been calling out sick lately from Scott’s Scooby Games, because she might be possessed like Stiles was a season or so ago, and doesn’t want it to interfere with her friends’ Fight Against Evil, which makes her super considerate as far as possessed people go . . .
Kira’s parents aren’t satisfied though, and decide to trick her into going to school on the weekend, so Kira’s mom can try to impale her with a katana. At first, Kira doesn’t fight back, because it’s her mom, and she’s like, old and stuff. But then, Kira’s mom is all “Come at me, BIATCH!”
She starts really coming at Kira hard, and getting all stabby with her.
So, eventually Kira starts to fight back, and knocks the sword out of her mom’s hand. Kira’s mom immediately crumbles in the corner, looking totally horrified and insulted that her daughter had the nerve to defend herself against her mother’s TRYING TO KILL HER. HOW DARE SHE? She should have just rolled over and died, dammit.
Kira’s mom blames the kitsune on Kira’s violent behavior. But, personally, I blame her parents being assholes . . .
Later that night, Kira’s mom gets back at Kira for the whole defending herself thing, by sticking a bunch of needles in her back. She says it’s to help “balance” the power between Kira’s human self and her foxy self. But if I wanted balance, I’d buy myself a scale, not impale myself multiple times over just for fun . . .
Kira starts to cry, and Kira’s mom asks her if she’s in pain. “DUH! OBVIOUSLY, SHE’S GOT ABOUT 85,000 NEEDLES IN HER BACK!”
(Yeah, I know . . . I know, acupuncture is supposed to be about pressure points, and it’s generally not supposed to be painful. But considering this woman just tried to kill her barely legal daughter a few moments ago, excuse me for being a bit suspicious.)
I actually felt kind of vindicated when Kitsu-Kira, took all those damn needles out of her back, used them to make the number 115 on the headboard of her bed, and escaped, leaving her asshat parents to think about what they’d done. Hopefully fox Kira was smart enough to call Child Services on her way out the door . . .
In Which Every Supporting Character in Beacon Hills is Gay (and wants to sleep with Mason)
Watch out, Evil Theo. You’ve got competition in the Sex Pot Department. Mason’s been macking it with so many chimeras and wolves lately, his tongue probably has rabies.
He gets another one this week. This time it’s the boyfriend of the chimera he made out with a couple weeks ago, before the latter was brutally murdered. (AWK-WARD!) Mason flirts with him long enough to realize, by golly, he’s a super healing chimera too!
Hey Mason, do you have any chimera in you?
No? Do you want some?
I love you like you’re my sister . . . who I may have murdered, coincidentally.
Outside on Sexy Stakeout, Evil Theo and Stiles eye f*&k one another so hard that if one of them was a woman she’d probably be pregnant by now. Evil Theo is trying to convince Stiles that murdering people is totally cool, if they are douchebags like Donovan and the guy who ate electric wires all the time. “See, I killed Electric Wire Eater, and my eyes didn’t even turn Murderer Blue. That’s God’s way of saying he approves,” Theo explains.
Or it’s because you are not an actual werewolf, but a chimera, made by science, and, therefore, not bound by wolf law . . .
“Yeah . . . I have to admit killing Donovan was kind of fun, especially when all that blood poured out of his mouth like a geyser, and it kind of looked like chocolate . . . a chocolate geyser,” Stiles admits.
“You remind me so much of my sister, who I pushed off a bridge, so she broke her leg and fell near a lake. And then I watched as she died of hypothermia,” says Theo.
“Um? A little help here? I’m dying, kind of?”
“Not really feeling up to it, to be honest. It looks a little chilly down there.”
“WHAT??!!!” Stiles asks incredulously.
“I said I really want us to be friends. And you are hot. So, I’ll always protect you, and occasionally bone your brains out.”
“That second thing you said, didn’t sound at all like the first thing you said,” Stiles muses suspiciously.
“Do you smell something burning?” Theo asks, quick to change the subject.
Speaking of burning . . .
The Scooby Gang (and new chimera, Hayden) all gather at the school. They have this ridiculous idea that they are going to trap the Dredd Doctors there by using high frequency dog whistles or something. Parrish is there too, because he has no friends his own age, and finds all girls over the age of 18, so crusty, old and gross.
“Hey Scott, I know you are supposed to be like my were-dad or something, but I think it’s kind of mean that you are dangling my new girlfriend in front of a bunch of psycho killers, and making her wear a sign on her back that says ‘Please brutally murder me,’” Liam admits.
“Don’t sass me, boy,” Scott lectures. “This is an excellent plan. Trust me, nothing will go wrong.”
“You’re right, Wolf Daddy. I’m sorry,” capitulates Liam.
Five seconds later, everything goes straight to hell . . .
The Dangers of Kinky Sex Without a Safe Word
It’s Dredd Doctor Hallucination time! Let’s start with the sexy ones and work our way back, OK?
Anybody who has ever watched the trailer for Fifty Shades of Grey knows that all weird sex should come with a safe word, to make it stop when things get too intense. Ideally, that word should be something you wouldn’t normally say during sex anyway, like “Ohhh,” or “Ahhh,” or “Owwww,” or “Are you almost done? Big Brother starts in five minutes.”
Parrish and Scott clearly didn’t get the memo about the safe words . . .
Parrish is sitting outside the school in his cop car, fondling his Lydia playing card, when Lydia herself appears in the flesh. Now, THAT is a great magic trick!
We know something is off about this soon-to-be sex scene immediately, because (1) Lydia is wearing a completely different outfit than the one she had on a few minutes ago; and (2) Lydia is ravaging Parrish like he is a juicy steak, and she has been on an all kale smoothie diet for weeks.
Sometime during the sex act, Lydia’s makeup comes off, and she starts to look a little rough . . .
Just kidding! Parrish completely burns off her face with his Naked Garbage Man hotness. Fortunately, Lydia doesn’t seem to mind a bit . . . Talk about a ride or die, girl!
Clearly the Dredd Doctors have tapped into both Parrish’s guilt at desiring a high schooler, and his fear that he may be an Evil Naked Garbage Man, who burns kids bodies on a big ole tree, just for fun . . .
All this self-awareness really pisses off Parrish, as we will see in just a bit.
Elsewhere in sexual guilt land, Scott is beating himself up over the fact that he’s totally turned off by Kira, now that she’s constantly wearing that dorky fox costume, and is kind of evil . . .
So, of course, his Dredd Doctor Fantasy involves rough kinky sex with Kira that ends in his own demise.
But what a way to go, am I right, boys?
The Trap Queens
The girls’ Dredd Doctor fears are a bit more shallow then the boys, which is saying a lot considering what you’ve just read above.
Malia spent eight years of her life as a coyote, living in a town covered in coyote traps placed by her own father, so of course, her fear would look something like this . . .
Lydia is a really good kisser, so her fear involves the ripping out of her tongue . . .
Just kidding, I think the loss of tongue fear comes from Lydia worrying that she will never truly be able to harness her banshee power (i.e. her scream) in a way that can actually help her friends. And if that’s the case, then she might as well not have that power at all . . .
In which the most likeable character on the show is murdered, a.k.a Stiles’ jeep
So, remember how I told you that Parrish was really angry that the Dredd Doctors called him out, via hallucination, for being a creeper. (Not to mention the terrible case of these, he undoubtedly received . . .)
Well, Parrish’s anger ended up being bad news for Evil Theo, who got punched in the face. Worse news for Stiles, who got smushed under his car, when Parrish knocked it over. But it was the worst news for Stiles’ poor jeep, Roscoe, which Parrish burned to death.
(I wonder if Theo would consider THIS justifiable homicide . . . you know . . . due to the whole blue balls thing. Not to say that the blue balls were Roscoe’s fault, or anything . . . )
Speaking of Evil Theo, he rescues Stiles from the burning car, saving his life A-GAIN, while Naked Garbage Man Parrish conveniently gets away with yet another chimera body completely unnoticed . . .
Am I being naïve to think, Stiles may be able to revive Roscoe for one more car accident . . . just for old times sake?
Just in case I am, R.I.P. Roscoe. You will truly be missed. I always liked you better than Scott . . .
In which Scott shows himself to suck just as much at fishing as he does at regular life
When Scott and friends are all done daydreaming, they learn that the Dredd Doctors have kidnapped Liam and Hayden . . . oops.
You see, that’s the thing about bait. In order for it to work, you actually have to keep it attached to the fishing line, not just throw it to the fish, and hope they come onto your line out of the goodness of their hearts . . .
Well . . . THAT happened . . .
Having a slightly better day than her son is Scott’s mom. Not only did she have a pretty adorable flirt session with Sheriff Stilinski (Take that, Lydia’s mom!), she also figured out the relationship between the chimeras. As it turns out, all of them had surgical procedures in which dead people’s body parts were attached to there’s, making them real chimeras/ wuzzles before they became fake monstery ones.
Scott’s mom is feeling pretty darn good about herself, when she arrives home from work. So, of course, Jeff Davis has to crap on that . . .
Until next time, Werebangers!
Tagged as 115, coyote trap, dead body on mccall kitchen table, dredd doctors, Dylan O'Brien, Episode 6, evil kira, evil theo, hallucinations, hayden gets kidnapped, hayden is a chimera, kitsu kira, liam and hayden, Lydia Martin, lydia's tongue, malia, marrish, mason is a mack daddy, more chimeras, naked garbage man, recap, roscoe the jeep, Scott McCall, Season 5, steo, strange frequencies, Teen Wolf, theo's sister
Scott versus The Paperback – A Recap of Teen Wolf’s “Required Reading”
Throughout the seasons of Teen Wolf, Scott McCall and his wolfpack have battled numerous formidable enemies . . . and the Alpha Pack, which was totally lame, obviously. They have fought Evil Alphas, Kanaimas, Daraches, Berserkers, and a really grumpy-old man, always ultimately reigning victorious.
But now, Scott McCall must face down a new evil, one much more terrifying than all the rest. And that evil is . . . a paperback novel at a fourth-grade reading level!
As a recapper who regularly joked about the thinly-veiled illiteracy of Scott and his wolf pack, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel mildly vindicated by the fact that Jeff Davis and co made this into an actual plot point. Let’s put it this way, of all the main characters in this series, the only one who was actually able to finish that crappy dimestore novel without taking a break for “naptime,” was the one who spent half her young life, eating roadkill and sh*tting in the woods . . .
But what really made Dredd Doctors: A Novel so horrifying, at least to our characters, was not that it was simply “too hard” for our heroes to comprehend (because it was!), it was the memories that attempting to read it brought to the surface of each of the main characters’ minds . . . (none of which actually had to do with the Dredd Doctors, like they were supposed to . . . but hey, why mess with a formula that works, in order to do something as silly as advance plot , right?)
That’s right Werebangers. “Required Reading” was this season’s “Motel California,” and “Party Guessed.” Like these two previous episodes, which, in my mind were two of the strongest in the series’ history, “Required Reading” utilized (though not quite as successfully as its predecessors) a mixture of hallucination and repressed memory to illuminate aspects of our characters’ (like Lydia and Stiles) psyche that wouldn’t necessarily be evident at first blush.
They also made Scott look like an even bigger doofus than usual. . .
[As always a special thanks to Andre for all the awesome screencaps you see here. Without them, this recap would probably as much fun to read as Dredd Doctors: A Novel . . .]
Digging up those HOLES
The cops find eight holes dug up on the football field, and Sheriff Stilinski thinks they each represent new chimeras, i.e just enough freaks of the week for each new episode of this season. “Though in some episodes, we will probably have to double up on freaks, so everyone on Team Chimera gets a chance to play,” the Sheriff Muses.
I, on the other hand, think Shia LeBeouff dug up those holes, as part of his juvenile delinquent sentence, after he was falsely accused of stealing some sneakers that fell on his head .. .
The Sheriff and Malia then helpfully recap our past freaks of the week, by literally X’ing out pictures of their faces with red marker a la Emily Thorne from Revenge. Excluded from this board is that creepy black-faced guy from the premiere, because he is not an attractive Abercrombie-model looking teenager, and Teen Wolf, therefore, would like you to forget he existed. Or, if not forget he existed, at least forget what he looked like . . .
Donovan is hot and young enough looking to be included in this list though!
Sheriff S wants to put an X over his nemesis’ face, but can’t because he hasn’t seen is corpse yet. And he hasn’t seen his corpse yet, because our Friendly Neighborhood Naked Garbage man has already converted it to Evil Tree Fertilizer. “Every horror movie ever has taught me that ‘no dead body’ equals ‘no dead teenager,” Sheriff S helpfully offers.
“That’s generally true, except for those situations where said dead teenager, gets made into a shishkabob by a falling ladder part, and his innards erupt into a puddle of grey goo,” mutters Stiles under his breath.
“What?” Sheriff S and Malia ask.
“I said ‘I’m really hungry for shishkabobs, and I love you too,” replies Stiles.
Then Stiles pees in his pants, because his continued guilt over this asshat’s death is essential to the plot, even though it was totally done in self-defense, and if his dad had watched him do it, he probably would have cheered him on . . .
Briefly during this scene, the characters pose the question of what the chimeras have in common, that makes the Dredd Doctors seek them out, when they are still human. My theory . . . they’ve all had organs removed / transplanted. But more on that in a bit . . .
Punch me if you are horny, baby
“Oh, I know, it hurts so good, baby! So good!”
Half naked, Parrish and Lydia, get hot and sweaty together to pop music under the guise of “jujitsu training.” The lessons don’t go particularly well, because every time Parrish tries to disarm and take down Lydia, she feels the need to sigh amorously and nuzzle her head into his neck. And he feels the need to take a break so he can sniff her hair and fondle her breasts.
Apparently, all this foreplay somehow managed to transform Lydia into the badass ninja we saw in the season opener. I suspect this is because Parrish transferred his ninja powers to the banshee by infusing them into her boobs, while the two were getting to second base . . .
Mid nipple tease, Lydia gets a Dredd Doctor flashback of some sort, which totally turns her off to future sex acts . . . er . . . I mean “martial arts training” with Parrish.
Don’t worry, Parrish. I hear bursting into flames on top of a corpse encrusted evil tree is a great cure for blue balls . . . better than cold showers and a self-inflicted hand job, even!
Scott McCall’s Book Club for Kids Who Can’t Read Good
Scott’s entire Scooby Gang meet to read the Dredd Doctor book together, while laying on top of one another on the couch, because apparently reading is contact sport in Scott McCall’s world. It’s also exhausting, obviously, because after reading exactly two pages a piece, everyone falls asleep. I suspect this is because most of the crew’s idea of “reading” is doing this . . .
https://youtu.be/O35j9pKAmmo
(Kira, at least has an excuse, according to Mason, because foxes are like soooo illiterate. Everyone else is just dumb and/or lazy.)
Once the group is safely comatose, Theo helpfully changes into his “I am Evil” t-shirt, grows a black mustache from his baby face, so he can twirl it malevolently, and creeps up to Kira’s bedroom, so he can leer over her for a few minutes like a child molester, and tape her sleep talking with his iPhone.
“Hey Scott,” Theo says to his new/old pal the next morning. “You don’t know this, but while you were passed out last night after an excruciating twenty minutes spent sounding out the word ‘Doctor,’ I went up to your girlfriend’s bedroom and dry humped her while she was unconscious. Does that bother you at all?”
“No, should it?” Scott inquires, clearly confused.
(Other things that confuse, Scott: sneakers that come with shoe-laces instead of Velcro, double-sided tape, and doors that have the word “Push” written on them, even though they have handles . . .)
“Cool, well, I also taped her pillow talk, and then typed what she said into Google Translate. It turns out her and her fox costume want to murder us all!”
“Dude, you are so racist. Not every phrase in Japanese automatically means, ‘I want to murder you all. Only like 95 % of them do!’” Scott retorts.
“Did you hear me, Scott? I said I found it on Google Translate. And Google Translate never ever takes sentences out of context, or attributes to them American meanings that don’t jive with what they actually mean in other countries!” Theo argues.
“Oh . . . well, in that case, I hate Kira now. She is evil, and we are totally breaking up,” responds Scott.
“Then, you won’t mind if I have sex with her then, me being secretly evil, and really sh*tty at hiding it and all? I think we’d be a good love match.” Theo muses
“Didn’t you already have sex with her last night?” Scott asks.
“No, we just dry humped . . .” Theo offers.
“OK then, be my guest,” replies Scott.
“Thanks, you are the best!” Theo responds, before heading off to the gym to corrupt and steal Stiles’ girlfriend too!
Obligatory Shirtless Scene in 3 . . . 2 . . .
In the school gym, Theo sees Malia coming to visit him, and quickly disrobes, so that he can hypnotize her into submission with his sexy man nipples.
“I think I’m supposed to be having a conversation with you about how I’m lying to my boyfriend about how my mom, the desert wolf, killed my adoptive mom, but I am too intoxicated by the smell of your man musk, and the way your pecs look covered in sweat to really concentrate on what’s being said in this scene,” says Malia.
“Mwah-hahahaha,” Theo laughs evilly, wishing he didn’t have to be naked for Malia, so he could put on his ‘I am Evil’ shirt again. (How else will Teen Wolf fans realize this guy is up to no good, if they aren’t reminded of it every three seconds?)
That Will Teach You to Read Books!
Now is the part of the episode, where our main characters get punished for trying to be scholarly. First up is Lydia. While helping a fellow student, who she thinks is a chimera, but who actually just suffers from trichotillomania (Google it!) . . .
. . she flashes back to a time when she accidentally walked into Eichen House to find her grandmother bleeding in a tub, after having supposedly drilled a hole in her own head. (Though based on the scene where the Dredd Doctors threaten to do the exact same thing to Lydia, Poor Grandma might not be entirely responsible for her own mutilation.)
“They are coming for us, Lydia. They are coming for us all,” Grandma warns ominously.
I guess it’s pretty obvious why someone would want to repress an effed up memory like that, am I right? I mean, seeing your grandma naked? YIKES! But also the “hole in head” thing . . .
What’s interesting about this hallucination is that it actually tells us quite a bit about why Lydia might have subconsciously been hiding her own intelligence in the first season or so of the series. We all assumed she did it to be popular. But, perhaps, there was a part of Lydia that took her grandmother’s terrifying warning to mean that she should cover up those things that make her different from others (i.e. her genius IQ, her banshee powers, etc) at all costs, or risk being persecuted, or worse, hurt, for it . . .
Speaking of Lydia’s banshee powers, after hearing the name of Liam’s love interest chanted during one of her hallucinations, and seeing the gory operation done by the Dredd Doctors on this week’s nameless freak of the week, Lydia figures out that she is somehow able to tap into the memories of other chimeras.
So, Lydia inexplicably gets new powers every week that have absolutely nothing to do with her being a banshee, which makes her Super Girl, basically.
In other heartbreaking hallucination news, Stiles remembered a time when his mother, suffering from dementia caused by a brain tumor, tried to jump off a roof, because she was convinced that Stiles, who was only ten at the time, was trying to murder her. She even attacked Stiles when he tried to confront her.
Up until this point, we’ve heard bits and pieces about Stiles’ mother’s illness and subsequent death, while getting hints that Stiles felt somehow guilty or responsible for it. (A perfect example of this was his hallucination during “Party Guessed.”) However, this is the first time all those pieces are finally put together.
Clearly, there’s a part of Stiles that subconsciously wonders if his mother was right . . . if there is something in Stiles that is inherently wrong or bad. This part of Stiles may have been what made him such an easy target for possession by the Nogitsune. It also may explain why Stiles is so wracked with guilt over the part he played in that dirtbag, Donovan’s, death . . .
In Which Liam Appears to Be On a Completely Different Show Than Everyone Else . . .
While the rest of the cast is suffering from identity crises caused by violent hallucinations, Liam is making googly eyes at new love interest Hayden, while he practices lacrosse, and she inexplicably practices soccer two inches away from him, because, apparently, Beacon Hills High only has one sports field left, after the other one became infested with chimera birthing holes. Isn’t that . . . like . . . dangerous . . . or something?
Speaking of dangerous? I bet you all have been losing sleep at night wondering why Love Interest Hayden “hates” Liam.
You haven’t? Well, too bad. Because I’m going to tell you, anyway. Apparently, Liam got into a fight with someone at school, tried to punch him, and accidentally punched Hayden, so her picture for the sixth grade year book was all jacked up.
Why does Mason still have Hayden’s sixth grade yearbook picture on his cell phone after all these years? That’s just weird . . .
I get it. I mean, it’s totally understandable that Hayden would vow vengeance against Liam for life. After all, your sixth grade yearbook photo is the most important photograph you will ever take in your entire life . . . aside from your wedding photo, and your graduation from high school photo, and your graduation from college photo, and your “I just had a baby” photo, and your EVERY PHOTO YOU’VE EVER TAKEN AFTER THE AGE OF TEN!
During this episode, we also learn why Hayden needs money so badly that she’s whoring herself out as a bar wench every night at the local gay club. Apparently, she had a kidney transplant, and the medication she needs for it costs $200 a bottle, which she hopes to repay her sister, who is footing the bill.
So, Hayden is incredibly good at kicking balls, and vain, and poor. “She must be a chimera,” Liam decides for no reason whatsoever, as he heads to the club to eye screw her some more and pay her back for knocking over her glow sticks a few episodes ago.
(Actually, Hayden’s kidney transplant might actually indicate that she’s a chimera, as evidenced by the fact that according to her sister, she’s suddenly no longer taking her medication, yet experiencing no ill effects from it . ..)
Also, there’s the little fact that Hayden’s eyes get all ghostlike under a blacklight . . .
Speaking of chimeras, we meet another one at Club Cinema. (The Dredd Doctors must really like the gays.) Did you catch him? He was the one that complained to Hayden that his glo-stick burned out, then proceeded to effect the electricity of the entire town, by repeatedly eating electric wires, everywhere he went.
Dude! Just buy a flashlight, and be done with it . . .
We’ll talk more about this week’s Freak in a moment.
But first . . . we must talk about how much Scott sucked at life, this week . . .
True Alph-Failure
Sleeping on the job again . . .
While attempting to sign a drop form for his AP-Bio class, Scott, like Malia, Lydia and Stiles before her had a hallucination about a memory from his past. In the memory, Scott was attacked by a pack of wolves (who murdered his dog, Roxy?) and it caused him to have his first asthma attack.
Unlike his friends’ hallucinations, Scott’s says nothing at all about his psyche. It merely notes the irony that a wolf attack initially brought on Scott’s asthma, and a wolf bite cured him of it.
Did I say cured him of it? Because, apparently, much like herpes, Scott’s asthma is back . . .
Immediately sensing through Pack Mind that his Wolf Daddy is having an asthma attack, despite the fact that Scott has never had an asthma attack in the entire time Liam has known him, Liam rushes to offer Scott an inhaler from a classmate.
Of course, Scott is too dumb to save his own life, so Liam has to go all wolfy on his ass to get him to take a puff in front of a ton of students, possibly blowing his cover as a werewolf in the process.
In other Scott fail news, at the hospital, a Dredd Doctor crushes Scott’s pilfered inhaler, and he proceeds to lay on the floor and take the abuse like a b*tch, forcing Malia and his own human mother to fight his battle for him . . .
“We should never have read that book,” Scott exclaims, as he is cowering in the corner of an elevator like a toddler.
Sure, Scott. Blame “reading” for your problems . . .
Meanwhile, on a roof somewhere . . .
R.I.P. Electric Wire Eating Guy. We barely knew ye . . .
If Scott is a failure at life, Stiles fails at luck. I mean, the poor guy can’t even have a good old-fashioned traumatic hallucination from his past, without his life being put in danger once again. Stiles awakens from the memory of his own mother attacking him to find Electric-Wire Eating guy doing the same thing.
Fortunately, Evil Theo arrives just in time to quickly and brutally murder Electric Wire Eating Guy, like it’s no big thing. (Take note, Stiles!) As we know, most werewolves eyes turn perma-blue after they commit a murder, but Theo’s stay gold, indicating that he might be a chimera as well. “Don’t tell Scott about my chimera murder, and I won’t tell him about yours,” Theo promises Stiles. “You can trust me.”
“But you are wearing an ‘I am Evil’ t-shirt, drinking blood and murdering a tiny puppy with your bare hands while we are having this conversation,” Stiles muses.
“Yeah, but I’m attractive,” responds Theo. “And everyone knows that hot people are always honest.”
“Works for me,” replies Stiles, as he shakes the devil’s bloody paw.
And that was “Required Reading” in a nutshell. Until next time, Werebangers!
Tagged as alpha-failure, animated gifs, book club, claudia stilinski, desert wolf, digging up those holes, dredd doctors, Episode 6, evil kira, evil theo, hallucinations, hayden is a kanaima, kitsune, liam and hayden, lydia and parrish, lydia has chimera memories, lydia's grandma, maleo, malia hale, marrish, Matt Donovan, MTV, naked garbage man, recap, required reading, scott has asthma again, Scott McCall, screencaps, Season 5, shirtless theo, Stiles Stilinksi, stiles' guilt, Teen Wolf, theo kills for stiles
Don’t Wanna Be Your Monkey Wrench – A Recap of Teen Wolf’s “A Novel Approach”
The problem with supernaturally “gifted” do-gooder heroes like Scott McCall, is that they tend to be a bit boring judgey. There are only so many times one person can vanquish the Big Bad, sacrifice his safety for that of the group, rescue the helpless, rally the troops, mentor the naïve, and champion the misunderstood, without it going to his head . . . without the hero starting to believe that everyone he cares about must live by his rigid moral code, or else.
Back in the early seasons of Teen Wolf, Scott McCall was a character who was still figuring things out. He struggled with violent impulses toward his adversaries, as he managed his new wolf-like temper. He battled with lust, and found himself giving in to temptation with Lydia, even though Stiles was in love with her. His pride kept him on the lacrosse team, despite the fact that his superhuman strength gave him an unfair advantage against most of his teammates and opponents. And Peter’s seductive offers of power, made him seriously consider turning to the darkside, on more than one occasion.
Now, in Season 5, Scott McCall is a different animal (pun intended) entirely. He’s even-tempered, virtuous, unfailingly loyal and almost monk-like in his incorruptibility (except for that one episode where he wore a bear mask for ten minutes, but we don’t need to get into that). Alpha Wolf Scott McCall’s world is a 1950’s monochrome. Everything is either good or evil, black or white. There is no in between.
Unfortunately, for Saint McCall, his pack mates still reside within the shades of grey. They recognize that some people can’t be trusted, and aren’t worth saving. They understand that there are some times when good ends are justified by bad means. They are unmistakably human in mind and spirit, even if not entirely in body. And it is that flawed humanity that is throwing some serious monkey wrenches into Scott McCall’s plans to Save the World from the Dredd Doctors.
And, in the case of Scott’s bestie, Stiles, this just happened to come in the form of an actual monkey wrench. . .
This week on Teen Wolf, everyone’s favorite Naked Garbage Man makes another pickup. Malia continues to confirm every bad stereotype that ever existed about female drivers. Third Eye guy becomes, Just Some Middle Aged Dude with a Hole in His Head. And Kira confirms her suspicion that electrocuting one’s boyfriend truly is the best form of foreplay.
As if we needed any more confirmation that the superstition stating that it’s bad luck to walk under a ladder is 100% true, Teen Wolf proudly presents . . .
The Not So Tragic Death of Donovan . . .
I gotta say, as cold opens go, this one was one of Teen Wolf’s stronger submissions. I mean sure, unlike the typical Teen Wolf open, where a character we’ve never met before is put in peril, and we are legitimately uncertain as to whether they will live or die, Stiles’ surviving this “hand with a mouth drawn on it” mauling . . .
. . . was not in question here. And yet, despite that, Dylan O’Brien’s ability to silently (apart from some seriously heavy breathing that seemed in desperate need of an inhaler) convey Stiles’ utter terror, as Donovan tracked him from the car to the library, his impulsive decision to use the monkey wrench to loosen the screws on the ladder nearest to the one he was ascending, and his conflicting feelings of guilt, horror, relief, and even a slight bit of satisfaction at Donovan’s gory demise at his own hand, was riveting to watch.
Also, let’s face it. Some people in this world just deserve to be made into a human shishkabob.
Then, we get to the part where Stiles calls 911 to report the dead body, and returns to the scene just seconds later, only to find it scooped up by our Naked Garbage Man. (Who just so happened to be wearing clothes this week. What’s the fun in that?)
So, now we know that Naked Garbage Man doesn’t just retrieve bodies, carry them to the Nemeton, and burn them out of existence with his hot bod, he also cleans up crime scenes like a champ.
Clearly, Parrish is much better at his Naked Garbage Man job than his cop job . . .
But it does beg the question, of how Parrish got there so fast. Do the Dredd Doctors have him on speed dial? Does the playing card with Lydia’s face on it scream at him, banshee style, whenever he needs to pick up a new corpse? (Typical nagging cardboard girlfriend!) Does he just hang around Scott and Stiles, knowing that these guys are pretty much guaranteed to produce a supernatural corpse in the cold open of every episode?
More importantly, does being a Naked Garbage Man come with a 401K plan?
Scott McCall’s Book Club
Having already read all the books in the 50 Shades of Grey series, including that astonishingly bad one from Christian’s perspective, Scott’s wolf pack decides to read something a bit more relevant to their lives . . . that book about the Dredd Doctors they stole from Now-Dead Tracey’s house! Kira kindly offers to make a photocopy of the darn thing, which, anyone who has ever tried to photocopy a teeny tiny soft cover paperback will tell you, is pretty much the most mind-numbingly awful job ever. (No wonder she electrocuted Scott later in the episode, to get him back for making her do it.)
SO MANY PAPER CUTS!
“If you want to be in our pack, you have to participate in our book club,” Scott tells Theo, in no uncertain terms, as he shows him the copy of the Dredd doctor book.
“Wait, you guys are in a book club? But I thought you were all virtually illiterate,” Theo wonders out loud.
“Malia and I are virtually illiterate,” Scott explains. “But Stiles is only illiterate when he’s void Stiles, and everyone else can read to us just fine. Lydia even does these really great character voices, which make me giggle. Do you do character voices, Theo? Because you will be much more likely to get into the pack if you can.”
“Hey check out the back page of this book,” Theo demands, as he laughs maniacally and winks at the camera.
“Why?” Scott asks, flustered. “Nobody reads the acknowledgement page in a book, except the people being acknowledged, because it’s basically the book equivalent of the boring part of Oscar acceptance speeches, only without the pretty dresses and manufactured tears. I’m a functioning illiterate, and even I know that.”
Theo rolls his eyes. “Look, it’s imperative that you read the acknowledgement page of this book, read Dr. Valack’s name on it, and go visit him in the mental hospital, because he wrote this book, and my bosses, the Dredd Doctors, need you to see him, for reasons.”
“But if he wrote the book, why didn’t he put his name on the front cover, as the author?” Scott question. “This way I would absolutely read it, unlike the acknowledgement page, which nobody reads.”
“Whatever, Scott,” Theo replies exasperatedly. “Just do what I say mindlessly, and leave the thinking on this show to the smart characters like Stiles and Lydia. I’ve got to go worship the Devil, torture some live puppies, and brainwash Malia into being my loyal sex slave. Peace out.”
When Something is Lost, Always Consult Your Fox Costume . . .
Later that night, Scott and Kira are sleeping together, because Kira’s parents think there is absolutely nothing wrong with their only minor daughter sharing a bed with her werewolf boyfriend, and are not at all worried that she will one-day wake up to find she’s given birth to a litter of were-fox babies, who will ruin her young life. (Note: Scott’s mom would probably be bothered by this, but, seeing as she’s the only nurse / anesthesiologist / coroner / doctor / sometime surgeon left alive in Beacon Hills, she works 24-hours a day, and hasn’t been out of her scrubs since approximately 1996.)
“If I think really hard, I can still sort of remember a time when I used to get laid . . .”
Kira starts speaking Japanese in her sleep, and Scott appears totally turned off by it. But, of course, he has to pretend he’s not turned off by it, because being turned off by it most probably makes him a racist.
Later, when Kira’s ugly ass belt (seriously, that thing is hideous) goes missing, she asks Scott to look at her with his red hangover eyes to help her find it. When Scott turns on his Creepo-vision, he sees Kira’s fox head (which looks oddly bear-like for a fox, no?) helpfully pointing out the belt’s location for Scott.
Ummm . . . so basically, this was the writers’ clever way of illustrating that Fox Kira and Kira-Kira aren’t the same entity? So Fox Kira knew where the ugly ass belt was, but Kira-Kira didn’t? If so, why didn’t Fox Kira just tell Kira-Kira where the ugly ass belt was, instead of going through Scott’s Creepo-vision?
Anywhoo, Kira now has her belt. And they all can live unfashionably ever after . . .
Driving Miss Crazy
Because Malia used to be a mental patient at Eichen House, and could possibly decide she likes it better in the nuthouse where she had a better haircut, than at Beacon Hills, if she returns, our sassy were-coyote isn’t invited on the pack’s Journey into Evil this week.
Instead, she is stuck reading that crappy book, into which the author nonsensically inserted himself into the Acknowledgement page. “Hey, Malia, want to ride my car?” Theo asks, looking so shady as he confronts her, that he might as well be curling an evil black mustache, and strangling an angel child with his bare hands, as he speaks.
“Is that a euphemism for sex?” Malia wonders, as Evil Theo not-at-all subtly undresses her with his eyes.
“Absolutely, but I’d like you to almost murder me in my own car, before we sleep together, just to make sure we really like one another,” responds Theo.
In Theo’s car, he tries to impress Malia with how not frightened of death he is, by instructing her to speed, and drive with her hands at the bottom of the wheel, like she’s a pimp in a rap video. Because everybody knows that those who are incapable of driving like “normal” people are always the absolute best at driving like “cool people.”
(This reminds me of the time when I was learning how to drive, and my dad instructed me to do it by resting my knees on the steering wheel only. Basically, I think he just wanted to take the piss out of my mom, who was in the backseat at the time, clutching the armrests for dear life. . .)
Inevitably Malia goes into her usual PTSD mode, and nearly crashes the car, only to have Theo, inexplicably, roll out of the car on top of her, so he can “stare lovingly into her eyes.”
This time, however, Malia actually remembers a useful piece of information during her fourth traumatic brush with death-via-motor vehicle of the year. “Hey, my evil mother shot at my adopted mom and sister, the day I thought I turned into a were-coyote and killed them inside the family car. This makes me potentially innocent of murder! It also means my parents are even more despicable humans than originally imagined!”
Eichen Louse
Though Stiles was once a mental patient just like Malia, and is clearly experiencing PTSD, himself, from that one time earlier this episode when he murdered a dude, he still decides to accompany Lydia to see Dr. Valack, because he luuuuuuuuuuuuuuuves her. (Which is totally cool by the way, because sex between Malia and Evil Theo is inevitable this season, obviously).
I like how Lydia recognizes immediately that something is up with Stiles, and that he is injured and sad, lets him know that she knows, but doesn’t judge him or press him for information until he’s ready to talk about it. She instinctively understands that he needs to be there for Lydia, while they do this, just as much as Lydia needs him.
This, when Scott, who has been friends with Stiles for way longer, is completely clueless . . . so clueless in fact, that he “confides” in his friend, that he thinks Kira might be turning into a terrible person, because she almost killed the evil scorpion thing that was trying to murder them all at the Random Dancing night club.
“Ummmm . . . maybe she did it in self-defense?” Stiles offers, hopefully, as he contemplates telling his friend about his own dalliance with freak-of-the-week murder.
“No way,” responds Scott. “All murderers deserve to rot in hell for the rest of eternity. Now, what was it you wanted to tell me earlier? Something about you and Donovan?”
Stiles whistles uncomfortably, as he, Scott, Kira and Lydia enter Eichen House.
Once inside the nuthouse, Kira is immediately forced to take off her hideous belt, so it doesn’t frighten the mental patients with its ugliness. Then, Scott and Kira learn that they can’t cross into Valack’s chamber, because it’s protected by mountain ash, and they are supernatural creatures. (Not sure why Lydia wasn’t kept out too, seeing as she’s a banshee and all, but . . . details.)
“Hey Third Eye Guy,” Lydia and Stiles begin conversationally. “What’s up with this crappy book, you wrote, but pretended you didn’t, by writing your name on a page of it that nobody will read?”
“I wrote it so you crazy kids would remember the Dredd Doctors, and how the last time they came to Beacon Hills, they gave you all anal probes, and made you bark like dogs, for five straight hours, just for fun. Oh yeah, and then they buried a bunch of teenagers in holes, and turned them into Wuzzle Killing Machines.”
“Ha, joke is on you,” responds Stiles. “Because Lydia and I are the only people in Beacon Hills who know how to read.”
“Hey, can you do me a favor?” Third Eye Guy asks. “Scream into this tape recorder, Banshee, so I can press it against the glass holding me in this cell, shatter it, and escape.”
“But if I’m screaming in front of your cell, won’t that break the glass anyway, without the tape recorder?” Lydia wonders out loud.
“Oh, absolutely, but this makes it way more dramatic,” Third Eye Guy Explains.
Meanwhile, out at the entrance to Eichen House, Kira is starting to short circuit, and the electric currents she shoots out of her body, totally screw with Eichen House’s security system, allowing the Dredd Doctors to enter, as was their original plan. Scott carries Electric Kira to safety, suffering severe burns all over his body in the process.
“Hey, I remember I told you I loved you in last week’s episode!” Scott exclaims.
“Glad all it took was an electrocution to get you to recall something you said less than 48 hours ago,” replies Kira. “Just be thankful you are pretty.”
Inside Eichen House, the Dredd Doctors extract Third Eye Guy’s third eye, immediately converting him from somebody cool, into just some dumb schlub who doesn’t understand that no one reads the Acknowledgement page on books.
“Now, the party don’t start, til we walk in!”
Then, now Boring Two-Eyed Valack plays the tape Lydia made for him about ten minutes ago, and her scream from the recorder, breaks the glass of his cell, even though her scream in real life did not. He escapes into the night, rendering the population of Beacon Hills just a bit more filled with crazy-eyed insane-os than it was at the beginning of the episode . . .
Tagged as banshee, desert wolf killed malia's family, donovan impaled, donovan is killed, dredd doctors, Dylan O'Brien, eichen house, Episode 5, kira, kira's fox head, kitsune, Lydia Martin, maleo, malia and theo, malia is a bad driver, monkey wrench, mountain ash, nobody reads acknowledgements, novel approach, recap, scira, Scott McCall, Season 5, stiles kills donovan, Stiles Stilinski, Stydia, Teen Wolf, the book makes you remember, third eye guy, valack, valack escapes
Random Dancing – A Recap of Teen Wolf’s “Condition Terminal”
Brings new meaning to the term “fire crotch.”
If you were a child of the 00s (which I wasn’t . . . I just have really juvenile taste in television) you undoubtedly remember the television show iCarly. And if you remember iCarly, you undoubtedly remember the segment of the show called Random Dancing. In case you don’t remember it, or have no clue what the heck I’m talking about, it went a little something like this . . .
So, why am I bringing up iCarly in my Teen Wolf recap introduction? Well, because Random Dancing is pretty much the best metaphor I can think of for this particular episode. It was colorful. It was musical. It was kind of funny (though not necessarily intentionally so). It featured characters dancing. And each individual scene seemed to have very little if anything at all to do with that which came directly before or after it.
This is not to say that I disliked “Condition Terminal.” (After all, Random Dancing has always been one of my favorite parts of . . . that and Freddie, because Freddie is awesome). I just didn’t entirely “get it.”
Anywhoo, this week on Teen Wolf, Parrish got a second job moonlighting as a Naked Garbage Man. Kira began to exhibit signs of kitsune PMS. Some guy got a bunch of boners on his arms from making out with Mason (How embarrassing!). Scott continued to fail at life. And Stiles continued to fail at the art of motor vehicle maintenance (and looking behind you when some guy is about to maul you with the weird mouth thing imprinted on his hand).
[As always all the awards go to Andre for what will undoubtedly be the best part of this recap . . . the pictures.]
On Card Tricks and Dating Dealbreakers
I don’t know about you, but when I have a crush on someone, the first thing I do is have playing cards made up to look like that person, so I can do this card trick where I pretend to repeatedly burn and unburn their faces off.
Just kidding. I don’t really do that. Because that would be creepy . . . Parrish!
The episode begins with everyone’s favorite occasionally-burns-while-naked Deputy, laying on the couch playing with himself and his “Lydia is my Red Queen” playing cards.
Wait, that didn’t come out right. What I meant to say is . . .Who am I kidding? That is exactly what I meant to say.
Anywhoo . . . while Parrish is “playing” he thinks back to a time in the not-so-distant past when Lydia tried to hypnotize him with her beauty, so he didn’t realize she was burning off his hand with her lighter.
(Wow, teenage foreplay has really changed, since I’ve been in high school.)
Lydia’s plan ends up backfiring, however. Because Lydia’s beauty, coupled with the fact that Parrish is probably a Phoenix, makes Parrish’s skin impervious to flame. So, the only one who ends up getting burned is Lydia, herself. We’ve all been there, am I right, ladies?
“Hey, what were you thinking about, when I was trying to burn off your extremities for sh*ts and giggles?” Lydia inquires conversationally, after this super fun game is over.
“Oh nothing,” replies Parrish, “except for the recurring ‘dream’ I have, which is obviously reality because all dreams on this show are real, of wandering around naked carrying dead bodies to a big ole tree stump and incinerating them with my hot bod. I’m not going to tell you about the whole incineration via hot bod part, because then you won’t want to sleep with me anymore. Oops, I just said that out loud didn’t I?”
“Don’t worry, Parrish,” Lydia reassures her meathead of a new beau. “If you watched the first four seasons of this show, you would know that I pick my lovers based on the fact that I have an obvious death wish. Case in point: my last three boyfriends, were a sociopathic Alpha Wolf, who murdered his pack leader, and spent half a season trying to murder my best friends, a psycho Alpha Wolf who made me drug all my friends at my birthday party, and conduct a ritual to bring him back from the dead, and a psychopathic lizard, who murdered six or seven complete strangers, and paralyzed a few of my friends, because this random kid told him to do it. You’ll fit right in!”
Adventures in Sociopathic Dentistry
“What’s a guy gotta do to get a little laughing gas around here?”
Speaking of sociopaths, graduate schools in The Land of Teen Wolf Big Bads must be really good, because the Dredd Doctors, somehow, managed to go to medical school and dental school at the same time! Their dentistry professor? This Guy!
Thanks to whatever the heck it was the doctors injected into Donovan (who the doctors have conveniently broken out of jail, by the way) last week, they are now able to pull out all of his “baby teeth,” and Wendigo fangs immediately sprout in their place.
“The ladies are going to love these! You know what they say about guys with big teeth, don’t you? Swollen gums!”
Donovan also gets a second set of Wendigo fangs on his wrist, because you never know when you’ll get really hungry, while your first mouth is otherwise engaged . . .
Hey, look it’s the Not-So-Secretly-Evil New Member of Scott’s Pack, Theo! He’s come to visit Donovan, and tell him to kill Stiles, to get back at Sheriff Stilinski for making him flunk Deputy school . . .
Hey, not to go against Aria’s brother from Pretty Little Liars, Donovan, but shouldn’t you be thanking Sheriff Stilinski? Because last I checked, unless you happen to be moonlighting as a Naked Garbage Men of Wuzzles like Parrish, being a deputy in Beacon Hills is pretty much a first class ticket to the morgue.
Then again, so is being a Wuzzle in Beacon Hills, so you are pretty much screwed either way.
Sorry Bumblelion!
Here’s my theory. I think Theo is going to “save” Stiles from Donovan, next week, thereby earning him formal membership into Scott’s pack, and a direct ability to turn all Scott’s friends against him / steal his true Alpha powers . . .
But I’m getting a bit ahead of myself. Let’s go back to the sheriff’s office and clean up the pile of drool that became of last week’s Wuzzle, Tracey.
In Which You Get Your Weekly Lesson in Totally Random Mythology and Not Particularly Scientifically Accurate Genetics
Not to start a shipper war, or anything, but I’m totally starting a shipper war.
Anyone who thinks that lunkhead Parrish is a better choice for Lydia’s main squeeze than Stiles, please observe this silently subtle scene where a devastated Stiles reacts to seeing Lydia stabbed in the stomach, and bleeding out on the floor, and Lydia bravely assures him she’s OK, so he can carry out his pack duties with Scott.
Yeah, yeah, I know Stiles and Malia are supposed to be totally MFEO (Made for Each Other), and the werecoyote is gradually growing on me as a character. But still!
Not-So-Secretly-Evil Theo rushes in to tourniquet Lydia’s wound, which earns him some grudging respect from the clearly-smitten Stiles, as was intended.
Meanwhile downstairs, Malia is trying to convince everyone she didn’t kill Tracey. “Look, she’s drooling that silver crap, and no part of her is eaten. If it were me, I would have nibbled on her drumstick thigh, because it’s the tastiest part of a wuzzle. Much more flavor than the arm. Just saying. It was those Dredd Doctor things that killed her.”
Because they don’t want to alert Beacon Hills to the existence of Wuzzles, Scott’s pack decide to take Tracey’s gross dead body back to Deaton’s office, where he can give a parting boring monologue about genetics, before he skips off to star in a few episodes of The Walking Dead.
“Look, it’s my baby teeth! I saved them in a jar, because I’m adorable . . . and because I have way too much time on my hands.”
“The fact that Tracey was able to cross the mountain ash, and has the body parts of two past supernatural villain creatures on the show, means she’s a genetic freak, not a supernatural one,” Deaton explains.
“Are you saying that an adult’s genetic code can be altered at will by injection? Because that sounds like kind of crappy scientific logic,” the pack muses.
“To be honest, I have no f&*king clue what I’m talking about. But because I talk like Yoda, I must be right,” responds Deaton. “Off to chill with some Zombies on AMC. Toodles!”
Later in science class, Scott’s awful AP Bio teacher, whose probably going to end up being Malia’s mom, or something, conveniently teaches Scott about wuzzles, calling them “chimeras,” but I think wuzzle is a better name for them, personally.
She goads Scott into picking up a drop form for her class, and then seems sad, when he actually takes her advice.
Women . . . sheesh. I am one, and sometimes I don’t understand us . . .
Jujitsu? I Hardly Know You!
Back at the hospital, Lydia day dreams that she is a victim of the Dredd Doctors, while she’s in surgery for her belly wound. But, obviously, it’s real, because, like I said earlier, dreams on this show are always real.
Then, Parrish creepily watches her sleep, envisions burning her face off with his finger, like he did with the playing card that looks like her, and offers to teach he jujitsu, because . . . plot reasons.
Aren’t Crime Scenes Sacred Anymore?
Meanwhile, Malia sashays into Tracey’s house, and thumbs around her personal belongings, because, in Beacon Hills, crime scenes are easier to get into than R-rated movies, and admission is free!
There, she comes across this book, which isn’t actually a real book, by the way. I know, because I checked . . .
In other Malia news, she decides to put her search for her mother on hold, to help her pack mates with Beacon Hill’s Wuzzle Problem.
Awww, our little werecoyote is putting other’s needs before her own. She’s all grown up!
In fact, she’s the most grown-up almost 30-year old playing a teenage girl, since, well, all the other almost 30-year olds playing teenage girls on this show . . .
Twerking with your Wuzzle of the Week
Elsewhere in Beacon Hills, Jeff Davis decides he hasn’t done a gay nightclub / techno dancing sequence yet this season, and so we get Club Sinema.
Apparently, just as we’ve all long suspected, nearly every male in Beacon Hills conveniently happens to be a homosexual . . .
. . . including Brett . . .
. . . and Mason . . .
. . . and our wuzzle of the week, Lucas, whose cover is totally blown, when his arm boners, accidentally flay his boyfriend . . .
Also at cinema is Scott’s Mini Me, Liam, and his love interest, who got a job working as a bar wench at an over 21 night club, despite looking about 12, because she’s “poor” or something . . . also because the bar owner is probably a pedophile.
Lucas’ arm-boner problem gets him into trouble, once again, when he’s making out with Mason. Fortunately, help is on the way. En route to the scene of the soon-to-be crime, Scott tells Kira he loves her, because no place is a more romantic place for a straight couple to exchange “I love yous” for the first time, than outside the gay nightclub, where your friends are possibly being murdered.
Scott and co easily disarm Lucas, because, apart from the whole arm boner thing, he’s really not that bad of a guy. I mean, sure he made his boyfriend’s arm look like bacon, but he apologized for it! In short, Lucas just wants what every teenage gay boy wants, to hide his sexual dysfunction long enough to get laid.
Nighty night!
Then, Kira turns all Powderpuff girl again, and tries to kill Lucas, for no good reason whatsoever. Fortunately, Scott stops Kira from doing this just in time, and looks at her with these seriously judgy eyes. “Hey Kira, you’ve been acting like kind of a b*tch lately. Is it your time of month?”
“Hey Scott, didn’t your mother ever tell you not to blame a woman’s emotions on PMS?” Kira scolds.
“Yeah, sorry,” Scott apologizes.
“Just kidding. It’s totally PMS. And I’m going to try to murder you in your sleep every night for the next three-to-five days,” Kira adds with a giggle.
Then, the Dredd Doctors murder Lucas for no discernable reason, whatsoever.
“Hey, why did you do that?” Scott asks dumbfoundedly. “He was kind of hot.”
“Because we are the bad guys, duh!” The Dredd Doctors reply, before exiting stage left.
Back in the morgue, Scott is sad about Lucas’ untimely demise. “I should have saved him,” he complains to his mother.
“Stop shoulding all over yourself,” Scott’s mom replies.
“Hey, I stopped pooping the bed when I was ten,” Scott argues.
“I said ‘shoulding’ you dummy,” Scott’s mom answers. “What I mean, is stop beating yourself up. If you weren’t absolutely terrible at your job of saving your friends from horribly excruciating supernatural deaths, you wouldn’t be my son.”
“Awww! Thanks mom!” Scott responds.
More Naked Parrish? – Jeff Davis says, “Your Welcome.”
Later that night, Naked Garbage Man of Wuzzles, steals Arm Boner Lucas from the morgue, carries him to that big ole tree stump that was a big plot point a few seasons back, and burns his body to ash. Meanwhile in Hell, Darach Jennifer cries, because if she had a Naked Garbage Man helping her out during her season, she might still be alive and humping Derek Hale today . . .
In Which Stiles Gets One Hell of a Hickey
In the final scene of the episode, Stiles fixes his broken down jeep with tape, because he, like everyone else on this show, has an obvious death wish.
Then Donovan comes with that extra mouth on his hand, and uses it to place a rather large hickey on my favorite character’s neck.
How exactly are you going to explain that one to your girlfriend, Stiles?
Tagged as 8 p.m., arm boners, big bads, brett is gay, chimera, conditional terminal, deputy parrish, donovan has a mouth on his hand, donovan is a wendigo, dredd doctors, everyone goes to a gay club, evil theo is evil, icarly, kira has kitsune pms, liam's love interest is poor, Lucas, lucas dies, lydia and parrish, malia, mason and brett, mason and lucas, MTV, parrish is a naked garbage man of wuzzles, random dancing, Scott McCall, scott says i love you to kira, Season 5, sinema, stiles gets a hickey, stiles loves lydia, Stiles Stilinski, Teen Wolf, theo is working with the dredd doctors, wendigo, wuzzle
Presto Chango – A Recap of Teen Wolf’s Season Finale “Smoke and Mirrors”
Game of Bones . . .
Have you ever seen a children’s magic show? By design, a children’s magic show has to be different from its adult counterpart. You see, children generally don’t have the patience for the pomp and circumstance of adult magic shows . . . the “mood music,” the attractive scantily clad assistant, the table that spins in the center of the stage for no apparent reason than to make the audience dizzy.
Because of this, children’s magic shows tend to consist of a variation of the same magic trick, over and over again. “Presto chango.” This hat is empty.
“Presto chango.” Now there is a rabbit in it.
“Presto chango.” We poured milk into a rolled up newspaper.
“Presto chango.” Now it’s dry.
“Presto chango.” This is a blank coloring book.
“Presto chango.” Now it’s filled with the colors the audience shouted at the magician, a moment earlier.
Season 4 of Teen Wolf, in general, and the aptly titled “Smoke and Mirrors” finale, specifically, felt a bit like watching a children’s magic show . . .
“Presto chango.” There’s a deadpool.
“Presto chango.” Just kidding!
“Presto chango.” Derek’s a man werewolf. “Presto chango.” Now, he’s a kid werewolf. “Presto chango.” Now, he’s dying. “Presto chango.” Now, he’s not dying, and is an actual wolf.
“Woof.”
“Presto chango.” Scott’s a berserker. “Presto chango.” He’s better now.
“Presto chango.” Liam’s petrified of berserkers , and doesn’t want to be a member of the pack. “Presto chango.” “I’ll die for you, Scott McCall!”
Back in my early season recaps of Teen Wolf, one of the aspects of the show I always complimented was the way in which its writers never felt they had to underestimate their fans intelligence, by spoon-feeding them information they could figure out on their own. But there’s a difference between providing the audience with only some of the pertinent information, and providing them with none. When you do the former, you are treating your fan like she’s smart. When you do the latter, you are treating your fan like she’s . . .well, a child.
[As always, special thanks to Andre, who faithfully recapped this entire season of Teen Wolf, without grumble or complaint, and even indulged my Deputy Parrish fantasies and thinly veiled requests for pictures of him naked, without judgment or mocking.]
Scott McCall and the Temple of Relationship Doom
Not to be a Debbie Downer (I promise I’ll try to make the rest of this recap more upbeat.), but I was so incredibly disturbed by the scene where Berserker Scott beat the crap out of Kira that I think it may have colored my perception of the rest of the episode. My main issue with the scene is that I have this sneaking suspicion that Scott’s actions will have no repercussions in his relationship with Kira, next season. “He didn’t mean it,” she’ll say. “He wasn’t himself at the time.”
“This is all starting to feel very Afterschool Special.”
In this particular instance, it may be true. But how many times have you heard an abusive boyfriend or husband use the same excuse? “I wasn’t myself . . . I was angry . . . I was drunk . . . I haven’t been sleeping.”
“I was wearing a funny hat.”
Even Stiles, who actually wasn’t himself, back in Season 3, when he was possessed by the Nogitsune, was willing to take some responsibility for the havoc “his body” wreaked on the town. “I was there. I saw everything. And a part of me enjoyed it,” Stiles admitted to Malia earlier this season.
If the writers were to have Scott make a similar confession to Kira, could they allow Kira to willingly continue the relationship, without sending a terrible message to fans everywhere?
Ummmm . . . .
Anywhoo, back in the Temple of Relationship doom, Kate is Villain Monologuing about how this cave has magically imbued her with the power to create Berserkers, and make them 100% loyal to her, because . . . um . . . bears really like jaguars, I guess.
“Are they still considered six-pack abs, if you have to wear them as a t-shirt?”
She tells her pet Scott to stab Kira in the chest, and he does.
“Good Bear / Dog. You get a cookie . . . or should I say, another bone.”
Has the Mexico Department of Tourism Gotten Wind of This?
In the season premiere, the Scooby crew all took a nice little road trip to Mexico to save Derek from Kate’s clutches . . . and also to tussle with a Mexican crime syndicate. Now, in the finale, they are heading back to Mexico to “save” Scott and Kira . . .
Apparently, if you are looking for a place where your adult friend can get turned into a teen, and your teen friend can get turned into a mindless bear zombie, Mexico is the Vacation Destination for you!
“Cancun, baby!”
Did I mention they have Chimichangas?
Papa Stilinski is totally not cool with Stiles and his friends heading off to certain death in Mexico. “I get it. You need a vacation. But why not somewhere like Daytona Beach, Bermuda, New Orleans, Vegas . . . a Giant Maze where bug-like creatures chase you around for sh*ts and giggles . . .”
“Nope, viva la Mexico,” replies Stiles. “Also, I’d very much like some guns, please.”
“What’s that you say, Stiles? You would like to take your trustee bat to the Murder Church? Yes, you can take your bat,” replies the Sheriff.
“I said GUNS . . . G-U . . .”
“All right, sonny boy, now you run along and play . . .”
Speaking of guns . . .
All Paws on Deck
For trained bounty hunter, Braeden, murder is like playing golf. You bring every gun you own, everywhere you go, and then carefully select the best one for the circumstance at hand . . . hopefully, before someone shoots you in the face.
“You’re going to need a really big backpack.”
. . . which, I guess, makes Derek her caddy.
For a hero, Derek seems surprisingly cool with his impending demise.
DEREK: “They’ve got that little guy, with the pretty boy face now. Clearly, I’m being phased out, sent off on the ice floe, like the Eskimos do to old people.”
BRAEDEN: “But if you’re dead, we can’t have sex in your poorly furnished apartment, while Lydia screams in our ear anymore.”
DEREK: “You’re over 18, (I hope. I mean, you are, aren’t you? Because, I never actually asked). Maybe they’ll send you on the ice floe too . . .”
BRAEDEN: “Hmmm . . . I’ve never had sex on a block of ice before . . .
Also packing for the trip are Stiles and Malia, the former of whom helpfully offers Malia a pair of his besties dirty underwear so that she can pick up his scent . . .
. . . which would be very helpful, if Scott was trapped under something heavy, and the only part of his body out in the open air was his crotch . . .
Malia rolls her eyes, and decides to sniff his pillow instead. Smart girl!
Last week, Liam was all, “No thank you,” to the opportunity to be a series regular on a show that involved him willingly walking into the jaws of death every week. “Please keep me in mind when there’s an opening on Dawson’s Creek,” he said.
“I have soulful eyes. I can totally be broody like Dawson, or misunderstood and charming like Pacey.”
But then that other wolf guy gave him a pep talk, and he changed his mind . . .
(Also, he Googled Dawson’s Creek, and learned it’s been off the air for over 10 years.)
“I’d very much like it if you tied me up, and strapped me to the roof of your car, so that I can come along on this Super Fun Suicide Trip with you all,” Liam offers, shrugging off the second full moon of his werewolf existence like it no big deal . . .
“Hey, can I come too? I haven’t decided yet if I’m going to be good or evil in this episode Maybe I should go back into a coma, so Meredith can tell me what I’m really thinking,” chimes in Peter.
Now, THAT’S what I call a road trip. But wait . . . SOMEONE’S MISSING . . .
Not Without My Lydia . . .
“Kind of smells like Scott’s crotch . . .”
Back at school, Lydia is snorting one of Kira’s jackets, when this happens . . .
“Hey Lydia, I was hoping I could borrow your calculus notes. You see, I have this big exam on Monday, but Kate’s had me out late every night eviscerating innocent flesh, and I just haven’t had the chance to sit down and study.“
RUH-ROH!
I get that it’s the weekend. But I love how no one noticed the GIANT BEAR BONE ZOMBIE THINGY wandering the halls in broad daylight . . .
Mason’s at the school too, because he’s human, and not friends with Scott, which means he still has to do boring things on this show like eat nasty cafeteria food, dissect frogs, and, in this particular instance, “attend Study Group.”
Also, because every cute red-headed high school teen needs a gay best friend . . .
Stiles tries to get the group to wait for Lydia. But Peter seems to be in a very big rush to leave her behind, so he can save two teens he doesn’t like very much. Yeah, because THAT doesn’t seem suspicious at all . . .
So, the Scooby Gang leaves without Lydia, which is pretty much what they’ve been doing all season, probably because she’s not dating Stiles or Scott . . . also, maybe, because of the Screaming Thing, which is super unpleasant . . .
Mason eventually finds Lydia’s cell phone in the hallway . . .
“Cool screensaver, is that from an app?”
. . . and then, he finds Lydia, just not in the way he would have hoped.
“Bet you never thought you’d wind up back in the closet, huh?”
“That guy, in the hallway . . . the one who beat me up. He had a really great Halloween costume. But I’m not sure if he was supposed to be Shredder from the Ninja Turtles movies, or someone from Game of Thrones. Think I should ask him?” Mason inquires.
“Not human,” Lydia remarks ominously of their burly captor . . .
Humanity is overrated . . .
As the full moon rises, all of our Scoobies appear to be becoming a bit more feral. En route to Scott, Peter is doing a pretty good job of convincing Malia that murder is totally OK, provided it’s for a good cause, like, for example, to help out the person you occasionally bone. “Also, losing control and becoming an animal is OK, if you want to kill the Bear-Looking thing, that may or may not be Scott, so I can become Alpha, because . . . wait for it.”
Meanwhile, in the other car, Derek is offering up a slowly wolfing out Liam, his very favorite cereal box toy, to help him control his animal urges.
“I think it was supposed to come with a matching decoder ring, but I accidentally threw it out with my box of Lucky Charms.”
When that doesn’t work, he teaches him the Latin Alphabet.
When that doesn’t work . .. it’s all about the Buddhism, baby! I’m thinking, The Sun, the Moon, The Truth would make for a great phrase to put on a Teen Wolf t-shirt, don’t you?
Meanwhile, back in temple, Kira is self-mutilating, because the spirit of her Mom told her it would make her feel better. And it works! She’s healed! (And the negative messages for kids, just keep on coming . . .)
“Thanks for making me a cutter, Mom. You’re the best!”
Derek gets sent on the ice floe . . .
Our gang barely manages to park outside the church, when Derek gets his intestines sliced open by a Berserker. It’s the kind of wound you see humans in movies suffer, and you just know they are about to bite it. But Derek . . . well, I guess he’s sort of kind of human now.
The Scooby Gang makes sure to put on their best sad faces for all of two seconds, before leaving Derek to die, and rushing off to rescue their REAL Hero, Scott.
To Stiles’ credit, he looks sad for at least FOUR seconds . . .
Braeden stays with the dying Derek, though . . . possibly because now she has no caddy to hand her guns in battle . . .
But then Kate and the Berserkers arrive, and it’s every man (and woman) for themselves . . .
And the CAVALRY IS HERE! Hello Deputy Parrish, Crazy Mexican Crime Syndicate, Chris Argent . . . We missed you! Well . . . at least I very much missed one of you!
I love how there are thousands off bullets being shot off in every direction, and every single one of these “trained shots” is totally missing the Berserkers. I get that the bone armor is probably pretty effective in warding off bullets. But there are enough openings in the Berserker wardrobe that one would think even a novice marksman could get in a few lucky shots on. . .
THE STOMACH . . .
THE ARMS . . .
THE EYES . . .
Maybe not all of these shots are kill shots, but they would at least do a better job at disarming the Berserkers than, whatever the heck it is they are doing in this scene . . .
“Pretending this is the carnival game where you have to shoot water into a clowns mouth until the balloon on his head pops . . .”
Having slightly better luck against the Berserkers on the home front. . .
Bombs Ove Beacon Hills
I’m pretty sure my favorite part of the episode was the scene where Lydia and Mason, kamikaze themselves (and their baseball bats) at the Berserker. I mean, Mason even came up with his own battle cry, which sounded like ArRRAHHIIAHIHIHI! It was awesome.
Then, Sheriff Stilinski added to the comedy, by engaging the Berserker in a friendly game of catch . . . with IEDs of course. I very much enjoyed the Wil E. Coyote facial expression the Berserker had while he’s holding on to the bomb and knowing he’s about to go kablooey . . .
“Front toward enemy? I don’t get it. Why would you want to play catch with your enemy? Wait a second . . . Awwwww sh*******t.”
S.O.S. – Save Our Scott
Inside the temple it’s a Berserker versus Scooby showdown. Stiles finds a newly-healed Kira, who warns Stiles that (1) Scott is a Berserker; (2) Lydia was left behind on purpose, so that she couldn’t warn the others before they killed Scott.
“My boyfriend physically abused me, which caused me to voluntarily cut myself, which, if this was another show, would make you very concerned for my well being. But this is Teen Wolf, so SAVE SCOTT!”
Meanwhile, everyone seems to be working pretty hard to murder our newly-turned Doesn’t Care Bear . . .
“STOP! It’s our fearless leader Scott, in that Shredder costume!” Stiles warns, just as “Scott” is attempting to strangle little lost Liam.
In that moment, Liam looks into the face of the thing he fears most and sees EYES . . .
“Hey, I’d know those bushy unplucked verging-on-unibrow eyebrows anywhere! That’s my surrogate daddy!”
Since mantras had worked so well on Liam, he decides to use one on Scott . . . the same one Scott used on him to help control his change, earlier in the season. “Scott, you are not a monster. You are a werewolf, just like me.”
And . . . presto chango . . . Scott has, once again accomplished the impossible, and broken the Berserker curse . . . now, if he could just wax those eyebrows . . .
Minutes after coming back to himself, Scott sees Peter and immediately figures out that HE has been behind Kate’s plans all along. (For a dumb-dumb, Scott can be pretty insightful, when its plot convenient.) And he’s PISSED! So, he runs toward Peter, and Peter runs toward him, and the two of them embrace one another in a snazzy dance move I like to call the “Flying Hug of Death.”
“Let’s dance.”
“Think happy thoughts . . . You can FLY. You can FLY. You can FLLLLYYYY.”
Meanwhile, outside . . .
Blah, Blah, Blah, Stuff Happens, Blah, Blah, Blah . . . NAKED DEREK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So, just when everything seems like it’s going to crap, Derek turns into an actual wolf, and attacks Kate with what at first seems like puppy licks, but is actually gnashing teeth . . .
“Tee hee, that tickles. Wait. Why are you biting off my tit?”
He doesn’t kill her though, because . . . she hosts Wolf Watch . . .
Then Kate’s own brother, Chris, shoots her with a yellow-tipped bullet. Kate looks super offended, but this also doesn’t kill her . . . because . . . Wolf Watch.
“My feelings = hurt.”
THEN DEREK APPEARS NAKED, AND I START DROOLING, AND MY MIND TURNS TO MUSH . . .
(I don’t think anything really important happened at that point anyway . . . except for maybe that whole, Derek kills a Berserker by smushing his face with his bare hands thing.)
Back in the Church . . .
FINISH HIIIIIIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Scott and Peter fighting was like something straight out of the Mortal Kombat video game. Five minutes of, punch, punch, punch, kick, fly, punch, throw, fly, punch . . .
And I started looking at my nails and thinking, my nail polish is really chipped. I should invest in a better top coat . . .
Then Scott, had Peter on the ground FINALLY. . . and I’m like the announcer from the Mortal Kombat video game. “FINISH HIM . . . FINISH HIM . . . FINISH HIM.”
But he doesn’t . . . lame.
Also, lame is how Chris totally has a chance to, if not kill, at least disarm, Kate. And he willingly lets her go, only so he can leave the show head off with the Mexican Crime Syndicate to find her again . . .
“Feeling alone and emasculated . . . wondering if I remembered to DVR My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, before I left the house.”
How it ends . . .
Stiles comes back home, and gets grounded . . . big time.
Malia decides her favorite food is pizza, after all . . .
Coach tells the boys that he’s seen things in Mexico that would knock off their genitals. (I smell a prequel!!!!)
Kira gets a tail . . . well . . . actually a piece of the glass she mutilated herself with, but . . . details.
*sigh* Memories . . .
Lydia gives Parrish a book that looks surprisingly skinny for a bestiary (abridged version, perhaps?), and tells him she’d like to try and help him figure out that he’s a phoenix what he is. (Meanwhile, Parrish patiently waits for Lydia, to leave, so that he can check his database to confirm that she’s had her 18th birthday, before he invites her over to his place for some . . . bestiarying.)
Peter ends up in Eichen House, and he has a roommate!
“I bet he snores and farts in his sleep too.”
(So maybe my guess about the X-Men Eichen House breakout is not so far off after all . . .)
Until next season, Werebangers!
Tagged as alpha, animated gifs, arden cho, assassin, banshee, berserker, beta, brett, calavares, Chris Argent, coach, code, deadpool, Derek Hale, derek turns into black wolf, derek's dying, derek's powers, desert wolf, dream sequence, Dylan O'Brien, dylan sprayberry, funny, holland roden, ian bohen, ied, jordan parrish, kate argent, kira, kira's mom, la iglesia, Liam, little mermaid, lorraine martin, Lydia, malia tate, martin, mason, Meredith, meredith walker, MTV, nogimura, orphaned, peter at eichen house, Peter Hale, phoenix, recap, satomi, Scott McCall, scott turned to berserker, scott's dad, screencap, season finale, shelly hennig, sheriff stilinski, smoke and mirrors, Stiles, stilinski, tape, Tea, Teen Wolf, the chemist, the desert wolf, the moon, the sun, the truth, theory, third eye, third eye guy, time of death, Trailer, Tyler Hoechlin, Tyler Posey, YouTube
September 7, 2014 · 6:08 pm
Entering the Bone Zone – A Recap of Teen Wolf’s “Promise to the Dead”
50 Shades of Bone
Welcome back, Werebangers. This week on Teen Wolf a number of our favorite Beacon Hill residents finally got laid . . .
While others just got boned . . .
“Worst date everrrrrrrrr!”
We experience episodes like this around this time every season of Teen Wolf. You know, the ones after the main mystery of the season has been solved . . . where the Beacon Hill Scoobies are just trying to catch their breaths, and possibly engage in a little R-rated action, before the inevitable Finale Cliffhanger turns everything to sh*t once again . . .
Stiles: “So, whose turn is it to get possessed by an evil demon and commit evil acts over which you have no control, and therefore won’t have to pay any consequences?”
Scott: “I think it’s mine.”
Stiles: “Good luck with that, buddy.”
Finally, Stiles’s dad has enough down time to take Stiles and Malia out to savage the local deer population . .
. . . or just eat some pizza. That works too . . .
“Tastes like Deer .. . and cheese.”
Scott finally took Kira on a date in what is undoubtedly the most morbid, ugliest, most dangerous, friend-dyingest place in Beacon Hills . . .
“Consider yourself haunted.”
Liam’s lower lip quivered . . .
. . . while he tried to sleep . . .
. . . while he lifted weights . . .
. . . while he played video games with his friend . . .
. . . while he got eaten by a Berserker and died. . .
Just kidding about that last one . . . for now.
Basically, it was your average day in Beacon Hills . ..
With one or two exceptions.
[As always, a big hearty thanks to my good pal Andre, whose screencapping talent, passion for all things supernatural, and trademark snark, mean that one day he will (and should) write and produce a teen show TV show that rocks 100 times harder than Teen Wolf, and we can all say we met him here. :)]
Third Eye Not-So Blind
You know what really pisses me off? When I’m captured by a wendigo, and he spends five minutes yammering on about how much better I’m going to taste when I’m nervous. You know what makes me nervous? BEING EATEN BY A WENDIGO!
You know what makes me bored and annoyed? Listening to a wendigo talk about eating me. It’s like those annoying food commercials where the two obnoxious dad types try to make hip jokes about their slushies . . . or when the Wendy’s girl and her friends have nothing to talk about during their lunch break except how delicious their hamburgers are.
JUST EAT IT, AND SHUT UP ABOUT IT, MMM-KAY?
I’m not going to lie. I cheered when Deaton clocked this guy’s ass, and carted him off to Eichen House . . . a place that seems to be a Rite of Passage for all residents of Beacon Hills. After all, we all go a little mad sometimes. Am I right?
The idea of there being a floor of the nut house, dedicated entirely to supernatural creatures (and yet, Malia and Meredith got to stay on the regular floor. . . weird) presents a lot of really fun possibilities for next season. Are you listening, Jeff Davis?
I mean, just check out this Samuel L. Jackson-looking guy? How cool is he!
I’m thinking something along the lines of an X-Men villains-type storyline, where all the creepiest, and most disturbing of supernaturals stage an awesome breakout from Eichen House, and proceed to terrorize Beacon Hills residents, just because it’s fun . . . and because they can!
And because Stiles, who is most definitely a comic book fan/ fan of the X-Men series, would have so many funny / meta things to say about a group of big bads like this that come from his and Malia’s Alma Mater of Wackjobs, Eichen House . . .
Anyway, Deaton — being the kind of guy whose clearly not capable of just rescuing a girl from being eaten by a Wendigo, and then heading home to binge watch old episodes of True Blood on Netflix (the early seasons . . . naturally . . . back when the show was still good, and I was still recapping it) — decides to go have a nice chat with creeptastic creeper, who, at first, appears to be sporting a massive gunshot wound in his forehead, but actually just has a really bloody nasty ass third eye . . .
WHHHHHY? WHY Teen Wolf? Why must you be so unnecessarily grotesque? Can we go back to the annoying dude eating the teenage girl? That’s starting to seem downright pleasant about now in comparison to this.
“I told you I’d grow on you. Would you mind terribly if I nibbled on your left ear?”
So, why did Deaton choose to ruin all of our dinners by visiting Third Eye Guy? Apparently, he believes Triclops here will somehow help Deaton SEE the way to save Derek from Inevitable Death By Inexplicable Loss of Powers . . .
Instead, Triclops just makes Deaton take a nap . . .
If all Deaton wanted to get out of this trip was a little extra shut-eye, popping a few Ambien would have been easier (and way less gross). Just sayin . . .
In dream land, Deaton dreams of the bone zone, which is not only where Der Bear first lost his Mojo, it’s also where Scott . . . well, more on that later . . .
“Is this IKEA?”
Anywhoo, just when it looks like Deaton will enter The Big Sleep, everyone’s favorite Banshee Alarm clock pops by to give him a “friendly wakeup call.”
And they all lived Deaf-Ever-After . . .
Scott’s Down with O.P.P . . . (Other People’s Property)
This season on Teen Wolf, Peter’s Blood Money Duffle Bag got more action from Scott than Kira did.
So much money fondling . . .
Sometimes Scott fondled the money by himself . . .
Sometimes he fondled the money while Liam watched . ..
Sometimes Scott and Stiles took turns fondling the money . ..
This week, Scott’s mom found the money (probably because Scott’s brilliant idea of hiding it, involved pushing it under his bed, open, with massive wads of cash tumbling out of it) . . . and began to fondle it with Scott.
AWK-WARD!
Scott’s arguments as to why the McCall’s should keep the money: (1) we need it; (2) its true owner already has enough v-neck shirts and doesn’t need more; (3) hiding millions of dollars in a rather easily accessible vault is a piss poor investment strategy; and (4) its true owner is a rotten excuse for a human being who repeatedly tries to murder me . . .
are quickly shot down by Mama McCall’s moral imperative.
“Bloody money has cooties . . . See? Check out the masssive cooty on this stack of G’s.”
Why was that particular pile of cash bloody, anyway? If the deadpool notifications are to be believed, the assassins had money wired to their bank accounts immediately following verification of the kill. There was no physical cash payout.
Even if the killers immediately cashed out their earnings, that bank money would presumably be “clean.’ Garrett and Violet succeeded in making at least two kills, of which we are aware. Did they then just keep cashing out the money , shoving it into the same duffelbag, and using the unmarked bills in that duffelbag to wipe off the blood from Garrett’s hockey stick? Wouldn’t a bottle of hydrogen peroxide been a more sanitary cleaning method?
No matter . . . when Scott tries to return the money to Derek, he doesn’t want it. “Peter’s a moron,” Derek muses. “He should have invested the funds in a death trap apartment complex and become a slumlord, like I did. Serves him right, spending the money on something stupid, like World Domination. Finders, Keepers, I say. YOLO.”
Oh sweet Derek, you may be dying, but your getting laid by a non-psychotic female, for a change, is making you so much more enjoyable to be around . . .
Cockblocks of the Screaming Kind
Dear Braeden . . .
Please don’t take this the wrong way . . .
I like you. I like that you taught Derek to use a gun, and, in doing so, made him about 50 times less useless in fights than he ever was as a plain vanilla werewolf.
I also think its cool that you are a confident, strong woman, who isn’t afraid to show off your assets . .. even, and perhaps, especially, the physical ones . . .
But your choice of post-coital wardrobe this week, made me laugh out loud . . .
You see, I understand that, as consenting adults, you and Derek occasionally fornicate. (I would fornicate with Derek too, if I were you . . . like, all the time . . . sooooo much fornicating.)
And then, after it’s over, you go to sleep . . .
See, for example, Stiles and Malia. This is a couple that clearly has sex with one another, and sleeps together. But they’ve been dating long enough to have given up the need to “dress for the occasion.”
Sex with a girlfriend or boyfriend is sometimes just sex. To celebrate the occasion, they wear nightclothes. Simple . . . comfy . . . cute.
You know, I wouldn’t mind as much, if Derek and Braeden slept naked (They both totally seem like the type), and had to grab for some quick blankets to cover their unmentionables, when the inevitable screaming intruder popped by . . .
But Braeden wears THIS to bed?
You see, this is how I know a man wrote this episode, one who has never had to suffer through the agony of wearing a lacy bra, with underwire, lots and lots of padding, and boyfriend-style underwear that rides up your ass crack every time you take a really deep breath . . .
Rest assured, Jeff Davis. The only women who sleep in THAT OUTFIT live inside a Victoria’s Secret catalog .. .
Maybe that’s why Lydia was screaming at them, and not the whole, “Derek’s dying. This is a family show. Therefore, I’m not going to let you two screw tonight . . .”
Perhaps, she was saying . . .
“FASHION POLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICE!”
Meanwhile, in a more G-rated section of town . . .
Nightmare on Liam’s Street . . .
Poor Liam. Sometimes I get the impression that the character thought he was going to be cast as one of The Warblers on Glee . . .
Or Matty’s nemesis on Awkward . . .
And he simply stumbled onto the wrong television set!
Now, he’s growing hair in weird places, and being dreamstalked by what kind of looks like Shredder from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and all he’s thinking about is whether all this murder and wolf metamorphosis is going to interfere with his dream to win Sectionals and/or finally summon the courage to ask Emo Senior Jenna to prom . . .
Now, I like the refreshing realism of having a character like Liam, actually experience the effects of being slightly traumatized by the types of horrific events the rest of the Scoobies seem to shrug off every day . . .
“Hey there, Lonely Boy. I’ll sleep over and play video games with you.”
I also like how Scott noticed Liam was dissing his bromantic buddy, Mason (Who still doesn’t seem to get that Liam and his new friends are supernatural, despite that whole “saving the werewolves from the dog whistle music” thing last week.), and cautiously instructed him against being a “lone wolf,” as the little tween is likely going to need his friends more than ever in the coming seasons . . .
“Need a spotter, Liam?”
Part of me just wishes Liam’s Berserker hallucinations this week, had a bit more of a payoff . . .
Like, for example, the writers could have blessed the Berserkers with Freddie Krueger-type powers, whereby if they succeeded in killing Liam in the dream, he’d also die in real life. So, then, Liam would be forced to become addicted to caffeine pills, so that he wouldn’t fall asleep, and those pills had the unintended impact of turning him into SPEEDHEAD I.E.D WOLF. . .
Hey, it could happen. . .
In other unrelated news, guess who has two hands and is no longer poor . . .
This guy!
It turns out Eichen House has given the Stilinskis the old One of Our Staff Members Tried to Murder You discount on their insane asylum bills . . .HOORAY!
It’s been forever, since Stiles and his dad, and the girl Stiles is currently shagging got to share a nice meal together . . .
Papa Stilinski is ready to go all out. He even asks Malia about her favorite food . . .
“Bambi’s Mother . . .”
Why so judgy, Stilinskis? Venison is actually considered a delicacy in many parts of the world . . .
But hey, pizza is good too . . .
The date to end all dates, literally. . .
Correct me, if I’m wrong, but I thought Scott and Kira already had a few first dates. . .
Like the time they road tandem on Scott’s motorcycle . . .
Or the time they slow-danced at Lydia’s grandma’s lake house . . .
Both of those things seem way more romantic than “Sitting in the dark, poorly furnished place where Boyd bit it . . . which still smells like Derek and Braeden Sex . . .”
I also liked how Scott, tried to pump some romance into the fact that, just like the McCalls, Derek was actually too cheap to pay for his electric bills . . .
He strings the whole place up with candles, and makes Kira use her electric powers to get them to run . . .
“There’s also an exercise bike in the corner of the room, you can peddle to make the air conditioner work. Starting riding!”
Beware, Kira! These are the kind of guys that mysteriously seem to have “left their wallet at home,” every time the two of you go out for Valentine’s Day Dinner . . .
The type of guys who convince you to help them pay for medical school, only to ditch you less than a year later for the hot nurse, they met while doing their internship . . .
(On the other hand, from the looks of it, there’s a good chance neither of you are going to live to see college, let alone medical school . So, carpe diem! You go kids! Watch that Star Wars DVD, knowing full well that you are going to be kidnapped AGAIN, before they even finish those black moving screen opening credits . . .)
“Now your balls match my face, Scott.”
In which everyone gets pep talks . . .
“Hey Liam! This is crazy.”
“I know you and I used to beat the crap out of one another on the lacrosse field, because I you totally ruined my coaches’ car.”
“But, we are both secret teen wolves with anger issues, and I have a massive man-crush on your Alpha.”
“So, let’s be friends, maybe?”
Awww, Buddhist Wolf is so sweet! Can we adopt him, Werebangers? Can we?
Meanwhile in the stands of yet another lacrosse game, Papa Peter comes to Daughter Malia with a proposition.
“Kill Kate for me, and I will introduce you to your mother . . . the Desert Wolf . . . who may or may not be Kate.”
“I think I liked it better when my father was just a random redneck, and I’d eaten the rest of my family.”
Hey, has anyone seen Scott? Or Kira? Uh-oh!
Speaking of Peter . . .
It sounds like the beginning of a joke . . . a hunter, a werewolf, and a berserker walk into a sewer . . .
But then, suddenly, this happens . . .
. . . and this happens . . .
. . . and Chris Argent isn’t laughing anymore.
There’s nothing like being bested by a moron in a bear costume and his metrosexual pal to lower one’s self esteem . . .
(By the way, since when do the Berserkers work for Peter too? I thought they were Kate’s pets.)
But then Deputy Parrish comes to save the day . . .
He starts by un-boning Argent (Re-virginizing?)
And then he tells him, “Hey remember that time those Samurai things murdered your daughter? You should be kind of pissed about that, and use that anger to drive you, and make you kill yourself slightly less.” (“You might also consider making some friends your own age, like those douchebags you used to hang out with in Season 1, who seemed to magically disappear after a couple of episodes.”)
“Thank you for reminding me,” Chris Argent replies. “I was starting to think she was just away on a study abroad program, because no one seemed to notice that she and her boyfriend are MIA. I AM really pissed about it! In fact, I’m so pissed, I’m going to be much less of a pussy from now on.”
“Sounds good,” replies Deputy Parrish.
“Thanks sexy Phoenix guy,” Argent replies . . .
“No prob, seemingly normal human who hangs out with so many teenagers that it’s slightly disturbing . . .”
And they all live happily ever after . .. at least once they get out of the nasty sewer . . .
Living slightly less happily ever after? Scott . . .
Rise Darth Berserker!
Having awoken in a bed of bones, Scott and Kira know that their not-so-hot date is about to get a lot not-so-hotter . . .
OK, Kate. You’ve gotten our attention. Care to explain the motive for your madness? (Please make it better than Meredith’s. Please make it better than Meredith’s . . .)
“I hate Scott, basically. He gets all the screentime on the show. His being turned into a werewolf coincided with my niece and my sister-in-law biting it in short order, my father going wacky, and my brother totally losing his nerve to fight. They call him the true Alpha. But I think he’d be better known as the True Life Ruiner. What’s worse, I don’t really get the boner everyone has for this guy? He’s crap at fighting. I just handed his ass to him a few moments ago, again! He can’t even turn into a gorilla. What good is he?”
Not going to lie. As far as motives go, Kate’s is pretty darn rock solid. It’s more sane than Meredith’s, “Peter made me do it in his coma,” motive. And more sympathetic than the assassins “It would make me $25 million richer, motive. And Peter’s egomaniacal, “He’s the only thing that stands between me and world domination” motive.
That said, making Scott wear an ugly Halloween costume is humiliating, but I don’t think it rises to the level of a good vengeance plan . . .
Wait . .. what’s that you say? Kate’s going to make Scott a Berserker? So, he is finally forced to become the heartless monster he always feared becoming? And his friends wouldn’t recognize him, would plot his demise, and might (but wouldn’t likely) succeed?
“Hey, check it out! Matching hats! We’re twinsies!”
Oooooh . . . that’s cold.
Until next time Berserk-bangers . . . er, I mean, Werebangers!
Tagged as 117 million, alpha, animated gifs, arden cho, ariel, assassin, banshee, benefactor, berserker, beta, brett, brunski, Chris Argent, code, deadpool, Derek Hale, derek's dying, derek's powers, desert wolf, dj, dream sequence, Dylan O'Brien, dylan sprayberry, funny, garret, Garrett, hank, holland roden, ian bohen, ied, jordan parrish, kate argent, kira, kira's mom, Liam, little mermaid, lorraine martin, Lydia, lydia's grandma, malia tate, martin, mason, Meredith, meredith is the benefactor, meredith walker, monstrous, MTV, mute, nogimura, orphaned, Peter Hale, phoenix, promise to the dead, recap, satomi, Scott McCall, scott turned to berserker, scott's dad, screencap, shelly hennig, sheriff stilinski, Stiles, stilinski, tape, Tea, Teen Wolf, the chemist, the desert wolf, the moon, the sun, the truth, theory, third eye, time of death, Trailer, Tyler Hoechlin, Tyler Posey, YouTube
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http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SpeechImpairedAnimal
Speech-Impaired Animal
Create New - Create New - Analysis Characters FanficRecs FanWorks Fridge Haiku Headscratchers ImageLinks PlayingWith Quotes Recap ReferencedBy Synopsis Timeline Trivia WMG YMMV
"Is it just me, or is there something eerie about Scooby? He's not anthropomorphic, exactly, he just speaks English. With a canine accent. It's as if trying to force his tortured vocal cords to form sounds that no loving God ever intended. Was he the result of some madman's blasphemous experiments in creating life? Are the ghosts he's chasing really the ghosts of his own inhuman mind? Should I get out more?"
— Lore Sjöberg, The Book of Ratings
A mandatory requirement for most cartoons since the 1960s — a Non-Human Sidekick that could almost, but not quite, speak English. Often they were smarter than anyone else in the cast. When they weren't, they were dumber than everyone else in the cast.
The sounds that the Speech-Impaired Animal makes in place of actual dialogue can vary. Sometimes their dialogue is semi-intelligible but has a very heavy Animal Species Accent. At other times, they make sounds accurate (or inaccurate) for their species, or no sounds at all, but their gestures and body language indicate what they would be saying if they could talk.
Like Talking Animals, they are still animals in almost every other way, particularly when it comes to instincts, priorities and motivations. They very rarely wear clothes, and they are often vocally proud of the fact they aren't human.
Many SIAs lack hands and walk on all fours, negating the possibility of performing many human tasks and behavior, though a few examples are bipedal even if their species isn't naturally so. However, when required by a joke, the SIA can sometimes act like the mostly anthropomorphic Funny Animal (Scooby dressing up in a costume to aid one of Shaggy's elaborate deceptions) or the semi-anthropomorphic Civilized Animal (Astro walking with his arm around George). Sometimes, the SIA can talk eloquently, but no one except maybe other SIAs hear them.
This trope is particularly associated with works by Hanna-Barbera.
Bakarasu from Mazinger Z and Great Mazinger was a raven ("Bakarasu" roughly means "Dumb crow") Boss and his gang used as a lookout or a messenger. In return, Bakarasu mocked Boss, annoyed him and drove him mad. Bakarasu strangely could talk—and laugh, usually at Boss—and theoretically it worked alongside Boss, Nuke and Mucha, but in reality it did whatever it pleased. It only had one appearance in Mazinger Z (episode 69), but he showed up in several Great Mazinger episodes.
In Digimon Tamers, Marine Angemon's dialogue is unique in that he speaks like he's underwater. Thankfully, his Tamer, Kenta, can understand him. The dub just has Marine Angemon speak short sentences.
Yumeria: Borderline case: Koneko, Neneko's kitten, who says only "Nono"; this is not the Japanese onomatopoeia for "meow".
Fullmetal Alchemist: Shou Tucker created two chimeras that could understand and attempt to replicate human speech. They are not cute. They are Tear Jerking Nightmare Fuel creatures, especially once you realize what they're made out of. Poor Nina...
Touch: Minami's pet dog "Punch", though technically the closest thing she does to speech is snickering.
The Winslow, the indestructible, cute, toothy idol of the vast majority of religions in the galaxy from Buck Godot: Zap Gun for Hire.
(Very) occasionally, Donald Duck's speech impediment is mentioned in his comics. It usually involves him trying to find a way to get over it.
The animal weapons of WE 3 communicate in a broken Leet Speak. As one of the researchers points out, "don't expect the sonnets of Shakespeare".
Fan Fic
It's not the Raptor DNA; Elise is part human, so not only can she communicate through sign language, she has a larger understanding of human speech and grammar than other dinosaurs like Rexy and the Raptor Squad.
Films — Animated
Madagascar: The animals sort of fit. They can understand themselves fine, but when, for example, Alex tries to speak to humans, all the humans hear is roaring. However, some of the animals move in a more humanoid manner (Alex and Gloria).
In The Lion King, Ed the Hyena can't speak English like Banzai and Shenzi. He only can laugh.
Abu from Aladdin could not form any recognizable words (although he did say Aladdin's name on at least a couple occasions), but the sounds he made were close enough that if you listened closely you could usually tell what he was saying. Aladdin in particular has no difficulty understanding him, though others like Jasmine do not. The people in the movie treat him as a monkey, and his motives and capabilities reflect this. Contrast with Iago, a Talking Animal who speaks English with grating clarity, and even has a knack for mimicking voices, but still has no physical capabilities beyond that of a parrot. Apparently the idea is Iago lives in a world of speech-impaired animals, but as a parrot, his ability to speak makes him an animal without the speech impediment. In The Return of Jafar, Jafar implies that he taught Iago to speak, probably through training and/or magic: "If it weren't for me, you'd still be in a cage at the bazaar, squawking Polly wants a cracker!".
The mice from Cinderella.
The angel dog in Little Angels: The Brightest Christmas begins half its words with an "r" sound.
Enchanted has Pip the Chipmunk who is a full Talking Animal in Andalasia but is limited to Rufus style squeaks and gestures in our world. Once he gets back to Andalasia he publishes a book about his experience called Silence Isn't Golden.
Dexter the monkey from Night at the Museum is very similar to Abu (see Disney's Aladdin) in terms of this trope, only without the clothes.
Jack the Monkey from Pirates of the Caribbean. The best part? Those are spontaneous actions by the monkey! It wasn't supposed to turn around and return Barbossa's incredulous look...along with a bunch of the other Jack the Monkey moments.
Zunar, The Cat from Outer Space lost the power to speak, along with telekinesis, whenever his alien-tech collar was removed.
As the animated counterpart, Azrael in The Smurfs (see Western Animation).
In Gone, Pack Leader, in a non-comedic way.
In Edward Eager's Half Magic, a girl wishes her cat could speak while holding a magic coin that grants your wishes... but only half-way. The cat could speak, but all its words began, ended, or replaced a syllable with the sound "fitz."
In The Dark Tower series, a strange creature called Oy can mimic human words, but usually leaves off the first consonant. His species is apparently fairly intelligent, as one was reported to be able to do basic arithmetic.
Discworld Averted with Gaspode the "Wonder Dog", who can talk just fine except most people only hear him on the subliminal level because few of them are prepared to believe a dog can talk.
Also, in terms of the "speech impaired" part, it should be noted that Gaspode often, when humans expect him to act like a dog, says things like "bark" and "woof", which sometimes takes the human(s) in question quite a while to realize is not the same as an actual bark.
The Librarian from the same series is a straight example. He's a human who turned into an orangutan due to a shape-shifting accident, and since then he communicates solely with "Ook" (and occasionally "Eek") sounds. However, he perfectly understands human speech, and his "ook"-s usually are meaningful in the context of the situation.
The Death of Rats is an even more supernatural example: a rat skeleton in a black robe with a miniature scythe, he can vocalize "SQUEAK" and a few related rat noises, but Death and Death's granddaughter can nonetheless understand what he means, if not what he actually says. At one point, an ordinary rat's spirit squeaks inquisitively to him after being reaped, and the Death of Rats replies, both understanding the other.
Played for Drama in Witches Abroad with the Big Bad Wolf. It was just a regular wolf enchanted by Lilith to think like a human, which means it tried to walk on its hind legs and operate doorknobs with a body that simply isn't designed for such things. When captured it is just barely able to vocalize its plea for "an ending" in a slurring voice. Granny obliges.
Henrietta Pussycat from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. Lore Sjöberg once noted:
I found it particularly eerie that she could only speak English about once every five words; the rest was "meow." It was like the inverse of the Smurf language.
An earlier show featuring her had only knowing three English words: "telephone", "wonderful", and "Misterogers" [sic].
Eddie on Frasier. He's a regular dog, except he understands what's happening to a highly intelligent degree.
Kids Praise: Blooper is Psalty's pet dog, and is a lot like Scooby-Doo, to the point where his barks at times are intelligible speech to the other characters.
Beetle Bailey: Sgt. Snorkel's dog Otto just barely manages it in a few individual strips, turning his growls into something resembling speech. Most of the time he sticks to using thought bubbles to comment on things, sort of like Garfield.
The sheep in Ollo In The Sunny Valley Fair occasionally rolls her vowels, much like a sheep’s *baaa*.
In The Secret of Monkey Island, you can talk to the dog in the SCUMM BAR. It mainly ruffs and growls but will occasionally speak story specific words in perfect English. It becomes Hilarious in Hindsight in the special edition with the dog being voiced by a human.
Donkey Kong makes human-sounding laughs and exclamations, not to mention the occasional recognizable word. In Donkey Kong 64 and Jungle Beat, he also chants his own name.
All of the Happy Tree Friends characters seem to be Speaking Simlish, but if you listen closely you can make out a few words here and there, so they may be an extreme example of this trope.
Enjuhneer: Tails is a pretty good example.
In Yokoka's Quest, Tomo is a small critter who is mute. He still has speech bubbles (in forest language colours!), which have so far contained either a circle of dashes, or an exclamation mark.
Courage the Cowardly Dog: Courage seems unable to talk to humans, though he would frequently talk to non-humans and the audience in early seasons. When he does try to communicate with them (usually to warn them of the Monster of the Week) he not only makes gestures and sounds, but also takes the shape of horrible things that scared him. note In the very early days Courage would speak to human characters. Once he transformed into a toy that spoke at the pull of a string.
Curious George: Frank Welker repeats Abu's mannerisms in his performances as George.
Astro from The Jetsons. (In fact it is from 1962 and older than Scooby). The 80's episodes gave us Orbitty (also voiced by Welker).
In "Elroy's Mob", Astro also writes the same way he speaks.
Futurama gave us Nibbler (voiced by Frank Welker). Nibbler is intelligent, though usually Obfuscating Stupidity. He occasionally shows more intelligence by vocalizing rapidly and gesturing wildly to indicate danger. And then there's the fact that he's actually a member of an ancient race that can manipulate the minds of others to make it seem like he's speaking their language.
Rufus from Kim Possible. He's clearly more intelligent than a real naked mole rat would be, but he typically communicates in squeaks and growls with only a few actual words thrown in.
Scooby-Doo: The archetype is the title character, who can speak English, but begins almost every word with an "r", which he rolls a tiny bit, and his voice is a bit growly.
Weirdly, Scrappy-Doo doesn't have the same impediment. He is from a younger generation than Scooby is, so perhaps the Doos are evolving.
In A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, Scooby's father has the impediment while his mother speaks normally.
Subverted in a memorable gag in The New Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo Show where Scooby sees a sign written the way he normally speaks ("Rhird revel - rots of ruck") and reads it out loud in perfect English.
Scooby: "Third level - lots of luck."
Shaggy: Like what did you say, Scoob?
Scooby: RI don't row, Raggy.
Wonder Dog from the 1973-74 season of Superfriends. He couldn't really speak and had to regularly resort to Hand Signals and playing Charades in order to be understood.
Gromit from Wallace & Gromit was completely mute, but his non-verbal expressiveness qualifies him for this trope.
Brain from Inspector Gadget. During his cameo episode in the spinoff, he's given a voice collar. (revealing that he's understandably shell-shocked.)
Shag the sheepdog from Road Rovers.
Spot the cat from Hong Kong Phooey. Which is odd because Hong Kong Phooey himself is a fully anthropomorphic dog.
Muttley from Wacky Races and Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines.
The Simpsons: Played a few times with the Simpson's dog, Santa's Little Helper.
Bart! Bart! Bartbartbart!
Weeee loooooveee youuuuu!
Chewy?
Mega Man: Rush in the Ruby-Spears cartoon spoke like Scooby-Doo. He was also responsible for all the non-quip comic-relief, which manifested at arbitrary and occasionally inappropriate moments.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: Angel, Fluttershy's pet(?) bunny communicates through easily-understood pantomime à la Gromit. Later it's shown that Fluttershy can also translate animal sounds; Angel being The Voiceless anyway is justified since rabbits don't make "animal sounds."
Played with in one Looney Tunes cartoon with Bob McKimson's hound - without Foghorn Leghorn around to bother him, he was getting bothered by Daffy Duck. As his master, Mrs. Elmer Fudd, hears the parson is visiting for supper and doesn't know what to cook, the dog starts playing Charades with her, pantomiming roast duck. She's not good at playing, and when she finally guesses "roast dog", he has enough and shouts "NO, roast DUCK! D-U-C-K, DUCK! Sheeeesh!!!"
Perry from Phineas and Ferb never talks other than his little growl, but he's an intelligent character (when he's not covering it up) who seems to quite easily be able to communicate with his nemesis, Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz. Less with the OWCA which he works for. He appears to be able to converse with Doofenshmirtz through mild expressions and sometimes hand gestures (thumbs up), despite being stoic and even managed to make an impression of Candace once.
Dr. Doofenshmirtz: "Don't you roll your eyes at me, Perry the Platypus!"
And let's not forget...
Dr. Doofenshmirtz: "Why are you looking at me like I'm an idiot?"
When Perry gets taken to the pet wash fundraiser and a zoo platypus gets mistaken for Perry:
Dr. Doofenshmirtz: "So what am I gonna do with the Least-Likely-inator, you ask? Make my daughter obey me? Make my father love me? No, and double no! ...Well, maybe later. But first, I'm gonna aim this bad boy at City Hall and zap my brother the mayor. And he'll MAKE a fool of himself in front of the legislature, which is the least likely thing he'd ever do. And the city will be forced to give the Tri-State Area to me, his next of kin! And don't tell me democracy doesn't work like that, Perry the Platypus. (covers ears) I don't wanna hear it!"
Sometimes it's implied that Doofenshmirtz is just interpreting blank expressions however is funniest. Especially when he tells his plan to a potted plant (Perry didn't show up that day) and reacts to its nonexistent responses.
A good few animated adaptations from the 80's seemed to gain a SIA as a Team Pet or having one as part of the original cast:
Odie in Garfield and Friends.
Monster from the animated My Pet Monster series.
Slimer (yet again voiced by Frank Welker, doyen of animal voices for 30 years) in The Real Ghostbusters
Azrael in The Smurfs is capable of some mildly intelligible phrasing but made of cat-like sounds. He can be understood sometimes as when Gargamel says: "How I hate Smurfs!" and Azrael says "Mew too".
Zipper in Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers is a fly unable to speak clearly with the other (also Talking Animal) characters. Even so other insects seem to be able to speak normally though.
Some highly intelligent species, e.g, bonobos, gorillas, dolphins, border collies, have been taught to communicate with humans via sign language or by using symbols for words. However, they don't have the same grasp of complex grammar that humans do, but a commercial fooled a lot of viewers. Snopes proves a rumor in an ad of an oranguatan communicating with a young girl to be false.
Speaks Fluent Animal
Animal Anthropomorphism Tropes
Spider People
Screwy Squirrel
Talking Animal
The Scrappy
QuoteSource/Other
Time Police
Uplifted Animal
Sliding Scale of Anthropomorphism
Nearly Normal Animal
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http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/TheFlash2014S1E6TheFlashIsBorn
Recap / The Flash (2014) S1 E6 "The Flash Is Born"
Create New - Create New - Analysis Characters FanficRecs FanWorks Fridge Haiku Headscratchers ImageLinks Laconic PlayingWith Quotes ReferencedBy Synopsis Timeline Trivia WMG YMMV
"To understand what I'm about to tell you, you need to do something first. You need to believe in the impossible. Can you do that? Good, because all of us, we have forgotten what miracles look like. Maybe because they haven't made much of an appearance lately. Our lives have become ordinary, but there is someone out there that is truly extraordinary. I don't know where you came from, I don't know your name, but I have seen you do the impossible to protect the city I love. So for those of us who believe in you, and what you're doing I just want to say thank you."
—Iris' Message to The Streak.
Iris continues investigating the Streak, while Barry runs into an old enemy.
Tropes:
Acceptable Targets: In-Universe. Joe cracks a joke about people who drive Yellow Humvees.
Action Survivor: Iris gets some credentials here for knocking out Woodward. A flashback shows her boxing.
Adult Fear: Invoked near the end, when the Reverse-Flash shows up to get Detective West off his trail by leaving the words "Stop or Else" with a knife stuck through a picture of Iris. Joe's pretty terrified.
Anger Born of Worry: Dr. Wells yells at Barry after he gets injured fighting Girder before he learned how to beat him. When Barry tries to justify his recklessness with his Healing Factor, Wells angrily tells him that he can't heal if he's dead.
Boxing Lessons for Superman: With actual boxing. Barry remembers training with Joe and Iris during his childhood and takes new lessons at S.T.A.R. Labs and with Eddie, all in order to pull off the Megaton Punch.
Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: With the Megaton Punch. That said, given Barry's abilities, he gets better.
Comic-Book Movies Don't Use Codenames:
Done differently than usual this episode, as "Girder" is Cisco's name for his metal training dummy, which Woodward gets compared to, rather than Woodward himself.
We also see the aversion with the "Flash" name getting established. During Iris' meeting with "the streak", he tells her that he doesn't want to be called that, but doesn't offer an alternative. Later, she's chatting with Barry, and he drops the word "flash" in order to subtly steer her to the name he wants.
Contrived Coincidence: Used as a plot point; Joe is initially suspicious of how Dr. Wells moved to Central City at the same time the man in yellow killed Barry's mother.
Dark and Troubled Past: Eddie tells Barry that his father was a politician that shut down a local factory which caused the children of the jobless workers to bully him.
Flash Step: Barry uses his super speed to stop a man who knows about Woodward.
Foreshadowing:
Iris mentions another incident she's heard rumors about; a man on fire who does not burn up.
In The Stinger, the Reverse-Flash shows up and steals Joe's evidence just as Joe writes down the possibility of Wells being involved in Nora's murder.
Formerly Fat: Eddie mentions that he used to be overweight rather than his current attractive appearance.
Idiot Ball: Barry revealing himself to Woodward, until you remember that he just broke the number one rule of being a superhero: revealing his identity to a bad guy who's still alive. What would happen if Woodward ever gets out of his cage?
Improvised Weapon: Barry and Tony use improvised weapons. Tony uses doors of cars and Barry eventually uses a flagpole.
In-Universe Catharsis: Barry really enjoys getting to gloat to Woodward's face when he has him locked up in the particle accelerator. Cisco then asks if they can imprison his childhood bullies.
Meaningful Echo: Iris takes over the opening and ending monologues in this episode, during which she uses some of the lines Barry did in the pilot.
Megaton Punch: If Woodward's made of living steel, then the only option is for Barry to punch him at Mach 1.1.
Mythology Gag:
After Barry returns from getting beat up by Woodward the first time, he mentions that Woodward was able to turn his body into living metal. Wells is fascinated by all this, offhandedly referring to Woodward as a "Man of Steel".
When Tony isn't caught after his threatening Iris, Eddie tells Barry to come with him somewhere because he needs to hit something, to which Joe says that he probably didn't mean he wanted to hit Barry. In the comics, Eobard, Eddie's counterpart, regularly does try to hit Barry, and is his Arch-Enemy.
Everyone assumes that the Flash was running away from his foe, when he was actually setting up for a powerful attack? Wally West from Justice League did it first.
Not So Different: Eddie claims about his past show similarities to Barry's. Namely that both were bullied by others because of actions done by their fathers.
Reality Ensues: Punching people in the face hurts the person who's punching, too. There's a reason that boxers wear gloves, after all.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: Barry gives one to Woodward about how he never stopped being a bully and only used his powers to hurt people.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: You can only see them for a second, but the Reverse Flash has glowing red eyes.
Schoolyard Bully All Grown Up: Woodward is the same person he was in school. This seems to be the only way Woodward knows how to function. A co-worker mentioned that when the mill he was working at closed down, Woodward beat up his supervisor. Barry lampshades it.
The Flash: Bully then, bully now.
She Is All Grown Up: Iris tells Tony that he has become attractive.
The Stinger: Joe is alone at home going over Nora's case file, and then the Reverse-Flash zooms in like he did the night of Nora's murder. He steals the case file, wrecks his living room, and puts a knife through a picture of Iris as warning for Joe to stop looking or else, and it all freaks the hell out of Joe.
Tuckerization: Caitlin's childhood bully, Lexi LaRoche, is a reference to Flash writer Alexa LaRoche.
What the Hell, Hero?: Wells scolds Barry when he nearly gets killed when he goes after Woodward without thinking (namely, Barry still doesn't know how to beat the guy).
"Today I was saved by the impossible. A mystery man, the fastest man alive. Then a friend gave me an idea for a new name, and something tells me, it's gonna catch on."
—Iris' christens "The Flash" to Central City
The Flash (2014) S1 E5 "Plastique"
Recap/The Flash (2014)
The Flash (2014) S1 E7 "Power Outage"
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DHS plans national IT security exercise in November
By Wilson P. Dizard III
The Homeland Security Department plans to conduct a major cybersecurity preparedness and response exercise to be called Cyber Storm in November, a department official said in congressional testimony yesterday.
Andy Purdy, acting director of DHS' National Cyber Security Division (NCSD), described Cyber Storm as "a national exercise" during a hearing that focused largely on the work yet to be done in the cybersecurity field.
He spoke during a hearing of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information and International Security.
According to written testimony Purdy presented, the division has worked with the Justice and Defense departments to help form the National Cyber Response Coordination Group (NCRCG).
"The NCRCG has developed a concept of operations for national cyberincident response that will be examined in the National Cyber Exercise, Cyber Storm, to be conducted by NCSD in November 2005 with public and private-sector stakeholders."
Subcommittee Chairman Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) cited Government Accountability Office criticism of the department's cybersecurity programs.
"Cybersecurity plays an important part in the protection of the critical infrastructure," Coburn said, adding that his committee planned to hold additional hearings on the topic.
Coburn advocated improved organizational stability for the cybersecurity division and said, "I ask that the department build partnerships with the private sector in the cybersecurity field."
Purdy's testimony focused on DHS' cybersecurity priorities, activities and plans, but questions from Coburn and other lawmakers focused on some of the gaps and remaining needs in the arena.
David Powner, director of IT management issues for GAO, highlighted the shortcomings of DHS' cybersecurity programs.
"Recent attacks and threats have increased the need for cyberdefense," Powner said. Noting that "DHS faces many challenges" in implementing its cybersecurity policy, Powner added, "Although DHS has exerted effort to address each of the 13 cybersecurity responsibilities it has, they are incomplete."
He especially emphasized DHS' need to achieve a stable organization. The division has operated with an acting director since last fall, and faces an additional reorganization with the creation of an assistant secretary for cybersecurity and telecommunications slot.
Wilson S. Dizard III is a staff writer for Washington Technology's sister publication, Government Computer News.
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Elise Orlick,
WashPIRG and WashPIRG Foundation
NEW REPORT: Washington Receives "C" in Report on Transparency of Government Spending
Washington received a “C” for its government spending transparency website, according to “Following the Money 2018: How the 50 States Rate in Providing Online Access to Government Spending Data,” the eighth report of its kind by the WashPIRG Foundation and Frontier Group.
The report graded each state’s transparency website from “A” to “F” based on its content and user-friendliness. This year, for the first time, we worked with focus groups to see how well the ordinary Americans could navigate the sites. With that new standard, most states’ grades dropped from our previous report.
“When states are transparent about how they spend tax dollars, we all win: the state saves money, it can operate more efficiently and effectively, and citizens can feel more confident in their government,” said Elise Orlick, WashPIRG Foundation Executive Director. “That’s why Washington should start to prioritize accessible, comprehensive, online spending data.”
The report found that many states’ websites lack features that make them intuitive for users, such as a full search function, standardized data descriptions and interactive tools.
Washington qualifies as a “middling” state. Washington has not made significant improvements since 2016, causing the state to fall behind other states. In today’s digital world, state websites should aspire to be as usable as the many other sites the average citizen visits. Washington’s site suffers from an outdated user-interface that makes it challenging to find specific expenditures in the state checkbook. The site could be most improved by upgrading its searchability and user-friendliness. Additionally, because economic development subsidy information is not recipient-specific, citizen watchdogs can’t analyze how a tax exemption granted to a corporation affects ordinary Washingtonians.
“These sites can often be confusing for citizen users. Our focus groups put transparency websites to the test and found only a handful meet the expectations of a 21st century user,” said Rachel J. Cross, a Frontier Group analyst and report co-author.
Washington officials reported that their transparency portal cost $340,000, plus existing staff time, at launch and costs approximately $190,000 to maintain annually.
To visit Washington’s transparency website, click here: http://fiscal.wa.gov/
To read the full report: https://washpirg.org/reports/waf/following-money-2018
The WashPIRG Foundation works to protect consumers and promote good government. We investigate problems, craft solutions, educate the public, and offer meaningful opportunities for civic participation.
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Live Beach Cam
Relax & Rejuvenate
Chasing Coral in Aruba
By Tina Causey-Bislick
Images provided by Scubble Bubbles
A group of high school students at the International School of Aruba is determined to raise babies as part of a class project—baby coral, that is! These environmentally conscious teens, together with their instructor, Nichole Danser, have embarked on a mission to save Aruba’s coral reefs. The ambitious project developed its roots last year while the students were partaking in an interest-based project headed by Danser at the school. The students voted to work towards their PADI certification as their group project. A new underwater world was opened up to the students, who gained an appreciating for our sea life and the surrounding coral reefs that sustain this fragile ecosystem.
As the students continued to dive over their summer break, they noticed that some of our coral reefs were declining. “The students came back from break determined to make a difference with their next project. We watched the Netflix documentary Chasing Coral, and they were so moved by the film that they unanimously decided that their next project would be researching coral restoration efforts going on around the globe to identify what they could do to make a difference for Aruba’s reefs,” explains Danser.
The students initially reached out to the Coral Restoration Foundation, a non-profit marine conservation organization focused on coral reef restoration in Florida and around the world. Coral reefs cover just roughly one percent of our ocean floors, but according to the Coral Restoration Foundation, “Life on earth needs coral reefs. They are the ‘rainforests of the sea,’ supporting 25 percent of all marine life, protecting our shores, feeding our people, providing breathtaking natural playgrounds that underpin economies around the world. Yet coral reefs are among the most endangered ecosystems in the world.”
Danser informs that they learned about a restoration project underway around the reefs of Bonaire. Aruba’s sister island encouraged the students to take its certification course, where they could learn the latest coral harvesting methods and gain a better understanding of growing coral. The students needed to raise money for the certification and travel expenses, relying on the community to support their efforts through bake sales and a Go Fund Me initiative. Seven students and Dancer gave up their spring break this past March to earn their certifications in Bonaire, and even stayed an extra two days to volunteer and learn as much as they could.
In a nutshell, an underwater nursery of coral is constructed based on a system developed by the Coral Restoration Foundation, which explains the following:
Coral Tree Nursery® is a simple framework of PVC pipe that resembles the shape of a tree. The nursery tree is tethered to the ocean floor and buoyed with a subsurface float. Coral fragments are hung from the branches of the tree using monofilament line.
The tree floats in the water column and is able to move with storm-generated wave surges. This dissipates wave energy, preventing damage to the tree structure or the corals themselves,
Corals are grown in the nursery for approximately six to nine months. After they have reached a substantial size, they are tagged and taken to a carefully selected reef restoration site, where they are attached directly to the reef using a non-toxic marine epoxy.
Now that the students had the know-how, they needed to find a reef in a protected spot where they could construct their trees. Enter De Palm Island. Some 50 to 80 percent of the coral reefs around Florida and the Caribbean have markedly declined, and the reefs around De Palm Island are no exception. The reefs are in dire need of restoration, suffering from what is known as coral bleaching, which is mainly brought on by unusually warm waters, thanks primarily to climate change. De Palm Island’s manager, Miriam van de Plassche, was already working with the Aruba Lionfish Initiative Foundation to rid the reef system around the island of the invasive lionfish population. Two De Palm Island employees had also constructed a tree of broken fragments of staghorn coral they found, so working with the students to construct a coral nursery seemed to be a great fit. De Palm Island is sponsoring the equipment to construct the underwater trees and a dive master to guide the students and ensure safety.
Currently, the project is in a holding pattern, Danser informs, as they are working with Minister of Environment Otmar Oduber for an exemption from the laws that protect the coral and forbid activity on the reefs. “We are doing the finishing touches on our nursery and will hopefully have our permit soon,” informs Danser.
The students at the International School of Aruba have formed their own club of youth scuba divers, Scubble Bubbles, and encourage more of Aruba’s youth to become engaged in the preservation of our island’s reefs and welcome new members. Scubble Bubbles is raising funds to purchase scuba gear for ten divers, as the students are currently renting the equipment, which is costly over time. The scuba gear purchased will remain with the Scubble Bubbles club so that future student divers have “in-house” gear to use for overseeing more coral reef nurseries. You can donate here:
https://www.gofundme.com/restoring-arubas-coral-reefs
They are hoping to raise $8,000, and thus far a little over $2,700 has been raised. Come on When in Aruba readers—let’s help these kids make a difference so we can ALL continue to enjoy Aruba’s beautiful waters!
You can follow them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ScubbleBubbles/ or contact them directly at [email protected].
Learn more about coral reefs and ongoing preservation efforts at https://coralrestoration.org/.
Downtown Parking Information Update
Coconut Telefax January 20, 2020
Aruba–Great Reasons To Bike Ride Here
Annual Donations Presented at T.H. Palm & Company
Romance on the Go!
Coconut Telefax January 6, 2020
Carnival 66 Is Here!!
L’aquila Residences Coming to Aruba
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Home Regular Features Drinks
Estrella Damm kicks off summer with a National out of home campaign
Estrella Damm, the beer of Barcelona, has unveiled a new, nationwide out of home advertising campaign to reinforce its premium quality, taste and cultural values ahead of the summer season. The campaign is set to appear on landmark banner sites across eight key cities throughout May and June – including the key Spring Bank Holiday period (27th May).
Designed by mixed media artist, Silja Goetz, the creative communicates the core Estrella Damm values of being a premium quality beer that has been brewed in the vibrant city of Barcelona using local Mediterranean ingredients since 1876. Centred around the new vintage-look Estrella Damm bottle, introduced to the UK in January, the advert delivers key Barcelona cultural cues, such as La Sagrada Familia, sunshine and local architecture, in a striking and contemporary illustrative style.
The advertisements are set to drive awareness among target consumers in cities including London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Birmingham and Bristol at premium sites that have been selected as millennial footfall hotspots in the run up to summer, such as Brick Lane, Deansgate and Temple Meads.
James Healey, UK Country Manager for Estrella Damm, said: “Estrella Damm continues to perform strongly in the UK, with the brand outperforming the world beer category, and we expect our upcoming out of home campaign to further propel the brand into the summer months.
“We know that lager drinkers seek out Estrella Damm as a premium beer, brewed using local Mediterranean ingredients and a manifestation of the modern vibrancy of Barcelona – so this is exactly what we wanted to bring to life in the campaign. We are confident that the striking copy and landmark sites secured for the campaign will ensure that Estrella Damm stands out during the summer kick-off and continues its strong growth in the UK.”
Cuppas Taste Better Together! PG tips teams up with charities to help reduce loneliness
Britvic teams up with Feast Box to provide food and drink pairing menu for the first time
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‘Dark money’ Ties Raise Questions for Iowa’s Sen. Ernst
Posted 7:11 am, December 6, 2019, by Associated Press, Updated at 07:13AM, December 6, 2019
WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 10: U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) speaks as Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) and Senate Majority Whip Sen. John Thune (R-SD) listen during a news briefing after the weekly Senate Republican policy luncheon September 10, 2019 at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC. Senate GOPs held the weekly luncheon to discuss Republican agenda. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (AP) — An outside group founded by top political aides to Sen. Joni Ernst has worked closely with the Iowa Republican to raise money and boost her reelection prospects, a degree of overlap that potentially violates the law, documents obtained by The Associated Press show.
Iowa Values, a political nonprofit that is supposed to be run independently, was co-founded in 2017 by Ernst’s longtime consultant, Jon Kohan. It shares a fundraiser, Claire Holloway Avella, with the Ernst campaign. And a condo owned by a former aide — who was recently hired to lead the group — was used as Iowa Values’ address at a time when he worked for her.
Political nonprofits are often referred to as “dark money” groups because they can raise unlimited sums and are not required to reveal their donors. But they must take steps to keep their activities separate from the candidates they support. Additionally, while such tax-exempt groups can do political work, they can’t make it their primary purpose.
The documents reviewed by the AP, including emails and a strategy memo, not only make clear that the group’s aim is securing an Ernst win in 2020, but they also show Ernst and her campaign worked in close concert with Iowa Values.
Ernst is hardly the first politician to push campaign finance law boundaries. But the revelation could complicate her efforts to fend off a Democratic challenger in a closely watched race next year.
“The truth is, our campaign is completely separate and independent from any outside organization,” Ernst senior adviser Brook Ramlet said in a statement. “Our campaign always has and always will act in full compliance with and in the spirit of the law. For the AP to suggest otherwise, is the definition of fake news.”
Campaign finance law states that candidates and their “agents” can’t solicit, direct or spend contributions that exceed federal limits, even if the donations are made to an outside group. Those limits currently prevent donors from giving more than $2,800 to a candidate and $5,000 to a political action committee per election.
In July, Holloway Avella requested “an investment of $50,000” from a donor after Ernst made an introduction. She made clear in an email, which was obtained by the AP, how much a contribution of that size could help.
“As a follow up to our introduction by Senator Ernst, I am reaching out to you on behalf of Iowa Values,” she wrote.
“As you may have seen, an outside group on the left … recently launched a six-figure ad buy in media markets across the state attacking Senator Ernst on her vote to repeal Obamacare,” she continued. “The purpose of our group, Iowa Values, is to push back against these type of negative attacks.”
Separately, a strategy memo states the group will use door-knocking, as well as TV, radio and digital advertising, to build a “firewall” that could be the difference “between winning and losing in 2020 for Senator Ernst.” The group is targeting about 120,000 Iowans who “lean Republican on the issues” but abandon the party at times over “the tone of the GOP.”
Taken together, some legal experts say the documents offer proof that the effort violates the spirit of campaign finance and tax law, if not the letter of it.
“It seems like pretty strong evidence” that the $50,000 request was for an “illegal donation” while it’s “clear that the goal of Iowa Values is to reelect Joni Ernst, which may violate its tax-exempt status,” said Brendan Fischer, an attorney with the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center in Washington.
He also said the documents pulled back the curtain on how dark money works.
“This is a striking example of how secret campaign money operates,” Fischer said. “The big donors that bankroll a dark money group like Iowa Values remain hidden from the public, but the politician that benefits knows where the money is coming from.”
Still, it’s far from certain that the Federal Election Commission, or the IRS, will find that they broke the law.
The FEC often gridlocks along partisan lines. And after a recent resignation, the panel doesn’t have enough members to legally meet for conducting business. Similarly, the IRS has shown little appetite for cracking down on dark money groups that push the limits.
“There’s a real disconnect between the principles behind the law and how they are enforced,” said Larry Noble, a former general counsel to the FEC who served under both Republican and Democratic administrations. Noble said he would need more details before assessing whether Ernst’s campaign broke the law. But, he added: “The bottom line is that this is really questionable.”
Dan Petalas, a former FEC attorney, said that the “law is undecided” but that his personal view is the fundraising was permissible because Holloway Avella said she was requesting the $50,000 on behalf of Iowa Values, not the campaign.
In a statement, Iowa Values executive director Derek Flowers said the organization has “systems and controls in place to make certain that it complies with all laws” and is “careful to follow all requirements that limit how much of its activities can be focused on supporting candidates.”
What’s undeniable is the close connection between Ernst and the group.
Kohan, a former Ernst deputy chief of staff who is now a general consultant to her campaign, was paid $120,000 to serve as executive director of Iowa Values for two years, according to the group’s tax filings. He left the group earlier this year. Jamestown Associates, where he is a named partner, also collected an additional $101,000 from Ernst’s campaign in the years he served as executive director.
Holloway Avella raised about $520,000 for Iowa Values in 2017 and 2018, tax records show. The group lists her Arlington, Virginia, office as one of its business addresses and paid her about $60,000. Ernst paid her an additional $363,000 those years, record show.
The group listed a Waukee, Iowa, condo owned by Flowers as another business address in 2017, records show. Flowers was campaign manager during Ernst’s 2014 Senate primary. A company called Midland Strategies, which has been paid $145,000 by Ernst since 2013, also listed Flowers’ condo as a business address. Flowers succeeded Kohan as the group’s executive director this year.
After Ernst launched her reelection campaign, Holloway Avella was deeply involved with both operations.
Holloway Avella’s website lets prospective donors request to host a fundraiser for the senator. And invitations for several recent Ernst events list her as an organizer, including two held in September at Bistro Bis, a French eatery a few blocks from the U.S. Capitol.
Around the same time, Holloway Avella was seeking donations for Iowa Values from prominent Ernst supporters, like dieting entrepreneur Jenny Craig and San Francisco philanthropist Diane “Dede” Wilsey. Craig previously gave $30,000 to Ernst; Wilsey donated $46,000.
A legal compliance letter Holloway Avella sent to donors underscored the delicate terrain.
Iowa Values’ mission “is to educate the public about common-sense solutions to various public policy issues of national importance,” it stated. “It was not formed by any federal candidates or agents of candidates or at the direction or request of any candidates or an agent of a candidate.”
Topics: Joni Ernst
Sen. Lindsey Graham Calls Impeachment Inquiry a ‘Joke’ at Iowa GOP Dinner
Iowans Hopeful About Phase One Trade Deal With China
Iowa Lawmakers Begin 2020 Session, Name New House Speaker
Iowa State University at Center of Free Speech Lawsuit
Iowa Legislature Denying Access to Blogger Despite Protests
Iowa Poll: Bernie Sanders Leads Tight Race in Final Weeks Before Caucuses
Cory Booker Ends Presidential Campaign
US Raises Legal Age to Buy Cigarettes, Vapes to 21
Key Takeaways From Democratic Presidential Debate in Des Moines
Iowa State’s First Nursing Class Graduates This Weekend
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Kansas Humbles Iowa State at Hilton
Posted 10:40 pm, January 8, 2020, by Keith Murphy
AMES, Iowa (AP) — Kansas coach Bill Self grinned instead of perspiring following the No. 7 Jayhawks’ 79-53 rout over Iowa State Wednesday night.
It proved to be a welcome change for the Jayhawks at Hilton Coliseum — where they had lost three of the past five meetings with the Cyclones, including a 77-60 setback last season.
“This was the only time I can really remember when we got out of here and we’re not sweating or like last year, they’re celebrating with four minutes left,” Self said.
Instead, the Jayhawks (12-2, 2-0 Big 12) closed the first half with a 21-3 run to build a 46-26 lead that would only swell in the second half.
Devon Dotson had 20 points, six assists and five rebounds. David McCormack added 16 points and seven rebounds. Ochai Agbaji had 16 points as well, but keyed a 10-of-19 3-point shooting effort by making 4 of 5.
“When they’re hitting shots, the guards have to go out, pressure them, so it opens up the lane for the big men so they’ve got more room and more space,” McCormack said. “That’s about every big man’s dream is when their guards hit shots.
Kansas shot 52% from the field while limiting the Cyclones (7-7, 0-2) to 34%.
“We had a pretty good game plan coming into it and for the most part, we executed and that led to our offense,” Dotson said.
The Jayhawks held star Iowa State guard Tyrese Haliburton to five points — 12 below his average. Rasir Bolton led the Cyclones with 12 points.
The defense shined most of the night after allowing the Cyclones to go 3 of 4 to start the game.
Iowa State’s struggled, which has become a trend in recent weeks.
“Defensively, we didn’t get enough stops,” Cyclones coach Steve Prohm said. “Then they physically kind of overwhelmed us on the 3 and in the paint the last eight minutes. That was the difference in the game.”
Kansas guard Christian Braun made 3 of 4 3-point attempts for the second time in three games. The 6-foot-6 freshman also had five rebounds and two assists while committing zero turnovers on 24:35.
Kansas: The Jayhawks clamped down for the second straight conference game. They limited West Virginia to 32.2% shooting in the conference opener, then held the Cyclones 27 points below their league-leading scoring average.
Iowa State: The Cyclones were coming off a pair of two-point losses in their past two games — including an 81-79 setback in overtime at TCU. They dropped their third game at home this season and shot just 29 percent from three-point range.
Kansas: Hosts Baylor on Saturday.
Iowa State: Hosts to Oklahoma on Saturday.
Topics: cyclones, jayhawks
Hawkeyes Rout Cyclones at Hilton Coliseum
Hawkeyes Keep Streak Over Cyclones Alive
Bolton, Haliburton Lead Iowa State Past Oklahoma, 81-68
No. 23 Texas Tech Tops Iowa State 72-52
TCU Beats Iowa State 81-79 in OT in Big 12 Opener
Cyclones Hang 89 On Cowboys
Florida A&M Beats Iowa State 70-68 at Hilton Coliseum
Iowa State Takes Down No. 16 Seton Hall 76-66
Nebraska Denies Iowa’s Comeback Bid, 76-70
Iowa State Falls At Baylor, Drops To 1-3 In Big 12
Wieskamp Leads Iowa to 67-49 Win Over no. 12 Maryland
Iowa Rolls Past Minnesota 72-52 in Big Ten Home Opener
Iowa State Falls to No. 13 Seton Hall 84-76 at Atlantis
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N.J. Assemblyman confirms resignation was result of wife’s racially-charged email to Carl Lewis
Why did N.J. Assemblyman Pat Delany resign last month?
Apparently in response to an email his wife wrote to Carl Lewis’ campaign. Delany has confirmed the details behind his resignation from the 8th District seat.
“I am deeply disappointed in my wife’s decision to send that email to Mr. Lewis’ campaign; it does not reflect my personal beliefs whatsoever,” reads part of his statement. “In an attempt to repair the serious damage this has caused to our marriage, and to protect our kids from public humiliation, I decided to leave public life.”
Delany has issued an apology to Lewis for the email, as Politicker NJ reports. “Imagine getting a court ruling overturned so your name could get put on the ballot,” the email sent July 7 reads. “Imagine having dark skin and name recognition and the nerve to think that equalled (sic) knowing something about politics.”
Delany resigned quietly last month and has no plans to seek re-election in November. Lewis’ campaign hasn’t commented and is focusing instead on the effort to keep the Olympian on the ballot.
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Phil Berger
THE WILMYWOOD DAILY – 10/22/2014 Sleepy Hollow ratings & cast additions, NC Film across the state and more.
Please join the Wilmington and Beaches Convention & Visitors Bureau, the City of Wilmington and New Hanover County for a press conference today at NOON, on the Wilmington Riverwalk, across from the Federal building. They will announce Wilmington’s “official” ranking among the USA Today “10Best” Readers’ Choice Awards in the category of “Best American Riverfront.” So, yeah, we nailed it, come on out during lunch and celebrate!
LOCATION ALERT:
The Choice is on private property today.
Secrets and Lies will be shooting at the Blue Post on S. Water St. and the surrounding areas.
Sleepy Hollow heads to the sound stages.
In the ratings, Sleepy Hollow is on the rise! They earned a 1.8 which was a tenth from last week’s 1.7 among Adults 18-49 rating.
Also announced yesterday, Buffy the Vampire Slayer vet Michelle Trachtenberg has landed a guest role on Sleepy Hollow as the first lady Abigail Adams. TV Line reports that she had a secret life that involved Katrina Crane. READ MORE NOW
AROUND THE STATE:
The reboot for the feature film Vacation is taking a break from Atlanta to film day one of three in the Charlotte area. They will be shooting at the training center for white water rafting. Oh Lord, this outta be good! LOL The comedy stars Ed Helms, Christina Apple Gate, Chris Hemsworth and others with a cameo of course from Clark and Ellen Griswold.
The Kate Beckinsale feature The Disappointments Room will wrap this Friday. Yesterday, they were shooting at the Railroad Depot in Madison (Rockingham County) and then they moved onto some driving scenes.
Meanwhile Senate Speaker Phil Berger was invited to set yesterday, but he refused. Perhaps because he was too busy protesting gay marriage? Charles Rourk reports.
ICYMI: The 2015 People’s Choice Awards Nominees have been announced. Check out the list of NC Film nominees. GO THERE NOW
1900 Restaurant and Lounge will be hosting a Bring Back Film party on Wednesday, October 29th. The party begins at 7pm. They are raising awareness not money and there is no cover charge.
ONE STOP VOTING begins tomorrow. Please get out and vote and bring a friend to the polls. EDUCATE YOURSELF NOW ON CANDIDATES
ABSENTEE VOTING BY MAIL: Absentee voting runs through October 28, 2014
EARLY VOTING (ONE STOP) PERIOD: October 23, 2014 – November 1, 2014
LIST OF WHO VOTED FOR AND AGAINST FILM: NCGA_FilmmakersVotingGuide_2014
Still looking for MORE volunteers at the polls! We are looking for folks who are pro-NC Film to work in 2 hour shifts at the one stop early voting (October 23, 2014 – November 1, 2014) locations and on Election day (November 4, 2014) in New Hanover, Brunswick and Pender County locations.GET MORE DETAILS NOW
Steve Unger is running against Pender County’s Chris “Anti-Film” Millis for NC House District 16. DONATE TO STEVE UNGER’S CAMPAIGN NOW!
Under The Dome Returns to Wilmywood for a 3rd Season!
‘Bolden’ names Extras Casting Director
THE WILMYWOOD DAILY – 10/13/2014 Day One for The Choice, Sleepy Hollow, More Protest Coverage
Rep. Tillis and Gov. Chris Christie sneak out back door to escape film supporters?
CHARLESTON, SC: NCasting scores extras casting for WEtv series.
Two Billboards in Wilmywood support NC FILM
As NC FILM fades to black who NOT to vote for at the polls.
1900, Kate Beckinsale, Michelle Trachtenberg, PCAs, Phil Berger, Secrets and Lies, Sleepy Hollow, The Disappointments Room, Under the Dome, Vacation, Vote
THE WILMYWOOD DAILY – 10/14/2014 The Choice, Decker talks Incentives, Sen. Berger Shuts out Constituents
Oh Tom Welling fans, I am sure you will be pleased to know that he will be shooting today along with Benjamin Walker, Maggie Grace, and Teresa Palmer to name a few. The gang from The Choice returns to Dockside as well as Bridge Tender today.
Secrets and Lies will be heading to the Coastline Convention Center before they return to the Battleship tonight.
Sleepy Hollow heads to the river for the hail plummeting Water St scene.
Although the Tammy DVD release date isn’t until November 11, 2014, We can watch it in all its glory thanks to iTunes! It includes HD Extras and you will also receive the Extended Cut. Get it all for $19.99. Woo Hoo! GET IT NOW
Now with 9 days until one stop early voting begins, we need to educate ourselves as well as others about the folks running. With actions like this in Rockingham County, it is a sure sign that Sen. Phil Berger wants nothing to do with the people he “represents.” Charles Rourk has this story!
Meanwhile, N.C. Commerce Secretary Sharon Decker discusses the future of economic incentives, including the film incentives. VIEW NOW
From the Producers who brought you “Pawn Stars,” “American Restoration,” and “Counting Cars”…
NOW CASTING: RESTORATION SHOPS ACROSS THE COUNTRY
Do you own or work in a restoration shop that can fix, restore or repurpose just about ANYTHING? Do you and your crew have huge personalities and the talent to turn trash into treasure? Do you specialize in the restoration of unique items, whether they’re historic or modern?
The producers of History’s smash hits “American Restoration” and “Pawn Stars” are working on an exciting new project. We’re searching for a restoration team that goes beyond restoring just cars – they’ll restore anything. If your shop has what it takes, you could be the next big TV stars!
If this sounds like you and your crew, please email us with your name, location, contact information, photos of yourself, your team and a description of the types of items you’ve restored. Please email Mandi.Gorenstein@leftfieldpictures.com
If this opportunity sounds perfect for someone you know, please don’t hesitate to give us a call or pass along this information to them!
THE WILMYWOOD DAILY – 10/09/2014 ‘Butchered’ is back, Casting choices confirmed, The Devils Hand
THE WILMYWOOD DAILY – 09/25/2014 Banshee, Homeland, Under the Dome, South of Hell, Paper Towns
Wilmington 4th Grader Helps the Homeless
Benjamin Walker, iTunes, Maggie Grace, Phil Berger, Secrets and Lies, Sharon Decker, Sleepy Hollow, Steve Unger, Tammy, Teresa Palmer, The Choice, Tom Welling
Howdy! As you can tell, I have not been posting everyday. Why? Well, with the NC film incentives coming to an end in December, there are no new productions that are making announcements, no new offices setting up. It is simply bone dry. So, yes, NC Film obviously affects my little small business I call a blog. I do have some tidbits to share however. So, let’s get right to it.
Sadly this week, Banshee (pictured above) and Homeland in Charlotte are tearing down their sets down and relocating them to other states due to the film incentives expiring at the end of the year. Banshee will relocate to Louisiana while Homeland won’t return to Charlotte next season. The location for Homeland is yet to be determined.
Thank God, Producer Marty Bowen (who was just here for The Longest Ride) has returned to Charlotte to set up offices for one of the last films to come to North Carolina this year. It’s called Paper Towns and stars Nat Wolff. Nan Morales has been named Line Producer. Production begins in November. There is not a an email set up yet, but you can send your crew resume via fax: 855.593.5484. (Fax? Who does that anymore?)
Battlecreek decided not to head to North Carolina. They will be filming in Mississippi after all.
Under the Dome extras casting director Vanessa Neimeyer will relocate to South Carolina for the project South of Hell for WEtv. Also headed that way are many of the crew members, office staff and a producer from Under the Dome as well. No word yet on where Under the Dome will be shooting for season 3. GET MORE DETAILS NOW
Cucalorus needs your help and you have 22 days left to make a donation to Cucalorus. Your donation will support more than 250 artists who will be presenting new work at the 20th annual Cucalorus Film Festival in November. More than half of your donation will go directly to filmmakers. Each year Cucalorus provides artists with over $50,000 in direct financial support. Help them in their mission to bring people together to celebrate, discover and create independent films. DONATE NOW
Sleepy Hollow is on hiatus this week and will return to a shoot schedule next week. Secrets and Lies stayed in their Porter’s Neck Location and the sound stages most of the week. But they did sneak out one day this week off Brandon Road.
The Returned returns to ABC! Well, we know it as Resurrection which films in Georgia, but yes we do have that local connection! It is based on the book written by our local author Jason Mott. Season Two premieres Monday night on ABC!
On the political front, William Osborne is running against President Pro Temp Senator Phil Berger for the NC Senate 26th District Seat. Berger MUST GO! So, feel free to spread the word to folks you know in Guilford and Rockingham Counties.
Please view the complete list of all the members of the House and the Senate. You will see statewide, who is for and who is against the current film incentives. We need to make sure the General Assembly FEELS the affects of the film industry, ESPECIALLY at the polls!
NCGA_FILMMAKERSVOTINGGUIDE_2014
REGISTER TO VOTE: If you have not yet registered to vote, you must do so NO LATER THAN October 10, 2014 by 5pm or you will NOT be able to vote in the General Elections on November 4, 2014.
ABSENTEE VOTING BY MAIL: Absentee voting by mail begins September 5,2014 and runs through October 28, 2014
Banshee’s Director Greg Yaitanes’ wrap speech
‘The Longest Ride’ star “Rango” passes away.
CASTING CALL: New major network competition TV series
WILMINGTON, NC: Crew Call for ‘The Choice’
Banshee, Homeland, Marty Bowen, Paper Towns, Phil Berger, Secrets & Lies, Sleepy Hollow, South of Hell, The Longest Ride, Under the Dome, William Osborne
THE WILMYWOOD DAILY – 09/10/2014 Birthday wishes for Ryan Phillippe, Osborne challenges Berger on Film, Mison for your audio pleasure, Ringwald returns.
Imagine having Tom Mison with you everywhere you go! Well, you can have your cake people! FREE, thanks to Audible!! Woo Hoo!
Tom Mison, the lovely and sexy Ichabod Crane from Fox’s Sleepy Hollow, narrates the classic Washington Irving short story.
Head on over to Amazon’s Audible and download the Audiobook and enjoy 1hr 15min of all that Tom Mison Goodness! Woo Hoo!! DOWNLOAD NOW
The Sleepyheads are shooting in Brunswick Town today. We continue to count it down! 12 days until the Sleepy Season 2 premiere! 6 days until the DVD release of Season one! Woo Hoo! Gettin’ closer!
Secrets & Lies will be out and about today, they will be back in the Brooklyn Arts District on N 4th St as well as the Wilmington Convention Center. And if you happen to see Ryan Phillippe filming tell him Happy Birthday. He turns the big 4-0! Get on over to Twitter and send him some Birthday wishes! Happy Birthday buddy! We are so glad you returned to Wilmywood!
If you remember we talked about this months ago! Well the day is coming soon, Molly Ringwald will be returning to WIlmywood. Yep, if you remember, she was here in 1989 starring in Betsy’s Wedding (with Alan Alda). This time she returns not for the love of film, but the love of jazz. Here’s the deets:
An Evening with Molly Ringwald (TICKETS)
7 p.m., Kenan Auditorium
Film icon Molly Ringwald is celebrated for her acting work in critically acclaimed, rite-of-passage movies. However, long before she became a Golden Globe-nominated actress, Ringwald was singing. She began performing with her father’s jazz band when she was three and has never stopped. Now, she kicks off our exciting season with her crowd-pleasing concert, “An Evening with Molly Ringwald.” She returns to her roots as a singer, performing a flavorsome arrangement of jazz songs from her album, Except Sometimes.
Yesterday, 26th District (Guilford, Rockingham) Candidate William Osborne challenged his opponent Pres. Pro Temp Sen Phil Berger on the the decisions made regarding the NC Film Incentives.
ICYMI: A special session is needed for JOBS, JOBS, JOBS.
We need your help telling our Governor just that! It’s time for Governor McCrory to address the economic development crisis because job creation cannot wait until next year. Here are two special email addresses for you:
GOVERNOR.OFFICE@NCMAIL.NET
GOVERNOR.OFFICE@NC.GOV
Again, please tell the Governor to get the NCGA back into session and address the economic development crisis because job creation cannot wait until next year!
Britt Robertson and Scott Eastwood get ‘Happy’ for Service Dogs on September 8th.
Wilmywood leaders urge Governor to call special session for film incentives
Pender County leaders urge Governor to call special session for economic development including film.
Audible, Ichabod Crane, Molly Ringwald, Pat McCrory, Phil Berger, Ryan Phillippe, Secrets and Lies, Sleepy Hollow, Tom Mison, Washington Irving, William Osborne
The Pender County Board of Commissioners sent out a letter today to Governor Pat McCrory, Senator Phil Berger and Speaker Thom Tillis urging the Governor to call a special session of the General Assembly to reconsider a “broad range of economic development opportunities,” with film incentives being a top priority.
Board Members J. David Williams, Fred McCoy, George Brown, Jr., Jimmy Tate, Chester Ward as well as Interim county manager, Robert Murphy and county attorney Trey Thurman expressed their concern saying the loss of the current film incentives will hit their area hard. They also stated that they have spent a lot of money developing the industrial park and the loss of a number of incentive programs could mean they will lose the tools they need in order to “effectively secure tenants.”
They have asked the Governor to please call the special session so that they can reinstate the much needed economic programs that has served North Carolina well over the years.
READ LETTER NOW: Letter from Pender County BOC
NC FIlm Incentives, Pat McCrory, Pender County, Phil Berger, Thom Tillis
FILM INCENTIVES: Your mission for Monday, June 30, 2014
Good morning my beautiful North Carolina peeps. Over the weekend, I was told yet again from those on the inside that what we are doing i.e. making the phone calls and sending emails, is working. BIG TIME. The folks who will decide our fate are feeling the pressure. So, again I tell you, DO NOT give up. At this point there is a strong possibility that they will extend the current film incentives for another year, study them carefully and then revisit them in the long session.
IF, and I mean only, IF we keep up the good work we have been doing over the past month.
So, again, PLEASE be polite, and CALL, CALL, CALL.
Today we will be calling The Speaker of the House, Thom Tillis, Governor Pat McCrory and we will now be putting pressure on Senator Berger.
Let them know you are a voter, let them know your story, and ask them to extend the film incentives AS THEY ARE!
Contact these folks today :
Speaker Thom Tillis
EMAIL: Thom.Tillis@ncleg.net
TWITTER: @ThomTillis
Gov. Pat McCrory
EMAIL: Pat.McCrory@NC.gov
TWITTER: @PatMcCroryNC
Sen. Phil Berger (President Pro Tempore)
Phil.Berger@ncleg.net
HERE’S THE CONTACT LIST FOR ALL NC HOUSE MEMBERS, CONTACT THOSE IN YOUR DISTRICT: http://keepncfilm.org/contact-nc-representatives/
I know it’s been a VERY, VERY long month, but we are strong in numbers and we can’t quit when we are so close to a decision being made that will either save your jobs or send you packing. Don’t let them think for a second we stopped caring! Make your calls everyday this week and let’s continue to fight to save our community!
Film Incentives, Pat McCrory, Phil Berger, Thom Tillis
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Window on Eurasia: Estonia Becoming a Real Life Version of Aksyonov’s ‘Island of Crimea’
Staunton, December 31 – Estonia for someone “who writes in Russia appears to be the ideal country as an alternative place for living,” according to a Russian writer, and it is increasingly a haven for those being persecuted by the Russian regime, transforming that Baltic state into “the main émigré direction” of 2012.
Writing on the Russlife.ru portal, Oleg Kashin, notes that over the last twelve months, three prominent Russian activists have fled to Estonia: Savva Terentyev, who said in a blog post he would life to “burn” corrupt cops, Anataya Rybachenko, who has been threatened with jail for her role in last December’s Moscow protests, and Suren Gazaryan, an ecologist who has campaigned against the destruction of the environment in the North Caucasus (russlife.ru/allday/day/20121227/read/privet-respublike-estlyandskoy/).
If Kashin is right, they and others like them appear to be taking advantage of a country much like the one Vasily Aksyonov described in “The Island of Crimea,” one in which Russians could live without the consequences of the communist regime, a possibly Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves has alluded to (etc.dal.ca/noj/articles/volume4/1_Interview_Finall.pdf ).
This new emigration is attracting ever more international attention. On Friday, France 24 featured a program on about Russia’s “new political refugees” in Estonia. It describes what drove each of these Russian citizens to flee and how they are doing in the country that has given them asylum (www.france24.com/en/20121228-russias-new-political-refugees-flee-estonia).
Asked by French journalists when they might be able to return home, Gazaryan said that “practically, maybe if Puin dies or suddenly shows his mercy and our charges are dropped in the first case.” Unfortunately, he continued, “both things are equally unlikely” and he believes he will be “out of Russia for a long time.”
But Rybachenko is somewhat more optimistic: “Time is on our side: this regime is getting older and more decrepit. I will certainly outlive it.”
Window on Eurasia: Moscow Needs to Restore Russian Empire, Not the USSR, Leontyev Says
Staunton, December 31 – Mikhail Leontyev, a leading Moscow television commentator and someone whose ideas, while flamboyantly expressed, reflect the views of many Russians, says he personally is “a convinced anti-Soviet” but is convinced that Russia must take steps to rebuild the Russian Empire within borders similar to but not the same as those of the USSR.
Leontyev’s attitudes on this point – and the specifics are both more intriguing and more disturbing for Russia’s neighbors, Russia’s competitors, and Russia itself, than is his overall point – came in an interview he gave to Elena Krivyakin in the studios of KP-TV last week (www.kp.ru/daily/26008/2932748/).
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s recent statement that Moscow wants to restore the Soviet Union, Leontyev says, reflects American fears of the rise of a rival power. “But American diplomacy recently, especially in such hysterical Macfaul-Clinton forms, very much helps us” by stripping away “political correctness.”
What the American diplomats are saying is simply a new version of Zbigniew Brzezinski’s observation that “with Ukraine Russia will always be a power, but without Ukraine, it won’t be.” Leontyev suggests that that alone should be enough to show Russians what they need to do because “we need Russia as a power, and they do not.”
According to Leontyev, Russia has the capacity to do so because it “is a state” while the countries around it like Ukraine are not. Like them, he continues, Russia has “oligarchic clans but they are forced somehow to position themselves relative to the state.” But in Ukraine, “there is no state except a coalition of semi-criminal clans, neither in a geopolitical nor in an ideological nor in a moral sense.”
Asked about Western Ukraine, Leontyev says that the Western oblasts “which never were Russia” and whose inclusion within Russia “was a mistake,” something that as a tsarist official warned “could destroy Russia, should either be russified or allowed to go their own separate way. Ukraine can simply be split apart as it is reintegrated with Russia.
According to Leontyev, “all post-Soviet elites” are interested in integration, and everyone should recognize that this integration like all other examples in history will “not begin with economics” but rather “with a military-political union.” Even the EU would never have existed without NATO as “a roof over its head.”
At present and inevitably, Leontyev continues, “the national elites of the post-Soviet countries position themselves only relative to Russia and against Russia; otherwise their existence would be senseless. This is the foundation of their identity.” But in dealing with those opposed to Moscow, Russia must “appeal to [these] peoples over the heads of the leaders.”
All of these peoples “must understand that the idea of a European choice for Ukraine, for Georgia or for Azerbaijan is simply funny. There is no such choice! Europe is closed off and more than that is disintegrating from within. There no one is waiting for anyone else.”
And Russians need to understand that they need such an empire not only to recover their status as a world power but to ensure that they are protected from threats emanating from further abroad. As one Soviet diplomat put it, Leontyev recalls, “It is better to struggle with fundamentalism near Jelalabad than near Ashkhabad.”
Many people thought at the time that this observation was silly, “but where is Ashkhabad now? Now, we will be struggling with fundamentalism near Orenburg, near Kazan and near Rostov.” By retreating, “we inevitably will surrender them to the enemy and this means we will retreat further from other positions.”
But perhaps Leontyev’s most interesting if inflammatory comments concern Georgia and Moscow’s ability to draw it into a new relationship with Moscow. According to the commentator, “Georgia in fact cannot exist without Russia, outside of Russia or in any place not under Russia.”
How is NATO going to guarantee the unity of Georgia including Abkhazia, South Osetia, Adjaria and Javakhetia … unity in a country where Osetins, Abkhazes, Azerbaijanis, Armenian, and Adjars live in compact communities? There is no way! Georgia interests NATO as a place des armes either against Russia or against Iran.” Otherwise, it has no need for it or for other post-Soviet states.
When his interviewer says she finds it difficult to believe that Georgia could ever reunite with Russia, Leontyev makes the following declaration: “The leadership of Georgia has been shifted to Boris Ivanishvili who grew up in Russia, is connected with Russia and who can do nothing without Russia”
“Power in Russia was shifted by a democratic means among other reasons because the American masters allowed Ivanishvili to win and prohibited Saakashvili from putting physical pressure on him. Because the Americans wanted to have an agreement with Russia. By the way, about NATO.”
“The United States,” Leontyev continues, “wants to remain a powerful power in the world. And for this it has to cast off excessive, unnecessary and second-order obligations. Georgia already is not a first-order task; this is a subject for agreement with Russia. Ivanishvili is a compromise. Not among Georgians but between America and Russia.”
And the same logic, the Moscow commentator suggests, applies even to the Baltic countries, despite their membership in NATO and the EU.
Given the problems in the world economy, Russians need “a Big Russia,” one with sufficient purchasing power and industrial production to “guarantee [its] autonomous development.” He adds that “at a minimum [Russians] need Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Belarus and that it would not be a bad thing to draw in the Central Asian republics.”
“Integration,” according to Leontyev, “is a question of our common physical survival. But we must guarantee it because we are the historical Russia.” Those who speak about “a small comfortable democratic national state” do not understand what is at stake. And they do not realize that “such a Russia will never exist.”
That is because “in the process of forming” such a state, “Russia itself would destroy itself as a nation, as a state, as an historical sybject, as a culture. The idea of the nation state is failing everywhere.” But “happily,” Leontyev concludes, “the future belongs to Empires … organic multi-cultural societies like Russia and the United States.”
Window on Eurasia: If Kremlin Closes ‘Zvezda Povolzhya,’ Publisher Says He’ll Open Another Paper
Staunton, December 30 – Russian officials have told Rashit Akhmetov, the publisher of the independent newspaper “Zvezda Povolzhya” that he must stop publishing “extremist” articles or face the closure of that paper. But Akhmetov has told RFE/RL’s Tatar-Bashkir Service that if his paper is closed, he will simply open another one.
In his interview, Akhmetov said that the article Moscow didn’t like was published several months ago, and it is strange that it took “so long” for officials to take notice of it. The whole is “murky,” and it appears that “a certain directive” must have come down from Moscow above to move against the independent paper (www.azatliq.org/content/article/24811273.html).
“If the officials issue another warning” to him, the publisher said, “they can simply close ‘Zvezda Povolzhya’ down. If that happens, however, I will launch another publication to be called ‘Tatarskaya Pravda’ or ‘Tatarskaya Svoboda.’ We have a lot of readers; perhaps we can move completely online” – the paper is already available on the web at zvezdapovolzhya.ru
Akhmetov acknowledged that the articles he has published are justified because “many problems remain unnoticed these days; they are just not discussed in the official media. In such a situation, it is very important to provide a venue for all views on any particular problem” rather than seek to impose a single line.
Despite what the Kremlin appears to believe, the Tatarstan publisher continued, “failure to discuss such problems could lead to inter-ethnic conflicts.” Thus, the goal of “Zvezda Povolzhya” is “to provide space for all viewpoints – Tatars, Russian nationalists, communists, liberals, pro-government types – all can express their views on our pages.”
“That is the essence of a free press,” Akhmetov said, and “we are not going to back down.”
Unfortunately, he continued, recent events show that there is “a fear of criticism,” and he noted that pressure on him “coincide with attacks on the Tatarstan law calling for a transition to the Latin script.” In fact, Akhmedov said, this is no “coincidence.” As dissatisfaction among the population grows, Moscow tries to “silence it with such primitive measures.”
Akhmedov expanded on his argument in a leading article in “Zvezda Povolzhya” on Friday. Entitling it “A Foretaste,” the publisher argued that Vladimir Putin’s plan to suppress the non-Russian republics puts the Russian Federation on a most dangerous course, one that could lead to the end of the country (zvezdapovolzhya.ru/obshestvo/predchuvstvie-28-12-2012.html).
At his recent press conference, Putin responded to a question from Tatarstan journalist Dina Gazaliyeva about the possibility of “liquidating” the republics. (“Of course, both the question and the response were prepared in advance,” Akhmetov notes.) And Putin’s response shows how “the algorithm of gubernizatia” has been defined.
Putin said that “if the republics themselves made such a request about a decision of their own legislative organ or after the holding of a referendum, then such decisions were possible.” But “what republic will go first in such a voluntary ‘parade of gubernizatsias’? One can only guess.”
What one can be certain of, Akhmetov says, is that the such a drive to do away with the republics will result in a rise in inter-ethnic tensions, provoke “the growth of protest attitudes among the national movements in the republics, and then lead to the disintegration of Russia.” Given that, such a proposal cannot be understood “from the point of view of good sense.
But “the liquidation of the republics is an idee fixe of the Moscow leadership [because] it has a paranoid fear of possible separatism.” But Putin and those around him are promoting an idea that will lead to precisely what they say they most fear and oppose.
“Putin has said,” Akhmetov continues, “that the collapse of the USSR was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century.” But that collapse, whatever Putin believes “was not an accident.” It was “an iron necessity, and Yeltsin’s contribution was that this disintegration occurred peacefully.”
The USSR could have suffered the same fate as Yugoslavia, the Tatarstan publisher says, because “socialism as a totalitarian system over a short period drove into the underground with the help of repression all inter-ethnic and inter-religious contradictions,” and they failing re-emerged “having built up their enormous destructive potential.”
Today, Akhmetov continues, “the slogan ‘Russia for the [ethnic] Russians is being used for the growth of patriotic attitudes and the ideological ‘cementing’ of ‘the state-forming people.’” But given that “more than 50 percent of the country consists of mixed families … this slogan is extraordinarily dangerous for the Russian Federation.”
“In the 21st century, Russia cannot exist except as a federation; otherwise, it will break apart as a result of the growth of internal tensions.” The slogan “Russia for the Russians” will break apart the Russian state “machine” and is “just as unrealizable and unnatural as the slogan ‘Russia for Men Only’ with a demand for resettling all women beyond [its] borders.”
Putin’s approach to the republics reflects his KGB background and the conviction that “all problems can be solved” by repression. That is what another KGB officer in power,Yuri Andropov, thought, and “many strange things in Putin’s behavior are explicable by the professional hyper-suspiciousness of KGB operatives.”
Akhmetov argues that “the special services in principle are not capable of carrying out processes of economic modernization or even more the democratization of society; the function of the special services is protection and security … They seek to minimize the risks” by choking off information and being “suspicious of everything and everything.”
They seek to keep control over everything, and thus it is obvious, Akhmetov says, that “the Brezhnev style of administration as all the same objectively for acceptable for the USSR than the Andropov style which could give birth only to short spasmatic breakthroughs and then inevitably lead to major systemic mistakes.”
Putin’s plan to “liquidate” the republics is “the result of the professional inclination of the force structures toward decisions which are simple or which appear simple. No person, no problem, Stalin said. No republics, no problems,” Putin appears to believe. But things won’t end there either in terms of repression or disintegration.
Stalin “in his paranoia planned to resettle even the Ukrainians to Siberia. He didn’t trust them.” But one has the impression that “Stalin experienced a mystical fear of the Tatars and that was hardly accidental.” Perhaps “it means that there is in the Tatar people an internal mystical energy, which will yet show itself in the history of humanity,” Akhmetov concludes.
Akhmetov’s article has already attracted numerous posts on the “Zvezda Povolzhya” site. Two are especially suggestive. One writer notes that “the conversion of the non-Russian peoples into ‘manure for the flowering of the Russian people,’ as Petr Stolypin put it, is a typical Russian nationality policy.”
“In the framework of a Russian state, the natural fate of the Tatars and other non-Russians peoples is to be the object of assimilation and colonial exploitation. The only salvation is to be found in the struggle for national independence; there are no other [acceptable] variants.”
A second writer recalled that Sergey Shakhray had noted that Andropov “gave the order to prepare a plan for the liquidation of the republics in the USSR. He was concerned by the survival of the national elites. [But] in the USSR at that time, the [ethnic] Russians formed less than fifty percent of the population.”
Andropov’s plan was prepared over the course of four months, but “with the coming to power of Chernenko, it was put off. Putin [today] is simply reviving the Andropov plan.” But it would be well for everyone to remember that “had this plan begun to be realized, the USSR would have fallen apart ten years earlier than it did.”
NOTE: I would like to thank Rim Gilfanov, director of RFE/RL’s Tatar-Bashkir Service, for providing me with the translation of his service’s interview with Akhmetov.
Window on Eurasia: Few Russians Have Travelled Abroad, Polls Show
Staunton, December 29 – Fewer than one Russian in four has ever travelled abroad and only 17 percent currently have a passport good for such visits, and that lack of contact means that their views about events abroad as well as at home continue to be defined by state-controlled mass media rather than by personal experience, according to a leading Moscow analyst.
In an essay posted on the Politcom.ru portal yesterday, Aleksey Makarkin, the first vice president of the Moscow Center for Political Technologies, says that “the most interesting sociological poll of 2012” was one by the Levada Center concerning visits by Russians to countries beyond the borders of the former Soviet Union (politcom.ru/15096.html).
Given that Russians routinely say that the ability to travel abroad is one of the most important gains since Soviet times, it is striking, Makarkin says, that “83 percent of the citizens of Russia do not have a passport for foreign travel,” a number that means that “a maximum of 17 percent” are currently in a position to travel abroad now or in the immediate future.
“But even that statistic is clearly an exaggeration,” the commentator suggests, because the Levada Center found that only about seven percent of Russians currently travel abroad for private reasons “once a year or more often, that another six percent do so every two to three years, and that “10 percent did but don’t do so now.”
The situation regarding Russian business travel beyond the borders of the former Soviet space is “still worse,” Makarkin says, with fewer than five percent doing so once a year or more often, two percent once every two or three years, and nine percent saying that they did so earlier but do not do so now.
Thus, the Moscow analyst says, “the overwhelming majority of Russians have not seen the West even once,” and consequently, they get what information they have about it from television where they are regularly told that it is a terrible place, a larger variant of Sodom and Gomorrah.” Or they get it from friends and relatives who have gotten it from that source.
As a result, Makarkin continues, “it is not surprising” that whatever “positive assessments of Western countries” they have are “stereotypes which existed already in Soviet times” but that “the negative ones are typically conditioned by fresh information” from state-controlled Russian television because the majority is “almost completely isolated” from international news sources.
And consequently, for this Russian majority, “Qadafi was not a dictator but the normal leader of a not bad and stable country whom western imperialists and their agents ‘removed.’ Milosevic was the innocent victim of the undertakings of a cruel international tribunal. And in Syria, the legitimate authorities are fighting with terrorists who are drawing support from the US, Qatar and Al Qaeda.”
In July, 29 percent of Russians sampled by the Levada Center said they were prepared “to stand shoulder to should with Bashar Asad,” while “only 14 percent supported joining the Western sanctions against that country.
And what is perhaps even worse, Makarkin continues, is that this lack of real information increasingly informs what Russians think about events in their own country. According to another Levada poll, Russians “consider the sentence handed down against Pussy Riot “insufficiently harsh.”
Given this reliance on Russian state television news, it is no surprise that the majority of the population supports measures against “’foreign agents,’ opposition figures, and ‘slanderers,’ and also the ‘cannabalistic’ law about adoptions,” which even a few members of the government found objectionable.
“’The simple Russian’ knows,” Makarkin continues, that Americans want to adopt Russian children either to sell their organs or mistreat them because while Russians have “spirituality,” Americans are driven entirely by “the pursuit of profit and the cult of ‘the golden calf.’”
Such attitudes, carefully cultivated by the Kremlin, have made “the conservative mobilization begun by the authorities a year ago … a tactical success.” But no one should describe it as a strategic success.
On the one hand, such attitudes “strengthen the peripheral character of contemporary Russia which is no longer feared (the times of the USSR have passed) but is not respected and not only in the West” but in China, on which some in Moscow have put misplaced hopes as “a strategic partner.”
And on the other, “the ‘simple Russians’ are not so simple. Their conservatism is closely tied to the populist order of the day, to expectations of increases in pay, pensions, benefits, and the preservation of ‘Soviet’ systems of health care and education.” If those expectations are not realized, they will stop supporting the authorities.
At present, “their support of Vladimir Putin” is based on these expectations, on the lack of clear alternatives and on “fear of chaos” should he depart. But Russian society is tired and increasingly skeptical about the regime. And while it “doesn’t love the West and the liberals, it also cannot tolerate the corrupt bureaucrats.”
For the time being, Makarkin says, “the social contract between it and the authorities is preserved unlike the other contract between active groups of society and the authorities which finally broke in December of last year.” But the broader social contract could break down if prices for oil and gas fall.
In that event, the Moscow analyst says, “the authorities would encounter more serious problems than they did a year ago.” That is because there are “already leaders with the experience of organizing mass protests.” And while these leaders are “not ideal,” he concludes, they nonetheless will in those circumstances present a real threat.
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Board index RPG / Strategy Games Loren The Amazon Princess
censorship is unnecessary
Fantasy RPG game with all romance combos https://www.winterwolves.com/lorenamazonprincess.htm
lozarchtz
Post by lozarchtz » Tue Apr 22, 2014 5:48 am
I understand your decision to censor your game to sell it on google play, but why not offer it in it's original form through another marketplace such as mikandi or adultappmart? Doing so would lead to new sales from multiple avenues. There are the people who purchased it already from google play who are willing to buy it again to play it with skimpier costumes. I would buy such a version of Heileen 3 which i already own. There are also the people who already browse those marketplaces who will be excited to see an actual game on it. Finally, there will be people like me who refuse to buy a censored game on principal. I do not know the costs of doing business in these marketplaces, but judging from the posts i have read in this forum i am not the only person who is currently unwilling to buy the censored version on google play, but would be willing to buy the uncensored version somewhere else. With the increasing level of controls on content in google play, i expect business in these alternate marketplaces to be increasing leading into the future. It might be beneficial for you to get involved now rather than wait.
Re: censorship is unnecessary
Post by jack1974 » Tue Apr 22, 2014 6:37 am
Sorry but I'm not going to spend time on that. My time is *VERY* limited, and as much as I wouldn't mind doing this just to make the few people happy (doesn't matter how many posted here, I had a lot of negative complaints about the skimpy costumes everywhere on internet that outweight by a very large amount the posts here and in Steam), right now I have only 31209854289 other things to do
Besides, I'm moving away from making stuff too sexy because I definitely don't want to be labeled as "hentai" or give the people the impression that my games have zero gameplay and sells only because of the sexy stuff. Sorry to disappoint you.
shot123
Post by shot123 » Tue Apr 22, 2014 1:38 pm
lozarchtz wrote: I understand your decision to censor your game to sell it on google play, but why not offer it in it's original form through another marketplace such as mikandi or adultappmart? Doing so would lead to new sales from multiple avenues. There are the people who purchased it already from google play who are willing to buy it again to play it with skimpier costumes. I would buy such a version of Heileen 3 which i already own. There are also the people who already browse those marketplaces who will be excited to see an actual game on it. Finally, there will be people like me who refuse to buy a censored game on principal. I do not know the costs of doing business in these marketplaces, but judging from the posts i have read in this forum i am not the only person who is currently unwilling to buy the censored version on google play, but would be willing to buy the uncensored version somewhere else. With the increasing level of controls on content in google play, i expect business in these alternate marketplaces to be increasing leading into the future. It might be beneficial for you to get involved now rather than wait.
what's the problem here? skimpy clothes do not make a game, loren is a great game censored or not heck i find it the characters as cool and sexy when censored
Post by jack1974 » Fri Apr 25, 2014 7:00 pm
Steam asked me to put a flag for the community content
The main game doesn't require age verification, and there's this warning when entering the hub, so not a big deal... at least for now. Definitely staying clear from nudity stuff in future though, it only caused a ton of problems
Post by Miakoda » Fri Apr 25, 2014 7:03 pm
jack1974 wrote: The main game doesn't require age verification, and there's this warning when entering the hub, so not a big deal... at least for now. Definitely staying clear from nudity stuff in future though, it only caused a ton of problems
For future releases, especially when dealing with Steam, that is probably for the better. *shakes head* Sorry you have to go through this.
No big deal, this time I just had to check a button
Telerian3
Post by Telerian3 » Sat Apr 26, 2014 2:18 am
It would be lovely if you still offered options for your fans that come to your site. It could funnel traffic, but getting the word out that a special version is available if you buy it here instead of elsewhere might be an option.
We know your time is valuable. I look forward to any bundles you have in the future. Even though I had to use steam to get it registered.
Thanks for making these games great. The visual style and the music is what drew me in. The skimpy costumes are just an added bonus for me.
Post by fleetp » Sat Apr 26, 2014 3:32 pm
Someone could make a nude mod for the game.
Why? I like big ones, that's why.
Post by Telerian3 » Mon Apr 28, 2014 1:15 am
uh huh, and somehow redo all the character artwork in the game, from each pose, etc. It would be a_lot of work.
But if there was some fan art of the characters, that just adds popularity to the game.
Post by fleetp » Mon Apr 28, 2014 1:54 am
Telerian3 wrote: uh huh, and somehow redo all the character artwork in the game, from each pose, etc. It would be a_lot of work.
I think you misunderstand. Not all character artwork would need to be redone. For example, my nude mod for Vera Blanc Full moon consisted of 15 pictures (Vera's shower scene, the scenes where Vera was in a nightgown, and the scene where Eva appears at the bank clerk's door). I didn't see a need for making Vera nude in most scenes (for example where she is interviewing suspects). Likewise the nude mod I did for the first Bionic Hearts game consisted of 4 pictures (shower and beach scenes)
Unfortunately, the nude mods did NOT add to the popularity of the games.
Now, the nude mods I did for the game Sacred 2 where I modified all of the outfits for the Seraphim and made a number of the female non-playable characters nude WAS indeed a lot of work.
Sorry for going off topic.
Return to “Loren The Amazon Princess”
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Governor Says SNAP Restriction Could Impact 200,000 Pennsylvanians
By Katie Meyer | July 29, 2019
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HARRISBURG, PA (WSKG) — Democratic state lawmakers are criticizing the Trump Administration over its proposed plan to restrict Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits for certain people.
They say the change amounts to a punishment for the poor.
Right now, people who receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families–or TANF–are also considered eligible for SNAP.
But the US Department of Agriculture is proposing limiting that eligibility to people who get at least $50 in TANF benefits per month.
It would also limit the kind of non-cash benefits that make a person SNAP-eligible. Only subsidized employment, work supports, or childcare would be considered acceptable.
The USDA is pitching the change as a loophole closure that will allow more money to go to needier people.
In a press release, the department said the flexibility in SNAP eligibility rules were “egregious,” citing a case in which a Minnesota millionaire was able to successfully enroll.
Vince Hughes, a Democratic state senator from Philadelphia, said he vehemently disagrees with the USDA’s position, calling it, “Absolutely unnecessary, absolutely unconscionable, [and] absolutely immoral.”
Hughes sent a letter to the USDA saying as much. He said other Democrats will likely follow suit.
“These are fat-cat Republicans who just gave away the store with a huge tax break for their friends with their foot on the necks of poor people,” he said.
A spokeswoman for Democratic Governor Tom Wolf said it is difficult to definitively say how many Pennsylvanians would be impacted by the proposed SNAP restriction.
The governor’s office and state Department of Human Services said that Friday based on an initial analysis, about 200,000 people in over 120,000 households could potentially lose the benefit.
More than 1.7 million people use SNAP in Pennsylvania, according to the administration
In a statement, Wolf echoed Hughes in calling the benefit restriction a “punishment for working families across America.”
“I oppose this ludicrous change that will hurt tens of thousands of Pennsylvanians, creating an undue burden and more food insecurity for families,” he said.
Wolf’s spokeswoman said the elderly and disabled and working families would be disproportionally affected by the proposed restriction.
She added, the departments of Human Services and Education plan to submit public comment opposing the rule change.
The New York Trial Of Harvey Weinstein: A Brief Timeline Of How We Got Here
Updated at 1:45 p.m. ET Editor's note: This report includes descriptions of sexual assault. This was never inevitable. For much of Harvey Weinstein's career, dark rumors of sexual assault and harassment tailed the Hollywood mega-producer.
Myth Busted: In New York It Turns Out Bankruptcy Can Wipe Out Student Loan Debt
A few years ago, Lauren had a big problem. The Queens, N.Y., resident had graduated from college with an art degree as the Great Recession had hit.
One Man’s Daring Mission Shared
BUFFALO, NY (WBFO) - Wednesday is UN Holocaust Remembrance Day. In Buffalo, one of the events marking the occasion is a scheduled visit by an author who has published a book about a Polish resistance fighter who sought to gather intelligence about the Auschwitz concentration camp complex by infiltrating it.
Canvassers Count Homeless In Central New York
SYRACUSE, NY (WRVO) - Groups of volunteers and human service professionals with the Housing & Homeless Coalition of Central New York will be canvassing Oswego, Onondaga and Cayuga counties Wednesday to get a count of how many people are homeless in the area. The count last year found nearly 600 men, women and children in central New York were experiencing homelessness, which includes emergency shelters and transitional living facilities.
New York Republican Serves On Trump Impeachment Defense Team
CANTON, NY (NCPR) - The White House announced late Monday that Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-Schuylerville) will serve as a member of President Donald Trump's impeachment defense team. She described it as an honor. “I am proud to stand up for the Constitution, my constituents in New York’s 21st District, and the American people’s vote," Stefanik said.
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China: Possible that new virus could spread between humans
By YANAN WANG
BEIJING (AP) — The possibility that a new virus in central China could spread between humans cannot be ruled out, though the risk of transmission at the moment appears to be low, Chinese officials said Wednesday.
Forty-one people in the city of Wuhan have received a preliminary diagnosis of a novel coronavirus, a family of viruses that can cause both the common cold and more serious diseases. A 61-year-old man with severe underlying conditions died from the coronavirus on Saturday.
While preliminary investigations indicate that most of the patients had worked at or visited a particular seafood wholesale market, one woman may have contracted the virus from her husband, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission said in a public notice.
The commission said the husband, who fell ill first, worked at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market. Meanwhile, the wife said she hasn’t had any exposure to the market.
It’s possible that the husband brought home food from the market that then infected his wife, Hong Kong health official Chuang Shuk-kwan said at a news briefing. But because the wife did not exhibit symptoms until days after her husband, it’s also possible that he infected her.
Chuang and other Hong Kong health officials spoke to reporters Wednesday following a trip to Wuhan, where mainland Chinese authorities briefed them on the outbreak.
The threat of human-to-human transmission remains low, Chuang said, as hundreds of people, including medical professionals, have been in close contact with infected individuals and have not been infected themselves.
She echoed Wuhan authorities’ assertion that there remains no definitive evidence of human-to-human transmission.
The outbreak in Wuhan has raised the specter of SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome. SARS is a type of coronavirus that first struck southern China in late 2002. It then spread to more than two dozen countries, killing nearly 800 people.
Associated Press videojournalist Katie Tam in Hong Kong contributed to this report.
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Property and Social Housing
Regulatory and Local Government
Planning and Land
About 12CP
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Syan Ventom
List A - Specialist Regulatory Advocates in Health and Safety and Environmental Law (HSE, EA, ORR, CQC & ONR), Crown Prosecution Service (Grade 3 Prosecutor), LPP Panel for Serious Fraud Office
sventom@12cp.co.uk
Middle Temple
Bar Council Number - 54642 VAT Number - 183 091 704
Regulatory and Local Government Crime
BSB Barristers’ Register
Environmental Crime
Previously employed as Principal Counsel by the Environment Agency, Syan has prosecuted more than 200 cases involving waste, pollution, fisheries, flood defence and radioactive substances.
He has prosecuted complex multi-handed cases in the Crown Court (including one involving fourteen defendants) without a leader.
He has appeared in the Court of Appeal and the High Court. His in-depth knowledge and extensive experience of this area of law means he often appears against senior juniors and Queen’s Counsel.
Differently constituted benches of the higher courts have variously described the law of waste as ‘difficult’, ‘opaque’ and ‘Delphic’. Syan is adept at prosecuting cases involving waste in a manner that makes them accessible to juries.
His expertise of waste extends to all aspects of this area of the law, having dealt with cases relating to the definition of waste, unpermitted waste operations, non-compliance with environmental permit conditions, fly-tipping, exemptions, hazardous waste, the trans-frontier shipment of waste, statutory notices, waste recycling credits, breaches of the duty of care, registration of carriers and producer responsibility.
Syan has been involved in cases brought following the pollution of fresh, marine and ground waters, by hydrocarbons, sewage, farm effluent and various chemicals.
He also has experience of cases involving serious air pollution. Examples include the release of landfill gas (with a particularly high concentration of Hydrogen Sulphide) that descended upon a school and the escape of a cloud of gas that impacted upon nearby workers following an incident at a plastics factory. He has also prosecuted cases of nuisance caused by odours from composting operations and other waste facilities.
Syan has prosecuted offences featuring illegal fishing methods for salmon, sea trout, elvers, and coarse fish.
Syan has prosecuted several cases involving interference of flood defence works on the Somerset Levels. He has also appeared in arbitration regarding flood defence matters.
Radioactive Substances
Syan has dealt with cases involving the loss of radioactive sources at hospitals and farms, as well as cases of excessive radioactivity at a steel works (involving the isotope Polonium 210) and a kaolin mine.
Statutory Nuisance
ss 79-82 & Schedule 3 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 deal with Statutory Nuisance. Syan has expertise in dealing with noise, odours and other forms of Statutory Nuisance, and is intimately familiar with the various statutory defences and exceptions that makes this a complex area of law. He has provided training on Statutory Nuisance to both investigators and lawyers.
Syan has successfully prosecuted a number of trials involving TPO breaches including a man accused of devastating a ten-acre woodland with the aim of building eight £5 million pound houses, a solicitor responsible for the destruction of a multi-stemmed Oak and a case involving multiple historic breaches of a TPO.
Wildlife and Habitats
Syan has prosecuted and defended in cases under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2010, involving invasive species such as Japanese knotweed and protected species such as bats.
Syan has appeared in a number of Health and Safety matters, including prosecuting a case where failures by a well known supermarket led to a customer suffering catastrophic injuries, and another where food containing nuts was fed to an infant who was allergic to them at a nursery, and acted for a corporate defendant that had attracted the attention of the HSE regarding alleged failures in relation to saw dust.
Other Regulatory Matters
Syan has been instructed to prosecute and defend in Animal Health (successfully prosecuted appeals in cases instructed by Hampshire County Council and Wiltshire County Council), Drinking Water (instructed by a large water company in a prosecution by the Drinking Water Inspectorate) and Food Safety (including prosecuting a meat wholesaler to conviction in 2016, instructed by West Sussex County Council).
Ideally qualified to deal with cases with an environmental aspect recent examples of Syan’s Public Law practice include a Judicial Review involving a National Park Authority, a Statutory Planning Review involving a Local Authority and a planning appeal involving the environmental permit conditions of a clinical waste transfer station. He also has experience in Licensing hearings and appeals.
Syan has been instructed as independent counsel in order to identify and remove LPP material from material seized during raids of premises. In a number of cases he has been involved in searching for material held digitally, as it is becoming increasingly common for investigating bodies to download files in situ or to seize computers.
Syan has expertise in cases where confiscation proceedings are brought subsequent to conviction in environmental cases, having prosecuted numerous examples including the first significant Environment Agency confiscation case. He has particular expertise in confiscation cases involving waste, and also in more novel circumstances, for example where an intensive pig farm breached the conditions of its environmental permit by housing too many pigs.
He has also acted for the prosecution in a case involving theft by a former metropolitan police officer where the main available asset was the defendant’s police pension.
B v Wiltshire CC
Abatement Notice appeal. Statutory nusiance. Burning waste.
GBC v F & B
Planning prosecution. Unauthorised work. Grade II Listed Building. For Local Authority.
R v K
Environmental. Abatement Notice appeal. Noxious emissions.
Syan has prosecuted and defended in cases of violence (including s.18 GBH, in a domestic setting and involving youths), dishonesty (including commercial burglary and robbery, fraud and forgery), drugs (including PWITS Class A), firearms, arson, child cruelty and dangerous dogs.
He is a very experienced Grade 3 CPS prosecutor but is equally at home defending clients in the Crown Court in cases involving the full spectrum of criminal cases.
He has defended several celebrities in motoring matters.
R v C
Firearms. Acquittal. Definition of ‘firearm’.
R v B
Fraud. Major confiscation. Compensation.
R v B & Others
Theft. Romanian drivers. Secured acquittal.
Diversity EO & Discrimination
20 Carlton Crescent
SO15 2ET
DX:96875 Southampton 10
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Change language and edition es - Edition - English
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General Condition of Carriage
Customer Service Plan for Flight Disruptions and other Commitments
Air Canada cares about your safety and comfort. We are committed to making your travel experience as smooth and pleasant as possible. Our Customer Service Plan outlines our policies and addresses key service elements that most affect our customers so that you know what to expect. Our full terms and conditions of carriage can be found in our applicable tariffs.
We value and appreciate your business and loyalty and look forward to serving you.
Read our customer service plan
- Select a topic - Purchase, Cancellations and Refunds Flight Disruptions Deliver Baggage on Time Meeting Essential Needs During Tarmac Delays Passengers with Disabilities and Special Needs Check-in Requirements and Cancellation of Reservations Disclosing Key Information Seating Families Travelling with Children Official Languages Comments, Feedback and Response to Customer Complaints Denied Boarding Situations are Handled with Fairness and Consistency
Purchase, Cancellations and Refunds
Air Canada offers the lowest fare available in its computer reservation system, based on the date and flight you request. You may select a higher fare in order to upgrade the class of service or to have greater flexibility. It is important to note that certain fares (e.g. promotional fares) are not accessible through Air Canada Reservations or Air Canada airports ticket counters and can only be purchased online.
More information on Air Canada's Lowest Price Guarantee
Reservations can be Cancelled without Penalty for 24 hours After Purchase
You may cancel your purchase of tickets up to 24 hours after purchase and Air Canada will provide you with a full refund without penalty. This policy applies to refundable as well as non-refundable fares. Please ensure you verify your booking confirmation for any error as soon as it is received in order to avail yourself of this free cancellation. If you wish to cancel, or if you did not receive an itinerary receipt, simply contact Air Canada within 24 hours after purchase for assistance.
Changes made to itineraries more than 24 hours after purchase will be assessed the current change fee regardless of when the tickets were purchased and regardless of the reason for the cancellation or change (subject to certain limited exceptions). Such changes could also be subject to fare differentials.
Air Canada will itself process the refund for tickets purchased directly from Air Canada. For tickets issued via a travel agency or another airline, you must cancel and request your refund through the travel agency or that airline.
Provide prompt ticket refunds
Air Canada will itself process eligible refunds, including refunding fees charged to you for optional services that you were unable to use due to an oversell situation or a flight cancellation, back to the original method of payment (this may mean refund to the travel agency from whom you purchased the ticket). In the case of cash and Interac Online payments, you may receive a cheque in the mail. Unless otherwise mandated by law, refund processing times are as follows:
Credit card purchases: within 7 business days of receipt of your refund request accompanied by all documents required to complete the refund claim;
Cash and cheque purchases: within 20 business days of receiving the refund request accompanied by all documents required to complete the refund claim; and
Interac: within 5 business days of receiving the refund request accompanied by all documents required to complete the refund claim.
Details and contact information on requesting a refund are available on our website or upon request at an Air Canada or Air Canada Express counter at all Canadian airports at which we operate.
Flight Disruptions
Note: This section applies to flights operated by Air Canada, Air Canada Rouge and Air Canada Express*.
If a flight is delayed or cancelled due to an unforeseen problem, we’ll do our best to keep you well-informed at the airport and on board the affected aircraft. That’s why you must provide your contact information at the time of booking.
Based on the information available, we will promptly provide timely updates, including the reason for the delay or cancellation:
As soon as we’re aware of such a delay or cancellation, and then;
At regular intervals of 30 minutes until a new departure time for the flight is set, or new travel arrangements for passengers have been made; and
As soon as possible when new information is available.
Such information will be available:
On our website through our Daily Travel Outlook or our Flight Status tool;
Via onboard/gate announcements;
Through our Flight Notification Service, for which you may register online to receive notifications on any delay, cancellation or gate change information through your text-messaging-enabled phone or your email address. (You can also have notifications sent to others interested in your travel plans);
By calling the Air Canada automated Flight Information System at 1-888-422-7533 (Canada or U.S.). For calls from all other countries.
Airport Flight Information Display Systems will also display some information about delays and cancellations.
For more information about flight delays and cancellations, see our General Terms and Conditions of Carriage.
* Air Canada Express refers to flights operated by Jazz Aviation LP, Sky Regional, Exploits Valley Air Services Ltd., and Air Georgian Ltd.
Deliver Baggage on Time
We work hard to ensure your checked baggage arrives with you. In the event that your checked baggage is delayed, we will make every reasonable effort to deliver it within 24 hours. You must advise an Air Canada, Air Canada Rouge or Air Canada Express agent if you cannot locate your checked baggage upon arrival from a flight operated by Air Canada, Air Canada Rouge, Jazz Aviation LP, Sky Regional, Exploits Valley Air Services Ltd., or Air Georgian Ltd.
You can check the status of delayed baggage online or by calling 1-888-689-2247.
If your baggage is delayed, damaged or lost, we will refund the fees you paid to check it in.
A carrier’s liability toward you is limited in respect to destruction, loss, delay, or damage to baggage, to 1,288 Special Drawing Rights (which is approximately $2,400 CAD) per passenger. These limits apply to most international itineraries, as well as to domestic itineraries.
Make sure to provide proof to justify amounts claimed in compensation. You’ll be reimbursed for reasonable interim out-of-pocket expenses upon submitting your receiptsOpen PDF file. See more information on delayed and damaged baggage, or review our domestic tariffsOpen PDF file and international tariffsOpen PDF file (Rule 60).
Meeting Essential Needs During Tarmac Delays
It is never our intention to cause stress or harm to our customers. However, if due to unforeseen or uncontrollable circumstances, an aircraft is either unable to take off or be gated upon arrival and must wait for a gate to become available, a contingency plan has been developed to meet the needs of our customers onboard both arriving and departing aircraft.
Air Canada will not permit an aircraft to remain on the tarmac at a Canadian airport for more than three hours (or 3 hours and 45 minutes if departure is imminent) or, at a US airport, for more than four (4) hours. Prior to reaching these timelines, Air Canada will return the aircraft to the gate or another suitable disembarkation point, where passengers will be allowed to deplane.
These timelines do not apply if providing an opportunity for passengers to disembark is not possible, including for reasons related to situations outside carrier’s control, such as safety and security, or air traffic or customs control.
During a tarmac delay, Air Canada will provide passengers, unless it is not possible for reasons related to situations outside carrier’s control, such as safety and security, or air traffic or customs control, with:
adequate food and potable water in reasonable quantities after the aircraft doors are closed (in the case of departure) or has landed (in the case of arrival);
proper ventilation and heating or cooling of the cabin;
the means to communicate with people outside the aircraft, if feasible; and
access to operable lavatory facilities.
Air Canada will also ensure adequate medical attention is available, if needed.
Passengers will receive notifications regarding the status of the tarmac delay every 30 minutes while the aircraft is delayed, including the reason for the delay, if known. During long "on-aircraft" delays, pilots communicate frequently with Air Canada's Operations Control Center, Station Operations and/or the Ramp Control Tower to obtain updated information and keep customers informed throughout the delay, and coordinate with involved parties to ensure that the tarmac delay is as short as possible.
*Air Canada Express refers to flights operated by Jazz Aviation LP, Sky Regional, Exploits Valley Air Services Ltd., and Air Georgian Ltd.
Passengers with Disabilities and Special Needs
Air Canada is dedicated to the safety and comfort of our customers. In addition to providing special meals and assistance to unaccompanied minors, Air Canada looks after the special needs of customers who require assistance because of a disability or medical condition.
Please refer to the relevant section of our website for specific information regarding the following issues, or by contacting Air Canada Reservations:
Portable Battery-Powered Medical Devices
Some circumstances and medical conditions require that certain requests be made in advance. If you have a special need, it is important that, before booking a flight, you carefully review Air Canada's Advance Notice and Medical Approval for Travel requirements, as well as our domestic tariffOpen PDF file (Rules 45 and 50) and our international tariffOpen PDF file (Rules 40 and 45).
Check-in Requirements and Cancellation of Reservations
All reservations are subject to cancellation without notice in the following circumstances:
You have failed to meet the check-in deadlines as stated on our website;
You have not purchased a validated ticket indicating confirmed seat(s) at least forty-five (45) minutes prior to scheduled departure of a domestic flight, sixty (60) minutes for an international or transborder flight, or earlier if a greater time limit is specified as a check-in deadline;
You fail to fulfill the requirements of the fare type to which the reservation applies, or have performed a prohibited practice, such as throwaway ticketing (when round-trip fares are used for one-way travel). Please refer to our domestic tariff and our international tariff (Rule 25);
You are not present at the boarding gate at least 15 minutes prior to scheduled departure time (30 minutes for flights departing Algiers, Casablanca and Tel Aviv), even if you have already checked-in for your flight at a place or via a method designated for check-in (e.g. online, on your mobile device, at a Self-service check-in kiosk or at an airport counter);
You do not have the required travel documentation for your journey; If such action is necessary to comply with any governmental regulation, or to comply with any governmental request for emergency transportation in connection with the national defense, or whenever such action is necessary or advisable by reason of weather or other conditions beyond Air Canada' control; or
If Air Canada refuses to transport you for any of the reasons stated in the Rules of the relevant domestic tariff or our international tariff (Rule 75).
In such circumstances, Air Canada will use reasonable efforts to find you an alternate solution to get you to your destination, subject to any applicable change fees and fare differentials. However, customers will not be entitled to a refund when their reservation is cancelled for one of reasons stated above.
Disclosing Key Information
Information about our policies and procedures is available on our website or upon request through Air Canada Reservations or our airport representatives. This includes providing you with details on:
Important terms and conditions that apply to your ticket and travel, including cancellation policies, on your ticket;
Information regarding our aircraft configuration and lavatory availability which is available on Our Fleet page or by contacting Air Canada Reservations and
Altitude, Air Canada's program for loyal frequent flying customers. Read detailed information about Altitude, including terms and conditions.
Seating Families Travelling with Children
Air Canada will do everything reasonable to ensure children under the age of 14 are seated next to their accompanying family member. Please visit our General Terms and Conditions of Carriage for more information.
Refer to our section on Children and Travel for additional information.
Offering service to our customers in the official language of choice is an integral part of how well we do our job. Air Canada's goal is to make sure that every customer gets the most consistent, enjoyable and safe travel experience and leaves with a positive lasting impression.
Please refer to Air Canada's Official Languages Action PlanOpen PDF file for more information.
Comments, Feedback and Response to Customer Complaints
Air Canada will immediately acknowledge receipt of each customer complaint regarding its scheduled service and will send a response to the complainant within 45 days of receiving it.
Moreover, Air Canada will also respond to each passenger compensation claim made under Canada’s Air Passenger Protection Regulations within 30 days of receiving it.
Consumers wishing to submit a complaint, comment or provide feedback about Air Canada's service (other than those related to safety or security) may do so by completing our online form.
You may also write to:
Air Canada - Customer Relations
RPO Thorncliffe - Calgary, AB
Canada T2K 6J7
For a Baggage Claim
Tel.: 1 888 689-BAGS (2247)
Toll free within North America
If your complaint concerns air travel within, to and from Canada, the Canadian Transportation Agency may have jurisdiction to assist you. For more information, visit the Canadian Transportation Agency website or contact them at:
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0N9
15 Eddy Street
Gatineau, Quebec J8X 4B3
Phone, Fax, and Email
Email: info@otc-cta.gc.ca
Denied Boarding Situations are Handled with Fairness and Consistency
It’s never our intention to inconvenience you. However, due to operational requirements or inventory control policies, there are times when you might not be accommodated on your booked flight even though you have a confirmed reservation. During a denied boarding situation, Air Canada will first solicit volunteers who are willing to give up their seat in exchange for compensation. If not enough volunteers can be found and you are involuntarily denied boarding, you may be entitled to certain standards of treatment and compensation.
Please note that the amount of compensation might vary depending on the applicable local law at your country of departure. For your rights under Canada’s Air Passenger Protection Regulations, please visit our General Terms and Conditions of Carriage.
* Air Canada Express refers to flights operated by Jazz Aviation LP, Sky Regional, Exploits Valley Air Services Ltd., and Air Georgian Ltd
Spain to Canada
Spain to U.S.
Spain to Mexico
Spain to Peru
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Tender Action
LABC Awards 2018 – South West Regional Finalist
We’re proud to announce that our Homefield project was highly commended in the South West Regional Finals of the 2018 LABC Awards. The project was entered into the Best New Large Housing Development and Best Social or Affordable Housing Development categories. The project is located in the South Hams village of West Alvington and delivered 16 new homes; 8 of which are affordable.
What are the LABC Awards?
LABC (Local Authority Building Control) is a not-for-profit organisation that represents all local authority building control teams in England and Wales. The LABC building excellence awards celebrate achievements and excellence in construction in the UK building industry. They reward excellent buildings as well as companies, partnerships and individuals. As the awards are run by a building control organisation, they assess projects across a wide variety of technical criteria including;
High levels of compliance with building regulations
Effective working relationships with LABC Surveyors
Outstanding craftsmanship
Technical Innovation
Sustainability and performance
Solving technical problems with creative solutions
Use of innovative products and skills to overcome difficult site conditions
Homefield is a development of 16 new homes in the village of West Alvington, just outside of Kingsbridge in South Devon. The scheme comprises 8 open market houses and 8 affordable homes with a mix of shared equity and rental units. The sloping site presented some challenges, and so a number of the houses feature a clever split level design. The design of the houses responded to the local vernacular, with rendered walls and traditional casement windows sat under pitched slate roofs. The buildings were arranged and orientated to suit the sloping site, maximise natural light and afford views down the valley. The orientation of the buildings also creates an interesting street scene and ensures a degree of passive surveillance over all public areas within the development.
Following the granting of planning permission, we worked alongside the Main Contractors Coyde Construction and Consulting Engineers Airey & Coles to produce detailed building regulations drawings as part of the Design and Build project team. The houses were constructed using prefabricated timer frames for speed on site and high thermal performance. A rendered block leaf was constructed around the timber frames to provide a robust external skin, and this design decision also suited the sloping site levels. The split level house types were constructed using a hybrid system of cavity wall construction to the lower floors with a highly insulated timber frame sat on top.
Having secured the planning permission for the site for the original land owner, we were pleased to be able to stay on as part of the construction team and deliver the project.
Dan Lethbridge2019-04-05T11:07:16+00:00Categories: Completed Work, Studio News|
Maximise your Interior Spaces with a Sliding Pocket Door
65 Unit Housing Development Submitted for Outline Planning
Internorm Windows
2017 LABC Awards South West Regional Finalist
Idealcombi Windows
102 Fore Street, Kingsbridge TQ7 1AW
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United shows off first Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner at Washington Dulles
The Polaris business-class cabin is seen during a night-time color setting on United's new Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner as seen at Washington Dulles on Nov. 16, 2018.
United Airlines’ first Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner is seen at Washington Dulles on Nov. 16, 2018.
The Polaris business-class cabin is seen on United's first Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner at Washington Dulles on Nov. 16, 2018.
A view of the cockpit on United's first Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner as seen at Washington Dulles on Nov. 16, 2018.
Rarely seen by flyers, this pilot rest area is located rear of the cockpit on United's new Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner.
United's new international-style “Premium Plus” premium economy seats are seen on its first Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner at Washington Dulles on Nov. 16, 2018.
United's new international-style “Premium Plus” premium economy seats have and 13-inch seatback screens
United's extra-legroom 'Economy Plus' seats are seen on its first Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner at Washington Dulles on Nov. 16, 2018.
United Airlines branding is seen onboard the carrier's first Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner at Washington Dulles on Nov. 16, 2018.
The economy cabin is seen on United's first Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner at Washington Dulles on Nov. 16, 2018.
Flyers in United's economy cabin have access to 10-inch seatback entertainment screens on the carrier's new 787-10 Dreamliners.
A view of an overhead bin in the economy cabin of United's first Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner as seen at Washington Dulles on Nov. 16, 2018.
The front galley is seen on United's first Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner during a stop at Washington Dulles on Nov. 16, 2018.
A business-class lavatory is seen on United's first Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner during a stop at Washington Dulles on Nov. 16, 2018.
The Polaris business-class cabin is seen during a twilight color setting on United's new Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner as seen at Washington Dulles on Nov. 16, 2018.
A Polaris business-class seat, complete with bedding and amenity options, is seen onboard United's first Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner at Washington Dulles on Nov. 16, 2018.
An overhead storage bin on United's new Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner as seen as Washington Dulles on Nov. 16, 2018.
United's new international-style “Premium Plus” premium economy seats include fold-down foot rests.
United's new international-style “Premium Plus” premium economy seats have and 13-inch seatback screens and fold-down foot rests.
Seat controls for United's new international-style “Premium Plus” premium economy seats are seen on its first Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner at Washington Dulles on Nov. 16, 2018.
A look at the landing gear on United Airlines’ first Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner as seen at Washington Dulles on Nov. 16, 2018.
The mid-cabin galley on United's first Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner as seen at Washington Dulles on Nov. 16, 2018.
The bulkhead row in the economy cabin is seen on United's first Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner at Washington Dulles on Nov. 16, 2018.
A view of the economy cabin from the aft of United's first Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner as seen at Washington Dulles on Nov. 16, 2018.
An economy cabin lavatory at the rear of United's first Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner as seen at Washington Dulles on Nov. 16, 2018.
Every seat -- including those in economy -- are outfitted with power outlets on United's new Boeing 787-10 Dreamliners.
A decal on an economy seat outlines in-flight options on United's first Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner as seen at Washington Dulles on Nov. 16, 2018.
The rear galley is seen on United's first Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner at Washington Dulles on Nov. 16, 2018.
The economy cabin is seen on United Airlines' first Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner at Washington Dulles on Nov. 16, 2018.
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Child Injury Claims: UK Solicitor summarizes all the steps to claiming compensation and how the claims process differs than that for claims involving adults
Child injury claims: Discover all the steps to making child injury claims in the UK, detailed pages setting out each type of common child accident, FAQ’s from previous site visitors with a free online specialist solicitor legal help option.
What is the child injury claims process in a nutshell?
Compensation claims for injuries involving children have some important differences than accident claims involving adults. The UK claims process in a nutshell includes:
1. Your child must be a child as defined by UK law
To be considered a child, or a “minor”, for the purpose of making a child injury claim in the UK – your child must be under the age of 18 years.
“Minors” include very young children, such as babies, infants and toddlers
2. An adult must provide instructions on behalf of a child
A child is entitled to claim compensation for injuries and financial loss following an accident just the same as an adult, but a child cannot form a binding contract with a solicitor to make a claim nor provide instructions as to how to claim compensation including how much compensation to accept.
For this reason – a parent, relative or guardian will act as a “litigation friend” and provide instructions on behalf of the child and form a contract with a lawyer to pursue a child injury claim.
3. Child injury claims must be proved
Child injury claims are proved much the same as any other accident claim – this is best left to your solicitor, but will involve showing that a person was legally at fault for your child’s injury and producing medical evidence to demonstrate the injuries your child has suffered.
Children are less likely to be safety conscious and might even be innocently trespassing when an injury is suffered – the law tries to protect children so a person is much more likely to be found legally responsible for an injury to a child than a similar injury to an adult.
4. Your solicitor will decide how much compensation your child is entitled to claim
Your solicitor will acquire independent medical evidence to show the severity and extent of your child’s injuries. Your lawyer will look at previous court cases to compare your child’s injuries, as described in the medical report, with similar injuries suffered by other accident victims in the past to see the amounts of compensation that could be expected. Adjustments are made for inflation.
5. Court authorisation to conclude a child injury claims
Unlike compensation claims for adults – a court must be involved to conclude child injury claims in a hearing known as a “minor settlement hearing” or an “infant approval hearing”.
The court must be satisfied that your child does not have ongoing injury symptoms and if symptoms are ongoing a judge will wish to see medical evidence is full and precise as to what the future holds for the recovery process.
The court must be satisfied that the amount of compensation is sufficient – to do this a judge will need to see a barrister’s opinion on how much the claim is worth.
If the court is satisfied the child injury claim can be ended at the hearing itself.
6. Court Investment of compensation monies on behalf of your child
At the end of the hearing the judge will discuss with the litigation friend about investment of your child’s compensation in the court’s fund office. Due to pooling of monies of many child cases the interest and investment rates should be quite high.
The money will be held for your child until the age of 18 years – at that age your child is considered by UK law to be an adult and able to act responsibly with the compensation money.
Is detailed information on all the aspects of child injury claims available on this website?
“Yes” – this page is a summary of the child injury claims process, but I have written a detailed page on each aspect of making a claim as well as the different types of accident that can occur – such as at accidents at school, trips in shops, injuries on private land, child head injury claims, etc.
Click injury minor to see a summary of all the pages I have written with a link to the page you might find of interest.
Click child accident claims to see child injury claim FAQ’s with links to detailed answers I have provided.
Click child accident claims to see the blogs I have written relating to child injury claims.
Child injury claims page summary
On this page I have summarised the key steps to making a child injury claim with links to all the detailed pages I have written setting out different types of child accident and injuries.
Click child injury claims to view my website’s free legal help options including having your child injury claim assessed online free of charge.
Child Claims. permalink.
Parental Indemnity
Child Accident
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Barbara Gaskell Denvil
The Flame Eater (Historical Mysteries Collection Book 2) Kindle Edition
by Barbara Gaskell Denvil (Author)
An arranged marriage. A divided kingdom. Can an unlikely couple find love on the trail of a murderous conspiracy?
England, 1484. Emeline knows she has no voice in her arranged marriage. So she counts herself fortunate when her betrothed turns out to be a charming man with a heart of gold…
until his violent death casts her into the arms of his monstrous brother. Just when she thinks her wedding day couldn’t get worse, fire and bloodshed ravage the castle. Determined to unmask the murderous culprit, she follows the trail of clues and realises there may be more to her husband than meets the eye.
Nicholas is tired of living in his older brother’s shadow. And being forced to marry a woman who would rather he fill his brother’s coffin isn’t helping matters. As murder and mayhem plagues the kingdom, he must hide the secret mission behind his actions… even from his own wife. But when she embarks on her own investigation, he realizes he may have underestimated the fiery beauty.
When England’s fate hangs in the balance, can Emeline and Nicholas work together to take down the traitorous forces threatening to destroy the kingdom?
The Flame Eater is an enthralling historical mystery set in 15th century England. If you like vibrant medieval settings, multifaceted characters, and fast-paced twists and turns, then you’ll love Barbara Gaskell Denvil’s rich tapestry of devious schemes and mystifying murders.
Buy The Flame Eater Now to read what happens in this enthralling mystery.
Similar books to The Flame Eater (Historical Mysteries Collection Book 2)
The Deception of Consequences (Historical Mysteries Collecton Book 5)
Blessop's Wife (Historical Mysteries Collection Book 1)
Satin Cinnabar (Historical Mysteries Collection Book 3)
Sumerford's Autumn (Historical Mysteries Collection Book 4)
Anna B: "I know no other author who so completely manages to drag me back in time, leaving me submerged in a past skilfully brought to life. Ms Gaskell Denvil's books engage all my senses,"
M.Kallio: "Gaskell-Denvil has woven a tale of mystery, murder, treachery and love. her work forms a tapestry whose fine threads weave the reader into the story. I do not believe in revealing spoilers in a review, but I will tell you that this book is historical fiction at its best. I highly recommend it to readers of history."
Julia Redlich: "Another splendidly absorbing novel from Barbara Gaskell Denvil, packed as always with intriguing romance, murder most frequent and foul and an understanding of medieval life that hints that the knowledge comes from reincarnation or – as I safely suspect – impeccable research."
Money in the Mattress: "You want to savour every meticulously crafted sentence. When it comes to writing mystery, so many authors sacrifice the literary component for the sake of advancing the plot. Fortunately, Barbara Gaskell Denvil is not one of those authors who cut corners. Her opus weighs in at 400+ pages, and there is not a gram of flab."
Angela: "I love that while the story itself was fiction, the author was able to make it historically accurate. This book is full of twists and turns. Espionage and intrigue all mixed in to one of the best romance novels I've read on some time."
Reena: "A wonderful historical read, set in medieval England, that has everything: romance, murder, mystery, intrigue, spies, and an intricate plot that kept me guessing and second guessing my opinions on the culprit until the last word."
Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1523745541
Publisher: Gaskell Publishing; 2 edition (9 February 2016)
ASIN: B01B8SEC3S
#15 in Medieval Literature
#1612 in Historical Mysteries (Kindle Store)
#2151 in Historical Mystery
Margaret K Lewis
5.0 out of 5 stars The Flame Eater
I always enjoy Barbara’s historical novels. Her descriptions of events make me imagine I can actually see them, The rainy, gloomy weather, the grime, the rooms, the clothes, the taverns, the fights. Each time I read Barbara’s books I reach for my dictionaries, English Royalty, Biography of historical figures, wars. I learn more every time. Her characters are interesting, and the humour makes me laugh. Thanks Barbara.
Wolfclan
3.0 out of 5 stars Such a shame
Good story, well written. This book was spoilt for me by the explicit sex scenes which I thought were totally unnecessary. There were also editorial mistakes such as misspellings and words omitted.
5.0 out of 5 stars An wonderful story of intrigue
A wonderful story of intrigue set in mediaeval England which Barbara Gaskell Denvil describes brilliantly. Another extraordinary novel from this great author.
3.0 out of 5 stars Romance but otherwise lacking
I received a copy of this book for my honest review.
Overall, I did expect a lot more from it than there was. It's not particularly well-formed characters excluding the two main characters, who mostly show character development during the sex that concludes most chapters or is most chapters. The plot is interesting, but with a lack of well-defined characters and patches of good writing, I can't say that I would recommend this book. The sex scenes are the most well detailed and better-written parts of the book, but there's a lack of realistic characters for historical fiction. And overall, it doesn't really get into any details. So if you're looking for a romance novel this is it, but it's not much more than that.
Jean Lombard
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
24 August 2016 - Published on Amazon.com
A very engaging book, the punch line at the end was a surprise!!
Kelly G
1.0 out of 5 stars You've got to be kidding me with this...
27 January 2019 - Published on Amazon.com
I read the first book in this series and really enjoyed it so I had high hopes for the second book. Unfortunately, it didn't take long to see that the quality of this book fell way, way short of my expectations.
The characters are a major drawback in this story in that....well, they suck. I know; that's not the most helpful or even most mature way to describe anything you don't like but here, I'm afraid, it is apropos. Every single female character, including the heroine, is insipid to the point of lunacy. They all want to have grand adventures and solve murders but only as long as they can do so in nice clothes, with good food, and basically with as little fuss as possible. The only female character that shows any promise is the heroine's mother and she's no queen. Any other time, I might excuse characters like these as products of the historical era being portrayed in the novel as long as the heroine at least seemed adequate. No; these women are high-strung, high-maintenance, and not too bright. Truthfully, since they're all the product of a 21st century female author, they're downright embarrassing. Couple them with gentlemen who are all lacking in the "gentle" department and you have a whole lot of nothing. The male protagonist, Nicholas, shows promise as he seems like a decent human being and has at least two brain cells to rub together. You almost feel bad that he's loaded down with a dunce of a wife. No chemistry at all causes the romance portion of this book to seem contrived and utterly unbelievable.
The plot isn't much better with Nicholas doing secret work for the King while leaving his wife and her crew of dingbats to chase a murderer despite showing a laughable inability to function outside of respectability. Forget the fact that Nicholas has been accused of said murders and said dingbats can't seem to do anything without him. I guess it just all works out in the end eventually. Other reviews say the ending has a nice twist. I'm reserving judgment.
Bottom line: I'd recommend a hard pass. I love historical fiction and I'm often willing to accept character flaws as part of the experience. In this case, however, there may be too much to overlook. I'm still trying to decide if I have the patience to finish this travesty.
Judith Favia
2.0 out of 5 stars More History and Less Sex Please
I love historical mysteries, and love the Medieval period most of all, so I was excited to find a new author. I read the first book and thought there was more explicit sex than I was expecting but the writing was excellent ad the plot was compelling. This one not so much. In fact the historical context was pretty much a backdrop for the very long and very detailed sex scenes. Add to that the violence of the period (yep, I know thing could get ugly) and I lost interest about halfway through. Emeline is a very silly and very naive young woman and Nicholas is alternately the omniscient lover and a self destructive idiot. I dont think I am going to look for the third volume but I have to admit that I am disappointed rather thsn offended.
Heathery Hebert
3.0 out of 5 stars Fortunately, the main male character
My first impressions of Emma, the main female character, were that she was very whiny and clingy. If she had been the sole focus, I would have quit the book early on. Fortunately, the main male character, Nicholas, intrigued me from the get-go--partially because he was escaping a window while wearing a dress the first time we see him! While I found myself rolling my eyes at much of Emma's crybaby theatrics, Nicholas kept me interested in the story. I thoroughly enjoyed his sarcastic wit and self-deprecating humor.
I enjoyed the constant whodunit nature of the book. To be honest, I had no idea who our killer was up until it was revealed in the very last chapter. I had my suspicions--and this character was one of my guesses--but I could not have pinpointed it down. Everyone had a reason they could have been the killer, so it was fun to finally see who it was and why.
I found the length of the book to be too much for the story. It could have been edited down by probably 100 pages. Another aspect I felt needed some editing was the excess of dashes in the dialogue. I'd be curious to see a Word count of dashes because it was inexhaustible. Sometimes the dashes were used correctly, but a lot of the time, they weren't. Commas or ellipses would have been more appropriate.
At any rate, I felt this to be an enjoyable read, but it would be strengthened by an editor.
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